Leclaire Memorial Bricks On Sale Again

Friends of Leclaire has re-opened the memorial brick program at Leclaire Park after receiving many requests for bricks over the years. Funds raised through the sale of bricks will be used for improvements at Leclaire Park.

Bricks are $50 each. Inscriptions can have up to three lines of text with 14 characters per line (including spaces). Please use the table in the order form for your inscription which will be inscribed with upper case letters and automatically centered. Red bricks are 4” x 8” and will be installed around the bandstand at Leclaire Park by Friends of Leclaire volunteers. Friends of Leclaire reserves the right to refuse inappropriate inscriptions. Placement locations are determined by Friends of Leclaire.

Memorial Brick Order Form

Friends of Leclaire has Award-Winning Newsletter

The Friends of Leclaire Newsletter was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Illinois State Historical Society at their Best of Illinois History celebration held via Zoom on April 23. A quarterly publication, the newsletter has been published by the Friends of Leclaire (FOL) since 1990.

The newsletter was founded by Dr. Robert Blain when the Friends of Leclaire organization was created following a centennial celebration for the former Village of Leclaire.  The purpose of the newsletter was to build awareness of organization activities and to inform residents of the history of the Leclaire National Historic District. In the early years it was one sheet of paper with content on both sides, but soon grew to be a four-page newsletter with additional stories of Leclaire.  In the late 1990s, Cindy Reinhardt began writing articles for the newsletter and in 2009 when a new layout made it easier to write and edit at the same time, Reinhardt became editor. The newsletter typically has two pages of FOL news followed by two pages of articles about Leclaire history. Most issues feature of one of Leclaire’s historic homes, telling the story of when it was built and the families who first occupied the house.

The newsletter is still hand-delivered to every home in Leclaire by volunteers, whether the resident is a member of the organization or not. The organization’s name, suggested by Jim Fralinger, was “Friends” of Leclaire because there are so many members who no longer live in Leclaire, but have an affinity for the neighborhood. Many grew up in the neighborhood. Friends of Leclaire has approximately 75 persons on their mailing list who do not live in Leclaire but choose to be members of the organization. Memberships, open to everyone, are $20 annually.

Leclaire was founded in 1890 as an experiment in cooperative living by St. Louis Manufacturer, N. O. Nelson who was looking for a way to improve the lives of his workers. Victorian cottages with electric lights and running water were build in the residential area which now has over 400 homes. Unlike other factory towns, home ownership was encouraged and supported by the company.

The Leclaire campus included a school building that provided educational opportunities for both children and adults and also served as a social hall for concerts and dances. Today, it is home to the Children’s Museum at Edwardsville. The recreational complex next to the school had a bowling hall, baseball fields, tennis courts and, before 1924, a football field used by the Leclaire Tigers who became the Edwardsville High School Tigers. In addition, Leclaire Lake provided opportunities for swimming, picnics, boating and, in the winter, skating.

Leclaire’s innovative factory buildings, once called “the ideal perfection for many to labor in” by famous reporter Nellie Bly, are now the home of the Historic N. O. Nelson Campus of Lewis and Clark Community College. Workers at the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing Company were paid a fair wage, given reasonable hours and in case of accident or illness, were paid through a company Provinant Fund. Another important benefit was profit-sharing.

The “Leclaire experiment” as it was often called, was known throughout the United States and Europe.  In 1934, Leclaire needed a new sewer system that they could not afford, so residents voted to annex to the city of Edwardsville. It was no longer Edwardsville’s “suburb to the south.”

Today, residents of Leclaire, thanks to the Friends of Leclaire newsletter, are aware that they live in a special neighborhood.  The June edition of the newsletter will be a history of the Nickel Plate Station which was one of the reasons that N. O. Nelson chose to build his experimental village on land just south of Edwardsville in 1890. The 1883 station was recently restored by the City of Edwardsville.

Leclaire Park Improvements

The Edwardsville Parks and Recreation Department has made many improvements at Leclaire Park this fall. The water level of the Lake was lowered in late summer so a stone wall could be installed along the Madison Avenue bank of the lake. There have been issues with the bank (and sidewalk) collapsing for many years, and this offers a permanent solution. While water levels were low, Friends of Leclaire volunteers were able to get out into the lake to recover 12 blocks from the wall surrounding the “beach” and 175 landscaping bricks. Most will be reinstalled before Leclaire Parkfest.

The long-planned for sidewalk, winding its way along the western bank near the playground, was installed this September and is as beautiful as anticipated. 

And finally, the old sycamore tree that gracefully bowed over the south end of the lake was removed last month. The old tree had died, but as one local resident observed, it probably had a tackle box full of fishing gear in its branches. It was a favorite fishing spot, where many fishermen cast too high and lost their lines in the tree. 

