Oak Cottage in the Greene Valley Forest Preserve has been added to Landmark Illinois’ Most Endangered Historic Places list at the request of Naperville Preservation, which wants the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County to find a way to protect it.
The home could face demolition in a few years if no purpose for it is found, Naperville Preservation President Becky Simon said.
Her group sought the Landmarks Illinois designation in January in the hope that the state’s leading voice for historic preservation could raise awareness of the building’s significance and put pressure on the forest preserve district to find a way to maintain and use it.
Located at the corner of Hobson and Greene roads in unincorporated Naperville, Oak Cottage is a white clapboard farmhouse built circa 1850 as the family home of William Briggs Greene, one of the first European settlers in DuPage County.
Naperville Preservation says the house is significant because it is a tangible piece of the agricultural and economic history of DuPage County.
Although many of the outbuildings and the original log cabin have been lost to time, Oak Cottage and nearby Greene Barn remain tied to each other and present a full story of the Greene Farm and early DuPage County, according to Naperville Preservation.
The house is one of nine historic structures on Landmark Illinois’ 2023 list, located across the state from Cairo in Southern Illinois to Richmond in the north, that officials consider to be in serious danger of being lost and worth preserving.
Preservationists, community leaders and concerned citizens have been annually nominating historic properties for the group’s most endangered list since 1995 as a means of putting a spotlight on places threatened by deterioration, lack of maintenance, insufficient funds or inappropriate development.
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The goal is to bolster local advocacy efforts and build support for each property’s eventual preservation.
The designation comes weeks after the Forest Preserve District Board updated its master plan for the 14-acre Green Valley Forest Preserve, which includes conducting a study of the house to determine its condition and historic significance.
The master plan calls for the district to identify a purpose and a way to maintain the structure within three years.
“If a third-party partner does not establish a mission-aligned plan for use and maintenance within the defined time-frame, then a means to interpret the structure should be developed and the structure should be removed from the landscape,” the master plan says.
In 2019, commissioners created an ad hoc committee to explore the best public use for the Greene Farm Barn located at the north end of the property.
The recommendation was to create “a unique multifunctional gathering space within a natural, historical setting that helps community members pursue individual growth and personal relationships through exploration and shared experiences at the Greene Farm Barn.”
Naperville Preservation is requesting a similar procedure be done for Oak Cottage because if the house is demolished, it cannot be replaced.
The first Greene settlers — Daniel Moon Greene and his wife, Elizabeth Venelia Trowbridge — arrived in March 1835 and settled along the east branch of the DuPage River.
They were followed by William Briggs Greene in the early 1840s, who purchased 200 acres of land adjoining his Uncle Daniel’s farm. He married a woman named Harriet in 1845 and brought her to Illinois to join him in developing the area.
In 1850, William Briggs Greene built the white frame farmhouse, which expanded over the years with his family. One-story wings were added to the east and west.
Three generations of Greenes were raised in the house, and six generations have spent time living there.
The land was given to the Forest Preserve of DuPage County in the latter half of the 20th century, a nod to the family’s desire to encourage preservation for future generations.