USA > Illinois > DuPage County > Hinsdale > Village on the county line ; a history of Hinsdale, Illinois > Part 7
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VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
In Germany she was beset with troubles. The Opera house was closed and only a music hall was available for her appearances. Her mother became seriously ill, and soon her manager quit. Despondency affected her performances; the music hall contract terminated, so, until her mother was able to travel, she was reduced to the necessity of ap- pearing in a beer garden. This time they moved to Paris.
In that city she found her Serpentine dance being imitated at the Folies-Bergère, and Loie considered it such a poor imitation that she induced the manager of the theatre to employ the originator of the dance instead.
It was at this point in her career that Loie Fuller's fame as a dancer had its beginning. In Paris she devised other new dances: The Violet, the Flame, the Butterfly, Fire and the Lily, and others. Electric lights had arrived and Loie displayed ingenuity in the arrangement of light- ing effects for her dances; lights of changing color, some overhead, others shining through glass in the floor of the stage, all of this as mere trimming, however, to her natural charm and terpsichorean vivacity.
There were more trials. A contract to appear in St. Petersburg had to be broken because of her mother's illness, and the Russians brought suit making her pay large damages for breaching the contract. She made many friends in Paris, however, and the reputation she was building there held much promise for the future. Sarah Bernhardt, whom she had first met in America, attended some of the dancer's per- formances and solicited her advice concerning lighting arrangements for her new play that was about to open there. An old friend Loie had met in Jamaica introduced her to Alexander Dumas, through whom she became friends of M. and Mme. Flammarion, the astronomers, and Rodin the sculptor.
Children were fascinated by Loie Fuller's dancing; the dances were so fairy-like and appealing to a child's imagination. After a certain performance for children one little girl was taken behind the scenes to meet the dancer, who by that time had changed to her street clothes. According to Miss Fuller, this tot, when she saw her, said to her mother, "No, I don't want to meet her. She's just a fat lady, not the person I saw dancing."
Royalty too (it was still in vogue in Europe at the turn of the cen- tury) liked to see Loie Fuller dance. She appeared at the palace in Bucharest for Princess Marie, the two becoming life-long friends there-
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BRUSH HILL
after. She danced for the Duke and Duchess of Mecklenberg at the Hague, and for the king of Senegal at the Colonial Exposition in Marseilles in 1907. Queen Alexandria of England went to the theatre to see her dance in Paris.
An appearance at the Chinese court was cancelled after the journey to China had started, because of the illness of her mother. By now she had given her interpretation of the Dance of Fear, from Salome, and had created her Dance of the Pearls, and others. One time, when she was dancing at the Athenee in Paris a group of students showered the stage with violets. After the performance they unhitched Miss Fuller's horse from the carriage and themselves drew the vehicle to her house, with her in it.
As her personal appearances tapered off with the passing of the years, Miss Fuller helped several aspiring younger artists along the road to success. She sponsored two or three Japanese theatrical com- panies, largely through her interest in things Oriental and in one little Nipponese actress in particular. For one of these troups she wrote the plays, and they were successful wherever they appeared. She helped a poor dancer toward a career, and other people, who were blind, or in need of one thing or another.
At a function given in honor of Kawakami, a notable Japanese playwright, who understood neither French nor English, and at which there were none present who knew Japanese, Miss Fuller acted as inter- preter. How? By means of interpretive gestures, of which art she was master; and they were understood by the others at the gathering.
Anatole France, in his introduction to Loie Fuller's autobiography says, among other things: "This brilliant artist is revealed as a woman of just and delicate sensibility, endowed with a marvelous perception of spiritual values. She is one who is able to grasp the profound signifi- cance of things that seem insignificant, and to see the splendor hidden in simple lives .- not that she is especially devoted to the lowly, the poor in spirit. On the contrary she enters easily into the lives of artists and scholars. She has formulated, without desiring to do so, and per- haps without knowing it, a considerable theory of human knowledge and philosophy of art." *
* Summarizing Fifteen Years of A Dancer's Life, the autobiography of Loie Fuller.
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VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
The class of 1889, Fullersburg School.
