The town is inexorably tied to politician "Long John" Wentworth
and his efforts to move the State of Illinois border with Wisconsin from being
even with the bottom of Lake Michigan to the current line of where it is now.
If the border were not changed, the State Line would actually reside along the
LaSalle-DeKalb County border, splitting parts of Sandwich from the main areas
of the incorporated community. The community was established when Almon Gage
sought a railroad stop on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad that ran
through town. Originally naming it Newark Station, (not to be confused with the
nearby
