Mary Louise Spoor Brand - Children's Book Illustrator

 Mary Spoor Brand's illustration for Bobby and Betty With the Workers by Katharine Elizabeth Dopp, published by Rand McNally & Company, 1923. 

The Golden Age of American illustration (1880 - 1914) gave women unprecedented opportunities to be employed as illustrators. The momentum it created would benefit Mary Louise Spoor Brand of Waukegan, who became a children's book illustrator in the first decades of the 20th century. 

Mary Louise Spoor Brand (1887-1985). Ancestry.com volks1wag family tree.

Known as "Mollie" to her friends and family, Spoor was born on March 15, 1887 to Catherine Stressinger (1853-1947) and Marvin Spoor (1839-1927). Her father was an engineer for the North Western Railway, and except for an absence while serving with the 89th Illinois in the Civil War, Marvin Spoor ran a train between Waukegan and Chicago from the late 1850s until his retirement in 1902. 

Growing up in Waukegan, Mollie was surrounded by creative individuals, including her family's neighbor, Edward Amet, who was an early motion picture pioneer and inventor. See my post on Edward Amet. Mollie's brother, George K. Spoor, partnered with Amet in the motion picture business. About 1895, George featured his eight-year old sister, Mollie, in a short film of her playing with ducks.

Mollie Spoor on her high school graduation day, June 1905, at the courthouse in Waukegan. Dunn Museum Collections. 

In June 1905, Mollie graduated from Waukegan High School with "high honors" and was chosen class valedictorian for scholarship. Mollie was class treasurer and secretary of the school's drama club. The club's play that spring, "Hamlet," was held at the Schwartz Theater in Waukegan. Mollie Spoor starred as Ophelia alongside her high school sweetheart, Enoch J. Brand, who had the leading role as Hamlet. 

Waukegan High School's Class of 1905. Mollie Spoor and Enoch Brand are noted with yellow stars. 

Yearbook photo courtesy of Waukegan Historical Society. 

Schwartz Theater in Waukegan where Mollie Spoor and her high school classmates presented "Hamlet" in 1905. 
Photo 1950s. Dunn Museum Collections. 

The Waukegan Daily Sun noted that "Miss Spoor has a peculiar ability in executing pretty water colors and drawings, but she has not made any decision as to what she will do in later life." Within a year, Spoor found a path to her future career and enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There she excelled in illustration and portraits. 

Mary L. Spoor's illustration featured in "The Art Institute of Chicago Circular of Instruction" for 1909-1910.

In 1907, Mollie's brother, George Spoor and actor/director "Broncho Billy" Anderson, founded a motion picture studio in Chicago. The studio's name—Essanay—was a play on the founders' initials "S and A." See my post on Essanay Studios. 

Mollie Spoor's inlaid wood design for Essanay Studio's logo. In 1961, she donated the piece to the Lake County History Museum 

(forerunner of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum). 61.33.1 Dunn Museum Collections.

George asked his artistic sister to design the studio's logo. The distinctive choice of a Native American in headdress was likely George's idea, but the design was all Mollie's. Her framed piece was made of inlaid wood and hung in her brother's studio office at 1333 W. Argyle Street in Chicago. 

In June 1910, Spoor graduated from the School of the Art Institute with honors. The Waukegan Daily Sun noted that "In every respect she is the ablest artist this city ever claimed... and has won honor after honor at the Chicago Institute." 

Waukegan Daily Sun piece celebrating Spoor's accomplishments at the Art Institute, June 18, 1910. Newspapers.com

After graduation, she participated in a month-long Art Institute sketching class that went to the Eagle's Nest Art Colony in Oregon, Illinois. The colony was founded in 1898 by American sculptor Lorado Taft (1861-1936) and consisted of Chicago artists, many of whom were members of the Chicago Art Institute. 

"Bye Bye Bunting" illustration by Mary Louise Spoor, 1917. Seesaw.typepad.com.

Mollie made her home in Chicago and her art career took off. Her skill and professionalism was in great demand in the Midwest's publishing hub, where she found work with Rand McNally, Lyons & Carnahan, and Congdon Publishers. 

