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Oct 4, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Andrea Field
This photograph was taken in August 1983 at the Farmer’s Pig Roast on Marshall Erb’s property at Mill Street and Bauer Road. The circa 1912 Wood Bros. threshing machine was used on local farms to process grains by separating seed from stalks and husks. It belonged to the Hageman and Erb families before the Wheatland Plowing Match Association donated to Naperville Heritage Society in 2014. (Naperville Heritage Society/Naper Settlement)
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Sep 27, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Steve Metsch |Andrea Field
Every week we publish a historic photo highlighting a story from Naperville’s past from the history archives of Naper Settlement. In 1883, George Martin built the house featured in the photo that accompanies this column. Named Pine Craig, the residence was a way to showcase the building materials produced by his brick, tile and limestone companies. The home’s grandeur was a symbol of the wealthy “pioneer” family’s success at the time.
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Sep 19, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Andrea Field
This photograph from the Naperville Heritage Society collection shows the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy station in Naperville. The men include James Hunt, village president of Naperville who became the city’s first mayor when the form of government changed, freight agent Abraham Martin and station agent Charles Morey. (Naper Settlement)
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Sep 6, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Andrea Field
Firefighters pose with the Naperville Fire Department’s International Chemical Engine in 1916 in front of the then-Nichols Library (now the Gia Mia restaurant) and the Naperville YMCA (razed in 2022) on Washington Street in downtown Naperville. The photo was taken by Charles Koretke and is now part of the Naperville Heritage Society collection.
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Steve Metsch |Andrea Field
Every week we publish a historic photo highlighting a story from Naperville’s past from the history archives of Naper Settlement. The Naperville Riverwalk that delights residents and visitors today wasn’t always such a scenic route. Before it was built, the banks of the DuPage River were home to salt piles, an old gasoline station, parking lots, storage tanks and lots of discarded debris.
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Aug 23, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Andrea Field
This aerial view of Naperville Community High School, which would later become Naperville Central High School, was taken in 1955. The city’s first high school was built in 1916 at Washington Street and Spring Avenue, and would later be replaced by this building at 899 N. Mill St. in 1950. If you look through the trees, you can see Pine Craig mansion, also known as the Martin Mitchell mansion, and its carriage house, two structures that are now part of the Naper Settlement campus.
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Aug 15, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Steve Metsch |Andrea Field
Every week we publish a historic photo highlighting a story from Naperville’s past from the history archives of Naper Settlement. The postal service delivery many of us take for granted was mostly not available to rural residents until 1900. That was the year that Rural Free Delivery, which brought mail to farmers and other rural residents, finally became available. It wasn’t an easy sell.
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Aug 9, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Andrea Field
A group of Naperville residents helping raise a barn at the Schwartz farm take a break for a community dinner in this photo that’s part of the Naperville Heritage Society collection. It was common for neighbors to come together in the 1800s and early 1900s to help when one family needed help with a large project, like building a new barn.
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Aug 2, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Andrea Field |Steve Metsch
Every week we publish a historic photo highlighting a story from Naperville’s past from the history archives of Naper Settlement. Before the automobile changed life in America forever in the early 1900s, the horse-and-buggy trade was a thriving business in Naperville. Among the most successful was Strubler & Hiltenbrand Carriage Repository, which was reviewed in glowing terms in Holland’s Business Directory in 1886. The business was owned by “Daniel Strubler and Joseph H.
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Jul 25, 2024 | 
chicagotribune.com | Steve Metsch |Andrea Field
Every week we publish a historic photo highlighting a story from Naperville’s past from the history archives of Naper Settlement. With the heat of summer upon us, we’re taking a look back at one way folks enjoyed summer weekends in Naperville back in the late 1800s. Burlington Park was built by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad company after tracks were laid between Chicago and Naperville in 1864.
