Factories in residential neighborhoods are part of Geneva's history

Because the Tri-Cities represent communities with roots from the late 1800s, it is fairly common to see some industrial factories set within or near older neighborhoods.

For many years now, we have driven or walked by the factory buildings along Stevens Street in Geneva without knowing much about their history.

In fact, I had to have it confirmed through the Geneva History Museum that the plants at Stevens and Sixth streets were indeed (and still are) Burgess Norton operations.

It's an area of the city that the museum plans to highlight during its historic trolley car rides during Swedish Days this month.

"It's an interesting part of the city," said museum director Terry Emma. "Burgess Norton won awards back in World War II for making the tracks for tanks, and when the war was over the company offered loans so that people could buy homes and get back to work in the factories."

That means many of the homes along Stevens and Richards streets were built in the 1940s from those loans.

But a main portion of Stevens Street housed the Wheeler Screen Company for many years, Emma said.

Wheeler Park in Geneva is named after the family that made screens for your windows for decades, with its factory covering the entire block of Stevens between Fourth and Fifth streets in 1896.

"An advertisement from the paper in 1898 said that Wheeler screens are 'absolutely fly proof,'" Emma said.

All of the land behind the factory eventually became Wheeler Park, she added.

Even though out-of-town visitors would find a trolley ride through our neighborhoods fascinating, it is a worthwhile venture for local residents as well. You'll be surprised what you don't really know.

The trolley will operate on the hour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 19, 20 and 21 during Swedish Days, leaving at a spot on James Street between Second and Third streets. Cost is $10 per person to benefit the museum.

Honoring history:

My recent column about historic preservation efforts in the area caught the attention of reader Jan Gargantiel, who says she has lived in Bellevue Place in Batavia for 24 years.

She calls it a perfect example of what it means to take an old historic building and turn it into something more modern without compromising its historic significance.

"The thought put into the developing of that property has resulted in the old building being converted successfully into apartments," Gargantiel said. "And the condos built to blend in perfectly with the grounds are an attractive addition to the community."

Without some creative thinking, the old limestone building could have easily met its demise despite the history, especially that of Mary Todd Lincoln's time spent there.

This sort of thing hits home with Gargantiel, mainly because her family moved to this area in 1976 so their children could attend Valley Lutheran High School.

That high school and the nearby Farnsworth mansion came tumbling down to make way for the Viewpointe townhouses in the early 1990s.

Now she weighs in on the historic building that could potentially hold up a new development on the former Mill Race Inn site in Geneva.

"I am not a person of great imagination, and cannot imagine what they could do with what now looks like an eyesore," she said.

Another reader agreed, saying that not everything old needs to be preserved.

She suggested that a photographer should just take pictures of these structures for display in the local history museums, or make a video that tells a story about it.

And then, let a developer do what needs to be done to make the area a source of pride in the community again.

Chicken on the rise:

A few years ago, Lawrence Colburn explained his vision to me regarding his Preservation Bread & Wine and Atlas Chicken Shack businesses located next to each other on Third Street in Geneva.

He knew both places would be popular and that he would need to expand his outside dining areas to accommodate them.

He's doing just that now, paying the city $30,000 to do so because of the loss of three parking spaces he'll be unable to provide close to the dining areas.

He'll make those payments over a three-year period, with the belief that the extra dining area will more than pay for itself over the course of several summers and autumns.

When some space opens:

When a restaurant seems to be doing well, and a nearby retailer closes its doors or moves to another location, the natural thought is that maybe the restaurant would expand into that area.

It happened in St. Charles when Abby's Breakfast and Lunch owner Rob Mondi took advantage of a spot opening right next to his location, and he made the restaurant larger.

Of course, Mondi had to shutter his operation a year later because of health issues. But the site is making a comeback, with Mondi working on the business side of things for chef David Reyes as he opens The Grandstander at that spot.

Such a move likely wouldn't have happened if Mondi hadn't made his place much larger in the past.

Chef Alain Roby did the same thing a few years ago in expanding his All Chocolate Kitchen by introducing Primo right next door in retail space that had opened on Third Street in Geneva.

That sort of question is circulating again in Geneva at the moment, with some rumors floating that Nobel House on State Street would expand into the spot next to it that Fox Jewelers left in April for a new location at 1009 E. State St.

The talk seems to be somewhat of a surprise to folks I spoke to at Nobel House, so nothing has been confirmed at the moment.

But it's just natural to think it's possible when you've seen so much commercial space in our downtowns convert to the restaurant/bar/entertainment world the past two decades.

dheun@sbcglobal.net