SVM Small Town Living East - Winter 2022

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An Amboy man has gotten pretty good at coaxing his crops out of a carefully groomed growing room and turning them into gourmet goodies for customers who love the fungus among us.

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At your service ... and sales, too

Whether you’ve got lawn and garden gear that’s ground to a halt, a small engine with a big problem, or it’s time to buy new equipment, a one-stop shop in Sublette has the whole nine yards.

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Christmas Candie

The yuletide holiday inspires the owner of an Amboy business to dig deep into her own Santa bag and pull out all the stops at her shop for her favorite holiday season.

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Backtracking

Can division bring things together? It can when it’s a Subdivision that brought east and west together, along with people in newly formed communities, on a rail line that chugged to life in Lee County 150 years ago.

Plus ... Where Is It? Lee County Page 3

An occasional feature of Small Town Living highlighting local landmarks and locations off the beaten path. We’ll feature a photo and it’s up to you to guess where it was taken.

Cross country

This isn’t just any cross on top of a Lee County church — it’s a Celtic cross, one that was established in Ireland beginning in the ninth century. Of all of the Catholic churches in the rural parts of the county, this is the only one that has a Celtic cross atop its building. Where is it?

Answer on page 25

eaf blower out of breath?

The mower not merrier? Chainsaw not chewing through those trees?

There’s someone who can help — just head to Sublette and look for the Main man.

His name’s Anthony Morgan, and he’s the Mr. Fix-It at Main Street Repair who can give your lawn and garden tools a new lease on life, or hook you up with some new ones.

For the past 6 years, Morgan has kept busy at his business, selling and servicing outdoor power equipment — and he’s a shop for all for all seasons. Whether it’s blowing leaves in the fall or blowing snow in the winter, trimming branches in the spring or trimming lawns in the summer, Main Street has the tool for the job, and Morgan has the tools to keep them running.

Anthony had worked at a local farm implement business by the time he started frequenting the shop he now owns, then owned by and named after Gene Schinzer. The building originally had been home to V.O. Bonnell and Sons Implement, which was an Oliver dealer, before it became Schinzer’s shop in the early 1990s. In March 2016, Schinzer was ready to sell and he and Morgan started to chat about it during a visit to the store.

Whether your tools just need a tune-up or an overhaul, Anthony can fix and service just about anything that comes through his shop’s doors. “He loves a challenge,” his wife, Laura, said, “even when some of these things come in that I tell him, ‘You’re never going to be able to fix that.’ He wants to try and fix it for them, and he’s ... usually able to do it. He puts a lot of time and effort into the things that come in here, no matter how big or small.”

While opportunity was knocking, Anthony didn’t open the door right away. He weighed the pros and cons of being a business owner and ultimately decided to take the leap. He was planning to get married soon and the chance to have a shop of his own is what Anthony needed to help start a new chapter in life.

“[Gene] was looking to sell and getting ready to retire,” Anthony said. “I was in here getting parts one day. I forgot how it came up, but he said something about wanting to sell and wanting to know if I wanted to buy him out. I thought about it for a while and tried to figure out what it would take.”

While business has been steady since the shop opened, Morgan got some help from an unlikely source in the past couple years: a virus.

CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM

When the Covid pandemic hit and more peo ple stayed home, they looked for something to do with their time, and a lot of lawn and garden projects came off the back burner and went front and center — and that meant tune-up time for all those tools that had been gathering dust in people’s garages.

“It’s been busy, and it’s been crazy busy these past 2 years as far as shop work and repairs go,” Anthony said. “At the start of the pandemic, a lot of people were home more, so they were doing a lot of their own stuff, and had stuff laying around that they wanted fixed.”

Shortly before that pandemic pick-up in business, a familiar face joined Anthony at the shop: his wife, Laura, joined her husband at Main Street 3 years ago. She handles billing, books and customer service at the front of the store — and is proud to put in a good word for her husband/handyman at the back of the store.

“You can’t find that kind of service in other places,” Laura said. “He’s really honest, but he’s really an extreme talent when it comes to servicing and repairing engines. He loves a challenge, even when some of these things come in that I tell him, ‘You’re never going to be able to fix that.’ He wants to try and fix it for them, and he’s interested in what makes it tick, and is usually able to do it. He puts a lot of time and effort into the things that come in here, no matter how big or small, and he’s willing to try to help the customer out the best way he can, and in an affordable way, too.”

Anthony and Laura Morgan are the team that keep Main Street Repair running like a well-oiled machine. Laura handles billing, books and customer service — “I couldn’t do it without her,” he said.

