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977.324 D87.
VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD DURING PIONEER TI
T- GEN
GENERAL SCOTTA MADE PEACE HERE AFTER THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
S
WHEATON
DUPAGE CENTER (GLEN ELLYN)
NAPERVILLE
BEAUBIEN TAVERN
DOWI
LISLE
OLDEST TOWN IN DUPAGE COUNTY
NAPERVILLE
EAST
WEST
O
SCALE OF MILES 1 2 3
4
BRANCH DU
DUPAGE RIVER
PLANK ROAD 00000
MORAINE SMRTIRIAD
INDIAN VILLAGE
SCOTTS ROUTE ·· · ·
INDIAN TRAIL a
RIVERS-CREEKS =
CHIPPING STATIONS
EARLY SETTLERSAN.
INDIAN MOUNDS 3
DUPAGES TRADING POST-1800
SIGNAL STATIONS
CORINA MELDER- COLLIER 1949~
000 00 00 0
0 0
0 00
0
a
CHICAGO
00000
00
0
0 0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
a
0
0
0
0
CHICAGO & PLAINFIELD TRAIL 00000000000000000
00000
0000
0
0
0
0
8
0
0
0
GE RIVER
DUPAGES
00
00
BRANCH DAGE RIVER
· LEGEND ·
0
PIERCE HAWLEY HOUSE CORAL 1830
E
0
0
WARRENVILLE
PLAINFIELD & JOLIET TRAIL
1
IES
ADDISON
TT'S ARMY CHASING BLA .....
.... CK IN 1832
....
KENNICOT " MOUNDS
09 8
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
INDIAN SIGNAL STATION
MAMMOTH SPRINGS
THURSTON
SALT CREEK
TALLMADGE SO JACOB FULLERA NTE
,IL WAGNER
LAUGHTON'S ...
0
INN
INDIAN MOUNDUN
IRKING AGRANT
HORACE ALDRICH IK ROAD
GRAUES MILLY BR
STORE
BRUSH HILL
WHAT THOMAS COVELL
.ASS
WALKER'S FARM
FOR
COE
BUCKHORN TAVERN 1830
SETTLEMENT
STREET
LAUGHTON'S TRADING POST 1828 OLDEST SETTLEMENT WEST OF CHICAGO 0
0
0
D
0
0
0
0 0
0
0
0
VIAL TAVERNA LEDT
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
00
0
0
LACE. AMAL 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
FLAGG CREEK
MUD LAKE
0
0
0
0
0
D
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
FIRST WHITE MEN TO NEGOTIATE PORTAGECHE & JOLIET IN 1623
SHABBONA
200%
0 0
0
0
...
...
0
0
0
0
Đ
ARLES TRAIL 900000 00
D
SALT CREE
DES PLAINES RIVER
0
0
0
0
0
JOHN MONELLA
GEN. SCOTT & OFFICERS
0
LA SALLE IN 1682
0
00
DES PLAINES RIVER
ILLINOIS - MICHIGAN CANAL FINISHED IN 1848
ANIME, TORODE
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
977.324 D87v
ILL. HIST. SURVEY
VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
http://archive.org/details/villageoncounty100duga
VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
A HISTORY OF HINSDALE, ILLINOIS
HUGH G. DUGAN
PRIVATELY PRINTED
1949
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE LAKESIDE PRESS . R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA
977.324 0875 I'LL Hist Surve
Commemorating Ten Years of Friends of the Library
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 1949
MR. G. L. SEATON, President
MRS. ROBERT B. AYRES, Secretary
MRS. HAROLD T. MOORE
MR. R. H. TRENHOLME, Vice President MR. CLIFFORD C. PRATT, Treasurer MR. EVERETT ADDOMS
MISS IRENE HELLAND, Librarian
THE HISTORY COMMITTEE
17 N 59
MR. HUGH G. DUGAN, Chairman
MISS NAIDENE GOY
MRS. FELIX CARUSO
MRS. GERTRUDE KETCHAM
MR. LESTER C. CHILDS
MRS. CHAUNCEY T. LAMB
MR. OTIS R. CUSHING
MR. PHILIP WILLIAMS
BOOK DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE
MR. ERNEST B. JOHNSON and a large number of volunteer helpers.
