The original plan adapted by R. C. Philips in 1851 is on display in the depot museum. The Village was platted in 1852. “The avenues were staked off in beautiful and symmetrical curves,” mostly 60 feet wide. It is interesting to note that the village’s founders apparently planned to extend the curvilinear street pattern east of the railroad tracks, as demonstrated by the 1852 plan. Sharon Road and Congress Avenue, the main thoroughfares, passed “straight through” the village, intersecting at right angles; the former was 80 feet wide.

A hotel was built for “summer boarders,” which was later converted to a women’s college. Three “pretty little parks” also were created in different parts of the village, ash and sugar maple trees were planted along the streets. Streets were graveled and lit by coal oil lamps. In the northern part of the village, the CH & D dammed up a creek that flowed through to create a reservoir for the steam engines. This pond, called Lake Hannigan, was also used by local residents for fishing, skating and boating.