576 Oak

Our next house is the attractive Italianate Victorian at 576 Oak, which is actually one of the oldest structures still standing in the village. The original portion of the house was built c. 1860 as an L shaped cube structure, which was a common configuration of Italianate designs at the time.

While the architect is unknown, some records provide clues as to who the original owner may have been. A few of our materials refer to the house as the “Durgan House,” though none of these materials provide a first name or any additional information about who “Durgan” may be. Interestingly, the name “Durgan” does not appear in any records about early Winnetka settlers that are not directly related to this property, nor in the census records from the 1860s or 1870s, so that is a bit of a mystery.

What we do know is that in 1873, a woman named Stella W. Thompson purchased the home and lived there for the next 14 years. Thompson was born in Rhode Island in 1815 but moved to Illinois early in life. In 1835, she married Philo Thompson in Pekin, IL (which is near Peoria) and in 1850, she was still living there with her husband and three children – Ellen, James and Charles.

By 1861, Thompson’s husband had died and she had moved to Chicago, where she was living at 116 S. Sangamon. She lived there for several years until 1873, when she purchased the house at 576 Oak for herself, her daughter Ellen, her son-in-law, and her grandson Walter. Within a few years of purchasing the house, she reportedly added the left wing to match the leg of the original L-shaped structure.

Thompson was likely drawn to Winnetka because of her aunt and uncle, James and Clarissa Willson, who were prominent members of the community and lived in a grand house where 688 Cherry is located now.

In 1884, Thompson found herself tied to one of Winnetka’s most infamous crimes when the Willson’s were brutally murdered inside their home by an unknown assailant. In the weeks after the murders, Clarissa Willson’s will was discovered amongst her belongings in the house. Because her son had died fighting in the Civil War, Clarissa had named James the executor and beneficiary of her estate. Since he had been murdered as well, the role fell to Thompson, their closest relative.

Thompson did not live long after the horrifying incident – she sold her house at 576 Oak in 1887 and died elsewhere in Winnetka on February 9, 1890. While her story was quite fascinating in the end, Stella Thompson was not the best-known of 576 Oak’s early residents. From 1893 to 1906, the house was owned by James A. Pugh, a wealthy businessman with lasting ties to Chicago’s downtown.

Pugh was born in Ohio in 1864. In 1885, he married Nellie Whitlock and a few years later, moved to Winnetka and purchased the home at 576 Oak.

While living in Winnetka, Pugh made quite a name for himself as the president of the Pugh Terminal Company, a pier and dock construction company. In 1905, the company built the Pugh Terminal building at 435 E. Illinois downtown, right along the north side of the Ogden Slip and just across the street from the future site of Navy Pier. The enormous building had 18 sections, stretching 1/3 mile along the waterfront and serving first as the warehouse for the Pugh Terminal Company. The building also housed several merchandising companies and is now referred to as Chicago’s original “Merch Mart. (the current Merch Mart was built in 1930). 7 of the 18 sections of the Pugh Terminal Building still stand, and it is now home to the 285-unit Lofts at River East.

While Pugh was well-known in the city as a businessman, he was perhaps best-known in Winnetka as the owner of the village’s very first automobile. According to WHS records, Pugh loved the car but never trusted it, as it frequently got stuck halfway up the Oak Street hill. He reportedly hired a horse and buggy driver to follow him when he drove it, just in case he found himself stranded. The car became a town joke due to the noxious fumes it omitted when Pugh drove it around town. Residents would hold their noses and shout, “oh pew!” when they saw him coming in the unwanted vehicle.

By the time Pugh entered his early 50s, he and Nellie had sold the house at 576 Oak and moved just outside of Benton Harbor, MI. They purchased a farm and founded the Eastman Springs Beverage Company, selling “fancy drinks from the waters of the natural springs on the property” (according to the Chicago Tribune). James Pugh died of a short illness in Michigan in June 1925.

Since the Pughs sold the house in the early 1900s, the house at 576 Oak has changed hands several times. Thankfully, the subsequent owners have been committed to preserving the house and have maintained several of its historic details, including the low pitched roof with wide eaves supported by decorative molding and the spacious front porch.