Amboy history

In the history of Amboy, this house is pictured. It was originally the Egan House. Built in 1874 by John Micheal and Mary Josephine Egan. John was the president of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The house had 3,000 square feet. The 16 inch thick walls are solid brick. There are 3 fireplaces; 2 are white marble. It was the first home in Amboy to have inside plumbing. In early years, church services were held in the home , along with several city meetings and some elections. The Egan's daughter, Josephine, allowed people to borrow books from their library. The house stayed in the Egan family until WWII, at which time it was remodeled into 4 apartments. Josephine Egan occupied the upstairs apartment until her death. During WWII trailers were set up on the property where men and women lived while working at the Ordnance plant.

 

 

Carol Hoyle Biester In 1948, Fred Leake purchased the home from the Searles family. In 1970, the house was purchased at auction by Mr. James Dickinson and Mr. Becker Shortly thereafter, the Hobbs family bought it from them. The Hobbs family sold the home in July of 2003. Bearmans bought the home in 2003. The home is presently 5,500 square feet. This is from an article in the history of Amboy by Carolyn Leake.

 

Ann Dickinson Thomas Yes, my dad Jim and Uncle Norbert bought it and quickly realized the work it really needed so sold it. It was divided into apartments but the lovely woodwork was mostly intact. The library ceiling was beautiful - wood coffered. I thought there were about 7 fireplaces. No ghosts then. 

Carol Hoyle Biester The first library in Amboy was in the Amboy Depot. It was later moved upstairs in the Green building (on Main St. downtown). In 1928, the present library was built on Jefferson Ave and the books and furniture were moved there. Evidently the Egans had their own private library in one of the many rooms in their home.