The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1913-11-07


but frail footing at the
emDanKments edge the last reminders Of &s#
= once thriving and populous place will AZ
nave been swept away No.
Almost seventy years ago the hamlet
q 81 John was founded by a man named N
Hetinger and few Of his followers N
Ane site CHOSEN was commanding one
on the BLUM overlooking the lake and
ohe-nalf mile east OF the point where the north
western depot at the Village of Highwood now
stands The great clay bank with the stratob =,
sano peach which shelves away to the waters edge
AZ its loot looks as If 1t were strong enough and
"a enougn removed from the breakers to be safe
against the angrfest northeaster that ever blew
Inc men who built their houses upon the nlain
surrounding the embankment thought their foun.
dations were as as though founded on tba
traditional rock. They did take the precaution
however to limit their building operations on the
east oy line drawn fifty yards from the edge OF
inc DUH mat line has long since been buried in
the sand under the waves, and with it are tba
houses and the shops of the early settlers.
~ the year lS45 the Village Of St John was the
[IVai o. Waukegan which then called Little
fort Both were prosperous and both were grow
ing H1ghwood tradition hath it that people pass
ing through the two places from Chicago declared
tnat st John showed the marks Of success and
tnat y was destined to be big city. Other people
Desloe the Chicagoans thought so, too and they
hocKed to the place and built substantial houses
and shops The two apple trees which alone re-
main OF all that pertained to the Village Of ST
John grew in the YARD of Sebastian Richards
whose house was farther removed from the
lake than any other in the village. The apple
trees were back of the residence. Not long ago
the foundation of bricks which was all that
was left of Richards dwelling, slid down the
blum into the lake during the height OF win
ter storm. The roots OF one of the apple trees
are even now extending into the air through the
side of the embankment One good strong push
would send it hurting to the beach 100 feet
below.
Among the names of the builders OF St John
In addition to those of Hettnger and Sebastian
Richards, the only that the oldest High
wood inhabitants can remember, Frank
Mitch, Peter Baker and George Shepard Mitch
was shoemaker and it is said that he is still
following the trade in a town in the far north
AS far is known he is the only survivor of
the who founded the Village of St John
In the year 1847 there were several stores a
blacksmith shop, a tavern and Iostofhce in the
Village of st. John, which then held a popula-
ton of about 200 people. In that day there was
stage coach line between Chicago and Mil
waukee. The tavern at st. John a relay
station for the stage. Henry Mowers who re-
members the village in its latter days, says
that the tavern noted for its table, and its
liquor and that people frequently took the stage
journey from Chicago for the sole purpose of
getting good dinner and good glass.
1t was who intended becoming resi-
dent of st. John that afterward founded the
| Village of Half Day He had looked over the
lakeside village, and then had declared that he
| would establish that would last longer and
had people in it. The automobiles who
every Sunday pass through Half Day on their
runs to Waukegan and return may look the
/ half-dozen houses there assembled and know
| that the who turned his back st. John
| has kept his word.
! When the Chicago and Milwaukee railroad was
/ built the surveyed line one-half mile west
Of the Village of st, John, An adequate idea
! of the Importance of place of which bare
/ " vestige remains may be had when it is
known that the railroad authorities built spur
4 line running to the south edge of the town.
/ Some of the practical residents of the place had
4 discovered that excellent quality of brick
i could be made from the clay which found
| in pit short distance south of the blacksmith
shop. As a matter of fact, the presence of this
| brickyard was one Of the chief reasons that the
branch line of the railroad built. When
/ Uncle Sam accepted from the Commercial Club
of Chicago the land to the north Of the city as
a military reservation the soldiers drew hun
/ dreds of carloads OF both good brick and broken
brick from the site of the old brickyard and
| used the material for temporary road-making
| and for the filling in OF swamp spots The fore
thought of the ST. John people in leaving be
hind them specimens Of their handiwork saved
! the United States government a great many
dollars.
1t is possible to trace today with no difficulty
| at all the emhankment upon which the branch
line of the railroad ran to the brickyard and to
! The now lost Village OF st. John. In size and
| outline it looks like military redoubt, and it
| would perfectly answer the purpose OF one The
embankment leveled at its western end
when stores were erected in the Village OF High
| wood Ii starts from point almost direct
~ back of the little Methodist church, and runs
| eastward broken only by roads which have been
dug through It.
1t was less than ten years after the founding
| II ST John that the people awakened to a posi-
| lie danger to their homes by the encroachment
| II the waves Of the lake. 1t is true that they