The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Old Homes Of McHenry PLAINDEALER CENTENNIAL EDITION-PAGE 1» I f-|v ... * m . r THK "COUNT'S" HOUSE The William Stoffel home at Elm and Green streets, located where the McHenry State Bank parking Jot is today. On the steps of the house, from left to right, are Martin, William, Eva and Charles Stoffel. Louis Stoffel is on his mother's lap. The Robert and Marya Weber home at 3803 W. Waukegan road. McHenry, has a long history as evidenced bv facts uncovered through research recently completed by Mrs. Weber. A picture and history of the house was sent to Theodore Hild of Springfield, of the Illinois Historic Landmarks survey by Mrs. Weber. He studied the material and wrote the following: "The fact that your home has two main facades makes it very in­ teresting and a fine addition to our inventory of historic sites in McHenry county. This Greek Revival style went out of vogue by the close of the Civil War. If the 6-6 windows are original (which they are) it dates back to circa 1860 -- also, because of the stone lintels over the windows and doors and the sidelights around the doors, the home was probably con­ structed about 1860 or perhaps even earlier." In tracing down the history, the Webers found that a land grant was issued from the government in 1840 to Daniel Owen. It was sold to George Gage. founder of West McHenry, about 1850 for $1.25 per acre. Gage sold the premises to Mary Owen Melindy on March 10, 1859. Mary was a daughter of Daniel Owen, original owner of the property. Owners next in line were: Mary Melindy sold to Oliver Owen. Sept. 23, 1873, Owen sold to Fred Schnorr, July 16, 1874; Schnorr gave it to his son L.J. Schnoor, Aug. 24. 1912 for "Love and $1.00". (noted on the deed was "Possession is hereby reserved during grantor's lifetime"); F.J. Schnoor sold to Count Oscar Von Oberstadt of Austria, June 9, 1920; Count Von Oberstadt sold to Clifford Sherman, July 28, 1927; Sherman to Dr. Edmund Lowe, Dec. 16, 1941; Dr. Lowe to H. Eggert. Nov. 8, 1947; Eggert sold to Attorney Robert Stueben, May 3, 1958 who sold the property to Robert Weber Aug. 6, 1965. The Webers have restored the home which now presents a truly distinguished landmark for the city. The faults of the younger generation stem from the faults of the-ol<^r genera­ tion. The home of J.B. Perry, one of the founders of the city, was built at the corner of Richmond road and Elm street. It was later moved to a location just south of Woodland cemetery on Richmond road. The home was recently occupied by Cecelia Knox until her death last year. Business Drawn From East To West McHenry sprang into existence upon the arrival of the railroad. George Gage owned the site of the town and was instrumental to quite an extent in securing the railroad. He and others at once saw the propriety of erecting public and private buildings, and it was not long till the majority of the lots were sold and built upon. Gradually the business was drawn frdm the east side of the river, til later the communities were about equal rivals in the merits of commerce. STUDIES 1872 ATLAS - Joe Draper of 216 S. Draper road, McHenry. peruses his 1872 Combination Atlas of McHenry County, published by Everts, Baskin & Stewart. Mr. Draper allowed the Plaindealer staff to use the atlas for information of interest in this centennial issue. I Modern Photographs By Plaindealer Photographer Wayne Gaylord •*% A CHANGING CITY -- The blasting of the old Wattles barn foundation on the corner of John Center streets marked the end of a rural era for this part of McHenry. Below is the same setting today, with modern homes. FIRE DESTROYS STORE - POST OFFICE - One of the worst fires in McHenry in the 1920's was a blaze which destroyed the N.J. Justen Furniture store and the post office on Main street. The Central Administration office is now located on the site. OLD MILLSTREAM DAM - The old Millstream dam is pictured above in 1906. At the right of the photo, Landmark school can be seen. The Fox Dancind Pavilion, DANCERS' PARADISE - The Fox Pavilion brought thousands of good-time seekers to McHenry in the Roaring Twenty era. Name bands played there in the grove east of the Fox river. When the paVilion burned down about 1930, a new Fox dance hall was built south of West McHenry on Route 31 but somehow it never achieved the glamor of the old Fox pavilion, operated by Clarence Niesen. The new Fox later became a skating rink. Another famous McHenry hall was the Polly Prim, a luxury place that burned in the early 'thirties. REV. JOEL E. WHEELER MINISTER - The Rev. Joel E. Wheeler was the first minister to locate in McHenry county. -He arrived in McHenry Aug. 17. 1837. He preached the gospel in a territory which extended from Milwaukee on the north to Joliet on the south, east to Lake Michigan and west to Dubuque, la. The McHenry P la in dea l e r c e l ebra t e s i t s c en t enn ia l y ear w i th th i s spec ia l i s sue ded i ca t ed t o a r e v i e w o f the h i s t o ry o f t h e c o m muni t y • m "We make old transformers run like new to make your electric dollar go farther." "Before the electricity we generate <j you, it goes through transformers Th< of volts go in one end and come out other as a neat little stream of energy can use to run your record player or your oven Commonwealth Edison \ thousands of these transformers m t! working round the clock Some hav< out there for over 30 years and havV into pretty rough shape My job is tc them working like new' Jim Amos supervises the equi) -me reclamation program at Common w Edison's Technical Center This com of machiner/ and men oper • on r iV :. '-w equipment if v:prk 'like new . -i tune-up, ri jiii {rum the ;or .But when you .off >rmf-r: could cost i •' ,b worth doing Commonwealth Edison Working for you. 18?S| 1975 >