by Barbara Benson

Throughout its history, Cuba Township has been home to several people and families, that have been noteworthy (or notorious) beyond the Barrington area.  Space dictates that their stories be told in several episodes, beginning with the distinguished Kimberly family.

 

In 1830, Dr. Edmund Kimberly, and his wife, Marie Therese (nee Ellis) came to Chicago from Troy, New York.  Their names can be found in the “Book of Original Entry” Map of Chicago, located on 39th Street in that year.  Dr. Kimberly was one of only five doctors then practicing in the new community, on the swampy shores of Lake Michigan.  In 1833, when Chicago was first incorporated, he was one of five elected trustees of the new town, as it was then designated.   A recent discovery of three wooden boxes, containing Old Chicago City Council papers, buried in the vault of the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, includes the original document tallying Chicago’s vote to incorporate as a town in 1833.  In a detail of that document, published in the Chicago Tribune on October 14th, 2007, the signature of E.S. Kimberly can be clearly seen. (As also can that of Mark Beaubien, Illinois 52nd district State Representative Mark Beaubien’s ancestor.) 

 

Dr. Kimberly’s career included being one of the founders of Rush Medical Center.  But he and his family enjoyed traveling out to areas beyond the City, and in 1857, they found themselves on the shores of Honey Lake in the Biltmore neighborhood in North Barrington.  This, they evidently concluded, was a beautiful place to build a home, and they eventually purchased close to 200 acres along the eastern and southern shores of the lake.

 

The residence they built, which, late 19th century photographs show to have been of Carpenter Gothic design, was originally sited with the front door facing the lake, and the narrow road, then nothing but a dirt track, which became known as Kimberly Road, then passed between the house and the lake.  This was changed in a later remodeling. The Kimberly’s eldest son, Augustus Van Horne Kimberly, married Margaret Barnhill Roosevelt, the daughter of Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, an uncle to Theodore Roosevelt.  One romantic story of the house, is that the flower urns at the front door were a wedding gift from Teddy Roosevelt to the young couple.  That is documented down through various owners of the house after the Kimberlys.

 

Another story, but unproven through extensive research, is that Roosevelt was brought to the Honey Lake house after he was shot in 1912, while campaigning in Milwaukee for his Bull Moose Party.  But all newspaper accounts of the time and various biographies of him, say that he was brought from Milwaukee to a hospital in Chicago, and that his wife Edith subsequently came from New York by a train that then took him back to their home, Sagamore Hill, on Long Island.  That Teddy may have visited his cousin here is possible,  as he was frequently in Chicago for political conventions and often traveled on from Chicago to the Western states.  Locally, the Barrington Review, (now Barrington Courier-Review) published its first edition in 1889.  The microfilms at the Barrington Area Library have been well researched, and have not yielded any reports of a visit to Honey Lake by the former President.  The only other resource is possibly the Roosevelt Diaries, located at Harvard University Library.

 

To be continued in the next Newsletter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much to write about this time, some good, some very bad.  On the good side, we have had a pretty good construction season, cleaning up a lot of drainage in the Township with the financial help of our intergovernmental partners.  Over 6,000 feet of 12" storm drain and a lot of structures to keep water moving were installed.   Likewise, we have patched and paved a lot and have been the recipients of a sizable amount of stimulus and grant money–more on that next time.

 

We couldn’t have done it without a hard working crew and without our college student work force, most of whom live in Cuba Township.  They gave it their all before returning to school and we sure appreciate it.  Soon we will be switching the trucks over and by the time you read this will probably be about 45 days from snow plowing season.  Once again, we are committed to using less salt.  Our web site at www.cubaroads.com will have a lot more information on our plans after October1st and will be interactive after November 1 for snow removal issues.  Again, this year, we will be handling about 170 road miles of winter weather problems and intend to do it well.

 

The bad news?  Commonwealth Edison has apparently changed and worsened their tree trimming policies.  On the reverse side in its entirety is their written policy which spells only the destruction of trees.  Following below is an email from a Chicago area village detailing how they carry out that policy:

From: Larry Bury
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 4:26 PM
To: Mayors; Managers; Public Works Directors; Utilities Regulation Committee
Cc: MarkFowler; Larry Widmer; Mike Walczak; Chris Staron
Subject: Com Ed policy to eliminate vegetation under power transmission lines

 I wanted to make sure you were aware of a situation that has occurred in Northfield (as described in the email below from Stacy Sigman). This has the potential to impact any municipality with ComEd power transmission lines routed through their community.

Without notice, ComEd began undertaking a new policy where they are using a powerful herbicide to eliminate all vegetation in their right of way under their power transmission lines. For areas where this approach is impractical, they intend to clear cut any vegetation with the potential to grow over 10 feet tall (despite the fact the transmission lines themselves are nearly 70 feet above the ground). The result in Northfield is a broad swath of land under the distribution lines and towers with dead vegetation (Stacy will be sending photos tomorrow that document the damage). ComEd has also begun doing the same in neighboring towns and Burr Ridge.

This appears to be not only an aesthetic issue but also a potential safety issue as the dead vegetation could present a fire hazard during dry weather. I spoke with Stacy this afternoon and she indicated that they are continuing the clear cutting despite agreeing to desist.

You may wish to take this up with your ComEd service representative to see if they have similar plans in your municipality if they have not already contacted you.

Obviously, like I fought the gas company when they wanted to install a forced main on Cuba Road, I’m going to do my best to prevent any clear cutting of any area which Edison shares with my right of way.  Off my right of way and over easements on your property, I can’t do much, but you can certainly start the process of protest.   Were Edison to implement this policy where there are above ground wires we would have a much different looking Barrington countryside and cause the destruction of a lot of good vegetation and privacy screening.  I will be amending the Road Districts’ right of way ordinance to address this and intend to do everything possible to oppose it.  I hope all of you will join me.

 

 

Highway Commissioner, THOMAS W. GOOCH