Philander Barclay in 1919. Studio portrait by George E. Birdsall. Photo from The Oakparker, November 11, 1927.
The Barclay Blog
A detailed exploration of the life of Philander Walker Barclay (1878 - 1940),
bicycle mechanic and Oak Park's first Village Historian.
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Philander Barclay as he appeared in the Oak Leaves, November 13, 1903.
Childhood Days
Memories from Barclay’s Youth
By Anna-Maria Manuel
Published January 19, 2024.
Many thanks to Rachel Berlinski, Operations Manager at the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest, for kindly locating a photo that includes the River Forest Water Tower. Her assistance is always valued and very much appreciated!
Even Philander Barclay, the Village Historian, needed a good cup of coffee to get going in the morning. Back in 1935, he wrote:
Let's see how good my memory is this morning. It should be good, for I have just had a good cup of dear old "Java", which usually puts me in good shape to get busy on the typewriter and turn out old-time "stuff." [1]
And, oh, the memories that were fueled by coffee: the early days of the bicycle in the Village [2], picnics of the Oak Park and Austin businessmen’s associations [3], the volunteer fire department [4] and many other local topics about which Barclay wrote or related in interviews, in the 1930s.
Unfortunately, coffee did not seem to generate too many recollections of Barclay’s own young life in Oak Park. His own experiences and stories seem to be far too few. Yet, here are a handful of such stories gleaned from the pages of local newspapers.
1. Philander Barclay, “Christmas in Villages Long Ago in Horse and Buggy Age”; Oak Leaves; December 19, 1935; pg. 63.
2. Philander Barclay, “Early Days of the Bicycle in Early Oak Park Told by Pioneer”; Oak Leaves; June 28, 1934; pg. 18 and July 12, 1934; pg. 29.
3. Philander Barclay; “Business Men’s Picnics Early in The Century Were Gala Affairs”; Oak Leaves; August 23, 1934; pg. 19.
4. “Tales of Old Volunteer Fire Department Days Will Tickle Your Funny Bone”; The Oakparker; November 29, 1935; pg. 136.
McCann Flats, 1903. From Barclay Photo Collection, Book 3; Philander Barclay Collection; The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.
Arrival in Oak Park
Barclay recalled living briefly in Austin before the family moved to Oak Park. [5] The Barclays arrived in Oak Park in 1891. [6] Soon after moving to Oak Park, they lived in the McCann Flats, at the southwest corner of South Boulevard and Home Avenue. The family was “among the first to occupy one of the flats,” after the structure was completed in early 1892. [7]
5. Philander Barclay; “When Horse Cars and Water Works Were Novelties Here”; Oak Leaves; February 29, 1940; pg. 50.
6. Philander Barclay; “Horse and Buggy Days”; “Letters from Readers”; Oak Leaves; November 15, 1934; pg. 36.
7. Philander Barclay; “Wrapping Garbage: How It Started Here”; “Letters from Readers”; Oak Leaves, September 29, 1938; pg. 3.
The River Forest Water Tower can be seen on the right, in this 1903 photo. [8] From Photos of River Forest—130 Photos; black binder; photo by Philander Barclay; Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.
Top of the Water Tower or “Bust”
According to Barclay, back in the “horse and buggy days,” locals, especially youngsters, popularly engaged in “snooping” around the villages, checking out new homes and stores, on Sunday afternoons. [9] It was during one of those afternoons that Barclay and his friends—William F. Barnard, and brothers George R. Weed Jr., and Roy Weed—set their sights on the newly-constructed River Forest Water Tower [10], or as Barclay put it, “‘make the top’ of the new water tower or ‘bust.’” [11]
Three of the four boys climbed to the top of the tower, “had the thrill of their young lives,” and returned to earth safely in “less than thirty minutes.” Thinking back to that day, Barclay wasn’t quite sure why he had changed his mind and didn’t make the climb. He thought that he had remained behind to get help in case of an accident. Maybe it was so he could rescue his friends, if they had gotten stuck—to “bring the frightened lads down to earth again via the ladder route or [have] them jump into a net.” Barclay concluded that perhaps he “just didn't have the nerve.” [12]
8. Complete photo caption by Barclay: “Looking west on CN & W Ry., Franklin Av. crossing in foreground. R.F Water Tower to right. Wisconsin Central (now Soo Line) viaduct in distance.”
9. Philander Walker Barclay; “20 Years Ago Youth Scaled Smoke Stack”; “The Oakparker Mail Box”; The Oakparker; August 30, 1935.
10. The River Forest Water Works, including its Water Tower, were completed in the spring of 1893. Oak Park Reporter; May 26, 1893; pg. 1. The facility was open for inspection in June of that year. Oak Park Reporter; June 16, 1893; pg. 1.
11. Philander Walker Barclay; “20 Years Ago Youth Scaled Smoke Stack”; “The Oakparker Mail Box”; The Oakparker; August 30, 1935.
12. Ibid.
“West on Madison Street from Oak Park Avenue,” photo by Philander Barclay, 1903. From Illinois Digital Archives; The Philander Barclay Collection; Oak Park Public Library.
