In 1836, Stephen Forbes' parents, John and Anne Sawyer Forbes, arrived from New York and settled in a large log house they built above Bourbon Springs at the bend of the river. They brought with them a group of 22 people--married sons and son-in-laws and daughters and daughter-in laws and grandchildren - all of whom lived in the log house or nearby.

One of the grandchildren, Flavilla Forbes, became Riverside's first schoolteacher. Stephen Forbes, at one time or another, owned title to most of the Riverside area, although he did not always live there. He also built a sawmill on his property, just east of the present Lyons-Riverside bridge, which supplied lumber to Chicago wagonmakers.