“I couldn’t do it without her,” Anthony said. “It was a lot of time and I was putting in a lot of hours. You work during the day trying to help people with their stuff, and at night I’d be sitting here doing paperwork until 8, 9 o’clock and start all over again the next day. It helps a lot, with her doing the bills and helping customers up front while I can work in the back and keep the stuff going.”

Anthony studied auto mechanics at the Whiteside Area Career Center while in high school, and has a degree in diesel power technology from Kishwaukee College in Malta — credentials that could easily get him a job as a service tech in a big box store, but he and Laura are happy being a homegrown business, staying in Sublette and Lee County, where they both grew up.

When it comes to new stock, Stihl and Husqvarna are the shop’s two main brands, and they’ve both built up their own loyal customer base, including Anthony’s father and grandfather, who were longtime Stihl users. Anthony likens the brand loyalty to “a Pepsi and Coke type of thing.”

Both products have treated him well, too, especially during recent supply chain issues.

“Parts availability is the big thing, being able to work on them and service them,” Anthony said. “They have good warranties, and both of them are good products as far as durability. They both last.”

well-stocked line of accessories.

As times change, so do the tools we use, and Main Street is keeping up with the times. A growing number of people are turning to battery-powered tools as opposed to gas-powered models.

“It’s easier for them, and they don’t have to mix the gas and oil, and if it sits for a while, they don’t have to worry about the carburetor,” Anthony said. “A lot of people don’t want to keep cranking on a chainsaw or a leaf blower. You just charge the battery, put it in the unit, and go.”

Even lawn mowers are using cutting-edge technology. These days, self-driving mowers let their owners just sit back and watch a computer do the chore.

More info

Main Street Repair

205 W. Main St. in Sublette, is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday though Friday (extended to 5 p.m. after the winter), and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. Find it on Facebook, go to mainstreetrepair.stihldealer.net, or call 815-8495225 to arrange repairs or for more information.

But even as innovation marches forward, there are still plenty of people who like to stick with what they’ve got, and when it comes to keeping those old machines running as good as new, Anthony can fix any brand.

Some machines that have made their way to the shop’s repair room were more than 50 years old, and sometimes the parts needed for them are hard to find. Still, people have their reasons for keeping their old friends around, whether it’s financial or sentimental.

While Anthony likes hearing the stories behind the older machines, he admits they can be a challenge.

“A lot of stuff people have things that are sentimental to them and they want to have them fixed. It’s mostly older people. We had a John Deere mower come in [recently] from the early ’70s or late ’60s, and it’s getting hard to find parts for some of that stuff.”

Laura hears the same sort of tool tales from customers.

“I’ve noticed a lot of times when people will bring in something old that’s handheld, and they’ll bring up a story about them,” Laura said. “[They’ll say] ‘I bought this when I first bought my house.’ They have a sentimental attachment to something, even if it’s just a leaf blower. We may not be able to fix it sometimes, but they are willing to let us try.”

“We are so thankful to have so much support from the local people,” Laura said. “They are our main customers and they keep coming back and supporting us. A lot of people have come in and said that they’ve made sure they bought [something] from you, or ‘I want you to service it,’ things like that. We really appreciate all of the support that people give us.” n

Working inside a portable laboratory, William Thomas injects a nutrient-rich growing medium with the culture. A powerful hepa-filter keeps out impurities that can ruin mushroom growth.

ature makes it look so easy.

Armed with a portable lab, an industry standard refrigeration unit, fresh air filters, sterilizing chambers and two climate-controlled incubation and growing rooms, William Thomas, 55, founder/ grower of Meddling Sheep Gourmet Mushrooms in Amboy, is replicating nature’s microclimate to grow a variety of gourmet mushrooms.

Thomas first started his gourmet growing business — its name is a nod to one his favorite bands, Pink Floyd — as a hobby about five years ago. “I wanted to buy different mushrooms but couldn’t find them,” he said.

“Plus, it was a bit of challenge.”

So after doing some research and investing in some basic equipment, he got started.

The hobby grew, and so did the mushrooms, and Thomas enjoyed the fruits — make that, fungus — of his labor. The end.

Then COVID.

When his carpentry work succumbed to the pandemic, Thomas made the decision to focus on the mushrooms full time. “I cashed in some Bitcoin, used some tax return money, and started investing in the process.”

That investing was in more than just equipment; there’s an investment of time too, and there’s a fair amount of it when it comes to growing the finicky fungus.