Modern Manufacturing in Leclaire

With the February 2016 opening of the Confluence Fab Lab in the former N.O. Nelson Manufacturing complex, the location is once again home to the constructive talents of the Edwardsville community. A Fab Lab (fabrication laboratory) is a workshop offering personal fabrication tools, equipment and training. Originally, fab labs began as outreach projects from MIT that have since spread to over 900 locations in nearly 100 countries. Each Fab Lab must meet strict requirements, but each lab is unique in that it can go beyond those requirements. The Confluence Fab Lab is hosted by Lewis and Clark Community College at the Historic N. O. Nelson Campus. A partial list of available work spaces and equipment/resources includes the following: 

• Metalworking – metal lathes, milling machines, plasma metal cutter, welding

• Woodworking/Plastics – lathes, drill press, planers, table saw, bandsaw, joiner

• Electronics – soldering, oscilloscopes, breadboards, voltage meters, third hands

• Finishing/Painting– sand blasting, paint booth with hood, vinyl-sign cutter, laser engraver

• Computer Design – computer drafting and design, 3-D scanner, projector

• Assembly – two large workbenches, hand tools, vises, clamps

• Two desktop 3-D printers as well as two industrial 3-D printers.

• A full range of hand tools are available for checkout.

Currently, the Fab Lab is host to many entrepreneurs/hobbyists who use the area to design and craft their products. These include professional woodworkers constructing specialty furniture, SIUE students manufacturing struts for cars, robotics club members building robots for competition, artists creating metal sculptures and much more. 

And, for those Leclaire homeowners looking to restore and repair their historic homes, the Fab Lab offers a full range of woodworking machines and wood production equipment. This equipment includes a computer-controlled table router/lathe that has been used to replicate wood components to match vintage parts. In addition, the lab is maintained by a full-time shop manager who can provide instruction in the use of equipment.

The lab is currently open Tuesday - Friday 2 p.m. – 9 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Tours are available Saturday mornings or by request. The phone number is 618-468-5941. Visit the web site at http://www.lc.edu/fablab/ for more information including membership rates.

We're Getting A Sign!

Friends of Leclaire is now recognized as a Neighborhood Association in Edwardsville’s new ENERGI program, Edwardsville Neighborhood Enhancement, Recognition and Grant Initiative. The recognition makes the organization eligible for annual 50-50 neighborhood matching grants which will be used to enhance our historic neighborhood.

Friends of Leclaire’s first application was for the purchase of a sign for Leclaire Park. The front of the sign will say simply “Leclaire Park,” but the reverse side will have a brief history of the park and neighborhood including photographs. The sign was designed by Sherrie Hickman of Creative Options Design, built by Dave Thomas and mounted on signposts made by local artist Micah Wall at the FabLab of the Historic N.O. Nelson Campus of Lewis and Clark.

Historic Leclaire Books Found

Mike and Cindy Reinhardt serve on the Friends of Leclaire Board of Trustees, but also organize a quarterly used book fair for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The combined interests recently
led to an interesting find. 

A box of books was donated to the Reinhardts by Dennis Pluta and his wife, Carol Van Gieson, who found them in a Troy Road house where they lived in the 1970s-
1990s. Although none of the books were of great monetary value, they were priceless to the right person. 

Some of the books have notations that they were used at the “Leclaire Institute” and “Leclaire Academy” and one book has a label inside the front cover (at right) from the Leclaire Public Library. 

Thanks to news articles about a donation of books by Leclaire founder, N. O. Nelson, we know that Leclaire had a library from its earliest times until the village was annexed by Edwardsville in 1934 and it is possible that this book was purchased by Mr. Nelson himself. The above mentioned books were donated to the Madison County Historical Society because they are of historical significance.

The remainder of the books were inscribed by members of the Held and Geers families who lived at 814 and 816 Troy Road. William and Anna (Beucler) Held and their young children, Louise, Aline and Frederick, relocated to Leclaire from St. Louis in the mid-1890s when William was hired as superintendent of the Marble Works. They moved into the home at 816 Troy Road and would eventually purchase the house. 

Their oldest daughter, Louise, married a local attorney, Cyrus Geers, in 1905. They lived with her parents and siblings for a number of years before moving to a home of their own in Edwardsville. Although Cyrus’s family didn’t live in Leclaire, Cyrus and his brother, M. Lester Geers, were well known in Leclaire. Both were attorneys  who attended the short-lived Leclaire College and were active in Leclaire athletics as young men.

The younger Held daughter, Aline, married Robert Sinclair in 1917 and built a house next door to her parents at 814 Troy Road. After Aline and her husband divorced in 1924, she moved with her daughter to St. Louis and leased her house at 814 Troy Road to Cyrus and Louise
Geers. This was about the same time that William and Anna Held also returned to St. Louis where they joined their son, Frederick, who made St. Louis his home after returning from WW I.

