Becoming Lombard: A Snap Shot
/A Commuter Town…
Lombard Train Station on Park Street, c. nd.
By 1868, Babcock’s Grove had already become a “commuter town”, with a handful of residents taking the train daily to Chicago, where they had jobs. Unless you were a farmer or laborer, there just weren’t many opportunities for work. But things were changing. Carpenters and masons were always in demand, as newcomers bought lots and farms close to the station and the St. Charles trail, which most people now called Lake Street, as it was called in Chicago.
There was now a proper depot, a small frame building on Park Street that served as a waiting room and freight office. Nearby was a small stockyard, which held livestock being transported to the markets in Chicago. Milk brought to town early in the morning in tall cans by local farmers also rode the rails eastward. As Lake Street became the commercial center of the community, nearby areas were being opened for residential housing. One Chicagoan, Josiah Lombard, visited the small community and saw a town ready for change.
Reuben Mink’s 227 acres of land, much of which was purchased from Luther Morton and Sheldon Peck, two of Babcock’s Grove’s earliest settlers, was being subdivided and sold. Josiah Lombard, a Chicago real estate entrepreneur, saw an opportunity to make money. He purchased many acres of land north and south of the railroad, which he then subdivided. In addition, he built several houses on in-town lots that were stylish and modern.
But his biggest gift to his new neighbors was the gift of incorporation, which would bring their small community into the 19th century! He knew that incorporation would also help him to sell his lots and houses faster if they were part of an incorporated area.
Lombard Plat Map, c. 1869.
Chicago Tribune, PAGE 4, Chicago, Illinois, Sunday, August 22, 1869
Lombard’s timing was excellent. Everyone in Babcock’s Grove was aware of the fact that Naperville, Wheaton, and Cottage Hill (Elmhurst) had been platted and recorded as towns. A committee composed of Captain Janes of Danby, retired General Benjamin Sweet, a resident of East Babcock’s Grove, and Josiah L. Lombard was requested to study the matter. When the question of a new name for the town came up, the residents were unanimous. Let it be called Lombard, they said. And so it was.
Josiah L. Lombard, however, like real estate developers of today, had sold his land and was ready to move on. Some residents pointed out that he never spent a night in his namesake town. Others responded that through his efforts to incorporate and real estate dealings, he had changed a loose collection of houses and farms into a town. Now they could elect a town board and president.
241 W. Maple Street, the Chatfield House.
Three houses were built by Josiah Lombard and still stand in Lombard, the A.B. Chatfield house on Maple Street, the Claflin house on Main Street, the Watson Peck house on Elizabeth Street, and they are among the oldest surviving houses in town. There are also houses that started life as farmhouses, still standing on the quiet, tree-shaded streets, that give no hint of their age. But the farms that surrounded them are gone forever.
Maple Street attracted many notable figures in Lombard’s history. Most were well educated, financially comfortable, and involved with the developing town’s government, churches, and schools. Many of their houses, some dating back to the 1860’s post-Civil War era, have survived, offering a unique look back at Lombard’s history.
Written By: Margot Fruehe, LHS Historian, c. 2003