MUSHROOMS cont’d to pages 12 & 13

STORY & PHOTOS Alex T. Paschal apaschal@shawmedia.com

Meddling Sheep Gourmet Mushroom grower William Thomas shows off the liquid culture he will use to start growing a variety of mushrooms at his Amboy home.

First things first: Thomas will order a mycelium liquid culture from a reputable growing house, which is injected into a nutrient-rich buffet of oats that have been sterilized. The batches are kept in special bags that allow for the flow of gasses. The inoculated grain is moved to a warm incubation room where the white tendrils of the mycelium start to spread throughout. After a few weeks, the grain is broken up and mixed with oak pellets, soybean husks and water and moved to the growing room, a cooler space where the bag is cut open to allow oxygen in and cause the tiny mushroom heads to burst forth.

Harvesting and storage is the final step.

The grow room, a step after the warm incubation area, is where the mycelium starts to emerge through holes cut in bags. This room is kept at 60 degrees.

MUSHROOMS

Like any new endeavor, mushroom growing is not without its challenges. There’s an art to the science of coaxing mushrooms to show themselves. It takes time and patience — and being able to understand mushroom talk.

“Figuring out my mistakes, learning to understand what my mushrooms were telling me. You have to figure out what they’re saying,” explained Thomas, “and after that, the grind of the boredom. Mixing substrate, doing the laboratory work, it’s the same [thing] over and over and over again.”

Despite these Sisyphean tasks, Thomas was finally able to sell his first mushroom on Sept. 1, 2021, at a farmers market in Amboy. Recently, he’s set up at indoor farmers markets at Loveland Community House in Dixon and the Twin City Farmers Market in Sterling.

Since then, he’s built up a loyal clientele — a loyalty that’s not lost on the grower.

When things were at their darkest and Thomas was questioning whether to continue this pursuit, his daughter asked: “If you quit growing mushrooms, would anyone be disappointed?”

Thomas’ simple answer was “yes.” n

Mushrooms can double in size every 24 hours. A finger-lickin’ good fungus — An edible mushroom that grows in the wild tastes nearly identical to fried chicken. The Laetiporus sulphureus, or ‘Chicken of the Woods,’ can be found across Europe and North America, mainly on oak trees but can also on yew, cherry and sweet chestnut trees. Laetiporus is brightly colored, succulent and soft, and has a fleshy middle. But be warned: Due to its similarity with other poisonous fungi, it’s best not to pick unless you’re an expert.

Mushrooms are 90% water Mushrooms do not need sunlight to grow and they can be grown and harvested year-round.

MUSHROOMS

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA EXTENSION SERVICE

Looking to learn more about mushrooms? Curious what they taste like, and how to prepare them? Meddling Sheep’s mushroom master can help. Check out his tips and info below and on the following page. ...

“The King Blue mushroom is a hybrid mushroom created by Andrew Reed of Mossy Creek Mushrooms in Tennessee. It has turned out to be one of my favorite mushrooms because of its versatility in cooking and its delicious mild flavor.

If you are only interested in sautéing this mushroom, I have found that salted butter with no additional salt added is perfect — though a little garlic and some grilled onions bring it together nicely. But this is just the entry door to this mushroom’s array of uses. Stir fry, deep fry, breaded or not. Quiche and casseroles, sauces and gravies, this mushroom is a gem. Some blue oysters have a tendency to be a bit chewy, which some people love and some people don't, but the King-Blue is tender without being mushy. I have it on my pizzas, in my eggs and omelettes. It goes well with all types of meat, venison, beef, pork, chicken. If preparing something in the crock pot, I make it a point to throw them in about a half an hour before serving. Of course, you can find other mushrooms that are better in a particular category but I have not yet found another mushroom that is across the boards able to be used in such a wide variety of ways. From fancy to simple this mushroom shines.”

“The Blue Oyster. As a mushroom grower, I have grown four different strains of blue oyster. This is my favorite for a variety of reasons.

It has an eye-popping blue color, and a long shelf life when kept in a ventilated container or paper bag in the refrigerator. It has a firmer texture than most oyster mushrooms, and it has a mild mushroom flavor, which lends nicely to most dishes while absorbing the flavors of the foods around it.

The stems are a bit fibrous, which may be a turn-off for some mushroom connoisseurs, but is something I personally enjoy. When sautéing, I cut stems in quarter-inch lengths and sautéed with the caps. There will be a mild crunch and a bit stronger mushroom flavor.

