This cache was placed with permission from the Crystal Lake Park
District. The “No Trespassing” sign in the parking lot
does not apply to you while seeking this cache.
Happy sesquicentennial Colonel Palmer House! This cache
has been placed at the Colonel Palmer House in celebration of its
150th birthday. The house is currently the only building in Crystal
Lake listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it was
the first building landmarked by the city’s Historic
Preservation Commission.
Colonel Gustavus A. Palmer and his wife Henrietta were early
settlers of McHenry County. In 1840, they arrived here after three
weeks journey in a covered wagon from Livingston County, New York.
Riding along with them were their children, Charlotte age seven and
John age four. As land became available following the Blackhawk War of
1832 the Palmers were one of many families that headed west to
start a new life. As a pioneer family they carved a farm out of the
Illinois prairie and were successful & prosperous.
Colonel Palmer was born in Nunda, N.Y. in 1805. His title of
Colonel may have been an honorary award as a member of the local
militia in Western New York which was the site of the Patriot War. That
conflict was a Canadian rebellion against Britain that spilled over
into New York State.
In Crystal Lake, Colonel Palmer was a founding member of the
Nunda Masonic Lodge. In fact, meetings were held in his home after
their lodge burned down in 1869. He also held the positions of
election official and postmaster within the community. Colonel
Palmer and his wife Henrietta lived in the Crystal Lake area for
over forty years until their deaths in December of 1884. They both
died within days of each other from Typhoid Pneumonia. According to
their joint obituary, the funeral service was to be preached in the
Baptist Church of Crystal Lake, but even before the long procession
of sleighs arrived the church was so full they had to move the
services to the much larger Congregational Church. The Palmers are
buried below a single headstone
in the Lake Avenue
Cemetery in Crystal Lake.
The Colonel Palmer House is mix of Greek Revival
and Federal
architecture. It was built by a prolific local mason by the name of
Andrew Jackson Simons who likewise came from New York. He brought
with him the unique tradition of cobblestone construction that was
originally imported to the U.S. by German immigrants hired to build
the Erie
Canal in the 1820's. Legend has it, Simons had intended to
build a masonry home for himself, but he left town to fight in the
Civil War and returned to find his materials stolen. Instead he
built a simple wooden home and his well-worn masonry trowel is now
in the possession of the McHenry County Historical
Society.
Early in 1979, as part of an annexation agreement, five acres of
land including the Colonel Palmer House and outbuildings were
donated to the City of Crystal Lake to build a well and park. At
that time, a group of dedicated citizens organized the Colonel
Palmer House Restoration Association. This organization worked for
many years to raise funds to help restore the house. As an example
of the work that had to be done, at one point in its history
transients built a fire on the floor of the living room that burned
several inches down into the wood. Through the association’s
efforts the Colonel Gustavus A. Palmer House was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places by the State of Illinois and
the United States Department of the Interior and National Park
Service on May 24, 1985.
In 1999, the
Crystal Lake Park District entered into an agreement with the
City of Crystal Lake. The Park District has leased the property for
100 years at the rate of $2 per year. Today a portion of the Palmer
House is the office and archival library of the Crystal Lake Historical Society. The
Park District uses the house for some of its scouting, youth, and
adult programs.
The Colonel Palmer House has seen tremendous change in its 150
years. With the stewardship of many and the protection of the
preservation commission this reminder of our pioneering past should
remain here at “Palmer’s Corner” for years to
come.