Jack and Jill chromolithograph by Mary Louise Spoor, 1917. treadwaygallery.com

Decades of technical advances in printing and the falling price of paper fueled the "ten-cent magazine revolution," spurring a demand for magazines such as the Ladies' Home Journal, and also children's books. In the late 19th century, books designed solely for children were brought on by the Industrial Revolution and a growing middle class with an awareness of the importance of preserving children's innocence and the benefits of play and amusement. 

At the turn of the 20th century, a burgeoning demand for artists continued, and particularly for women artists as illustrators of literature targeted to women and children. 

In the midst of this exciting time for illustrators, Mollie Spoor partnered with fellow School of the Art Institute student, Gertrude S. Spaller (1891-1970). The women became friends and colleagues, and worked together for ten years, even sharing an art studio in the tower of the Auditorium Building in Chicago. 

Chicago Auditorium Building from Michigan Avenue. Spoor and Spaller's shared studio was located in the tower. 

Photo by JW Taylor. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. 

 

Spaller and Spoor illustrated children's readers titled, The Easy Road to Reading Primer, for Lyons and Carnahan of Chicago/New York.

The Easy Road to Reading, First Reader. This series was illustrated by Mary Louise Spoor and Gertrude S. Spaller. 

Published by Lyons and Carnahan, 1919-1925. Seesaw.typepad.com.

Illustrations by Mary Louise Spoor for The Easy Road to Reading series published by Lyons and Carnahan. Seesaw.typepad.com.

Mollie Spoor also illustrated the stories of Katharine Elizabeth Dopp (1863-1944) for Rand McNally's Bobby and Betty children's books. Dopp was a notable American educator. The Bobby and Betty series featured the fictional children at play, at work, and in the country. 

Mary Spoor Brand's illustration of "The Milkman and His Horse" written by Katharine E. Dopp for Bobby and Betty With the Workers, 1923. 

During her career as an illustrator Spoor appeared under the name Mary Louise Spoor and after her marriage to Enoch J. Brand in August 1915, she was sometimes credited as Mary Spoor Brand. 

In many ways, Mollie was ahead of her time as a career woman. Many talented women illustrators gave up their art careers when they married, a societal norm at the time. According to her wedding notice in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Mollie's art "services were in great demand" in Chicago, so much so that she postponed her wedding until she finished a project for Rand McNally. 

Ten years after their high school graduation, Mollie Spoor and Enoch Brand wed in Waukegan. 

Waukegan Daily News, August 11, 1915. Newspapers.com

Mollie and Enoch moved to Minnesota and then to Massachusetts for Brand's insurance work. Mollie temporarily set aside her career until her four sons were in school, and then returned to illustrating. 

In 1922, the family came back to Illinois. They settled in Winnetka where Spoor became an officer in the North Shore Art League (est. 1924), and continued to express herself through her love of art until her death in 1985.

Mollie Spoor's illustrations charmed a multitude of children and parents in the early decades of the 20th century. Her skill as an artist contributed to children's illustrated books being respected as an art form. Today her work has received renewed interest as vintage children's readers have become collector's items. 

Mary Spoor Brand illustration from Bobby and Betty with the Workers by Katharine Elizabeth Dopp for Rand McNally, 1923. 

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

Sources: 

"Elect Club Officers," Waukegan Daily Sun, March 22, 1905. 

"Earn High Honors," Waukegan Daily Sun, June 22, 1905.

"Miss Molly Spoor Wins High Art Study Honors," Waukegan Daily Sun, June 18, 1910.

"Mary L. Spoor Becomes Bride of Enoch Brand Here," Waukegan Daily Sun, August 11, 1915. 

"Marvin Spoor Is Dead After Ailing For Over 25 Years," Waukegan Daily Sun, 1927. 

"Enoch J. Brand," Chicago Tribune, October 5, 1948. 

"Child Film Star' Mary Brand, 98," Chicago Tribune, October 31, 1985. 

