Cycling in America

I'm a big fan of professional cycling and am gearing up (get it?) for the 98th Tour de France (July 2 - 24).

In the spirit of cycling season, I'd like to share some bicycle images from the museum's collections.

A young man with his high-wheel bicycle in Lake Forest, circa 1880. LCDM 75.24.1.g

The front wheel of these unusual bicycles became larger as makers realized that the larger the wheel, the faster you could travel.

The high-wheel bicycle enjoyed a great popularity among young men of means (they cost an average worker six month's pay). They were extremely popular in the 1880s, despite being dangerous to ride. Glass negative, Lake County location unknown, circa 1880. LCDM 93.32.146

The next innovation in cycling (shown above) allowed the rider to travel at a speed the same as the huge high-wheel bicycles. The bicycles still had the hard rubber tires, but did not have the long, shock-absorbing spokes of the high-wheel bikes, making the ride much more uncomfortable. Glass negative, Lake County location unknown, circa 1890. LCDM 93.32.111.

Bicycling was one of the few activities during the late 19th century for which women could wear trouser-style garments. Though it is difficult to tell in this photograph (above), these women may be wearing "divided skirts" that were designed for mobility as well as modesty. Photo, circa 1885. LCDM

Real photo postcard of John Hesse at St. John's Place, Farnsworth Farm north of Wauconda, 1909. LCDM 98.11.4.

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." - H.G. Wells.

"Deborah and Tom" students of the Swan School in Fremont Township, 1952. LCDM 93.6.19.

The kid's bike (shown above) was introduced after the First World War by several manufacturers, including Mead, Sears Roebuck, and Montgomery Ward, and Schwinn slightly later. These bikes revitalized the bike industry and featured fabulous automobile and motorcycle elements. By the mid-1950s, kid's bikes had taken on design elements of jet aircraft and rockets, but became much simpler in design by the 1960s.

"Safety Class at Fort Sheridan, October 10, 1965." Sergeant George Stacey of the 204th Military Police Company shows members of a Fort Sheridan Girl Scout Troop how to affix reflector-type safety tape to their bicycles. The distribution of the safety-tape is part of a bike safety class given to youth groups by members of the military police company. U.S. Army photo by SP-5 Parzych. LCDM 92.24.731

"Bicycle Marathon Preparation, September 25, 1970." Almer Schmidt checks brakes in preparation for the bicycle marathon to be held at Fort Sheridan, 16-17 October. U.S. Army photo by SP-5 Wells. LCDM 92.24.744.

Good luck to all the cyclists, professional and recreational. Stay safe!

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

Immaculate Conception Church in Waukegan is one of the oldest parishes in northern Illinois. The church was founded by Irish immigrants to Lake County as St. Anne's parish in Shields Township in 1841, and then as St. Mary's in Little Fort in 1844.

In 1843, Michael Dulanty (1799-1886), originally of County Tipperary, Ireland, purchased two lots in Little Fort (now Waukegan) for the new church site. Dulanty was acting under the advice of Reverend J. Geurin, who was ministering in Shields Township to Catholics in Lake County. Interestingly, Dulanty was the best-known early tavern and hotel owner in Lake County. His first establishment, a stage relay station and tavern, was located on Green Bay Road between Highland Park and Highwood and was known as the Centerville Inn. In 1844, Dulanty sold this inn and his family's 120-acre homestead and moved to Little Fort, no doubt to take advantage of the booming business in the new county seat and to be closer to his parish's new church.

View of St. Mary's, the first Catholic Church in Waukegan, located at County and Water Streets, completed in 1847. The rectory for the priest (left) was built in 1849. Postcard circa 1898. Dunn Museum, 93.19.5.

Despite popular belief, Dulanty did not donate the two lots, but rather sold them to the Catholic bishop of Chicago for the establishment of a church on September 2, 1844. The land was located at the northwest corner of County and Water Streets. The land record of the transaction shows the name of the church as St. John's. All subsequent records list the church's name as St. Mary's.

The first clergyman sent from Chicago to minister to the new parish and to commence the construction of the church was Reverend B. McGorisk. The church was completed in 1847.

St. Mary's (Irish) Catholic Church was 62 feet in length by 36 feet wide, the walls 18 feet high and the steeple an additional 80 feet high.

Altar in the original St. Mary's Catholic Church constructed in 1847. Photo circa 1900. 

Dunn Museum, Photo Collections.

