Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012)

Celebrated Waukegan-born author, Ray Bradbury, has passed away. Among Bradbury's most well-known novels are "Fahrenheit 451," "The Martian Chronicles," and "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

Ray Bradbury loved cats, and advised aspiring writers to "treat ideas like cats: make them follow you."

Image sourced online.

Author of more than 27 novels and more than 600 short stories, Bradbury has been credited with transforming the genre of science fiction writing into the realm of literature. However, Bradbury often said, “I'm not a science fiction writer. I've written only one book of science fiction [Fahrenheit 451]. All the others are fantasy. Fantasies are things that can't happen, and science fiction is about things that can happen.”

The Bradbury family's roots in Waukegan go back to 1847, when Ray Bradbury's great grandfather, Samuel I. Bradbury, came to Waukegan (then known as Little Fort).

Samuel I. Bradbury (1828-1885), Ray Bradbury's great grandfather. 

Portrait and Biographical Album of Lake County, Illinois, 1891.

Samuel was a journalist and newspaper man, working on several publications, including the Lake County Democrat, and Lake County Patriot, which he established. After Samuel's death, his son, Samuel H. took over the newspaper. So, writing and a general curiosity about life was in Ray Bradbury's blood when he was born in August 1920.

The extended Bradbury family lived at 11 S. St. James Street, and Ray helped his grandmother and father make dandelion wine by picking bags of the yellow flowers.

Bradbury home where Ray Bradbury was born and raised. St. James Street, Waukegan, IL. 

Online photo by Dan Kelly (2012)

In 1934, after his father Leonard lost his job with the Waukegan Bureau of Power and Light, the family packed their belongings and drove cross-country to Los Angeles. The wonderful boyhood memories always stayed with Ray.

In 1957, Bradbury wrote "Dandelion Wine," turning those memories into the hyper-real story of his boyhood in Waukegan. In the book, Waukegan is called Green Town and the hero is 12-year old Douglas Spaulding, (a combination of his and his father's middle names. Ray's great grandmother was Mary Spaulding).

In "Dandelion Wine" Bradbury described the ravines of Waukegan/Green Town as "a pit of jungle blackness" where "all things without names lived in the huddled tree shadow." Anyone growing up in Waukegan and experiencing the ravines as a child can relate to Bradbury's sentiment.

One of the ravines where Ray Bradbury trekked as a boy, circa 1910. Dunn Museum, 92.27.323

Bradbury once recalled that in 1925, he and his brother went to see Lon Chaney in the movie, "Phantom of the Opera." It was evening when they left the theater and they decided to walk home through one of the ravines. He regretted it immediately, since the movie had been scary and the ravines were spooky after dark. Not to mention, his brother ran ahead and hid behind bushes and jumped out at him.

Bradbury was often drawn back to Waukegan, visiting every few years, and renewing a connection he had forged as a boy.

Bradbury's boyhood library, Carnegie Public Library in Waukegan. Dunn Museum, 61.8.121

He was happy to participate in events, including lending his support to rejuvenate the Carnegie Library building, "where I lived from 1928 to 1934... in the children's room."

Bradbury at the dedication of Ray Bradbury Park in Waukegan, Illinois, June 1990.

News-Sun photo, online.

On June 26, 1990, Waukegan honored him by dedicating Ray Bradbury Park (located south of Powell Park on Madison Street), and unveiled a bronze bust monument of him.

As Ray Bradbury once said, "A life's work should be based on love." He lived up to those words in his affection for his hometown of Waukegan, where he will be missed, but not forgotten.

John Easton Store, Half Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zion Movie Theater and the Blue Laws

On New Year's Eve 1947, the Zion movie theater opened after the city council amended laws to permit movies. The city's first theater had opened in 1913, but was raided by police and ordered closed by the mayor.

Zion movie theater, March 1951. Chicago Sun-Times photograph. Dunn Museum 2012.10.1

The owners of the new theater quickly began to ruffle feathers by announcing in April 1948 that they would open on Sundays in defiance of the city's "blue laws" forbidding business on Sunday. 

Zion's blue laws went into effect with the founding of the city in 1901. Blue laws have been used since Colonial times and originally were directed at prohibiting personal activities such as gambling and the consumption of alcohol. In the 19th century, state and local governments began passing blue laws (based on Christian beliefs of keeping the Sabbath holy) that forbade businesses from operating on Sunday.