In the early 1930s, Cyrus and Louis Geers also moved to St. Louis, but the family retained their property in  Leclaire, renting the house at 816 Troy Road until 1944 when Anna passed away and the house at 814 Troy Road until Aline’s daughter sold it in 1973. 

Imagine the number of renters over the years at 814 Troy Road, yet the box of books with the names of Held and Geers family members remained in the house until it was found by Carol Van Geison, when she purchased 814 Troy Road in 1974.

The oldest of the books had the inscription “Anna Beucler, Athens, MO, 1868” written inside the front cover. Athens was Anna’s childhood home. Two books were military related and belonged to Cyrus Geers during WW I. Others were school books or novels with the names of “Aline Held,” “Ferguson Geers (Cyrus and Louise’s son who liked to doodle),” “Emily Durer (M. Lester Geers’ wife),” and other family members. These books have now found a home with Jane Sheaffer of La Center, Washington. The books belonged to Jane’s father, grandparents,
great-grandparents and other relatives. She was excited to receive them and in return sent a generous donation to the St. Andrew’s Book Fair. 

It’s nice to know these Leclaire books are back where they belong.

We're a Neighborhood Association!

Friends of Leclaire is excited to announce that we are now an officially recognized Neighborhood Association with the City of Edwardsville. As a neighborhood association we can further enhance our mission to promote Leclaire heritage through advocacy, education, and community involvement. We now have formalized recognition for activities that the Friends have been promoting since 1991.

The Edwardsville City Council recently created the Neighborhood Association Program to promote the unique character and livability of our neighborhoods. There are several of these programs found throughout the country, but Edwardsville’s program is the first in the Metro East. And we’re proud to be the third registered Association in Edwardsville.  

As a Neighborhood Association, Friends of Leclaire will continue our focus on education, volunteer cooperation, and neighborhood beautification and social activities. One important reminder, we are not a Homeowners Association (HOA), which means Friends of Leclaire will not be enforcing any rules and regulations on Leclaire property owners.

The best part about being a recognized Neighborhood Association, the ability to apply for financial incentives. Part of the City’s program is the Edwardsville Neighborhood Enhancement, Recognition and Grant Initiative or ENERGI grant program. The program will provide matching funds up to $5,000 for small scale neighborhood improvement projects. The goal of the grant is to assist our residents in beautifying and enhancing their neighborhood to foster a sense of pride and identity.

Friends of Leclaire is already underway in planning for our first grant application. We’ll have more information on that project soon. Needless to say it will be a nice addition for Leclaire Park. Until next time, your Friends in Leclaire. 

Nature Classroom Planned for Children's Museum

The Edwardsville Children’s Museum (ECM), at 722 Holyoake Road, has plans for a “Nature Classroom” on the museum grounds. The new classroom at the former Leclaire Schoolhouse will allow children to explore and learn about the living world that surrounds them. According to Operations Director Lindley White, “This is not just something for ECM.” Like other Edwardsville parks, the area will be open from dawn to dusk and no admission will be charged. Community involvement is key to securing funding. Donations are accepted and there is a brick program (three sizes) for bricks or stepping stones for the outdoor classroom. Information can be found
on the home page of the Edwardsville Children’s Museum website. Children, nature, and education - one can only imagine that Leclaire’s founder, N. O. Nelson, would approve of this project!

ECM SUMMER SCHEDULE
Also new at the ECM are expanded summer hours, special play times, camps, workshops, and more to entertain children of all ages throughout the summer. Details can be found on their website at www.edwardsvillechildrensmuseum.org or you can call 618-692-2094.

Friends of Leclaire Celebrates Silver Anniversary!

On Dec. 12, 1990, the last meeting of the Leclaire Centennial Committee was held at the home of Chairman Karen Hangsleben at 930 Holyoake Road. It was announced that beginning in 1991, a new organization, Friends of Leclaire, would be organized. An organizational meeting was held April 25, 1991, and the first official meeting was on June 18, 1991, at the home of Jack and Janet Foehrkolb at 515 Hadley Avenue at the southeast corner of Leclaire.

Those present at the first meeting, most still active in the organization today, were Bob Blain, Mary Blain, Bennett Dickman Sr., Jack Foehrkolb, Janet Foehrkolb, Jim Fralinger, Bob Gill, Andrew Hughes, Jean Hughes, Steve Hughes, Diane Jacober, Betty McKinnon, and Bonnie Wehrend.

The name for the new organization was suggested by Jim Fralinger, and the first Friends of Leclaire newsletter was published by Bob Blain in October 1991. The first officers in the organization were Co-Presidents Janet Foehrkolb and Jean Hughes, Treasurer Mary Blain, and Secretary Diane Jacober.

