1899: an appraisal of the Farrell estate provides an indication of the farm’s livestock and poultry operation at that time. Farrell owned 32 cows, 4 hogs, 2 sows, 13 pigs, 150 fowls, 4 turkeys, and 5 horses. From 1865 to 1943 we operated as a dairy farm- 78 years.

1930: The larger farmhouse was built during the early 1930s by John Nepermann to accommodate his growing family. After the larger farmhouse was constructed the original Homestead cobblestone farmhouse and the cobblestone cottage above the machine shed were rented to farm laborers during and after the Nepermann’s period of ownership.

1943: The Danielson family discontinued the tradition of dairy farming and planted a 7 acre orchard of fruit trees, naming the farm “Appledale Farm”. With fruit from the apple trees, as well as pear trees and other fruit-bearing trees (peaches, apricots, cherries). The produce was supplied to a restaurant located in the Homestead Hotel at 1625 Hinman Avenue in Evanston, which served as their primary residence through the 1940s. Philip was the architect of the hotel and Ruby designed the interiors. Appledale farm was intended as their country residence. The couple used the larger 1930s farmhouse while the original cobblestone farmhouse was occupied by tenant farmers and the cobblestone farmhouse was used by their gardener. In 1948, Philip and Ruby Danielson hosted a sale of “4 registered Holstein heifers. These heifers are about 14 months old and are from the McNabb and Howard herds, 2 being sired by Northern Illinois Breeding Association Bulls, are well grown and in good condition, 75 HiLine laying hens. 75 White Rock laying hens. The Danielsons retained some cattle, which were kept in the barn, while the hen house presumably went unused for that purpose after 1948.

1950: September, 1950, Ruby Danielson hosted the art seminar committee of the University Guild of Evanston at the farm, where the group viewed her art collection and enjoyed a tour. In the same month, Ruby also hosted the Fall meeting of the Newberry Center League. A meeting notice published in the Chicago Tribune referred to the property as “Appledale, the country home of Mrs. Philip Danielson in Dundee.”

Ruby Danielson was Chairman of the Garden Club of Evanston in the early 1950s. She set up an exhibit at the organization’s meeting in September 1953 in which she demonstrated the “various uses of herbs and vinegars,” that were produced at her farm. She and her husband retained their residence in the Homestead Hotel in Evanston during the period that they owned Appledale Farm.

The Danielsons put Appledale Farm on the market in 1954, at which time they had several aerial photographs taken of the property. Philip Danielson wrote a detailed description of the property for marketing purposes in 1954, the text of which is transcribed below:

“We have eighty acres planted in corn, in brome grass and alfalfa. The buildings, lake and orchard take up about ten acres; meadow and farm road use up another five acres. The land is rolling, well drained, with a mixture of soils, a large part of it tillable and has raised in the past excellent crops of corn, oats, soy beans, etc. There are some extremely fine building sites with fine views over the countryside and toward the Fox River Valley.

A few years ago we had the soil tested and the report was that it is on the alkaline side; in fact, indicated that it would rarely have to be limed. This land has been dairy farmed by two families over several generations, first by the Farrells and followed by the Neppermans, who farmed it for fifteen years until we took over about six years ago. It appears to have been a dairy farm continuously, with all waste products returned to the soil. There are probably a half dozen springs located on the Farm; all except those in use, taken care of by drainage tile.

There is a two acre well stocked lake, spring fed, with overflow connected to drainage and with water supply to cattle tank in cattle yard. The lake is stocked with Black Bass, also Blue Gills. The lake is used for swimming during the summer and is provided with springboard and two row boats included.

At the east end of the property is a fast moving stream that has never been known to run dry, even in the driest of summers. This stream runs in from the north across a permanent pasture and another stream comes in from the south. We have a third stream crossing the northeast section of the property from a different source.

We have fed cattle on this farm and although we have carried no more than 24 head, doubtless it could handle more. The barn is well equipped for cattle feeding, with a concrete floored yard fenced with 2” boards and steel posts.

We have a five acre tract fenced off hay adjacent to a small yard in which could be erected a stable for horses. There are 7 acres of apple trees, 8 pear trees and quite a number of peach, apricot, several varieties of plums, cherries and walnuts. Peaches and plums bear profusely, as do the apples in such varieties as Yellow Transparents, Duchess, Northern Spy, Yellow and Red Delicious, Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Snow Apple, Whitney Crab, etc. 1,000 Honey Locust are started in the nursery. There are several varieties of raspberries. The north line extending for a half mile on Route 72 is planted in Chinese Elms and the south property line is also in Chinese elms.

