DUNHAM CASTLE:

The Dunham Legacy in the Fox River Valley.

Edward G. FitzGerald

HIST 492
Prof. Gildemeister
05/09/05
INTRODUCTION

“The castle came from Scotland and was reassembled stone by stone on a hill near

Wayne by immigrant stone masons. Ghosts inhabit its halls. Fierce dogs guard its fenced

grounds. . . .”1 These are the sorts of myths that surround the Norman influenced castle

Mark Wentworth Dunham built at the end on the nineteenth-century. This curious

building, located at the rather busy intersection of Army Trail and Dunham Roads, stands

as a monument to old-fashioned American entrepreneurship and the extravagance of the

Victorian age. Beyond the mysterious walls of the castle lay a local history rich in stories

of both high-class soirees and pioneer life.

THE DUNHAMS OF KANE COUNTY

Solomon Dunham, born in 1794, was among the first to settle in the Fox Valley of

Northern Illinois following the Black Hawk War, 1832. The war had opened millions of

acres of land in Northern Illinois and Wisconsin. In the spring of 1835, Dunham, his wife

Lydia and their eight children, Betsy, Daniel, Harriet, Jane, Delia, Julia, Franklin, and

Emily, left their home in the Saratoga area of Upstate New York and began their overland

journey.2 By late April, the family arrived at Fort Dearborn in Chicago, only a small

village at the time, and Solomon continued on alone to stake his claim on the eastern

border of an area known as the Little Woods in Saint Charles Township.

In May 1835, the rest of the Dunham family arrived at the homestead and

construction began on a small log cabin at the foot of the hill now occupied by the castle.

1
Bruce Smith. “Splendor of Past Lives on in West Suburban Landmark Castle.” The Chicago Tribune. 31
May 1972. North West Section. 3.
2
Carol Cummins. “Dunham Castle: The Family, Grounds and Building.” St. Charles History Center
Archives (hereafter SCHC). Dunham Collection. Report, 4.

Dunham Castle 1
The following year, the family began work on a more permanent home of red brick made

from the clay found on site.3 This home and the grounds are now the Dunham Woods

Riding Club. The two-story structure reflects the rustic style characteristic of simple

pioneer architecture. Much of the interior of the lower floor is clad with black wood

paneling and large tiles. Upstairs, the rooms are small and simple, a far cry from the

lavish dressings of the future Dunham home.

Solomon Dunham appears to have been an influential figure in the early days of

the Saint Charles Township. He is known to have formed an organization for the

protection of the pioneers’ land claims and had prevented several families from being

ousted from their homes.4 Dunham had also held office on the Kane County’s first Board

of Commissioners and on July 7, 1853, was appointed the first postmaster of Wayne.

Dunham was a civil engineer and surveyor by trade and when the first railroad west of

Chicago (the Chicago and Galena) was being built, he pushed for the track to go through

his own land.5 The Village of Wayne moved from its original site east of the Dunham

property to a spot along the tracks where it is still located today. In 1857, Solomon’s

wife, Lydia, died and on April 2, 1865, Solomon Dunham, one of the Fox Valley’s most

influential settlers, perished at the age of seventy-four.6

MARK DUNHAM AND HIS PERCHERONS

The importance of the Dunham Family in the Fox Valley did not end with

Solomon. On June 22, 1842, Mark Wentworth Dunham, Solomon and Lydia’s youngest

3
Ruth S. Pearson. “Castle in Wayne.” Interview with Jane Dunham. (date unknown.) SCHC. Dunham
Collection.
4
Samuel W. Durante. Commemorative Records, Biographies of Kane County. Chicago, 1888. 547.
5
Pearson.
6
Cummins, 4.

Dunham Castle 2
child, was born on the family’s farm next to the Little Woods.7 He received his early

education in a small country schoolhouse and at academies in Batavia and Elgin. By the

time Mark was in his late teens, he was largely responsible for the direction and

management of his father’s farm and when Solomon passed away, the family homestead,

comprised of three-hundred acres, was left to him by will. On May 29, 1877, Mark W.

