Message Board - Tampico Area Historical Society, Tampico, Illinois

Message Board > DENROCK Station

DENROCK Station
The Tampico Area Historical Society encompasses parts of Whiteside County and Bureau County in Illinois. Focus is on Tampico, Hume Twp., Hahnaman/Deer Grove, & Prophetstown in Whiteside County & Yorktown & Thomas in Bureau County.

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Les Guest Mar 02, 2005 5:22 PM	My gg grandfather, John N. HOGEBOOM, ran a hotel and lunch counter at Denrock in the late 1800's. I am looking for any and all information regarding the Denrock Station. Thanks, Les Lessfinn@aol.com
Janet39 2 posts Sep 28, 2005 8:29 PM	Are you refering to the station that would be located in the area between Prophetstown, Erie and Morrison, IL? The station has been destroyed, but we still refer to this area as Denrock. Have you tried contacting someone in the Morrison Historical Society? I believe they could probably help you with this. Janet
Janet39 6 posts Oct 15, 2005 5:15 PM	Les, Did you have any luck with the Morrison Historical Society. I don't know who the president is currently, but if you haven't had a response, I have a friend that is associated with them and would be glad to call her and have her get in touch with you via this web site. Janet
LesN 19 posts Oct 16, 2005 12:54 PM	I have been doing quite a bit of travel lately (I am currently helping a steel mill in South Africa) so I haven't had an opportunity to contact them. If you can do that for me I would greatly appreciate the help. Thanks, Les
Janet39 11 posts Oct 17, 2005 12:06 PM	Hi Les, I talked to my friend in Morrison. She will ask around, but didn't think that they had anything on Denrock, as it doesn't really pertain to Morrison. She thought that they had a postcard sometime back that had a restaurant with sleeping quarters, but gave that to Sterling Historical Society. She said that there is some information in the various Whiteside County History Books. Do you have access to any of them?? If not, I can copy the information out of them and put it on this message board to you, if my friend doesn't do it in the near future. Denise, the administrator of this site also would have access to this information from the history books. I will ask at our meeting Tues. night if anyone has information about Denrock. Some of our older members have quite good collections at their homes, and one of them was very interested in trains, so maybe we can come up with something for you. Janet
Les Guest Oct 17, 2005 1:26 PM	Janet, That would be great if someone had some details and a scan of a photograph or card would be outstanding. I have some of my gg grandparents "lunch counter" meal tickets in what's left of an old photo ablum. Thanks in advance for any help! Les
Administrator Denise 285 posts Oct 17, 2005 1:41 PM	Hi Jan, I was looking for info in the books when Les first asked about this, but couldn't find anything. Do you know which books have it? I'll post it to the site if I can find it. I've also been trying to make it over to the Sterling H/S and will check to see if they have anything. Thanks for the info! Denise ---------- Denise Family History Coordinator Tampico Area Historical Society
Administrator Denise 286 posts Oct 17, 2005 3:45 PM	Aha! Just found a "blurb" in the Bastian book. Will post to site. Denrock Denise ---------- Denise Family History Coordinator Tampico Area Historical Society Last Edited by Administrator on Oct 17, 2005 4:09 PM
Janet39 12 posts Oct 18, 2005 12:47 PM	Les & Denise, I don't know how to put an item on here like you did for Denrock, Denise, so will put the whole of what I found in this message.l From a History Of Whiteside County by William W. Davis which was published in 1908, I found the following paragraph. DENROCK--five miles southwest of Lyndon is this station, on the edge of the township.(this information is found under information about Lyndon Township), (on page 116.) It is at the intersection of two branches of the Burlington, from Clinton and from Sterling. The most prominent objects are the coal shoot and two tanks, for the accommodation of the numerous freight trains. The lunch room attended by Mr. & Mrs. J.N. Hogeboom is made unusually inviting by the kindly service of these excellent people. Home cooking, mince pies of her own baking, every viand good and wholesome. A cozy sitting room in the rear for retirement, and bedrooms for chance travelers above. The have managed the place for fifteen years. On page 120, this little blurb--As Kentucky once bore he uncanny synonym of the "dark & bloody ground," so the road leading from Lyndon toward Erie has sometimes been styled "Dead Man's Lane," because of the ghastly occurrences of suicides, untimely deaths, and other dreadful events associated with several of the dwellings. Denrock has been the scene of some distressing accidents. Also, I found a book in our museum called "Lyndon", Lyndon Historical Society Lyndon, IL 1991. From this book, I found the following account. (Lyndon was the first county seat of Whiteside County). DENROCK STATION Denrock was a small village in the early 1900's, located about five miles southwest of Lyndon at the edge of the township. It was the intersection of the Burlington, from Clinton and Sterling. In 1908, there were a coal chute and two tanks, for the accomodation of the numerous freight trains. There was an ice house, hotel, and meals were served in the station by Mr and Mrs. J. N. Hogeboom, who featured home cooking, mince pie of her own baking and "every viand good and wholesome." The station was a switching station for two railroads, which continued through 1948, and as the rail traffic declined, so did Denrock. The last vestage of the village was the old red depot which was finally razed, and now all that remains are a couple of houses nearby, and the crossing gates, which still are lowered as trains pass through. At its peak, Denrock was a point to which farmers brought butchered cattle to be shipped to the cities. There was also some passenger service out of Denrock. (there is a small picture with this article that is labeled--Hamilton Corners Restaurant.) There is also an article about "Hamilton Corners Gas Station". About the only thing mentioned in there that may be of interest is as follows. In January, 1927, some buildings at the Denrock train station ("the train men stopped there for lunch"), were torn down and the lumber used to build a gas station at Hamilton Corners. With the new hard road going through a station seemed a good investment. Henry James worked on the house and station. In June, 1927, Mason Brewer rented the station from Mrs. Art (Louie Hamilton) Smith.--------- At the end of the article, it tells that the station was run until about 1962. The station and home were later torn down. Hamilton Corners is the intersection of Rt. 78 and Rt. 2. I will contact a friend of mine who is active in the Lyndon Historical Society and see if they have any additional information or pictures of Denrock. That's all for now! Janet
Administrator Denise 287 posts Oct 19, 2005 9:01 AM	Wow Janet! You are fantastic! Thank you so much for your contributions. Denise ---------- Denise Family History Coordinator Tampico Area Historical Society

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TAMPICO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY - MUSEUM - FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY/RESEARCH CENTER 119 Main St., P. O. Box 154, Tampico, IL 61283 www.tampicohistoricalsociety.com tampicoareahistory@gmail.com We are an all-volunteer organization so your donations are always appreciated! Sign up to receive our e-newsletter. Thank you! Visit us on FACEBOOK.