According to the Welcome Brochure published by the Chamber of Commerce,           “the first plat of Edgerton was filed for record on May 29, 1871.”

Swain & Mason erected the first store building. Hood Wilkerson operated the first hotel located on Frank Street. And in 1883, Colonel J.C. Nesbitt published Edgerton’s first paper.

November 18, 1891, the “Great Fire” of Edgerton destroyed three general stores, two drug stores, one furniture store, the printing office and the hotel.

In 1902, Edgerton businesses included: one bank, one newspaper, four dry goods stores, six grocery stores, and one restaurant. Three drug stores, three general stores, two hardware stores and furniture stores, a harness shop, two millinery establishments, and two grain dealers. Two blacksmith shops, one hotel, one lumberyard, one undertaker, one tin shop, two barbershops, one photographer, and one commission house.

On May 29, 1902, the Edgerton Journal Newspaper reported Edgerton as “Platte County’s Banner Town.”