Dunham, then thirty-five, married his wife Caroline, just nineteen years old, whom he

had met while attending Wheaton College.8

Mark W. Dunham had developed an early interest in draught horses and at age

nineteen, he brought the first of what would become many Percheron horses9 back from

Europe. Mark was part of a company founded by himself, M. W. Fletcher, and Daniel

Dunham (his older brother) in the late 1860’s for the purpose of importing Percherons

from France. Apparently Mark’s choice in breeding stock proved fruitful and by 1870,

the company, Dunham’s Oaklawn Farm, was one of largest horse importing and breeding

operations in the United States.10 By 1873, Mark was the sole proprietor of the successful

Oaklawn horse business with sales reaching over $600 per annum and an imported stock

of 300 stallions and 75 mares from France.11 As the operation grew, he oversaw the

expansion of the farm to 2,000 acres and the addition of new barn facilities that could

accommodate 500 to 800 horses.12 Twice a year, Dunham would import up to 200

Percherons whose arrival to the small village of Wayne became a regular community

7
Ibid.
8
Cummins, 7.
9
The Percheron is a large draught horse of a breed developed in France, having a dark, often dappled coat.
The horse is a native of the le Perche province south of Normandy. These rugged war horses helped break
the soil of the great western prairie and aided the advancement of civilization in the American Midwest.
Judith Draper. The new Guide to Horse Breeds: The Complete Reference to Horse and Pony Breeds of the
World. (New York: Smithmark, 1997), 48-49.
10
Oaklawn Farm Catalog, 1911. History. SCHC. Dunham Collection.
11
Marek Perzynski. “Unusual People, Magnificent Horses.” SCHC. Dunham Collection.
12
Catalog, 1911.

Dunham Castle 3
event. Dunham’s robust draft horses were in particular demand in the ever-sprawling

Midwest for their ability to pull the heavy farm machinery of the day, such as the

McCormick reaper. The growth of large-scale farming and the settlement of the prairies

meant Dunham’s investment would be immensely profitable.

The reputation of Dunham’s Oaklawn Farm was known throughout the United

States and even Europe. One of Dunham’s prized colts, “Brilliant”, was from a long line

of blue ribbon Percherons and, according to one story, Mark turned down an offer of

$20,000 for the horse on a New York dock. The French painter, Rosa Bonhuer, is known

to have painted Brilliant, and another of the Dunham’s horses is featured in his work

titled “Horse Fair” which is among the collection of the renowned Louvre Museum in

Paris.13

THE CASTLE

With an internationally prestigious horse farm that hosted visitors from all levels

of society, Mark W. Dunham saw the need to replace the small, simple home that his

father, Solomon, had built forty years earlier. In 1880, Dunham began work on what

would become known as “Dunham Castle”. Using sketches of the grand mansions and

chateaus that he and his wife had fallen in love with during their frequent trips to Europe

as a guide, Dunham hired Elgin architect Smith Hoag, to review their plans and supervise

the construction. The castle, when completed, was to become the residence of the

Dunham family while the old home would be fashioned into an office for the family’s

business. Visiting traders would be housed in some of the eight bedrooms of the old red

13
Cummins, 9.

Dunham Castle 4
brick house, with the rest of the rooms being converted to offices for Dunham and his

principal farm staff.

Upon completion of the work in 1883, the cost of Mark W. Dunham’s castle was

reputed to be around $40,000.14 Described as “one of the finest farm residences in

Illinois”, Dunham Castle combined the elegant power of Norman architectural style with

all of the amenities of modern design.15 The building is constructed of Milwaukee brick,

one of the highest grades of material available at the time. The foundation is of Batavia

limestone (from the same quarry that supplied the stone foundation for the barns) while

the steps of the entrances were made from a higher-quality Joliet limestone. Various

decorative reliefs and exterior ornaments, modeled after those found on Norman-Gothic

French chateaus, are of hand carved stone. Four polished-marble columns, which adorn

the main entrance, are capped with foliated carvings.16 The slate roof uses various shades

of the material to create geometric patterns in a fashion especially typical of Victorian

architecture. Copper gutters and down spouts had to be specially manufactured by a firm

in Elgin for the mansion. The castle, with its Gothic towers, gargoyles, turrets and

battlement, stands in stark contrast to the simple country homes (though these too have

grown somewhat larger in recent times) that surround it still today.

The interior of the three-story, 11,500 square foot mansion was originally

decorated with antique and custom-made furniture and tapestries collected from Europe.

Each of the hallways that connect the castle’s twenty-two rooms are covered in parquetry,

a type of wooden flooring that combines contrasting colors into an inlaid mosaic. There

14
Elgin Advocate. 12 Feb 1883. SCHC Archives. Dunham Collection.
15
Ibid.
16
Jane D. later found a “mystery column” that matches these exactly on the front of an Elgin building that
“seems to be a bar.” A leftover piece perhaps? Jane Dunham. Personal Narrative. SCHC. Dunham
Collection. 7.

