When Des Plaines Was Young

by C.A. Wolfram

REPRINTED F R O M

The Des Plaines Suburban Times

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Clarence Albert Wolfram (generally known as Bert)

has been a resident of Des Plaines and vicinity for nearly

sixty years. In the Spring of 1889 his parents bought

the Davison homestead on Hawthorne Lane on the bank

of the river and built their home on this six acre tract.

Its beautiful lawns and apple orchard were the Mecca

of many of the village young people on Sunday after­

noons.

Bert, the son of George and Margaret Wolfram and

brother of Louis, was born within a mile of the court house

in Chicago, Illinois. He was graduated from the Chicago

public school, at Humboldt, a suburb, and from the

Jefferson township high school (now Carl Schurz High

School ) and f r o m the John Marshall L a w School where

he received his L.L.B. degree. H e was admitted to the

Illinois bar in October , 1910.

In 1898 he enlisted in the First Illinois In fantry ,

served through the Cuban campaign and w a s present at

the surrender o f Santiago . During his boyhood and y o u n g

manhood he w a s active in a lmost all athletic sports ,

be ing particularly prof ic ient in baseball , skating and

swimming. F o r over f i f t y years he w a s an employee o f

Chicago Title and Trust Company and one o f its p r e ­

decessors, the Title Guarantee and Trust Company. F o r

over f o r ty years he was an examiner o f titles to real

estate and has examined titles in almost every section in

every township in Cook county, together with m a n y titles

to Loop property having much to do with the growth of

Chicago. Being f o r many years connected with the ante

f ire records , he was frequently called as an expert w i t ­

ness in eases involving ante f ire titles.

In September, 1902, he married Genevieve Fo lger

Webster with w h o m he l ives at 797 Graceland avenue,

Des Plaines, Illinois. They are the parents o f Mrs . Murray

S. Smith of Des Plaines and Mrs . George H . Shevlin, Jr . ,

o f Ni les , Michigan, who have both been on the facu l ty

o f Maine Township High School , and of George W o l f r a m

o f Union, Illinois.

C H A P T E R I Early Settlers

The City o f Des Plaines, Cook county, Illinois, is situated along the banks o f the Des Plaines r iver , near the center o f the Township o f Maine. It has a population of over twelve thousand. Three rai l ­roads intersect within its l imits. Its earliest inhabitants settled here in 1833. A f t e r the close o f the Blackhawk war of 1832, Gen. Scott 's campaigners b rought to the eastern states such g l owing reports of this western terr i tory , that emigrat ion immediately b e ­gan. It is a mat ter o f record that migrat ion general ly travels along the parallels o f latitude. A s further proo f o f this assertion we f ind that many of the early pioneers came f r o m the N e w England and Middle At lant ic states. F r o m accounts of frontier life in this locality by some of our early fe l low citizens it appears that the f irst early settlers came here in 1833 and settled along the west bank of the Des Plaines river, then called the A u x Plaine.

A m o n g the f irst were Gardner Brooks , Mancel T a l c o t t , John B. Foot , J. W . Walton , Eben Conant, Augustus H . Conant, Gen. Peet , Mr. Al l ison, A l f r e d Parsons , John, Wi l l iam, Jonathan and Dr. John A . Kennicott . In 1836 came Dr . Silas Meacham Deacon John C. Clark, H e n r y F. Grannis, E z r a A l g u r , Wil lard Tanner , Franc is Connor and Evan Jones ; in 1839 came Hollis Sabin, Joseph and H i ­ram Jef ferson, Mark Ockerly and John Barchard ; in 1840 Stephen

Thacker , Luther , George and Ste ­phen Je f ferson and George B a b -cock. A m o n g the above list Gen. Peet , Mr. Al l ison, the Kennicotts and George Babcock settled a little north of the T o w n of Maine.

The Rand homestead w a s located at the north and east corner of Rand road and Des Plaines avenue ( the r iver r o a d ) later to become the residence of I. N . W . Sherman and later o f George Hills. Judge Samuel Hoard settled on the f a r m on the east side o f Des Plaines avenue, north of St. Mary 's Train­ing school property , later owned b y J. H. Coons, later known as the Nage l f a r m , where Sunday school picnics were frequently held and which is now Forest Preserve p r o p ­erty .

Gen. Peet and Mr . Al l ison were located near All ison's bridge where Milwaukee avenue crosses the r iver just east o f the junction o f Des Plaines avenue and Milwaukee avenue. The Kennicotts were l o ­cated at " T h e G r o v e " on Mi lwau­kee avenue, their descendants are still there .

A l f red Parsons invested largely in property in and near Des Plaines and was one o f the owners and subdividers o f Parsons and Lee 's addition to Des Plaines. His home was at the northwest corner o f Lee street and Prairie avenue and after his death was occupied b y his son Charles Parsons and his fami ly , later b y J . H. Coons and later purchased by Wil l iam Hulke. Eben and Augustus H . Conant were located west o f the r iver ,

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near what is n o w the intersection of Golf road and Des Plaines ave­nue in Section 8, although also hav­ing claims east o f the r iver in Sections 9, 10 and 14.

John W . Walton , Edmund Crow-ell, Uriah Stott , Holl is Sabin, J o ­seph and Wil l iam Dearlove , George Peacock and John L o n g had nearby claims. To the untiring e f forts o f Dr . Clarence A . Earle , who w a s great ly interested in Des Plaines ' early history, was due the r e ­covery of the diary of Augustus H. Conant begun on January 1, 1836, and which was given b y Dr. Earle to the Chicago Historical Society. It contains many and interesting items concerning early pioneer days.

In 1836 there were three doctors in this vicinity, Dr . Kennicott , Dr . Silas Meacham, a lineal descendant o f Miles Standish and Dr . Fred Miner who was located in Elk Grove .

Ezra A lgur , Wil lard Tanner, Silas Meacham, John C. Clark and Mancel Talcott located in the south east part o f the township in and near what later became Park Ridge . Evan Jones came directly f r o m Wales and located in 1836 in Section 22.

The Jef ferson homestead still stands on the east side o f Des Plaines avenue a little south of Oakton street and is n o w the head­quarters of the Isaac Wal ton League and Forest Preserve p r o p ­erty. Stephen Thacker lived south and a short distance back of the Minnich home on Ell inwood street.

One of the early industries was a large windmill built b y Luther Jef ferson in 1841 near the south­east corner o f Oakton and Des Plaines avenue. It was a blessing t o the people as they had been previously obl iged to carry their wheat to Chicago t o have it made into f lour . It was soon replaced b y a large gr ist and lumber mi l l ; also a general store f o r the f a r ­mers ' trade. Lumber f o r the f irst plank road ( the Northwest Plank road, n o w Milwaukee avenue) laid between Je f ferson Park and Chi­cago was sawed at this mill.

A f lour mill was also built by Socrates Rand on the bank of the Des Plaines r iver north of the Miner street br idge and east o f the River road (Des Plaines a v e ­n u e ) . The mill still stands on the f o rmer property o f Dr . Earle , n o w the home of H a r r y and Mrs . Harry (Gladys Ear le ) Dooley . The old mill was converted into a barn and garage . Many f o r m e r barns are n o w used as garages .

Socrates Rand died on February 20, 1890, and his widow, Fannie M. Rand, in 1895 bought and occupied the proper ty upon which a small red br ick house f o rmer ly stood on the premises now occupied b y the Des Plaines Theatre build­ing.

The account of the arrival o f the early settlers above noted is taken f r o m a sketch of front ier l i fe in this local ity writen and read b y Miss M a y Jef ferson at a missionary meet ing held in about the year 1890 at the home of Mrs .

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Elwin D . (El la W e b s t e r ) Scott . There is some discrepancy in cer ­tain dates g iven therein and in dates o f entries in the diary of Augustus H . Conant shown in the next chapter . F r o m Conant 's diary it appears that the Je f fersons and Mark Ockerby m a y have settled here as early as 1835 and the saw mill must have been in operation as early as 1838. In proo f o f which are noted the fo l lowing entries f r o m Conant 's d iary :

March 20, 1836, went down to Je f ferson 's .

