About That Octagonal Barn in Spring Grove-- Part 3: Save That Old Barn

One wall of the barn is open, but the roof, reinforced in 1986, looks solid.  There is also a beautiful 1957 rainbow truss barn on the property.  Destroyed by fire January 31, 1957, local farmers gathered and raised the current barn in two months.

The Kattners will continue to farm the property through this year.  Pease expects it will take about a year before work begns on the residential lots and at that time the barn will come down unless someone wishes to move it.

He is willing to give it away in order to preserve the octagonal barn.

"I'd love nothing better than to drive five miles away and say, 'Hey, they reconstructed the barn over here'," Pease said.  "We would, at a minimum, sell the timbers so that they would end up in someone's recreation room."

Let's hope the barn is saved and moved.  Perhaps to Horse Fair Park or the Spring Grove Fish Hatchery.

I've talked to local farmers who believe the barn's roof is in way too bad of a shape to save.

--CootBarn

Spring Grove Fish Hatchery-- Part 2: Winter Time Ice Skating and a Real Nice Park

Winter time was a favorite of the children of Spring Grove as they would bundle up and go out to the fish hatchery ponds for a day of ice skating.  Thomas McCaferty  was known to leave the door to the hatchery building open so the children could come inside and warm up, something much appreciated on those chill days.

While the fish hatchery was an important part of the growth of Spring Grove for nearly a century, it closed in 2005.  (We moved to Spring Grove in 1992.)

The property was acquired by the Village of Spring Grove in 2007 (I understand for the princely sum of $1) with the goal of turning  the old hatchery into a community park with a historical display to commemorate and explain what it was and how the hatchery did it.

With a number of volunteers, some money, the area was transferred into a beautiful park.  The ponds needed reconstruction and walking paths were built around the pools along with fishing piers.

Fishing is allowed, but no live bait and it is catch and release.

The park was completed and opened to the public in 2012.  There is a small charge if you are not a resident of the village.

Every year in the spring they have a major fundraiser at Spring Grove's Horse Fair Park with a Door County-style fish boil put on by Fitzgerald's in nearby Genoa City.

It is one really pretty place.

--CootFish

Spring Grove Fish Hatchery-- Part 1: A Perfect Location

From the March 21, 2018, Hi-Liter "Former Fish Hatchery" reborn" by Sandra Landen Machaj.

Spring Grove was the home of the very first State of Illinois Fish hatchery in 1914.  A group of 16 men and Thomas McCaferty built eight concrete ponds in the swampy land near Nippersink Creek to be used as a fish hatchery.

This was a perfect site because of the great source of water from a spring located there (which I believe to be the spring that gives Spring Grove its name).

The ponds and associated buildings constructed there became known as the Spring Grove Fish Hatchery and eggs were incubated in the building.  Once hatched, they were moved to one of the ponds to continue growing until they were big enough to survive in the open waterways.

Each fall, the little fish, known as fingerlings, were released into Illinois waterways including rivers, lakes and even Lake Michigan.  By 1967, more than 500,000 fish were produced annually, making it the largest fish hatchery in Illinois.

--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

Spring Grove Fish Hatchery: So That's Where the Springs Are

I have often wondered whatever happened to the spring from whence the name of our village, Spring Grove, comes from.  I've even asked several people in the village where the springs were and they didn't know.  One of them was friend Ed whose family has owned the old Hatch farm since in early 1900s.  And, even he didn't know.

Then, I came across an article about the Spring Grove Fish Hatchery that I had put aside back in 2018 and went on this blog and looked up Spring Grove Fish Hatchery just to be sure I hadn't already written the article in this blog, and I hadn't.

But, I did read that the reason the fish hatchery was located where it is was because of the hard-flowing spring there.  The fish hatchery is located very near what there is of a "downtown" in the old part of the village.

So, this must be where the springs that lent their name to our village are located.

You Can Fool Some of the Folks Some of the Time, But This Blogger Most of the Time.  --Cootfish

Looking Back to 1941: Something Fishy in DeKalb County

From the November 2, 2016, MidWeek, (DeKalb County, Illinois) "Looking Back."

1941, 75 Years Ago.

"About 58,000 small fish, including bass, crappies, blue gills, and perch were placed in the Kishwaukee (River) in the northern section of the county."

No doubt, these fish were hatched and raised at the Spring Grove, Illinois Fish Hatchery which supplied fish for the northern part of Illinois for many years.  It has been turned into a park by my town now.

--Cooter

Spring Grover Fish Hatchery

From the McHenry County (Illinois) Historical Society and Museum.

The Spring Grove Fish Hatchery, located in our village of Spring Grove, was opened in 1914 and was the first fish hatchery in Illinois.  The site was chosen because of the natural cold water spring located there that produced 300 gallons of fresh water a minute.

At the height of operations, the hatchery produced as much as 35 million fingerlings a year.  These were used to stock the majority of the rivers and lakes in northern Illinois.

It was closed and a few years ago, sold to the Village of Spring Grove for a dollar.  Since then, a lot of money has been put into it preserving the holding ponds and building.  The whole site is being turned into a park.

Just this last Friday, June 14th, we  went to the annual Door County fish boil to raise money for the hatchery.

Mighty Good Eating for a Great Cause.  --DaCoot