The Robbins Park Historic District is a set of three hundred and sixty-eight buildings in Hinsdale,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Two hundred and thirty-two of these builds contribute to its historical value. The district was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted by William Robbins in the 1860s and 1870s following the completion of the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, CB&Q, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of ...

. Wealthy entrepreneurs moved to the district beginning in the 1890s due to its natural beauty and proximity to major golf resorts. The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2008 and features two houses previously honored by the register.

History

The

(CB&Q) was opened in 1862 and added a station in modern-day Hinsdale,

two years later. Before the station was built, real estate developer William Robbins purchased , the first land in Hinsdale, including a lot for his own home. He

ted the Town of Hinsdale in 1866, almost all of which was south of the railroad tracks. Robbins advertised the land in Chicago newspapers and built cottages and a school to promote residential development. He added land to the town later in 1866 and in 1871. Horace W. S. Cleveland was hired to plat the 1871 addition, which was in the emerging curvilinear style instead of the predominant gridiron plan. Curvilinear plans spared the local environment, maneuvering around large trees and hills. The Robbins Parks Addition was one of Cleveland's first ventures in the Midwest. The

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago, Illinois during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left mor ...

caused many Chicago residents to reconsider a move to the suburbs, resulting in a population boom. The Highlands train station, just north of the Robbins Park district was added to the CB&Q in 1873. By this time, the population of Hinsdale was 1,500. Hinsdale issued bonds to improve its public works, resulting in running water, electricity, and a sewage system for the town. Streets were paved with

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

and

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

. The Hinsdale Golf Club, opened west of Hinsdale in 1899, prompted wealthy patrons to move near the club. Hinsdale's reputation grew as one of Chicago's most beautiful suburbs of Chicago, and several publications heralded the architectural styling of the town. Local entrepreneurs flocked to the Robbins Park district. William Whitney was a member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

and first proposed legislation to incorporate Hinsdale.

His house ''His House'' is a 2020 horror thriller film written and directed by Remi Weekes, from a story by Felicity Evans and Toby Venables. It stars Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu and Matt Smith. The film tells the story of a refugee couple from South Sudan, ...

is independently listed on the

(NRHP). William Gibson Barfield was a local architect who designed the Hinsdale Theater and the Hinsdale State Bank, as well as many of the Robbins park residences. Howard George Hetzler was the President of the

Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad (known as the ''Met'' or ''Polly "L"'') was the third elevated rapid transit line to be built in Chicago, Illinois. It was the first of Chicago 'L', Chicago’s elevated lines to be electrically powe ...

and the Superintendent of the Chicago division of the CB&Q. Charles G. Root was a partner of the United States Gypsum Corporation. Orland P. Bassett, whose

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

is also on the NRHP, was the first to commercially sell the American Beauty rose.

Architecture

The earliest homes in the district represent the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style, including Robbins' own. The most popular style of building in the district is

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

(sixty-three buildings). Most structures are from the

Late Victorian Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

era, but there are a few examples of more modern

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. ...

and

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

designs. Four contributing houses are of

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

design and thirty-two are Queen Anne style. The district is almost entirely residential, with the exception of four churches and two non-contributing businesses. The

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

firm of

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge was a successful American architectural firm based in Boston. As the successor to the studio of Henry Hobson Richardson, they completed his unfinished work before developing their own practice, and had extensive commissi ...

designed the George H. and Carrie R. Mitchell House at 244 E. First Street in 1893.

Eben Ezra Roberts Eben Ezra Roberts (1866–1943) was an American architect known for his work in the early modern Prairie style, pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as other traditional residential styles. Roberts was born in Boston and attended architec ...

designed the 1910

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...

Albert Wilson True House at 231 E. Third Street. Fellow Oak Park native

John S. Van Bergen John Shellette Van Bergen (October 2, 1885 – December 20, 1969) was an American architect born in Oak Park, Illinois. Van Bergen started his architectural career as an apprentice draftsman in 1907. In 1909 he went to work for Frank Lloyd Wrigh ...

was the architect of the 1923 Harold Klock Residence at 306 S. County Line Road. Schmidt, Garden and Erickson was responsible for two Colonial residences, built in 1934 and 1937.

Solon Spencer Beman Solon Spencer Beman (October 1, 1853 – April 23, 1914) was an American architect based in Chicago, Illinois and best known as the architect of the Urban planning, planned Pullman, Chicago, Pullman community and adjacent Pullman Company factory ...

, who designed the first

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

Pullman, Illinois Pullman, one of Chicago's 77 defined community areas, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. Twelve miles from the Chicago Loop, Pullman is situated adjacent to Lake Calumet. The area known as Pullman encompasses a much wider ...

, also designed the

Church of Christ, Scientist The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word and ...

building in the district in 1951.

References

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Robbins Park Historic District

External links

{{commons category-inline, Robbins Park Historic District Historic districts in DuPage County, Illinois Hinsdale, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in DuPage County, Illinois Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links