FREEPORT, Ill. – Tucked into the town of Freeport, the Stephenson County Historical Society is a collection of buildings with unique stories that have been serving the area since 1944. You can visit and tour a lovely mansion, the Taylor House. The home belonged to Oscar and Malvinia Taylor. A lawyer, Oscar was admitted to the bar in 1850 and opened a bank in 1851. According to the Historical Society website, “In 1857, he hired the Chicago architectural firm of Boyington and Wheelock to design a home for his growing family. Wheelock also designed Freeport’s Brewster House Hotel where Abraham Lincoln stayed when in town for the Lincoln Douglas debate.”

The Taylors named their home “Bohemia,” referring to their free-spirited approach to life. They raised five children and had many famous visitors like Horace Mann, Horace Greeley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Everett Hale and Jane Addams. Family legend shares there is a secret room in the basement that was used for the Underground Railroad. The house was opened as a museum in 1944. Today, the house is decorated in period style.

There is also an Irish Homestead Log Cabin, a single pen log home, which refers to one room. Built between 1840 and 1850, this was the period when many Irish immigrants moved to Stephenson County. A visit to the cabin provides a glimpse into what life would have been like during this time.

For antique tractor and farm toy collectors, the heart of the story is in the National Museum of Arcade Cast Iron Toys, and the Industrial Museum. The industrial museum has a nice array of farm equipment and manufacturing in the area, including a rare Manny reaper, a Hays corn planter and more. There is also a wooden corn planter that resembles those made by George Brown, a manufacturer that started in nearby Galesburg, Ill.

Doug Clymer, a volunteer at the historical society, is an attorney. He shared highlights of the Industrial Museum. “Mr. Jacob Henney had quite a successful horse drawn concern in the 1850s. From Pennsylvania originally, he manufactured items in Freeport.”

Henney was a carriage maker, starting out in Cedarville, Ill., then moving to Freeport where his son John W. Henney took over operations. The first wagon John Henney produced was purchased by John Addams, the father of the famous Jane Addams, of Hull House. The Henney Buggy Co. produced over 200,000 horse drawn buggies, carriages and commercial wagons during their manufacturing days.  There are tools, and history of the Furst-McNess Company that created agricultural nutrition. Started in 1908 by Frank E. Furst and Frederic W. McNess, they sold products door to door with the claim that it was fit for, “Man or beast.” As the company grew, they moved to delivery by wagon.

Furst-McNess still exists today under the ownership of Easy USA Holdings in Rockford, Ill. Another famous local business was the W.T. Rawleigh Co. They sold items door to door using salesmen dubbed, “Rawleigh Men.” The company created over 100 home and farm products. W.T. Rawleigh was even the mayor of Freeport. An art collector, his art was the start of the Freeport Art Museum that includes his marble statues Rawleigh purchased on trips to Italy.

Daniel Stover, a mechanical inventor, by his death had over 100 patents and11 different companies. He created windmills and more, with much of his fortune from bicycles after inventing the bicycle coaster brake. Agriculturally, he is famous for his windmills and gas engines.

When entering the arcade museum section, there is a sign stating, “Welcome to the largest collection of Arcade Cast-Iron Toys in the World.” Arcade cast iron toys were produced in Freeport from 1900-1940. Almost every variation of toys produced are on display in the arcade room along with special orders like one for the Burgess Battery Co. A top battery salesman received a custom International Delivery Van customized to look like the salesman, Mr. Turney’s truck. Clymer shared a few of the toys introduced by arcade including a collection of fun trucks. Their yellow cab toy was very popular. They made tractors, buses, wagons and miniature household items like coffee grinders and stoves. They also encompassed industrial toys.

Structo Toys were also made in Freeport. They began manufacturing builder’s kits in 1917. At one time workers were stamping 1,000 toy trucks a day. The company that built enduring toys manufactured toys until 1974 when they became part of Ertl.

At the Stephenson County Historical Society there is also a one-room schoolhouse, from the 1920s and an Arboretum with over 50 varieties of trees to enjoy along with the largest Yellow Birch tree in Illinois. For more information about all the things offered to see and do, contact the Stephenson County Historical Museum at 815-232-8419.