Illinois National Guard, Camp Logan

Camp Logan in Zion was an Illinois National Guard rifle range. This Guard training facility operated from 1892 to 1974 in what is now the Illinois Beach State Park.

John Alexander Logan (1826-1886), namesake of Camp Logan, Zion, Illinois. 

Congressional Portrait Collection, Library of Congress

The camp was named for General John Alexander Logan, a politician who raised and commanded the 31st Illinois Volunteer Regiment from southern Illinois in 1861. 

The camp was located east of Sheridan Road and adjacent to the Chicago & North Western Railroad. The property was purchased by the State legislature in 1892 to facilitate National Guard training in the region.

Camp Logan, circa 1900. Private collection.

By 1900, the camp was well established and included a headquarters office, four regimental barracks, range office, mess hall, kitchen and arsenal. From an early date, regular Army marksmen from the U.S. Army post at Fort Sheridan preferred the rifle range at Camp Logan over their own facilities. Naval Militia from the Naval Training Center Great Lakes also utilized this facility. 

Firing line, Camp Logan. Date unknown. 

The camp's arsenal is visible in the background at right. 

Private collection. 

U.S. Naval rifle range, Camp Logan. Date unknown. Private collection. 

Before World War I, the Illinois National Guard put great emphasis on rifle marksmanship. It was one of the few Guard activities that was judged by strict Army regulations.

Training at the camp included handling of small weapons, tactical maneuvers, and rifle marksmanship. Soldiers performed a variety of marksmanship scenarios on targets located from 100 to 1,000 yards oriented toward Lake Michigan. In 1902, over 6,000 soldiers attended the camp and expended over 640,000 rounds of ammunition.

Two key innovations were incorporated into the Camp Logan range, the echelon target system and Aiken targets. For more on the inventor of the Aiken targets, see my post on Illinois National Guardsman, Robert Aiken. 

Corp. Rex Coniglio, Lieut. D.E. Zealand, and Private M. Cherion 

using 3-inch trench mortar at Camp Logan. 

Circa 1937. Dunn Museum 2013.18.28

From 1933 to 1937, Colonel George Marshall was assigned as the senior instructor at the camp. Marshall would become U.S. Secretary of State in 1947 and thereafter develop the Marshall Plan for the economic recovery of Europe after World War II. 

Following World War II, training became more restrictive due to the development of more powerful weapons and the increasing civilian population near the camp. The camp’s use dwindled until it was closed in 1974.

View of some of the buildings, and more construction underway at Camp Logan. 

Circa 1918. Dunn Museum 99.7.6

In 2000, the 243-acre Camp Logan National Guard Rifle Range Historic District, including the remaining 1890s - 1950s buildings and landscape structures were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Camp Logan was placed on the list because of its status as the best remaining example of a pre-World War II National Guard training facility in Illinois and the role it played in the evolution of the Illinois National Guard. 

One of the remaining structures at the Camp Logan National Guard Rifle Range Historic District. 

Photo courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. 

- Diana Dretske, Curator ddretske@lcfpd.org

Special thanks to Dunn Museum volunteer researcher, Al Westerman. 

Robert H. Aiken, Tilt-Up Construction Inventor

In 1907, Robert H. Aiken (1859 - 1925) of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois invented "tilt-up construction."

Col. Robert Aiken. Cement World, August 15, 1908, p. 327.

Aiken's fast and economical method of building concrete-walled buildings revolutionized construction and is still in use today. The process involves pre-fabricating concrete wall sections and lifting or tilting them into position on a concrete foundation.

Aiken was born in Abingdon, Knox County, Illinois. He came to Lake County, Illinois by 1895, when he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and assigned as the range officer at the new rifle training center at Camp Logan in today's Zion. Camp Logan was an Illinois National Guard training facility established in 1892.

On December 16, 1895, Robert Aiken married Jannette Kellogg (1879 - 1953) of Winthrop Harbor.

Jannette was the daughter of George P. Kellogg and Phoebe F. Landon Kellogg. Jannette was also the granddaughter of Nelson Landon (1807-1884), one of Lake County's most influential and wealthy pioneer settlers. Jannette and Robert resided on her father's farm along the east side of Sheridan Road just south of Kellogg Creek in Winthrop Harbor.

Aiken came up with his idea of constructing buildings using pre-cast concrete walls and raising them into position in early 1907, when he built concrete target walls for use at Camp Logan. Previously, the Camp's targets were made of wood. The new concrete targets kept ordnance from being shot into Lake Michigan and endangering boaters, and allowed the lead to be retrieved and reused.

After filing for a patent on a "method and apparatus for constructing concrete buildings," Aiken built a factory to manufacture the concrete targets and steel target frames, and used his new tilt-up method to construct it. The factory stood on his farm in Benton Township along Sheridan Road and was 80 x 75 feet and 14 feet high.

His next project was an ammunition and gun house at Camp Logan (above), and then a large mess hall at Camp Perry in Ohio. His first commercial store was built near Kenosha and was 30 x 40 feet with a cellar.

On November 14, 1908, Aiken organized the Aiken Cement Home company and incorporated it in the State of Maine (for tax purposes).

In 1909, he made plans to build a residential subdivision on his farm on Sheridan Road, using his tilt-up technique. The houses were to be concrete and two-stories high with six large rooms, front hall, stairways and bathroom. The subdivision was never built.

In February 1909, Aiken had a booth for his Cement Home Company at the 2nd Annual Cement Show held at the Coliseum in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune called him, "the novelty of the show" for demonstrating his invention of building concrete homes by actually constructing one inside the Coliseum.

In 1910, Aiken completed a new church for the Memorial United Methodist at 2935 Sheridan Road in Zion (above).

 

Memorial United Methodist Church as it looks today.

By 1910, Aiken had formed a partnership with Frederick H. Sears of Chicago with Sears organizing the Aiken Home Company of Chicago with offices at the Peoples Gas Building. Fred Sears expanded the company across the country, including in Los Angeles. The business was valued at $1,000,000.

It is unclear when and if Aiken and Sears parted ways.

Jannette Kellogg Aiken Black and grandson Hector Aiken

History of Lake County, Illinois (1939).

In 1924, Aiken and his wife, Jannette, and her sister Josephine Kellogg, subdivided the northern portion of their property south of Kellogg Creek into the "Kellogg's Home Site Subdivision." The site was improved with one and two bedroom concrete, Spanish-style bungalows that were rented on a daily basis to tourists. In addition, there was a campground and sandwich shop on site. This was Robert Aiken's last project using his method of tilt-up construction.

Josephine Kellogg was the proprietor of the tourist camp (above), which she named "Hollyhock Hill." Aiken's concrete bungalows are still visible today on Sheridan Road in Winthrop Harbor.

Aiken's tilt-up construction remains a dominant form of construction throughout the United States. He is honored each year by the presentation of the Robert Aiken Memorial Award at the annual World of Concrete Convention.

Inventor Robert Aiken's grave marker at Lake Mound Cemetery, Zion, Illinois.

Special thanks to museum volunteer, Al Westerman, for his extensive research on Robert Aiken. 

Diana Dretske, Curator ddretske@lcfpd.org