Apr i l 5, 1936, let D . Je f ferson have sleigh.

May 8, 1836, went down to Je f f ­erson 's .

June 9, 1936, Father , Mother , James Long and Ockerby took tea with m e .

A u g u s t 6, 1836, father went down to steam mill f o r lumber. ( A steam mill was located at Ko lze , ten miles down the r iver f r o m C o ­nant's and another steam mill was located on the r iver at the Elg in road, f our miles still farther south, both in the township of L e y d e n ) .

March 28, 1938, w e n t over t o saw mill to work .

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C H A P T E R II Pioneering

Augustus H . Conant moved f r o m Des Plaines to Geneva, Illinois, in 1851. H e had been ordained a Unitarian c lergyman and became chaplain of the 19th Illinois r e g i ­ment f rom Rockford , during the Civil war . H e died immediately a f ter the battle o f Stone River , sometimes called the battle o f Murfreesboro .

Excerpts f r o m his diary con ­taining entries f rom 1836 to 1841 disclose some of the vicissitudes o f the pioneers.

Rov ing bands of Indians encamp­ing near one 's claim are mentioned occasionally, and although no t rou ­ble f rom them was mentioned their prox imity was a lways a menace. A prescription entitled a "Cure for A g u e and F e v e r " preceded the almost daily entries. Pr ior to 1841 the laws passed did not encourage settlement on the public lands be ­f ore they had been made ready f o r sale by government survey. Thus the early settler had to worry about whether he would be able to acquire title to the land he had improved and which constituted his " c l a i m . " A l s o he was con ­cerned about establishing the boundary lines o f the land he did claim and which he intended to purchase when offered f o r sale.

In the first entry under date o f January 1, 1836, Conant states that he attended to the survey of his claim and cut a f e w logs f o r rails. On January 2nd made new rails and his father (probably

Eben Conant) bought five hogs f r o m I. Peet at $3.60 apiece.

January 3rd was a Sunday and rainy, so he wrote poetry and in the evening went down to visit Mr. Long . On January 6 he sold his potatoes in Chicago f o r 75-89 cents per bushel, value of load, $18.64.

On January 8 he attended a meet ing of the settlers f o r the pur ­pose o f securing to each individual his present c laim. This is evidence of the fa c t that the settlers were banded together to resist the ef ­for ts o f land sharks to purchase their c laims. January 11th he commenced threshing oats and hired a man to work f o r him.

Other entries showed the atten­dance at meetings f o r the purpose of securing more favorable mail route ; to settle difficulties respect ­ing claims by arbitration, and boundary line disputes; f o r the election of various officials; f r e ­quent attendance at preaching ser­vice a t various homes including his o w n ; visit ing and entertaining v is i tors ; many entries o f making and hiring others to split rails f o r fenc ing , and of making rafts o f logs to be rafted down the r iver to be sawed; the establishment of a temperance soc iety ; assisting at Rand 's and Talcott 's br idge ra is ­ing ; assisting neighbors in finish­ing houses ; improv ing his o w n property by d igg ing basement and wel l ; building milk house ; making plough handles and household f u r ­niture including a churn ; o f var ­ious occupations connected with

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f a rming such as breaking new ground, mowing , gather ing and taking produce to market , dress ­ing o f calves and p igs torn by wo l ves ; o f the hunt f o r strayed horses and catt le ; killing ratt le ­snakes ; wolves , a badger , wi ld geese and a hunt f o r a panther, hearing howling of b ig wolves , making coffins f o r ne ighbors , and destruction o f nearly half o f his corn by blackbirds.

The entry of M a y 10, 1836 re ­cites that Mrs . Hoard and Betsey Kelsey arrived f r o m Ogdensburgh ; on May 11 he planted corn and made preparations f o r wedding ; on M a y 12 he married Betsey Kelsey . Sunday, May 15, went down to Daniels with Betsey ; on M a y 16 moved house on to south part o f his c la im; Sunday, M a y 22, went up to Mrs . Hoards in a canoe with his w i f e ; on Sunday, May 29 went up to his brother Clay 's on horseback with his w i f e ; June 4, 1836, was his wi fe ' s 18th anniversary ; on June 9 he moved into his house, his father and mother , James Long and Ockerby took tea with him and his wi fe .

On March 22, 1837, he made su­g a r (probably maple ) and g o t potatoes out of hole , r iver h igh ; on June 9, 1837, moved into his new house and had visitors to tea and he states that on December 12, 1836, 16,400 hogs passed on the road to "Mi lwauk ie . "

Some of his l iterary pursuits cited are the reading of the Bible, the Encyclopedia , Saturday E v e ­ning Post , 'Wat t s , on the Mind , "

Pay ley ' s Natural Theo logy , Dick 's Phi losophy o f a future state, Cowper 's Poems and Crolys Bri t ­ish Poets .

Augustus H . Conant was but one o f the early settlers and his act i ­vities above recited were undoubt­edly duplicated by his neighbors . In addition to the work of the early settlers there were also times f o r social activities, a house or barn or bridge raising called f o r festivities, dancing parties and sleigh rides. The young men and boys also natural ly would be in­terested in sports, among the pr in­cipal o f which were hunting, t rap ­ping and fishing, which also added

var iety to the fare at the dinner table. The river teemed with fish and the woods and fields abounded with wild geese , ducks, the passen­g e r p igeon, plover , snipe, prairie chicken, wolves , bears, f oxes , deer, squirrels and raccoons. A l o n g the streams muskrat and mink were trapped. Even in Chicago on Oc ­tober 6, 1834, a large black bear was seen in a strip o f t imber now the corner o f Market and Jackson streets, he was shot, then the citizens g o t up a grand wol f hunt in the same neighborhood and killed f o r ty be fore nightfal l .

Whi le the f o rego ing has recited chief ly the activities o f the men fo lk , the housewife also had a va ­riety of industries. Besides her usual housework and canning there were soap and candles to be made , together with spinning, knitting, embroidery and carpet -weaving . A l s o there were some activities

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both assisted at , when the t ime came f o r the fal l butchering and neighbors were called in to help in the s laughtering, scalding, cu t ­t ing up, salting and hanging o f a number o f hogs . There was lard to be rendered, sausage t o be ground and crackl ings and head­cheese to be made. A l l o f which also called f o r a celebration. Of course the hams were later to b e smoked in the smoke-house over h ickory smudge fires.

The woods afforded occasions f o r nutting parties , hickory, hazel , black walnut and butternuts were plentiful. The f o res t f l owers , in ­cluding ferns , violets , m a y apple o r mandrake and jack-in-the-pul¬ pit added to the house-wife 's g a r ­dens. Some of our present c i t i ­zens know the places in the woods where these can still be found.

The settler in addition to his other tasks, o f course had to see that the woodpi le never diminished, f o r wood was necessary f o r the fire place and the kitchen stove. Many of the settlers had claims in the woods , called wood lots. S o m e ­times they traveled f r o m five to ten miles f o r their supplies o f wood.

Miss Jefferson stated in her sketch of front ier l i fe that the first rel igious services were held in 1836 by a young man named Colson, a Methodist , sent f rom the southern part o f the state. H e held his meet ings at Mr. W a t t ' s , about a mile north o f Des Plaines. He was on this circuit about two years . It was so large he came

here but once a month. Th e m e m ­bers o f the church were Mrs . W a l ­ter, Mrs . Connors, Mrs . John­stone, Mr. and Mrs . R a m s e y and later Mr . and Mrs . Hol ten , M r . and Mrs . Burl ingame, Mrs . Ba l ­lard, Mrs . Jones and Mary Jef fer­son.

The Episcopal ians in this local ­i ty were represented by Mr. Rand 's f ami ly at whose home services were held in 1837. Other m e m ­bers were Mr . and Mrs . Sherwin, Kennicott , Deer love , Thacker , Je f -rey, L o n g and Mrs . Kinder. A grea t variety o f rel igious denom­inations was represented by these frontier people . Mr. Dougherty was a Morman at whose home the Mormon missionaries often preach­ed. Dr . Meacham, Deacon Clark and Mrs . Joseph Jefferson were Congregat ional is ts ; Mr. and Mrs . Hoard , Mr. and Mrs . Van Gorder were Baptists , Elder Button some­times preached f o r them.

Miss Jefferson stated that the first school in the North part o f the settlement was taught in 1838 by Harriet Rand in her brother 's home. It was held in a r o o m ten feet by twelve , f o rmer ly used as a cheese room but renovated f o r a school room. A b o u t fifteen schol ­ars attended. A t about the same t ime, in the south part of the setlement, a school was taught , in an upper r o o m of Luther Jeffer­son's home, by Jerusha Walton , mother o f the Luce boys . It was afterward taught by Mary Jeffer­son in her father 's home. The first school house was built about that

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t ime, northeast o f the present site o f the North Division school , on the east side o f Des Plaines ave ­nue, a little north o f Perry street and a little south of Mary ' s Run. It w a s a one - room log school house. The second school house was of two rooms on the present site of the North Division school and the third was the old part o f the present North Division school , built as you m a y read on the school itself, in 1874.

Some of the teachers o f the early days w e r e : Orvis Skinner, Orlando Talcott , Robert Meacham and Or ­lando A l g u r . The first trustees o f schools w e r e : Eben Conant, Seth Otis, Joseph Jefferson and A l e x a n ­der Brown. The number o f chi ld­ren in this district in 1841 was 35.

During the 60's some of the teachers were A m o s Miner, H. A . Smith and E. C. Bennett who taught in 1867. The attendance at that t ime was about seventy scholars. The amount of money f o r school purposes in 1842 f o r this district was $14.42. F r o m Conant 's diary it appears that his first mention of a school house was the entry made on November 30, 1837, when he "worked at the school house . " On November 28,

1838, he "worked at schoolhouse . " On January 10, 1839 he "c irculated subscription paper f o r a s choo l " and on January 15, 1939, " schoo l c ommenced . " On January 22, 1839, he chopped wood at school house and visited school .

C H A P T E R I I I The Township , Cemeteries and

Railroad The major i ty o f the pioneers o f

this part of the state, having m i ­grated f r o m the N e w England and Middle At lant ic states, it w a s natural that the system o f g o v e r n ­ment by township should be i m ­pressed upon the local govern ­ment. The Town meet ing was the f o r m of government which or igin­ally existed in all the N e w E n g ­land communities and still exists in many sections. In these meet ­ings all qualified persons took part and attendance was compulsory , failure to attend being punishable by f ine .

In the pioneer days much r ival ­ry as to the f o r m of local govern ­ment, existed between the N o r t h ­ern and Southern port ions of the state. The Southern settlers hav­ing migrated f r o m Virginia ad­hered to the system prevalent in the Southern states which re cog ­nized the county as the unit f o r local government . However the township f o r m of government has gradually prevailed and in a short time township lines f o rmed the boundaries o f districts created f o r other governmental purposes , such as elections, the administration of school affairs, constructing roads and caring f o r the poor .

The constitution of Illinois o f 1848 directed the general assembly to provide by general law f o r township organization. It is very probable that at the f irst meet ing called f o r the organization of the

various townships , one of the first orders o f business was the adop ­tion of a name. Thus we f ind many of the townships o f Cook county named after places f r o m which the inhabitants had migrated .

Record Book One of the T o w n ­ship of Maine begins with the first annual meet ing in 1850 and shows the record o f t own meet ings up to 1890. The greater part o f the clerk's minutes o f these p r o ­ceedings relates to the opening of roads , raising o f br idges , laws in regard to animals running at large and elections. The number of votes cast at the elections shows that great interest was evinced in township af fa irs .

In the early days be fore the town of Maine cemetery was char ­tered b y act o f the legislature, the pioneers had small private cemeteries on their own property . Hunters travel ing through the woods would sometimes come u p ­on a small enclosure containing a f e w graves and monuments . Some­times deeds would contain reser­vations of a small plot o f ground where the remains of a pioneer were buried. In visit ing the town of Maine cemetery, the Northfield cemetery and the cemetery at Wheel ing , the dates of births and deaths of some of our pioneers and some interesting epitaphs upon the tombstones may be read. One interesting cemetery enclosed b y an iron fence , an Indian c e m ­etery, containing the graves of the A lexander Robinson fami ly , m a y be found in the Robinson R e -

servation along the first road east o f the Des Plaines river, about two blocks south of Lawrence ave ­nue.

In the year 1852, the r ight o f way o f the Illinois and Wiscons in Rai lroad Company was purchased and a number of Eastern capital ­ists f o rmed an association called the Illinois and Wisconsin Land Company and purchased and sub­divided lands along the line o f the railroad. The subdivision Br ick-ton ( n o w Park Ridge ) was record­ed in June, 1857, and the Town o f Rand (now Des P la ines ) , the first subdivision in Des Plaines was recorded in September , 1857. The Illinois and Wisconsin Rai l ­road Company consolidated in

1858 with the Rock River Val ley Rai lroad Company under the name of the Chicago , St. Paul and Fond du Lac Rai lroad Company and in 1859 its r ight of w a y was con ­veyed to the Chicago and North Western Ra i lway Company.

The building of the rai lroad and the establishment of depots at Jef ­ferson, N o r w o o d , Canfield, Br ick-ton and Rand, had the effect o f local iz ing the once large ly scat ­tered community . Canfield is now known as Edison Park and A r l i n g ­ton Heights was f o rmer ly called the town of Dunton.

A f t e r the building of the rai l ­road the location o f Rand road w a s altered so as to cross the r iver at Rand 's Br idge .

In Cook county, the earliest method of showing evidence of title to real estate was b y an abstract

o f title, which in many parts o f the United States is still the only method. The abstract is a history of all recorded instruments affect­ing the title to the real estate in question. W h e r e the title passes to the heirs or devisees o f a de ­ceased person and the estate has been probated, p roo f s o f heirship and recorded affidavits o f ten are o f great assistance to persons in­terested in historical matters . The fo l lowing poem b y a f o r m e r fe l low employee of the writer , shows in part what m a y be read between the lines in examining an abstract o f title.

T H E A B S T R A C T O F T I T L E Making abstracts is a dry, prosaic

calling, wel l w e know, Delv ing daily into records made

a Century a g o , Trac ing weari ly the title f r o m the

Patent down to date, Through the maze of suits and

transfers that obscure and c o m ­plicate.

Y e t f o r me there 's fascination in thus working in the past ,

A n d on all the seeming drudg ' ry there 's a kind of g lamour cast ,

F o r there's poetry and romance running through the tangled

chain, A n d there's written in the record

much of human j o y and pain. F o r like Gibbon and Macauley,

we ' re historians in Our w a y , A n d w e br ing to l ight transactions

o f a gone , f o rgot ten d a y ; True , w e only sketch the outline,

but behind it all there lies Quite a bit of human interest that

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our fancy well supplies, And I love to let that fancy freely

roam and weave a tale A b o u t every deed and m o r t g a g e ,

into each judicial sale ; F o r the records deal with pioneers

and homestead farms and homes , And w e garner many heart throbs

f r o m those dry and musty tomes . F o r in every gr im forec losure

lurks a heartache, and we sense In the bankruptcy assignment

human misery intense; There is gr ie f in every tax sale,

and we seem to hear the wail Of the w idow and the children

robbed of home by sheriff 's sale. Delving through the court p r o ­

ceedings we find interwoven there,

Couched in f ormal , legal l ingo , much o f so r row and despair,

And we live again through all the trials o f fo lks o f long a g o —

Running through the chain of title there 's a deal of human woe .

