Rocky Ford enterprise., 1913-10-31


embankment's edge the last reminders of
once thriving and populous place will
have been swept away.
Almost seventy years ago the hamlet -
of st. John was founded by named
Hetlinger and few of his followers
The site chosen commanding one
on the blum overlooking the lake and
one-half mile east of the point where the north
western depot at the Village of Highwood now
stands The great clay bank with the stretch of
sand beach which shelves away to the waters edge
at Its foot looks II 1t were strong enough and
far enough removed from the breakers to be safe
against the angrtest northeaster that ever blew
The men who built their houses upon the plain
surmounting the embankment thought their foun.
dations were though founded on the
traditional rock. They did take the precaution
however to limit their building operations on the
east 6y line drawn fifty yards from the edge of
the biun That line has long since been buried In
the sand under the waves, and with 1t are the
houses and the shops of the early settlers
In the year 1s45 the Village of St John was the
rival OF Waukegan, which then called Little
Fort Both were prosperous and both were grow.
ing. Highwood tradition hath it that people pass.
ing through the two places from Chicago declared
mat 81 John showed the ear marks of success and
that 1t was destined to be a big city Other people
beside the Chicagoans thought SO. too and they
nocked 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 a 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 hurtling to the beach 100 feet
below.
Among the names of the builders of St John
In addition to those of Hettinger and Sebastian
Richards the only that the Oldest High
wood inhabitants remember are Frank
aud ard
was shoemaker and it is said that he is still
Following the trade In n town In the far north.
AS far as is known he is the only survivor of
the men who founded the Village of ST John.
In the year 1s47 there were several stores
blacksmith shop. tavern and postofice in the
Village of st. John. which then held a popua-
ton of about 200 people. In that day there was
stage coach line between Chicago and NIL
waukee. The tavern at st. John was 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
lt~was who intended becoming a 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 more people in it, The automobilists who
every Sunday pass through Half Day on their
runs to Waukegan and return may look on the
half-dozen houses there assembled and know
that the man who turned his back on St John
has kept his word
- When the Chicago and Milwaukee railroad was
built the surveyed line onehalf mile west
Of the Village of st. John. An adequate idea
Of the Importance of place of which now bare
iy vestige remains may be had when It is
known that the railroad authorities built a spur
line running to the south edge of the town.
Some of the practical residents of the place had
discovered that excellent quality of brick
could be made from the clay which was found
In pit short distance south of the blacksmith
shop As matter of fact, the presence of this
brickyard was one of the chief reasons that the
branch line of the railroad was built When
Uncle Sam accepted from the Commercial Club
OF Chicago the land to the north of the CITY as
military reservation the soldiers drew hun
dreds of carloads of both good brick and broken
or1ck 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 embankment upon which the branch
iIne OF the railroad ran to the brickyard and to
the now lost Village of st. John In size and
outline 1t looks like a military redoubt and IT
would perfectly answer the purpose of one The
embankment was leveled its western end
when stores were erected in the Village of High
wood 1t starts now from point almost direct
ly back OF the little Methodist church and runs
eastward broken only by roads which have been
dug through IT,
1t was less than ton years after the founding
Of ST. John that the people awakened to a possi.
bic danger to their homes by the encroachment
OF the waves OF the lake. II Is true that they