To avoid the semblance of a textbook, and to minimize expense, this book contains no detailed bibliography. The committee used care in determining its facts, and believes all its sources to be reliable. Any evidence of mis-statement of fact will be gratefully received, and readily acknowledged.
FOREWORD
T HROUGHOUT the past few months I have had an occasional inquiry from Hugh Dugan about some phase or incident of Hinsdale's early life. There is no topic upon which I would more readily or agreeably discourse-dealing as it does with a period that in retrospect has become more precious to me with the passing of each succeeding year. Thus when I learned that his inquiries were part of a material gathering prelude to the writing of a Hinsdale history under the sponsorship of the Friends of the Library, my first reaction was one of unmixed gratification that so worthy a project was being under- taken, and by such an eminently constituted and well-qualified group. Upon further reflection however, this initial enthusiasm gradually gave way to skepticism and apprehension. The more I pondered the matter, the more convinced I became that no one less than a Dickens or a Hawthorne could produce a portrait of that beloved Hinsdale of by-gone days, that would satisfy the critical and exacting demands of all those who had had the great good fortune to have been a part of it. Hence it was not long until I found myself hoping that the attempt would be abandoned rather than carried through to what I feared would be an inadequate and disappointing result.
But to convey these reservations to Mr. Dugan without appearing unpardonably presumptuous, posed a problem that I shortly decided I had neither the skill nor the temerity to undertake. And now that he and his colleagues have all but completed their work and I have just had the privilege of reading a final proof of the manuscript, how glad I am that I so refrained. My misgivings are dispelled and though many of the older natives could, like myself, cite countless experiences whose inclusion might add flavor to the story, I feel confident they will agree with me that a remarkable job has been done of recreating the Village as we knew it in our youth as well as recording its less familiar but equally interesting earlier history back through the first settlers even to the glacial age.
Hinsdale's more recent residents as well as those of the future may find compensation from these pages only to the extent of their explora-
vii
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FOREWORD
tory interest in community background but to the "old timers" the book should be an exciting adventure in reading and also a nostalgic one. At least it was for me.
Venerable landmarks and institutions, most of them long since gone, come alive again together with many all but forgotten names and faces. A notable example is the old Garfield School before it was enlarged, where a succession of tolerant and kindly teachers-bless them all-accorded me twelve hectic but happy years of education, beginning with kindergarten and ending with high school graduation. Another fond memory that the book awakens is that of the water tower on the school grounds that someone was always climbing to its precari- ous one hundred and fifteen foot summit largely because it was un- lawful to do so; likewise the skating at Beckwith's Pond and the more extensive skating as well as the swimming and fishing and boating on Salt Creek-particularly before its waters were contracted so greatly in 1916 with the breaking of the dam. Still others were the gay parties at the Club; the coasting on the Garfield and the Sanitarium hills; the hay-rides and the sleigh-rides; the morning paper routes traversed on the run by high school athletes and incidentally, the medium through which more than one young man, myself included, made his debut into America's system of free enterprise; the Saturday afternoon football and baseball games at the "end of Washington" where Hinsdale's "Town Team" usually vanquished its visiting opponent; and finally, the village rendezvous at any and all hours-Evernden's Drug Store and its beloved proprietors, William Evernden and Nelson Webster.
How many more such recollections could be recounted-recollec- tions of events and places all inextricably woven into the daily existence of a community not yet so grown that its population wasn't individually known each to the other and a newcomer seldom remained a stranger more than overnight.
