One of Huntley’s oldest buildings, and one of its most prominent historical landmarks, has been scheduled for a 21st century makeover.
If you’re traveling to, from, or through the Huntley Town Square area, you’ve probably noticed the “Catty Building.” It is located immediately south of the new Morkes Chocolates mini-mall, on the west side of Church Street and the Union Pacific railroad tracks.
The red brick structure, believed to be close to 125 years old, was recently purchased by the village for $425,000.
For a decade, as it’s sat abandoned, questions have abounded for what’s to come of the historic Catty Building. Village hopes for it to be part of its redevelopment. (Photo by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)
“We intend to make the three-acre Catty site part of our downtown redevelopment that has been underway for seven years,” Dave Johnson, village manager, told the Sun Day last week. “The building has been for sale for some time (about a decade) and we are looking at our options. We’ve had a number of people look at it and indicate some interest in recent weeks.”
Johnson said the village is considering both residential and commercial options for the building, which features a large, tall smokestack at its south end.
Thanks to extensive research by Jake Marino, one of Huntley’s most knowledgeable historians, much is known about this structure’s interesting history. Jake has written a fascinating essay on the Catty structure’s colorful activities in an around Huntley.
Over the past 110 years, the structure has housed a creamery, a milk factory, a dairy products operation, several brewing companies after Prohibition was repealed in the 1930s, a farm implement business, a gasket factory for refrigerators and autos, and as a fuse factory during World War II on what is now Powder Park Road south of the Catty site.
“In 1941, new life was breathed into the old structure when the William Fencil Gasket Co., moved in and began production,” Marino wrote in his essay. “During the war, the company operated both the gasket and fuse factories. William Fencil became one of the largest employers in the area, bringing employees in from not only McHenry County but also other surrounding counties.”
Marino also says the building has a somewhat “shady” past.
“When the United Sates repealed prohibition in 1933, Huntley and the Catty site saw the creation of a new brewery by a well known and shady family,” Marino’s essay states. “The company was started by George Druggan and his uncle, Edward Riggs. Both were well known in Chicago as being part of the Druggan clan. George’s brother, Terry, was the head of the Chicago-based Druggan-Lake gang during prohibition. They produced beer that was used throughout the area. One interesting event occurred in Fox Lake on June 1, 1930. Gangsters from Bugs Moran’s gang at the Manning Hotel opened fire on opposing members from Druggan’s gang and Capone’s gang. Three were killed and George Druggan was severely injured. George survived and in 1934 opened the Huntley Brewing Co., which operated at Catty until 1937.
In 1946, Fencil sold the old structure to the H.D. Catty Co., a producer of cellophane, aluminum foil, and blister packs for prescription drugs. In the 1960s, all Catty plants consolidated to the Huntley facility, where work continued into the 2000s, according to Marino. In 2006, Catty expanded into a new, larger facility in Harvard. Since then, the structure has been vacant except for the storage of materials.
Whatever happens to this old facility now, is likely to be more peaceful.
When asked if the new plan will lead to demolition of the building, Johnson said, “We are hoping to keep it, but it depends on what the village and developers jointly decide.”