- "The Art Institute of Chicago Circular of Instruction of Drawing, Painting, Modeling, Decorative Designing, Normal Instruction, Illustration and Architecture with a Catalogue for Students 1909 - 1910." Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1909. 

- Smith Scanlan, Patricia. "'God-gifted girls'": The Rise of Women Illustrators in Late Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia." Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies. http://w.ncgsjournal.com/issue112/scanlan.html 

- Goodman, Helen. "Women Illustrators of the Golden Age of American Illustration." Women's Art Journal, Spring-Summer, 1987, Vol. 8, No. 1. Accessed December 1, 2021. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1358335.

- Kosik, Corryn. "Children's Book Illustrators in the Gold Age of Illustration." IllustrationHistory.org. 

- Kesaris, Paul L. American Primers: Guide to the Microfiche Collection. Bethesda, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1990. 

- Dopp, Katharine Elizabeth. Bobby and Betty With the Workers. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1923. 

- Cowan, Liza, ed. "Artist: Mary Louise Spoor." SeeSaw: A Blog by Liza Cowan. February 7, 2012. https://seesaw.typepad.com/blog/artists-mary-louise-spoor/

Special thanks for research assistance to Ann Darrow, Librarian, Waukegan Historical Society www.waukeganhistorical.org; and Corinne Court, Senior Cataloging and Metadata Assistant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

The Dairy Queen: Grace Garrett Durand

Grace Garrett Durand with her cows. Crab Tree Farm, circa 1910. lflb.passitdown.com

Grace Garrett Durand (1867-1948), founder of Crab Tree Farm in Lake Bluff, Illinois, was one of the most forward thinking dairy farmers of her day. Through her philanthropic nature and society connections she advanced children’s health and the production of clean milk.

Durand was born in Burlington, Iowa to Martha Rorer and William Garrett. Grace’s ties to the Chicago area likely began with her brother’s marriage to Miss Ada Sawyer in 1884. Ada was the daughter of one Chicago's “pioneer druggists,” Dr. Sidney Sawyer. 

In February 1888, Ada Sawyer Garrett and her mother, Elizabeth Sawyer, gave Grace an “elegant reception" at their home. This may have been Grace’s formal introduction to Chicago society. In the following years, Chicago’s Inter Ocean newspaper would note Dr. and Mrs. Sawyers’ travels with Miss Grace Garrett as their guest. 

Society page notice of the reception in honor of Grace Garrett. The Inter Ocean, Chicago, February 5, 1888.

Grace had quickly become the darling of social circles for her “sweet winning face and vivacious manner.” The Sawyers took her to New York where they stayed at the Windsor Hotel, and wintered together at the famed luxury resort, the Hotel Alcazar—today’s Lightner Museum—in St. Augustine, Florida.

On news of her mother’s declining health, Grace returned home to Iowa to care for her. Martha Garrett died in February 1893.

In April 1894, Grace married wealthy sugar broker, Scott Sloan Durand of Lake Forest. Their wedding was held in Burlington, Iowa “in the presence of a brilliant assemblage of invited guests.” Grace’s maid of honor was the famous watercolor artist and illustrator, Maud Humphrey (1868-1940) of New York. Today, Maud is better known as the mother of Hollywood legend, Humphrey Bogart.

Sketch of Grace Garrett for an article titled, "Two Fond Hearts United," on the occasion of her marriage to Scott Durand. 

Inter Ocean, Chicago, April 6, 1894.

The Inter Ocean reported that the bride wore a “Queen Louise gown of white satin… and a white veil trimmed in duchesse lace.” At this point in her life, Grace was considered a “lady of fashion.” Within a few years, newspapers would spend less time talking about her clothes and more about her leadership qualities.

The newlyweds returned to Lake Forest and in 1896 built a new home on 20 acres at the northeast corner of Sheridan Road and Crabtree Lane. When Lake Forest held its first election for the Board of Education in May 1897, Durand was motivated to run. This was also the first time Lake Forest women could vote. Grace Durand and Miss Mary Neimeyer were elected to the board. 

At the turn of the century, Durand shifted her focus to dairy farming as she became aware of infant mortality rates in Chicago linked to contaminated milk. Impure milk was a problem that had been combatted with varying success for centuries, but with the rapid growth of cities the problem was exacerbated. Inspired by her mother’s example of helping others, Grace saw a desperate need to provide clean milk to children.

In 1904, Durand established Crab Tree dairy farm on her Lake Forest property. However, her neighbors were not enamored of having a dairy herd in the neighborhood. Some complained of the “odor and flies” and that the herd’s “bawling” kept them awake at night. 

Artist's fanciful illustration of Grace Durand astride one of her dairy cows. Washington Herald, November 28. 1915.

In 1906, the Durands’ purchased 256-acres, formerly owned by Judge Henry W. Blodgett, on Sheridan Road north of Lake Bluff. Grace marched her cows up the road to the new farm. Her dairy operation was celebrated in newspapers across the nation. The New Castle Herald noted that Durand sold: “the purest of milk… at a profit in air tight silver jugs.” Grace even enrolled in a farmer’s ten-day course at the Wisconsin University College of Agriculture in Madison, WI.
 
An article in Pearson’s Magazine explained how Grace’s visit to Chicago's “tenement district revealed… most of the infant mortality was due to the want of nourishment, which meant good milk, and that good milk was a rare commodity, difficult to procure, even at exorbitant prices.” Durand used the profits from selling milk and thick cream to Chicago’s most select hotels, restaurants and tea rooms to support needy children.

In 1910, several buildings on her farm were lost to fire. Durand "tearfully" sold her herd, because she could not get barns built before winter. The Durands commissioned Chicago architect, Solon S. Beman (1853 - 1914) to design her new ideal model dairy farm. It was the only farm complex Beman designed.

Crab Tree Farm buildings designed by Solon S. Beman and Durand's new herd of cows, circa 1911. Private collection. 

 
Durand was known to pamper her cows and referred to them as her "pets." She enlisted the unusual method of playing opera music while the cows were milked. Grace claimed the music made the cows happy and consequently their milk tasted better and was more nutritious. 

With her success in raising standards in dairying, Durand began to be called the “dairy queen.” 

Dairy farmers were eager to learn the "dairy queen's" methods at the Farmer's Institute

 in Edwardsville, IL. Mantoon Journal Gazette, February 17, 1910.

 

She became a popular lecturer at farmers’ institutes across the Midwest, sharing her experiences in dairy work, and belief in hygienic and systematic methods to enhance dairy products. Her “charming manner and decisiveness impressed” all who heard her. 

Unfortunately, Durand had setbacks in her dairy operations. In fall 1915, her herd was confirmed to have Foot and Mouth Disease, a highly infectious viral disease of hooved animals. Crab Tree Farm was one of many in the region suffering from the disease. Durand fought the diagnosis through litigation, but lost her legal battle in the Illinois Supreme Court. Consequently, the herd was destroyed. Of course, the tenacious Durand began again. 

In addition to dairy farming, Durand supported the prevention and treatment of Tuberculosis. She was one of the incorporators of the Lake County Tuberculosis Institute (Waukegan) in October 1908, along with Dr. Elva A. Wright (1868-1950) of Lake Forest. 

In July 1932, the Durand family made news when their adopted son Jack Durand received a letter threatening to kidnap his 2-year old daughter unless he handed over $50,000 (nearly $1 million today).

Grace Durand outwitted criminals in a plot to kidnap her grandchild. 

The Times, Streator, Illinois. July 12, 1932.

The police were notified of the threat and waiting at Jack Durand's home. However, the would-be kidnappers went mistakenly to Grace Durand's home at Crab Tree Farm and asked for him. A "quick thinking" Grace told them that Jack would be home soon and they should have a seat on the porch to wait. Meanwhile, she phoned the police. Perhaps it was her persuasive personality, but oddly enough the thugs waited as suggested and were rounded up when the police arrived. 

Grace was also a Temperance advocate and member of the Lake Bluff chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. It was more than a little embarrassing when her husband Scott Durand was indicted for selling 30 million pounds of sugar (from 1929 to 1932) to persons who used it to manufacture liquor.