The Almora Road line has a variety of natural plantings of Douglas Fir, Black Hills Spruce, Honey Locust, Elm, Honeysuckle and Maples. There are many varieties of lilacs, crabs, redbud and peonies. There is a planting of 1,000 Black Hills Spruce around a possible future lake. There are walnut trees, maple trees, ash, fir, white pine, elm, locust and sumac around the present lake.”

—Philip Danielson

1954: Our family purchased the 80-acre Appledale Farm from Philip and Ruby Danielson in 1956 and renamed it “Hilltop Farm.” Our family lived in the c. 1930 farmhouse and rented the cobblestone farmhouse and cottage to employees. The new owners were both racehorse enthusiasts. They started raising a few horses on the property, which became a boarding and breeding farm under their ownership. A daily fee of $8 was charged to board racehorses, which were kept in the pasture or in the barn, while a stud fee was charged for breeding.

Our family converted the timber-frame dairy barn for use by horses, replacing existing metal stanchions with wood stalls. The first floor of the attached hen house was extended to the east and filled with stalls for horses. A roofed shed was built at the east end of the horse barn, spanning both the north and south sections, and used for horse breeding purposes. The fields at Hilltop Farm were mainly used to grow hay for the horses boarded at the property, which was located 15 miles west of Arlington Park Racetrack.

Once Grandpa posted classified advertisements in the Chicago Tribune for his business in the late 1950s, one of which stated: “Pasturing horses is our main business, not a sideline. Summer pasture and winter care, box stalls or pasture for brood mares and colts. 80 acres with board fencing.”27 In July 1965, he built the second horse swimming pool in the United States used in the rehabilitation of racehorses, which were returned to race successfully after his skillful care.

The six-sided concrete horse pool at Hilltop Farm was enclosed by a wooden pole barn for use in the winter. It was 10 feet deep, 42 feet across, and about 150 feet in circumference. It held 100,000 gallons of water pumped from a lake on the farm. Horses were led into the pool down a padded ramp. A steel pole with three prongs stood in the center of the pool to which Strepek or one of three assistants could tie a horse and lead him around the pool with a line. The water was changed once a week and it used chlorine. In winter the water was heated to about 60 to 65 degrees.28

The horse pool was featured in the issue of The Blood Horse Magazine published on August 6, 1966. (See Section 6, Attachment C: 8-9.) Grandpa stated during an interview for the article that, “I’ve had about 250 horses here since July of last year. Some stay for 10 days or two weeks, a lot of them for two or three months. I get mostly cripples.... This swimming is great for horses with arthritic conditions and joint ailments, horses that are just run down, and those recovering from various ailments.” When asked about whether he obtained any good results, Strepek responded, “Yes, many horses have left here and won.”

Hilltop Farm was one of four properties highlighted during a daylong tour hosted by the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association on October 20, 1968. A notice in the Chicago Tribune for the tour described our farm property as “a unique farm with large indoor equine swimming pool.”

Barn, 1860s with south (hen house) addition

The timber-frame barn consists of two distinct north and south sections. The north section was built as a dairy barn and likely dates to the 1860s. The early vintage of this barn is indicated by its gable-roof design and use of tongue-and-groove connections on the hayloft’s wood posts and beams. Its walls are covered with wood planks applied vertically. The lower portion of the wall on the barn’s west gable end was built with fieldstones. The east and west ends of the original dairy barn each have a large door opening, as does the wall of the hayloft, which rises above a retaining wall.

The south section of the barn was originally built as a two-story hen house with a side-gable roof. Its walls are covered with wood planks applied vertically. The east and west ends of this section each have a large door opening. The west end also has a shed dormer with a series of windows.

In 1956 it is converted to a horse boarding farm. They extended the hen house eastward to match the length of the former dairy barn. Wooden horse stalls were built on the first floor of the former dairy barn and the hen house, which together subsequently served as a horse barn. The flooring in both sections of the barn is comprised of creosote-coated wood blocks. A roofed shed was built in the late 1950s at the east end of the horse barn, spanning both the north and south sections, for horse breeding use.