The particular period of which I reminisce was the decade just before and after the turn of the century and even though the Village had been chartered perhaps some twenty-five years previous, I believe that the adults of that period-my parents who came to Hinsdale in 1886 and their contemporaries-could properly be classified among the pioneers of the community. At least they were the later pioneers. These families included prominent Chicago business men who preferred the country, particularly Hinsdale's wooded and hilly regions, to either
ix
FOREWORD
the city or the flat expanses of its more immediate surrounding sub- urban areas. They were cultured as well as capable and the Hinsdale that they encountered during its formative years and that developed under their influence could hardly have resulted other than in a com- munity of character, charm and distinction. They took over their rich inheritance from the founders-the Robbins, the Stoughs, the Walkers, the Ayres-they planted more trees; they paved the streets; they put in the utilities; they established churches and schools-and most impor- tant of all, they enacted ordinances to preserve Hinsdale as a superior residential community. With land relatively low in cost their own roomy houses were surrounded by ample grounds. Every home had its vegetable garden and many had cherry and apple orchards in addition to tennis courts and croquet grounds. And the Village abounded with open fields for baseball, football or any other form of athletics. There was in consequence, vastly more out of door living.
It was essentially a pedestrian community. Nearly everyone walked to the train or to market or to school and thus individuals met fre- quently if not daily. A community on foot is a gregarious community and such was the Hinsdale of that day-a warm-hearted, sociable and gracious one.
Differences in degree of material wealth existed, of course, then as now. There were those who were always referred to as the "well to do" and perhaps there was envy at times and small bitternesses here and there. Yet there was very little class society. If someone was ill my mother or some other mother faithfully visited that home with things to eat. My father's diary frequently records an all-night vigil that he would keep at the bedside of some sick friend. None of this was charity -none condescension to ease the conscience-it was neighborliness. I don't mean to imply that human kindliness doesn't abundantly exist in our society today. There are undoubtedly many Hinsdaleans who pres- ently are giving as much if not more of their time and energy to public service than did those earlier ones of whom I write, but our welfare efforts of today are largely supervisory and impersonal. They are per- formed primarily as institutional officers or trustees whereas the minis- trations of those days were direct and intimate. And as such, they were symbolic of the compassion and simplicity and wholesomeness that characterized the age.
Half a century has elapsed since those days-a half century that has
X
FOREWORD
brought probably as many changes as have ever occurred in a similar period of history. Hinsdale is much larger-therefore less "homey." The strange faces I see these mornings on the station platform far out- number the familiar ones. But the character that the pioneers gave to the community has changed but little. Its citizens of today impress me as evaluating life much as did their predecessors-sharing their love of country and believing staunchly as they did, in Christian living and in the American principles of individual freedom and democratic government.
I count myself as singularly fortunate to have lived in both eras- to have had my entire life unfold in this beloved village. This book is an authentic and for me a stirring story of its background-bridging the span between those who made it and those who are keeping it. It deserves an important place in every local library and all Hinsdaleans -past, present and future-will be enduringly grateful to Mr. Dugan and his collaborators for the prodigious effort and skill and vision that its production so manifestly reflects.
February 3, 1949
PHILIP R. CLARKE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many old-time residents who, through interviews and voluntary contributions have furnished reminiscences, photographs, and other mementos of the past.
ESPECIALLY :
MR. AND MRS. W. L. BLACKMAN
MRS. EDWARD F. HINES
MR. JOHN G. BOHLANDER JR.
MRS. WILLIAM R. JORDAN
MR. CHESTER C. BRATTEN
MR. HARRY LARSON
MR. AND MRS. PHILIP R. CLARKE
MR. FREDERICK H. MCELHONE
MR. GEORGE COFFIN
MISS EMMA OSTRUM MR. PAUL RICHERT
MR. ARTHUR F. COLLINS
MR. ALEX L. DAWSON
MRS. BRUCE E. RICHIE
MRS. PEARL DUNPHY
MR. CHARLES O. RING
MRS L. M. FEE
MR. AGARD ROSS
MR. WADE FETZER
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE E. RUCHTY
MRS. COURTNEY D. FREEMAN
THE LATE MARY E. SAUNDERS
THE LATE MRS. WALTER FIELD
MISS GERTRUDE VAN LIEW
THE LATE MRS. WILLIAM GRAUE
MISS ALICE WARREN
MISS BESSIE HINCKLEY
Data collected by MAUD WRIGHT HIATT'S COMMITTEE for Hinsdale's fiftieth birthday celebration in 1923.