Grace Durand as featured in Harper's Weekly, May 9, 1914.

Dairy operations ceased when Grace Durand died on February 26, 1948. During her lifetime she was recognized as one of the “most powerful leaders in the milk crusade.” 

Following Durand's death, William McCormick Blair (1884-1982) and his wife, Helen Bowen Blair (1890-1972), purchased Crab Tree Farm. The Blairs association with Durand had begun in 1926, with the purchase of 11-acres of the farm overlooking Lake Michigan. 

Since 1985, Durand’s Crab Tree Farm has been owned by the John H. Bryan family. The property is still a working farm, and the original historic buildings have been renovated and now display collections of American and English Arts and Crafts furniture and decorative arts.

Special thanks to Laurie Stein, Curator at the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, for additional research and enthusiasm for this topic. 

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Findagrave.com

Crab Tree Farm, crabtreefarmcollections.org

History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, lflbhistory.org

Olmstead, Alan L. and Paul W. Rhode. Arresting Contagion: Science, Policy, and Conflicts Over Animal Disease Control. Harvard University Press, 2015.

“Garrett, Timothy M.” Chicago City Directory, 1882.

“Past Pleasures.” The Inter Ocean, Chicago, Illinois, February 5, 1888.

“Durand—Garrett.” The Daily Leader, Davenport, Iowa, April 1, 1894.

“Two Fond Hearts United.” The Inter Ocean, Chicago, Illinois. April 6, 1894.

American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record, Vol. 25. 1894.

“Lake Forest Dames Vote: Five Run for Office and Two Win at the Ballot.” Chicago Daily Tribune, May 9, 1897.

“Mrs. Scott Durand a Student.” Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois. February 5, 1908. 

“Dairy Queen Is To Speak.” Journal Gazette, Mantoon, Illinois. February 17, 1910.

Saint Maur, Kate V. “Mrs. Scott Durand - Milk Woman.” Pearson's Magazine, July 1910.

“Mrs. Durand Tearfully Orders Dairy Pets Sold.” The Inter Ocean, Chicago, Illinois. November 8, 1910.

“Mrs. Durand: A Twentieth Century Product.” Harper's Weekly, May 9, 1914.

“The Gentile Woman Farmer and Her Fight to Save Her $30,000 Herd.” Washington Herald, Washington, D.C. November 28,    1915.

“3 Suspects in Kidnaping Plot.” The Times, Streator, Illinois. July 12, 1932.

“Arrests Nip Durand Baby $50,000 Kidnapping Plot.” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 13, 1932.

“Wealthy Broker, Mate of Rum Foe, Indicted by U.S." The Decatur Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois, February 17, 1933.

Women's Army Corps at Fort Sheridan

Women's Army Corps member at Fort Sheridan, circa 1943. Fort Sheridan Collection, Dunn Museum 92.24.1112

In September 1939, Americans were in the tenth year of the Great Depression when war broke out in Europe with Hitler’s invasion of Poland. As the warfront expanded throughout Europe and Asia, the U.S. needed to increase the strength of its’ military to prepare for the possibility of war. These preparations included discussions on the prospect of a women’s corps.

Along with men, women wanted to do their part to fight the threat of fascism and many lobbied for a role in the U.S. military mobilization. At the forefront was U.S. representative Edith Nourse Rogers (1881-1960) of Massachusetts, who introduced a bill in Congress in early 1941 to establish an auxiliary corps to fill non-combatant positions in the army.

The bill stalled until the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 propelled the United States’ into war. Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, foresaw a manpower shortage and understood the necessity of women in uniform to the nation’s defense. Not only were women needed in factories, but also in the military. 

With the support of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and General Marshall, on May 15, 1942, Rogers’s bill (H.R. 4906) passed into law creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). As an auxiliary unit, the women were limited to serving with the Army rather than in the Army.

The purpose of the WAAC was to make “available to the national defense the knowledge, skill, and special training of the women of the nation."