BY THE YEAR 1874, when an atlas of the county and its principal towns was published, Fullersburg had emerged from the frontier and was acquiring the aspects of a residential village. Where the main road ran through, it was called Main Street. York and Cass Streets joined to cross it north and south. Jackson and Washington Streets were being developed, lots had been plotted, and a few more homes were going up within the village.
Owners of the land surrounding Fullersburg at this time, most of them being resident farmers, were Marvin Fox, D. K. Foot, David Thurston, T. S. and J. W. Rogers, John Hemshell, C. Fellows, A. Mc- Allister, David Roth, Benjamin Fuller, M. Coffin, Fred Graue, D. and H. Mayer, A. Frank, H. Bergman, F. Wegner, Winkelman, and Boerger.
Before publication of the 1874 atlas, there were three farms in particular adjacent to Fullersburg which were to be associated with the development of Hinsdale. These were the farms of Jarvis Fox, Anson Ayres, and Alfred Walker, all three of them extending south- ward from Ogden Avenue, to about the line of present-day Chicago
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BRUSH HILL
Ave. The Ayres farm was on the west, Fox in the middle, and Walker on the east. All three of these properties eventually were subdivided into Hinsdale home lots.
Have you seen that attractive little white church on the sloping west side of the northern extension of Washington Street, a little south of the Creek? The church is especially picturesque when viewed across the meadow from York Road. It was established in 1878 and called St. John's Lutheran by the eleven German families that built it. Later, the name was changed to St. John's Evangelical and Reformed Church. At first, the German language was used in its services, but this has long since been discontinued. Since the beginning, its membership has been drawn from both farm and village. Charter members of St. John's Church were Joachim Ross, Henry Heinke, Frederick Timke, William Ostrum, Charles Schmidt, J. H. Papenhausen, and John Bohlander.
We come now to 1886, a year in which the state of Illinois pub- lished another business directory. Since the first directory in 1854, there have been many changes and additions:
REVEREND F. BOEBER is listed as a Lutheran minister and Physician. W. BULLERMAN Blacksmith C. T. COE Manufacturer of Birch Beer
W. DELICATE Painter H. FLECHTNER Mason ALMERON FORD General Store
ADOLPH FROSHER
Carpenters
WILLIAM WEGENER
MORELL FULLER Plasterer
(He was also a musician. When square dances were held it was Morell Fuller who furnished the music with his violin.) FRED GRAUE Miller
S. HEINEMAN General Store
W. HIX
Meat Market
JOHN C. EIDAM
Blacksmiths
H. IGNATZ
C. KARNATZ Shoemaker
WILLIAM OSTRUM Mason JOHN F. RUCHTY Hotel, and Ice
PAUL RUDOLPH Physician FRED TUNK Wagon Maker
RICHARD WREDE Shoemaker
ERNEST ZSCHACK. Saloon, General Store and Dance Hall ALMERON FORD
Postmaster
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VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
The village of Cass, on the Plainfield Road southwest of Hinsdale, was an early neighbor of Brush Hill, so much so that the road leading south from Brush Hill was called Cass Street. In 1851 Benjamin Fuller, J. S. Coe, and D. W. Boyd of Brush Hill had petitioned the county to build a road between the two places. This road would have cut diag- onally across the site of Hinsdale, and the route actually was surveyed, but the road was never constructed. There was talk of other develop- ments in the same area and possibly the people of Brush Hill foresaw a day when they would have neighbors closer than those at Cass. Indeed much closer; for seventy-two years later Brush Hill was to become an- nexed to the village of Hinsdale.
CHAPTER VI Coming of the Railroad
TN THE 1840's the carriage of freight in northern Illinois cost the shipper about $10 per ton for twenty miles, a charge that was so high as to deter commercial expansion. Passenger travel was uncom- fortable. So it was not long before rails were laid, running westward from Chicago. By 1850 this road, the Galena & Chicago Union, had reached Elgin and was aiming for points beyond.