The parish was renamed St. Bernard by 1854. In 1857 a school was established. The church and school were enlarged around 1859. In 1864, the parish was named Immaculate Conception.

Early pastors included Rev. Bernard McGarish, Rev. John Brady, Rev. Henry Coyle, who started the first parish school, and Rev. Michael Donohue, who enlarged the school. Rev. Edward A. Gavin was pastor for 55 years beginning in 1871. Rev. Francis J. Shea (1890-1969), pastor from 1926-1966, oversaw the construction of the parish's second church, which still stands at Grand Avenue and West Street. After Rev. Shea's retirement, Rev. Patrick Ronayne became pastor.

In 1927, plans were underway to build a new, larger church closer to the center of Waukegan's growth. Reverend Shea undertook the monumental task of choosing a site, getting the land purchased, and helping the parish raise $250,000 for the new church.

Newspaper article announcing permission from Cardinal Mundelein to break ground on the new church. 

Independent Register, May 17, 1958. Newspapers.com. 

Postcard of Immaculate Conception Church by the L.L. Cook Company, circa 1945. 

Dunn Museum 92.27.240.1

Architect Joseph W. McCarthy (1884-1965) designed a Georgian Colonial structure closely resembling the style of the first church. The design was significant as it was considered very American and not typical for a Roman Catholic Church. The church's spire stands 158 feet and, at the time, was the tallest structure in Waukegan. The bell from the first church was placed in the new church's spire.

Postcard of Immaculate Conception Church, rectory and school, circa 1974. 

Photo by Henry Brueckner for Color-View Inc. Dunn Museum 97.23.12.

The first Mass in the new church was celebrated by Rev. Francis Shea on December 8, 1929, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The church was dedicated on May 11, 1930, by George Cardinal Mundelein, Archbishop of Chicago. Cardinal Mundelein had taken a personal interest in Waukegan having one of the finest churches in the diocese.

The church has 16 Corinthian columns of marble in various hues, wrought bronze fixtures, and crystal chandeliers. A hand-carved American walnut reredos framed the main altar.

 

Bartolomé Murillo's masterpiece, Immaculate Conception of the Venerable Ones (1678) (above). A mosaic version of this painting is hung above the altar at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Waukegan.

The interior of the Church shows the marble columns, crystal chandeliers, and, at the center, the large mosaic based on Murillo's Immaculate Conception of the Venerable Ones. Photo by Manuel Gonzalez, Dec 2019 (Google.com maps)

The school remained open at the original site until 1955 when a new school building was dedicated at Grand Avenue. View of the Grand Avenue school location (above), circa 1960.

Immaculate Conception, or I.C. as locals call it, was my parish and school growing up. I have very fond memories of my grade school years there, and going to Mass in what I considered the most beautiful church in the world.

In recent years, the church and school have been consolidated as the Most Blessed Trinity Catholic Churches of Immaculate Conception, Queen of Peace, Holy Family, and the Academy of Our Lady.

For church and school records contact:

Most Blessed Trinity Parish

450 Keller Avenue

Waukegan, IL  60085

www.mostblessedtrinityparish.org 

Mineola Hotel - The Lady of the Lakes

Posted June 3, 2011

In recent months, there has been talk of razing the legendary Mineola Hotel in Fox Lake. This would be a terrible loss for Lake County's heritage.

Mineola Hotel, 1913. Dunn Museum 96.12.2

For those unfamiliar with the grand dame, the Mineola is located at 91 N. Cora Avenue, Fox Lake, and was built in 1884 (or 1889) by the Mineola Club of Chicago (some have credited it to members of the Chicago Board of Trade). At the time, the Chain o' Lakes had a booming resort industry, due largely to increased access to the area by train. In 1882, the Wisconsin Central (later Soo Line) Railroad opened.

The 100-room hotel boasted of hot and cold running water, a beautiful natural setting, boating, fishing and hunting opportunities, all for the affordable rate of $2 and up per day. It is believed, but not confirmed that the hotel's veranda was designed by Alphonse Howe & Charles Caskey, the architects of the famed Grand Hotel on Michigan's Mackinac Island. The hotel was built as a private clubhouse for Chicago’s elite, but by 1891 it had been sold to Edson C. Howard, who remodeled it into a public hotel.

