Wayne, Illinois
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Wayne is a village located in DuPage and Kane County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 2,137.
In the late 19th and early 20th Century, Wayne was a very prominent center of horse breeding and farming research. The community was known for breeding French Percheron horses, a working/draft horse similar to a Clydesdale.
Wayne's primary landmark is the Dunham Castle, originally built between 1878 and 1882. The stone structure, complete with turret, was inspired by a Normandy castle and was built by one of Wayne's first pioneers, Mark Dunham, a Percheron horse breeder. The story of the castle is noted below.
Mark Dunham's horse farm, Oaklawn Farm, founded in Wayne in 1866, was one of the earliest Percheron breeding farms in the U.S.; Dunham is known as the “Father of the Percheron in North America”. During the 1893 Colombian Exposition, a train from Chicago to Wayne brought guests to see the Percheron horses at the 2,000 acre (8 km²) farm. Those that made the trip included Cyrus McCormick, George Pullman, and the Duke of Veragua.
At the height of the Percheron business, Dunham built a house, now called Dunham Castle, near the farm. The Dunhams based the idea for the design of their new home on that of French chateaux. The building, of brick, and stone, with different colored slate roofing, stands surrounded by woods, gardens, and a gently sloping lawn. The interior has parquet floors, statues, tapestries, and copies of fine, French artwork. The castle is now a private residence and occasionally open to tours.
Percheron horse demand declined steadily as gas-powered cars, trucks, and farm implements grew in popularity, finally making Percherons a novelty or parade horse. When Marc Dunham built Dunhame Castle, the original Dunham home evolved into an inn and sales pavilion for the Dunham family’s Oaklawn Farm. The offices of Dunham's farm, then popularly known as the “Inn”, still stand, now home to Wayne's only dining establishment and social club, the Dunham Woods Riding Club.
The Dunham Woods Riding Club was founded in 1934 by a group of Wayne and Geneva residents who leased the original Dunham family home. A fire destroyed the original old coach house in 1950 and the proceeds of the insurance were utilized by the club to purchase the Inn, the Lower Barn, swimming pool tennis courts and surrounding land. The Gray Room (ballroom), Formal Dining Room and a new kitchen were added in 1957.
In 1961, the Wayne-DuPage Hunt was instrumental in purchasing more land from Dunham’s Inc. including the Kennels and Upper Barn. This purchase was made in the name of the Dunham Woods Riding Club. Additional land was purchased in 1975, which included the outdoor riding rings, indoor riding ring, outside cross-country course, tenant house and new pole barn all of which are leased to the Hunt by the Club.
In 1979, the four corners comprising the intersection of Army Trail and Dunham Roads, The Dunham Woods Riding Club and Dunham Castle, together with the additional surrounding land and outbuildings were accepted into the national Register of Historic Places.
The Village of Wayne is committed to preserving its equestrian nature and reputation. The village has miles of equestrian paths, as well as dozens of horse farms, riding centers, and boarding stables. Every year, the Wayne/DuPage Hunt is held, a reenactment of a traditional English fox hunt using "drag bags" containing fox scents. No real foxes are harmed during these hunts.
Wayne was the long-time home of author Marguerite Henry and her horse Misty. Marguerite, meeting with her literary agent in the 1940s at a cocktail party, became aware of the Chincoteague pony penning. She flew to Virginia, witnessed the 1945 penning, and wrote "Misty of Chincoteague". Despite the fictionalized account of the Beebe children keeping Misty, Marguerite actually owned Misty and kept her on her Army Trail Road estate named "Mole Meadow". Misty arrived in Wayne on November 18, 1946 after being shipped to Geneva, Illinois on the C&NW Train #3 from Virginia. Marguerite annually brought Misty to Wayne Elementary School and celebrated the horse's birthday with the schoolchildren. The horse was later returned to Chincoteague and died there in 1972.