GILPIN LIBRARY of the Chicago Historical Society. THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY. THE MERRILL PRINTING COMPANY.
THE CHICAGO BURLINGTON & QUINCY RAILROAD COMPANY. CORINA MELDER COLLIER, for drawing the pioneer map.
MRS. HAROLD DUNTON MR. WALTER M. GIVLER MR. AND MRS. FORD PORTER Wheaton Naperville Warrenville
FOR TYPING THE MANUSCRIPT:
MRS. ROBERT SIFFERD
MRS. ARTHUR BETHKE MRS. JOHN JANAK
MRS. ERNEST ROOT
MRS. FRANK SKOLD
MRS. FRED TOWNSEND
MISS RUTH RIGGS
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD .
vii
INTRODUCTION
. xvii
CHAPTER
PART ONE Background
I LAND, STREAM AND NATIVE
3
II WHITE PIONEERS .
9
III BLACK HAWK'S THREAT
17
IV
SETTLEMENT UNDER WAY .
29
PART TWO The Village
V BRUSH HILL . 45
VI COMING OF THE RAILROAD . 69
VII THE ELEGANT ERA 93
VIII FROM 1900 ONWARD . 141
IX SYMBOLS OF A GOOD SOCIETY 158
X THE PIVOTS OF VILLAGE LIFE . 167
ADDENDA
187
INDEX
193
PICTURES AND MAPS
Map of the Hinsdale Vicinity in Pioneer Times .
Front endsheet
Shabbona, Chief of the Pottawattamies .
28
The Horace Aldrich House .
36
Scene Along the Illinois-Michigan Canal .
38
Bull's Head Tavern
42
Jacob Fuller's House
47
School Appointment Certificate
50
John Coe's Tax Receipt .
50
Castle Inn
52
Toll Gate House
53
Household Utensils, 1850
57
Farm House of Alfred L. Walker .
58
Graue's Grist Mill .
60
Class of 1889, Fullersburg School .
66
Petition for the Railroad
70, 71
Locomotive of 1865 .
75
The First Baptist Church
84
Railroad Timetable, 1868
87
Joel Tiffany's House
94
Interior of the Tiffany House
94
The Baker's Dozen .
102
Hinsdale Business District, 1883
105
First Graduating Class, Hinsdale High School
107
Washington Street Crossing, 1883 .
108
Miss Blodgett's First Grade
110
Hinsdale "Old-Timers" .
113
The Stone School House .
116
Heineman Building, 1895
117
The Oldest Existing Dwelling
122
Members of the G. A. R. on Mr. Allen's Porch
124
Walnut Street, before It Was Paved .
133
Program, Eighth Grade Graduating Exercises, 1893
136
The Grant Street Hill .
138
The Park Hotel
139
Map of Hinsdale, 1869 .
Back endsheet
INTRODUCTION
W HEN, at the request of Mrs. Paul Burt, a history committee of the Friends of the Library was assembled, it was decided that we could serve best by collecting information about Hinsdale's past so it could be made available to all who cared to peruse it. Toward this end a fairly large number of pamphlets, books, personal memoranda, and pictures relating to the subject have been accumulated over many months, and this book is mostly a compendium of those data.
The book makes no attempt to boost the town, or to eulogize any- thing or any person. It carries no banner for a cause. Its only purpose is to relate, as they happened, those events and circumstances which seem especially pertinent to Hinsdale's origin and growth. It is our hope that this has been done in readable form.
