The Huntley Farmside

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The Hiintlev Faimside
35 cents
Thursday, August 20,1998
A Press Publications newspaper a/serving tlie Huntley community
Volume 37 Issue 71
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From farm boy to real estate salesman
Huntley resident enjoys life in the growing community
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications
Decades before the Huntley Factory Shops opened up, a farm boy milked cows and fed pigs on a 300-acre swath of farmland south of Freeman Road and east of Route 47.
Wayne Donahue, 71, grew up on the family farm his dad, Raymond, bought after he mar¬ ried a local farm girl, Marie.
In 1965, when the tollway gobbled up the land for the Interstate 90 expansion, the Donahue family gave up the fam¬ ily farm business.
"My father was a Donahue and my mother was a Kelly. She lived near McHenry. They both were from farming families," Donahue said.
Although Wayne Donahue doesn't know exactly when his father bought the land now occu¬ pied by the Factory Shops, he does remember the pleasant times he spent working on the dairy farm.
Raymond Donahue bought the 300-acre farm in south Huntley, where he and Marie raised their family of 11 children.
"We had 100 cows, 20 hefers and 150 pigs," Donahue said.
Photo by Pat Kolle
Wayne Donahue, 71, was raised on a farm that is now the sight of the Huntley Factory Shops. Donahue's family worked a dairy farm until the "We all got along just fine and we tollway bought the property in 1965. had a real happy family. We worked as a team. Each of us had chores to do."
After the property sold, most family members moved away from the area, he said.
"Most of my family moved away after World War II," said Donahue, who has sold real estate from his business on Main Street for 23 years.
The Donahue Woods is an 11-acre homestead off of Mill Street that has been in the family for about 100 years.
"I built the house in 1950 and moved it to where it is now three years ago," Donahue said
see Donahue—^page 2
New curbs for Woodstock Street don't win over critics
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications
Although the Village Board unanimously
approved a contractor's bid to make major improvements along historic Woodstock Street, at least one resident wants assurances that this doesn't mean the street will be covered with asphalt.
Betty Conley said she- is glad to see the work start, but she wonders if this an attempt to stonewall those who want the historic road repaved with brick.
'They haven't been totally honest in the past," said Conley, a long-time resident on the street. "I am really concemed that this may be an excuse to blacktop the street."
Village President James Dhamer said that both the village and state officials are trying to tap into state funds to re-brick Woodstock Street.
"We are going through the pains to see if state road funds are available," Dhamer said. "I am going to do the curb and gutters. Every one of the aprons is falling apart and they look terrible."
Conley said she thinks the village may have intentional¬ ly left the street in disrepair when water mains were installed last year.
"They didn't have to tear up half the street to do the repairs," she said.
Dhamer said proponents of re-bricking Woodstock are
"I really think Del
Webb has nerve
to point out my
house and not help
US. We asked them
to talk to the board
about re-bricking the street. Whatever
Del Webb wants they get."
Betty Conley
Woodstock Street Resident
asking the village to spend almost as much money on Woodstock that the village has spent on all street repairs in the past five years.
"Years ago, there was seven years when nothing was done in town. That means we have 14 years of catch up," he said.
The village has earmarked $130,000 towards the recon¬ struction of Woodstock Street, which is about half the cost of the job. Dhamer said the lowest bid to re¬ brick the street was $267,000. The village approved a $70,000 offer on Aug. 13 to install curbs, gut¬ ters and landscaping.
Conley's Victorian home is one of many on the early 20th century street that is a
see Street—page 2