These mushrooms are good on pizzas, in eggs and omelets, casseroles and quiches, soups and many different sauces, and of course, sautéed as a side dish or on top of poultry, pork, venison and beef.”

MUSHROOM TIPS cont’d to page 17

Grow and glow ‘shrooms — There are at least 12 known Bioluminescent varieties of mushroom that create their own eerie green light when the sun goes down. These species contain a compound called oxyluciferin, which emits a spectral glow similar to ones generated by fireflies, and some species of algae. It is theorized that this light is intended to attract insects at night, which then help spread the mushrooms’ spores.

The most popular mushroom variety grown in the U.S. is white button, followed by crimini (brown or baby bellas), portabellas, enoki, oyster, maitake and shiitake.

It takes about three weeks to produce the first mushrooms for harvest. Throughout the growing period, mushroom farmers play Mother Nature, manipulating water, airflow, temperature fluctuation and more.

Farmers combine materials such as hay, straw, corn cobs, cocoa shells, and horse or chicken manure and place them in stacked wooden beds mixed with the spawn.

Every mushroom harvested in the U.S. is harvested by hand.

One Portabella mushroom has more Potassium than 1 medium banana.

Mushrooms are low in calories sodium, fat and cholesterol, and are gluten-free.

Mushrooms are a leading source of the antioxidant nutrient selenium. Antioxidants protect body cells from damage that might lead to chronic diseases and also help to strengthen the immune system.

Mushroom growers are known as the ”ultimate recyclers“ for their ability to convert byproducts and waste from other sectors of agriculture into the compost or medium used to grow mushrooms.

Because of this recycling of other agricultural crops and byproducts, mushroom farms have a smaller environmental footprint than almost any other farms.

FUNGUS FACTS cont’d to page 17

“The Black Pearl is a hybrid mushroom. It is a cross between the King Oyster (which is not technically an oyster mushroom) and the motherof-pearl oyster.

This is a dark, meaty, dense heavyweight earthy mushroom. It is my go-to mushroom if I'm having steak, and to be honest it's one of the meatiest mushrooms, so you might consider skipping the steak. These mushrooms can be huge, sometimes weighing in at 3/4 of a pound individually, though they grow in beautiful clusters.

The caps and the stems have the same consistency, so use everything when sautéing. Some of the larger specimens have stems over an inch in diameter. These are favorites for making mushroom steaks. In addition, I will cut the stems into 3/4-inch lengths when cooking and they remind me of the same texture of a scallop. These mushrooms are also great for grilling as they are tough enough to be abused.

I have nicknamed these mushrooms my ugly-ducklings. Some of the mushrooms will have warty looking growths on top of the caps while others will have a fuzzy white covering on the cap. This is just the nature of this mushroom and nothing to be worried about as they are truly swans of the mushroom world.”

“Chestnuts are one of the odd ducks that I grow. It does not taste like a mushroom at all. This is one of the mushrooms that fall into the love it or hate it category. I always recommend people start out with a small amount to see if they like it before they get too enthusiastic.

The taste is nutty, like combining almonds and hazelnut. But you have to get the mushroom crispy to bring that essence all the way out. I suggest an extremely hot skillet with a high temperature oil or an air fryer.

If you do not get this mushroom crispy it is a slippery mushroom, and that's a deal-breaker for a lot of people. I love to stir fry this mushroom with vegetables, and the texture of the caps will be like an oyster and the stems will be like a stiff noodle.

The nutty flavor will not be as pronounced, but it will be more like an over tenderized piece of meat. Think of stir fry at a Chinese restaurant and you get the picture.”

“Lion's Mane is not your typical mushroom. Its appearance is strikingly strange. It does not have gills for producing spores, it has teeth.

It is legendary for its health benefits and its flavor of lobster. If you were to take all of the ocean flavor out of a lobster and mix it with a mushroom, you would have Lion's mane. And to be honest, it tastes more like a scallop than lobster but people tend to argue this point.

This mushroom is not a good sautéed mushroom, though many people do. Do not cut this mushroom, you will shred it. It has a crab meat texture which makes it perfect for making vegan crab cakes.

Where this mushrooms shines is in soups. It'll make the best cream of mushroom soup. I love to add it to any chowder like potato soup. It does well in wonton and gumbo.

If you break it into larger pieces, baste it with olive oil and garlic, it is ideal for grilling.”

Today’s growers have refined their growing process to use less than 2 gallons of water to produce one pound of button mushrooms, compared with an average of 50 gallons of water per pound for other fresh produce items.

