Hinsdale Health System Inc history

In 1834 Orente and his brother constructed a tavern which they named Castle Inn.

Benjamin Fuller of New York arrived in 1835.

In 1837 Nicholas Torode erected a sawmill on the Salt Creek.

In 1839 lumber from this mill was used to build the first schoolhouse whose first teacher was Mary Fuller Van Velzer, a sister of Benjamin.

When Torode’s mill burned down, Frederick Graue built a water powered grist mill which was finished in 1852.

In 1854 Alfred L. Walker and his family arrived in Fullersburg from Vermont, and proceeded to buy from Benjamin Fuller 300 acres of land and the two taverns.

In 1858 civic leaders petitioned the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad to build a line into Chicago from Aurora, passing through their communities, including Fullersburg.

The village was incorporated April 3, 1873; but twenty-eight years later it was discovered that the village had never notified the proper state authorities to obtain a charter.

In 1891 Hinsdale passed an ordinance providing for the issuance of bonds to cover a water pumping station, boiler house, and storage tower.

In 1899 the Hinsdale Club opened in the center of town; this was a turning point in the social life of the community.

The petition for Hinsdale to become a village was dated August 1, 1872. It was finally acquired on September 17, 1901.

The Hinsdale Sanitarium, which was founded early in the century, had its tenuous beginnings in Judge Beckwith’s house, which was purchased by Doctor David Paulson in 1903.

The first patient was admitted to the Hinsdale Sanitarium in 1905.

In 1908, a new, larger sanitarium was built.

In 1915 Alexander Legge, who was soon to be named President of International Harvester, purchased fifty two acres in an area south of Hinsdale to build a summer home for his wife Katherine.

In 1934 Hinsdale adopted the caucus system of selecting candidates for village offices.

In 1945 there were eleven officers.

Shirley Stitt has been a resident of Hinsdale since 1949, was active in forming the Historical Committee of the Friends of the Library, and currently serves as Chairman of Archives of the Hinsdale Historical Society.