A Man’s Home Is His Castle…At Least for This Man

By Pamela S. Meyers

It's time for another stop on our tour of the mansions of old along the shores of Geneva Lake in Wisconsin. So many beautiful 19^th century homes were built on the shoreline, many of which were either destroyed by fire or have been victims of “teardowns." Situated only a couple hours train ride from Chicago, most of the homes were vacation homes for the movers and shakers of the city during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. And even today, you will recognize many family names from the list of current owners.

While I was growing up in the town of Lake Geneva, I never heard of E.B. Meatyard, although he was a very influential man during his time. Also known as Major Meatyard, a designation that harkened back to his serving in the Civil War with the 27^th Illinois unit, Meatyard aggressively bought available land, up to approximately 730 acres. One plot included property along Geneva Lake’s south shore up to Cedar Point, and running north of the lake, across what became known as Highway 50, to a much smaller body of water called Lake Como. He also purchased 240 acres near Walworth, WI, which is located a few miles off shore at the west end of the lake. Meatyard also held land in Shipman, Illinois where a large mine was located.

 

19th Century yachts meeting the train at Wms. Bay.

E.B. Meatyard was mostly known for being an inventor of sorts, holding many patents on ideas for improving the design of railroad cars. His interest in railroading carried over to his being instrumental in getting the train track that ran from Chicago to Lake Geneva, five miles to the east, extended to Williams Bay, the small village located on the bay of the same name. With the train depot located directly across the road from the lake, the inlet provided a perfect location for the lakeshore residents to meet their private yachts after deboarding the train from Chicago. In the postcard pictured here, Meatyard's property included most of the land on the east shore of the bay, which is in the background. That land today is Cedar Point Park subdivision.

Meatyard's home design was unique thanks to its castle-like “topper” on the roof, which earned it the term “castellated villa.” The descriptive term was well known in the 19^th century because many large homes were being built to look like castles. However, Meatyard preferred the more refined title of Lawn Glen for his dream home. In the picture, you can see how a castle-like design was applied to the top floor, while the rest of the home appears to be of a more traditional design. Stories also circulated that a moat circled the home, but in this picture there doesn’t appear to be one.

Sadly, his days of enjoying the fruits of his labors didn't last. His Shipman IL mines never made a profit and before long, they were closed down. Meatyard was forced into bankruptcy and his Wisconsin properties were sold off to pay the mine's bills. He died penniless within a year.

The expansive property was then divided up between several purchasers. The purchaser Meatyard's Lawn Glen didn’t share the same taste in home design with Meatyard and built his own residence on the western end of the property, calling it Alpine Villa. He assigned the “castle” to his property superintendent. The “castle” burned down two years later and it isn't known where the employee lived after that.

Some years later, the the plots of land that once made up the entire Meatyard estate were once again brought back together to form the Cedar Point Park subdivision that occupies the whole eastern shore of Williams Bay. It remains today a very desirable place to live with homes that are individual and updated, some directly on the lake and others sharing a green space that opens out to the lakeshore. 

If you take one of the excursion boat tours you will hear the announcer mention a home once owned by the Schwinn family (think bicycles). Along with the name Cedar Point Park, you can enjoy knowing about the original owner of the property who once built a castellated villa there. And maybe it really did have a moat. After all, a story has been handed down that while excavating for a new building on the property an old foundation was uncovered that appeared to have a moat around it. 

Have you ever seen a castellated home? 

Resource: Lake Geneva, Newport of the West, Volume 1; Ann Wolfmeyer & Betsy Burns Gage.

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love, which has recently been rereleased on Amazon and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Her newest novel, Second Chance Love, is scheduled to release January 2017. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.

