Maynard Log Cabin, Waukegan

In 1844, Jesse H. Maynard (1809-1890) arrived in Waukegan from New Hampshire with his wife, Augusta Marshall (1813-1884), and their children. Maynard family ancestors originally came to Massachusetts from England in 1630. 

Jesse Maynard (1809-1890). Bess Bower Dunn Museum, 94.34.291.

Maynard built a log cabin for his family and farmed land along Grand Avenue east of Green Bay Road in Waukegan. Green Bay Road was a main thoroughfare for travelers and new settlers. Maynard's wife, Augusta, taught the first school at Spaulding's Corner located at the intersection of Grand and Green Bay Roads. The location was named for the David Spaulding family who had settled there in 1836. 

Augusta Marshall Maynard (1813-1884). Wife of Jesse H. Maynard and first teacher at Spaulding's Corner School. 

Bess Bower Dunn Museum, 94.34.273.

In 1856, Jesse Maynard started a brickyard on his property at 3015 Grand Avenue. In 1864, he noted  that Dr. Vincent Price (1832-1914) of Waukegan ordered 1,000 soft bricks. Dr. Price had moved from  New York State to Waukegan in 1860 where he invented and promoted the use of baking powder, and became a wealthy businessman. 

Maynard Brickyard on Grand Avenue in Waukegan. Bess Bower Dunn Museum. 

Locally made brick was in great demand. Using the surface clay on site, Maynard made bricks which were first sun-dried, then stacked and covered for curing, and later baked in kilns located under a roof. A windmill on site provided power to pump water for the manufacturing process. 

In the 1880s, the family covered their log cabin with siding, added rooms and plastered the interior walls (below). 

Maynard Family home, circa 1885. The original log cabin (two-story section above) was covered with clapboard siding and additions made as the family grew more prosperous. Left to right: housekeeper Tilda Sweet (behind shrub), Jesse Maynard seated; and standing at right is daughter, Augusta Phillips (1839-1889). Bess Bower Dunn Museum, 94.34.490

The Maynard family discontinued living in this house in the early 1900s, and rented it to tenants. In 1962, Jesse Maynard's great-grandson, Edward N. Maynard, inherited the 12.5 acre-property and house, and sold it to the North Shore Gas Company. 

The family had retained the knowledge that the clapboard covered house concealed the log cabin their ancestor had built of hand-hewn logs in 1844. In order to save the original log cabin, North Shore Gas donated it to the Lake County History Museum (Wadsworth, Illinois). 

Russell Rouse (left) and Oscar F. Rogers, vice-president of North Shore Gas company. 

The men are examining the hand-forged nails used by Jesse Maynard to build the house in 1844.

In 1964, the central two-story portion of the historic Maynard home was moved to the Lake County Highway Department yard on Winchester Road in Libertyville. That location was chosen since the Lake County History Museum was hoping to build a new museum in Libertyville near the Winchester House (Lake County nursing home).

 

The Maynard log house moving to its temporary home in Libertyville, 1964.

Bess Bower Dunn Museum 94.34.491.

Maynard log house at Lake County Highway Department, Libertyville, 1972. 

Bess Bower Dunn Museum, 94.34.526.

Despite the best of intentions, the Maynard log cabin lingered outside and exposed to the elements until the mid-1970s while plans were developed for a new museum site. The cabin was carefully dismantled, each section numbered, and transported to Lakewood Forest Preserve in 1977. The goal was to re-assemble the cabin, but by then the damage was done. Much of the timbers had been eaten away by powder-post beetles. 

Sadly, all that remains of this worthy preservation project are the photographs taken to document its journey. Thanks are due to the work of many volunteers, including the Carpenters & Joiners of America Local No. 1996, and George Palaske House Raising and Moving Company, who uncovered and moved the cabin from its original site.

- D. Dretske, Curator ddretske@lcfpd.org

Lakewood Farm - Lakewood Forest Preserve

In 1937, Malcolm Boyle (1897-1959), a wealthy Chicago contractor, purchased several farms near Wauconda totaling 1,250 acres to create Lakewood Farm.

The rolling topography of Lakewood Forest Preserve (formerly Lakewood Farm).
This view is of the Stockholm addition to Lakewood Forest Preserve, 1989.

