Apple Orchards

In Lake County, apple orchards were an integral part of the landscape since the arrival of the first settlers in the 1830s. The primary profession was agriculture, and each farmstead had a dwelling house, barns, cultivated fields, and apple orchard.

Image from Lake County plat map published by H.R. Page & Co., Chicago, 1885.

Orchards varied in size and were primarily for the family’s use. A good orchard would have a mixture of dessert apples for eating out of hand, culinary apples for baking, and cider apples. A typical 19th century farm orchard is shown above (foreground) on the Oren Luce Farm in Vernon Township, Lake County, Illinois. 

The first nurseryman in Lake County was Thomas Payne of Fremont Township. Payne started his business in 1841, and by the 1850s had 100,000 trees in his inventory, which included landscape trees, shrubs and fruit trees. He sold apple trees for $17 per 100.

Receipt for apples, April 1851. Minto Collection, Dunn Museum, 93.45.253

Receipt (above) for apple trees purchased by David Minto of Loon Lake from Otis Marble, Sr., for a total of $6.00 on April 1851. The Minto farm was on the east side of Loon Lake along Deep Lake Road, west of Millburn. 

Over the years, the type of apple trees planted changed dramatically as new varieties were developed. A list of available apple trees offered in 1849 to Lake County residents included varieties such as: Sops of Wine, Surprise, Sweet and Sour, Toole’s Indian Rarepipe, Twenty Ounce, Benoni, William’s Favorite, Coxe’s Red Pippin, Orange Sweeting, and White Doctor.

Excerpt of letter from George Smith to his sister Susannah, September 30, 1862. 

Minto Collection, Dunn Museum, 93.45.446

On September 30, 1862, George Smith wrote home to his sister Susannah in Millburn: "I want some more of those big apples up from the old spider. Such apples as those cost .05 apiece here and sour at that, such ones as I have." George was in training with the 96th Illinois Regiment at Camp Fuller, Rockford, Illinois. 

Inkwell, circa 1840. Dunn Museum, 79.17.155

An apple-shaped inkwell (above), included a honeybee. This inkwell was used by the Ryerson Family of Riverwoods at their former summer home in today's Ryerson Conservation Area. 

During the late 1800s, the purchase of fruit trees through mail order catalogues became very popular. Each winter the farmer would patiently wait for his fruit tree catalog to arrive to check the varieties available and compare prices. It was also common for a salesman to stop by local farms to show off the wide array of fruit trees that could be purchased through mail order.

At the turn of the 20th century, most family apple orchards in Lake County included varieties such as: Baldwin, Northern Spy, Snow Apple, Winesap, McIntosh, Jonathan, Rhode Island Greening, Golden Russet, Northwest Greening, and Maiden’s Blush.

Apple trees at Brae Burn Farm, Lake Forest, 1915. Gleiser Collection, Dunn Museum 93.31.7. 

Little Dorothy Gleiser, pictured in the photo above, is sitting in an apple tree at the Brae Burn Farm in Lake Forest. The farm was Robert Leatherbee's gentleman's farm, and Dorothy's father, Lorenz Gleiser, was the farm manager.

Postcard of Bell's Orchard "Home of the Big Apple" by the Great American Color Company, circa 1960. Dunn Museum, 2001.9.1

The earliest large scale pick-your-own apple orchard was Bell's Apple Orchard in Lake Zurich near Routes 12 & 22. The orchard was started by John Bell and William Webbe in the 1930s. By the 1980s land values had risen and the orchard was sold. The site became a subdivision known as The Orchards. 

Following World War II, the popularity of pick-your-own apple orchards surged. Locals, as well as families from Chicago, flocked to the countryside to enjoy a day out-of-doors in the beautiful fall weather. Apple varieties that continued to be popular included Jonathan, McIntosh, and Red Delicious.

Popular orchards included: Jonathan Orchards in Wadsworth, Zale's in Russell, Orchard Valley, Ziegler's Orchard in Grayslake, Heinz Orchard in Green Oaks, Quig's Orchard in Mundelein, and Wauconda Orchards.

