Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
“The William Whitney House, also known as the Hallmark House, is a historic Late Victorian and Italianate residence in Hinsdale, Illinois.”
Wikipedia article William Whitney House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 50 National Register listings published here for DuPage County · listed in 1989 · category: Building.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
This property stands in Downers Grove Township. History Of Dupage County (1857), published 1857 gives that township a chapter of its own.
The chapter covers the township.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Downers Grove Township - 3,959 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of William Whitney House in 2005, burning under an acre in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 June 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of William Whitney House: 7 past producers, 2 plants, 1 producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Perlite, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downers Grove City Pit | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Silbrico Expanded Perilite Plant | Perlite | Producer | ||
| Dolese and Shepard Crushed Stone | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Federal Quarry & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Plant | ||
| Mc Cook Yard No. 387 & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Plant | ||
| Riverside Lime and Stone Co Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Superior Stone Co Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Limestone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| West Chester City Eng. - Own Crews | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Wester Springs City Eng.-Own Crews | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hinsdale, the town this property stands in, in 12 storm reports between 2004 and 2026: 10 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | $50,000 | At least 50 trees were blown down with damage to hundreds of other trees. Tree limbs fell onto houses and cars. A transmission line that supplies electricity to the southern half of the city was also blown down, in addition to numerous other power lines. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | Photos showed large tree limbs snapped off of trees. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | Photo shared via social media showed a large tree which had been uprooted in Hinsdale. Time was estimated using radar. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | A photo shared on social media showed a large portion of roofing material peeled back on a house. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | A gust to 61 mph was measured at Hinsdale Middle School. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | Thirty six trees were blown down or damaged. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | Numerous medium sized tree limbs were blown down. A couple of small trees were uprooted. One large tree was split down the middle. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | Five trees were blown down. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | Several large trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down. A few cars received minor damage from falling tree limbs. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hinsdale | - | Large tree limbs were down. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Hinsdale | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Hinsdale | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | William and Helen Coffeen House | 0.2 miles | 2014 |
 | Orland P. Bassett House | 0.2 miles | 2004 |
 | Robert A. and Mary Childs House | 0.2 miles | 2000 |
 | Francis Stuyvesant Peabody House | 0.3 miles | 2000 |
 | Downtown Hinsdale Historic District | 0.3 miles | 2006 |
 | Robbins Park Historic District | 0.3 miles | 2008 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 89001731 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| DuPage County | All 50 listed properties in this county. |
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