A piece of Dixon history: Fuller’s Cave and the birth of Dixon’s cement plant

In 1836, when only six families and three single men lived in Dixon, 39-year-old Stephen Fuller arrived from Pennsylvania on a wagon with his wife and three children.

In 1837, he bought a squatter’s claim from a Frenchman who had been living in a cave along the south side of the river just northeast of town.

That cave would later be “known far and wide” as Fuller’s Cave, a favorite retreat and picnic site. Many arrived at “Fuller’s Landing” by boat. The site also featured “Fuller’s Spring House” and “Fuller’s Spring” that trickled clean, cold water out of the rocky bluffs.

All these Fuller landmarks were located where the cement plant buildings stand today along White Oak Lane near Illinois Route 2.

The first lime kiln

The early pioneers prized the rocky bluffs along the Rock River, not only for their spectacular views but also for the quarries of building stone they contained. But Stephen Fuller and his son, Champion (b. 1826), found another rich resource in their quarry: limestone. When superheated in a kiln, limestone rock was converted to powdered lime, which was then widely used for mortar and plaster.

So, the Fullers built and operated “the first lime kiln in this part of the country.” From its location at Fuller’s Landing, the Fullers shipped powdered lime by boat to customers as far away as Mississippi.

The hidden ‘fortune’ at Dixon

Fast-forward to April 1903, when a geologist came to Dixon to study the limestone at the Fuller quarry area.

The Telegraph then reported, “For untold ages a fortune has been quietly reposing on the banks of Rock River at Dixon waiting for the geologist and the chemist to show forth its true worth.” A Chicago chemist analyzed the geologist’s rock samples from Dixon and determined that the Dixon limestone is “equal if not superior to any cement rock in the state.”

While “good” cement stone needed at least 78% calcium carbonate and less than 2% magnesium, the Fuller-area limestone was exquisite: 93% to 96% calcium carbonate and less than 1.5% magnesium.

‘Finest plant in the world’

Only two years later, on Sept. 29, 1905, the big news hit the front page of the Dixon Evening Telegraph. The Sandusky Portland Cement Company planned to build in Dixon a million-dollar cement factory equipped with “the finest equipment of any cement works in the world,” employing 200 men, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

A company executive said they chose Dixon because of “the great amount of material available” to produce the new Medusa brand of cement. Another key attraction of Dixon was its people, since the company wanted to employ “honest American labor who have families.”

Cementing its future

In the U.S., the use of Portland cement had skyrocketed from 20,000 barrels per year in 1890 to 50,000,000 barrels in 1905. To help meet the growing demand, the cement company expected the new Dixon plant to produce 2,000 barrels of cement every day.

All around America, cement was rapidly coming into favor in building roads, sidewalks, bridges and sewers. A plant in Dixon would help to supply cement for Chicago, which had doubled its population from 1,000,000 in 1890 to more than 2,000,000 in 1905.

Sen. Hughes leads the way

Dixon, which still had mostly dirt, brick or crushed-stone roads, had been converting its wood-plank sidewalks to cement. In the 1890s, Dixon Mayor Charles H. Hughes pushed to replace the wood downtown sidewalks with cement, even though his proposal was “condemned in the harshest terms” by local businessmen.

Hughes, who became a state senator in 1902, served a pivotal role in bringing the Sandusky Portland company to Dixon. Using his influence, Hughes helped to smooth the company’s path with legislation, and he connected the company with key business leaders.

But one hurdle stood in the way: acquiring the Fuller land. For several months, the Sandusky Portland company quietly bought 225 acres of “limestone land” adjacent to the Fuller property. But finally, in March 1906, the Fullers agreed to sell their prime 100 acres.

When that sale happened, the Telegraph reported, “There is now no question as to the erection of the big cement plant.” With the Fuller property in hand, factory construction finally began on April 2, 1906.

The historic day

Sept. 17, 1907, “marks an important day in the history of Dixon,” reported the Telegraph. On that day, production began at the Dixon cement plant, which “has the distinction of being one of the largest and best equipped plants in existence.”

Operating day and night, 365 days a year, the plant employed 300 men earning a minimum of $1.70 for a 10-hour workday, which was almost 50% more than the average local farm worker. Instead of producing 2,000 barrels a day, the Dixon workers produced 3,000 barrels a day.

The company then estimated that its 400 acres would supply “enough stone there to run the plant for 100 years at its present capacity.”

To facilitate massive material shipments in and out of the factory, Sandusky Portland persuaded the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad to extend its spur line that ran through downtown Dixon along River Road. As a crucial part of this transportation lifeline, the company also obtained five locomotive engines.

From Dement Town to Cement Town

Also in 1906, the factory built a two-story hotel on-site “for employees who desire hotel life to live close to their work.” The 75-by-35-foot building also featured a kitchen and a washroom.

By 1920, the company added several boarding houses and a general store for employees. These buildings were south of present-day Route 2, inside the curve before the road ascends the hill.

Fueled by immense investment, the cement plant built an employee-friendly community, offering high wages that pumped constant economic vitality into Dixon. With this new landmark, the south side of Dixon then stretched from Dement Town to Cement Town.

The cement plant’s long and fruitful partnership with Dixon would encounter a range of challenges throughout the next century … to be revealed in this column on Aug. 15.

• Dixon native Tom Wadsworth is a writer, speaker and occasional historian. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament.