Volume One
No. 1

Batavia, Illinois
February 1960

Published by THE BATAVIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came or what we have been about. – Woodrow Wilson

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1960, at 3 P.M. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH Corner E. Wilson St. and Washington Avenue

ELECTION OF OFFICERS
MRS. BARTON S. SNOW

History of the Snow Residence  

Have you noticed the similarity of the architecture of the Snow and the Brandon homes? Who built these lovely Greek Revival houses?  Mrs. Snow will have the answers. MRS. J. HAROLD BLAIR. The Early Music of Batavians Batavia has always been music-minded. How many Batavia bands can you remember?  Come and talk over “old times” and, of course, “present times” too.

LAST MEETING;  JANUARY 17th

Miss Eunice Shumway, as Temporary Chairman, called the Organization Meeting to order. Mr. Malcolm Derby was made Permanent Chairman, and Mrs. Miriam Johnson, Recording Secretary, until officers are elected. Mr. Raymond Patzer read the proposed By-Laws for the Batavia Historical Society and they were accepted. 

Mrs. Pauline Campbell offered the services of the Fox Valley Camera Club to take pictures of historic interest.  Mr. John Gustafson gave a short talk on “Cycles of Past Industries in Batavia,” mentioning a few salient points on each of the following: The sawmills and flouring mills; The Stone Quarries; The paper mills; The ice industry.

Following the meeting everyone enjoyed the excellent display of pictures, maps, and books.

AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Batavia Historical Society gratefully acknowledges two gifts from Mr. P. E. Roscoe of 16 South Van Buren Street. Photograph of the Howell Hotel, located at 20-24 South Van Buren Street, taken about 1870. The hotel was torn down about 1900. Sleigh bells which were brought to Batavia from Nova Scotia in 1857 by Mr. William Roscoe.

Charter membership will be held open until January, 1961.

Annual dues Are $l.00.  Please invite your friends to join.

Alexander, Miss Ethel                                 228 S. Second St., Geneva

Allan, Mrs. Margaret A.                               28 S. Second St. Geneva

Anderson, Miss Mary                                  534 W. Wilson St.

Benson, Miss Cora                                     431 Elm St.

Benson, Mr. Wm. B.                                   431 Elm St.

Campbell, Mrs. Pauline                              328 Union Avenue

Cannon, Mrs. Elaine                                   519 l’18in Street

Derby, Mr. Malcolm R.                                420 S. Batavia Avenue

Evert, Mrs. Walter                                      315 Locust St,

Glidden, Mr. Robert T.                                617 Carlisle Rd

Glidden, Mrs. Robert T.                              345 N. Batavia Avenue

Grigg, Dr. Walter K.                                    R. 1, Box 293

Gustafson, Miss Alice                                  R. 1, Box 293

Gustafson, John A.                                     R. 1, Box 293

Hampton, Mr. Ed                                       R. 2, Box 380, West Chicago

Hazelton, Mr. H. James                              12 S. Van Nortwick

Jervis, Hr. Frank R.                                    29 S. Bennett St., Geneva

Johnson, Mr. Carl W.                                  229 N. Washington St.

Johnson, Mrs. Miriam H.                             229 N. Washington St.

Johnson, Mr. Walter R.                               232 N. Jefferson St.

Jones, Mrs. Horace N., Jr.                           346 Elm St.

Joslyn, Miss Florence                                 116 Columbia St.

Kline, Miss Ida                                          111 Franklin St.

Kruger, Mr. Clare J.                                   125 S. Washington St.

Kruger, Mrs. Clare J.                                  125 S. Washington St.

Lundberg, Mr. J. Elliott                               912 Walnut St.

McDowell, Miss Viola                                  19 S. Van Buren St.

Mier, Mr. August J.                                    739 Cleveland Avenue.

Patzer, Mr. Raymond J.                             237 Republic Rd.

Patzer, Mrs. Raymond J.                            237 Republic Rd.

