Every town has its own special history; some towns more than others. Huntley is no exception. Among the more interesting and lesser known properties in town, one stands out, although it is fairly well hidden. To many residents, it is known as the “grease factory.” A large cinderblock structure that has stood for over 60 years, it has been a couple interesting businesses and more recently an attraction to urban explorers. Very little has been written on its history, and what has been recorded has been scattered throughout multiple articles. The history of the structure is a fascinating, yet somewhat gruesome one, but the two businesses that operated at that site should be remembered as playing a crucial part of the town’s important growing period.
During WWII, Huntley had a claim to fame with the Wm. Fencil fuze plant. The fuze plant was owned and operated by Wm. Fencil Gasket Company, a manufacturer of gaskets for products like refrigerators. After the war, the site, known as Powder Park, was sold to multiple different business owners. One area, south of a branch of the Kishwaukee river, was the site of multiple fuze storage structures. It was in this area that a large cinderblock structure was constructed, although whether it was around during the fuze production or after is not entirely known. What is known is that in 1947, the structure was D. K. Products Company, owned by Roy Anderson and Peter McKeone. There were two phases to this business. The first phase was its early history. Originally, it was a rendering plant. Horses were butchered for their meat and the meat was processed and canned for dog and fur food. The main issue was that D. K. Products kept live horses at the site in a fenced in pasture, and slaughtered those horses for the process. This was not common knowledge to the residents, as the site was quite remote at the time. Another possible reason why residents knew little of the operations may have been linked to the horse meat scandal of 1952. It was found that some Chicago meat producers were using horse meat in their “100% beef.” This caused a major uproar in Chicago. D. K. Products was never linked to this, but some feel that they may have been involved, due to how many horses were brought to the site and how, not too long after the scandal, D. K. Products stopped dealing with live horses. That brought in the second phase. After they stopped dealing with live horses, the company became strictly a grease refinery. It is unsure how long this business continued. After D. K. Products left the site, the property most likely remained abandoned for a long period, although it was still owned by Roy Anderson. In 1963, Lester C. Lightbody moved his rendering business, Illinois Reduction Inc., into the old structure. It is unknown how long he remained at the site before leaving. Anderson later sold the property to a new owner, who would become the most recognizable business at the site: Fox Valley Grease Company.
A business that originated in Elgin over two decades prior, half operations began at this site in Huntley in December of 1970. The business was originally opened by Glen M. Anderson in Elgin in 1947. The site, which was located at 1001 Raymond St. in South Elgin, had an environmental lawsuit brought against the company just a few months prior to the Huntley facility’s opening. To settle the suit, the owner agreed to close the Elgin facility and clean up the site. Afterwards, full operation at the Huntley plant began around June 15, 1971. The owners and operators of the Huntley site were brothers Mike and Mel Hopkins and their mother, Tony (Anderson) Geister. Having returned from the Vietnam War, the Hopkins brothers began working in the family business, and took over operations when their father passed away in 1970. They were pioneers in grease recycling. Fox Valley Grease company (FVG) in Huntley was made up of the large cinderblock structure, two trailers (the main office and the drivers trailer), and eventually a large orange pole barn. The facility in Huntley was used for grease recycling and rendering, although they did not keep live animals at the site like D. K. Products did. One thing that was similar to D. K., though, was the horrid smell that occurred when the rendering process was in full swing. For rendering, dead animals were skinned, cooked, and ground up for tallow and animal feeds. At the height of production, FVG had about 25 trucks, about 40 employees, and 3 or 4 full time mechanics. Along with the grease factory, Mike and Mel ran A & B Boiler Repair from around 1978 until 1982. Mel was the president and Mike was vice-president, and they performed repairs and kept a couple trucks at the plant.
In the late ‘70s, construction began on a new, brick office north-west of the site on Powder Park Rd., but this vision never became complete. One of the workers, a monitor named Greg Gecis, was well known in Huntley. He was fond of going to the bars and after leaving the house that he was staying in at the north-west corner of Main and Lincoln Sts. he began to work at the grease factory and lived in the driver’s trailer. It was believed that Greg started the fire in February of 1979, although no one is positively sure why. The fire started in the cooker room and spread to the grease storage room. The fire department was delayed getting to the fire due to a train coming through town and also possibly one of the trucks tipping over. The building sustained a fair amount of damage and the grease storage room was completely gutted. This marked the beginning of the end of the business at that site. Mike and Mel rebuilt what they could, but the structure never reached full operation, and around 1982, the site closed. Mike and Mel went in front of the village board to try to get help for rebuilding and for a waste bid. The village turned them down and the idea of reopening around the mid ‘80s would never come to be. Mel went on to work for the state. Mike continued the business in 1987 as Fox Service with himself and one truck, but not at the old location in Huntley, although he did maintain the Huntley P.O. box for a period. The large building was rented out for storage, but arsons caused another fire in 1985. The site was abandoned, and has remained so for nearly 30 years. The brick office that was under construction was eventually finished by another owner and is currently Abitua plumbing (The FVG can still be seen in the bricks on the side of the structure that faces Powder Park Rd.). Mike ran his business up to his death in 1996, and Mel passed away in November of 2010. After Mike’s passing, his sons, Mike and Tim, took over the business, calling it M. W. Hopkins and sons in their father’s honor. The business is still owned by them, and is Hopkins Grease in Lake in the Hills.
