Grace Durand

Grace Garrett Durand, from a 1914 publication

Grace Garrett Durand (August 25, 1867 – February 26, 1948), was the spouse of the founder of the S.S. Durand sugar brokerage in Chicago, Illinois, Scott Sloan Durand (1869–1949), and was, in her own right, an owner, manager, and promoter of an American dairy, a temperance activist, and a clubwoman.

Early life and education

Grace Denise Garrett was born in Burlington, Iowa, the daughter of William Garrett and Martha Rorer Garrett. She went to school at St. Mary's in Knoxville, Illinois.

Career

In 1904 Grace Durand began running a model dairy in Lake Forest, Illinois, to sell good quality local milk to Chicagoans, and to support her other projects, such as a kindergarten for children in Chicago's tenements. Separately, Chicago railroad executive and federal judge Henry W. Blodgett owned and managed a 370-acre dairy farm, Crab Tree Farm, a property on Lake Michigan north of the Chicago suburb of Lake Bluff, Illinois (itself north of Lake Forest, Illinois). Scott Sloan Durand (1869–1949), spouse of Grace Garrett Durand and founder of the Chicago sugar brokerage S. S. Durand and Co., purchased a substantial part of the Blodgett farm (250 acres) in 1905. Mrs. Durand relocated her dairy operation to Lake Bluff in 1906.

Mrs. Durand explained in a 1905 interview, "I have not entirely given up society for my dairy... but the work is so interesting that I cannot look upon the time and effort given to it as any sacrifice." Several of the buildings on the farm were lost by fire in 1910; she subsequently commissioned Pullman Village designer and Chicago architect Solon Spencer Beman, and they redesigned and rebuilt the farm.[verification needed] In 1915, her herd of Guernsey cows was destroyed by government officials because they were suspected of carrying foot and mouth disease. She sued for $100,000 in damages. She lectured at farmers' institutes across the American Midwest on her methods and experiences in dairy work, and patented a design for milk jugs.

Grace Durand was the first woman elected to serve on the board of education in Lake Forest, Illinois.[better source needed] She was a member of the Lake Forest Golf Club, and president of the Lake Bluff chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She wrote a book, Consider, opposing the repeal of Prohibition. Her temperance work was much remarked upon when her husband was accused of participating in a "rum ring" and indicted in 1933. Charges against him were dismissed after the repeal.

Personal life

Durand's grave at Lake Forest Cemetery

Grace Garrett Durand was married to a Chicago millionaire, sugar broker Scott Sloan Durand, in 1894.[citation needed] Crab Tree Farm, the site of her dairy, and their home outside of Chicago, as of this date,[when?] remains a working farm near Lake Bluff.[citation needed]

The Durands traveled extensively, around the world.[citation needed] Mrs. Durand donated woven and embroidered shawls from India to the Art Institute of Chicago., Their travels included a visit to Tristan da Cunha in 1935.[relevant?]

The Durands adopted two children; their son Jackson G. "Jack" Durand was convicted of robbing the home of F. Edson White in 1926, and served a prison sentence.

Mrs. Durand died in Lake Bluff on February 26, 1948, at the age of 80 years, and was buried at Lake Forest Cemetery.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 CTF Staff (December 16, 2009). "History of Crab Tree Farm". CrabTreeFarm.org. Lake Bluff, IL: Crab Tree Farm. Archived from the original on May 21, 2010. Retrieved April 5, 2025. At the turn of the twentieth century, the property we know today as Crab Tree Farm was part of a 370-acre dairy farm, owned by the eminent Illinois federal district judge and railroad president Henry W. Blodgett, who created the system that became the Chicago & Northwestern Railway in 1863. In 1905 Scott Sloan Durand (1869–1949), founder of S. S. Durand and Co., a Chicago sugar brokerage, purchased 250 acres of Blodgett's land on Lake Michigan just north of the village of Lake Bluff, Illinois... / In 1926 William McCormick Blair (1884–1982) and his wife, Helen Bowen Blair (1890–1972), purchased from the Durands eleven acres of farmland overlooking Lake Michigan and commissioned architect David Adler (1882–1949) to design a summer home. See also currently presented information at this page.
  2. 1 2 3 John William Leonard, ed., Woman's Who's Who of America (American Commonwealth Publishing 1914): 263.
  3. ↑ C. Chamberlain Tracey, A History of Lake County, Illinois (R. S. Bates 1912): 501.
  4. ↑ "A Model Dairy Farm" New Castle Herald (July 13, 1908): 6. via Newspapers.com (subscription required)
  5. ↑ Kate V. Saint Maur, "Mrs. Scott Durand – Milk Woman" Pearson's Magazine 24(November 1910): 634.
  6. ↑ "Society Queen Conducts a Model Dairy". Evansville Courier & Press. March 11, 1906. p. 18. Archived from the original on August 4, 2026. Retrieved August 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. On April 1 the Durand dairy will be moved to the Old Judge Blodgett farm near Lake Bluff.
  7. ↑ Ebner, Michael H. (1988) Creating Chicago's North Shore: A Suburban History (University of Chicago Press), pp. 202-203. ISBN 9780226182056
  8. ↑ Newcomen, T. (1998) "Pullman, Illinois: Changes in community planning from the 1880s to the 1990s", International Journal of Heritage Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 10-29
  9. ↑ Alan L. Olmstead, Arresting Contagion: Science, Policy, and Conflicts over Animal Disease Control (Harvard University Press 2015): 126. ISBN 9780674967229
  10. ↑ "The Gentlewoman Farmer and Her Fight to Save her $30,000 Herd". The Washington Herald. Washington, DC. November 28, 1915. p. 33 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Mrs. Durand Asks $100,000". The New York Times. Chicago (published November 21, 1915). November 20, 1915. p. 20. Archived from the original on August 4, 2026. Retrieved August 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Sarah Comstock, "Mrs. Durand: A Twentieth Century Product" Harper's Weekly (May 9, 1914): 28-30.
  13. ↑ Kim Coventry, Daniel Meyer, Arthur H. Miller, Classic Country Estates of Lake Forest (W. W. Norton & Company 2003): 67. ISBN 9780393730999
  14. ↑ "Scott Durand Named in Rum Ring Indictment" Chicago Daily Tribune (February 17, 1933): 4.
  15. ↑ "Wealthy Broker, Mate of Rum Foe, Indicted by U. S." Decatur Daily Review (February 17, 1933): 1. via Newspapers.com (subscription required)
  16. ↑ "Supreme Court Dismisses All Dry Law Cases". Chicago Tribune. February 6, 1934. pp. 1, 5. Retrieved August 3, 2026. Another case suddenly ended by the ruling is the $9,500,000 alcohol conspiracy indictment naming Scott S. Durand, head of the Chicago sugar brokerage concern bearing his name and husband of a leader in the Women's Christian Temperance union.
  17. ↑ "Mrs. Durand to Start Dairy" Omaha Daily Bee (June 18, 1915): 32. via Newspapers.com (subscription required)
  18. ↑ Long Shawl, Art Institute of Chicago.
  19. ↑ Long Shawl, Art Institute of Chicago.
  20. ↑ "Travelers Will Bring Tales of Strange Lands" Chicago Tribune (March 27, 1935): 12.
  21. ↑ "Durand Appeal Denied" Belvidere Daily Republican (June 16, 1926): 1
  22. ↑ "Considering Parole of Jack Durand" Freeport Journal Standard (May 3, 1928): 1. via Newspapers.com (subscription required)
  23. ↑ "Death Notices: Durand". Chicago Tribune. February 28, 1948. p. 10. Archived from the original on August 4, 2026. Retrieved August 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.