Kendall County Historical Society P.O. Box 123 7935 Route 71 Yorkville, IL 60560

Many members neglected to pay their annual dues. Please remit your member-

ship dues with the form below.

Kendall County Historical Society 2017 Fall Festival

September 23rd and 24th 2017

Attractions

Pony Rides, Petting Zoo (Saturday)

Classic Car Show (Sunday) Hay Rides (Antique Tractors, Steam Traction Engine)

Antique Tractors Antique Engines and Farm Equipment Demonstrations

Blacksmith Demonstrations

Access to historical build-ings, museums and artifacts

Crafters

Mia Bella Natural Wax Candles Origami Owl Living Lockets, Charms, Bracelets

Hand Strung Jewelry

Norwex Independent Sales Hand Made Kitchen Items (Pot Hold-ers, Dish Scrubbers, etc…)

Hand Sewn Knit and Crocheted Doll Cloths, 18” Dolls

Lilla Rose Hair Jewelry and Accesso-ries

Chalk Painted Furniture Accent American Doll Wood Furniture, Bird Houses

Hand Made Jewelry and Knit Crochet Accessories

Hand Made Wood Signs and Home Décor

Doll Clothes, Boys and Girls Coats

Decorated Wine Bottles Crocheted Jewelry Hand Made Teddy Bears, Aprons, Bean Bags

Serenity Soy Hand Made Candles Lula Roe Clothing Hand Made Creations Tutus, Head Bands, and more

Vintage Sewing Machine Demonstra-tions

Tastefully Simple Hand Made Flower Crowns and Jew-elry

Volunteers still needed to help with set up, clean up, kitchen, and opening his-

torical buildings.

A slice of history

The Corrigan Store Plattville, Illinois was settled by Daniel Platt in 1834. A few years later Mr. Platt put in a stock of merchandise and Plattville became a firmly fixed commercial center for an extensive range of territory in this corner of the country. Other business men did their part to carrying on the tradition of this busy distributing center, but no name in the his-tory of the town is better known than that of William Corrigan. Mr. William Corrigan was born in Kendall County on August 29, 1876. His parents, James and Bridget, died when Wil-liam was about 8 years old. He was given a home by friends until he reached his teens. He then took up farming and worked for several farmers in the area until such time that he decided to make a change and secured a position in Plattville with a mercantile firm of LaForge and Peterson. Later, he became a partner in the business which then be-came known as LaForge and Corrigan. While we are not positive when the Corrigan Store building was originally built, it is estimated at about 1885. In 1910 Mr. William Corrigan established himself independently, in this building, as a merchandiser. This business later became known as Corrigan and Sons when William Corrigan’s two sons, Lee (born Feb. 23, 1899) and Orlo J. (born May 15, 1901) joined their father in the business. The Corrigan Store carried a general merchandise line, including farm machinery and agricultural implements. Buggies and wagon blocked the streets of Plattville in those days. People came to town early and stayed late. A few years after opening, the character of the business changed when the Cor-rigan family introduced a “store on wheels” which covered the surrounding terri-tory and took all kinds of groceries, assorted notions and dry good directory to the housewife’s door.

The Corrigan store also had a “lean-to” attached and was located to the right of the front doors. This area was used to store and sell petroleum products. Eventually the Corrigans began selling gasoline from a pump in front of the store. They were associated with the Sinclair Oil Company. Awards of merit from this company may be seen on display in the rep-lica/restoration store at Lyon Farm. It is unofficially reported that many years after having established the Cor-rigan Store in this small building, another building was built next door to this one and Corrigan and Sons operated out of both; one being used for hardware products only. The store at Lyon Farm was built in 1982. The front of the store with the exception of the patio is from the original Corrigan Store. The rest of the

building was built with new material. This was necessary because of the condition of the old building in Plattville, which was the “model” for our replica/restoration. The metal ceiling was installed by a local Kendall County contractor. The material is galvanized tin, similar to the ceil-ing of the original Corrigan Store.

What the heck is this Your KCHS Board

Answer: Smoking Pipe Packer/Cleaner

New Tool

Annual Meeting Presentation Key Shelton (left) from the Lin-coln Memorial Highway Associ-ation presented on the people behind the concept of the Lin-coln Memory Highway, the building of the highway, the

path it takes through Illinois and some colorful stories about the early days of the highway. One such story was about some farmers you would dump water on the sec-tions of the highway that were still dirt road and then charge travelers who got stuck in the resulting mud.

Officers: President: George Lee Hohman

First VP-Farm Manager: Jack Jenkins

Second VP: Dan Lauterbach

Secretary: Karen Hohman

Treasure: Cathy Jenkins

Board Members: Jim Berkland

Cindy and Mark Carrol

Larry and Sandra Flickinger

Ralph Flickinger

Jane Lauterbach

Craig Neff

Janet Seego

Jerry Thomas

Bob Watts

Contacting KCHS E-Mail: lyonfarmkchs1@gmail.com

Phone: 630-553-6777

Address: o P.O. Box 123 o 7935 Route 71 o Yorkville, IL 60560

Web Site: https://lyonfarmkchs.wordpress.com

What is happening at the farm

Things are planted and growing:

Indian Corn

Oats

Sunflowers

Pumpkins

Upcoming events: Fall Festival (See included flyer)

September 23rd and 24th 10am – 4pm Children < 7: Free Children 7 – 12: $ 3.00 Adults: $ 5.00

Halloween on the Farm: October 22nd and 29th 1pm – 4pm Children < 2: Free Admission: $ 4.00

Christmas on the Farm December 3rd and 10th 1pm – 4pm Children < 2: Free Admission: $ 4.00

Volunteers Needed:

Weekly ground maintenance (mowing) on Satur-day

Museum is open Saturdays 9am – 12pm

Maintenance help to up keep buildings Establishing a Monarch Way Station Habitat

Monarch Way Stations are places that provide resources for Monarchs to produce successive generations and sus-tain their migration from the US and Canada to California and Mexico. Monarchs winter in California and Mexico. Without nectar from flowers the fall migratory Monarchs would not be able to make their long journey. The need for host plants for energy sources for adults applies to all Monarchs and butterfly populations around the world. Milkweeds and nectar sources are declining due to devel-opments and the widespread use of herbicides in croplands, pastures, and roadsides. Because 90% of all milkweed, Monarch habitats occur within the agriculture landscape, farm practices have the potential to strongly influence Monarch population. In the last 20 years the Monarch butterfly population has declined by 90%. In hu-man population terms that is equivalent to losing every living human in the US except those living in Florida and Ohio. Last fall, at Lyon Farm, 1 ½ acres of land was tilled and planted for Monarchs. Natural prairie plant seed was planted including; common and swamp milkweed, asters, golden rod, bergamot and cone flowers. Advisor:

Ken Mozingo

Master Naturalist Program KCHS is applying for certification