Boyle was at the tail end of a movement of influential Chicagoans who retreated to the countryside to build estates and operate farms, mainly from the 1870s to 1920s. These farms were known as “gentleman farms” because the owner’s hired farm managers to run them.

Many gentlemen farmers were executives or owners of Chicago businesses, or the children of prominent Chicago families. Their farms transformed the landscape of Lake County from homesteads with traditional white clapboard farmhouses to estate houses with elaborate gardens designed by famous architects. Among these farms were Arthur Meeker’s Arcaday Farm, Grace Durand’s Crab Tree Farm, Robert Leatherbee’s Brae Burn Farm, and Malcolm Boyle's Lakewood Farm.

In 1939, Malcolm Boyle registered the name, Lakewood Farm, for his working farm with the Lake County Recorder of Deeds. It became a showplace with Guernsey cows, pigs, horses, extensive orchards, gardens and grain production.

Wauconda's Independent Register wrote in 1938: "[Boyle] has remodeled the buildings and is making extensive improvements on the property, including an artificial lake."

Boyle renovated a pre-Civil War house on site

 into a country home. Since 1986, this building has been

 used for the museum's archives and library. 

One of the existing buildings Boyle improved was a pre-Civil War house. Boyle renovated it in 1938 into a lovely country home, and in 1986 when the Curt Teich Postcard Archives was donated to the museum, the house was adapted into an archives.

This barn was built in the 1920s and renovated by Boyle circa 1938.
This image is from a Lakewood Farms booklet printed, circa 1965,
printed by Howard Quinn, the property's next owner.

The ponds on the property were enhanced and landscaped by Synnetsvedt, and Boyle dredged a wetland to create Banana Lake and then stocked it with fish. He reportedly planned to dredge a small canal from Banana Lake to Bangs Lake in Wauconda (a distance of about one mile).

In 1953, Boyle’s Guernsey “Hagan Farms Merry Song” won a prize at the International Dairy show. The cow had notably produced 15,000 pounds of milk the previous year.

Silver tray trophy "Champion Northern Illinois Jr. Parish Show
Curtiss Improved Stud Service 1956."
For Lakewood Farm, Wauconda. LCDM 2009.21.2

In July 1961, Howard Quinn, owner of a savings and loan in Chicago, purchased the property. Quinn made many improvements to buildings, and in farming and breeding methods for his registered Guernsey and Angus cattle. He also constructed a Butler building  to be used as a loafing shed for cows waiting to be milked.

Known by its manufacturer’s name, the Butler building was a pre-engineered metal building. 
Beginning in 1968, the Lake County Forest Preserves used it for storing vehicles. 
In 1977, the Chicago Bears practiced here before they had a permanent facility in Lake Forest.
 The building was razed in 2010.

In 1965, Quinn was convicted of defrauding the government. According to the Chicago Tribune, the property was to be sold to "recoup losses from Quinn's handling of savings and loans funds insured by the federal corporation."

The Lakewood Farm property was one of the first sites designated by the Lake County Forest Preserves' for acquisition. In 1968, the land was acquired, and the farm buildings used to store equipment.

Prize bull barn as seen circa 1965.
This structure would be adapted as the museum's lobby and gift store.

The Lake County Discovery Museum opened its doors at Lakewood in 1976. Previously, the museum was located near Wadsworth on Route 41. Several of the original Lakewood Farm buildings were adapted for the museum’s exhibit galleries, collections storage and administrative offices. The museum will be moving in 2-3 years to Libertyville where it will have larger exhibit galleries, and be able to provide increased access to educational programs and to researchers utilizing collections.

Today, Lakewood Forest Preserve totals more than 2,600 acres, making it the largest preserve in Lake County. During the next couple of years the Lake County Forest Preserve’s planning department will develop a master plan for Lakewood, which will consider how the complex of buildings at Lakewood will be used. This master plan will be approved by the Forest Preserves Board of Commissioners.

Homer Dahringer (1890-1918)

When World War I erupted in Europe after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, on June 28, 1914 by the Black Hand, the United States pursued a policy of non-intervention.

However, former president, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), strongly supported the Allies and demanded a harsher policy against Germany, especially regarding submarine warfare. In 1917, Roosevelt visited Fort Sheridan (shown in photo) to give a passionate speech about the importance of rallying troops for mobilization for the war.

