German-speaking Roman Catholic farmers from the Mosel Valley near Luxembourg in what is now Germany, many of them from in and around the city of Trier (for which the New Trier Township would later be named), had begun settling the area in the late 1830s. They developed a cohesive farming community and were active in the governance of New Trier Township (established in 1850), which built roads, schools and drainage ditches. They received their first assigned priest, Fr. William Netstraeter, in 1872, who would serve the faith community for five decades, as well as become a Wilmette trustee and help found New Trier High School. In 1874, the community was incorporated as the Village of Gross Point, using the traditional voyageur name for the area immediately north of Chicago. Some prominent Gross Point family names include Hoffmann, Braun, Bauer, Schneider, Schaefer, Schaefgen, Reinwald, Bleser, Schwall, Engel, Steffens, Lauermann, Thalmann, Loutsch, Rengel, Nanzig, and Borre. For the next half-century, Gross Point would remain a separate entity from Wilmette. Gross Point remained a small community, with its population never exceeding 500.