Women taking the oath as officer candidates in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps at army headquarters, Chicago. Four of the women pictured were African American, including Mildred L. Osby (top left), who would command an African American Women's Army Corps unit at Fort Sheridan. Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1942.

The first WAAC training center was at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. On July 20, 1942, one hundred and twenty-five enlisted women, and four hundred and forty officer candidates arrived for training.

Of the four hundred and forty women selected for officer candidate training only 40 places were allotted for African American women, reportedly based on “the percentage of the population.” Mildred L. Osby (1913-1953) of Chicago was one of the African American women selected for officer training. Her fellow candidate, Charity Adams Earley, described them as “the ambitious, the patriotic, the adventurous.”

Lt. Mildred L. Osby recruiting women for the WAACs in Washington D.C., November 1942. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 

The U.S. Army post at Fort Sheridan received its first 150 auxiliaries on December 30, 1942. The WAAC detachment arrived from Fort Des Moines by train at the Fort Sheridan depot. Commanded by Captain Edith M. Davis, the women were the first company of WAACs assigned to the Army Service Forces’ Sixth Service Command (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan) headquartered in Chicago.

First WAAC detachment arriving at Fort Sheridan on December 30, 1942. Mary Jane (Lett) Lucas aka "Jane" is right of center holding large duffel. Chicago Sun Staff Photo / Fort Sheridan Collection, Dunn Museum 95.32.23.

Among the first detachment of WAACs at Fort Sheridan was Mary Jane (Lett) Lucas (1921-2014), who recalled that the women auxiliaries were given a warm reception. She noted that the army “didn’t know what to do with us,” and was given a job as an usher at the post’s theater. The army quickly figured out how best to utilize the extra "manpower." Duties for the women’s corps included: clerks, stenographers, commissary, photo analysts, surgical assistants, lab assistants, mechanics, and chauffeurs.

On July 3, 1943, the auxiliaries were officially given “active duty status” with the passing of the bill to create the Women’s Army Corps. All auxiliaries (WAACs) were offered the choice of an honorable discharge and return to civilian life or joining the U.S. Army as a member of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Seventy-five percent of the women enlisted.

This new designation was important as it gave women full military rank and benefits for service injuries and allowed them to serve overseas. It also gave them protection as soldiers and if captured were eligible for rights given to prisoners of war.

WAC Mary Jane (Lett) Lucas, bottom right, with Sixth Service Command Laboratory soldiers and WACs, circa 1944. Lucas met her husband, Colonel Charles J. Lucas (1923-2011), at Fort Sheridan’s Non-Commissioned Officers’ club. They married in 1947 and settled in Grayslake. Mary Jane Lucas Collection, Dunn Museum, 2012.20.39.

Lucas was assigned to the Army’s Sixth Service Command Medical Laboratory at Fort Sheridan, driving officers from the lab, and checking in thousands of samples. This laboratory received more than 66,000 food and water samples from 1941 to 1945. The laboratory’s principal activity was the chemical and bacteriological examination of foods, including large quantities of canned evaporated milk, dried powdered milk, and cheese procured for the Armed Forces. At the lab, Lucas also worked with German prisoners of war, but was not allowed to speak to them. 

In November 1943, an African American WAC unit was posted to Fort Sheridan under the command of 1st Lt. Mildred L. Osby (promoted to Captain in January 1944). At the time of her enlistment in July 1942, Osby was married, living in Chicago, and employed at the social security board. She had graduated from Officer Candidate Training at Fort Des Moines, served as a WAAC recruiter in Washington, D.C., posted to Fort Custer, Michigan, and WAC Company B commander at Fort Sheridan. 

Capt. Mildred L. Osby, date unknown. Photo from FindAGrave.com, Arlington National Cemetery.

The seventy-five African American WACs under the command of Capt. Mildred Osby were assigned to duties in the Recruit Reception Center. Soldiers on furlough also passed through the Fort where their service records were checked and instructions given for the length of furlough time they had at home.

Soldiers and WACs worked in the Rotation Section, which had a "graveyard shift" to accommodate the great numbers of soldiers passing through and to "speed overseas veterans through." (The Tower, August 11, 1944).