Commemorative postcard, circa 1980. Dunn Museum 2008.2.2

Quig's began in 1947 with Henry Quig selling apples out of the back of his pickup truck. The family purchased land for the orchard and soon the business grew to include a restaurant, gift shop, and gold fish pond. Quig's had their last harvest and closed in 2005. 

In 1967, this photo ran with an article in the News-Sun about Wauconda Orchards: "The Wentzel's daughter, Laurie, shows off some of the orchards' apples available in October." News Sun Collection, Dunn Museum.

Wauconda Orchard got its start in 1951 when Richard and Marge Breeden purchased 75 acres along Fairfield Road. The orchard began modestly with 500 trees and grew to nearly 10,000 trees, becoming the largest apple orchard in Northern Illinois. 

Photo of gift shop buildings at Wauconda Orchards taken during the last harvest in 2001. www.wheelmen.com

At its height, Wauconda Orchards attracted over 100,000 people per year. In 2001, the Breedens chose to retire and sold the orchard. The proposed housing development had great opposition from local residents, but eventually was built. 

Apple orchards are very much a symbol of a rural, agrarian life. With the rise in land values and population in Lake County—especially from the 1980s on—it is not surprising that farms and orchards began to disappear. As of this writing, Ziegler's and Heinz apple orchards are still in business to offer pickers a chance at this wonderful seasonal tradition.

John Easton Store, Half Day

John M. Easton (1810-1876). History of Lake County, Charles A. Partridge, 1902.

One of the most enlightening sources for what life was like in early Lake County is the Easton Store Ledger, dating from 1844-1846.

The ledger reveals the names of early farmers and the types of merchandise available.

John M. Easton (1810 - 1876) of Putnam, New York, came to Lake County in 1837, and opened a general store in Half Day the following year.

In addition to being a store proprietor, Easton was Half Day's postmaster from April 1841 to July 1845. It was common for the general store to double as the post office.

By the 1840s, Half Day was a bustling community on the stagecoach route on the Chicago and Milwaukee Road (present day Milwaukee Avenue/Route 21).

Map created of Half Day in 1847 by Al Westerman, using land records. The Easton Store property is highlighted in green.

The town of Half Day was named for Chief Aptakisic whose name translates to Half Day. Click here for my post on Aptakisic-Half Day.

Easton Store Ledger. Photo by Mark Widhalm. Dunn Museum 97.1.1

Like other store proprietors of the time, Easton kept a "day book" to track his customer's purchases and payments. The ledger is a who's who of area residents, including Jacob Mowers, Elijah Gridley, Thomas Payne, Mathias Mason, and most notably Captain Daniel Wright, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the county's first non-native settler.

From the ledger, we know that Easton's inventory included food staples such as sugar 10¢, molasses 63¢ gallon, apples 80¢ bushel, coffee 12 1/2¢, and Y.H. tea 88¢. Medicines included quinine 24 grams for 38¢, calomile 25¢ ounce, Peters pills 25¢, and mercurial ointment 13¢ box. Household items such as candles sold for 12 1/2¢, "glass lites" (panes of glass) 6¢ each, baking tins 12 1/2¢, calico for dresses and quilts 13¢ to 25¢ yard, white dinner plates 8¢ each, and wooden pails 38¢.

The store also carried farm supplies such as hoes, shovels, cotton knives and seeds; and lead, shot, powder, and percussion caps for guns.

A great number of items were available on order for customers, including furniture. One item not sold at the store was flour. This may seem curious, but flour was readily available at Kennicott's gristmill just south of the store along the Des Plaines River.

Shown here are purchases of Captain Wright for Monday, October 20, 1845. Included in his order are 3 yards Sheep's Gray (fabric), 3/4 " Drilling, 1 dozen buttons, 6 skeins thread, 1/2 # Y.H. tea, 1 dipper, 4 yards Hard Times, and 1 scoop shovel. Like many of Easton's customers, Wright charged his purchase. This record is the only known primary source document of Wright in Lake County.

Date written by John Easton in his store's day book.

In 1845, Easton married Minerva Baldwin (1808-1859), and together they had three children. In 1860, Easton was re-married to Jane "Jennie" Hibbard Carr, and had two children.

