Most residents of Cuba Township either pass or stop in at one of the diverse businesses in The Foundry of Barrington.  While a bronze plaque in the northeast corner commemorates the origins of naming the center, it can tell only a small part of the story.

 

In 1892, a syndicate, including Messrs. Bulmer and Smith purchased large acreage along both sides of the Northwestern Railway tracks (now the Union Pacific) and built The American Malleable Iron Works.  The land included the area known as the Highlands, to the west of what is now Hart Road and north of the highway (not there at that time) which was platted out to build worker housing there.  Several hundred men were employed by the Iron Works, and while many traveled out from Chicago every day, others preferred to live with their families in the small bungalows that were built for them.  Many of the workers were Hungarians.

 

Hobein’s General Store had stood at the northwest corner of Hart Road and Northwest Highway since the 1880’s.  The late Bill Klingenberg also remembered that there was a saloon building nearby, which he described as “having steps and a large front porch similar to those in the old West movie towns!”  Records show that Hobein’s store housed a branch of the United States Post Office from 1902– 1906 to serve the “mushroom” community.  There was a scheduled rail stop at Hart Road for the workers, and the area promised to become a small town.

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The following information has recently been released by the State Department regarding passports.

 

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will require all travelers to and from the following areas to have a passport or other accepted document that establishes the bearer’s identity and nationality to enter or re-enter the United States.  This is a change from prior travel requirements.

December 21, 2005– Requirement applied to all travel (air/sea) to or from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Central and South America.

December 31, 2006– Requirement extended to all air and sea travel to or from Mexico and Canada

December 31, 2007– Requirement extended to all air, sea and land border crossings.

 

The Township office is an authorized Passport Agent.  Applications for passports can be made at the office with an appointment.  For more information, or to make an appointment, please call (847) 381-1924.  Information can also be obtained at the State’s Department’s website at www.travel.state.gov.

As far as we know, the foundry, the first industrial enterprise in the Barrington area, was in production from around 1900 to 1903.  Unfortunately for all involved, they apparently made faulty castings and gradually went bankrupt.  When the business closed, most of the Highlands houses were abandoned.  Later, some of them were moved into the Village of Barrington and recycled as residences.  Two of them are located on the west side of Dundee Avenue nos. 200 and 216.

 

The platform fell into disuse, and the wooden footbridge across the tracks was dismantled.  The foundry buildings deteriorated, but some are still in use today, and can be seen along Northwest Highway between Hart and Cuba Roads.  Hobein’s store later became a feed store, and burned in the mid-1980’s.

 

When the developers of the new center approached the Barrington Area Historical Society in the mid 1980’s about the history of the area and this story was presented to them, they liked it, and thus was created The Foundry of Barrington, certainly more attractive and successful than the earlier business proved to be!

 

A correction is needed for my previous Cuba Heritage article:  The house in which Bill Klingenberg was born in 1904, is located at the southwest corner of Harbor Road and Henry Lane, and not the southeast corner as inadvertently stated.

PASSPORT SERVICES UPDATE