WACs Pvt. Ruth Mays (right) showing records to Pvt. Florence Brown while working in Fort Sheridan's Rotational Section.  Mary Jane Lucas Collection, Dunn Museum, 2012.20. The Tower, August 11, 1944. 

Twenty-six of the original company of WACs at Fort Sheridan on their two-year roll of honor, December 1944. Mary Jane (Lett) Lucas (top row, red star). Thirty of their WAC comrades had been transferred overseas where they were serving in New Guinea, Egypt, England and France. The Tower, December 29, 1944. 

Details of the celebration at Fort Sheridan marking the 2nd anniversary of the creation of the Women's Army Corps. Chicago Tribune, May 15, 1944.

During World War II, nearly 150,000 American women served as soldiers in the Women’s Army Corps. In 1948, for their superb service during the war, President Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act allowing a permanent place for women to serve within the military in regular, peacetime forces. 

The Women's Army Corps disbanded in 1978 and all members were fully integrated into the U.S. Army.

The Dunn Museum is celebrating those who served with a new temporary exhibition Breaking Barriers: Women in the Military through June 13, 2021. To experience this past exhibition, you may view it as a virtual exhibit online. 

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

Sources: 
Bess Bower Dunn Museum (Fort Sheridan Collection 92.24/95.23; Mary Jane Lucas Collection 2012.20)
"War Training - First Contingent of WAACs Arrives at Fort Sheridan," Chicago Daily Tribune, December 31, 1942.
"Twenty-five WAACs Win Promotion to Second Officer," Chicago Tribune, January 3, 1943.
"American Women at War - Lt. Mildred L. Osby," Chicago Tribune, November 28, 1943. 
"American Women at War - Capt. Mildred L. Osby," Chicago Tribune, January 30, 1944.
"WACs at Fort Sheridan to Observe Anniversary," Chicago Tribune, May 15, 1944.
"'Graveyard Shift' Hastens Rotation Men Home," The Tower, August 11, 1944. 
"WACs Celebrate Second Anniversary Here," The Tower, December 29, 1944. 
"On the Record with Mary Jane Lucas," Lake County Journal, May 27, 2010. 
Earley, Charity Adams. One Woman's Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WACs. Texas A&M University Press, 1995. 
Treadwell, Mattie E. United States Army in World War II, Special Studies: Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1991. 
Ancestry.com
FindAGrave.com. "Mildred Lavinia Osby," Arlington National Cemetery. 
"Twenty-One Illinois Women Who Are in the Army Now," Chicago Tribune, June 12, 1942.
George C. Marshall Foundation Blog: https://www.marshallfoundation.org/blog/marshall-75th-anniversary-wacs/
The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service, Judith A. Bellafaire
https://history.army.mil/brochures/WAC/WAC.HTM    

Jane Strang McAlister, Millburn

Jane Strang McAlister (1817-1903), 1903. Photo taken at Godfrey's in Waukegan. 94.34.260, Dunn Museum Collections.

One of the county’s earliest and most generous philanthropists was Jane Strang McAlister (1817-1903) of Millburn, a retired sheep farmer and Scottish immigrant. 

If you live in north central or northwest Lake County, the name Strang is likely familiar. The Strangs settled in Millburn in 1838 and built its most prominent buildings. Jane Strang McAlister was born in Perthshire, Scotland to Margaret Clelland (1782-1841) and John Strang (1779-1866). Jane was their sixth child. 

In 1835, the family immigrated to Canada, where Jane met and married John McAlister (1802-1888). The Rebellions of 1837, forced the John Strang family out of Canada. The Rebellion was against the British colonial government and frustration over land rights. The McAlisters, including Jane and her husband, remained in Canada. 

The Strangs settled in Millburn, and the area became known as Strang's Corner or Strang's Settlement. They quickly became its most prominent residents. Several of the brothers went to the California gold mines in 1850 and “struck it rich.” The town's first brick building was constructed by Jane's brother, John “Jake” Strang (1828-1895) in 1856, east of today's Route 45 on Millburn Road.