A “Dirty Trick”
While growing up, it seemed that Barclay could be a bit sneaky. In an article concerning the photo above, Barclay recounted how he skipped paying for trolley rides.
According to Barclay, trolleys had seats that ran across the width of the vehicle. There were no aisles. The conductor stood outside on the side board, regardless of the weather, even on rainy days. The conductor walked on the side board, collecting fares—a nickel, back when Barclay was young. [13]
Barclay (and other kids in the village who knew the trick) saved a nickel by boarding on the front part of the trolley. As passengers boarded, the conductor, located at the rear on the side board, began collecting fares in the back, slowly working his way toward the front. As the conductor neared the front, Barclay jumped off the trolley—which moved slowly—ran to the rear, boarded again, thus avoiding paying a fare. “Mr. Conductor missed many a nickel in those old ‘trolley’ days, when the lads of the village did this ‘dirty trick,’” admitted Barclay in 1935. [14]
Wanting to make up for the error of his youthful ways, Barclay wrote:
If the Townsend old age pension plan [15] ever goes through, and I live to reach the age of sixty, one of the first things that I'll do, is see that the old Cicero & Proviso Street Railway company (now known as The West Towns Railway Company), gets every nickel that I tucked safely away in my small pocket, back in the horse and buggy days. [16]
13. Philander Barclay; “Looking West on Madison St. from Oak Park Ave.”; The Oakparker; November 29, 1935.
14. Ibid.
15. For further reading on the Townsend Plan: https://www.ssa.gov/history/townsendproblems.html#:~:text=The%20basic%20idea%20of%20the,a%20%22transactions%20tax%22
16. Philander Barclay; “Looking West on Madison St. from Oak Park Ave.”; The Oakparker; November 29, 1935.
Barclay’s Drug Store
From the pages of local newspapers, one can piece together a little about young Philander’s involvement with Barclay’s Drug Store, his father’s shop at 103 Marion Street, in Oak Park.
In July 1891, soon after the drug store opened, Philander’s father, druggist James Samuel Barclay, had a soda fountain installed. [17]
Memorial Day and the Fourth of July were busy days for stores that featured soda fountains. Philander claimed his father’s drug store “had the largest number of soda jerkers in town” because the store was right under the G.A.R. Hall “where the sidewalk was always jammed with the boys in blue.” Instead of working at the soda fountain, Philander ended up working in the back, washing dishes, because he was too short to reach the countertop of the fountain. [18]
The Western Union telegraph office, formerly located at the C & N.W. railway depot, moved to Barclay’s Drug Store in July 1893, “to furnish the public with a better service.” [19] Philander worked as a messenger boy for the Western Union office and as a Special Delivery boy for the post office, just north of the drug store. He also delivered phone messages for Lovett’s Drug Store, two blocks away, at the southeast corner of Lake and Marion streets. Barclay recalled that the three jobs kept him “on the jump.” [20]
Decades later, Barclay still had clear memories of a tragedy that occurred at the drug store, sometime soon after it opened in 1891. “It was a sight that I shall never forget,” wrote the Village Historian. [21]
Two Chicago sign painters were at work on the building housing the drug store. As the scaffolding mechanism lifted the younger painter from the ground, he asked Philander to retrieve his tobacco pouch from the pocket of an article of clothing left behind a fence. By the time Philander returned, the young man was lying on the ground, unconscious, with a fractured skull, bleeding from his nose and mouth. The accident occurred so quickly that “no one saw or realized what had happened.” [22]
The injured painter was carefully carried into the drug store and laid behind a case in the rear of the store. According to Barclay, several doctors lived near the drug store. Dr. J. W. Tope was first to arrive. [23] (Tope later founded Oak Park Hospital. [24]) Barclay recalled “seeing this veteran physician shaking his head while stooping over this poor fellow and doing what he could to help him, for it was a signal to my father, that it was only a matter of a few hours when death would overtake him.” [25]
The accident attracted many onlookers. Barclay remembered people “running from every direction . . . not only the front sidewalk was a mass of humanity, but the front part of the store was crowded with both men and women and several children.” [26]
The few hours that the unconscious painter was lying on the drug store floor, waiting to be transported to Cook County Hospital, made an “everlasting impression” on the 12-year-old Barclay. [27]
17. “New Soda Fount”; Oak Park Reporter; July 10, 1891; pg. 4.
18. Philander Barclay; “Village Veterans of Civil War in 1893”; Oak Leaves; May 28, 1936.
19. Oak Park Reporter; July 28, 1893; pg. 4.
20. Philander Barclay, “Horse and Buggy Days”; “Letters from Readers”; Oak Leaves; November 15, 1934; pg. 36.
21. Philander Barclay; “What Historian Saw from Oak Leaves Window”; Oak Leaves; December 27, 1934; pg. 16.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. “Death of Dr. Tope”; Oak Leaves; June 25, 1910; pg. 14.
25. Philander Barclay; “What Historian Saw from Oak Leaves Window”; Oak Leaves; December 27, 1934; pg. 16.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.