Building date: 1851, demolished in the 1990s.
Original use: Farmhouse
Corner structures:
Mortar application and content:
Types and uses of stones:
Types and choice of windows:
Structures with similar masonry details:
Masons who worked on building: Andrew Jackson Simons
Unique features: Cobblestone foundation
Map views courtesy Google Maps. This street level view shows likely the original entrance to the house. Address is Google Earth confirmed; 42°16'32.25"N 88°17'11.50"W. Current owner of record, Oak Grove Sub Assn as of the 2020 Tax Roll.
Township of Nunda and McHenry County Maps.
Original Owner: James McMillan (1809 - 1884). James and his brother Samuel, early pioneer farmers, built a sawmill in 1844/45 on what then was called Squaw Creek, which ran through James' farm. They converted it to a grist mill in 1863. The property was sold to William D. Gates, owner of the American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Co. (see CL Academy/Gates House). American Terra Cotta used the house as an office from 1950 until about 1989. The house was demolished in the 1990s.
Date Built: 1851 (date was carved in the stone above the front door) [Cobblestone foundation]
Located on the east side of Route 31 across from the American Terra Cotta Factory. Crystal Lake Historical Society, Diana Kenney email 10/19/2020.
Builder: Andrew Jackson Simons
This pre-Civil War structure is an excellent example of an early stage coach stop in the Greek Revival Style, flawed only by the addition of a small enclosed entrance replacing the original porch and front door. Especially noteworthy is the cobblestone foundation, under the porch to the right, and two features that are very rare in this type of construction: the use of long pieces of stone to form the porch posts, and the wall dormer inserted in the roof on the wing. Note the very large terra-cotta urn in front. It was produced across the street in the factory that produced much of the term-cotta used in the building industry in Chicago in the last years of the nineteenth and early years of the twentieth centuries. Courtesy "A Guide to Chicago's Historic Suburbs" On Wheels & On Foot, by Ira J. Bach, assisted by Susan Wolfson, Swallow Press, 1981, page 205.
"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. 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.
Editor's Note: Google Earth Pro April 1988 satellite view shows what is likely the structure on the east side of Route 31 across from the American Terra Cotta plant. GPS coordinates were obtained from this view. The next available view on March 1999 does not show the structure.
 McMillan House 1872.jpg ¹ |  Nunda Township Section 22.jpg ² |  McMillan House.jpg ³ |
¹ Image courtesy 1872 McHenry County Combination Atlas, Page 55.
² 1872 Section 22 Map courtesy Crystal Lake Historical Society, Diana Kenney email 10/20/2020.
³ Image courtesy Common Clay, Page 201, by Sharon Darling and George Berry. A book about American Terra Cotta Co.