Original Cobblestone Farmhouse, c. 1845

This farmhouse is significant as the only extant cobblestone farmhouse in Dundee Township. It was likely built by Johnston and Mary Peyton during the nine-year period that they owned the 80-acre tract upon which it sits (1841-1850). It is comprised of a two-story gable-front section and a one-story wing with saltbox roofline. It features 12-inch-thick walls made of field stone that was found on-site, as well as a cobblestone chimney. However, a portion of the east wall is covered with wood planks. Fenestration is mainly comprised of six-over-six wood-frame windows.

The west façade facing Randall Road has a recessed portion with three adjacent window openings, one of which is infilled with plywood. A wood-paneled door on this facade opens onto the two-story upright section which has three additional windows: two on the first floor and one on the second.

The east façade has two windows in the gable upright section—one each on the first and second floors—as well as a wood door and large window opening on the one-story wing that has been infilled with plywood. The north façade has three windows. The south façade has three windows and a wood-plank door at the basement level, which has concrete flooring and exposed cobblestone walls. Basement ceiling beams comprised of logs provide evidence of the pioneer vintage of the house.

The first floor of the house has a kitchen, dining room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. A wood staircase ascends to the second floor, which has two additional bedrooms. The house has wood flooring and walls are ceilings are finished with plaster. It has been unoccupied since the 1980s and exists in a deteriorated condition. Portions of the roof have collapsed, leaving it open to the elements.

Farmhouse, c. 1930

This farmhouse features a central block and a west wing—both two stories in height—and a one- story screened-in porch wing. Each of the three distinct sections of the house have side gable roofs covered with asphalt shingles. The house has two cobblestone chimneys . The living room and master bedroom have wood-burning fireplaces. There are two stairways between the first and second floors, one of which is spiral and constructed from a single block of wood. Walls throughout the house are generally covered with cedar paneling and the flooring is wood. The bathroom walls are covered with pink and green tiles. The kitchen has metal cabinets that appear to be original. A partial basement was constructed in the late 1950s for the furnace.

Root Cellar, c. 1880s or 1890s;

The root cellar is adjacent to the north wall of the barn, near its eastern end. This circular structure is excavated into the ground and is accessed via a flight of concrete steps that descend to an east-facing exterior metal door. The root cellar has plaster-covered walls, cement flooring, and is covered by a reinforced concrete roof. This structure may have originally been built for use as a storm cellar. It was likely used as a root cellar during the Danielson period of ownership (1943-1956) to store the fruits grown in the orchards they planted.

Springhouse, c. 1900

The springhouse is a one-story concrete building with a rectangular footprint. It is covered with synthetic siding and has a gable roof covered with corrugated metal. The three-room building has two entrances—one each at its north and south ends—with wood doors. The interior has three continuous rooms with concrete flooring that are separated by wood paneled doors. This building was designed to project the source of spring water and to provide cool, clean storage for dairy and perishable farm products. A water pump is located within the springhouse, which is located on the east side of the barn.

Smokehouse, c. 1840s

This building was originally used to smoke meat and it may be of the same vintage as the cobblestone farmhouse.

Machine Shed/Garage, 1979

The Machine Shed/Garage is a tall, one-story, flat-roofed building with fiberglass siding, which is located to the west of the barn. It has a single metal service door on the east façade, two overhead metal doors on the south façade, and concrete flooring. The north side of this building was built up against, and rises above, an existing retaining wall. An earlier tool shed on this site, shown in the 1954 aerial photographs in Attachment B, was replaced in the late 1970s by this building.

Cottage, 1850s

This one-story, gable-roof cottage has cobblestone walls and may have been built by the Farrell family to accommodate farm laborers. It has a gable roof covered with asphalt shingles and a cobblestone chimney. Entrance is through a wood-paneled door on the north façade, which is flanked by small wood-frame windows. The interior has three rooms: a large living room and a kitchen and bathroom that face each other across a short hallway. The house was occupied by workers on the property and has been vacant since the 1980s.

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portions of Historical report written by: Jean Guarino, 2023
GUARINO HISTORIC RESOURCES DOCUMENTATION | OAK PARK, IL| 708.386.1142 |GUARINOJL@GMAIL.COM | JEANGUARINO.COM

HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL REPORT