Barnard
Family
The
Barnard homestead in Manteno, Illinois, was one of the
properties that later became Manteno State Hospital in
1928.
One
of the Barnard homes later became the Managing Officer's
residence at the hospital and was lived in by many of
the hospital's Superintendents well into the 1960s. The
house was later used for other purposes after 1965 when
employees were no longer allowed to live at the hospital.
The house has long since been demolished save for a hint
of landscaping shrubbery which still remains.
According
to the 1937-1938 "Annual Report of the Illinois Department
of Public Welfare: Manteno State Hospital", written
by Ralph T. Hinton, Oliver W. Barnard lived in the home
which later became the Managing Officer's residence at
the hospital. Although this is unconfirmed, it is certain
that Oliver W. Barnard lived in Manteno and wrote the
poem "Mantenau" which was published in his book
“Poems of Hope”, in 1906. This poem was later
the inspiration for several murals painted by artist Gustaf
Dalstrom under the Works Progress Administration.
The
Manteno State Hospital mural project dates back to 1935
when the Federal Art Project of the Illinois Works Progress
Administration, approved the project. Artist Gustaf Dalstrom
was assigned to the work which he completed with the final
installation of the mural panels on June 14, 1938.
"Pastoral Scene"
(detail)
by Gustaf Dalstrom
Ryerson and Burnham Archives
The Art Institute of Chicago
Gustaf
Dalstrom also presented preliminary sketches for murals
to be done for the Singer Building as well. These particular
murals were never mentioned again in later annual reports.
The
photographs and poem appearing on this page (except as
noted) are courtesy of Meri Barnard who has done extensive
genealogical research on the Barnard family history.
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MANTENAU
AN INDIAN LEGEND
by
Oliver W. Barnard
On the prairie, flower-laden,
Once there dwelt an Indian Maiden,
And her lodge was by the side
Of a river's sweeping tide,
And it's name, of "Kankakee,"
Meant in English, fair to see,
For its beauty was so rare
None had seen a stream so fair!
Flowing through the prairies grand,
Stretching wide on every hand -
And along its winding shore
Often strayed in days of yore,
Mantenau, as wild and free
As the red-bird in the tree -
Or upon its waters flew
In her painted birch canoe;
She was nimble as the row,
And as swiftly could she go,
Over prairie, hill and dale,
With the hunters on the trail -
She was sprightly, young and fair,
And in spirit light as air.
Troconeco was her lover,
He could hunt grouse and plover,
And with him she oft would go,
Bearing arrows for his bow -
Bearing home the smaller game -
Guarding well his rising fame;
No other hunter of his tribe,
It were vain to here describe.
Troconeco, yet a boy,
Hunted with the Iroquois -
Hunted through the forest drear,
For the turkey and the deer -
Hunted o'er the prairies wide,
Yet, was ever at their side,
And the Iroquois confessed
Troconeco was the best.
This young maiden of the wild*
*It was for this maiden the town of Manteno, in Kankakee
County, was named-by making a slight change in the
accent and the orthography, it became Man-te-no, the
accent falling on the second syllable. WHile Man-to-nau
had the accent about equally divided between the first
and third, and very slight on the second syllable,
the last being pronounced as naw. The etimology
of the word, as near the writer has been able to gather
from the legends, signified in the Pottawattomie tongue,
"Indiana Spirit" or, "Spirit of the
Indian," a sobriquet given to the maiden when
she was partly grown. owing to her light and airy
manners, and physique, they thought, resembled
a spirit.
Barnard
Family Home
Later used at Manteno State Hospital
as the Managing Officer's Residence.
Photograph
from Manteno State Hospital News (1960s)
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