By 1916, the United States had begun to enlarge its army in preparation for war. At Fort Sheridan, much of the training focused on mastering trench warfare. Soldiers constructed and used an extensive trenching system simulating, as closely as possible, the trenches in the European war. (Officers Training Camp trenches at Fort Sheridan, circa 1917).

On April 6, 1917, the U.S. Congress declared war on Germany. Lake Countians began to volunteer for service in the war, and the Lake County sheriff was under orders to arrest all “slackers” or any man who wouldn’t register.

Homer Dahringer of Waukegan (right), who had gone through the First Officers Training Camp at Fort Sheridan in 1916, was commissioned August 15, 1917. He studied aviation in Austin, Texas, and was ordered to France in March 1918.

He was attached to the First Aero Squadron as an observer. In June 1918, he was promoted to first lieutenant. His job was to fly behind enemy lines in a two-seat reconnaissance plane, make observations and collect information and photographs of value to American gunners.

Dahringer had been a star athlete at Waukegan’s Central High School, and captain of the basketball team at the University of Illinois. By all accounts, he was outgoing and well liked.


Homer Dahringer (2nd from right), circa 1913.



Homer Dahringer (left) with friends. Mr. Steinhaus (2nd from right)
was Dahringer's business partner. In 1908, just after graduating
from high school, they formed Dahringer & Steinhaus
Restaurant, Ice Cream and Confectionary
at Genesee and Clayton Streets, Waukegan.



On September 16, 1918 he to wrote his parents from France:

“I am going on a dangerous mission, but we are all keyed up for it and do not anticipate any trouble. Tomorrow’s work is rather a culmination of all my efforts. We are going over the top together with the infantry. I am scheduled to fly an Infantry Liaison plane. It is the worst kind of work and everything rests with God. If I do not come back, you may know that I gave my all and my best to my country.”

He and his pilot, Lieutenant William Cowart, never came back from that mission. Their plane was shot down by a German Fokker, and they were reported missing in action on September 17, 1918.

Dahringer's family clung to the hope that he was alive and would come home from the war. The local paper ran headlines "Vanished Behind Foe Lines in Plane; Homer Dahringer, U.S. Air Observer, Missing in Action." Even the American Red Cross investigated and reported that he was alive and had been taken behind enemy lines. Soon even that report was questioned, since the family never received a letter from their son or any other news.

The Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, but it was not until January 3, 1919 that Dahringer's family received another telegram from the U.S. Army stating:

"Your son, Lieut. Homer Walston Dahringer reported by message dropped from German plane as dead in Germany. Date and cause of death unknown. Will notify of any future information."

Still, the family refused to accept the news. Within weeks, his body was brought to France for burial and it was the final proof that his family needed.

Real photo postcard of the University of Illinois' soccer team, 1910.
Homer Dahringer is seen smiling in the back row, third from left.
He sent the postcard to his sister Edna who was living in Los Angeles
at the time. He wrote: "This is the new game I am playing now.
We played against St. Louis and lost 5-0. Then we played Chicago
at Chicago and won 3-0. Today we played Chicago down here
and won 6-1. This was our last game this year. I am going home
for Thanksgiving soon.
Wish you were going to there too."
Signed, Homer "Darrie" [his nickname].

On October 28, 1919, the newly formed Waukegan American Legion Post was named in honor of Dahringer. Three years later, Dahringer’s body was brought back from France to be buried in Waukegan.

Amos Bennett, First African-American Settler

Amos Bennett was the county's first African-American settler, arriving in Gurnee by the fall of 1835.

Despite this remarkable distinction, Bennett's story was sparsely documented in early histories and went unresearched by historians until the 1990s. The discovery that sparked the museum's groundbreaking primary research on Bennett occurred in 1993 when museum volunteer Al Westerman was researching land records at the Lake County Recorder of Deeds. There, Westerman came across records of Bennett's land purchases. The find aroused curiosity since local legend and one published history claimed that Bennett had been merely a "squatter" and not a land owner.

If the squatting story was incorrect, what else might we find about this pioneering settler? The research eventually took myself and Al Westerman to Delhi, New York, where we met historian Shirley Houck, who was also interested in the Bennett Family story.