The John "Jake" Strange home built in 1856 on Millburn Road in Old Mill Creek, using locally made bricks. Photo circa 1979.  Dunn Museum. 

The bricks for the John "Jake" Strang home (above) were Sherwood bricks. Sherwood's Corners was on Route 83 south of today's Lake Villa, and was the site of the Stephen Sherwood brickyard. The clay from the vicinity produced red common brick, which was purchased by locals to build the first brick structures in Millburn and nearby communities. The Strang house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 along with many other Millburn buildings. 

An 1861 map of the Millburn area showing the John and Jane McAlister property and their house (circled in red). The house was located at the northwest corner of today's Kelly Road (east-west road) and Hunt Club (north-south road).  The McAlisters lived at this location from 1842-1882. The Strang family properties are also shown. 1861 Lake County map by L. Gast Bro. & Co. Lithographers, St. Louis, MO. 

By 1842, Jane, her husband John, and mother-in-law Elizabeth Brash McAlister, had settled near Millburn. They purchased 160 acres at the northwest corner of Kelly and Hunt Club Roads. (see map above) They named their property Irving Farm and raised sheep. In addition to sheep farming, John McAlister loaned money to local farmers. After the Panic of 1837, an economic crisis gripped the U.S. into the 1840s. With the widespread fear of losing bank deposits, many farmers turned to other sources for monetary loans, such as those made by sheep farmer, John McAlister. 

From 1842 to 1882, Jane's life centered around sheepherding and farming. She sheared sheep, carded wool, spun it into yarn, and knitted stockings and other garments. She also worked in the fields. 

In 1882, Jane and John McAlister retired from farming and moved to a house on Clayton Street in Waukegan. After John’s death in 1888, Jane sold their Millburn farm to her nephew. With the sale of her farm and her husband's savings from his "bank" loans, Jane began to take on a new role as a benefactress. 

Color postcard of Presbyterian Church in Waukegan, circa 1910. Dunn Museum 92.27.231.1

As a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Waukegan, McAlister made a series of donations to support the congregation. She purchased a manse for the pastor, bought the church a new pipe organ, and paid the church’s debts. 

In 1891, a group of civic-minded men and women saw the need for a hospital in Lake County and formed the Lake County Hospital Association. With meager funds, initially the group rented the A.C. Hathorne residence at 720 North Avenue and created a six-bed hospital supported by physicians who provided their service for free. 

The county's first hospital was located in the A.C. Hathorne residence at 720 North Avenue in Waukegan from 1891-1896. Image from "Waukegan's Legacy Our Landmarks," edited by Sarah Griffin and Chandra Sefton, 1979. 

By 1896, the Lake County Hospital Association purchased the Liebich home at the corner of Franklin Street and North Avenue in Waukegan. 

In 1903, Jane McAlister donated $20,000 (approx. $585,000 in today's market) to the association to build a four-story brick building on the Franklin Street and North Avenue site. It was named the Jane McAlister Hospital. This hospital became the predecessor to Victory Memorial Hospital (today's Vista East) built in 1922 on Sheridan Road. 

Postcard of the Jane McAlister Hospital, circa 1908. Dunn Museum, 92.27.485.1

According to the Bureau County Tribune in Princeton, Illinois, the cornerstone for the new hospital was "laid without consulting [McAlister] and when she heard of it she said it was the disappointment of her life." She fell ill two weeks later and died on October 29, 1903. 

"Without living to see finished the magnificent work she started," wrote the Waukegan News-Sun on October 29, "she has passed away, leaving behind her what will be a monument of her great goodness and generosity." 

Waukegan News-Sun headline announcing Jane McAlister's death on October 29, 1903. 

McAlister's personal property was valued at $100,000. With inflation, today that would be nearly $3,000,000. In her will, she left money and property to family and charitable organizations.  

Drawing from a photograph of Jane Strang McAlister taken in 1903. Bureau County Tribune, Princeton, Illinois, November 13, 1903.

At the time of her passing, the Waukegan News-Sun noted: "She was a cheerful old Scotch woman, and the greatest Benefactress or Benefactor Lake County has ever had."