The Zion theater owners pointed out that the ordinance was already violated by restaurants and drug stores, and the annual Zion Passion Play, which charged admission, also conducted business on Sunday.

Three of the theater's owners were Lake County board supervisors—Martin B. Ruesch, Edwin Gus Peterson, and Frank L. Davis.

On Sunday, April 11, 1948, the owners of the theater and neighboring bowling alley opened their businesses and were promptly arrested.

Zion Bowling Lanes with Zion Hotel visible in the distance, circa 1955. Dunn Museum. 

Zion's Chief of Police Alven Ruesch, bearing a complaint issued by Mayor Richard Hire, arrested Onnie Bridges (the police chief's brother-in-law) at the theater, and then went down the street to the bowling alley and arrested Otto Lawrence.

The ban on Sunday movies (and other "amusements") was upheld by Judge Ralph Dady of the Circuit Court in Waukegan in August 1948. Following this ruling, the movie theater owners circulated a petition requesting a special election to determine whether the ban on Sunday business should be repealed.

Despite a vigorous campaign, on December 21, 1948, Zion residents voted to retain the "blue laws" by a vote of 1,756 to 1,564. The city council then voted to enforce prohibiting Sunday trade, including the sale and delivery of ice cream, milk, and newspapers.

Downtown Zion, circa 1956. Dunn Museum 2000.2.9

William Bicket's drug store (red brick building on right) was permitted to remain open on Sundays to "sell only emergency drugs and ice cream consumed on the premises." 

Business owners continued to work toward the repeal, and on April 5, 1949, another vote of Zion residents was taken. This time voters were in favor of the repeal—1,746 to 966, bringing 48 years of blue laws in Zion to an end.

Children standing in line at the Zion Theater. Their arms are in the air celebrating the repeal of the blue laws, allowing movies to be shown on Sundays. Chicago Sun-Times photograph, April 11, 1949. Dunn Museum 2012.10.7

In 1950 and 1951, proponents of the blue laws brought the issue back to voters, who voted against their reinstatement.

In May 1959, the Zion movie theater announced its closing. Onnie Bridges, president of the Zion Theater corporation, stated that "the closing was dictated by his desire to retire rather than failing audiences."

Special thanks to museum volunteer Al Westerman for assisting with this research.

Titanic's Lake County Passengers

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. On April 15, 1912, 1,514 lives were lost after the steamer hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Photo postcard of the Titanic at Southampton, England before setting sail on April 10, 1912. Brian Bossier Collection/Curt Teich Postcard Archives BB317.

The Titanic remains the most memorialized and talked about maritime disaster. Perhaps this is due to the ship being promoted as "unsinkable" and that it sank on its maiden voyage.

Two men with connections to Lake County perished in the historic sinking—William James Elsbury of Gurnee and Alfred Ossian Gustaffson emigrant to Waukegan.

Unfortunately for both, they were ticketed Third Class passengers. If you were a man in third class you had the least chance of survival.

William James Elsbury (1863 - 1912) was born in the County of Somerset, England. He immigrated to Lake County, Illinois in 1884, and settled in Gurnee where he purchased 105 acres to farm. In 1886, he married an American, Eliza Jane Hucker (1862 - 1946) in Waukegan, and had four children. Image courtesy of Geoff Whitfield.



On 20 November 1911, Elsbury returned to England to assist his younger brother, John, in the settling of their recently deceased father's financial affairs. He was due to return to Gurnee in March of 1912, but on hearing of the Titanic's maiden voyage, decided to buy passage on the new ship.

He boarded the Titanic at Southampton, travelling third class under ticket number 3902, which cost £7 5s (approximately $12). His fate remained in doubt for weeks.

At one point, Elsbury's wife received word that a man had been "picked up in an unconscious condition by the rescue ship, [Carpathia,] and had been placed in a New York hospital." The man's only words were "Lake County, Illinois." It was later determined by the White Star Line (owner's of the Titanic) that the man was not Elsbury. One wonders, however, if this unidentified man had been trying to convey a message about Elsbury.

In early May, the family received final confirmation that Elsbury had not survived. A telegram arrived from New York stating that he was not among the survivors. His body, if recovered, was never identified.