Another thriving settlement to the west, Aurora, was in need of better transportation. So the enterprising citizens of that place ob- tained a charter from the state legislature, in 1849, to build a railroad from Aurora northward, to connect with the Galena & Chicago Union, thus giving Aurora access by rail to the city of Chicago. This juncture- point with the Galena line was Turner's Junction, later to be known as West Chicago. Over wood and strap-iron rails the new line from Aurora was soon hauling its cars all the way to Chicago, and it was named the Aurora Branch Railroad. This new road then expanded westward from Aurora to Mendota, to Galesburg, Peoria, Quincy, and to Burlington, Iowa, and eventually its name was changed to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy .*
It was not long before the need of a direct route between Aurora and Chicago became apparent, to avoid the 12 miles from Aurora northward to Turner Junction before entering the city. Rails of its own, leading into Chicago, were advisable for other reasons also. The time could be foreseen when traffic would be heavy enough to demand double and perhaps triple tracks over the city approaches, and land for freight terminals, yards, maintenance, and switching facilities would be needed. But in addition to these requirements, the towns of Lyons, Brush Hill, Downers Grove, Lisle, and Naperville wanted a railroad to pass through their communities. Although the name of Mr. Alfred Walker does not appear on the petition of these towns (Page 70) he too was desirous of having the rails come through; so much so that he donated the southern fringe of his farm lands for road-bed purposes.
* During this year, 1949, the C B & Q observes its "milestone 100."
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To the President, Board of Directors and Stockholders of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company.
GENTLEMEN :
We respectfully beg leave to submit for your consideration a few facts connected with the building of an independent track from Chicago, via Naperville, to connect with your road at Aurora.
This route, which is at present deprived of Railroad facilities, is not surpassed for diversified beauty and productiveness by any section of Northern Illinois. With these natural advantages it is not surprising that it is now for the most part thickly set- tled with an enterprising population.
No section of the country between Lake Michigan and Fox River affords equal inducements to the farmer and mechanic, and no part of the West, of easy access to Chicago, presents the same attractions to families in the city who are seeking resi- dences in the country; for, while no portion of the route is too remote, it lies through a beautiful region which is proverbial for its healthfulness.
We would add, for your consideration, the following statistics of the business transacted during the past year at the different points on the route of your contem- plated road.
LYONS, ten miles west from Chicago, is a point which your road would soon bring into notice for business and for suburban residences, and although it is but a short distance from Chicago, its business would be desirable to any Road. It is estimated that this would be one of the most remunerative stations within fifty miles of the city. There are inexhaustible quarries of stone here of the very best quality for lime and suitable for building purposes. The demand for rubble stone, for the city of Chicago, on this place would be immense, and could be supplied to any extent.
The Lime business, as now carried on, has furnished, during the past year, to Chicago, over 100,000 barrels, equal to 20,000,000 lbs., at a cost for transportation of more than $13,000. Your road would open a new and extensive market to this busi- ness, from the west, which could be supplied to any amount.
There is an extensive Brewery at this place, which now furnishes freight equal to one car-load per day. With Railroad facilities this establishment would more than double its present freight, for at least nine months in the year, and has capacity to supply any increased demand which the building of your road would create.
Other local freights, not enumerated above, would equal, if not exceed, any other station within the same distance from the city of Chicago.
BRUSH HILL, six miles west from Lyons and sixteen from Chicago, is the centre of a well settled and productive country, where a fair business is now transacted, and, with a Railroad, would soon grow into importance. There is a Flouring Mill at this place which keeps two teams constantly on the road to and from Chicago.
DOWNER'S GROVE, five miles west from Brush Hill and twenty-one miles from Chi- cago, is also the centre of a rich farming country which is well settled. This point would draw the business of a large section, the produce of which now finds a market either at Lockport or is taken directly to Chicago by teams. The grain raised in this section of country, which would make this its depot, during the last year was 397,560 bushels.
The merchandise tonnage for the same time, to and from Chicago, amounted to 250 tons or 500,000 lbs., besides Lumber. That may be safely estimated at 550,000 feet, or equal to 1,650,000. Total, 2,150,000 lbs. freight. The passenger traffic at this point would be no inconsiderable item.
NAPERVILLE, the county seat of Du Page County, seven miles west of Downer's Grove and 28 miles from Chicago, is situated in as productive and well settled a por- tion of the country as can be found in the State.
Its population exceeds 2,000. It is over seven miles south of the Galena and Chi- cago Union Railroad and three miles from the village of Warrenville, a flourishing town, with a good business, a flouring mill and a saw mill.
On the south, twelve miles, is the village of Plainfield, and on the south-east, Lock- port, fifteen miles, and Joliet twenty miles. These are the nearest business points in this direction.
