View source for Interview with Mr. Harry Talcott

<center>'''Interview with Mr. Harry Talcott -- November 9, 1955'''</center>

<center>This paper given to the library by Phyllis Opper Bentley, 1231 Prairie Ave.</center>


[[Harry Harvey Talcott|Mr. Talcott]] suggested that we besure and have a representative in each of the church groups to urge their members to leave papers and records to the [[library]]. He mentioned the Buttenschoen family as a possible source of Lutheran material, and the Frank Bremer as a Catholic source. 

On the map of Des Plaines published by the Suburban Times he pointed out section 171 between Weller Creek and the Des Plaines River an area of approximately two acres, now filled with trees, but in the late nineteenth century the Talcott cow pasture. Weller Creek was at that time known as Mary's Run, and came down through the Weller farm which later became the Seeger farm, now Cumberland. The Des Plaines ball club played each summer on section 171, which was reached by a foot bridge crossing the creek about where the end of Mill street now is. 

A creek called Parson's creek ran through the Parson's farm, approximately following the route of [[Webford Avenue|Webford avenue]] and crossed [[Lee Street|Lee]] street which was raised to form a bridge over the creek, just north of Where the Ace store now stands, and between Prince Castle and the Standard Oil station, and ran from there on east to the river. In about 1895 this creek was diverted to the [[Prairie Avenue]] sewer, which was laid by hand of native brick, and is a very large sewer which comes out into the river through the flumes in the embankment just north of [[Thacker Street|Thacker street]]. 

[[Center Street]] from Thacker to Prairie Avenue used to be called the Dell at the end of the Nineteenth Century, and is one of the newer streets in town. This was at one time a little creek which ran into Parson's Creek. 

[[Graceland Avenue]] was the extreme west side of town until Webb came from Wisconsin sometime just after 1900 and opened the subdivision from Graceland to the Soo Tracks and Thacker to the Northwestern tracks.  There were five houses built on Graceland Avenue in the 1870s which were the first five erected there. The house next to the Trinity Lutheran Church, the house third from Suster's, the house next to [[Arthur L. Webster|Art Webster's]] (where Mrs. Jefferson lives) and the old Longley house across the street.  They were constructed just after the Civil War. 

The three houses on Lee Street just south of the Kroger Store are due to be torn down to put up a new shopping district. They are among the older houses in town. 1st house was built about 1877 and was occupied by Tom Keats who was a town councilman. The second house which is one of the oldest houses in Des Plaines was occupied by a family named Hensch. The 3rd house is one of the old [[G. Walter Pflughaupt|Pflughaupt]] houses, and the 4th house, which 
will not be torn down was the original Pflughaupt house and was built before the Civil was. 

Three more very old houses are the houses just north of the Lutheran School, and the two houses south of the school. The Talcott house, which was built in 1872 was the fifth house built on Lee Street. The lees themselves lived in a house where the first National Bank now stands. 

A great many of these old houses (see [[Harry T. Bennett|Bennett]] house for example) were built of brick made in the [[Franklin Whitcomb|Whitcomb]] Brick yard which was near the river. Shagbark lake was the quarry from which they mind took their clay.  The present two story house just north of [[Algonquin Road|Algonquin road]] was the horse barn for the Brick works. 

The Isaac Walton League occupies the old Hiram Jefferson Homestead.
[[Category:Family histories]]