The estate f i les, torn and tattered —there 's a certain something

there That is sacred, and w e handle

them with reverence and care, And they help us to determine h o w

the owner 's l i fe was spent, F o r he often bares his soul in his

last Wil l and Testament. And in running through partition

suits there plainly will be seen In the squabbles o f the children

much that 's grasping , l ow and mean,

F o r in f ight ing f o r a dead man 's wealth the baser feel ings b r e e d -

Running through the chain of title

there 's a deal o f human greed. And in por ing o 'er the records that

pertain to real estate, Setting for th the imperfect ions

that impair and complicate , Comes the thought o f m y soul 's

record and the mess I 've made o f i t ,

A n d I long to change some things that the Recording Ange l ' s w r i t ;

A n d I wonder , when the tangled chain is done, and I have died,

A n d the Abstrac t o f m y L i fe is duly closed and certif ied,

A n d the Great Examiner scans each fatal f l aw and grave de fec t

Wil l he waive those imperfect ions in my r e c o r d — o r r e j e c t ?

By—Char les Wes ley Benton Veteran Abstrac tor Princeton, Indiana.

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CHAPTER IV. Early Land Titles and Roads In 1784 a commit tee o f the Con­

tinental Congress ( o f which c o m ­mittee T h o m a s Jefferson was chairman) reported " a n ordinance f o r ascertaining the mode o f l ocat ­ing and disposing o f lands in the western terr i tory and f o r other purposes therein ment ioned. " B e ­ing in Jefferson's handwrit ing, it is believed that he was its author. The report re lat ing to surveys recommended that the public land be divided into " h u n d r e d s " o f ten miles square, to be again divided into " l o t s " each one mile square, to be numbered f r o m one to one hundred, all lines to be laid out on the ground in cardinal direc­tions.

This is the foundat ion f o r the statement that Jefferson originated our present system o f surveying. However , when the subject came up f o r discussion, Jefferson did not partic ipate, having been sent as minister to France .

A n amendment to the f o r m e r recommendation advocated a t o w n ­ship of seven miles square. Bitter debate fo l lowed, the advocates o f survey and location b y a fixed s y s ­tem being opposed by the adher­ents o f the old principle o f indis­criminate location. The bill which finally became a law on M a y 20, 1785, provided f o r a township six miles square. The advocates o f survey and location b y system had seen its advantages o f securing per fect identification, b y reference t o somewhat similar systems in o p ­

eration in the N e w England states, one being in use as early as 1652, although no t as per fec t as our present system. Prominent men, especial ly those who had e x ­perience in surveying, were a d v o ­cates o f survey and location b y system. It is a matter o f h istory that many of our early prominent men had been surveyors .

It was hoped and expected by the new system to escape f r o m the lengthy descriptions and vast n u m ­ber o f boundary line disputes which prevailed under the old system. A t the t ime of its adoption, the sys ­tem did not provide f or the base lines and meridians of the present system. General Rufus Putnam, who had been chief o f engineers o f the Continental A r m y and a practical surveyor , was appointed b y President Washington as Sur­v e y o r General o f the United States, his successor was Jared Mansfield. T o these men and their successors and the commissioners o f the gen ­eral land office, who also provided f o r offsetting the effects of the convergence of meridians, is due our present system of surveying, said to be the most per fect in the world . Thus the system was no t originated b y any one man, but jus t g r e w .

The contracts f o r surveying the public lands were let to various surveyors . Thus while one group o f surveyors were surveying in the north part o f the county , an­other group we re approaching f r o m the south. This accounts f o r the fa c t that the townships of

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Hanover , Schaumberg , Elk Grove , Maine, Niles and Evanston, all o f which l ie in Township 41, are fract ional . Maine has no sections numbered one to six. The sur­veyors in the north part o f the county had surveyed the south line o f Township 42, which lies i m ­mediately north o f Township 41 , and hence is the north line o f the township of Maine, in the second quarter o f 1837, the east line o f the township of Maine was sur ­veyed in the fourth quarter o f 1839 and the west and south boundary lines in the third quar­ter of 1840. Thus it was that the early settlers had to wait , some o f them as l ong as e ight years , be fore they could secure title to their c la ims.

The government land office was established in Chicago in 1835. Pr ior to that t ime there were land offices at Palestine and Danvil le in the south part o f the state. The early settlers were worr ied , lest when the lands were finally sur­veyed and so were possible o f de ­scription and identification, land sharks would appear and make higher bids than the settlers could afford to pay . The minimum g o v ­ernment price was $1.25 per acre and that was all the settlers p r o ­posed to p a y and in the major i ty o f cases that was all they did pay.

I t seems that the settlers had the courage o f their convictions and (see the entry of January 8, 1836, in Conant's d i a r y ) , had come to an agreement that each m a n would be permitted to secure his

present c laim. There fore , when the land shark appeared on the scene and gave indication of buy ­ing land t o which any of the set ­tlers f e l t they had a pr ior r ight he was quietly approached and in­f o rmed that it would be vast ly more healthy f o r h im if he r e ­moved to a different cl imate.

The fo l lowing m a p shows, in part , the survey as taken f r o m a map in the general land office in Washington , D . C., o f the t o w n ­ship of Maine, legal ly described as Township 41 North , R a n g e 12 East o f the third Principal Mer id ­ian.

12

13

N Bdry. surveyed in 2nd qr., 1837 E Bdry. surveyed in 4th qr., 1839 W Bdry. surveyed in 3rd qr., 1840 S Bdry. surveyed in 3rd qr., 1840

On the f o r e g o i n g government map , notice the f e w exist ing roads , and the absence of rai lroads. These roads, or iginal ly called trails , were there when the surveyors w e r e mapping the township. T h e y sub ­sequently became Milwaukee a v e ­nue, Rand road, Talcott road, Hig¬ gins road, and the r iver road Des Plaines avenue ) . Be fore the ra i l ­road w a s built , Rand road turned farther to the west at near where it n o w crosses Pot ter road and crosses the r iver jo ining the r iver road where the n e w dam is n o w located just south of the rai lroad bridge. In pioneer days a f o r d occupied the present site o f the dam.

- The " enc l o sures " and " f i e lds" marked on the m a p show and mean that when the surveyor ran his lines the word " f i e ld" s igni ­fied a ploughed field and the " e n ­c l o sure " was surrounded b y a rail fence . Thus the map shows that the early settlers c a m e in be fore the land was surveyed and were in possession, but such possession created no prescription title which could run against the government . However , when the land was o f ­fered f o r sale, their claims were adjusted and they took title b y purchase designated by section number. The land was offered f o r sale in tracts o f f o r t y , e ighty o r one hundred s ixty acres . Some settlers bought several tracts , the

whole sometimes constituting half or whole section.

The first sale at the government land office o f land in the Township o f Maine w a s made t o Edmund Crowell February 27, 1841. Other sales fo l lowed rapidly. The f o l ­lowing map shows the names o f the first purchasers f r o m the g o v ­ernment and the year in which they bought .

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The following map shows the names of the first purchasers of land in the various sections in the Township of Maine and the year when pur­chases were made. In many cases the settlers were in possession several -years before the purchase was made.

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The title to all of the land in Cook county passed f r o m the United S t a t e s to individuals through nine sources or channels, only f our o f which however a f fec t the title to land in the Township of Maine. They a r e :

(1 ) Lands granted b y the Uni t ­ed States and acquired b y indi­viduals through receipts and p a ­tents.

( 2 ) Lands granted b y the Uni t ­ed States and acquired b y indi­viduals b y patents under mil itary land warrants issued to soldiers and sailors in payment f o r mi l i ­tary service.

(3 ) School lands embracing Sec ­tion sixteen in each township , which were given b y the United States to the State in 1818 and b y the state granted b y patent to individuals.

(4 ) Lands acquired b y the state f r o m the United States, un ­der the A c t passed in 1841 called the Internal Improvement A c t and granted to individuals b y state patents.

W h e n the purchaser acquired title through receipt and patent he paid the land agent , at the land office, the purchase price , at $1.25 per acre , f o r the land he had se ­lected. The agent made out t w o receipts, an original and a dupli ­cate. The duplicate he gave to the purchaser and the original he sent to the general land office in Washington , D. C. In some in ­stances the purchaser recorded his receipt in the recorder 's office

o f the county in which the land was situated.