Naperville enjoys a large trade from the country for many miles around, drawing business from the north, south and south-east-principally from the south and south- east.
There are eighteen stores in this place, a large plow and wagon factory, and other manufactories, two lumber yards, two extensive breweries doing a large business and keeping in their employ six teams, two flouring mills and two saw mills at and within
one and one-half miles of the town. Few towns with Railroad facilities, and none without, having continued to thrive equal to this.
The produce of this section finds its way to market by the G. & C. U. R. R. and by teams to Lockport and Chicago direct, at least nineteen-twentieths of which goes to the two latter places.
The amount of grain raised during the past year, in the section of country that would make this point its depot, was as follows:
Wheat, 215,236 bushels. Corn, 239,300 bushels.
Oats, 285,960
Rye, Barley and Wheat, 22,436
Vegetables,
85,052
The amount of Wool marketed at this place last year was 71,000 lbs. The above amount of grain was obtained by actual census, under direction of the Du Page County Agricultural Society.
The merchandise tonnage for the past year, to and from this place, was 3,900 tons, or 7,800,000 lbs. Lumber for dealers, 2,000,000 feet, or 6,000,000 lbs. Estimated amount of lumber for others, 750,000 feet, or 2,250,000 lbs .- making a total of 16,050,000 lbs. freight.
There are two lines of stages from this place to the G. & C. U. R. R., each making two trips daily to and from said road, which carried, on an average, during the past year, twenty-six passengers per day; making an aggregate of 8138 passengers per annum. It is estimated that at least one-third as many more go and come by private conveyance, making a total of 10,851 passengers to and from this point annually.
This town is well supplied with lime and stone for building purposes, and gravel which could be used for ballast.
The foregoing statistics, for the accuracy of which we hold ourselves responsible, founded, as they are, upon facts, show the actual business of the different points without Railroad facilities. We firmly believe that the business of all kinds, in the section alluded to, would quadruple within two years from the completion of your road.
No Railroad leaving Chicago traverses as beautiful and well settled a section of country as would your contemplated road. We confidently believe that the business between Chicago and Aurora would be as remunerative as any section of your road of equal length. The passenger traffic alone, on this route as shown above, would be very large. Not on this part of the road alone would this be increased; but by bring- ing Aurora in direct communication with Chicago, by a straight line, and shortening the distance over six miles, the number of passengers would doubtless increase. As before stated, most of the grain and other produce of this section now finds market either at Lockport or Chicago direct, which would find its way to market over your road.
As representatives of the people along the line of the proposed road, we offer you their united support and pledge you the right of way between the west line of Du Page County and the Desplaines River at Lyons,-embracing some twenty-four miles of the route,-and probably the greater portion of the distance from the last named point to the city limits of Chicago,-free of cost, provided the road is soon built.
July 28th, 1858.
MORRIS SLEIGHT, JOS. NAPER, JOHN COLLINS, GEORGE MARTIN, JAS. G. WRIGHT, HIRAM BRISTOL, S. M. SKINNER, JOHN JASSOY,
Members of Committee residing at Naperville.
H. CARPENTER, WALTER BLANCHARD, Downer's Grove.
FREDERICK GRAY,
BENJAMIN FULLER, Brush Hill.
STEPHEN WHITE, F. T. SHERMAN, S. T. SWIFT,
Lyons.
Courtesy of the C. B. & Q. R. R. Co.
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VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
With arguments and reasons accumulating daily in favor of the new line, the die was soon cast. The following resolution, adopted at the C B & Q stockholders meeting June 20, 1862, set the machinery in motion, and it gives expression to the chief factor in determining the location of Hinsdale:
Resolved, that the Board of Directors of this company, be and they are hereby authorized to construct a branch road from the company's main line, in the city of Aurora in Kane County, to, and into the City of Chicago, by the way of Naperville, and to acquire depot and station grounds, and such other lands as may be required ... pursuant to authority granted by an act of the Legis- lature etc., etc. . .. .
It will seem strange to present-day readers that the directors should have referred to the new line as a "branch road." It was, of course, so considered because the main line at that time was the one to the north of us.
