Southeast Corner of the Woodstock Square

Southeast Corner of the Woodstock Square

This circa 1870 photograph of the southeast corner of the Woodstock Square appeared in the January 20, 1916 issue of the Woodstock Sentinel Newspaper.

A decade after the photo was taken, 1893, this section of the Square burned to the ground. A newspaper article indicated that the fire was accidentally started by someone who was smoking opium in the livery stable behind the Church Millinery building. The Church Millinery building is the two story framed building with two windows on the second floor.

In 1899 Malachi Church erected a new brick building, however he died of pneumonia before he was able to occupy it. Beginning 1902, and lasting 76 years, the Woodstock Dry Goods Store operated out of the first floor of the Church building. In 1910 the Illinois Bell Telephone Company moved their telephone exchange into the second floor using the space until the company built a new facility on the northeast corner of Jackson and Tryon Streets in 1959.

Milachi Church came to McHenry county with his parents in 1851 and moved to Woodstock around 1855. He served as County Sherriff from 1873-77 and again from 1881-83. His 1899 obituary stated he “was a man of jovial nature, and no one enjoyed a good joke better than he which made him popular with all who made his acquaintance” and that he “was a man of enterprising spirit evidenced by the beautiful structure he erected… The building will forever remain as a monument to his enterprise, as marking the last act of his life.”

Woodstock Sentinel Newspaper

~1870