Have you ever noticed white or yellow shields attached to homes and businesses in Naperville? The wooden shields have a plow symbol at the top and the name(s) and date(s) regarding the history of the property. In 1970, a committee of volunteers from the Naperville Heritage Society was formed to help homeowners who were proud of the history and/or architecture of their house create a sign to share with passers-by of the rich history of Naperville.
Initially Les Schrader and a team of retired men cut, sanded, painted and installed the plaques around town. After a team of researchers led by Jean Anderson and Dr. Van Kannel prepared the information, Schrader would hand-letter each plaque. Later, Mary Lou Wehrli, Liza Netzley and Marianne Lisson Kuhn would hand-paint the wooden plaques made by volunteers at Naper Settlement. White plaques were for buildings over a hundred years old and the yellow plaques were issued for buildings less than a hundred years old but architecturally significant. Since 2004 all plaques have been standardized to white.
The application process involved homeowners research of deeds and tax records at the DuPage County courthouse, in addition to telephone books and any records and photos left with the home. Sometimes oral histories from neighbors or former homeowners were utilized. The application fee was $50 for plaque production and staff verification of the information. This fee was waived by a generous underwriting grant from Keith Druek of Sea Breeze West Construction.
After 40 years, however, many plaques needed replacing. Boy Scout Dylan Kingston of Troop 510 from St. Raphael Church developed an Eagle Scout project to assist the Naperville Heritage Society and replace 15 – 20 of the more than 100 plaques around Naperville. Dylan organized a crew to inventory existing plaques, make new ones and install them this summer. Dylan’s crew will raise funds to pay for the lumber, paint and the printing which is provided at discount by Jeff Tarant at Advanced Offset Press.
Thank you, Dylan, for helping preserve the history of Naperville!