Actual construction was hampered by the war between the states which made labor scarce and slowed the delivery of materials. Little mention was made of the progress of the new line in the Chicago papers of the day, owing partly to the preponderance of war news. The con- flict was entering its crucial stage, and in Chicago at this time there was a flurry of excitement arising out of an alleged conspiracy to free all the Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas, out on Cottage Grove Avenue. Moreover, there was censorship of news about railroad and industrial building. Confederate spies are known to have operated in Chicago, one having been captured there in 1862. A Railroad strike during the latter part of the war did nothing to help the project, and the winter of 1864 was one of the most severe on record.
Although Frederick Graue (spelled "Gray" in the petition) and Benjamin Fuller of Brush Hill were among the petitioners for the new road, the line was not run directly through their village, because of engineering considerations, having to do with land contours and the desirability of straight track wherever this could be achieved. Also there were difficulties in building south of Fullersburg. The "flats," that stretch of land between Highlands and Western Springs, which then was an extensive swamp where boating and skating were popular, presented a serious obstacle. Old timers remember stories of the new track and its embankment sinking into the mire. Some say that a few cars sank out of sight one night, as happened on a section of the Cana-
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COMING OF THE RAILROAD
dian Pacific when it was building. Whether that occurred here is open to question, but in the railroad company's annual report of 1865 we find this statement: "A large amount of earth-work has been done be- tween Lyons and Hinsdale, where the road crosses a low marsh, in con- sequence of the sinking of the embankment for a distance of about 700 feet." Further, the report says, "New fence has been built along eight- een miles of the Road, which completes the fencing." This was to keep the cows off the track, a problem that presented more difficulties through the suburbs than it did out in the country! These fences are noted in early sketches of scenes along the line.
It seems strange to picture a railroad construction crew at what is now the center of town, when there was nothing else here at all, other than temporary quarters for the track workers and Mr. Walker's farm buildings a quarter of a mile to the north, with perhaps a path and a wagon trail here and there.
Finally the rails reached all the way to Aurora, and on the morning of May 23, 1864, The Chicago Tribune carried this news item:
"The new line of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway between this city and Aurora is completed, and the cars have been running over it for several days past. This new road will bring us into direct railway connection with Lyons, Brush Hill, Downers Grove, Naperville, and other points . . . a matter of very considerable interest to the residents along this new line, as also to our city. This arrangement is very important to the Company, as every rail- way must control its termini in order to do an independent really successful business."
The new road was double tracked from Chicago to the Desplaines River, and consisted of a single track from there to Aurora. According to the Land Owner map of 1869, (see back end-sheet) there were two passing tracks where the line ran through Hinsdale, and the station was located between the two sidings, a little west of Washington Street. This first passenger station was erected in 1864, and has served as the freight depot since the present passenger station was built. The old building, still west of Washington, has been altered occasionally, to meet new conditions, but its remaining walls are of the original brick.
Hinsdale's rail fans will be interested in this 1864 letter written by Edward L. Baker, Chairman of the C. B. & Q., to C. G. Hammond, Superintendent in Chicago, concerning the purchase of two locomo- tives.
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VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE
Boston, 6th Mo. 18th 1864
C. G. HAMMOND, Esq.
Esteemed Friend
Your favor of the 15th is at hand. The engines were bought today for $21,000, the two. They have just been painted and varnished, one of them is having cylinders cased with brass instead of iron . ... I have set George Weed at work to get a good Master Mechanic to inspect the engines before delivery, and to get a good trusty engineer started with them from Concord, N.H. with plenty of oil to put them through by way of Troy and Buffalo.
Yours very truly, EDWARD L. BAKER
These "funnel" stacked veterans were to pass and re-pass through Hinsdale hundreds of times after their arrival from New Hampshire.
The cars of that day, viewed from the outside, were square looking at the ends, and were painted a bright color. Inside, the seats were ar- ranged much the same as they are today except that there were no long side seats near the doors of the car. But space was provided for a stove at each end, though sometimes a single stove served, in the middle of the car, with a box of wood for fuel. Kerosene lamps gave light. The car trucks were a combination of wood and iron members, bolted to- gether. At this date air brakes had not arrived, nor had the automatic coupler. Hand operated brakes, and the old link and pin coupler were to serve until well along in the Eighties.
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