Amos Bennett (1797-post 1852) was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, to enslaved parents Timothy Bennett and Lil Disbrow Bennett. In 1799, Timothy and Lil were given a manumission paper freeing them "by the consent" of their enslaver, Joseph Bennett. The Bennetts then moved their family to Delhi, New York, taking the paper verifying their freedom and safe passage with them. The Bennetts became the first free Blacks to settle in Delhi and leased property in an area known as the Hardenburgh Patent on Federal Hill. They worked as sheep shearers, laborers, and farmers.

Elijah Haines wrote in his Past & Present of Lake County, Illinois (1877) that Bennett arrived in 1834. He "was a colored man, and the first of the African race who came to what is now Lake County; he is said to have once remarked, with much self-satisfaction, speaking apparently with reference to the Indians, that he was the first white man that ever planted corn in Lake County. He was a very intelligent man and much respected."

Gravemarker for Miles Bennett, the brother of Amos Bennett. Bennett Family Cemetery, Delhi, NY. 

Photo courtesy of Shirley Houck.

However, I believe that Amos Bennett left for Lake County, Illinois, in the fall of 1835. He left behind his parents and siblings, including a twin brother, Almon. His first wife, Clara, and their children, Henry and Emily, likely joined him after he settled in Illinois. This timeline follows the last record of Amos Bennett in Delhi, which is dated August 28, 1835, when he paid a portion of his father’s lease.

Historian John Halsey also felt that the 1835 date was likely. Halsey stated in his county history of 1912 that Amos arrived "before the close of 1835," settling "on the River above Vardin's Grove [Libertyville]."

Others have speculated that Bennett came west much later and may have been part of the westward migration of 100 families from Delhi that settled in the Gurnee area. This group included Philip Blanchard, a friend and neighbor to Bennett, and an abolitionist.

Bennett built a log cabin southwest of the intersection of Washington Street and Milwaukee Avenue in Gurnee. He later had a house and property on Dilley’s Road north of Grand Avenue near today’s Gurnee Mills. His brother Alfred (1805-1881) and his family lived with him for a time in Gurnee and purchased property in what is now Greenbelt Forest Preserve. Alfred later moved his family to Ottawa County, Michigan.

Amos Bennett owned 148 acres in Lake County. He sent his children to the local one-room school. Bennett was known as Dr. Bennett for his healing skill with herbs. He is reported to have saved the life of Hannah Blanchard (wife of Philip) after she was struck by lightning.

According to primary research by Debra Mieszala, in the spring of 1840, Bennett appeared at the first session of the circuit court in Libertyville. His complaint? He wanted a divorce from his wife, Clara. Mieszala's published article on the proceedings "Clara, Clary, Clarice! Amos Bennett's First Wife Identified Through the Use of Court Records," appeared in the Lake County Illinois Genealogical Society newsletter, (Volume 21, No. 4, Apr-Jun 2001) excerpted as follows:

"Amos told the court that he had married his present wife, Clara, in the State of New York in July 1820. He stated that in July 1836, Clara had committed adultery with Thomas Wilkinson, a Mr. Wood, and other persons unknown to Amos.... he "remonstrated" against the "wicked practices of said Clary," and as a result, she left him. Clara removed to Cook County, where Amos claimed she was living with other men... The case was found in Amos's favor in April 1841."

By 1843, Bennett remarried. The story is that he "traveled south," and when he returned, he brought a new wife, Ann Frances. 

In August 1843, Bennett ran (unsuccessfully) for public office as Lake County Commissioner against William Shephard, Seth Washburn, and Stephen Bennett. This makes him the first African-American to run for public office in Lake County.

He and his children were welcome at community gatherings, including a Fourth of July celebration at Third Lake in 1844. It was the first Fourth of July celebration in Lake County and was held at the confluence of Second and Third Lakes (northwest of Washington Street and U.S. Route 45). Nearly 100 people gathered from neighboring communities, including the Bennetts. When dinner was ready, all the families paraded in a circle and came together at the chowder kettle, where Reverend Dodge (Millburn Congregational Church) blessed the food. After the meal, Reverend Dodge prayed for the freedom of the slaves in the South, and Nat Doust read a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1846, Bennett and 30 other families pooled their money, purchased a three-acre tract of land, and created the Warren Township Cemetery.

Bennett bought and sold many acres of land and borrowed money using his land, horses, and a wagon as collateral. The last record documenting Bennett in Lake County is dated May 13, 1852. That is the day he sold his remaining land (40 acres) to Philip Blanchard for $200 and paid his mortgage.