Alfred Ossian Gustafsson, was a 20-year old, native of Finland (Kökar, Åland). His destination was Waukegan, Illinois, which had a thriving Finnish community. Several people with the surname Gustafsson were already living in Waukegan at the time, and it appears that Alfred was immigrating there.

Since relatively little is known about Gustafsson, his story can only be told in terms of other Finnish third class travelers. An article published in Siirtolaisuus - Migration, from January 1998, states that 63 of the Titanic's 2,227 passengers were from Finland. Only twenty of them survived the sinking.

The Titanic's third class rooms were far superior than other ships, mainly because it was a new ship. The third class passengers passed the long hours at sea by eating, sleeping, reading, playing cards, and getting fresh air on the deck. There was a third class general room in the stern with a bar and a piano for passengers' use.

Courtesy of Titantic-nautical.com.

After the ship hit the iceberg about 11:40 p.m. April 14, Finnish third class passenger, John Niskanen, went on deck to see what had happened. When he came back to the third class compartments, he warned his friend, Erik Jussila: "nouse ylös kuolematas katsomaan" (Get up and see your death).

While there was much confusion all around, generally first and second class passengers were urged to the lifeboats on the top deck. The third class passengers were told to wait in their own part of the ship. A combination of locked gates, language problems, lifeboats not filling to capacity and open discrimination resulted in more first class men surviving than third class children.

The rescue ship, the RMS Carpathia, arrived about 4:30 a.m., two hours after the Titanic had disappeared into the sea. By 8 a.m., the 712 survivors were on board and the ship went on to New York.

Individual cases were brought against the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, the parent company of the White Star Line for personal losses of loved ones and property; the verdicts of these are wide and varied. The White Star Line settled out of court and agreed to pay $663,000 total.

The Antioch News reported on January 1, 1913, that Elsbury's widow was attempting to sue for damages, but it is unclear if she received any compensation. Eliza Elsbury is not included on official lists among those who filed claims involving death. However, there is no central archive for the settlements.

There is a grave marker for James Elsbury at the Warren Cemetery in Gurnee (above), and a memorial near his hometown of Taunton, in County Somerset, England.

Elm Theater, Wauconda 1950-1984

The Elm Theater was located at Liberty (Route 176) and Mill Streets in Wauconda. It opened in 1950 with seating for 610 people, and parking for 125 cars.

Photo of the Elm Theater taken in 1950, the year the theater opened. This image was used by the Curt Teich Company for their Wauconda large letter postcard (below). Teich Postcard OCH1780.

Large letter postcard featuring Wauconda landmarks, including the Elm Theater in the letter "U". Curt Teich postcard, 1950. OCH1780.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, the theater's movie listings appeared regularly in the Daily Herald.

In 1967, Transfiguration Catholic Church purchased the theater. Church officials bought the property because they feared "purchase by others would hinder the expansion program of the church."

Initially, the theater was staffed by church members who volunteered as ushers and cashiers. Later, the church leased it to Leonard Deasey, whose children and their friends worked the concessions and ticket booth.

Transfiguration Catholic Church, circa 1935. Dunn Museum M-86.1.7121.

Because of the church's control, the content of the movies shown changed. Many parents were pleased that only movies permitted under the National Legion of Decency Code were shown.

Established in 1933, the National Legion of Decency was an organization dedicated to identifying and combating objectionable content in motion pictures, from the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. For several decades, the Legion wielded great power in the American motion picture industry.

In 1984, the theater was torn down. The reason given for razing it was that Transfiguration "could no longer subsidize it." The new church was built on this site.

In 2012, an original sign from the Elm Theater (above) was donated by Glen Halverson to the Lake County Discovery Museum (now the Bess Bower Dunn Museum). Dunn Museum 2012.4.

Lake County's Irish Place Names

St. Patrick's Day postcard, 1911. CTPA G1428.

There are at least ten place names in Lake County attributed to the Irish. 

Some of the earliest Irish place names were surnames given to an area by settlers. Meehan's Settlement, for example, was located in today's West Deerfield Township along Telegraph Road, approximately one-mile south of Everett. In 1835, the location was settled by Michael Meehan (1808-1892) and his wife Bridget (nee Monahan), from County Meath, Ireland. 