A f t e r the original receipt w a s received at the general land office in Washington , if the records there showed the land had not been previously disposed of , a g rant or patent s igned b y the President o f the United States w a s issued to the purchaser o r those to w h o m i t appeared he had assigned his certificate o f pur ­chase .

N o t all o f the receipts o r pa t ­ents were recorded in the local r e ­corders office and therefore a b ­stract companies found it neces ­sary, in order to have complete records , to ge t copies o f the en­tries which had been made at the general land office, t o show to w h o m the land had been sold and to w h o m the United States patent had been issued.

The federal government s o m e ­times found it expedient to p a y its soldiers and sailors in land cert i ­ficates instead o f money . There ­f o re , it o ften issued in p ay m e n t f o r minitary services, land w a r ­rants , which we re transferable government certificates, entitling the holders to the possession o f a specified quantity o f public land. These warrants we re numbered and the person to w h o m the land warrant was issued might either ass ign or sell the certificate or might acquire the quantity o f land specified in the warrant b y " l o c a t ­i n g " the property . This was done b y apply ing at the local land office f o r the number of acres specified

16

in the warrant and tendering the land warrant in payment . I f the land desired, had no t been p r e ­viously disposed of b y the govern ­ment, the warrant was received in payment therefor and the patent subsequently issued to the appl i ­cant, or his assignee, in the same manner described above re ferr ing to receipts and patents .

These mil i tary land warrants also were seldom recorded in the county where the land was situ­ated so that it w a s necessary f o r anyone interested in the title t o the land to write to the general land office in Wash ington to a s ­certain h o w the land w a s disposed of b y the government and to w h o m the patent was issued.

One of the proposit ions submit ­ted b y the federal government to the inhabitants o f the Terr i tory o f Illinois under the A c t o f Congress passed on Apr i l 18, 1818, enabling the people o f the State o f Illinois to f o r m a State constitution and which i f accepted should there­af ter constitute a contract between the United States and the State o f Illinois and be ob l igatory upon both , was the proposit ion that the section numbered sixteen in every township should be granted to the state f o r the use o f the inhabitants o f such township f o r the support o f the schools.

The constitution of 1818 which was adopted at Kaskaskia on A u ­gust 26, 1818, complied with the requirements o f the enabling act. B y resolution of Congress on D e ­cember 3, 1818, Illinois was ad­

mitted to the union on an equal f oo t ing with the original states.

The sale o f school lands in Sec ­t ion sixteen in the township o f Maine, was held in 1841. The m a p hereinbefore shown indicates that the first purchases in Sec ­t ion sixteen were all made in 1841.

In 1841 an act was passed b y Congress " t o appropriate the p r o ­ceeds of the sales o f the public lands and to grant preemption r i g h t s " and " that there shall be granted to each state specif ied" ( including the State of Il l inois) "500,000 acres o f land f o r pur ­poses o f internal improvement . " The selections in all the states were to be made within the state l imits. The state later provided that the land selected should be appraised and offered f o r sale to the highest bidder at or above the appraised value and should not be taxed f o r a period of five years a f ter the date o f sale. W h e n sold the state issued a state patent therefor .

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C H A P T E R V . Old Land Marks

B y special act o f the legis la­ture approved A p r i l 15, 1869, the name of the subdivision entitled " T o w n o f R a n d " was changed to Des Plaines and the whole of Sec ­tions 16, 17, 20 and 21 special ly chartered as a corporat ion under the name of T o w n of Des Plaines. This act w a s repealed in Apr i l , 1873 and at a special election f o r or against vi l lage organizat ion held on October 18, 1873, a total o f 58 votes were cast, 55 f o r vi l lage o r ­ganizat ion and 3 against and the vi l lage of Des Plaines came into being, but not including as great a terr i tory as was included in the " T o w n of Des P l a i n e s . " The first president o f the board of t rus ­tees was Frankl in Whi t comb . Many new roads were opened lead­ing to and f r o m the vi l lage. W e see lasting monuments to the p io ­neers in the names of the roads , including the names of Rand , Thacker, Lee , Ballard, Dee and Potter . The road running north f r o m Rand's br idge along the east side o f the r iver is sometimes called the East River road. Its original name was the Bender road, not because it winds a long the river, but because one of the old settlers named Bender lived along this road. A t one t ime, according to an old map , a Kickapoo Indian en­campment was located near the junct ion of the Rand road and Bal ­lard roads , on the site where f o r ­mer ly stood the John Garland home, later the Kayser home. J o ­

seph de M a y o r g a , who f o rmer ly l ived there when a boy , f o u n d there a large number of Indian arrowheads .

I t would make an interesting chapter in the history of Des Plaines, to show its g rowth as sub­division a f ter subdivision w a s added and the corporate l imits ex ­tended. F o r quite a number of years af ter its incorporat ion as a vi l lage, even into the late 80 's the northern limits did not extend much beyond P e r r y street, the southern l imits a little beyond Thacker street, there we re a f e w homes on Miner street, east o f the r iver , which included the homes o f the Garland famil ies and the A h b e home at the corner o f Miner and Rand, and the Gray and Charles Poyer homes on the south side o f Miner street ; the most western street was Graceland avenue, which north of the railroad was known as Snow street. The old Enos Scott homestead still stands at Orchard Place j u s t east o f the Soo line rai lroad and north of H i g -g ins road. The Charles Boesche home still stands on the north side o f Higg ins road just west o f Mann­heim road. His f a r m on the south side o f H igg ins road is n o w par t of the Douglas property . Mrs . El -arin D . Scott ( f o rmer ly El la W e b ­ster) taught school in the district school at the northeast corner o f Lee street and Higg ins road. Thus she met and marr ied Elwin D . Scott , w h o a f terward became one of Des Plaines early real estate dealers and one of the vil lage

1 8

trustees besides being the propr ie ­tor o f Scott 's Sorghum and Cider Mill of which we shall read later.

T w o brothers , Benjamin and Lewis Poyer , who hailed f r o m Canada, were early settlers here. Lewis Poyer f o r many years hold­ing political o f f i ce in township and vi l lage affairs.

Benjamin Poyer invested exten­sively in real estate and at one t ime owned and operated the p i c ­nic ground now known as N o r t h ­western Park which he later sold to another ear ly citizen, A . W . Eckert .

The Poyer brothers ' f a r m or ig ­inally was located in the southwest par t o f the township at the north­west corner of Mount Prospect road and Touhy avenue. Benjamin P o y e r later occupied a home at the southeast corner of Des Plaines avenue and Algonquin road, the present site of the Charles S. Stewart home.

One of the other early settlers was Benjamin F. Kinder , who had his first hardware store in the building f o r m a n y years thereaf ­ter occupied by Joseph and Phil ip Wal te rs as a harness shop and now occupied by the S . C. Wessel and company real estate o f f i ce . Other ear ly settlers included the Ahbe fami ly , John H. Curtis , Wi l l iam S. Long ley , Henley Hall , Gott fr ied Ful le , Chester E. Bennett , Alonzo Whee ler and the Garlands , Jones, Longley , Keates , B r o w n and Koeh¬ ler famil ies . A number of our citizens were ret ired f a r m e r s who

built homes and spent their last years within the vil lage.

The Gott fr ied Ful le homestead w a s located at the northeast cor ­ner o f Lee street now Mannheim or La Grange road and Oakton street f o rmer ly called the Ful le r o a d .

The Frankl in W h i t c o m b home­stead still stands at the north­west corner of Des Plaines avenue and Algonquin road. In order to insure a suf f ic ient depth of water in the r iver to make boating a pleasure, and therefore the rent ­ing or hir ing of r o w boats at the picnic grounds , a possibil ity — a dam had been built jus t below where the Algonquin road bridge, n o w crosses the r iver . This dam was known as Poyer ' s D a m . There was at t imes a depth of sixteen feet of water at the dam. This was the favor i te swimming hole of, not only the town boys , but also o f the camp ground boys and picnickers. Quite a f e w drownings occurred at the dam when some­one rocked the boat or became caught in the rush of water over the dam.

