Darien is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 22,011. A southwestern suburb of Chicago, Darien was named after the town of Darien, Connecticut. Darien is just north of I-55 and Historic U.S. Route 66 (now Frontage Road). The entire south edge of the town borders Waterfall Glen. History The first people to settle in Darien came from New England via the Erie Canal and Great Lakes. Among the first to arrive was the Andres Neiman, the Rapones, and the Capra family. They settled along an old stagecoach line in 1835. Andres served as Justice of the Peace, Town Clerk, and Assessor Mr. Capra was the Dog Catcher, and County Commissioner. He also established the Capra Inn, near what is currently the intersection of Lemont Road and I-55; the inn served the 15 stagecoaches that traveled the stagecoach line, and included a tavern and a post office. Andres named the area "Cass". Andres and Father Beggs along with Louis Capra Sr. built the First Cass Church, which was a log cabin. The church was also used as a school house. Elisha and Eliza Smart settled in Cass in 1838 with their ten children. Elisha joined the Gold Rush and went to California, returning seven years later a very rich man. He bought more land and donated it for the construction of a new Cass Church in 1870. His brother, William Smart, donated land for the creation of Cass Cemetery. John and Hannah Oldfield came to Cass in 1850. Mr. Oldfield raised cattle and increased his land holdings to . In 1881, a man named Franklin Blanchard opened a cheese factory. The factory was eventually moved or closed; a McDonald's restaurant now occupies the factory's original location. Martin B. Madden arrived with his parents in the Cass area in 1869 from England. In 1878 he married the youngest daughter of Elisha and Eliza Smart at her parents' house in Cass. In 1903, Mr. Madden built a home to look like the White House in Washington D.C. he called it Castle Eden. Today Castle Eden is part of the Aylesford Retreat Center of the Carmelite Fathers. A group of German Lutherans from Europe came to the area near 67th and Clarendon Hills Road in 1859. They built the first St. John Lutheran Church and laid out the cemetery behind the church. Today the cemetery