It has been the committee's desire to present as complete a story as possible, but it soon became apparent that there would be restrictions on the size of the book, owing to its limited circulation. So it was de- cided at the outset to make it a story of Hinsdale the Village; a story beginning with the reasons for its being here, and continuing on through the stages of settlement, early, and mid-period growth, but leaving off at the threshold of modern times; at that point where the interests that are purely historical begin to fade. It seemed especially desirable to record those happenings of bygone years that otherwise might be lost to the memory, never to return.
This plan of procedure has served its practical purpose, that of confining the history within the bounds of a single, medium-sized volume, but it leaves much to be desired; for a great deal of informa- tion, that is of interest concerning Hinsdale, has necessarily been omitted. It has been impossible, for instance, to do justice to the service records of those who took part in World War II. Perhaps some day those records will be preserved in another Memorial War Review, such as the one compiled after World War I. Similarly, it is sug- gested that supplemental data might be prepared dealing with Hins- dale organizations, proceedings of the Board of Trustees, or other phases of village life that are worthy of more detailed treatment.
xvii
xviii
INTRODUCTION
Certainly some committee of the future should undertake a compi- lation of the town's history following 1930, at about which year the present story terminates. So many people have arrived in Hinsdale since that year, people who have done much to make the village what it is; and interesting events are occurring daily. Modern homes and buildings would take their places among the illustrations. In view of the possibility of such a future undertaking, the preliminary chapters of the present book are somewhat more comprehensive than might be called for by a single volume.
My parents moved to Hinsdale as recently as 1908, so this history has not been written by a genuine old-timer. This shortcoming has largely been ameliorated by the assistance that has been had in the book's preparation. The writer is most grateful to members of the history committee, and to others who helped furnish the data.
May 2, 1949
H. G. D.
VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
CHAPTER I
Land, Stream and Native
H INSDALE, ILLINOIS, lies within the Desplaines River Basin, in which Salt Creek forms a tributary, as do Flagg Creek and the two stems of the Du Page River to the west. The Desplaines origi- nates in southeastern Wisconsin. Its confluence with the Kankakee above Ottawa marks the beginning of the Illinois River.
During a past age, so many years ago that it is difficult to compre- hend such a span of time, the area now designated as Du Page, Cook, and their adjacent counties was submerged. A shallow sea extended this far inland. Much of the bottom of this body of water became rock, largely through the formation and deposition of marine fossils, and it now comprises the belt of bedrock beneath the surface of our county. The belt extends from New York state to points in Iowa, and the rock has been called Niagara Limestone. It is the only massive rock found in Du Page County.
For reasons that appear obscure in the reference works on the sub- ject, the bottom of this inland sea, which covered the central part of the continent, slowly emerged. The land thus formed became subject to erosion, the accumulation of soil, and to the furrowing and billow- ing action of glaciers that repeatedly visited the upper Middle West, over eons of time, and through cycles of climatic changes.
Owing to their tendency to flow, as water flows, these mountains of ice moved, down from the north, carrying much of the land surface with them. Movements of earth have determined local topography, and this, in turn, has influenced the economic and social trends of particular areas. Climate, land formations, and the location of lakes and water courses, formed by the past movements of ice and land masses, have influenced the flow of commerce, and this has had much to do with the location of towns and cities.
The glaciers brought to this district a heterogeneous mixture of drift, or soil, much of which is stratified, representing the different periods in which it was deposited. Stratified gravels and sands are visible in artificially cut embankments at Lemont, Willow Springs, and Joliet. Old strip mines near Joliet have yielded agate, jasper, and
3
4
VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
other semi-precious stones. The high banks of Salt Creek reveal no layers of drift, but glacier-borne rocks and boulders are scattered along both sides of the stream.
Along the line where the last glacier stopped in this district, about 25,000 years ago, it left a well defined ridge or moraine, roughly parallel to the shore line of Lake Michigan and from five to thirty miles inland, through northern Indiana, Illinois, and southern Wis- consin. This ridge has been named the Valparaiso Moraine, because of its prominence at Valparaiso, Indiana. Hinsdale is situated on the lakeward border of this moraine.