Just north of A lgonquin road (which was not then opened across the r iver ) and extending north almost to the present pumping sta­tion and between Des Plaines a v e ­nue and the r iver , was located Whitcomb 's brick yard. Here were made the bricks used in building most o f the brick edifices in Des Plaines , older than the early 90's. A f t e r a baseball game , the boys would often all g o down through

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the brick yard to Poyer ' s dam f o r a swim.

A short distance south of the Benjamin Poyer ( later the Stew­a r t ) property on Des Plaines ave ­nue, between the road and the r iver w a s located Whitcomb 's c lay hole, f r o m which was taken the c lay to make the bricks. The c lay pit was very deep and after the close o f the brick making industry filled with spr ing water and became an ­other swimming hole f o r the town boys , but being very deep it is very dangerous f o r both swimmers and skaters. The public is now rare ly al lowed admission. I t is n o w known as Shag Bark Lake. In the late 80's and early 90's A . W . Eckert owned the picnic grounds , n o w known as Northwestern Park and Forest Preserve p r o p e r ­ty.

M a n y picnics were held there during the summer season. The rai lroad sometimes sent out as many as three excursion trains to a picnic . These picnics some­times caused considerable annoy ­ance to the town fo lk . A t this time a br idge crossed the r iver jus t south of the rai lroad br idge and at this bridge sometimes a c i ty slicker would attempt to lure the innocents into betting on the three shell game .

In coming up f r o m the picnic grounds into the vi l lage the p i c ­nickers saw lettering upon one of the windows of the first saloon he passed reading " F i r s t Chance . " In returning to the picnic grounds the lettering on the other window read,

" L a s t Chance . " The vi l lagers were very much annoyed by having their f lower gardens despoiled by the city picnickers.

Another favor i te swimming hole w a s Steege's Hole jus t north of where the C. & N. W . Rai lway crosses the r iver and opposite the Lions P a r k Forest Preserve . Y e a r s ago the f a r m e r who lived on this property al lowed his cattle to roam through the woods and the small trees and shrubs were kept down. Grass g r e w r ight down to the w a ­ter 's edge. It was secluded and an ideal swimming hole. Augustus H . Conant must have often visited this spot. I t was a favor i te resort o f the f a r m e r boys f o r both swimming and fishing. A low br idge once crossed the r iver here and on the east side of the r iver there used to be an ancient deserted two - room co t tage ; also, near this spot in the late 80's was what had been Stee­ge 's gravel pit , now filled with w a ­ter , reeds and bull rushes, a f a v o r ­ite haunt o f red winged black birds, crows and an occasional wi ld duck.

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C H A P T E R V I Reminiscences

In the 80's the vi l lage began gradual ly to increase in popula ­t ion. The Des Plaines Suburban Times w a s founded in 1885, known then as the Cook County Record . Chester E. Bennett was the local reporter . I t first became Des Plaines owned and edited in 1897 when bought by Dav id J . Gillespie. Jul ius Kunisch started his barber shop. Those were the days when it was stylish to have your own shaving m u g in the barber 's cabi ­net and with your name on it in gold letters. The Burke, Webster and W o l f r a m famil ies were new arr ivals . The W o l f r a m fami ly had been driv ing out f r o m Chicago f rom 1882 to 1888 and in March o f 1889 came to their n e w home at Hawthorne Lane and the r iver , now the Neve homestead.

The route f r o m Chicago to Des Plaines was over Milwaukee ave ­nue (the Northwestern Plank road ) to Rand road at Jefferson Park , thence on Rand road to Des Plaines. Milwaukee avenue was then a toll gate road. The first toll gate was near Cal i fornia ave­nue, the second at Grayland and the third at Lawrence avenue. Some of the planks could still be seen in the plank road. One of the occurrences of interest in the 90's was the annual bicycle race f r o m Wheel ing to Chicago over Milwaukee avenue. It was held on the morn ing of Memoria l day and the road was lined with spectators . A t about this time Des Plaines

had three just ices o f the peace ; they were Henry C. Senne, A u g u s t Moldenhauer and Lewis B. Schar-r inghausen. Henry C. Senne was also one of the County commis ­sioners.

The L. B. Scharringhausen home ( f o rmer ly the home of Simeon Lee) was on the west side of Lee street near the site o f the Echo theater and jus t south of the bank building. The f r ont r oom of this home had once been used as the Post Of f ice .

In the early 90's hunting and fishing was quite good in this v i ­cinity. Wi ld ducks, geese, prair ie chicken, snipe, plover , blackbirds, rabbits , squirrels and raccoons could still be found . A favor i te place f o r wi ld ducks was at Page ' s pond in Elk Grove near what is n o w the junct ion of Golf and A l ­gonquin roads , but the land has since been drained and the pond has disappeared. North of Golf road jus t east o f the r iver is a small woods where the W o l f r a m and the E c k boys once took f our raccoons . The tree was still stand­ing only a f e w years ago . Near this p lace also was where the ferns , mandrakes and jacks- in-the-pulpit g rew. One Saturday the W o l f r a m boys caught 22 bass at Rand 's bridge. There was a lways a couple of rowboats moored near the br idge at the pickle fac tory and it was not unusual to troll down the river as f a r as Earle 's and catch a couple o f good sized pickerel be fore 7:30 a.m.

The Gross pickle fac tory at

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Rand's br idge was the depot to which the f a r m e r s brought their cucumbers. In taking the bags f r o m the f a r m e r s and dumping the cucumbers into the large vats , young men f r o m the neighborhood of the Chicago west side salesroom were often employed. The principal f o r m of entertainment o f the young man of that period was the melodrama of the Haymarket theater o r the A c a d e m y of Music . One of these young men, as his f a n c y dictated, called the var ious fa rmers by various names, most ly a f ter the melodramas which in­cluded " T h e Still A l a r m , " " H a n d s Across the Sea , " " T h e Mouse K i n g , " "Seven o'clock" and " T h e Dark Secret . '

Once a number of cowboys camped at Rand 's bridge with a bunch of mustangs they had driven here f rom W y o m i n g .

Skating on the r iver seemed to be much more thoroughly enjoyed in the 90's than by the young fo lk of the present day. When the ice permitted a group would often skate to Whee l ing and back, or down to the Red Tavern which meant to Higg ins road. Games and even Virg in ia reels were played on the ice. Once during the Christmas holidays when the ice was over a foot thick and the whole vil lage seemed to have put on skates a large group of the older vi l lage boys decided to make " r u b ­ber i ce . " This they did by jo in ing hands making one continuous line, the width of the r iver and skating in unison f r o m the "squint e y e "

br idge (where the dam is now , at El l inwood to the pumping station ( T h a c k e r s t ree t ) . This gradual ly caused the water under the ice to r ise and fa l l and the ice with it. This caused the ice to crack and while the crowd of boys was near Thacker street, the ice gave a w a y near El l inwood and two of the spectators had to swim to shore.

F a r m e r part ies , barn dances and weddings were frequent and great ly enjoyed. The space in which to dance was usually small and the music furnished by an accordion. The wri ter was some­times invited. H e had an idea it might have been because of his ability to p lay the accordion. I f a person was invited to a wedding beside the customary g i f t to the bride, one was visited on the morn ­ing of the wedding by a person on horseback, who rode upon a blanket but with no saddle. That was so as to make plenty of room f o r those invited to the wedding to pin fo ld ing money upon the blanket to help pay the expenses.

A f t e r the wedding at the church, the newly marr ied couple were driven wildly and recklessly t o ­wards the bride's home, the scene of the coming festivities in a be -r ibboned carr iage or b u g g y with several trai l ing af ter .

This procession was halted at the first bridge, usually Rands br idge i f they went in that direc­t ion, because a heavy chain blocked the passage of vehicles and upon payment of a small sum the procession was allowed to p r o -

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ceed. A f t e r the arrival o f the w e d ­ding p a r t y and guests at the bride 's home, i f there was not a serenade on tin cans and what have you by t w o or possibly three sharivari part ies there was cause f o r d is ­appointment . Whi le seated at the wedding dinner, someone usually stole the bride's s l ipper which the g r o o m retrieved upon the payment o f $2.00.

