What a different world it was in Naperville back in the 1890s. This is a view of downtown looking east from what was Naper Academy, located at Eagle Street and Van Buren Avenue, according to the Naperville Heritage Society, which has this photo in its archives. With clothes hanging in the breeze to dry and barns in so many back yards, Naperville really was a small farm community more than 130 years ago. The idea that it would one day not only be a Chicago suburb but the third largest city in the state would have been an inconceivable thought to the denizens back then.