Despite much effort, the story of Amos Bennett ends in 1852. We have been unable to discover what became of him and his family. Although at least one source claimed he moved to Wisconsin, the Bennetts do not appear in census records there or elsewhere in the United States. It would probably take visits to county courthouses to find records verifying where Bennett re-settled his family.

Delhi, New York historian Shirley Houck (1926-2013), visiting the Bennett Cemetery on Federal Hill near Delhi. 

Photo courtesy of Shirley Houck.

In 1997, the Lake County Forest Preserves placed a memorial plaque commemorating Bennett along the Des Plaines River trail near Washington Street in Gurnee.

In 1997, the Lake County Forest Preserves honored Amos Bennett by placing a plaque near the site of his homestead in Gurnee. 

Photo courtesy of LCFPD. 

In 2008, descendants of Tim and Lill Bennett gathered in Delhi, New York, for a family reunion. 

In 2023, the Village of Gurnee and Warren Township High School's Black Student Union dedicated a new plaque to Bennett at the historic Mother Rudd Home site in Gurnee. 

The Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County staff continues researching the Amos Bennett Family. We would very much like to hear from descendants or historians with more information. 

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

The Treaty of Chicago, September 26, 1833

The private ownership of land was a European convention unfamiliar to Native Americans. Land came down to tribes from their ancestors, and in turn they passed over the stewardship to their children and their children's children for countless generations.

American Historian, Clarence Walworth Alvord (1868-1928), wrote: "To allow the whites to use the land was one thing; to cede to them the permanent possession of the land was quite different."

Westward migration by Euro-American settlers after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 (which connected the Great Lakes with New York City via the Hudson River), put pressure on the U.S. Government to expropriate lands from Native peoples. The Erie Canal increased efforts to open northeastern Illinois to non-native settlement and brought hundreds of settlers into Michigan and Illinois.

Often, mistakenly, the Treaty of Prairie du Chien (there were four between 1825-1830) is cited as the reason Native Americans left northeastern Illinois. In fact, it was not until the Treaty of Chicago in 1833 when their Natives lands were expropriated. 

The Treaty of Chicago brought an estimated three thousand Native Americans, traders, government officials, army troops, land speculators, and adventurers to Chicago, then a small village. Aptakisic (Ah-be-te-ke-zhic) of the Half Day area Potawatomi was one of the leaders present.

American author, Washington Irving (1783-1859), and Englishman, Charles J. Latrobe (1801-1875) (shown at right) happened to be in Chicago at the time of the treaty. (LaTrobe later became the first lieutenant-governor of the colony of Victoria in Australia).

LaTrobe wrote about the event extensively in his book, "The Rambler in North America," published in London in 1835, and excerpted here from John J. Halsey's "History of Lake County, Illinois" (1912). Latrobe noted that the tribal chiefs did not wish to sell their land, but the U.S. commissoner said, "That nevertheless, as they had come together for a council, they must take the matter into consideration."

Latrobe wrote of the scene on September 21, 1833: "The council fire was lighted under a spacious open shed on the green meadow, on the opposite side of the river from that on which the fort stood, [near the north end of the present Rush Street Bridge in Chicago]... Even though convinced of the necessity of their removal, my heart bled for them in their desolation and decline... and their speedy disappearance from the earth appears as certain as though it were already sealed and accomplished." 

Cover page from "Treaty of Chicago" 1833. National Archives at Chicago. 

Indeed, by September 26, 1833, the treaty was signed between the U.S. Government and the United Nation of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians. Five million acres were sold to the United States including the last tracts of Native occupied Great Lakes’ land.

The treaty stipulated that these tribes resettle west of the Mississippi River by the time the treaty was ratified by the U.S. Congress, which did not occur until 1835. However, fewer than half of the Potawatomi moved onto reservations in western Missouri and Kansas. Some went north into Canada, while others resettled in northern Michigan and Wisconsin.

Settlement of the newly ceded land was not to occur until the treaty was ratified in 1835. Notably, the county's first Euro-American settler, Daniel Wright, arrived in 1833. Wright fondly recalled that Native people assisted him with building his first cabin and in planting crops along the Des Plaines River near today's Lincolnshire. 

Native Americans returned to Lake County for decades after the Treaty of Chicago to hunt and to honor their ancestors. Today, people from many tribal nations call the Chicago region home, and continue to sustain their cultures, languages and traditions. 