Yerkes Observatory -- Over 100 Years Old And Still Viable Today

By Pamela S. Meyers

Vintage Postcard of Yerkes Observatory
Today many trees surround the structure

It amazes me how much about science and astronomy was known back in the 19th century. In this day and age of new techno-gadgets coming out almost weekly and rendering their predecessors obsolete, it's somewhat gratifying to find out that a refracting telescope that was built in the 1890s is still as useful today

Yerkes Observatory, home of the world's largest refracting, telescope, sits on a high bluff above the shoreline of Geneva Lake in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. The observatory’s highest dome has become a fixture on the shoreline since the 1890s when it was built.

Taken in 1920s when Albert Einstein visited Yerkes. He's the second
man to the right of the woman in the white outfit.

Yerkes Observatory is a facility of the University of Chicago, and is still very much in use today. The university considers the observatory to be the birthplace of modern astrophysics and many noted scientists have come there to research, including Albert Einstein. Edwin Hubble for whom the Hubble telescope is named, did his doctorate work at Yerkes

In 1892 a young assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Chicago named George Hale learned that two optically perfect discs were available and that they could be ground to create a 40-inch refracting telescope. In order to do this, of course, they needed funds.

Workers erect the declination axis of Yerkes’ 40 inch telescope

It wasn’t unheard of back then to approach wealthy men and ask them to totally fund such an endeavor. Hale and the university’s president, William Raney Harper, approached Charles T. Yerkes, a man who had made his fortune in Chicago’s electric railway system and asked him if he would fund the building of an observatory in southeastern Wisconsin, and the building of a 40-in refracting telescope. Yerkes was a rather colorful character reputation for dishonest deals, and had done time for embezzling.

They knew how to sell something of this magnitude by appealing to the man’s ego. They proposed that the facility be named for Mr. Yerkes and reminded him that his name would be known to generations of people long after he was gone. Of course, the idea of his name being associated with something that would be the largest in the world didn’t hurt either. He agreed to fund the new observatory.

Numerous sites were offered and suggested for the project, many in areas that today would be considered suburban Chicago. The site needed to be free of interference from smoke or jarring from passing trains. Eventually the site in Williams Bay, Wisconsin was chosen because of it’s distance from any large urban area and its clear night skies, especially in winter when temperatures were known to drop well below zero. Also, the town could be easily accessed from Chicago via a train that ran from Chicago to Williams Bay on a daily basis.

Before construction had even begun on the new observatory, the telescope was part of an exhibit at the World's Columbian Exhibition in 1893. And that could have been the end of the telescope before it even reached its permanent home. A fire broke out near the Manufacturer's Building where the device was displayed. Mr. Harper took it upon himself to get the telescope dismantled and moved (all but the five heaviest pieces) before the fire could fully damage it. He reported that he left the building while it was still burning at 11:30 p.m. and was fairly certain the telescope was saved. It was.  

Construction began in 1895 and wasn’t completed until 1897. The building includes two smaller domes that house smaller telescopes. One unique feature is the floor that rises and lowers, bringing people up to where they can peer through the large telescope. The floor wasn't motorized until 

What is exciting is that the observatory is still the site of research today, over 100 years after it was built.

High school students participating in a special
program at the observatory

Yerkes is also open to the public for tours and people can experience looking through an actual telescope during certain events. Go to the Yerkes Observatory website for more information on all that they offer. 

For more information on work that has taken place at the observatory over the years check out this link: 

Here is a link to a fun travel article from a Milwaukee newspaper on Yerkes that points out some of the whimsy that can be found in the rather staid looking building.

If you are ever in southeastern Wisconsin and you or anyone in your family is interested in 

astrophysics or just wanting to view the solar system through a telescope, visiting Yerkes is a must!

Interesting sidenote:  William Raney Harper has a community college in Chicago's northwest suburbs named after him. I drive past the college often, but never realized who William Raney Harper was until I researched this article. History has so many connections with the present. I love that.


Have you ever learned something unique in history about a location in the present day that you've taken for granted?

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats, an hour's drive away from her hometown which she visits often to dig into its historical legacy. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love Will Find a Way, contemporary romantic mysteries and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing in microfilms and historical records about Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.