Oaklawn Farm facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Oaklawn Farm
|
|
Dunham Castle at Oaklawn Farm, pictured during restoration efforts in 2009.
|
|
 Location in Illinois
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | Army Trail and Dunham Rds., Wayne, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Area | 56 acres (23 ha) |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival, Renaissance, Chateauesque |
| NRHP reference No. | 79000848 |
| Added to NRHP | July 26, 1979 |
Oaklawn Farm is a really old and important place in Wayne, Illinois. A family called the Dunham's owned it. They were super good at raising special horses called Percherons. On the farm, there's a big, fancy house called Dunham Castle. Mark Wentworth Dunham built it in 1880.
Nine other buildings from that time are still there today. The property is still used as the Dunham Woods Riding Club. The National Park Service officially recognized Oaklawn Farm as a Historic Place in 1979.
Contents
History of Oaklawn Farm
The land where Oaklawn Farm stands was first settled way back in 1835. In 1865, Mark Wentworth Dunham bought the land. He built his own house there.
Raising Percheron Horses
Three years later, in 1868, Mark Dunham started a horse company. He teamed up with his uncle and other local farmers. Their goal was to raise Percheron horses. These were strong, large horses used for work.
They bought two male horses from a place called Perche in France. One of them, named Success, became super famous. He was known as the best Percheron horse for breeding ever. Mark Dunham worked very hard to make his horses even better. He even traveled to France to learn from other breeders.
By 1883, he had brought over 1,300 horses from France to Oaklawn Farm. Soon, Oaklawn Farm became famous all over the world for its amazing horses. In 1888, it was thought that one out of every five French horses brought to America lived at Oaklawn.
Dunham even made special catalogs for people who wanted to buy his horses. Some of these catalogs had drawings by a famous artist named Rosa Bonheur.
Farm Visitors and Changes
The farm was also a testing ground for new farm machines. These machines were shown at the World's Columbian Exposition. Because of this, many important people visited the farm. These visitors included Daniel Burnham, Marshall Field, and Carter Harrison, Sr..
In the early 1900s, new farm machines became very popular. This meant that people didn't need as many workhorses anymore. Oaklawn Farm stopped its horse breeding business in 1929. The Dunham family then sold most of the land. The parts of the farm that were left were added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 26, 1979.
Buildings and Architecture
Today, Oaklawn Farm covers parts of four corners where Army Trail and Dunham Roads meet in Wayne, Illinois. The original farm was huge, over 1,700 acres (690 ha). Now, it's much smaller, only 56 acres (23 ha). The southeast part of the farm is still used as a horseback riding club.
The Oaklawn Farm Historic District has 11 buildings. All but one of these buildings were used before 1929. Five buildings are very important to the farm's history.
Dunham Castle: A Grand Home
By 1880, Mark Dunham had become very rich. He decided to build a huge house on his property. Dunham wanted the house to mix French chateau designs with American styles.
This house is now known as Dunham Castle. It is on the northwest corner of the property. The inside of the house has been changed a lot over the years. But the outside still looks the same. Mark Dunham himself designed the building. He got some help from a builder named Smith Hoag from Elgin, Illinois.
The house is 70 by 100 feet (21 m × 30 m) and is two-and-a-half stories tall. The bricks for the house came all the way from Racine, Wisconsin. The foundation is made of stone from Batavia, Illinois. The northeast corner has an eight-sided tower. A round tower is on the southeast corner.
The front of the house has a pointed roof section with three arched windows. Each main floor on the front has three pairs of windows. These windows have fancy decorations above them. The main entrance is in the middle of the first floor. The roof is steep and has patterned tiles. The outside of the castle has been kept well since it was built in 1883.
The Coachman's House
On the southeast side of the property, there's a house from the late 1870s. This house was used by the family's coachman. It's likely that Mark Dunham lived here before Dunham Castle was finished. This house is one-and-a-half stories tall. It has styles from Gothic and Neo-Renaissance designs.
Solomon Dunham House
The building now used by the Dunham Woods Riding Club was once called the Solomon Dunham House. Solomon was Mark Dunham's father. He was one of the first people to settle in this area. He came from New York in 1835.
Solomon was a county assessor. He was also the first person to survey Kane County. This information was very helpful when the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was built in 1851. Solomon built a train station for the railway in Wayne. He also built a house, a store, and an inn. This made him the founder of the village.
He stopped working in public life in 1857. He gave his responsibilities to his son, Mark. Solomon's house was built in 1836. It was shaped like an "L" and built in the rural Greek Revival style. In 1884, Mark Dunham added a large part to the west side of the 1+1⁄2-story building. Mark used it as the Oaklawn Farm office. In 1935, the Dunham Woods Riding Club started using this old house.
Farm Barns
Two other important buildings on the farm are barns. The Dunham family used them for their horses. Both barns are on the southeast side of the property. A large horse barn, 133-by-46-foot (41 m × 14 m), was built around 1884. It has windows sticking out from the roof on the north and south sides.
The other barn was also built around 1884. But it is much smaller, only 26 by 60 feet (7.9 m × 18.3 m). We don't know what it was used for originally. Today, it is used as a real estate office.
Other Farm Buildings
A long, narrow wooden building from the Oaklawn Farm days is still there. We're not sure what it was used for originally. Now, it's used as kennels for the riding club. There's also a power house or grist mill on the southeast part of the property. It also dates back to the original farm.
Three smaller buildings are not as important, and we don't know if the Dunham family used them. These are a barn, a garage, and an outhouse on the southeast side. One barn on the southeast side is the only building known to have been built after 1935.
Images for kids
-
The former Solomon Dunham House is now used for the Dunham Woods Riding Club.