View of Fox Lake shoreline and the Mineola Hotel, circa1910. Dunn Museum 2002.12.3

As early as the 1910s, Fox Lake was known for its drinking and gambling establishments. The Chicago Tribune reported it was “…worse than in the levee districts of the city.” The situation in Fox Lake was in part due to Chicago’s efforts to “clean up” its own vice districts, which caused those districts to re-settle in the suburbs. The newspaper article added, “Probably the most vicious resort is the Mineola Hotel. All of the hotels are supplied with slot machines.”

During Prohibition (1920-1933), the lakes region became a notorious hangout for Chicago mobsters. The Mineola was reportedly a hideaway for Al Capone (1899-1947) and his gang, who could freely gamble and drink the nights away.

Reverse side of Mineola Hotel postcard, circa 1910. "I am up here for a week. Nice place and I'm having a good time. H. T. Webb." Dunn Museum 2002.12.3

In 1943, the Mineola was purchased by the Jakstas Family, who have owned it ever since. The family has fended off the bulldozers many times through the decades. One scare came in 1953, when a hotel guest set a fire on the third floor, which luckily was contained.

A decline in tourism in the early 1960s made it difficult to keep the business going, and by 1969, the Jakstas's were prepared to demolish the hotel, going so far as to sell off the original furniture. Mrs. Emma Jakstas was quoted by the Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1969: "We regret tearing down the hotel, but it is a real tinder box... It would be too expensive to remodel this mammoth place."

Peter and Emma Jakstas's son, Peter, was convinced the family should keep the building. They closed off the hotel portion to the public, but kept open the first floor restaurant and bar, and second floor banquet facility.

The Mineola is 225 feet long and four stories high, and is considered the largest wooden structure in Illinois. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Register is the nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation, and is administered by the National Park Service.

Postcard of Howard's Mineola Hotel, circa 1920. Dunn Museum M-86.1.345

Though it's been the dream of the Jakstas family to fully restore the building those efforts have been met with mixed success and much difficulty. After 68 years in the family's ownership, Pete Jakstas is considering retirement and the sale of the hotel, marina and surrounding 17-acres.

Photo of the Mineola from Chicago Tribune article, May 6, 2022.

Update: As of May 2022, the Jakstas property was under contract for purchase by developers. The historic Mineola Hotel will be razed and a new boutique hotel complex built "with aesthetic features from the original hotel" incorporated into the new building. Source: "Fox Lake Hopes to Bring Hotel to Mineola Lakefront Site" by Greg Harutunian, Chicago Tribune, May 6, 2022. 

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org 

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, a time set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves.

"Fort Sheridan Decoration Day, May 30, 1916." (above) View looking south toward barracks row. (Dunn Museum 92.24.2622)

It’s difficult to pinpoint the origins of the day, but it seems likely that it had many separate beginnings, including women’s groups in the South who decorated graves before the end of the Civil War.

The first widely observed Decoration Day was on May 30, 1868, commemorating the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers by proclamation of General John Logan (1826-1886), national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. Logan who was from southern Illinois and pro-Southern before the Civil War, decided to join the Northern cause to preserve the Union, and eventually became a general. After the war he served as an Illinois senator from 1871-77 and 1879-1886, and in 1893 was honored with a National Guard weapons training camp named for him—Camp Logan in Zion.

During the 1868 celebration, General James Garfield (1831-1881), later the 20th President of the United States, made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery after which 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The letter above is addressed to Frank Peats, formerly of the 17th Illinois Regiment (Civil War), April 9, 1880. It reads:

Dear Comrade, at our regular meeting last night it was the unanimous wish of the 'Boys' that you be invited to orate for us on Memorial Day and your humble servant was instructed to write you in regard to it - not a long talk you know but one of your usual patriotic efforts will please them. How is it Frank. Can you come? I wish you would. Yours Hastily, Y.R. Swieley.

When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Peats wrote his fiancee saying that he had to engage in the "struggle between the sons of freedom and traitors to every principle of right and justice." (Frank Peats Collection, Dunn Museum 94.5.211)

By 1890, Decoration Day was recognized by all of the northern states. The South continued to honor their dead on different days until after World War I when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May.

"German War Veterans' Memorial Day Service, May 29, 1972, Fort Sheridan." (Dunn Museum 92.24.1821) 

In 1944, Fort Sheridan assumed control of prisoner of war camps in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin—a total of 15,000 prisoners of war. German POWs were housed in newly constructed barracks at the south end of the Fort. Nine German POWs are buried at the Post Cemetery. However, none of these men died at Fort Sheridan.

"Memorial Day Services held at the Post Cemetery flagpole at Fort Sheridan, May 27, 1974." 

