Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-10-31

II
but frail footing at the
entertainments edge the last reminders of
a once thriving and populous place will Nka
have been swept away. NJ
Almost seventy years ago the hamlet n
of st. John founded by man named IN
Hetlinger and a few of his followers.
The site chosen was commanding one
on the bluff overlooking the lake and
one-half mile east of the point where the mort
western depot at the Village Of Highwood no
stands. The great clay bank with the stretch
sand beach which shelves away to the waters EIDE
at its foot looks as if it strong enough an
far enough removed from the breakers to be sal
against the angriest northeastern that ever bley
The men who built their houses upon the plai
surmounting the embankment thought their fou
dations were as though founded on til
traditional rock. They did take the precautio
however, to limit their building operations on tt
east by line drawn fifty yards from the edge ,
the bluff. Tha: line has long since been buried
the sand under the waves and with it are tt
houses and the shops of the early settlers
In the year 1G45 the Village of ST. John was th
rival of Waukngan, which was then called Lift
Fort Both were prosperous and both were groy
ing. HighwooG tradition hath it that people pas
ing through the two places from Chicago declare
that st. John showed the ear marks of success an
that 1t was destined to be big city. Other peop
beside the Chicagoans thought So too and they
focked to the place and built substantial houses
and shops. The two apple trees which alone re-
main of all that pePtained to the Village of st.
John grew in the yard of Sebastian Richards,
whose house 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 all that
was left of Richards dwelling, slid down the
bluff 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 these of Hettinger and Sebastian
Richards the only that the oldest High
wood inhabitants remember, are Frank
Mitch, Peter Baker and George Shepard. Mitch
was a shoemaker and 1t is said that he is still
following the trade in 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 1847 there several stores, a
blacksmith shop, tavern and postofice in the
Village of st. John, which then held a popula-
ton of about 200 people In that day there was
a stage coach line between Chicago and Mil
waukee The tavern at st. John was relay
station for the Etage Henry Mowers who re-
members the village in it's latter days, says
that the tavern was noted for it's table, and it's
liquor, and that people frequently took the stage
Journey from Chicago for the sole purpose of
getting good dinner and good glass
1t was a man who intended becoming resi-
dent of st. John that afterward founded the
Village of Half Day. He had locked over the
lakeside village. and then had declared that he
would establish one that would last longer and
had more people in It, The automoblsts who
every Sunday pass through Half Day on their
runs to Waukegan and return may look on the
halfdoZen 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 one-half mile west
of the Village of st. John. An ADEQUATE idea
of the Importance OF place of which now bare
ly vestige remains may be had when 1t is
known that the railroad authorities built spur
line running to the south edge of the town
Some Of the practical residents of the place had
discovered that an excellent quality Of brick
could be made from the clay which was found
IN a 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 "a
military reservation the soldiers drew hun
dreds of carloads of both good byick and broken
brick from the site of the old brickyard and
used the material for temporary road-maktng
and for the hlli1g in of swamp spots The fore
thought of the ST. John people in leaving he
nno them specimens of their handiwork saved
the United States government a great many
dollars
IL is possible to trace today with no difficulty
at all the emDankment 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 1t looks like military redoubt and IT
would perfectly answer the purpose of one The
embankment WAS leveled at its western end
when stores were erected in the Village of High
wood 1t starts now 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
OF St John that the people awakened to moss;
bic danger to their homes by the encroacbmant
OF the waves OF the lake. 1t is true that thew