The Village of Winfield was incorporated as a Village on April 16, 1921. In 2021 the Village celebrated its centennial year of incorporation. “While some still wanted their rural life undisturbed, many felt that improvements now were due. Better commuter schedules was one hope, upgraded telephone service another, but it was the demand for street lights which gave particular impetus to the drive [ toward incorporation]” ( Louise Spanke Winfield Good Old Days: A History (1978) pp 61).

I grew up in Winfield from the beginning of the nineteen sixties through the end of the nineteen eighties. I have witnessed so many changes. I have seen the disappearance of so many familiar buildings that I remember as a child. I can still remember walking each morning to Winfield Elementary School from my home on the east end of Beecher. To me as a young child the school seemed so far away from my home. I remember that there was no stop lights, nor curbing or any sidewalks. Beecher Street, at least the end I lived on, was not paved. The street dust and dirt was kept to a minimum by the Village with an application of a layer of tar topped off with a layer of small stone pebbles. I can still hear the tar and gravel making noise on my dad’s car wheels as we drove down the street. The roadway surface would eventually harden to form a firm surface to drive and walk upon. The roadways were narrower back then.

Louise Spanke in Winfield Good Old Days: A History (1978) provides a brief window into the community of 1921. In 1921 Winfield’s population was only 310 people. Many of the businesses and trades included: “grocery, general merchandise store, confectionary, ice cream or refreshment parlor, meat market, garage, coal business, ice business, photography gallery, junk dealer, auctioneer, electrician, plumber, milk dealer“.

One interesting fact is that with the incorporation of the town there came changes to the street names. Spanke in her book reports the following street name changes: “Only Franklin Street [later to become Highlake] kept its original name under the new regime. John Street was changed to Church, Paul became Park and Frederick Street and Beecher Road were combined to make Beecher Avenue. Warren Road become East Street; Marion, extended east, was designated Washington. Elizabeth Street became a part of Jewell Road, renamed Winfield Avenue, and Gary’s Mill and Manchester Road were combined as Lincoln Avenue. The historic names of Jewell, Gary’s Mill and Manchester Road were restored in 1955“.

The end papers of Spanke’s book contains a two page spread showing “Winfield, Illinois, c. 1905“. The “Map drawn from memory by Lawrence Enders in consultation with George Roger Higgins, Anthony and Cornelia (Higgins) Besch, Alice (Higgins) Neubauer, Jacob and Mary (Schmidt) Zeier, Lena (Schmidt) Higgins, Michael and Laura (Schmitt) Tinnes.”

I remember Mr. Lawrence Enders or Larry as my parents called him. He lived in the second home on the on the north side of Beecher Street east of Church Street. I believe that another generation of the Enders family still lives in this house. My grandfather Frank Schlick told me that Larry’s house was once the barn for Nicholas Ender’s homestead and property. The Nicholas Enders home is now a business called Antiques and Chic (0S125 Church Street). At one time there was also an old stone smoke house on the property. This old structure was used to smoke and to cure meat. The smoke house was disassembled, moved, relocated and reassembled on the grounds of the Stacy’s Tavern Historic Museum (561 Elm St, in Glen Ellyn Illinois). When you have a chance stop and check out this interesting structure.