Dulanty was located on Greenbay Road on the Shields-Deerfield Township line (and sometimes referred to as an early name for Lake Bluff). In 1837, Michael Dulanty (1799-1886) and his wife Ellen (nee Armstrong), arrived from County Tipperary, Ireland. They established a stage relay station and tavern known as the Centerville Inn or Dulanty's.

The area became officially known as Dulanty in 1846, when the post office took that name. It was common for post offices to be named for the postmaster, since the post office was located in their home or place of business. 

Leahy Hill in Newport Township is located south of Wadsworth Road and east of Cashmore Road. It was named after the Leahy family, Irish settlers, who owned the land. 

The place name Kennedy appears to have been used in southern Shields Township in the area where Irish immigrant, John Kennedy,  settled. 

Two locales in Lake County were named for the high percentage of Irish who settled there: Irish Hills in  Newport Township, and Ireland in Libertyville/Vernon Townships. Irish Hills was named for the settlers and the hilly topography in the area west of Route 41 along Route 173; and Ireland was the region east of and adjacent to the Des Plaines River. These names were commonly used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Though Killarney Lake no longer exists, the name suggests an Irish connection. The "lake" was a marshy area once located in Antioch Township, west of Fox Lake, in Section 35.   The area was most likely drained for development and farming. 

The only Irish-influenced place names still in use are O'Plaine and Blarney Island. O'Plaine is derived from Aux Plains River, an early appellation of the Des Plaines River. Irish settlers reportedly changed the spelling of Aux Plains to O'Plain, and through the 1870s, the river was listed on maps as the O'Plain River. Today, the name is preserved in O'Plaine Road, with the addition of  an "e" on the end. 

Blarney Island was named by Irish immigrant, Jack O'Connor, who took over the famous bar on Grassy Lake in the 1920s. 

St. Patrick's Day postcard, 1908. CTPA G4296.

The most anecdotal of the county's Irish place names is Codfish Town. This name described an Irish settlement in Lake Forest near Washington Road. The name seems to have originated in the mid to late 1800s from the smell of codfish cooking on Friday evenings. Residents in the area were also referred to as "codfishers."

Franklin McMahon 1921 - 2012

Internationally known artist, Franklin McMahon, passed away on March 3. In his own words, he was an "artist-reporter" always in pursuit of history with his sketch pad and artists' pencils in hand.

McMahon lived in Lake Forest, but traveled the world to cover events that would be recognized as key moments in  American and world history. McMahon went on assignment for Life and Look Magazines, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Sports Illustrated, to name a few. Those assignments included the Emmet Till trial in Alabama, the March from Selma to Montgomery, the Chicago 8 Conspiracy Trial, the Watergate hearings, and the first walk on the moon (drawn from inside NASA's Mission Control).

Deerfield Elementary School gymnasium, November 1959, by Franklin McMahon. Artist's caption: "Deerfield citizens signal opposition to the racially integrated housing proposal." (LCDM 2010.17.6) 

In 1959, McMahon got word about a meeting to discuss the integration of a proposed subdivision in Deerfield. Since the meeting was at a local elementary school near his home, he decided to attend (though not on assignment). That evening he made nine drawings, which are now part of the museum's permanent collections.

Drawing titled "Lives 12 feet from Project," by Franklin McMahon, November 24, 1959. Artist's caption: "There were several meetings on both sides...Including a visit by Eleanor Roosevelt, supporting the subdivision." (LCDM 2010.17.11)

The Lake County Discovery Museum acquired a total of 14 drawings for its permanent collection with the support of the Friends of the Lake County Discovery Museum. The drawings are related to Lake County and include the Deerfield Racial Housing Controversy, Panel of American Women held in Lake Forest in 1970, and the Senate Watergate Hearings as seen on television by Lake Countians.

"Therefore, I Shall Resign..." President Richard Nixon on television at the Shrimp Walk Restaurant in Highwood, Illinois, by Franklin McMahon, August 8, 1974. (LCDM 2010.17.4)

I had the great privilege of spending an afternoon with Franklin McMahon a couple of years ago. We looked at dozens of his drawings, so numerous and beautiful that I was overwhelmed by his talent. Perhaps even more impressive were the memories he shared. He remembered making every sketch, and told the story of how he came to be in that place, sometimes at risk of bodily harm. Hearing about these experiences gave me a new perspective on American history.

McMahon produced 8,000 to 9,000 drawings in his career. He was an eyewitness to history, and his artworks evoke the emotions of those times.