 ABSTRACT: In Geneva, IL, about 100 yards east of the Fox River, a small, nondescript, boarded-up limestone structure lingers behind a chain-link fence. Humble in appearance, the building's history stretches back to the early beginnings of this prairie town and its first white settlers. Very little such utilitarian vernacular architecture dating from the first ten years of a settlement remain in Illinois. Even fewer were occupied by the diverse businesses representative of how commerce evolved in a community. Originally built by Julius and Edward Alexander and Lyman German, the Alexander brothers' manufactory - contemporarily known as Mill Race Inn - exemplified the practical architecture of an emerging nineteenth century settlement and the changes in commerce ordinary residents experienced from its erection around 1846 to the height of the depression in 1933. 
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Al WattsMA Public History - American Public University (1/4 complete) ArchivesCategories |
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