Perrow, Mrs. Agnes                                    R. 2., Box 380, West Chicago

Peterson, Mrs. Iver M.                               504 Walnut St.

Rendler, Mrs. Arthur W.                             106 N. Van Buren St.

Rowland, Mrs. S. W.                                  504 Walnut. St.

Schielke, Jeffery                                       203 N. Washington St.

Shumway, Miss Eunice K.                           232 S. Batavia Avenue

Simon, Hrs. Oliver B.                                 418 Elm St.

Simpson, Mrs. Bruce J.                              230 N. Jackson St

Snow, Mrs. Barton S.                                 528 S. Batavia Avenue

Smith, Mrs. Frank P.                                  421 Main St.

Stephano, Mrs. Joseph P.                          379 Republic Rd.

Storer, Miss Alice                                      116 Columbia St.

Williams, Mrs. Mary B.                               519 Main St.

Williams, Mrs. G. P.                                  5 S. Jackson St.

Wood, Mrs. Walter H.                                702 Walnut St. 

It is interesting to note that these members range in age from eight years to over eighty.

By-Laws for the batavia historical society

ARTICLE I – NAME

The name of this Society shall be the Batavia Historical Society.

ARTICLE II – OBJECTIVE

The objective of this Society shall be the discovery, preservation and dissemination of knowledge about the history of Batavia Township, Kane County Illinois. To collect and preserve books, pamphlets, papers, photographs, relica and other historical objects. To receive by gift, grant, bequest, devise or purchase books, museums, moneys, real estate and other property. To encourage the preservation of historical monuments and buildings and to suitabley mark them. To publish historical material in newspapers and in pamphlets and books. To hold meetings with addresses, lectures, papers and general discussions.

ARTICLE III – MEMBERSHIP

Any person may become a member of this Society upon the payment of $1.00 as the first year’s dues. Annual dues of $1.00 must be paid before or on the date of the annual meeting. Life membership or a memorial membership may be acquired by the single payment of $25.00.

ARTICLE IV – OFFICERS

The officers of this Society shall consist of a president, vice-president, recording secretary, treasurer, historian and four trustees. These officers shall be elected by voice or written ballot at the annual meeting. They shall serve for one year, except the trustees. The trustees shall serve two years except those elected at the first election. At the first election two shall be elected for one year and two for two years.

ARTICLE V – DUTIES OF OFFICER

It shall be the duty of the president to preside at all meetings of the Society. In the absence of the prtesident the chair shall pass to the other officers in the order previously listed. The secretary shall keep the minutes of all meetings and read them at the following meeting for approval. The treasurer shall have charge of all funds of the Society. He or she shall keep a careful and accurate record of the receipts and disbursements for the year and shall make an itemized report at all meetings. The treasurer shall pay out the moneys of the Society only on the presentation of bills approved by the board of directors as attested by the secretary. The historian shall gather together and carefully preserve and file the historical materials of this Society.

ARTICLE VI – MANAGEMENT

All business affairs and property of the Society shall be managed and conducted by a board of Directors. This Board shall consist of the officers plus the trustees. The Board of Directors shall meet four times a year or at the call of one of its members. A quorum of the Board shall be five members. Any cacancy in the membership of the Board of Directors, or any office, shall be filled by the remaining members of the Board until the next election.

ARTICLE VII – COMMITTES

The Board shall appoint the following committees: membership, finance, publicity and nominating. These comittees shall consist of 3 or 5 members. The nominating committee shall be appointed at least 20 days before the annual election. The Board may appoint other committees as they become neccessary.

ARTICLE VIII – MEETINGS

The Society shall meet at least 3 times a year. The time and place to be announced by the Board of Directors. One meeting shall be announced as the annual meeting. At all meetings of the Society a majority of the members present shall constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE IX – STATE SOCIETY

This Society shall be enrolled as an annual member of the Illinois State Historical Society.