Mushrooms don’t require as much land as other crops. On average, one square foot of space in a mushroom bed can produce 6.55 pounds of mushrooms. One acre of land can produce 1 million pounds of mushrooms annually.

U.S. mushroom farms support more than 21,000 jobs and $864 million in compensation, and contribute $3.3 billion to the economy.

Sources: https://farwestfungi.com; American mushroom institute (americanmushroom.org); and The Mushroom Council (mushroomcouncil.org).

GRAPHIC: AMERICAN MUSHROOM

here’s a moment of inspiration that comes every year for Candie Koch.

It begins when the calendar starts to run out of pages and Koch starts to fill up with a festive spirit. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

It’s Christmas.

For Koch, Christmas is a gift that keeps on giving. It puts a smile on her face, a spring in her step, and a warm feeling in her heart. It also brings customers into her Amboy shop, Inspired Home Decor and Gifts, where they can feast their eyes on a festive display of holiday magic.

The holiday season is especially fun for Koch and her Inspired crew. It’s the time of the year when it begins to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go in the store. The shop starts to get dressed up in its holiday finest — trees, stockings, ornaments, sleighs, holiday decor galore. Jolly St. Nick even starts popping up around the store

The crew at Inspired Home Decor and Gifts in Amboy loves the Christmas season, and it’s on display all throughout November and December each year. Owner Candie Koch (center) started the business 2 years ago, and is joined by her daughter Cameryn Gerdes (left) and Debbie Cook. CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM

By Cody Cutter Sauk Valley Media

INSPIRED cont’d from page 19

It’s also the time of year when things really start to pick up at her year-round gift and decor shop.

Koch has owned Inspired Home Decor and Gifts for more than 2 years, and there’s no busier time than when Christmas comes to town. Busy? Yes. But fun? You bet. Her love for Christmas not only spreads around the shop, but all throughout her home as well.

“I just love Christmas,” Koch said. “My house completely changes. It’s that time that you’re spending with your family, and enjoying the overall feeling of Christmas and the magic of Christmas.”

Throughout most of the year, the store is filled with vintage home decor, repurposed materials, pictures, plants and pots, candles and furniture, and more, with a motif that encompasses both indoors and outdoors. But come mid-October, it’s closing time — but just while the store transitions into a one-stop holiday shop for the Christmas season. The colors of fall make room for holiday hues of red and green and other festive colors that fill the store for the next couple of months.

INSPIRED cont’d to page 21

Koch gets plenty of help from her elves to fill the shelves as her holiday cheer shifts into gear: Debbie Cook helps pick out pieces, and Koch’s daughter, Cameryn Gerdes, also has a hand in the holiday makeover.

“This is my fun job,” Cook said. “This is a fun place to come. It’s not like you’re going to work. We have a good team. We all work well together.”

The trio shares a love of making their surroundings look just right.

“It all started with loving to decorate, and I like beautiful things,” Koch said. “Debbie’s been here since the beginning; she’s loved helping me around the house with decorating, especially for Christmas. I was lucky that she had the chance to come.”

Gerdes is glad to help spread some holiday cheer.

“I like being around all of the people, and it makes it comfortable here,” Gerdes said. “It’s cozy, and it’s just fun. I love all of these things now, too, and it’s just fun to be surrounded by it all.”

INSPIRED cont’d to page 22

FACEBOOK

Inspired Home Decor carries vintage home decor, repurposed materials, pictures, plants and pots, candles and furniture, and more.

The store’s inventory comes from a variety of vendors. One product that remains constant throughout the year is a wide selection of candles. There’s even a room dedicated to them. Beanpod Candles, made in Mason City, Iowa, are one of the store’s largest candle vendors, and they take up one side of the candle room wall with candles and wax melts in a variety of scents and jars.

It’s almost like Christmas morning when new items arrive the team can’t wait to open the boxes and check out the new arrivals.

“I enjoy the people and the atmosphere,” Cook said. “It’s Christmas, how can you not be happy this time of the year? Everybody’s happy. It’s like Christmas every day: What’s new? What did we get today?”

Decorating has been a lifelong love of Koch’s: It gave her creativity an outlet when she was growing up and continued to bring her joy when she looked for a break from the working world. Koch had a job in human resources for several years before feeling an itch to make a living by doing something that she could control, so she went into business for herself.

