Des Plaines - Hardcoverby David Whittingham (Author) In the 1830s, settlers established a community of farms along the Des Plaines River, initially naming the town Rand for the influential pioneer Socrates Rand. In the 1850s, the Chicago and North Western Railway ran tracks from Chicago to Cary, Illinois, building a station at the Des Plaines River to provide water for steam engines. The station was named Des Plaines, and the community incorporated as Des Plaines in 1869.