We are told that the Great Lakes were formed by the glaciers, and that after the last ice sheet had receded, Lake Michigan extended as far west as La Grange. Its shore line at that time has remained as a clearly defined but lesser ridge running north and south along the eastern edge of La Grange. "Chicago Lake," as the older Lake Mich- igan has been designated for geological reference, receded at progres- sive intervals eastward to its present shore line, and the progressive recedings have left other, smaller ridges or "beaches." There is the Glenwood Beach which touches La Grange, the two Calumet Beaches, and the "old" and the "new" Tolleston Beaches. These irregular heights of land seem to converge in a general way, in the area between Riverside and Summit.
While Chicago Lake was contracting, the Desplaines is said to have emptied into the lake, possibly through a juncture with the Chicago River. "The Desplaines seems to have had a free choice between a course to the Mississippi or to the St. Lawrence. Its present course (to the Illinois and the Mississippi) appears highly accidental."
The aberrations of that river seem to have been duplicated in a way by two of its tributaries. Most Hinsdaleans are not aware of the fact that the two small streams, Salt Creek and Flagg Creek have been of interest to geologists, especially regarding the directions they have taken, and why they do not join. Both streams occupy a north-south depression within the eastern ridge of the moraine, but Salt Creek makes an abrupt turn to the east, along Spring Road in the Forest Pre- serve, and cuts through the eastern ridge to join the Desplaines, instead of continuing to flow southward with Flagg Creek. (See map in front of book.) A state geological survey, made in 1909, devotes several para- graphs to this unusual expression of nature.
5
LAND, STREAM AND NATIVE
Originally, Salt Creek was known as the "Little Desplaines." Later, during the era of hauling goods by wagon, when bridges over streams were few, a wagon load of salt became mired in its muddy bed. The wagon sank deeper, the salt melted, and so the stream got its name, "Salt Creek." The teamster was one John Reid, and his load of salt was destined for Galena. Flagg Creek was named for Reuben Flagg, an early settler at Walker's Grove, now called Plainfield.
Another geological survey says the glacial drift at Hinsdale is less than 100 feet deep, and that the underlying limestone contains water- bearing crevices, conditions that are favorable for a large water supply at shallow depths. Untreated, the water is hard, made so by its content of calcium and magnesium bicarbonates.
There were many natural springs in this vicinity. Western Springs, the neighboring village to the east, derives its name from them, as . does Spring Road, north of Fullersburg. As the artesian water table of the region has lowered, the springs have become less numerous, but as late as 1862 a "gusher" spring was recorded, one which broke out suddenly through the earth's crust. This occurred three miles north of Fullersburg. The crater, formed by the eruption, was so large that it was called Mammoth Spring. Salt Creek is partly spring fed, as were some of the ponds that were found on the site of Hinsdale.
This village lies within a soil belt indicated on the maps as "fine type clay and loam." It consists of these parts: decayed residue of orig- inal rock layers, formed before the first ice sheet arrived, and weath- ered material brought by the glaciers. With the addition of humus formed by the decay of organic matter, the black prairie soil was developed. Although, in spots, its clay content is high, it is especially suited to the growth of corn, wheat, hay, and small grains, the vine crops, potatoes, fruit and vegetables. Flowers of course should be added, as all Hinsdaleans well know. Through many centuries this vital substance accumulated, aged, and matured, to be ready for the arrival of man, both red and white.
Mr. Charles S. Winslow in his Indians of The Chicago Region says this area was first occupied by the Illinois tribe "as far back as history records." As he points out, Lake Michigan, during the era of French · exploration, was called "Lake of the Illinois," and its later name
6
VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
"Michigan" was derived from the Metch-i-ga-mi branch of the Illinois nation. The name "Illinois" in the Indian language means strong or capable men. Both Father Marquette, during his short sojourn with the tribe in 1673, and La Salle a few years later, according to the his- torian Francis Parkman, were impressed by the uprightness, intelli- gence, and friendliness of these Indians.
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