Did you ever wonder how some roads get their names? Many of them are named after the people who lived on them, building their homes and their lives on the two track dirt lane that transformed into a four lane busy street a hundred years later. Here’s the story of one such road, Dilleys Road, that has a personal connection to my family.
A Big Move to Illinois
In 1852, my great-great-great-grandfather Huston Dilley packed up his growing family and, along with his parents, brothers, and sisters, embarked on the long journey from Mercer County, Pennsylvania to Illinois. I always picture them traipsing across Ohio in covered wagons as they headed west. They first settled in the town of Nunda, McHenry County, where my great-great-great-grandmother, Lois Griffeth Dilley, died in 1862.
Huston remarried and by 1870, the family had moved to Warren Township, Lake County. Huston Dilley and his father, Jonathan Dilley, owned adjoining farms in Warren Township, just outside of the little town that eventually became Gurnee. They lived the rest of their lives in Gurnee. Jonathan died in 1888 at the age of 91. Huston eventually sold the farm and built himself a large house in Gurnee, where he and his wife could spend their old age. He died in 1908 and his second wife, Amanda Wait Dilley, died in 1911. Huston and Amanda’s youngest daughter, Francis, and her husband, Park Smith, inherited the house, where they lived and raised their one surviving son, Howard.
The Dilley’s Illinois Roots
When my parents first began researching our family tree in the early 1970s, they were very excited to find our Dilley ancestors. Huston, Amanda, Jonathan, and my great-great-great-great grandmother Mary Huston Dilley, were all buried in Warren Cemetery in Gurnee. That’s when my parents discovered Dilleys Corners, marking the spot where our family’s farms had once stood at a crossroads. Huston’s farm was gone, partly made into subdivision and part now under the Illinois tollway. But a little farm still stood where Jonathan’s farm had been, sitting back from a little road called Dilleys Road.
When my brother and I found out that there was a Dilleys Road, we were stoked! Even if it was a little, goes-nowhere road, it was still named after our family.
Enter Grace Smith
One of the reasons my parents uncovered all of this information was thanks to the owner of Huston’s house in Gurnee, a woman named Grace Smith. They found out about Grace with the help of my grandfather’s sisters, who had some contact with the family in Illinois when they were children. Grace had married Howard Smith in 1935 and moved into the house with him and his parents. Within 5 years, both Park and Howard Smith had died, leaving Grace in the house with her mother-in-law Francis and Grace’s two young children. The two women stayed in the house together. Grace inherited the house when Francis died in 1951.
By the time my parents met her, Grace’s children had grown up and moved away. She lived alone in the large house, which stood on Grand Avenue in Gurnee just down the street from the hardware store. The house had a big, wooden front porch, a tiny backyard, and not a lot for kids to do. Grace was very nice to me and my brother when we would come to visit, and she always apologized that her house was probably pretty boring for a couple of kids. We somehow managed to entertain ourselves, but even though Grace was very nice, those afternoons in Gurnee were pretty long.
Grace’s house wasn’t boring for my parents, though. She had an attic full of family history. Francis had saved many of Huston’s old papers, and Grace continued to save them in turn. My parents were ecstatic to find family bibles, pictures, letters, and Huston’s large old tool chest. Even though Grace wasn’t a blood relation, she helped my parents piece together the story of the Dilley family in Illinois, including introducing them to many other family members who still lived in the area.
Gurnee & Six Flags Great America
A few years after my parents met Grace, the city of Gurnee announced plans to build a brand new amusement park near the tollway. I remember hearing the news and being quite excited about it. A big, new amusement park within driving distance of my house. Yay! However, Grace was furious. At that time, Gurnee was something of an old-fashioned “main street” kind of town-fairly quiet, removed from the bustle of the other Chicago suburbs. She was sure that this project would ruin the town. Grace didn’t want to see Gurnee filled with the traffic, noise, and development that was sure to follow this park. She fought hard against the project, becoming very vocal at the Gurnee city hall.
In spite of all her efforts, the amusement park project moved forward and Great America, at the time owned by Marriott, opened in 1976. As Grace predicted, restaurants, chain stores, and a giant outlet mall soon followed. Gurnee was no longer the quaint little town that Grace loved, but instead another sprawling Chicago suburb. Grace made the difficult decision to sell the old family home and leave Gurnee. When she did, she gave many of Huston’s old papers to my parents, as well as the old tool chest. It still sits in their living room today. Grace moved to Monroe, Wisconsin. She kept in contact with my parents and they remained friends until her death in 2007. Grace is buried next to her husband, Howard Smith, in the Warren Cemetery in Gurnee.
Dilleys Road: A Last Trace of Old Gurnee
The last time I went to Gurnee, I didn’t recognize the old town. Grace was right. The area is bursting with chain stores, restaurants, hotels, housing developments, traffic, and everything else that comes with an amusement park and a massive outlet mall in your town. Grand Avenue had been rerouted. I couldn’t even figure out how to go to see if the old house still stood.
One thing is still there, though – Dilleys Road. As you come off the tollway and head east toward Great America, you come to an intersection where a McDonald’s, an Olive Garden, a Starbucks, and assorted other businesses now stand. If you look up at the street sign as you sit at the stoplight, it says Dilleys Road. Unlike the little dead-end road it used to be, Dilleys Road is now a well-traveled boulevard that extends about 5 miles from just outside of Great America to its northern intersection with Mill Creek Road.
All that, named for the Dilleys. It’s nice to know that amidst the hustle and bustle of the Chicago suburbs, there is still a sign of my ancestors’ lives and the peaceful town that used to stand there. Literally, a sign!
Growing up with parents who are passionate about genealogy was an adventure. Check out more of my Growing Up Genealogy stories here, like our adventures in Cemetary Hunting.
Image Credits:
Dilley family photos – Records of Gerald and Ruth Dilley
Six Flags Great America – “Six Flags Great America” by Daniel M. Hendricks is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Dilleys Road intersection – Google Maps
