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The Greene family helped to organize St John’s Episcopal Church in 1850, and William was a member of the Vestry when the “Carpenter Gothic” church structure was built in 1864. Later generations worked with the Heritage Society to save and move the building in 1970, when it became Century Chapel and a focal point of Naper Settlement. William Spencer Greene succeeded to the management of the farm in 1880, married Jessie Hibbard of Chicago, and wings were added to Oak Cottage (five in all) to accommodate their growing family. Six children: Hibbard, Laura, William Bertram, Arthur; Marion, Grace- lived to adulthood, and the farm provided college educations for all. Three generations, plus hired help, lived in the house (sixteen at one time!) plus frequent visits of indefinite periods from family and friends. Spencer added 150 acres to the farm and built the huge barn, hauling stone from Naperville quarries for the foundation. He was the first to build silos in DuPage County-not the modern concrete silo but a series of low, insulated, air-tight rooms which were filled in succession over a period of weeks with green corn- sileage. The sileage helped support a herd of 100 cows, which of course were milked by hand. The cans of milk were hauled by horse and wagon to Lisle each morning and shipped by train to Chicago for sale. Only once was a deadline missed! Spencer promoted the graveling of Hobson Road and Greene Road, providing gravel from a pit on the farm. This reduced the time to reach Naperville from two to three hours in spring mud to 45 minutes in any weather! By 1901 the telephone had arrived, followed later by gas and then electricity, modern plumbing, the tractor and milking machines. The third generation of farm management was under Arthur Greene, from 1914 to the time of his death in 1939, resulting in further expansion and improvements. After Arthur’s death, tenant farmers were employed, under the management of William Bertram Greene of Aurora. Grace, with husband Everett Brown and children Nancy and Tom, lived in Oak Cottage, following the family tradition of keeping open house for family and friends. The farm operation ceased in 1965 with the auction of the dairy herd, and the fields were rented for sod farming until the sale of the farm in 1972. Half was sold to the DuPage County Forest Preserve, and the resulting area south to the Will County line is named the Greene Valley Forest Preserve. Grace lived at Oak Cottage until her death in 1981, when it reverted to Forest Preserve ownership. It is hoped that the house will be preserved as a museum or for similar use and that the barn, with its horse and cow weathervanes atop the cupolas, will also remain as the landmark that it is. 1983 marks the end of an era for the Greene family and for Oak Cottage, concurrent with the end of farming as a vital force in DuPage County. Let us not forget! 11/01 |
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