The first non-native settler in the area was David Perriam who, in 1837, claimed land north of the horseshoe bend in the Calumet River in an area referred to as Wildwood. This land was later acquired by Colonel James H. Bowen who was instrumental in construction of the Cal-Sag canal connecting the Calumet River to the Illinois River. After he lost his home in the Chicago Fire, Bowen moved to Wildwood and made this a palatial summer home where Chicago's elite gathered in the 1870s. Another early resident, George Dolton, settled near the Calumet River by the Chicago-Thornton Road (today's Indiana Avenue). He operated a chain ferry across the river. Levi Osterhoudt operated a tavern/road house at 133rd and Thornton Road from 1840 and the area became known as the Riverdale Crossing. In 1842, Dolton and Osterhoudt replaced the ferry with a toll bridge and called it the "Dolton Bridge.