Koch first rented space where The Warehouse Boutique and Becker Detailing are, across Jefferson Street from her current store. But right as she was ready to open, the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on her brick-and-mortar plans — but that didn’t stop her. Like other business forced to adapt in uncertain times, Koch found a way to make things work. She offered online shopping (at inspiredhome815.com) with pick-up service. The pan-

demic pause eventually passed and in-store shopping returned when the shop finally opened up that June.

“I’ve always liked to decorate,” Koch said. “I’ve done floral design and things like that back in 4-H when I was young, and then I had a regular job for a lot of years in human resources. I then was just wanting to stay at home more with my family, and then the opportunity came after that to do all of the pretty things I wanted to do.”

After a little more than a year, business boomed and Koch needed more space. She found it in the former FS gas station building.

Now she’s got more space to flex her creative muscles. She holds open houses near the start of each spring and fall to show customers what the store stocks and introduce them to what’s new; the Christmas event took place Nov. 3-5, after nearly 3 weeks of getting the shop stocked and ready.

Koch also makes sure Inspired Home Decor has a presence at several community events, and she hosts some at her shop, too. The store had a “sip-and-shop” event May 7, the day before Mother’s Day, with Bloody Marys and mimosas for shoppers to enjoy while they roamed the store. The fun continues during Amboy’s annual Depot Days, when the town’s population grows by thousands for 4 days, with an outdoor vendor show outside the store; this year’s event was “a really big success,” Koch said. The crew also will be displaying their items during Amboy’s Christmas Walk on Dec. 10.

Koch hopes people will stop by her shop and get some inspiration of their own.

“With the whole Inspired name, hopefully people can come and see what we’ve done and it will inspire them to come back, or go home and do something around their house,” Koch said. “I feel like when you’re surrounded by all of the pretty things, you’re around things that can make you happy.”

In addition to having a few welltraveled vintage pieces throughout the store, the building itself has its own stories to tell. Originally built as a feed office along the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, it later became an FS gas station for many years. When Koch bought the building, it still had some pieces of equipment left over, such as stools and tables. A tin-covered ceiling, taken from elsewhere, also adds to the store’s rustic look.

205 N. Jefferson St. in Amboy, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Online:

Gerdes has plenty of memories of stopping at the old gas station as a kid, even if it was just a decade ago. Many others who’ve stopped and shopped recall the building’s former FS days as well.

“Everything is kept how it was,” Gerdes said. “A lot of older people who used to come here, they have come here and still appreciate what it’s become. It had the cheapest pop in town, only a quarter or fifty cents. I always liked the cream soda.”

Koch and her crew want to make their shop a destination that has the largest selection of Christmas-themed items and decor in the area, she said, even giving the big box stores a run for their money.

Staying true to her small-town roots is important to Koch, and the community provides enough inspiration to keep her from pulling up roots.

“We talked about, when we were changing buildings, possibly going to Dixon, but we’re really happy to stay in our small town and to be able to offer this to people,” Koch said. “Some people may not travel very far to go shop, and they really enjoy coming in here. It’s a convenience that people can appreciate.” n

(815) 537-2348

944-0580

(815) 772-3700

W N S here is it E

aNsweR

St. Patrick Church in Maytown is unique among the stately brick Catholic church buildings in the southern half of Lee County — including ones in Amboy (St. Patrick), Harmon (St. Flannen), Walton (St. Mary), Sublette (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) and West Brooklyn (St. Mary) — in that it has a Celtic cross on top of the chapel portion of the building. The church building was built in 1919 and is next to the cemetery of the same name.

TO GUIDE YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM

The railroad was becoming a boon to commerce and travel, and trains were criss-crossing the coun try as fast as companies could lay the tracks, and things were chugging right along in the Midwest, and that included Lee County.

In 1872, the southern half of the county began to forge its link to the rest of rural Amer ica from east to west when the Chicago and Iowa Railroad laid track from Shabbona in DeKalb County to Rock Falls in Whiteside County, punching through Lee County from border to border.

For 113 years, what would be best known as the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy’s Sterling Subdivision line helped cre ate communities and stations that would benefit farmers in the southern portion of the county who sought a way to move more products more quickly to shipping hubs in Chicago or the Quad Cities. Although the line has been gone for nearly 40 years, its impact and legacy remains in the many towns it helped create.

here was a time when there weren’t many choices for farmers who needed to haul their wares or people who wanted to take a trip across the prairie. You could either hitch up the horses or hitch a ride on a train — and during the mid-1800s, the latter of the two was picking up steam.

