Buffalo Grove Lime Kiln – Polo, IL – National Register of Historic Places
Just outside the small town of Polo in Ogle County, Illinois, if one pays close enough attention, is an immaculately restored 19th-century lime kiln. Lime once had many uses including building mortars, lime was used in the mortars of many of the ancient civilizations. Around the world, relics from this era dot the countryside and on the outskirts of Polo there is a fine example of a perpetual lime kiln from the 1870s.
The lime kiln is one of the five properties of the Polo Historical Society. The society carried out a restoration between 1992 and 1993 that cost around $10,000 and mainly replaced loose mortar, deteriorated portions of wood, and removed weeds and debris.
Buffalo Grove Lime Kiln is one of those places you wouldn’t know was there unless someone told you, you were a local, or you were very observant. But if you know about it (and are armed with instructions from the town librarian), it’s not hard to find. Exit Polo by driving west on Dixon Street until you reach the T at Galena Trail Road, where you will see a railroad bridge on your left. The lime kiln is located along a dirt road that intersects Galena Trail Road just in front of the railroad bridge. There is a small sign marking the location of the oven, but it’s easy to miss.
When I went it was late January 2007, there was snow on the ground and our little car couldn’t get up the incline so we parked on the other side of the railway bridge and walked to the dirt road and dodged around it. baked in lime
After walking along the railroad tracks, flanked by Buffalo Creek for a quarter to a half mile, we came to a clearing in the woods that was an old limestone quarry. The excavations left steep cliffs about 50 yards from where the lime kiln was, facing the tracks.
Ten years after the historical society undertook the restoration, the lime kiln was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
online resources
* Buffalo Grove Lime Kiln: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form
* Buffalo Grove Lime Kiln: Illinois Historic Sites Survey Inventory Form
*Wikipedia: Buffalo Grove lime kiln
*Photographic Archive of the National Registry