His vision, our reality
Early developer set tone for Naperville

Author: Jake Griffin
Daily Herald Staff Writer
September 14, 2005

Joe Naper may have founded Naperville, but some believe it was Morris Sleight who gave the city its spirit.

His contributions as a developer and philanthropist in the early and mid-1800s secured a place for him as one of the most influential Napervillians in the city's 175-year history.

"Morris Sleight set the tone for this city," said Steve Hyett, former city clerk and amateur historian. "He was a visionary. And you had to be a visionary in order to develop land for the future and decide what that development was going to be."

In letters he wrote to his wife, Hannah, in the 1830s, Sleight also seemed to have an uncanny sense of prognostication.

The letters are a part of the Chicago Historical Society's archives, some of which are available online. They were donated by Sleight's descendants.

"As people build in the groves you cannot see many of your neighbors - I will not say houses yet, but cabins. In a few years I think I can say mansions," Sleight wrote in 1834.

Mansions do now exist on land he developed for that purpose, and some abut property he donated to two churches and what is now North Central College.

The First Congregational Church in Naperville rests on land donated by Sleight at 25 E. Benton Ave. Although he was not a member of the church, it's assumed Sleight believed the proximity of a house of worship to land he was developing for residential use would attract families to those tracts.

"If that's the case, he was very far-sighted," said Jim Fancher, the archivist at the First Congregational Church. "He was probably just a religious man and felt that was the best thing to do."

Like the land he donated to North Central College, Sleight put stipulations on his donation to First Congregational Church.

"There had to be a bell tower to signal people to church on Sundays and no part of the property could be used for burials," Fancher said. "We still keep that bell going."

Hyett said Sleight's donation to North Central required the eight acres contain only buildings used for a college - forever.

"It's interesting how this community has always had a spirit of giving and Morris Sleight would have been one of the first to set that tone that continues to this very day," Hyett said.

Much of what seems to be known about Sleight generally comes from sometimes contradictory third- or fourth-hand accounts. His life has never been thoroughly chronicled and little information exists beyond the letters he wrote to his wife. In some recent accounts, Hannah is called Harriet and the names of his daughters are often different.

Louise Howard, curator of Naper Settlement, said the records she uses are from official census papers. She said her research shows Sleight was born in 1795 and came to town when he was 38. He died in 1863 at age 68.

Sleight arrived at Naper's settlement in 1834 and quickly became enamored with what he saw.

"This is the best country I have ever seen for a poor man or a rich one, an industrious man or a lazy one," he wrote to his wife.

He laid claim to a big chunk of what eventually would become the city's eastern border and later convinced himself this was where he wanted to raise his family.

Unfortunately, at that time, the settlement wasn't the kid- friendly home Naperville would become. He decided to make it more family friendly by developing his land for farmers and family homes.

He described the camp's inhabitan! ts to his bride in an 1836 dispatch that also outlines his rationale for wanting to move his family to Illinois.

"The first settlers are also very strong (Andrew) Jackson men. Those men cannot stand civilization. They are selling off their claims to Eastern people, and making claims farther north and west," he wrote. "I don't think there is or can be a land in the world with more sunny spots."

Himself a boat captain - having skippered a sloop on the Hudson River, according to historical accounts - Sleight also found a kinship with the settlement's founder.

"Captain Naper has been a water captain on the lakes. He is a very clever man about my age. He gives us good fare and his company is very agreeable. He is the most intelligent man I have found. He understands the whole country to the Mississippi (River)," he wrote to Hannah.

At times he seemed to hedge on whether he was going to pull the trigger on buying land at Naper's settlement. He sent dried and pressed wildflowers to his wife expounding the lure of the land and urged her to join him in Illinois.

"The first view of the Michigan prairie is delightful after passing the oak openings and thick forest, but the first view of a Illinois prairie is sublime," he wrote. "I am highly pleased with Michigan, but I am delighted with Illinois."

The family did move to the settlement in 1837, but Sleight never shook his sense of adventure.

He spent four years, from 1850 to 1854, traveling to California before returning to Illinois.

As the county and settlement grew, Sleight involved himself in politics. He was county treasurer, a village trustee and eventually the village's president from 1861 to 1862. But again, the lack of documentation makes it difficult to determine the substance of his public service.

For a man who carved such an important niche for himself in city history, Hyett said, "it's a little funny and odd how little we know."