Committees & Commissions
Leading the Village of Oswego
 Historic Preservation Commission
The function of the Historic Preservation Commission is to preserve and enhance Oswego’s unique historic character by informing the community of the positive benefits of preservation, by enlisting public support and participation in the historic preservation process, by identifying significant sites that represent preservation opportunities, and by implementing a review process for historic preservation.
Architectural and Historical Survey
The Village of Oswego, in conjunction with the Oswego Historic Preservation Commission, completed an architectural and historical survey of the urban core of the Village. The consultants selected to conduct the survey researched approximately 600 structures in an area that is located generally west of Route 71 and east of the Fox River. The results from this process include a detailed database of the properties included the survey area, many of which are properties that have an intrinsic historic or architectural value. The survey also provides recommendations on buildings that have the potential to be designated as historic landmarks, and it suggests areas that contain a clustering of significant properties that could be potential historic districts.
The survey is composed of two sections: the Summary and Inventory report, and the survey forms. The summary contains, along with a history of the development of the Village, an analysis of the various styles of architecture that were documented during the survey process and conclusions and recommendations for future preservation efforts in Oswego. The survey forms contain data collected by the consultants during their research and fieldwork, and include information such as construction dates, architectural styles, and historic significance. This database includes a form for every property in the survey, organized by address. Both documents are available for download below.
Smaller Cabin
Larger Cabin
Interior Fireplace
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Oswego Historic Preservation Commission
Property of the Season – Fall 2011
The Fall 2011 Property of the Season honors go to the two log cabins at 4025 West Route 34. These cabins, owned by inventor and businessman Dr. Gregory Arzoumanidis and his wife Anastasia, currently house the ReJoyce Design and Consignment shop and Kindred Spirits Intuitive Arts Center. No official date exists on file for the construction of the cabins, but local residents say that they remember them in this location as early as the 1930s. The cabins were constructed of de-barked logs that are saddle notched together with the ends of the logs extending roughly two feet out from the edge of each cabin. The interior walls are plaster and the stacked limestone fireplace, located in the larger of the two cabins, starts in the basement and continues up through the floor to the roofline. A stone fireplace also graces the main room of the smaller cabin. Vaulted ceilings with exposed beams are visible inside each cabin. Subtle changes have been made to the cabins over the years. The larger cabin’s back porch, which overlooks Waubonsee Creek, was enclosed with large windows to give an open and inviting view of the creek below. The garage was repurposed into a workroom with additional storage space and the area near the front door was expanded to allow for handicapped accessibility.
The property was originally part of 400 acres purchased by John Pearce in 1843 from the Federal Government under President James Tyler. The land remained in the Pearce family for several generations. John Pearce’s younger brother Colvin and wife Lucy lived here with their daughters Bernice and Dora. Dora Pearce Cooney eventually sold their 1.5 acres to Ernst and Marguerite Scheuermann in 1936. The Sheuermanns remained owners of the property until 1952 when it was sold to John and Ruth E. Curtis. The property was sold in 1975 to William and Irene Booras who opened and operated the Old Oak Creek Shoppe until 1985, when they sold the business and property to Mr. and Mrs. Arzoumanidis.
The smaller of the two cabins was the home of Frank and Alice Weiss for more than a decade from the late 1940s till about 1959. Jack Weiss Jr. remembers the cabin well. As a young child, he lived on Grant Street in Oswego and would walk to his grandparents’ home. They rented the smaller cabin from John and Ruth Curtis, who lived in the larger cabin next door. The Curtis’s owned a large grocery store in Aurora off of New York Street and Hill Avenue. His grandparent’s cabin contained two bedrooms and a small bathroom down the hall on the right off of the kitchen which had its own small eat-in area. The living room had a large fireplace and was a very comfortable, rustic space. There was a flight of stairs off of the small kitchen along a side porch that would take them down to the carport and another flight of stairs down to the basement. The basement had an old octopus coal furnace that he and his father would stoke at night. The furnace was very efficient and did a lovely job keeping them nice and warm during the cooler months. In the summers, the windows would be left open at night, and Jack has fond memories of the trucks along the ‘old two-lane cow path’ (Route 34) coming from the Chicago Stock Yards that would have to stop at the (then) stop sign at Routes 34 and 71. The noise of the trucks stopping and then winding through their gears to get back up to speed again would reverberate through the air on those quiet nights. There was also a very nice built-in swimming pool between the two cabins, and as a child, Jack enjoyed fishing in Waubonsee Creek off of the embankment behind the larger cabin.
The cabins eventually became commercial properties after the unexpected death of Mrs. Ruth Curtis and housed such businesses as All-Readi Printing, which Jack remembered visiting years later, remarking how small the cabin felt as an adult! Other businesses over the years have included Trisha’s Country Kitchen, Pathfinders Place Ministries, and the Old Oak Creek Shoppe.
Old Oak Creek Shoppe was a well known tearoom in the western suburbs which provided a limited menu of delicious fresh sandwiches and was famous for its scrumptious Baklava and other Greek desserts. A well-appointed gift shop full of antiques and custom made jewelry accompanied the tearoom. Old Oak Creek Shoppe generously hosted community groups such as the Oswegoland Women’s Civic Club and others. It closed in the early 2000s and was replaced by the Fox River Music Academy, which moved to its new location in 2010.
Click here for more information on the Property of the Season program
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