Since its opening, the large cinderblock structure known as the “grease factory” has intrigued many area residents. Whether it was due to the operations that occurred when it was D. K. Products, the historical span and fire when it was Fox Valley Grease, or now as it is abandoned, it has always remained in the mind of the public. This landlocked piece of property will continue to fascinate the public, even if the structure’s gone and only its history remains. In the end, this interesting footnote in Huntley’s history is an important piece to remember and should be reminisced about for decades to come.
By Jake A. Marino
Memories at D. K. Products/ Fox Valley Grease History
Mike H. remembered many details about the site when it was Fox Valley Grease Company. When it came to rendering dead animals, Mike could remember the sight and smells, but one interesting detail he remembered was that when his father and he would drive up to the facility on Saturdays, there would be times that farmers would leave their dead, bloated cows at the gate for FVG to recycle.
He also reminisced about the dogs that were always at the site. FVG Company was known for the wild dogs that would constantly be around the site, due to the dead animals and the grease. These dogs were mean, scruffy, and sometimes three legged (some had been hit by the trucks or other vehicles in the area). The dogs that prowled the site were also known to wreak havoc in town, impregnating local dogs, and other mischief.
Another thing he fondly remembered was how his father and uncle always liked to give away little pieces of advertisement; anything from money clips, key chains, decks of cards, pens, and more. They also loved putting advertisement stickers wherever they could, commonly on the back doors of the restaurants they serviced.
The brothers were kind people. They were always willing to give others a chance. Not only did they give Greg a job when he needed it, but they also hired people who had troubles with other jobs, and some who could not perform any other job. This helped them reach their height of around 40 employees. Personality wise, these people often fit in with the business too. The brothers and the employees were fondly remembered by many in town as having been quite the characters, thus earning the nickname the “Fox Valley Boys.”
Among the many memories he had of his father and uncle, one stood out. They often showed their Italian heritage, sometimes in manner and actions. For instance, they had the mentality that no one can tell them what they could and could not do. When one of the other grease recyclers in lower Illinois told them that they would not be able to open a facility down there, the Hopkins brothers proved him wrong! They set up a facility in Hamel Illinois, and when looking back, Mike’s father did believe that, in the end, the Hamel facility was a bad idea.
Local resident Tom D. had a few memories of the area. He remembered swimming in one of the little ponds/swamps located near the cinderblock building before it became Fox Valley Grease.
He also remembered that FVG used to load and unload grease on a separate rail track behind the old Catty Corp. building (northwest corner of Church and Mill Sts.). This would often cause the area around the Mill St. railroad crossing to smell.
Tom C. remembered both D. K. and FVG. The thing he remembered most about the companies, though (and not surprisingly, as this was a common memory among residents), was the terrible odor emitted from the site. He would often exclaim, “Oh God, the smell” as a consistent way of remembering the scent when the wind was blowing into town the wrong way.
Nancy S. vividly remembered D. K. Products, as she lived nearby when she was young. The trucks that hauled the horses to D. K. Products often passed her house. When this occurred, she would tell her dad about the new shipment. Her dad had come from Switzerland, where he was a blacksmith, so he was fond of horses, as was his daughter. So they would go out at night to the site and take some of the better horses from D. K.’s pasture. Nancy and her father would move these horses to a different pasture or even take them back to their house! The following day, her father would call Roy Anderson and offer to buy the horses from their previous night’s mission for $25 to $35 each. The fact that her and her father did this on multiple occasions shows just how many horses D. K. Products received; and the fact that they did not get in trouble definitely shows the difference from yesterday and today.
She also remembered one horse they took. The horse was blind, but still a good horse. She road that horse in the centennial parade. Out of all the horses they had taken from D. K. Products, she remembered that their family had that horse the longest, as a blind horse was of little use to a farmer. They did love that horse dearly.
Lonni O. had her own attachment to D. K. Products. One day, her father went to the company and purchased a leisure horse for the farm. Its hooves were a little too big, but it was well loved by the family and even gave birth three times. The babies were also used as leisure horses when they had grown, never as work horses for the farm.
For many years, Mary M. would bring one of the residents on Grove St. her mail. She remembered being in the resident’s house and listening to the FVG trucks rumble down the street, their cans banging around in the bed of the trucks.
Many residents remembered Greg Gecis, the watchman at FVG. They remembered seeing him in town at the bars, which he was fond of. One resident who often visited the area of the grease factory remembered seeing him washing his clothes in the creek near the factory. On September 24, 1989, Greg was struck and killed by the train when he was walking at the Grove St. crossing. He was 49 years old.
Bob V. remembers one Huntley resident, Ernie Beu, once worked at the facility when it was D. K. Products. Sometimes, during his lunch break, the only place to sit and eat his lunch was on a dead horse, which he often did.
Bill I. recalled his time on the village board in the 1970s. Call it bribery or call it goodwill, but during some controversies with Fox Valley Grease, the company sent free turkeys to the village board members for Christmas. The board members promptly donated the turkeys to the local food pantry.
Chuck Y. was a member of the Huntley Fire Department starting in the 1970s. He remembers fighting the fire at the grease factory in 1979. The owners lived in Elgin and by time they had made it to the facility, the fire was already heavily involved. The firefighters had issues getting into one of the main rooms because the garage doors were locked. Not wanting to lose any more time, the brothers opted to ram the garage doors down with the back of their trucks instead of search for the correct key amongst their large key ring. The hoses got covered and filled with grease from the site from the fire and had to be thoroughly cleaned after the fact.
Gathered by Jake A. Marino
