By Dee Longfellow
For The Elmhurst Independent
According to Diane Karpman of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago, an historic home located at 245 South York near Immaculate Conception will enter the housing sales market on July 15. Karpman told the Independent that the seller is asking the City if it would consider zoning for a bed and breakfast with one or two guest rooms.
“Ideally we need to attract the attention of a rehabber and/or historian who would preserve one of the roots of Elmhurst,” Karpman said.
The home of Sandra Austin was built in 1876 as the first rectory for St. Mary’s Catholic Church, now Immaculate Conception. Records indicate that the half-acre property was purchased for $150 in 1863 by Rev. James Duggan, Catholic Bishop of Chicago, for the construction of St. Mary’s Church. The first resident was Rev. Charles Becker, who arrived in 1876. The Victorian home with an open porch and dark shutters remained the same until 1890 when Rev. Moczemba had the home enlarged.
When St. Mary’s Church was destroyed by a fire in 1898, Father John Zilla built a one-room school, a convent, a new church and a second rectory on land farther south on York Road following a land exchange. The old rectory was then sold to Mary A. Emery who kept it until it was sold to John P. and Mary Steichen, who were the parents of Lillian Sandburg, the eventual wife of Carl Sandburg.
The home was remodeled and sold again in 1945. In 1976 the Leland Austin family purchased the home with the intent to restore it, which he did. Just after completing the project, Mr. Austin was notified of a job transfer. Sandra Austin, a sister to Leland, is now the proud owner of this piece of Elmhurst history.