Revolutionary War Veterans

In 1928, the Daughters of the American Revolution designated two Revolutionary War veterans buried in Lake County–Henry Collins and Reuben Hill.

"Battle of Lexington" April 19, 1775.
Postcard circa 1910, Curt Teich Postcard Archives G1274.

The American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) was the culmination of a political revolution in which the thirteen united former British colonies rejected the right of Great Britain’s Parliament to govern them and formed a Continental Army to fight for independence.

Henry Collins (1763 – 1847) was born in Southborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts. He enlisted from Southborough on March 3, 1781, at the age of 16 years and 10 months, when a levy was placed on the town to supply a number of men for the army.

These men were mustered in at Sutton, Massachusetts. Henry served in a company commanded by Captain Sewall in the regiment commanded by Colonel Ebenezer Sprout (1752–1805). From Sutton the regiment was marched to Springfield, Massachusetts, and from there to West Point.

Portrait of Ebenezer Sproat (aka Sprout), from "History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts," by Thomas Weston, 1906.

Henry Collins served his two year enlistment in the same regiment, and was discharged at West Point in December 1783 at the end of the war. Collins' discharge was signed by General Henry Knox.

After the war, Collins lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Canada. In 1832, he returned from Canada to Vermont where he applied for a war pension. He was placed on the pension rolls of Vermont at the rate of $80 per year.

In 1844, Collins moved to Lake County, Illinois with his son Joseph H. Collins. They settled on land in Newport Township along Edwards Road east of Hunt Club Road.

On April 10, 1847, Henry Collins died and became the first burial at Mount Rest Cemetery. The cemetery is located just south of the State Line on the Skokie Road. His son Joseph left Lake County in 1855 and re-settled in Iowa.

In 1964, the American Legion Post of Gurnee added a new marker to his grave which mistakenly stated that Collins was the “only American Revolutionary Service Man buried in Lake County.”

Reuben Hill (1765 - 1858) was born in Goshen, Connecticut. While living in New York State, he enlisted in the fall of 1780, at the age of fifteen, with Captain Shaw’s Company. He enlisted twice more with different companies and was discharged as a private on January 1, 1783. In 1834, he successfully applied for a military pension.

About 1840, Reuben's son, Seth Hill, purchased property in Wauconda Township, Lake County. It is probable that the entire family, including Reuben and his wife Patience, came west at that time. In the 1850 census, Reuben and Patience, both aged 85, are living with their son's family. The family farm was in Section 25, along Route 176, south of Bangs Lake.

The Hills are buried at the Wauconda Cemetery.

I came across one more mention of a Revolutionary War veteran. The Biddlecome School History (Newport Township), written in 1918 by students, lists Oded Eddy as a veteran having "served seven years" in the war. However, Oded never lived in Lake County.

Elijah Eddy, grandson of Revolutionary War veteran, Oded Eddy.

Oded Eddy (senior) was the grandfather of Newport Township settler, road commissioner, and Biddlecome School director, Elijah Eddy (1821-1902). I believe the children mentioned Oded on their list of veterans, simply because of the connection to their school's former director.

Oded served as a lieutenant in the Continental Army from 1776 to 1778 (and not for seven years as the children stated). He died in Oneida, NY in 1825.

Philip Brand, the Man Who Shaved Lincoln

In March and April of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was in Chicago attending sessions of the United States District Court, as counsel for the defendants in the "Sand Bar" case, which involved rights over sand bars along the Lake Michigan coast. By then, Lincoln was frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the presidency, and it was thought he would be nominated at the Republican convention in May.

Lincoln received frequent invitations to speak, and accepted one from the citizens of Waukegan as presented by his friends and fellow attorneys, Elisha Ferry (also Mayor of Waukegan) and Henry Blodgett.

The day of the speech—April 2, 1860—Lincoln rode up to Waukegan on the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, accompanied by Illinois Senator, Norman B. Judd.

View of Brand's barber shop at 57 Genesee Street, Waukegan. Circa 1870. 

Miltimore family photo, Ancestry.com

That afternoon, Lincoln got a shave at Philip Brand’s barber shop on Genessee Street. In 1860, Brand's shop was new, since he had just immigrated from Germany the year before. How Lincoln came into Brand's shop is not known, but his patronage certainly increased the shop's business thereafter.  

