According to the news reports, I live in the fastest growing area in the United States. I remember when Naperville was growing from a small town surrounded by farms into a town of more than 140,000. I doubt that the history of the area here in Texas where I currently live will be as well preserved as Naperville’s history. Caroline Martin Mitchell donated her family’s mansion and surrounding 212 acres to the City of Naperville in 1936. Much of that land has been used for the Naperville Central High School campus, but 13 acres were set aside for the Naper Settlement, a home for so many of the City’s treasures.
Les Schrader was a self-taught artist who painted signs and created special furniture finishes for Naperville’s Kroehler Manufacturing Company. He was also the self-taught artist whose paintings reflect the love that he had for his hometown. If you visit the Pre-Emption House at Naper Settlement, you can look at 42 paintings created by Les Schrader to illustrate what life used to be like in Naperville.
When I met Mr. Schrader, he commented on my last name. He told me that when the Jelineks immigrated to Naperville, they rented a home on Water Street near his family home. Then he added that “those Jelinek boys” didn’t always close their fence properly and their cow used to get out. He said that he featured those boys chasing their cow in one of his paintings. When I asked my father-in-law about chasing cows, he assured me that the cow didn’t escape that often.
The original Pre Emption House was built in 1834 and stood where Sullivan’s is now, at the center of Naperville as the first hotel and tavern west of Chicago. In 1946, it was scheduled for demolition. Schrader researched its past and depicted the building in a painting. The painting was displayed in a local hardware store and people clamored for more of Schrader’s work. Schrader was also a skilled carpenter and loved to fix things. He helped in the restoration of Naperville’s past at Naper Settlement until his death in 1984.
If you go to see the Schrader paintings, I hope you take a walk to see some of the other items preserved from our past. In 1874, the City of Naperville purchased its first piece of firefighting equipment, the Joe Naper Pumper. Even before the Naperville Heritage Society was formed in 1969, its members were working to preserve items from the past. One of its founding members, Jane Sindt, had carefully stored the pumper, as well as its accompanying hoses cart, on her property.
In 1974, when the members of the Naperville Fire Department were preparing to celebrate their 100th birthday, they were happy to find out that she had the pumper and its accompanying hose cart. The pumper and the cart now are on display at the Fire House at Naper Settlement.
Let me suggest that you mark your calendar on July 28, 2024. On that date, as part of the celebration of the 150th birthday of the Naperville Fire Department, there will be a special program at Naper Settlement, “Strong of Back and Strong of Mind—the Naperville Fire Department.”
I hope you’ll be able to visit Naper Settlement that day.