A f t e r the f eas t ing the danc ing began. The dancing in those days consisted most ly o f the waltz , t w o step and quadril le or square dance and sometimes the old fo lk dances. These country wedding festivit ies sometimes lasted two days .

In the ear ly 90's Des Plaines , then of about 600 population, w a s honored by an invitation f r o m Woodstock , the county seat of Mc¬ Henry county and of about 3000 population, to p lay aga inst their baseball team. The challenge w a s accepted and the band and some of the citizens accompanied the base­ball team. Of course the team did not expect to win, but to travel f o r t y miles to p lay a ball g a m e was something, be fore unheard of . T o the great surprise and e la ­tion of all Des Plaines our team won the game . The p layers on that first baseball club were : W m . Wieke , c ; Dana Jefferson, p ; W m . Downing , p ; M. O'Donnell , l b ; H a r r y Brown 2 b ; Geo. Meyer , s s ; P. Wal ters , 3 b ; S. Minnich, lf; L. Held, c f ; P. Reiter , r f .

A second team consisted of E . Wicke , c ; J . Richardson, p ; C. A . W o l f r a m , p ; A . Fr i tz , l b ; A . L.

Webster , 1b; P . Al l ison, 2 b ; Aug . Held , c f ; J. O'Donnell , 2 b ; O. Fr i t z , s s ; G. Fr i t z , 3 b ; L. Fr i tz , c f ; W m . Loeber , lf; F . S lama, r f . Th is team often defeated the P a r k R idge t eam and the boys f r o m the c a m p grounds , but invariably met defeat when p lay ing against the boys at St . M a r y ' s Tra in ing School a t Feehanvil le . A l though com­posed of younger boys the boys at the school pract iced almost every d a y and were fas t . The original baseball field was in a large prair ie near what is now Oakwood and Whi te streets. Sometimes games were played at the picnic grounds . Later a third team eventually be­came the first team. They were called the Stars and the Stars park w a s located east o f the creek at the f o o t o f Mill street across the r iver f r o m Miner street and the f o u n ­dry . A visit to the old ball park now will find it g rown up with trees and shrubs, though it has been the scene of m a n y games with well known teams f r o m Chicago and between the Bache ­lors and Benedicts o f Des Plaines.

Some o f the members o f the Des Plaines Stars w e r e : F. Gute¬ kunst, P. W e b e r , T. O'Donnell , H . Haas , G. Hass , A . Blewitt , W . P o y ­er, H. Schaefer , C. Z immerman, R. Z immerman and sometimes B. W o l ­f r a m . One Saturday afternoon a number of negro ball p layers stepped off the train at Des Plaines. They said they were the Union Giants and inquired if Des Plaines had a ball team that could g ive them a little pract ice f or their

23

coming championship contest wi th the P a g e Fence Giants. A s m a n y as possible o f the Stars were has ­ti ly assembled at the ball p a r k and the colored team acknowledged that they had to g o some to win the game .

One of our early industries was the cheese and butter f a c t o r y o p ­erated by the Geils brothers near the corner o f Rand road and Des Plaines avenue. A tub of butter ­milk and a large dipper were a lways kept handy f o r anyone who cared to drink. Another early in­dustry operated in the fa l l o f the year was E. D. Scott 's cider mill , where cider and sorghum were made. The mill was located near where the Sinclair Oil Station o p ­posite the Post Of f i ce now stands and jus t a little west of Jones ' Coal yard . There too the visitor was invited to a drink of f resh cider in season. There was an upper room on the second f loor o f the mill where the Christian E n ­deavor society held part ies . On one occasion, a candy pull , the candy had been boiled and set out in pans , upon the roof , outside the window to cool . Whi l e it cooled the games went on. When the girls thought the syrup had cooled suff ic iently to pull the candy, they opened the windows to br ing in the pans, but there were no pans. Of course the boys were unable to convince the gir ls that they had not taken the candy. So more candy had to be made . A f e w days later the empty pans were f ound on Scott 's porch with a

thank you note f r o m some o f the boys who worked at Jones coal y a r d .

P r i o r to the advent o f the auto­mobile, paved roads , the movie and the radio was the t ime when the oldsters think the y o u n g fo lk had the most fun . Sleigh rides and b u g g y r ides behind a f a s t horse seemed to afford more pleasure than the present auto r ide, though it took longer to cover the same distance, which however is no drawback to a young man and his g ir l . Church part ies and enter­tainments were held in Parsons hall which occupied the present site o f Spiegler 's Department store. Oyster suppers , s t rawber ­ries and cream and ice cream and cake sociables were much in vogue .

W h e n a y o u n g couple went to a dance, p r o g r a m s were provided. It was up to the young man to see that his lady had her program filled and also to fill his own. This tended to more sociabil ity and ev­eryone was introduced to every­body else. It was not considered etiquette f o r a couple to have more than two or three dances together . There seemed to be more rhythm and f u n at those early dances, where the Lancers and waltz qua­drille, the twostep , waltz polka, Berlin schottisch, Wash ington Post , the German and Old Dan Tucker and Virg in ia Reel kept the dancers busy. There were s inging socie­ties and dramas and we were en­tertained with product ions of E s ­ther, The Mikado , The Doll S h o w — " C h e e r - u p " — a n d the Distr ict School .

2 4

C H A P T E R V I I . Roads and Reminiscences

Record Book I in the possession of the township clerk of the t own­ship of Maine shows that the first annual meet ing af ter organization, w a s held according to notice, at Jefferson's mill on Apr i l 2, 1850. Socrates Rand acted as chairman and C. Clark as clerk. The meet ing adjourned to meet forthwith at the school house in Distr ict N o . 4.

A first Division of Road Dis ­tricts o f the township was made on Apr i l 27, 1850. John H. Rand and Alv in Scott were elected first commissioners o f h ighways .

The township was divided into road districts as f o l l o w s :

District 1 — Telegraph road in northeast parts o f township .

District 2 — The " M i l w a u k i e " road.

Distr ict 3 — R a n d road f r o m middle o f R iver br idge southeast­erly to the Town line and the road f r o m M. Talcott , Jr . , to the T o w n line towards Dutchman's Point .

Distr ict 4 — Rand road f r o m the middle o f the River br idge northwester ly to the T o w n line and the Elk Grove roads .

Distr ict 5 —- The River road f r o m north line o f the town to the south line o f H. Jefferson's land.

Distr ict 6 — The River road f r o m south line o f H . Jefferson's land south to town line.

Distr ict 7 — The state road f r o m the r iver r oad near M. Talcot t Sr. , southeasterly to south line o f town. (This was the Talcott r o a d ) .

Distr ict 8 — The Chicago and

Dundee road which crosses the Des Plaines r iver at the Brooks b r i d g e ; so much of it as is in this town. ( H i g g i n s r o a d ) .

Distr ict 9 — The road beginning near Rand 's bridge, and running norther ly to north line o f Section 16 thence due east to the Mi lwau­kie road.

The f o l l owing m a p shows the township of Maine f r o m a m a p by James H. Rees in 1851, the popu­lation at that time being 548. James H . Rees was one of Cook county 's earliest real estate and title men.

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Township of Maine 1851 Population 548

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Dutchman's Point mentioned above is the present Niles at in­tersection of Milwaukee avenue and W a u k e g a n road.

The " S t a t e R o a d " mentioned above in Distr ict 7 is the Talcott road. This road f o rmer ly crossed the r iver about a quarter o f a mile north of the present Touhy avenue over a bridge known years ago as Miller 's bridge. Mr . Brooks ' home, several times re ferred to , was evidently at Higg ins road and the r iver .

A noticeable f eature of the f o r e ­go ing m a p is the prominence given to taverns. The reasons f o r tav­erns being shown so conspicuously is f o r the same reason that our present auto tourists maps and guides g ive in format ion relative to auto courts . The taverns at that t ime were the only hotels and the traveler was very much con­cerned as to where he might ob ­tain " f o o d and lodging f o r man and beast. ' The roads in those days were difficult and the wary traveler viewed all s trangers with suspicion f o r horse thieves and road agents were doing a thr iv ing business.

