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- The cobblestone houses in Crystal Lake are examples of a rare building type. The first to use stones worn into smooth shapes by glaciers were Irish laborers digging the Erie Canal in the 1820s. At first, the construction technique was limited to the Lake Ontario region of New York State.
These Illinois houses are similar to the "middle cobblestone period" New York houses built between 1835 and 1845 and must have been built by settlers from that region. The stones might have been collected by small boys or by neighbors in a great social "gathering bee." After being graded by size, with the best looking and most homogeneous ones destined for the front facade, two masons who knew the secret mixes of mortar required for their construction could build as much as sixteen vertical inches of wall in a day. The walls are usually as much as a foot and a half thick with a layer of insulating air between the inner and outer layers of stone.
It was possible to produce a sound, snug, and attractive house quite quickly and cheaply but only in areas with the proper glacial deposits. Rockford, Illinois and Beloit, Wisconsin have such houses, and the Gifford House, 363-365 Prairie Street (Elgin) from 1849-50 is another example. Only a limited number could be built; however, because the land surface yielded only a limited quantity of useable stones. The houses in Crystal Lake (Walkup House and Columbus Wallace House) were built by some of the area's earliest residents. Courtesy "A Guide to Chicago's Historic Suburbs" On Wheels & On Foot, by Ira J. Bach, assisted by Susan Wolfson, Swallow Press, 1981, page 211. - "Cobblestone foundations were observed at various locations on the eastern side of the [McHenry] county", Page 12. These foundations were constructed prior to 1860. ...the American Terra Cotta Corporation plant, now T. C. Industries...is located within the Village of Prairie Grove. The office building for T. C. Industries is a residence with a cobblestone foundation and was constructed in 1851", Page 14.
2732 Cobblestone Foundation.jpg Photographs, Page 8 of 16Richmond Township: This Greek Revival upright and wing farmhouse was constructed on a cobblestone foundation, Page 36. Editor's Note: This structure is identified only as "2732". The status and location are not known. A key to identify structures is not provided in this report document.
Quoted from the "McHenry County Rural Historic Structures Survey". Prepared by Nancy L. Baker, McHenry County Department of Planning for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Revised: February 1987.