One of Easton's regular customers became his in-law, when Mathias Mason's son, Judson Mason, married John and Minerva's daughter, Frances on October 23, 1866.

Some time before 1870, John retired and closed the store. He passed away in 1876 and Jennie passed in 1897.

The ledger's "second life" began sometime after Jennie's death, as Charles C. Gerbert (1864-1931) purchased the Easton home.

Cover of the Easton Store day book. The original leather cover can barely be seen under the images pasted onto it. Dunn Museum 97.1.1

The Gerbert family found the ledger in the house, and re-used it as a scrapbook, pasting news clippings over John Easton's store accounts. The clippings date generally from circa 1898.

John Easton's writings are covered with newspaper clippings pasted by the Gerbert Family of Half Day, circa 1898.

In 1931, Nellie Gerbert (Mrs. Charles C.), brought the day book to the Half Day settlers' reunion, and C.J. Herschberger read an article pasted in the book about "The First White Settler" (Daniel Wright). Wright's grandson, William Whigham, attended the settlers' reunion.

As a historian, the re-use of the store ledger as a scrapbook is admittedly disappointing, but it is also fascinating. There has been some discussion of restoring the ledger to its original condition by removing the clippings, but I hesitate to give up that aspect of the ledger. The scrapbook pages give us a glimpse into the next generation of Half Day residents, what they valued, and how they conserved resources by finding a new use for an "old ledger."

Update: In 2020, the Signal Hill Chapter, NSDAR, funded the conservation of the Easton Store Ledger (97.1.1), including removal of scrapbook clippings from the first 70 pages of the 144-page ledger to reveal all ledger entries, preservation of the clippings as part of the ledger's history, and a purpose-built archival box for the ledger. 

My continued appreciation goes to Jill Martin (1940-2009), who diligently transcribed the Easton Store ledger, and researched some of its customers and their purchases. A full transcription of the ledger is available for research at the museum's Lake County History Archives.

Ravinia Nurseries

Tree nurseries for landscaping purposes were an important agricultural crop in Lake County as early as the 1840s. The earliest known nursery was Thomas Payne's in Fremont Township, established in 1841. Within a decade, Payne had 100,000 trees in his inventory, including Norway spruce and apple varieties.

Frederick D. Clavey in his nursery, circa 1910. Dunn Museum Collections. 

One of the best known nurseries on the North Shore was the Clavey Nursery of Highland Park, founded in 1885 by Frederick Clavey. Later the company was known as Ravinia Nurseries. 

Clavey started his business by selling trees off farm lots. To Clavey, the best trees came from fields where cattle had nibbled on them making them trimmed and bushy.

This estimate (above) for work at the Rothschild home in Highland Park includes extensive sodding and the planting of nine spireas all for less than $100.

Trees were dug by hand and transported by horsedrawn wagon. Clavey wasn't just a nurseryman, he was a landscaper, too.  

This business card shows an impressive workforce. Dunn Museum M-89.2

Ravinia Nurseries Fall 1926 and Spring 1927 catalogue.

Page views from the 1926-27 catalogue. Dunn Museum M-89.2

A 1923 advertisement for the nursery stated: "Trees selected with care as to variety and placed with relation to the house and views, give a feeling of quietness and an appearance of permanency to home grounds."

The ad went on to detail the nursery's growing practices: "Trees in our nurseries are planted far apart so as to develop a good top, and are frequently transplanted so as to produce a fine root system of fibrous roots. Because of this our extra-large size trees will transplant successfully and obviate years of waiting for their shade and proper effect."

Large tree for "immediate effect" being transplanted at a North Shore estate, circa 1930. Dunn Museum M-89.2

Clavey Nursery trees on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Dunn Museum M-89.2

In the late 1950s, the nursery provided trees to beautify Michigan Avenue in Chicago (left). The Clavey's also planted the ivy for the now famous "ivy wall" at Wrighley Field.

By 1970, Ravinia Nurseries' was headquartered in Lake Villa, selling evergreens, trees, shrubs and vines. They have since gone out of business.