Sauk Valley Media

Cody Cutter

Along the Sterling Subdivision of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy’s Sterling Subdivision line were depots in the communities they ran through, such as these two in Paw Paw and Amboy.

SUBMITTED

At its peak just before the Great Depression, there were nine different lines that either criss-crossed the county or went from one town to the other within the county (not including short service lines inside Dixon and the former Green River Ordnance Plant), but only one of those lines stretched from Lee County’s eastern border to its western one: the Sterling Subdivision. The line went through seven communities in the county, most of which likely wouldn’t have been there had it not been for the rail line. Compton, Harmon, Shaws, Walton and West Brooklyn can trace their lineage to the lines, and one could even make a case that Amboy and Paw Paw wouldn’t have prospered and grown as they did without trains to help move them along.

The line

By the time of the Civil War, Lee County’s two major rail lines were firmly established: the Chicago and North Western (now the Union Pacific) that still runs through Nelson, Dixon, Nachusa, Franklin Grove and Ashton today; and the Illinois Central, which once ran through Amboy, Eldena and Dixon. The third line didn’t arrive until 1871, when the Chicago and Iowa, owned by Francis E. Hinckley, ran through the northeast corner of the county, and would eventually be responsible for the development of Lee and Steward.

The Chicago and Iowa line ran from Chicago to Galena to connect the Windy City with the lead mines of the Driftless Area. Around the same time, Amboy lawyer and state representative Alonzo Kinyon sought to build a railroad through the middle of the county going east and west of Amboy. That plan became a project beginning in 1872 with the building of the single-track Sterling Subdivision — first from Rock Falls to Amboy during the early months of the year, and then from Amboy to Shabbona during the summer. The first train rolled through on the line on Oct. 16, 1872.

Heading west out of Shabbona, a wye directed trains either left to Paw Paw or right to Lee. The Shabbona-to-Paw Paw trek went southwesterly for about 15 miles and entered Paw Paw at the northeast side of town (behind where the school currently sits).

itself merged with the CB&Q in 1884. The Shabbona-to-Paw Paw segment was abandoned in 1939, and all traffic heading eastbound from Paw Paw then went through Earlville to Sheridan.

During its early days, passengers and products were neck and neck when it came to what trains hauled, but that began to change in the late 1910s, when automobiles began to enter the picture and passenger service started to take a back seat to freight hauling.

The last passenger train rolled through in the late 1940s. The CB&Q was known for its shiny silver passenger Zephyrs with bell-shaped fronts. They rarely, if ever, ran along the Sterling Subdivision, having been meant for the company’s main lines connecting larger cities. Steam and diesel engines were the main drivers of Lee County’s rail traffic.

ABOVE: The former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad once ran through Harmon, and crossed Sterling Road at this spot. The former line went eastbound toward town into the center of this picture.

BELOW: The tracks of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy line are long gone in West Brooklyn, but tell-tale signs remain, like this crown-like surface where the tracks used to run through the middle of town.

CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM

During World War II, the Sterling Subdivision line also serviced the former Green River Ordnance Plant west of Amboy. A connector line was built from the main line that went about 2 miles north, transporting parts needed to build ammunition for the war effort, and carrying away the finished products. The Illinois Central also had a service line that went to the plant.

The new communities

Going west from Paw Paw, the line then went 6 miles to Compton, another 17 miles to Amboy, and then another 20 miles to Rock Falls. The goal of rail routes at the time was finding the shortest route between stops, and the flatter the terrain the better; distance and topography came together in Lee County to give the route its eventual path, and it didn’t take long before communities followed that path. Compton, Harmon, Shaws, Walton and West Brooklyn all sprang up within 6 years of the line’s beginning.

The Chicago and Iowa merged with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) in 1899. Paw Paw would benefit from a second rail line, the Joliet, Rockford and Northern Railroad, in 1881,

The Sterling Subdivision gave rise not only to shipping hubs, but also places where people throughout the area could gather and meet for business, recreation and social occasions. Businesses and communities rose up next to rail lines — banks, taverns, insurance dealers, general stores, repair shops, and hubs where township and town governments could meet.

In 2023, Compton will observe its sesquicentennial — 150 years of existence. Its roots began when the railroad bypassed Melugin’s Grove, which had existed for about 40 years 2 miles north of Compton. Joel Compton, formerly of Melugin’s Grove, decided to move closer to the railroad in 1873, and the rest of the town followed. Compton’s growth meant Melugin’s Grove’s demise. The line served as the southern edge of the new village, parallel to Main Street.

