Cary's Smith home to get historical society plaque
The McHenry County Historical Society Committee announced the John J. and Barbara A. Smith home, 235 W. Main St. in Cary, will receive a plaque at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
The present owners, Richard and Kathy Adams, cordially invite the general public to the ceremony and open house.
Life was simple before the age of railroads. In the remote stretches of the Illinois prairie land, families built no-fuss, square or L-shaped houses in the National or Folk style.
But when train whistles began to shrill and towns began to grow along the railroad lines, McHenry County farmers and town folk alike got fancy notions, building Victorian- and the quintessential American Queen Anne-style homes.
The John J. and Barbara A. Smith home is a fine example of the turn of the century 100 years ago. This 1904 Queen Anne-style home was built by Mr. and Mrs. Smith when the town of Cary had a true railroad name, Cary Station.
During this time, industry and the railroads brought many factory-produced architectural innovations to the common home, giving builders the ability to create elaborate masterpieces.
The Smith home reflects these decorative elements, with its overall asymmetrical design, original box-bay windows, incised porch-gable panels, decorative brackets, wraparound porch with Roman Tuscan columns, etched entry door art-glass, one-over-one double-hung windows and original hardwood floors. It also has a beautifully preserved entry foyer, staircase and balustrade.
Easy to spot, but often difficult to define, Queen Annes vary from lavish to restrained. This cottage-size Queen Anne, with its romantic characteristics, is a fine expression of the Machine Age and Railroad Era of McHenry County.
Smith came to McHenry County from Germany in 1872. He married in 1878, and he, his wife, Barbara, and their three children operated one of McHenry County's finest dairy farms on the outskirts of Cary Station. In 1904, Mr. and Mrs. Smith retired from their farm and built this fine Queen Anne home on Main Street.
Always community minded, the Smiths belonged to several local organizations, assisted in building Cary's first local school and upgrading Cary's infrastructure. In later years, they rented their second-floor rooms to railroad workers.
The home stayed in the Smith family until 1985.
Winston Churchill said "First we shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us." This is very true, especially in McHenry County. Unfortunately very few of us in McHenry County know the historical background of the buildings around us.
Your McHenry County Historical Society is working to change that. We invite people with architectural and/or historically significant buildings, homes, businesses, farms, to apply for a plaque.
Contact the McHenry County Historical Society at (815) 923-2267, Info@MCHSonline.org or visit the Web site, www.MCHSonline.org.