Dunham Castle 5
are eight stone and wood faced fireplaces as well as pieces of intricate plaster ceiling

work located throughout the house. Many of the original elaborate brass and glass light

fixtures, some clocks, and a few murals and tapestries are still present.17 Ornately carved

woodwork, hardwood doors, paneling and trim adorn the first floor of Dunham Castle.

Some of the mansion’s original chandeliers and furnishings were actually loaned to the

Art Institute in Chicago for an exhibit.18 On the third-floor there was a ballroom, though

on one occasion, a ball was held in the cupola of the south tower: “The great cupola on

top of the roof blew off in a tornado [and] a new one had to be custom built. When it was

completed and put in place, [the Dunhams] threw a costume ball to celebrate.”19

Throughout the house were placed statues of the farm’s most prized horses with Brilliant,

of course, taking his place of honor at the end of the main hallway.20 In 1893, the castle

was redecorated by Marshall Field & Company in the lavish style of the time.21

The 1893 Columbian Exposition held in Chicago was a particularly eventful time

for the Dunhams. Not only did a Dunham horse win first place at the exposition’s

internationally attended horse show, the family was host to many prominent Chicagoans

and European aristocrats who made the trip out to Wayne (on the tracks that Solomon

Dunham had helped lay) to attend the soirees held at Dunham Castle. Over the years,

Dunham Castle was host to such notable guests as the Infanta Eulalia of Spain, the Duke

of Veragua (a descendant of Christopher Columbus), and Crown Princess (and later

Queen) Juliana of the Netherlands. The castle was also the setting for the marriage of

17
Cummins, 24.
18
Pearson.
19
Ibid.
20
Cummins, 25.
21
Jane Dunham. Letter to Mr. Claude Smith c/o Robert McCormick Charitable Trust. 14 May 1990.
SCHC. Dunham Collection.

Dunham Castle 6
Solomon Dunham’s daughter, Belle, to Count Adimari Morelli of Italy.22 Other notable

guests over the years included George Pullman, Potter Palmer, P. D. Armour, Marshall

Field, Lyman Gage, and Cyrus McCormick.23

LIFE OF THE CASTLE

When Mark Dunham died of blood poisoning in 1899, his son Wirth Stewart

Dunham, who had been away at Harvard studying law, retuned and assumed the family

trade. Percheron breeding continued on the property until the advent of the gasoline

engine slowly made horses obsolete for farm work. As the farm’s prosperity dwindled

during the 1920s, Wirth began selling off pieces of land. His daughter, Jane, and her

sister, Barbara, were the last of the Dunhams to be raised in the castle. The family made

frequent trips to Europe, each time returning with more horses. In the summer of 1914,

the Dunhams narrowly missed the outbreak of the First World War in Europe, which was

declared while they were shipboard, retuning from one of their trips.24 During the war,

Wirth sold horses to the U.S. Army (presumably for hauling wagons, caissons, and

artillery as the Percheron is not particularly well suited for mounted riding). He also

served as the president of both the Association of Percheron Breeders in the USA and the

Association of Horse Breeders in America.25 By 1929, however, the market for large

draft horses had all but collapsed and the last 35 Percherons of the once immense

breeding stock were sold off.

22
Pearson.
23
Cummins, 10.
24
Dunham. Personal Narrative. 10-11.
25
Oaklawn Farm Catalog, 1925. Preface. SCHC. Dunham Collection.

Dunham Castle 7
 After Wirth died in a car accident in 1931, his widow passed the mansion on to

their daughter, Barbara, and her husband, John Dole. The couple lived in the castle for 15

years until eventually deciding to move into a more modern and conservatively styled

two-story home a few miles away on White Thorne Road. The Doles then partitioned the

first and second floors of the castle into six apartments in 1952, taking care not to damage

the fine interior detailing, and removed most of the furniture, art pieces, wall hangings,

and even some chandeliers to their new residence. Upon his death, John Dole left his

White Thorne estate, which was complete with swimming pool, tennis courts, and a golf

course, to the Illinois Audubon Society. Jane Dunham, an amateur history buff and

antique collector had hoped to establish a museum at the Dole’s home but instead,

reclaimed the castle’s fixtures and furnishings and deposited them with the St. Charles

and Elgin Historical Societies.26 On April 1, 1950, the remnants of Oaklawn Farm and

Solomon Dunham’s red brick home, which had been enlarged over the years to provide

more office space, became the property of the Dunham Woods Riding Club.27

A real estate developer, Oliver Hoffman Corporation, bought the castle in 1965

and sold it in 1976 to Gerald Griffin, a financial consultant who lived with his wife in one

of the apartments for approximately nine years until they sold the place to its current

owners. The Griffins had ambitious plans for Dunham Castle including converting the

building into a museum, a professional office space, or even a private dinning club. But

nothing under the Wayne zoning laws allowed for such uses and local residents were not

particularly receptive to these ideas.28 In July 1979, the building received official

protection as a landmark when it was placed on the National Register of Historic

26
Phyllis Warner. “Gifts to the St. Charles History Museum.” St. Charles Chronicle. 4 May 1977.
27
Ibid.
28
Carol Cain “Groovy Castle is Recognized.” St. Charles Chronicle. 8 August 1979. Our Town Section, 3.