(Dunn Museum92.24.1785)

Robert Douglas Horticultural Heritage

Georgia D. Clarke's slide taken in Waukegan, circa 1910, titled, "Sherwin Wright-Edge of the Wild-Aurea-Flavescens." 

Dunn Museum 93.32.381

For years, I have marveled at a group of 32 glass lantern slides in the Museum's collection. They are beautiful slides of trees, landscapes and flower gardens, hand-colored in spectacular tints, and attributed to G.D. Clarke.

When I looked at the slides last week, wanting to share them as springtime inspiration in this blog, I recalled that G.D. Clarke had not been researched. There are a number of individuals in our records who need to be researched to further our understanding of their lives and items they donated, and writing this post gives me a chance to do that. So, I set to work with my research, and was surprised by an interesting discovery.

Georgia D. Clarke (1871-1952), circa 1945. Waukegan News Sun.

 

Our donor records note the donor of the slides as Mrs. Elam Lewis Clarke. Since the slides were made circa 1910, I looked in early Waukegan city directories, and found listed Elam L. Clarke (lawyer) and his wife, Georgia D, living at 740 N. Sheridan Road, Waukegan. This answered my initial question—"G.D. Clarke" was Georgia D. Clarke (1871 - 1952). Elam Clarke, by the way, was the son of Lt. Colonel Isaac Clarke (1824-1863), hero of the 96th Illinois Regiment.

Through census records, I was able to ascertain that Georgia's maiden name was Douglas. She was the granddaughter of nationally known nurseryman, Robert Douglas of Waukegan. Some of the subject matter of her slides were pine trees planted by her grandfather, Robert Douglas.

Georgia Douglas Clarke photographed these White Pines on the Dead River in Zion, IL, circa 1910 (above). The pines were planted by her grandfather, Robert Douglas, in what is today the Illinois Beach State Park. 

Dunn Museum 93.32.361

English immigrant, Robert Douglas (1813-1897), started his nursery business in Waukegan in 1848. Within thirty years, Douglas became the largest grower of pines and spruces in the United States. About 1849, Douglas began the Lake County Fair as an arbor and floral exhibit at the courthouse in Waukegan. This project turned into the Lake County Agricultural Society and then into the Lake County Fair Association, which held the first county fair in 1852.

R. Douglas & Sons stationary, circa 1889. Dunn Museum 2013.18. 

Douglas bought sapling pines from Europe and planted them in the sandy soil north of Waukegan along Lake Michigan in today's Illinois State Beach Park. The land was cheap, and Douglas thought the soil would be good for growing. He planted 200,000 seedlings, white and Scotch pine, some of which were reportedly sourced from the Black Forest of Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany. Their descendants can still be seen near the lakeshore at the state park.

"Dunes of Lake County" by G.D. Clarke, circa 1910. Dunn Museum 93.32.369

In 1888, Douglas, and famous landscape architect, Jens Jensen, began preservation efforts to create a regional park in the area of today's Illinois State Beach Park. With industry encroaching from the south, sand mining devastating the dunes, and parts of the surrounding countryside succumbing to farm pasture and homes, it looked like the unique beauty and habitat of the area would be lost. In the 1910s, Douglas's granddaughter, Georgia, documented the site's beauty in her lantern slides. Legislative efforts to save the area finally began in the 1920s. 

"Prickly Pear Cactus" by G.D. Clarke, circa 1910. Photo taken in what is today the Illinois Beach State Park. 

Dunn Museum 93.32.355.

Douglas's extensive mail-order business brought him national recognition. In 1896, the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina (home to George Vanderbilt) purchased a large quantity of Douglas's evergreen stock.

"Peony Field" at 703 N. Sheridan Road, Waukegan, by G.D. Clarke, circa 1910. 

Dunn Museum 93.32.387

The beautiful peony garden above was located down the bluff on Sheridan Road at Grand Avenue. The view is looking south with a potting shed in the background at left and a gas storage tank at right. As early as 1861, this area was designated on plat maps as "Greenhouses," and Grand Avenue did not run east of Sheridan Road until well into the 20th Century.

In the city directory, Georgia Clarke is listed as living across the street from this garden at 740 N. Sheridan Road, but her obituary states that she lived at 703 N. Sheridan Road, the address of this beautiful garden. According to her obituary, Georgia was "known throughout northern Ilinois as a garden expert... Her specialties were iris and peonies and the peony beds at the former family residence at 703 N. Sheridan Rd. were known far and wide."