Wayne also contains a large area designated as Forest Preserve. Pratt's Wayne Woods is the largest forest preserve in DuPage County. Located in the county’s northwest corner, the preserve’s 3,462 acres (14 km²) combine with Illinois Department of Natural Resource land adjacent on the north to form a continuous 4,000 acre (16 km²) stretch of land, a scarce resource in a growing urban area. The savannas, marshes, meadows and wetlands of Pratt’s Wayne Woods offer a myriad of nature-loving opportunities and recreational excursions. The preserve’s Brewster Creek area is the site of a major wetland restoration program.
The area now known as Pratt’s Wayne Woods first took form in 1965 with a donation of 160 acres by the state of Illinois. Thanks to the efforts of George Pratt, a township supervisor and a preserve commissioner during the 1960s and 1970s, the Forest Preserve District began to purchase additional lands that comprise Pratt’s Wayne Woods today.
The first private land owner of this area was Mark Wentworth Fletcher, a surveyor who made his living in Geneva, Dundee, Elgin, St. Charles and Wayne. Fletcher purchased 320 acres (1.3 km²) from the federal government on February 18, 1846, and built a farmhouse along Dunham Road.
After Fletcher’s death in 1900, the land changed ownership a few times before Mark Morton purchased it in 1926. One of the founders of the Morton Salt Company, Morton excavated the farm’s southwest corner for sand and gravel. Land that was not used in the mineral operations was farmed for grain and corn up until a few years before Morton’s death in 1951.
The land was later purchased by Franz Palm, who transformed the area into a sportsman’s hunting and fishing lodge. The Palm family had originally intended their park to be their retirement place; however, the state of Illinois had other plans. The state purchased the original 320 acres (1.3 km²) with the intention of creating a state park. Once this idea was abandoned, George Pratt convinced the District to purchase the quarry area for a forest preserve. In 1974, Pratt expanded the preserve by selling his adjacent 250 acre (1 km²) Maple Spring Farm to the District.
Since the early 1900s, the complex of wetlands in Pratt’s Wayne Woods’ Brewster Creek area have been artificially drained by a system of buried clay pipes. The Forest Preserve District is now removing these drain tiles to restore this vital habitat, which over the years has become home to several threatened and endangered plant and animal species.
In 1990, plans to form DuPage County’s only state park were revived when the state and the Forest Preserve District purchased more than 300 acres (1.2 km²) in the area of Pratt’s Wayne Woods for that purpose. Tri-County State Park is located just north of Pratt’s Wayne Woods. A 24,000 square foot (2,200 m²) visitors center that also houses the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Region 2 headquarters opened in April of 2003.
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Geography
Wayne is located at 41°57'4" North, 88°15'26" West (41.951032, -88.257229)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 15.1 km² (5.8 mi²). 15.1 km² (5.8 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water. Wayne is dotted by small streams, wetlands, and small ponds.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 2,137 people, 726 households, and 630 families residing in the village. The population density was 141.8/km² (367.4/mi²). There were 746 housing units at an average density of 49.5/km² (128.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 94.81% White, 0.37% African American, 0.05% Native American, 2.81% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.75% from other races, and 1.22% from two or more races. 3.74% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 726 households out of which 39.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 81.8% were married couples living together, 3.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 13.1% were non-families. 10.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94 and the average family size was 3.16.
In the village the population was spread out with 27.4% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 33.4% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.1 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $115,338, and the median income for a family was $124,571. Males had a median income of $91,873 versus $36,786 for females. The per capita income for the village was $54,990. 0.6% of the population and 0.0% of families were below the poverty line. 0.0% of those under the age of 18 and 4.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Wayne is in both DuPage and Kane Counties in Illinois. The Kane County side generally requires lot sizes of at least five acres. The DuPage County side has various lot sizes with two acre minimums in some areas, approximately one to two acres in several eastern subdivisions, and under one acre in the central town area.
Education
The village is served by a St. Charles District 303 in its south and west portions and by Unit School District Elgin Area School District U46 in its central, north, and east portions. U-46 serves an area of some 90 square miles in Cook, DuPage and Kane Counties. Almost 40,000 children of school age are in its area. U-46 is second largest in Illinois. Wayne has its own elementary school, Wayne School.