 The name was changed to Illinois Bend in 1877, when a post office was located there.Early settlers were plagued by occasional raids from Comanche and Kiowa Indians who had been placed in the Leased Lands north of the Red River and on the eastern border of the Chickasaw Nation.In 1885 the settlement had a population of 300, two gristmills, a number of cotton gins, a school, and several churches.