A look at who built Crown Point
By Kitty Conley kconley@post-trib.com February 7, 2012 2:48PM
The Dutch Colonial home at 113 West South Street in Crown Point, built in 1910. | Scott R. Brandush~Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: February 7, 2012 2:48PM
The first of two parts.
In a city that started out more than 175 years ago, to say one person or group was responsible for the building of the city would be silly.
But to determine the generations of which families of lumbermen and builders and developers started the city, and which developers have come along to add greatly to the population of this city, is possible.
Then there are the people that opened the city to industrial and commercial growth. The list of developers for the majority of the combined old and new growth can be counted on two hands with fingers left over.
The oldest are the two families of lumbermen, the Root and Henderlong families. They built homes and businesses through their lumberyards, or provided the materials for others to do the work.
More than 100 years ago, it was not big developers that built businesses and houses, it was the crews from the lumberyards that brought the city out of log cabins into stick-built homes and businesses. Masons who did the brick work often worked for these families.
If the Roots and Henderlongs didn’t build it, they supplied the materials to the people that did the building.
According to Michael Lunn, a Root family member, the lumberyard began in 1878, and between then and World War II about 25 percent of the homes in the city used its lumber for construction, or were built by the yard’s own crews. That is a very conservative estimate.
Today the Root family is involved in brokerage with Lunn’s ownership of Re/Max Commercial Property and mortgage lending in Chicago. The family basically invests and develops land but is not directly involved in construction, at least at this time.
The Henderlong family also sold off its lumberyard a number of years ago and the current generation primarily builds homes, but they also are the builders of a number of commercial buildings around town.
And, there are three generations of Flemings, a family that’s grown from builders to land developers, and is currently building homes and businesses in Crown Point.
Today, the situation has evolved to one family concentrating on building (Henderlong), one on planning and the development phase (Fleming), and one the real estate broker (Root/Lunn). These were the major developers and builders prior to the 1980s. According to Curt Graves, the city’s director of community development, the Root and Henderlong lumber companies provided the building materials or built over 75 percent of the homes in the city from the 1870s to the 1970s.
Curley Brick and Supply provided masonry products to both commercial and residential builders since the 1970s.
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