Damiana & Dustin
Things Around Town
Gothic Church Dwight
The Pioneer Gothic Church was built by a Presbyterian congregation in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States, in Livingston County, in 1857. In 1860, Prince Edward of Wales (later King Edward VII) visited Dwight on a hunting expedition for wild birds and attended a church service at the Pioneer Gothic Church.Between 1869 and 1891 Dwight experienced four major fires, all of which the wooden church survived.
Oughton Estate Windmill
The grounds of the Oughton House also hold a 110 feet (33.5 m) windmill tower. The windmill was originally called the Pumping Tower and was constructed by U.S. Wind, Engine and Pump Company of Batavia, Illinois. The windmill, which provided a water system for the Oughton Estate, has an 840 ft (256 m) deep well. The original windmill featured an 88 barrel cypress tank at its top and the windmill head, 16 feet (5 m) across, was one of the largest in the United States at the time of its construction in 1896. Only two owners held the deed to the windmill between 1896 and 2001. The first, the Oughton family, owned the windmill from its construction until 1996. That year, ownership was transferred to Mike and Bev Hogan. The Hogans donated the windmill to the Village of Dwight with the goal of saving the then deteriorating structure.
Ambler/Becker Texaco Station
Ambler’s Texaco Gas Station, also known as Vernon’s Texaco Station and Becker’s Marathon Gas Station, is located along historic Route 66 in the Village of Dwight. The station gets its name from longtime manager Basil “Tubby” Ambler, who operated the station from 1938 to 1966. The original 1933 building Jack Shore built consisted of an office with wood clapboard siding, an arched roof with asphalt shingles, and residential windows adorned with shutters and flower boxes. Extending out from the office over three Texaco gas pumps was a sheltering canopy supported by two tapered columns. Mr. Shore also constructed an ice house located on the property.
Dwight IL. Historic Train Depot
The historic Dwight depot, in use from 1891 until 2016, served Amtrak passenger traffic between Chicago and St. Louis, via the Lincoln Service train. Passenger service moved from the former depot south to a new station in October 2016.
Keeley Institute
During the mid 1880’s, Dr. Leslie E. Keeley was among the first medical pioneers to recognize alcoholism as a disease. Dr. Keeley and his associates, John R. Oughton and Curtis Judd, founded the Keeley Institute in Dwight for the treatment of alcoholism. Within twenty years the Institute had developed a national and international reputation for the successful, humane treatment of alcoholism. The Keeley Company grew from its beginning in Dwight to more than two hundred branches throughout the United States and Europe. The Livingston Hotel, attached to the treatment center was used by patients while in Dwight. The facility is now home to Fox Developmental Center operated by the State of Illinois.