What is the history of Sleepy Hollow, Illinois?
The village is on the site of Sleepy Hollow Farm, which was owned by owned by the late J. H. McNabb, board chairman of Böwe Bell & Howell Bell and Howell Company. McNabb’s heirs, sold the farm to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Polivka, who sold it in turn to Floyd T. Falese in 1953. To retain the rural charm and natural contour of the location, Falese retained the services of a prominent planner and landscape architect, Raymond W. Hazekamp, who laid out a pattern of meandering roads, without curbs or sidewalks, that wound into curvilinear cul-de-sacs, avoiding the destruction of a single tree. Falese developed lakes in Sleepy Hollow from existing springs and stocked them with fish. Lake Paula and Lake Sharon were first ones completed with Lake Ichabod dug in 1962. Falese created Lake Legend and Lake Jacqueline in 1967. Those lakes are still a focal point, and the village owns and maintains several of them. Falese was also a horse lover and viewed horse ownership as an element of country living. Ear