Another view of the garden at 703 N. Sheridan Road, Waukegan. This G.D. Clarke slide is titled, "Hibiscus Mallow." 

Dunn Museum 93.32.368.

During World War I, Georgia sold flowers from her garden to benefit Victory Memorial Hospital and the Red Cross.

Special thanks to Beverly Millard at the Waukegan Historical Society for additional information on Georgia D. Clarke and Elam L. Clarke.

Mother's Day

In 1914, the U.S. Government designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

The idea for Mother's Day in the United States may be traced to “Mother’s Day for Peace,” which began to be promoted in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910). Howe wrote the lyrics to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She was also a proponent of peace and sponsored celebrations honoring motherhood, womanhood and peace beginning in 1873.

Mildred Holloway Minto standing "under the maples" on the family farm near Loon Lake with her daughters, Katherine (in her arms) and baby Ruth in buggy, circa 1908. Minto Family Collection, Dunn Museum 93.45.77.4

The first true Mother's Day observance was held on May 10, 1908 as a church service honoring Anna Reeves Jarvis, who had worked during the Civil War to better sanitary conditions for soldiers and to reconcile people who had fought on opposites sides of the war. Her daughter, also named Anna, thought that children often lacked an appropriate appreciation for their mothers while their mother was still alive, creating the hope that a holiday honoring mothers would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.

Harriet Rouse Ray and her daughter, Pearl, on the porch of their home at the Ray Farm, Diamond Lake, 1914. The family ran a summer resort, and Harriet was known as an excellent cook. Her Sunday chicken dinners were especially well attended. Ray Family Collection, Dunn Museum 91.17.34.

In Lake County, there is only one legendary woman known to have used “mother” in her name. Wealthy Buell Harvey Rudd, or Mother Rudd, was the proprietor of the O’Plain Tavern in Gurnee in the 1840s and 1850s.

The Mother Rudd House, as it came to be known, was something of a “town hall” and meeting place for the community, and Mother Rudd became synonymous for hospitality. Today, Mother Rudd’s house is home to the Warren Township Historical Society. Photo of Mother Rudd's, circa 1910.

During World War II, this mother and daughter served in the Women's Army Corps at Fort Sheridan. Private Cleo M. Yount (left) and her daughter, Private Avis M. Larson, circa 1943. Fort Sheridan Collection, Dunn Museum 92.24.770.

Happy Mother's Day! And remember to call your mother!

Captain Asiel Z. Blodgett, 96th Illinois Infantry, Company D

Photo of Captain A.Z. Blodgett from the History of the 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 1887.

Asiel Z. Blodgett was born at Fort Dearborn (Chicago) in 1832. As a young man, he became an employee of the Chicago & North Western Railroad Company, and in 1858, he was made the station agent at Waukegan. His older brother, Henry Blodgett, was the abolitionist and judge mentioned in several previous posts.

Asiel served as station agent until July 1862, when he received a recruiting commission from Governor Yates, and according to the regimental history: "with the cooperation of leading citizens and businessmen, undertook the work of enrolling a sufficient number of men to form a Company." He was promoted to Captain of Company D of the 96th Illinois on August 9. 

Postcard of McFarland's Gap, Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. Curt Teich Co. RC411.

During one of the initial skirmishes of the Battle of Chickamauga, on September 18, 1863, Blodgett received a severe gunshot wound in the right shoulder near McAfee Church while advancing the skirmish line. He did not leave command and fought with the regiment until Sunday, September 20, when he was disabled by a heavy tree limb that was torn off by artillery fire and fell on him, injuring his back. 

According to his biographical sketch of 1891, Blodgett participated in all engagements of the Atlanta campaign and was with General Sherman until the capture of Atlanta. He was also present at the Battle of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.

Blodgett from a glass negative, circa 1878. Dunn Museum 2011.0.86

On returning to Waukegan after the war, Blodgett resumed his position as station agent, where he worked until his retirement in 1900. He was recognized as the oldest employee of the railroad at Waukegan, having been with the company for 42 years, except during his service in the Civil War. He was considered "prompt, correct and reliable and by his uniform courtesy and fairness has won the respect and good will of all with whom he has had business relations." 

In addition to this full-time position, in 1875, he began dealing in fine horses and cattle, being a proprietor of a stock farm situated several miles outside of the city where he bred Clydesdale horses and Galloway cattle. He served two terms as the Mayor of Waukegan (1883 and 1884).

Asiel died in 1916.