CLARENDON HILLS PART II: MIDDAUGH MANSION by Mike Ellis Photography courtesy of the Clarendon Hills Historical Society
Completed in 1892, the Middaugh Mansion long stood at the corner of Norfolk and Chicago Aves.
THE MIDDAUGH MANSION WAS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT AND PROMINENT RESIDENCES OF EASTERN DUPAGE COUNTY, AND ONE OF ONLY 23 SITES IN THE COUNTY TO BE NAMED TO THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
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n 1830, 185 years ago, a settler named John J. Momell purchased 320 acres of prairie and forest in DuPage County, which he later doubled to 640 acres. This land would later become what is known today as the Village of Clarendon Hills. More than four decades later, in 1871, land speculator Henry Middaugh bought 270 acres north of the Burlington Northern railroad tracks, seeking to develop it into a town akin to modern-day Clarendon Hills. A native of New York, Middaugh
moved west to southern Illinois and then the burgeoning city of Chicago, where he worked in the lumber industry and as a bookkeeper. “That seemed to be where he started to really make money,” said Diane Hiller, president of the Clarendon Hills Historical Society. Hiller said Middaugh also tried his hand at other professions such as teaching, which was not uncommon in those days. Amassing more wealth in the lumber industry, Middaugh moved out west Continued on page 22
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