Philip Brand, circa 1860. Miltimore family photo.

Brand (1840-1914) was a German immigrant from the Hesse region and came to Waukegan in 1859. His sense for business and a visit by Lincoln did a good deal to making his clientele grow. In the years to come, Brand's shop served Waukegan's elite businessmen. He eventually built a three-story building for his business interests, which included a bath house complete with bathtubs, shaving and hairdressing facilities.  

Brand was rightfully proud that Abraham Lincoln had come to him for a shave. Brand even stated that he was the last man to shave Lincoln. This claim to fame stuck with him for the rest of his life. However, it would have been more accurate had Brand said he was one of the last to shave him, since Lincoln grew his famous beard months after his visit to Waukegan. 

Lincoln was encouraged to grow a beard by 11-year old Grace Bedell of Westfield, New York. In a now famous letter dated October 15, 1860, Grace wrote: " I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin." In his reply of October 19, Lincoln wrote: "As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?" 

On the evening of April 2, 1860, hundreds of Waukeganites attended Lincoln's speech at Dickinson's Hall, including Philip Brand, William Besley (brewer), and George Lyon (store clerk). Lincoln spoke of the wrong of slavery, and that the country was half slavery and half freedom, and no government divided against itself in such manner could stand.

J.W. Hull, also in attendance, recalled that "While [Lincoln] was speaking, such was the sledge-hammer force of his logic, that we forgot the humble appearance and the squeaky voice, and were carried away by the man's simple eloquence, his power of reasoning...."

Twenty minutes into the speech, word came that there was a fire at the Case Warehouse at the North Pier. Elisha Ferry rose and said that he believed the alarm was a Democratic plot to break up the meeting. Lincoln in turn said, "Well, gentlemen, let us all go, as there really seems to be a fire, and help put it out." Local legend states that indeed, Lincoln helped to extinguish the blaze, ruining his suit in the process.

It has also been said that Lincoln promised to come back to finish his speech another time, but he never made it back to Waukegan.

A white-haired Philip Brand standing at the front of his shop on Genesee Street, circa 1895. 

Dunn Museum 2010.24

Philip Brand continued as a barber until his retirement about 1900 when he leased his building to the Waukegan Savings Bank Company. Lake County Independent, Libertyville, IL, 16 February 1900.

News of Philip Brand's death on May 11, 1914 made headlines in the Waukegan Daily Sun. Newspapers.com

Though it seemed Brand's barber shop was lost to time, in the spring of 1964, the shop was re-discovered during excavation work on Genesee Street. J.W. Peterson plumbers were digging a hole under the street and unexpectedly found barber mugs, bearing the names of former citizens.

J.W. Peterson and Einar Christensen on site of discovery of Brand's barber shop, 1964. 

News-Sun Collection, Dunn Museum.

Brand barber mug for G.P. Fleming, circa 1890. Note cement inside the mug. 

Dunn Museum 70.83.6

Brand barber mug for George R. Lyon, circa 1890. 

Lyon attended Lincoln's speech at Dickinson's Hall and served in the Civil War. 

He took over his father's general store in 1893, served on the county board 1886-1887, and state legislature 1896-1900. 

Dunn Museum 70.83.7

Robert Vogel, the director of the Lake County Museum of History in Wadsworth was notified about the discovery. Vogel managed to dig out other mugs and barber bottles, which became part of his museum's collection. 

Brand barber mug for Chase E. Webb, circa 1890. 

Webb was a Civil War veteran, Lake County Sheriff (1886-1890), and Chief of Police in Waukegan (1891-1897). 

Dunn Museum 70.83.1

The barber shop, which had originally been on the first floor of the building, was moved at some point to the basement. It was filled in when Genesee Street was widened and paved. 

The surviving mugs are in remarkably good condition considering the circumstances, and are part of the permanent collections of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (formerly the Lake County Discovery Museum).



Sources: 

• Currey, J. Seymour. “Mr. Lincoln’s Visit to Waukegan in 1860.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1911): 178-183.
• "Waukegan: Doings at the County Seat of Interest to Our Readers." Lake County Independent, Libertyville, IL, 16 February 1900. 
• "City Shocked to Learn of Death of Phillip Brand." The Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois, May 12, 1914.
• "Unearth Shop of Man Who Shaved Lincoln," Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1964. 
• Collections of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County.