About the Octagonal Barn in Spring Grove That Is Endangered at the Former Fred Hatch Farm

 From the October 1, 2022, Northwest Herald (McHenry County, Illinois) "Only you can ensure local history will be 'barn' again" by Kurt Begalka.

The exterior of the 1876 octagonal horse barn in Spring Grove, Illinois, is not much to look at (despite being octagonal).  However, go inside and look up.  Well, that's a whole different story.  That ceiling appears almost cathedral-like.  

And, it might well be the only remaining octagonal barn in McHenry County.

Jack Pease, president of McHenry-based Super Aggregates Inc., recently bought the remainder of the Fred Hatch Farm (site of the now-demolished first silo in the United States that was designed by Fred Hatch).  This farm was most recently owned by the Kattner family.

I knew one of the Kattners, Ed.

Pease said he intends to mine the estimated 100 acres on the north side of Main Street and develop the current Kattner farmstead to the south (where the barn is located).  That means tear it down, subdivide it into lots.

This land is on Spring Grove's Main Street a short distance east of Wilmot Road.

--Cooter

A Short History of Spring Grove, Illinois-- Part 2: Growth of the Village 1840 to 1900

The presence of Nippersink Creek, which zig-zags its way through the community made it a perfect place for a mill, so important to early settlers.  By 1841, Spring Grove had two mills:  a grist mill owned by Joseph Bliven and a sawmill owned by Lewis Hatch.  The area became known as Blivin's Mill.

Lewis Hatch became a big landowner and farmer as well and is the father of Fred Hatch (inventor of the silo).

In 1847, the Blivin's Mills Post Office was established and the first store was built.

In 1883,the name became Spring Grove because of the large spring and the beautiful grove of trees around it.   This would be where the Spring Grove Fish Hatchery is located.

In the next years, Spring Grove became both an agricultural and business center.

Improvements came along as well, including telephone service in 1897 when Walter Carey ran a phone line from his store in Wilmot (Wisconsin, just over the state line) to his farm in English Prairie.

By the early 1900s, concrete sidewalks replaced wooden walkways in the downtown area (which is not very big even to today).

--CooterBlivinHatch

A Short History of the Village of Spring Grove, Illinois-- Part 1: Early English Settlers, Fish and Fred

From the March 21, 2018, Hi-Liter newspaper by Sandra Landen Machaq.   She has written a lot of articles about local history for the paper, as well as has a book out about our neighboring village of Johnsburg.

Illinois was celebrating its 200th anniversary as a state in 2018, and our little village of Spring Grove has made its contributions to the state's growth, most notably with this fish hatchery and the first silo in the country, developed by local farmer Fred Hatch.

Spring Grove was not incorporated until 1902, some 84 years after Illinois became a state.  But the village's beginnings can be traced back 60 years before that.

Jonathan Imeson became the first settler here in 1830, when he made his home in a shanty for a year before he was joined by other English families with names like Wrays, Lawsons, Richardsons, Hoffmans, Fowles, Manns, Rices and Blivens.  Many of their descendants still live in the area.

The 1830s was when the last Indians were removed from the area.

They were soon followed by John Sanborn and Alfred and Merrells Stevens.  Alfred Stevens was the father of Burton Stevens, for whom Burton Township, where we live, is named.

We still have a road in the village named English Prairie after these early residents.  Spring Grove was also called  Bliven's Mill at first and we still have a Blivens Road.  The Richardsons are a huge agribusiness with what is reputed to be the biggest corn maze in the country and quite a fall celebration.

--CooterLocal

Fred Hatch's Farm Silo: Brother Bob's Missile Silos

Spring Grove, Illinois' claim to fame other than a huge fish hatchery. The Tribune article had a video about Fred Hatch's innovation. The Hatch farm is still there on Main Street just east of Spring Grove's downtown. There is an eight-sided barn and silo, but not the original one. His grave is on Wilmot Road (going from US-12 to Wilmot, in Wisconsin and founded by the Hatch family in the 1830s) in a small cemetery. //// There is also a plaque to him in a small park by the Nippersink Creek near downtown. //// When we first moved to Illinois back in the early 1960s, my brother Bob had heard about missiles in the Chicago area and thought the silos out on the farms were missiles. //// Easy Mistake to Make. -- DaCoot