In the book "Organized Crime in Chicago" by Robert Lombardo, on page 42 it mentions a "Birneyville, IL, 18 miles west of Chicago along the Santa Fe rail line in DuPage County", where there was a gambling joint called the Stockade in 1904.

Here's a link to the book: http://books.google.com/books?id=JpC8T1r8ZSUC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=birneyville,+il&source=bl&ots=JV0tsPlMHM&sig=nQIxdk37XGiPRtEy355s2r5OZsg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RCG2UonVBsblyQH2wYHoAw&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=birneyville%2C%20il&f=false

Would seem like Westmont area?

[b]I tried to look it up but found no town by that name in Illinois. If you find out post it OK I would like to know myself.[/b]

Strange!
The Stockade story shows up in a few places, but only mentions it being in DuPage County, with nothing about Birneyville.
I wonder if it was just a local term for the area, not an actual name. My mom's hometown in So. Il. has a sparsely-populated part everyone calls 'Shakerag' (and has for over 100 years), but it still falls under the actual municipality name.

I don't know if there is any connection, but there was a "mob" house in Du Page County that was torn down 20-25 years ago. It was a large '50's-'60's ranch that stood on the west side of Rt. 83 maybe a quarter mile north of Bluff Road.
I would imagine it was a party house, good for a poker game, a little action on the side, etc. There may have been a particular crime connected to it but I don't remember that.
Was that the Birneyville location of long ago? Relatively close by was Teidtville, an unincorporated area near 91st. & Wolf Rd. famous for the old Sante Fe Speedway, now annexed by Willow Springs.

Apparently it was Birneville sans "y".

I don't know where it was but it seems the Stockade pool room was right in the tracks and the Santa Fe would make a special stop for the patrons.

Is it by chance Byrneville?

A public library in Darien has a Flickr page with a few photos of the Byrneville train station:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/ipplinfo/sets/72157629621835135/]Byrneville Photos[/url]

I consulted a 1932 Illinois Standard Oil road map and there is a Byrneville shown three miles SW of Teidtville, right along the Sante Fe tracks. At that time there was no main road designated as Rt. 83, only some improved roads and two lane blacktop in what was basically the sticks in that era. Byrneville was only about a half mile from what is now Rt. 83 and Bluff Rd.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2013 02:56PM by b.a.hoarder.

[b]I think we are getting somewhere with the right spelling. Spelled with a Y not ane not Berneyville. But Byrneville.[/b]

Byrneville, according to this person's account, "...In the early 1900s the unincorporated area now known as Palisades was called Byrneville.." Here is a link to some photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ipplinfo/sets/72157629621835135/

According to Wikipedia, Palisades is an unincorperated area located near Burr Ridge Illinois:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palisades,_Illinois

Here is an excerpt from the book and it is definitely Birneyville:

http://books.google.com/books?id=JpC8T1r8ZSUC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=birneyville+illinois&source=bl&ots=JV0unJeKBS&sig=I7eHqFJpnDzTRMAmvAIg5ekDmsw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rbu8UvyhLOnV2QW6sIGACA&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=birneyville%20illinois&f=false

Hello, bowler and all.

It would appear that either Mr. Lombardo or his editors got the spelling wrong. At some point in the process, the Stockade ancedote was either told orally (bIr is a more common spelling for that pronunciation) or the spelling was "fixed" by an editor. After all, who hasn't had misspellings forced into their documents for placenames by an automatic spell checker at least once?

Despite the spelling "problem" in Robert M. Lombardo's book, all other indications point to the spelling of "Byrneville." The AT&SF mileage matches, the sign on the railroad depot matches, and all other geographic references match.

Thanks.

Brian J. Patterson.

bowler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is an excerpt from the book and it is
> definitely Birneyville:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=JpC8T1r8ZSUC&pg=P
> A42&lpg=PA42&dq=birneyville+illinois&source=bl&ots
> =JV0unJeKBS&sig=I7eHqFJpnDzTRMAmvAIg5ekDmsw&hl=en&
> sa=X&ei=rbu8UvyhLOnV2QW6sIGACA&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=o
> nepage&q=birneyville%20illinois&f=false

The Rt. 83 right of way was put in places as a WPA project in the Depression. There are still some Art Deco bridges along it in Elmhurst.

It was the 'bypass' around Chicago back then.

Yep, "Byrneville" is the corrected spelling. I found a number of articles in the Trib archives from 1905 mentioning this town and The Stockade. I'll do some more digging and report back.

Excellent sleuthing all - thak you!

Here's the location on a current topo map:
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=41.713611,-87.933611&z=14&t=t4

To see historic topos and aerial photos of the location:
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.6E-5&lat=41.7124644639649&lon=-87.9347932260741&year=1939

Byrneville is shown on railroad maps of the Chicago District, including this one from the 1924 [i]Rand McNally Commercial Atlas[/i]
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/s/oel6z9

[b]OK I found it. It's about a mile south of the Former Santa fe park of willow springs. [/b]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2014 07:29PM by Richard Stachowski.

[b]Are there any traces of the railroad depot or the church building shown in the pictures? I found the tracks on google street view but no depot.[/b]

Per Historic Aerials topo, this location was called Byrneville at least until 1946.



The next topo is 1955, where it became Palisades.

[b]Is it still a town? I couldn't find anything on google street view.[/b]

It was never an incorporated municipality. [url=http://binged.it/1ha4v6r]Looks like this today.[/url]