In travel ing in and around Des Plaines , doing an ord inary day 's shopping, us ing one's car to go perhaps to Wheel ing , to Evanston or Elk Grove , the average young person does not realize what scenes of l ong a g o are pass ing through the mind o f the old t imer , r id ing with him.

R ight in the heart o f Des Plaines —the tr iangle bounded by P a r k

Place , Je f ferson and Lee streets is an historic spot. Here fifty years a g o existed a bandstand, and Des Plaines boasted of hav ing a fine band. T h e band was directed f o r m a n y years b y E . J . Meyer and later by H. T. Bennett . T h u r s ­day night was band night and the streets in the vic inity o f the band­stand were thronged with v i l lag­ers during the summer concerts . The ladies o f the Methodist church jus t across the street often took advantage of band night by having their lawn parties o f ice c ream and strawberries on those o c ca ­sions.

Some of the band members , seek­ing more music than jus t belong­ing to the band afforded, a long with other kindred spirits and lov­ers o f music f o rmed small home orchestras, mostly instruments, where they might saw a w a y to their hearts content. Beside the musical education and pract ice a c ­quired, these musicians never let anything on the humorous side es ­cape them. I t was on an orchestra meeting night, that two of the orchestra almost became convulsed with laughter when they discov­ered that a third member u n ­knowingly was industriously p l y ­ing his bow under the str ings o f his violin.

Trave l ing a long Des Plaines avenue a short distance beyond Lions park and Golf road one passes the convent o f the Sisters o f Nazareth . I t is situated upon proper ty once belonging to C. K. Parmelee . The property was w o o d -

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ed and upon one occasion a number of vi l lage boys had entered the woods and treed a squirrel . Of course the tree was hollow and the boys jus t had to build a fire in the tree to smoke out Mr . Squir ­rel . Just about the t ime the fire w a s going good a long the road came M r . Condon, the caretaker , with his horse and buggy . Al l the boys knew Mr . Condon (but he didn't k n o w them) and when they saw him stop the horse in the mid ­dle o f the road , they ran f o r the r iver . They waded the r iver and escaped to the other side by the t ime Mr. Condon reached the r iv ­er. H o w does one know all this? Perhaps one of the boys told about it.

Just north o f the convent is A l l Saints cemetery. Be fore this proper ty was a cemetery , it was the pasture where C. K. Parmelee kept his long horned steers and he had quite a large herd.

The village boys sometimes " d a r e d " each other to g o f r o m the road to the r iver through the p a s ­ture. One had to c l imb a f ence just as one approached the river. The dare was often accepted i f the steers were f a r enough away .

I f the reader is one who likes to take a ramble through the woods , a w a y f r o m the cement roads and autos, a par t o f the old forest trails o f a half a century a g o still remains almost the same as it did then. One used to wa lk north, a lmost to Rand's br idge , to H a w ­thorne Lane, up the Lane to the old W o l f r a m homestead ( n o w

Neve ' s ) then north along the r iver t o the E c k place, wade the r iver here ( i t w a s quite shal low) and travel a long the east side o f the r iver to w h a t is n o w Gol f road. This would take you b y the old swimming hole (Steege 's H o l e ) across the Belt ra i lway and o p p o ­site Lions Park. The f irst part o f the t ramp can be eliminated i f one takes his car north on Des Plaines avenue to Golf road, then turns east on Gol f road and parks. East through this woods leads to the secret home of maiden hair f e r n and jacks- in-the-pulpit . Until recently at least it was not Forest Preserve property . Another trail leads to the west toward the r iver . Near the r iver the woods are not so thick, there are more open spaces. It was here thirty years ago the writer often took his Sunday school class and their fr iends, sometimes about twenty boys , and played boy scout games. The wri ter had as much fun as the boys .

The middle trail leads north, through the woods to an open field, thence to a high bank above the r iver , here once a wild duck was taken, thence the trail leads along the r iver bank north, through P a r -melee's woods (now St. Mary ' s Tra in ing school p r o p e r t y ) . On the opposite side o f the r iver is Al l Saints cemetery. I t was between the r iver and the fence bounding the pasture ( that is now the cem­etery) that the wr i ter and a skunk once, almost, met. Lucki ly the wr i ter saw the skunk first. Req-

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uiescat. The trail m a y lead on f o r miles i f so desired, across new roads ( there were none in the old days up to Milwaukee avenue ) . One m a y continue through the woods on the east side o f the r iver to Wheel ing and beyond.

The shrine on Des Plaines ave ­nue near the convent o f the Sis ­ters of Nazareth reminds one of the shrine seen a long the r o a d ­side while travel ing through Que­bec, where the w a y f a r e r might stop f o r meditation and prayer A good description of these shrines, and also o f the customs in E n g ­land and France at the t ime o f Chaucer , is to be f ound in Sir A r t h u r Conan Doyle 's " T h e W h i t e C o m p a n y . "

In the late '80's and early '90's the C. & N. W . ra i lway had double tracks f rom Chicago to Des Plaines, north of Des Plaines there existed a single track. A number of the passenger trains started to Chicago f r o m Des Plaines, the first one leaving at 5:40 a.m. to enable workers to start their bus­iness day at 7 o 'clock a.m.

A f e w e r number of trains start ­ed f r o m Barr ington and still f ewer f r o m Harvard . The early morn ing trains f r o m Barr ington were called the first, second and third Barr ington . A turntable was l o ­cated on the ra i l road grounds , north of El l inwood street about opposite Behmiller 's meat market and it was a lways a matter of wonder to the small boy to see the engine turned around and more cause f o r excitement when occa ­

sionally the engine ran off the turntable into the pit .

A large wooden fre ight depot, built on cedar posts was f o r m a n y years located opposite the passen­g e r depot. This building did not enhance the beauty of Des Plaines and when the vi l lage became a w a r e o f this fac t , it was moved to a point jus t northwest o f Lee street and later to its present loca ­tion. The C. & N. W . improved its r ight o f w a y grounds which so much adds to the appearance of our city.

One o f the most important g o ­ing businesses of those early days and one which has almost become obsolete was the blacksmith and horse-shoeing business. About w h e r e the present frozen food store is n o w located, on Ell inwood street, a little west o f where Charles Stott had his grocery store, was the f o r m e r scene of busy act ivity in the days when T o m Luce conducted his horse­shoeing trade. One of the largest fires Des Plaines ever had was the one which occurred in the early 90's, start ing in a small barber shop, east o f the brick grocery store o f George Meyer at what is n o w the southeast corner of Cen­ter and Ell inwood streets and des­t roy ing all the buildings on El l in­wood f r o m Meyers ' store to Charles Stott 's store. F r o m that time on Des Plaines gradual ly began to improve in appearance . Better store buildings replaced those de­stroyed by the fire and residential homes on Miner street were re -

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placed by business houses. Through the untir ing efforts of D r . C. A . Ear le (a f ter whom Ear le Fie ld is named) the high school (now the Junior h igh school on Thacker street) and the public l ibrary were acquired.

M a n y o f our older citizens have a number of photographs of build­ings , people, celebrations, parades and scenes of old Des Plaines . A v e r y interesting photographic h is ­t o ry o f our city might be c o m ­piled i f the proper steps w e r e taken to assemble these pictures whi le they can still be obtained.

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W E H A V E G R O W N

W I T H D E S P L A I N E S

These articles on early Des Plaines were so interesting to me that I believed they should be perpetuated for posterity. W e decided to publish them in booklet f o rm for our readers to keep as an historical souvenir.

On this, the 25th anniversary of my ownership of the Suburban Times , I am pleased to be able to g ive you this, as an expression of my appreciation o f your friendship through the years .

The Des Plaines Suburban Times was founded in 1885 about the t ime that these articles were written. F o r this reason this brochure is especially close to us in senti­ment and history.

In a way it chronicles ours and the city of Des Plaines ' growth .

F R E D A . F U L L E , P U B L I S H E R .