1828 log cabin rebuilt at village

​Illinois Stories, Mark McDonald was in Quincy on June 25th videotaping the rebuilding of the 1828 Fraser Log Cabin located in the Lincoln-era Log Cabin Village on Quinsippi Island.  He interviewed John Gebhardt, President of the Friends of the Log Cabins (FLC), Helaman Haynie Contractor who is rebuilding the 1828 Fraser Log Cabin and Dan Conboy, FLC Board member.  The finished program is to air locally on PBS Channel 27.1 (off air) or on Channel 8 on Cable this Thursday, July 9 at 7:30 PM; Friday, July 10 at 6:30 PM; and Wednesday, July 15 at 6:30 PM. 

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Background: The contractor Helaman Haynie with a crew of 3 (Chris Killpack, Parker Haynie and Belgrum Omar) from Alegre Builders LLC, arrived June 18th from Utah and in 11 days, rebuilt the 1828 Log Cabin.  It was rebuilt on a foundation, above the 100-year flood level, by volunteers.  Helaman and his crew: installed the floor; built the walls (using as many of the original 1838 logs as possible); installed the rafters, decking and a cedar shake roof; installed the basis for the period gable ends, chinked and daubed the spaces between the logs; installed two original windows; installed 2 door frames; installed a second window frame; and sealed up the openings on the 1828 Fraser Log Cabin.  The Friends, over the summer, plan to do the chinking and daubing of the interior; install porches; and landscape around the cabin.  The current plan is to rededicate the 1828 Fraser Log Cabin, which will be decorated by Jane and Paul Moody as a Pioneer School, during Frontier Settlement Day, scheduled for September 12th, at 11:00 AM.  ​

​The 1828 Fraser Log Cabin was originally a home for the James Frasier family and was a stage coach stop on the way to Ursa from Quincy, IL.  The cabin was moved to Quinsippi Island sometime after 1968.  It was resized from a dogtrot type cabin to a single cabin and was set up as the village school.  The Quinsippi Island Entertainment complex began operations in 1968 and ran till approximately 1972 when it shut down.  Stories have it, that the insurance for the Skyride, which carried folks from the former Holiday Inn to the island, got to be very expensive when a similar ride broke down at another Entertainment Complex in the U.S..  Eventually the Quinsippi Island Entertainment complex went bankrupt and many of the assets were sold: the Little Q Railroad engines, cars and tracks; a Merry-Go-Round; and a Ferris Wheel.  But the Log Cabin Village was not part of the complex, as it was a separate operation ran by the Quinsippi Heritage Foundation.  The village sat for a while, due to the unfortunate early death of their founder and leader of the Quinsippi Heritage Foundation, Paul Hensel.  The village had a small revival in the late 80’s, but then fell into lack of use by the public and a lack of maintenance.  In 2005 the Park District/Board began to return the cabins to original documented owners.  A group of concerned citizens formed and petitioned the Park District/Board to discontinue the practice and allow a new group to be formed called the Friends of the Log Cabins Association.  They officially became a 501c3 nonprofit and an Illinois recognized Charity in 2007, with the mission to “save, restore, preserve and promote the utilization of the Log Cabin Village.”  They developed a web page at www.logcabinvillagequincyil.com an email address at [email protected] and a Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheLogCabinVillageQuincyIl  
Since all the cabins were of the 1800 vintage with the earliest one being 1828 and the newest one being 1850, it was decided to call it the Lincoln-era Log Cabin Village.  The Friends have conducted a Frontier Settlement every year which is now on the 2nd Saturday in September.
 
John Gebhardt, President Friends of the Log Cabins Association  Email: [email protected] or [email protected] or 223-9078 (phone number not for publication) (if you call let it ring 3 times and go to the answering machine and start to leave a message.  If we are there we will pick up, otherwise we will call back.  We are doing it this way because of the abundance of telemarketing calls we have been getting).
 
Contact for the owner of the company Alegre Builder, is Helaman Haynie from American Fork, Utah, 84003 [email protected], phone: 435.590.5314. 
 
 
John Gebhardt, President Friends of the Log Cabins Association