Dunham-Hunt House back on the market

Interested in a vintage 1841 house with all sorts of history behind it in St. Charles?

The Dunham-Hunt House, known to many as the former Dunham Hunt Museum, at Third and Cedar avenues, is back on the market. For a cool $199,900, the old house is yours.

Here’s to hoping someone finds this historic home to be worth bringing back to life. There is no doubt it needs some spit and polish. Or, better put, plenty of paint and new wood.

The St. Charles Historical Society turned the house over to the city of St. Charles when it became apparent the city’s history keepers couldn’t afford to keep this piece of history.

Keller Williams Fox Valley Realty has the task of selling the property for the city. A look at the outside of the building indicates it needs a new owner — one who loves historic structures and knows how to bring them back to life with paint and replacements for rotting wood and broken shutters.

The historic Shelby School cupola from 1911 sits on the property, along with another structure that looks like it may have been a post office, but I am not certain about that. At first glance, I was thinking maybe a Boy Scout troop or an energetic church group could spiff up the old house, but it may need more than that.

The house originally went on the market at $299,900 in June 2011, and it came off the market in November 2011 when it was at $249,900. It came back on a month ago with the $199,900 price tag.

Residents with sentimental hearts when it comes to city history also may like to know that the historic Dunham Castle in Wayne is also showing signs of wear and tear with tarpaper on the roof, and some windows cracked, broken or completely fallen out.

The economy hasn’t been too kind to historic sites either, it seems.

The Stars are aligned: The dance floor at Eagle Brook Country Club will once again be filled with “Stars” on Feb. 9 as six couples have agreed to compete in the fifth-anniversary edition of the popular “Dancing with the Geneva Stars” fundraiser.

The couples are: Justin and Katlyn Eggar of Allstate Insurance; Aldermen Sam Hill (First Ward) and Dorothy Flanagan (Fourth Ward); Adil and Kathy Jaffer (Adil owns Rosati’s Pizza and Kathy is a hairstylist); Kevin and Mary Keyzer, who is a Geneva High School teacher; Eric and Elizabeth Ott (Eric owns Geneva Running Outfitters and Elizabeth is a teacher); and Steve and Lynn Saunders (Steve is a real estate broker and Lynn is branch manager of First American Bank).

They’ll all be dancing for your votes at $1 each. You can’t stuff the ballot box for Obama or Romney, but you can do it for these dancers. Watch for details on how to cast your votes.

Gridiron wars: Batavia and Geneva bashed heads on the football field again last Friday for the 94th time in a rivalry that has carried on for 100 years. That makes it biblical, one might say.

It would be difficult for any of us to know that if not for Batavia Public Library director George Sheetz, who researches records on such matters. He tells us the Bulldogs and Vikings began tussling for bragging rights in 1913 when Batavia notched a 12-7 victory.

Since then, each team has taken its turn in the spotlight with various win streaks, but going into Friday’s game, Geneva led the historic series 51-37 with five ties.

This impressive research is fun for any prep football fan to wade through on the BataviaHistory.org website.

Make way for Mac: Patrons of Batavia’s downtown McDonald’s will have to wait a few months to enjoy their Big Macs at the Wilson Street location. It’s hard to believe that restaurant has been around since 1978, so it was time for an upgrade. This one mostly has to do with creating a double drive-through, but it will be 4,155 square feet of a new Mac for Batavians. It will surely be as popular as the previous site when completed.

Some life stories: You would think writing the story of your own life would be fairly easy. But there’s a lot more to writing an autobiography than one would think.

Workshops held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturdays, Sept. 22 and 29, at Fox Valley Presbyterian Church in Geneva may make that task far easier. Writer Sandra Flannigan, an English teacher of 30 years, will conduct a workshop explaining the techniques and many steps of writing an autobiography. By the end of the second workshop, participants will have written the first chapter of their autobiography.

Best of all, no previous writing experience is necessary. Cost is $45 and includes continental breakfast and all handouts. Information is available from Flannigan at (630) 232-8482.

More sweets on State: Ah yes, more cupcakes and cakes in Geneva. That’s what the city will get when The Sugar Path opens on State Street, offering wedding cakes and other fancy sweets.

Another business could benefit from The Sugar Path’s opening. Kernel’s Gourmet Popcorn is right across the street. My theory on this would be if you are ordering cakes or cupcakes, you might be inclined to let your sweet tooth lead you across State Street to popcorn and candy at Kernel’s.

Now that’s … a really good idea: The St. Charles visitors bureau plans to expand this year’s Scarecrow Festival in the best way possible. In addition to the scarecrow displays in Lincoln Park where crowds have gathered for 26 years to marvel at the creativity, this year’s Oct. 5-7 event will feature scarecrows near the First Street development.

Residents have been asking the city to make good use of the grassy area across from the First Street Plaza, and this sounds like an excellent way to get visitors strolling throughout the city during the festival.

That grassy area will eventually become buildings housing retail and residential rental units, but for now, we’ll gladly take the scarecrows.

dheun@sbcglobal.net