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Pierce
Downer's Heritage
Alliance Says,
"Goodbye!"
We have
decided to dissolve Pierce
Downer's Heritage Alliance and
to transfer its
responsibilities to other
organizations.
We want to express our deep gratitude to members, allies, partners, donors, and correspondents of Pierce Downer's Heritage Alliance over the past 30 years. It has been our privilege to serve the Downers Grove community as an advocate for the preservation of its natural and historic resources. Beginning with the community-based effort to save Lyman Woods in the 1980's, we have had the pleasure of seeing this special wooded area preserved, expanded and developed as an educational resource, along with the Belmont Prairie Illinois Nature Preserve. We are blessed as a community to have two such high quality natural resources, under the management of the Downers Grove Park District. Following the demolition of the historic W. H. Edwards House at 942 Maple Avenue, June 6, 2015, the community has placed greater emphasis on protecting its cultural heritage. Currently, Downers Grove has conferred local landmark status on 33 historic properties. We may expect to see this number grow in the future. Please click here to read our final Newsletter for information about how activities of Pierce Downer's Heritage Alliance are now winding down. With our
sincere gratitude,
Ken Lerner, Chair Chris Saricks, Chair pro-tem Mark Bragen, Secretary Gordon Goodman, Treasurer Marge Earl, Director Rich Kulovany, Director Downers Grove is a community of residential neighborhoods consisting of homes that have been built over a period of some 180 years. Currently, more than half of the single-family, detached homes in our Village are more than 50 years old. The York, Downers Grove and Lisle Township Assessors have assigned a Year Built number to each home in the Village. These Year Built numbers can now be used to plot the total number of single-family, detached homes which were located in the Village in each year over the years 1839 through 2021. The 
blue line in the
accompanying figure shows
that the total number of homes in Village increased rather
slowly during
the 19th Century and the first half
of the 20th Century.
Then, starting
in the 1950s, following
the World War, the
Village experienced a boom in home
building. Now in the 21st Century, those homes built in the 19th and 20th Centuries are beginning to show their age. The number of homes that were less than 50 years old each year in the past is shown by the green line above. It rose steadily until just before the year 2000 when it began to fall. The number of homes that were 50 years old or older in a given year is shown by the yellow line. This yellow line has risen steadily and, since the year 2000, has risen rather rapidly. The red line that shows the number of 100-years-old homes may be following a similar trajectory - just displaced 50 years into the future! Around the year 2015, the yellow line crossed the green line. That year - 2015 - should now be recognized as the time when more than half of the single-family, detached homes in the Village of Downers Grove became at least 50 years old. For the foreseeable future, we must expect the number of our older homes, more than 50 years old, to exceed the number of our newer homes, less than 50 years old. In 2011 our community adopted a Comprehensive Plan to help guide us. Village officials are now in the process of updating that Plan. Please click here to view the Village Council's October 22nd discussion of the Goals and Key Recommendations in the draft Plan update. Let's hope that the current Plan update can to help us understand the impact of the aging of single-family, detached homes on the future of our community's residential neighborhoods. Morton
Arboretum Updated Chicagoland
Tree Census
In 2020, The
Morton Arboretum partnered with
Davey Resource Group Inc. and the
Student Conservation Association to
conduct its second tree census,
remeasuring 1,576 plots in the city
of Chicago and the seven surrounding
counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane,
Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will to
gain a comparative snapshot of the
regional forest and the benefits it
provides.
The first census was in 2010. For the whole seven-county area, the number of trees and shrubs increased from 157,142,000 in 2010 to 172,297,000 in 2020, representing more than 194 species. In 2020, the regional forest tree and shrub canopy cover was assessed to be 23%, an increase from 21% in 2010. In DuPage County, the canopy cover increased from 26% in 2010 to 31% in 2020. Although the number of trees and shrubs and the canopy coverage did increase, the study notes that a large percentage of the canopy is composed of species considered invasive, such as European buckthorn and tree of heaven. Detailed discussion of the tree census findings may be found at: https://mortonarb.org/science/tree-census/ In addition, based on earlier data, the Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI) has developed community-specific tree canopy summaries, including Downers Grove and many other Chicago area towns.  The above images and corresponding ones for other communities may be found at: http://chicagorti.org/CanopySummaries/ * * * * * Historic Preservation Activities The Village's
historic preservation program was
revised in 2015, contributing to an
increased interest in landmarking
homes and other structures. Since
then thirty-one historic features
have been granted local landmark
status in Downers Grove –– nine
structures in 2016, another nine in
2017, four more in 2018, four
historic features in 2019 and five
more, one each year in 2021 through
2025.  Landmark status was unanimously approved on January 7, 2025 for the Elsie Wittman House, 1129 Curtiss Street, at the request of Matthew and Laura Hanssel. Please click here to learn about this American Foursquare style house constructed in 1926.  Landmark
status was
unanimously approved
on August 20, 2024 for
the Herbert E.
Ehninger House, 4812
Northcott Avenue, at
the request of Daniel
Apel
and Sharon Andersen. Please click here to learn about this
English Country
Revival style home
constructed circa
1942. |