Historic Main Street

HISTORIC MAIN STREET
In the late 1800s, Sugar Grove’s Main Street was a bustling scene of shoppers, students, churchgoers, and travelers. Main Street had everything a small town needed: General Store, Post Office, Railroad Depot, Town Hall, School, Boarding House and Hotel, Fire Station, Methodist Church, Blacksmith Shop and Hall, Community Building, and Library.

MILLER’S STORE
Miller’s Store was the place to go for an Ice Cream Parlor and Pool Hall. It also housed one of the early Post Offices in Sugar Grove.

SUGAR GROVE SUPPLY COMPANY / KECK’S STORE
In 1893, Will E. Keck and a few others formed the Sugar Grove Supply Company at 221 Main Street. The building burned down around 1918 and was later rebuilt on the same site in brick. His son W.R. “Spiv” Keck took over the store, and it was known as Keck’s Store. It was a grocery and hardware store and the only retail business in town for many years. For a time, the Post Office was housed inside the store, and all fire calls were answered on the phones in Keck’s Store. The building remains there today.

POST OFFICE
In the late 1800s, the Post Office moved into Miller's Store - Ice Cream Parlor and Pool Hall. For a time, the Post Office was also housed in Keck’s Store. From 1943 to 1959, the US Postal Service rented a portion of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) Railroad Depot for the Sugar Grove Post Office.

RAILROAD TRAIN DEPOT
Crossing Main Street was the CB&Q Railroad [Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad], which later became the Burlington Railroad. Passengers riding the train regularly included students who traveled to attend to the Sugar Grove Normal and Industrial School and boarded at Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The depot housed the Sugar Grove Post Office from 1943 to 1959. With the U.S. Post Office, it was the center of social gathering as the farmers came to town on their noon break to retrieve their mail and were joined by those who lived in the village. In the winter the farmers would gather around the huge potbelly stove in the center of the waiting area and catch up on the news. In warmer weather, they congregated outside the depot. The sound of the telegraph key could always be heard above their voices. It was situated on the desk which occupied the windowed area towards the tracks, and was the only direct means of communication at that time, between the stations and subsequently the train crews. Flags were used periodically to tell a passenger on a passing train about a message that had been forwarded by way of the telegraph.

NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
Thomas Judd had for some years favored the idea of an industrial school which would teach agriculture as well as preparatory to going on to other vocations. An all day picnic was held in the maple grove on the Judd Farm on Tuesday May 28, 1875, with the announced purpose of discussing plans for the new school. History records that 1,000 people attended and donations were accepted. It took just 15 minutes to collect enough donations in money and land to build the school. The Sugar Grove Normal and Industrial School opened for classes in the fall of 1875. The average attendance for the first year was 100, of which about 25 were local students. The original industrial school burned to the ground in January 1905. A brick veneer building was constructed in its place in 1906.

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN BOARDING HOUSE
Thomas Judd built "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1876 to board students of the Sugar Grove Normal and Industrial School. The building also functioned as a Train Depot and Restaurant. It burned downed in 1879, only 3 years after it was built.

HOTEL WEST
When the ornate building of Uncle Tom's Cabin burned downed in 1879, it was a great loss as Thomas Judd had no insurance.  However, Mr. Judd then built a new hotel on the same site.  Since there was no insurance on the original boarding house, the community came together with labor and materials, and rebuilt it using the stacked lumber method for the outside walls.  The hotel was later purchased by W.M. West and came to be known as Hotel West.  

FIRE STATION
The first 2-bay fire station was built on a lot donated by Teresa Keck, widow of William Keck, at 240 Main Street. At first, all fire calls were answered on the phones in Keck’s Store as well as the chief’s and the assistant chief’s homes. A siren on the roof of the original firehouse alerted the volunteer, along with an alarm in each volunteer’s home. Each fireman had a fellow volunteer to call when an alarm went out. Radios were not installed in the trucks until 1958.

METHODIST CHURCH
Sugar Grove United Methodist Church was built in 1888-1889 and was dedicated absolutely free of debt. “Uncle Dan” Gordon gave the land upon which the church stands. For many years after the dedication of the new church, services were held both in the morning and afternoon. The morning service was the regular Methodist worship service. In the afternoon, the facilities of the church were thrown open to a group of men and women who desired to hold “union services”. It was not many years, however, before this distinction was done away with; the services were united and, as one of the present members of our church has said in recalling the whole fifty years of history, “ever since we have worked together. We’re all trying to be Christians here.”

BLACKSMITH SHOP and HALL
The Cooper / Needham / Knudson Hall and Blacksmith Shop was built by George Wolf in the late 1800s. At different times, the building at 214 South Main Street was known as Cooper’s Hall or Knudson Hall and included the Cooper & Needham Blacksmithing Shop downstairs. It provided horse showing and general repair work in wood and iron. Upstairs, school and town activities took place on the 2nd floor, which included a basketball court, dining room, and stage. The court was so narrow that the folks on the one bench on each side had to stand up on the bench to keep their feet off the playing floor.

COMMUNITY HOUSE
The Sugar Grove Community Building (aka Sugar Grove Community House) was originally organized in the late 1920s by civic-minded people who were mostly farmers. At the time, the Village had about 150 people. They put a bond referendum up along with donated funds.  The cornerstone of the Community Building was engraved with the year 1929, and the building was complete in 1933.  It became a central place in the township where everyone could meet.

The Community Building wasn’t just used for community gatherings, but it was also used for school. There were two classrooms in the basement of the Community Building.  The high school boys played basketball upstairs, and everyone used the gym for PE on rainy days. School plays were held there, too. At various points in time, the Community Building also housed the Library, Police Station, and City Hall. 

LIBRARY
When the Sugar Grove Community House was constructed, the Public Library was moved there. Then the Public Library was housed in the Snow Family House located on Main Street next to and north of the Sugar Grove Community House on the west side of Main Street. The house was purchased from Carter Wilson to become the Sugar Grove Library until it was torn down to build a new dedicate building on the same site in 1980.

Source: "Sin-Qua-Sip:  A History of Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, Illinois" by Patsy Mighell Paxton.