ARTICLE X – ORDER OF BUSINESS

Roberts Rule of Order (revised) shall be the parliamentary authority at all meetings of the Society. At the regular meeting of the Society the following shall be the order of business:

Call to order

Reading and approval of the minutes of the previous meetings.

Treasurer’s report

Reports of committees

Unfinished business

New business

Program or social time

ARTICLE XI – AMENDMENTS

Amendments to these by-laws may be made at any meeting provided a notice is sent to all members at least 30 days in advance of the meeting. Amendments may be passed by a two-thirds vote of the voting members present.

Volume One No. 2

Batavia, Illinois

Dr. J. C. West Reminisces 

He graduated from medical college in 1902. At that time there were thirteen such schools in Chicago, only three of which were in the accredited class. The graduates from teh four year course that his license number was only 1376 shows that he was one of the early licentiates. Many doctors in Chicago were poorly educated. He practiced in Chicago at first but because of the poor repute of many of the doctors, didn’t boast of his profession.

About theat time he had a coronary attack and a doctor told him if he didn’t get away from the confining work in Chicago he wouldn’t live to be forty. A doctor friend told him that Batavia needed a physician and to go there. He definitely didn’t want to leave his practice in Chicago but about that time a brother of his was sick in Elgin and his wife went to visit him and afterwards came through to Batavia. He liked the place and before going back to Chicago, he rented a house. That was March 30, 1910.

He moved to Batavia immediately. He fell in love with the countryside, the weather was beautiful, until April 21st, when we had a severe frost that froze everything freezable.

At that time Dr. O. P. McNair had just left. Dr. Augustine was retired. Mr. Fitts was semi-retired. The active doctors were Drs. Anna Spencer, Bothwell and Johnson. One of his first jobs was to call on these physicians to become acqainted with them.

Later he said for a while, there was a recular “epidemic” of new doctors. He mentioned Drs. Howard, Simon, Whitten and others. Dr. Whitten bought the Bothwell house and converted it into a hospital for three or four years. Dr. Mostrom, from Geneva, had helped him and, about the time of WW1, came to Batavia to go into partnership with him. Drs. DuFour and Elliot followed. Dr. Elliot was not successful in his association with Dr. West. Later Drs. Habegger, Baxter, Shirer and Grieg entered partnership with him in the clinic. All of these are here at present except Dr. Habegger, who became a specialist and therefore needed a larger clientele than he had in Batavia.

Dr. West related many of the vast improvements made in medicine since he began his practice. He said that now medicine was not an art, but a science. They had cocaine and antitoxin when he started, but they were afraid to use the later in large enough quantities to do much good.

He said about 1915 diphtheria became prevalent in Batavia. There were 67 cases in Batavia of this disease in one week. He examined all of the school children, found many of them carriers, and sent them home for a week. Now diphtheria is nearly a forgotten illness. Also since the day of antibiotics, pneumonia and appendicitis are controllable, so is sypylis with the drug salversan. In the early days, there wasn’t much diabetes. Although more prevalent now, insulin has come to its rescue.

In the Spanish-American War, Typhoid fever was the big scourge – killing more soldiers than bullets. but there was no typhoid fever in our army in our chase of Villa in Mexico and in WW1, because the soldiers were imunized against it. In all of the time he was in Batavia, he only treated two cases of this fever. The same was true of malaria.

He said he once heard Dr. Osler, a famous physician, say that all of man’s ills could be laid at the doors of four gods or goddesses – Baachus, too much excess, Vulcan, too much work, Venus, too much  women, and Mars, too much war. These four exacted tribute from us.

Obstetrics have made a great advance in his lifetime. He got women to come to him for periodic examinations. In his early days, babies were delivered in the home, now almost always in a hospital. This is entirely to the good.

He concluded his talk with showing the audience a set of surgical instruments used at the time of the Civil War and nowowned by Dr. A. G. Baxter. He rpoved his point, made at the beginning of his talk, that history is a story and that a story follows progress.