West Brooklyn predates Compton by less than a year. The village began in August of 1872 on land owned by Demas L. Harris, O. P. Johnson and R. N. Woods. Unlike Compton, the railroad ran through the center of town. Traces of the old rightof-way still are evident in the middle of grass along Johnson and Woods streets.

Shaws (or Shaw’s Station in other references) came to be a few years after the railroad crossed through the county. The small burg is about halfway between Lee Center and Sublette on Inlet Road, and its name is shared with the east-west road connecting Amboy and Paw Paw. The place was laid out by Sherman Shaw in October 1878, and once had a church, school, elevator and service station — all of which are gone today. Main Street, and a few houses on it, are mostly what remains of the community.

Walton was developed by Pryce Jones a few years after the railroad came to the county. It, like Shaw’s Station, was developed in 1878 and was once home to a general store, blacksmith, and an elevator along the line. Only a dozen people live there today, and it’s one of the smallest villages in Illinois that still has its own Catholic Church, that being St. Mary.

Harmon was established in May 1872 by D.H. Wicker, J.S. Meckling, Alonzo Kinyon and C.G. Wicker; this was the only community that Kinyon, who was largely responsible for the railroad line, had a hand in starting. Like Shaw’s Station, but unlike the other new communities at the time, the line went on a slight slant through the center of town.

In addition to the aforementioned communities, two other stops were made in the county. Stone’s Station was located where the line crossed Hamilton Road on the western edge of the county. Carnahan Station was established in 1873 by A.J. Carnahan as a rival community between West Brooklyn and Compton — but the rivalry, and the community, didn’t last long, only a few years; it was located where Carnahan and West Brooklyn roads meet.

Binghamton missed having rails go through it twice. Located a mile east of Amboy, the community was settled in 1844 and was nearly abandoned when the Illinois Central passed through Amboy instead. When the Chicago and Iowa was laid out in 1872, it missed the old village once more, having gone south and west of it.

RUSTY SCHRADER/SVM GRAPHIC

Amboy

Harmon Walton Shaws

Brooklyn

Roll up the rails

As highways began to unfurl across the nation and semi trucks rolled off the assembly lines, demand for rail transport shifted to our nation’s highways and byways. The federal highway system, which included Routes 30, 51 and 52, put the power, and steering wheels, in the hands of more long-haulers who were transporting cargo by the 1920s, a change that continued with the Interstate Highway System’s beginnings in the 1950s.

The rumbling of rail traffic across Lee County was beginning to slow down in the years after World War II. The CB&Q merged with a couple of other lines to form Burlington Northern in 1971. Gone were the CB&Q red-and-black colors, now replaced with the green-and-white of its new name. The final trains to roll through Lee County on the line came in the last week of January 1985. Rolling up the tracks proved to be the second of two large blows to rail traffic in the county: The Milwaukee Road line south of Steward through Roxbury and Welland closed in 1981, and the Illinois Central line ceased to exist in 1986. For Amboy, it meant the loss of both of its rail lines within a 2-year span.

In the next few years after the Sterling Subdivision’s abandonment, what few traces of Burlington Northern’s green-andwhite were taken away — some to private homes, others to museums. Very few remnants of the right-of-way remain today, and no depots along the line are still standing. Only a few

elevators remain, along with a couple of bridges over creeks on private property.

But history buffs and those who revel in rail’s history can still navigate the former right-of-ways, if they know what to look for. Programs such as Google Maps and its satellite viewer can identify traces of the right-of-ways through tree lines and uneven ground on empty cornfields. One key indicator of a former right-of-way: diagonal roads, which at one time ran parallel to the rail lines — Howland Road east of Hamilton Road, Main Street in Shaws, and U.S. Route 30 westbound leaving Shabbona are a few examples. Some stretches have been converted into private driveways. Some former road crossings — notably on Sterling Road west of Harmon — still have small humps where the line used to cross.

As the generations who rode on a train or hauled grain to the stations age out of the population, there will be fewer and fewer people who remember firsthand what it was like when Lee County was all aboard with rail traffic. Railroads were once the main driver of people and goods, and the tracks they traveled were the backbone of a transportation system that helped unite our nation’s states.

Today, trains still carry a lot of weight in our nation’s transportation system, but as the years roll by in Lee County, the Sterling Subdivision line is becoming more and more of a distant memory. Its trains have long since left the stations — but if you close your eyes and listen, you might just be able to hear echoes of the past comin’ round the bend. Next stop: Lee County … n