Dunham Castle 8
Places.29 The castle’s current owners, plumbing contractor David Ambrust and his wife,

Caren are devoted to returning the building to its original format, converting it back into a

single family home and restoring the façade. The couple paid $250,000 (a fraction of the

$1.5 million asking price) in 1987 for the building, which had seen no major renovations

or restoration work since its conversion into apartment in the 1950s.30

Until her death in 1995, Miss Jane Dunham was instrumental in preserving the

history of the castle and the Dunham family. From the wealth of quotations left behind in

newspaper articles, it seems that Jane never turned down an opportunity to relate the tales

of her childhood memories. Throughout her life, Jane had shown an interest in the past,

having owned two antique shops. In the 1980s, she used up most of her savings to

purchase the 1836 home of Bella T. Hunt, one of the earliest settlers in Saint Charles. The

building, restored by Jane to its original appearance, became the Dunham-Hunt Museum.

Several rooms of the museum are furnished with pieces that she was able to salvage from

the castle. After Jane Dunham’s death, the museum was closed for lack of funds. In May

of 1998, the Dunham-Hunt Museum reopened under the direction of the St. Charles

Heritage Society.

CONCLUSION

Mark W. Dunham was a promoter and his grand Victorian era mansion served as

a fitting background for his expansive importing and breeding business. The place

became a regular gathering place in its heyday for both the community of Wayne and the

social elite. Local residents would turn out to view the new shipment of horses from

29
Ibid.
30
Ibid.

Dunham Castle 9
Europe. In 1889, delegates from the Pan American Conference were entertained at the

castle by the Elgin Military Band.31 Today, Dunham’s castle and farm continue to bring

the community together. Each year, the Dunham Woods Riding Club hosts a number of

events including horse shows and fox hunts that send riders galloping right beneath the

shadow of the most magnificent farm house in the Fox River Valley. Mark W. Dunham’s

reputation in the world of horse breeding was much like that of the barons of the

Industrial Revolution: Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and

Cornelius Vanderbilt. He too built his own empire that fell with changing times and he

too left a magnificent legacy, steeped in tales of princes and castles.

31
Cummins, 10.

Dunham Castle 10
 Works Cited

Cain, Carol. “Groovy Castle is Recognized.” St. Charles Chronicle. 8 Aug. 1979, Our
Towns Section.

Cummins, Carol. “Dunham Castle: The Family, Grounds, and Building.” 1974. St.
Charles History Center Archives. Dunham Collection.

Draper, Judith. The new Guide to Horse Breeds: The Complete Reference to Horse and
Pony Breeds of the World. New York: Smithmark, 1997.

Durante, Samuel W. Commemorative Records, Biographies of Kane County. Chicago,

1888. 547.

Elgin Advocate. 12 Feb 1883. St. Charles History Center Archives. Dunham Collection.

Jane Dunham. Personal Narrative. St. Charles History Center Archives. Dunham
Collection.

Jane Dunham. Letter to Mr. Claude Smith c/o Robert McCormick Charitable Trust. 14
May 1990. St. Charles History Center Archives. Dunham Collection.

Oaklawn Farm Catalog, 1911. History. St. Charles History Center Archives. Dunham
Collection.

Oaklawn Farm Catalog, 1925. Preface. St. Charles History Center Archives. Dunham
Collection.

Pearson, Ruth S. “Castle in Wayne.” Interview with Jane Dunham. (date unknown). St.
Charles History Center Archives. Dunham Collection.

Perzynski, Marek. “Unusual People, Magnificent Horses.” St. Charles History Center
Archives. Dunham Collection.

Photographs. “Dunham Castle (c. 1890),” “Dunham Castle (c.1950),” and “Mark
Dunham.” St. Charles History Center Archives. Dunham Collection.

Warner, Phyllis. “Gifts to the St. Charles History Museum.” St. Charles Chronicle. 4
May 1977.

Smith, Bruce. “Splendor of Past Glory Lives on in West Suburban Landmark 'Castle'.”
Chicago Tribune. 31 May 1972, North West Section.

Dunham Castle 11