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F.E. Wheaton & Co. and the town of Wheaton have developed and grown alongside each other. The town, which was incorporated as a city in 1859, was named after Warren and Jesse Wheaton, who migrated to Illinois from Connecticut in 1837. They staked a claim on and farmed 640 acres that would later form the basis for the establishment of the city of Wheaton. The Wheaton brothers later donated land for the right-of-way of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company, and F.E. Wheaton's lumber still arrives on the same rail line today. "It is appropriate that the land they deeded to the railroad provided a strong foundation for all the business that was to follow," says Jeff Brown, F.E. Wheaton President. F.E. Wheaton and Company got its start in 1892, when Franklin Emory (F.E.) Wheaton, his brother Henry Wheaton, and A.J. Braken purchased a coal company. In 1898, Braken left the firm, and it became Wheaton and Wheaton--until 1901, when Henry left to run another business. When F.E. Wheaton's son, Ralph, graduated from Wheaton College in 1904 , the firm became F.E. Wheaton & Son. With Ralph eventually managing the business, it expanded in 1915 to include handmade cinder blocks and lumber. The firm incorporated in 1925 as F.E. Wheaton & Co, which by now had grown to cover a large part of the city of Wheaton's central business district. At this time, the firm merged with Henry Wheaton's growing concrete business. In 1920, the company purchased the 24-acre Erastus Gary farm, which was to later provide the firm the additional space it needed to grow.