Riverby was more than just a house, it was my grandfather’s dream - the pride he took in its lush, impeccably designed gardens is apparent throughout his writings. He chose the lot for Riverby, just off the Northeast corner of Batavia Road and Butterfield Road, partly based on the huge, old trees that had already made their home on the property.
“River is at flood stage, the highest it’s been since Riverby became a reality.” - Lowell Kammerer’s journal, March 3, 1940
Through the years, he designed, planted, and maintained beautiful, artful landscaping and a variety of gardens throughout the riverside homestead: a vegetable plot, borders of Iris and Roses, and a wild garden of flowers and plants native to Illinois. In his journals, he describes people from all over the country stopping in to see his work, especially the wild garden.
Initially, the lot didn’t extend all the way from Batavia Road down to the river. It seems as soon as the opportunity to purchase the land in between presented itself, my grandparents snapped it up quickly:
“Pinkous informed me that the property between Riverby and the river Is now available for $150.00.” - Lowell Kammerer’s journal, May 18, 1940
“Maude started negotiations today…in regard to securing the property back of Riverby - Made a down payment of $25.00” - Lowell Kammerer’s journal, May 27, 1940
A thread running throughout my grandfather’s writing is his enthusiasm for the aesthetic beauty of both the arboretum and Riverby. Seeing the results of his meticulous planting and care seemed to drive his work.
“I’d give anything if you could see the Arboretum today - with Crabapples, Wild Plum, Hawthorn, Redbud, and flowering Dogwood all in bloom at the same time - and such a profusion of flowers - so many that not even leaves or stems are visible. In all the years I’ve been here things have never been so lovely.
The garden at Riverby is equally beautiful - on a smaller scale - with Narcissus, Bluebells, White Trillium, Redbud, Hawthorn and the fruit trees all at their best. I took Walter and Mr. Nordine out to see it after lunch yesterday - and Bob and Miss Rasch today. They all appreciated it so much.” - Letter from Lowell Kammerer to his mother and brother, July 10, 1946
The gardens at Riverby fell into disarray once my grandma Maude became too frail to care for them. Nonetheless, my brother and I spent hours exploring the yard as kids - its woods and overgrown paths leading us towards mysterious magical possibilities. On the west side of the yard, hidden under shady trees and almost buried amongst the ground cover that had taken over the area, were stone sculptures and birdbaths my grandfather had collected. One, a stone gargoyle head, he salvaged when the Morton’s estate, Thornhill, was demolished. I would travel down the lush path until I came to a spot I’d committed to memory and then walk into the overgrowth, counting my steps, eventually reaching the hidden spot where the stone sculptures rested. By remembering how many steps into the groundcover it took to reach the spot, I figured I’d always be able to find them.
After my grandmother died in 1997, my parents sold Riverby and its lush gardens. It sold a handful of times before finally, just this past year, being demolished to make room for a new senior living facility. It breaks my heart to think of all the enormous trees planted by my grandfather, now gone. I have no way of knowing what the homeowners after my grandma Maude did with the landscaping, but best I could tell, most of the trees, grown impossibly tall since my grandfather planted them decades ago, were still standing. Unfortunately, they are now lost to development.
Both of my grandparents took the threat of “commercialism” creeping towards their property seriously - a worry that their neighbors seemingly shared.
“[A neighbor] has the neighborhood all stirred up again, having managed, without any publicity, to get [a] property…rezoned for business. This means commercialism has crept a step closer to Riverby.” - Letter from Lowell Kammerer to his brother, November 25, 1959
I wonder how he would feel knowing that his beloved home and gardens were gone, razed in order to build a senior living facility. Or what his opinion would be on the arboretum’s shifting focus towards revenue and attracting more and more paying visitors. But I can’t know the answer to this question. Still, I have a hunch he would feel as conflicted as I do - concerned about relentless development, especially the ruthless demolition of his beloved trees at Riverby, but tempered with an understanding that times change and the demands of the public with them. In the Arboretum’s case, the broadening of its offerings brings in more financing for the critical research conducted there. Without the expansion and growth that has occurred over the past century, including when my grandfather was there, the Arboretum wouldn’t have the same standing in the Chicago area that it does today. But it the line between between preserving history and welcoming broad change is a fine line to walk.
Although Riverby itself is gone and the land repurposed, my grandfather left behind a treasure trove of photos and documents related to his home. Riverby lives on in his words, the photographs he took, and my family’s oral history. The birds he watched, and dutifully recorded sightings of, live on when reading journal entries describing them - his excitement at hearing their songs springing off the page. The hundreds of photos and slides of his prized plantings still evoke wonder; it’s easy to tell which blooms he was most excited about by the number of snapshots he took of them. And, most literally, his landscape plans and sketched layouts mean his designs for Riverby’s gardens still exist. Basing an iris border or wild garden on the architecture he laid out doesn’t bring the gardens of Riverby back from demolition but gives them new life.
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