According to that first newsletter, the purposes of Friends of Leclaire were to “support and encourage park improvements and events and to promote an appreciation of the history of the Leclaire neighborhood.” Friends of Leclaire has far surpassed those modest goals in the years since then with the help of many incredible volunteers.

In October 1991, they held an “Old Fashioned Picnic” at Leclaire Park, but the following year, in 1992, the first Leclaire Parkfest and Volksmarch was held on October 25.

In 2007, thanks to Steve Brockmeyer, Friends of Leclaire created its first website. It’s been upgraded since then, with version 3.0 due to launch in a few weeks. The website has proven useful for students of Leclaire history, neighborhood residents, people seeking information on their genealogy, and those just interested in history. Friends of Leclaire also serves as an informal help center, receiving many calls and e-mails with requests for recommendations and information.

Friends of Leclaire will celebrate its 25th anniversary on June 5th with a members only picnic at the “scene of the crime,” 515 Hadley Avenue, where the first Leclaire meeting was held in 1991. Invitations were sent out to members in May. Many thanks to Bob and Ellen Nickrent who will not only serve as hosts, but also suggested the event as a celebration of this special milestone. Happy Birthday, Friends of Leclaire! 

President's Annual Report (2015)

In 2015 the Friends of Leclaire were once again very active.  The 24th Leclaire Parkfest, the annual celebration of our history and neighborhood, was held on another beautiful autumn day. When the group who normally helps with set-up and take-down wasn’t available, our members showed up in force.  Thank you to everyone who helped that day and in the planning stages which begin months ahead of the event.  Cindy Reinhardt coordinated the event again and is the main reason everything runs so smoothly.  We thank Krause Properties, Attorney Keith Short, and the Bank of Edwardsville for their financial sponsorships.  The assistance   of the Edwardsville Parks Department and the Police Department is greatly appreciated.

In addition to Parkfest the Friends of Leclaire participated in other community events.   We had a monthly booth at the Goshen Market and an information table at the History Tent during the Route 66 Festival.  With the assistance of the EHS Student Council, we again provided a water station at Leclaire during the Bonifest 5K.  In May we held the Leclaire Neighborhood Yard Sale despite intermittent rain.  However, weather did force us to cancel the annual Municipal Band Concert in Leclaire Park.

The wettest June on record delayed our major beautification project in the park, the painting of the large pavilion on the corner of Madison and Lake.  I cannot adequately thank our dedicated volunteers, Mark Hartman, Lisa Skioldhanlin, Theresa Morrison and Jim Milgrim for their assistance.  Also thanks to Will Krause, Kyle Suchomski, and Mark Hartman for their help in repairing the wall in the “beach” area.  Scott Reed helped with the landscaping in the park.  Will Krause and I spread three loads of mulch donated by Barbara Krause. The Friends also maintained the flower gardens in the park.

Thanks to Cindy for our excellent newsletter.  In June, FOL member S. J. Morrison shared his family’s history in Leclaire.  The assistance of Jen, Audrey, Anna Rutherford and all our delivery people in the distribution of the newsletter, no matter what the weather, is appreciated. 

And thank you to Will and Cindy for their work in maintaining our website, which is very popular. We have 11 new trees in Leclaire Park.  Two were planted by Girl and Boy Scout troops for the city’s Arbor Day celebration.  The Friends hosted a reception after the event.  Three memorial trees were planted, two for Jack McCall and one for Ricky and Randy Kuhn.   Sherrie Hickman created a new design featuring the Nelson Factory complex for t-shirts, which sold very well.  Cindy designed a framed poster with three photos and a history of Leclaire School for the Children’s Museum.  

In December Bob and Ellen Nickrent supervised the placement of 750 luminarias at Leclaire Park. Then we concluded our busy year with a much deserved holiday social at the Nickrent home.          

Thank you to all our members.  Several of you donated more than the annual $15 membership and your generosity is considered a vote of confidence.

Finally, thank you to the board: Will Krause, Ashley Mattingly, Jim Milgrim, Syvella Gregory, Theresa Morrison and Cindy Reinhardt. Their hard work and enthusiasm never fail to amaze me.  One member said recently that this is the best board she has ever been on. I cannot agree more.   Ashley recently moved and we wish her well.  She did a great job as secretary.  Syvella is retiring as trustee. She was a great asset to our board.  Both were willing volunteers and could always be counted on. The Friends of Leclaire was founded 25 years ago to research, preserve, and promote Leclaire and its history. Recently the sister of FOL member Lisa Skioldhanlin translated an article from a 1908 Norwegian/American newspaper. The article states that the planning and development of Leclaire was based on “voluntary cooperation”.   That spirit of cooperation continues in Leclaire with our volunteers and members who helped us achieve so much in this and previous years.

President Mike Reinhardt