Uncovering the secrets of Geneva’s Fabyan Estate … and its leaky pond

Left on its own, with no TLC or community interest, the pond in the Japanese Garden in Fabyan Forest Preserve would soon be bone dry.

In addition, artifacts in the Fabyan Villa Museum at the Geneva preserve have their own issues. If no one cared about the temperature control within the museum, the artifacts over time would be damaged.

In many ways, the overall setting of the nearly 120-year-old Fabyan estate along the Fox River, from the concrete structures, to the houses in which estate workers lived, could crumble and be lost to the past — if not for the attention given by volunteers, the forest preserve district and estate director Vivien Lasken and her Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley organization.

Lasken recently explained the environmental and preservation challenges on the 300-plus acres owned by Col. George Fabyan and his wife, Nelle, from 1905 to 1939 during her “The Secrets of the Fabyan Estate” presentation at the Geneva Public Library.

Anyone familiar with the history of the estate nestled along both sides of the Fox River between routes 31 and 25 in Geneva would likely agree it makes for the most fascinating story in the Tri-Cities region.

The “secrets” Lasken shared had much to do with the eccentricity of Col. Fabyan himself, but also about the place in U.S. history of his Riverbank estate that included the family’s villa and nearby Riverbank Laboratories.

The history starts with Fabyan steering away from his father’s desire that he become a doctor, and instead becoming a lumber salesman. It was a job that led him to meeting Nelle in Wisconsin and later living in Omaha, Nebraska, before settling at the estate in Geneva.

He was able to easily purchase the 350 acres that would become his estate after inheriting $3 million ($100 million in today’s dollars) when his father passed, getting his share of the fortune the family built through its Boston dry goods company.

“Fabyan Villa was originally a farmhouse, a weekend villa type of place at first,” said Lasken, who has been director of the estate through Preservation Partners for the past eight years. “The colonel and his wife moved into it full-time in 1907 and expanded the villa.”

Fabyan, who never served in the military, got an honorary title of colonel from his friend President Teddy Roosevelt when he helped the military negotiate the peace terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 that ended a war between Russia and Japan. That, in part, fueled Fabyan’s interest and love of Japanese culture, and that passion heavily influenced the creation of the Japanese Garden in 1910.

“Japanese gardens were popular in this time period because they were shown at the Chicago World’s Fair and people thought they were pretty cool,” Lasken noted.

In its early days, the garden had zigzag boardwalks “that were kind of dangerous” for people to walk about the garden’s pond, she added. “It has grown and changed over time, with almost a Zen-like design.”

When the garden was in poor shape in the 1970s and 1980s, the Friends of Fabyan organization spearheaded a renovation project to bring it back to life. But the current woe is a leak in the pond that calls for it to be refilled fairly often. After the expense of using fresh water became difficult, water is now pumped in from the Fox River.

“The pond is not beautiful, as Japanese garden ponds are meant to be crystal clear from top to bottom,” Lasken said of the garden, which is popular for family photos and weddings. “It is one of our ongoing struggles and too costly to repair, so it needs a lot of love and local attention.”

Combined with the villa museum (a former forest ranger’s house), a Dutch windmill and lighthouse along the Fox River, a bear cage and various other ornate concrete structures, the Fabyan estate remains a throwback to yesteryear.

A monkey cage stood close to the Fabyan home, with one occupant becoming known as a “guard monkey” because it rang a bell in its cage each time it saw a stranger approaching, Lasken said.

And the bear cage had two occupants known as “Tom and Jerry,” named after a popular holiday drink of that era, not the cartoon cat and mouse that came along years later.

Riverbank Labs employed numerous researchers, well-known for breaking enemy codes during both World Wars. “With the advent of radio during World War I, the breaking of codes became much more important,” Lasken said.

It is indeed a fascinating world that Col. Fabyan left behind. Preservationists have installed geothermal pumps for temperature control in the museum, as well as LED lights and UV films on windows to limit artifact damage from temperature swings and sunlight. Addressing deteriorating concrete on the grounds, and the poor condition of house on the north side of the property are on to-do wish lists.

“Fabyan (Estate) was a full functional farm on this property, a very busy and bustling place to work in those early years,” Lasken said. “We have a lot of restoration projects to work on now and are addressing them with environmentally friendly initiatives.”

It all keeps the Fabyan Estate frozen in time for the hundreds of daily visitors year-round at the Fabyan Forest Preserve.

Restaurant footprint expands

As owner of FoxFire restaurant, K.C. Gulbro knows a thing or two about food — and downtown Geneva.

He knows two of the most prominent corners in the city have empty former restaurant sites — and has made his move to fill them both.

Work is already in motion for Gulbro to create 9 Vixens, an American “clean eating” restaurant in the former Little Owl site at 101 W. State St., and the Johnny Foxes Restaurant in the former Old Towne Pub site at 201 N. State St.

This is good news for Gulbro, a highly decorated chef whose FoxFire co-owner and father Curtis passed away last August. In addition, his Copper Fox restaurant in Dodson Place on Third Street closed in late 2024.

It’s also good news for the city, which had committed to repairing the Little Owl building, which has been empty for six years.

There was some hope when it was believed a modern bar operation called Tapville might occupy that spot. Nothing came of that plan. A previous attempt to have a new restaurant there hit a wall when the building’s electricity would need a major upgrade for the large ovens desired.

This time, with investor Dean White of Peerless Fencing, Gulbro is teaming up with well-known chef Annette Licitra, who specializes in food preparation that does not use the nine most common allergens in food. Thus, the name 9 Vixens.

In addition to the dining room, Gulbro said the Little Owl site makeover will include a bar with seating for 34. “There will be a lot of a shareable foods at the bar,” he added.

“It is going to be allergy free; there will be no soy, sushi, gluten, dairy, shell fish, seafood, peanut or tree nut.”

He’s hoping to see 9 Vixens open in September or October, which would be a month or two after he’s eyeing the Johnny Foxes Restaurant opening with what he terms “Nashville meets Geneva.”

That’s because his father loved Johnny Cash and the new venue will feature food, live music and shareables at the bar.

“We had the word Fox in our other locations, so we combined it with Johnny Cash for Johnny Foxes,” Gulbro said. “We found out later that Johnnie Foxes is a popular pub in Ireland, but we won’t be an Irish pub.”

The restaurant will have sports on TV, and feature some early hours for fans during major soccer tournaments.

The building permits show Dennis Kintop of Batavia as contractor for work at both locations. Richard Williams owns the building that will house Johnny Foxes.

Marking a 40th year

The popular St. Charles Singers and founder Jeffrey Hunt have had this weekend marked on their calendars for some time.

It will mark the end of the organization’s 40th season when “The Passing of the Year” concert unfolds at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at its home base in Baker Memorial United Methodist Church in St. Charles.

Tickets are available by calling (630) 513-5272 or on the stcharlessingers.com/tickets site. Depending on availability, tickets can also be purchased at the door the day of the concert.

Dancing for coffee

Last weekend, Daddio’s Diner in Batavia celebrated its 19th anniversary and had an interesting promotion and giveaway to go along with special deals for diners all week.

Owner Kristi Beltran told me an “oldies record giveaway” took place, plus a “dancing for coffee” promotion that sounded like a lot of fun.

“Customers that broke out a dance move received a coupon for a free cup of coffee to redeem anytime,” Beltran said.

We know how folks at a breakfast diner love their coffee, so something tells me a few were breaking out their best dance moves to get a cup on the house.

• dheun@sbcglobal.net