Month: January 2019

The Boulder Hill subdivision was developed by Don Dise in the early 1950s. Boulder Hill is an unincorporated area near Montgomery and Oswego Illinois . The Boulder Hill Playhouse was built on the former stock farm that was previously owned by John Bereman (described in my last post on The Bereman House). One of the largest barns of the former stock farm was developed into a playhouse that had a revolving stage. The revolving stage allowed for quick scenery changes and enabled three stages to be built at a time and rotated. It was a 500 seat theatre located right off Illinois 25/ River Street. The debut performance on June 5, 1958 was “Teahouse of the August Moon”, starring Boulder Hill residents Hal Anderson and Jack Goring and Oswego High School senior Rita Lantz. Other performances during that opening season were: “Janus”, “Darkening Shore”, “The Reluctant Debutante”, “I Found April”, “Ladies in Retirement”, and “See How They Run.” Shows generally ran every evening except Monday and Tuesday during the summer season. People came from all around the Chicagoland area to see the plays. They used local talent and it was a very popular place for entertainment, often playing to a full house. The playhouse is no longer in existence. It was destroyed by fire in 1967.

The Bereman House is located on Fox Mead Circle in Montgomery Illinois in The Reserve subdivision of Season’s Ridge. The house was built in the colonial style in 1905 by John Bereman. The house really stands out in the area because the rest of the homes in the subdivision were built in the 1990s. The house sits on a hill overlooking the Fox River from Route 25 (River Road).

The Bereman estate consisted of hundreds of acres of farmland. It was called the Boulder Hill stock farm. It contained farms and parks where deer roamed and a private golf course. They were famous for their thoroughbred draft horses and prize cattle.

John Bereman made his fortune manufacturing and selling freckle cream, also known as vanishing cream. Freckle cream was very popular at the time, because during Victorian times ladies wanted to have flawless even skin-tone.

Developer Don L. Dise bought the stock farm in the early 1950s to develop the Boulder Hill Subdivision.

Today, the Boulder Hill subdivision is a large unincorporated subdivision between Oswego and Montgomery, east of the Fox River. There is a street named Bereman Road after John Bereman and the Bereman family. However, the house itself sits in The Reserve subdidivion of Montgomery across the way.

Below are some photos of The Bereman House in the early 1900s and today.

The Aurora Illinois Roundhouse opened in 1856. It is located at 205 North Broadway (adjoining the Aurora BNSF Train Station). It was designed by architect Levi Hull Waterhouse and built with limestone from Batavia. At the time it opened it was a railroad car building and repair shop owned and operated by the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad. At completion it had a total of 40 stalls forming a complete circle. In 1925 the original Roundhouse was replaced by a more modern Roundhouse that remained in service until the 1970s. In 1995 the Roundhouse was bought by an investing group that included former Chicago Bear Walter Payton. They transformed the roundhouse into a brewing company, entertainment venue and Walter Payton museum. In 2011 it was sold to craft brewer, Two Brothers Brewing. It now operates as a brewery, pub and restaurant and is connected to the Aurora BNSF Metra Station.

The building is the oldest limestone roundhouse in the United States and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the first railroad to provide a link between Chicago and the Mississippi River. The Pullman Hotel Car was built at the Roundhouse in 1866. The Roundhouse had a profound effect on the development of Aurora into the second largest city in Illinois. It was the largest employer in the area. In 1857 about 350 people worked there. About 250 locomatives were produced there from 1871 – 1910.

The Harry Alshuler House is located at 142 South Lincoln Street in Aurora Illinois. It is a historic home located in the City of Aurora’s Near Eastside Historic District. It was built in 1891 in the Queen Anne gable style.

The Alshuler family: Harry, Charles and Louis established Alshuler Brothers Clothing Store in Aurora in 1885. It was the first store in Aurora to have electric lighting.

Harry Alshuler later became a Director at First National Bank.

The house is beautifully preserved and maintained. It’s important to note that the City of Aurora provides grants for the repair of designated historic properties.