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At that time, Lake Forest’s manorial estates were being subdivided by third and fourth generations who were more interested in profitable real estate deals than their ancestral estates. Subdivisions and paved roads, which interrupted the runs in Lake Forest, necessitated the move. Millburn was only 20 minutes from Lake Forest by car with paved roads all the way. Chicago’s millionaire sportsmen found a new and exclusive retreat in the fields and woodlands around this sleepy little village of Millburn. Millburn became the new playground of rich sportsmen. Only past and present members were eligible for membership in the new hunt club. The new Onwentsia Hunt Club for the elite of the elite was born.
Milwaukeean David Adler, a member of the Onwentsia Hunt Club (Mill Creek Hunt Club), was the architect of the new hunt club. After the club relocated from a neighboring farm in the late 1920s, he was hired to design a replacement as well as new stables and a kennel. The end result– a quadrangular grouping of three white clapboard buildings– was a great success. They were built in 1929 and are still standing today on Hunt Club Road (formerly known as Onwentsia Road). The renowned architect spent most of his professional career creating homes for the rich and famous from Hawaii to the East Coast, usually for clients who had Chicago connections. Biographer Stephen Salny pointed out that, “He only worked for wealthy ‘people of taste’.” The majority of Adler’s works were homes, some 200 buildings in all. The Mill Creek Hunt Club was one of his few offbeat projects.
Master Austin Niblack developed the Onwentsia Hunt into one of the outstanding drags of the country. Mr. And Mrs. Niblack purchased 200 acres in the center of this new hunt country. Many others considered severing their ties with Lake Forest and moving to Millburn. Those that couldn’t completely move away built weekend cottages. Others stayed in rooms at the new clubhouse when they were too weary to return to Lake Forest after a long hunt. One of the biggest real estate deals in the area followed. Millburn was a community of farmers who were tired of the meager return from farming the clay soil. The hunters found a new hunting ground, and the farmers got fat prices for land in return. Those who were invited and could afford it bought a large plot of ground for a future estate. No small parcels were sold. The land was all tied up so that only those who were accepted could purchase land. If you weren’t accepted, you couldn’t buy land in the area because no original owner would sell to you.
Austin Niblack, M.F.H. (Master of Fox Hounds), was the prime instigator of the idea. Other participants included the Joseph T. Bowens, the David Adlers, the Joseph T. Ryersons, Mrs. Howard Linn, the William H. Mitchells, the William Mitchell Blairs, the William McCormick Blairs, Libby and Janet Chase, the Noble Judahs, the Benjamin Leslie Behrs, Steve and Bob Jennings, “Nig” Bowen, E. J. Prendergast, the A. B. Dicks, the James Simpson Jrs. and others. John and Robert Pirie, Ralph Hines, Mrs. Kimball Salisbury, Mrs. William O’Dell Jr., the John Jellkes, the Samuel Walkers, Prince Michael Cantacúzene, the John Hugheses, and the John Andrews Kings, also had ties to the Hunt Club. Some members of the Onwentsia Hunt came from Longmeadow in Winnetka and Du Page in Wheaton.
Society was lured to Millburn in 1933, by the thrills of the Hunter Trials. The Hunter Trials took the place of what everyone called “The Steeplechase.” Some of the finest horses in the country were brought to the meeting and the best known of gentlemen jockeys rode them. One of the highlights of the afternoon was the women’s race. The whole countryside, dirt farmers and gentlemen farmers, wandered around over the course to watch the exciting jumps and spills. Mrs. “Billy” Mitchell hosted a barbecue at the Mill Creek Hunt Club, following the Hunter Trials. The hunters, their friends, and all the farm families over whose lands the Onwentsia hunts, sat around on tree stumps and crude wooden tables, eating large slabs of roast beef that a special barbecue chef had roasted over a glowing pit of charcoal. The expense of these meetings was terrific.
The final phase of Adler’s career was preceded by a riding accident at the Mill Creek Hunt Club in 1935. At the time of the accident, during the depths of the Depression, Adler was not working on any major commissions. His riding ability was not on par with his design abilities. He had taken up riding to please his wife, Katherine. On this particular day, Adler’s docile horse, Firewood, was unavailable. The fall that Adler suffered left him hospitalized for several weeks. In 1941, Adler was named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1945. Adler died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1949 at the age of sixty-seven.