p. xiii  Preface

In this consideration of old Illinois houses, I have treated each dwelling historically as well as architecturally, but the main emphasis has been placed on the personage or event that gave it distinction. After all, more people are attracted by the home of some great man or woman, no matter how plain or lowly that home may be, than are interested in the architecturally perfect mansion of a comparatively unknown person. It was on this basis, then, that a selection (with the exception of Chicago, which I treated in a separate volume) of nearly one hundred of the Prairie State's most distinctive old houses was made, and is herewith presented.

An early and important crossroads state in the center of America's vast inland region, Illinois, I discovered at the outset of my researches, contains perhaps as many unusual historic houses as any state in New England or the Old South.

With this in mind, I began work on the material in this book. The chapters — with two exceptions — appeared originally as a series of weekly illustrated articles in The Chicago Daily News, starting March 7, 1941. I was then a staff member of that newspaper, having written historical articles and sketches for it since 1926. Before starting work on "Old Illinois Houses," however, I had written another series called "Old Chicago Houses." So well received were these Chicago articles that they were gathered together and published in a book of the same title by the University of Chicago Press. Having thus covered the historic houses of my native city, I felt the next logical step was to make a similar study of the domiciliar landmarks of my native state.

When I sought approval of this project by the management of The Chicago Daily News, it was promptly and generously given. The city editor, Mr. Lewis Hunt, and his assistant, Mr. Clem Lane, both of whom had previously fostered by "Old Chicago Houses" series, and that newspaper's then editor-in‑chief, Mr. Paul Scott Mowrer, a devoted native of central Illinois, were convinced of the value of such a series as I proposed. Thus, early in the spring of 1941, in the midst of a blizzard, I began first of my three motor tours through southern, central, and northern Illinois, journeys which in the end totaled some five thousand miles.

 p. xiv  On visiting each historic dwelling, I took notes on both the house and its story. Then I returned to Chicago and engaged in further research on the subject, finding especially helpful the extensive historical collections in the Newberry Library. Here I was ably assisted by the head librarian, Dr. Stanley Pargellis, but by the two individuals in direct charge of the historical and genealogical books important to my study, Miss Elizabeth Coleman and Mr. Joseph Wolf. I also made much use of The Chicago Daily News library with its large collection of indexed newspaper clippings, and here, too, I was given wholehearted co-operation by its head, Mr. Thomas Sayers, whose untiring assistance I have always greatly appreciated. Others who gave me unstinted aid on historical aspects of the work were Mr. Paul M. Angle, then secretary of the Illinois State Historical Society (now director of the Chicago Historical Society), and Mr. Herbert H. Hewitt, head reference librarian of the Chicago Public Library, and his two assistants, Mrs. Roberta Sutton and Mrs. Mildred King.

In obtaining architectural information I found the most pertinent material in the Burnham Library of Architecture of the Art Institute of Chicago. Here the librarian in charge at the time, Miss Marion Rawls, was of great help, as was her then assistant, the late Mrs. Nancy Saunders. But much information on architecture, too, was offered by Mr. Earl H. Reed, of Chicago, director the northern Illinois unit of the former Historic American Buildings Survey, and Mr. Edgar E. Lundgren, of Bloomington, director of the southern Illinois unit of the same Survey. I was also assisted on both historical and architectural matters by Mr. John T. Frederick, director at the time of the Federal Writers' Project for Illinois.

The two chapters mentioned above as not being among the original articles in The Chicago Daily News are those on "Keepsake Cottage" at Princeton and "Indian Terrace" at Rockford. Both of these unusual landmarks came to my attention after the newspaper series was completed. As to the question of including here the houses of living persons, such as Carl Sandburg, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Ernest Hemingway, I am sure most people will agree with me that those in this book have acquired more than passing distinction in the cultural history of Illinois.

In point of chronological order, this work should have preceded my Historic Midwest Houses, which was published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1947. Perhaps I should explain, also, that Old Illinois Houses might have remained buried in the files of The Chicago  p. xv  Daily News had it not been for the favorable remembrance of Mr. Jay Monaghan, State Historian and secretary of the Illinois State Historical Society, and Mr. Ernest E. East of Peoria, a director of the Society. It was Mr. Monaghan who, in view of the forthcoming fiftieth anniversary of the Society (to be celebrated in 1949), suggested that my newspaper series would make a most fitting pre-anniversary volume, one that would be appreciated by both members and their friends. For this I am deeply grateful to Mr. Monaghan and the directors of the Society.

John Drury.