Kenosha News

History Mystery: McCormick was driving force behind Edithton Beach

BY DIANE GILES

dgiles@kenoshanews.com

The last History Mystery question:

For whom was Edithton Beach in Pleasant Prairie named?

Answer:

Edithton Beach was the name given to a proposed land development of 1,800 acres that fell flat. It was named for the driving force behind the project: Edith Rockefeller McCormick.

Truth is, if it wasn’t for the economic crisis of the Great Depression, we might have had a community of millionaires at our doorstep.

The Pleasant Prairie lakefront property on Lake Michigan was a gem long before the daughter of multi-millionaire John D. Rockefeller discovered it, but in 1924 it was Edith who conceived of a resort city for millionaires like herself that kept Chicagoland buzzing for years.

Edith’s dream for a model city for wealthy socialites tells much about her haughty attitude. It was said that she communicated with her servants only in writing through her secretary.

She divorced her husband of 26 years, Harold Fowler McCormick, heir to the McCormick reaper fortune, in 1921.

With her divorce settlement and some of Daddy’s money (at one point he had given her $40 million) she began buying up property in Pleasant Prairie. When she was finished, she and her investors owned a large tract between today’s Southport Park and the state line — about 3.5 miles of lakeshore.

Edithton Beach extended to Sheridan Road in places and farther west, past the 2200 block of 104th Street.

One source stated that a big arch was erected over Sheridan Road at the point where a side road led to the east into the heart of the new development: The arch was built to advertise the project.

The plans were indeed grandiose. Edithton Beach was to have a swank downtown area with buildings half-timbered in the old English Tudor style.

Edith spent big bucks — more than $4 million — on the groundwork of her fashionable city, building a harbor for the yachts that were sure to sail in and an 18-hole golf course with a lakefront clubhouse. The infrastructure for streets was begun.

Model playgrounds and exclusive schools were planned. It was to have its own station on the Chicago North Western Railway.

The stock market crash of 1929 put an end to the dream.

Edith Rockefeller McCormick died of breast cancer at age 60 in 1932, leaving an estate of $1.5 million: creditors claimed they were due $10 million.

The Pleasant Prairie land was sold for back taxes in 1936.

In 1943, the Wisconsin State Planning Board did a study on the area and proposed that it be quickly acquired by the state for recreation purposes before the tract was broken into smaller holdings. No action by the state was taken.

But part of the original proposed subdivision eventually did end up with a woman’s first name: Carol Beach. It was named for the daughter of local developer Joseph Shaffron who led the group that invested in the land in 1946.

This week’s mystery:

In what year did the city of Kenosha begin garbage collection?

History Mystery appears weekly in the Kenosha News. The answer to today’s question will run next Tuesday.

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