Hickox and Bradley Family

Hickox

Warren R. Hickox Sr. was a pioneer of Kankakee. He was also a Civil War Veteran, later a banker, and an owner of the original abstract title records in the county. 

Anna Hickox was the daughter of Warren and Georgia Griffith Hickox. Her mother was a native of Vermont and her father was a native of Kankakee.

The Bradleys

David Bradley was the president of David Bradley’s Manufacturing Company. After his death, J. Harley Bradley became president. He was born in Racine, Wisconsin on September 3, 1849, to David and Cynthia Abbott Bradley. 

Bryon Chapman Bradley and Alice M. Wilbur were married and had one child B. Harley Bradley. 

Mr. B. Harley Bradley united in marriage with Anna M. Hickox on January 6, 1897.

Anna Hickox and B. Harley Bradley had one adopted daughter Margaret Hickox.

Anna Hickox and B. Harley Bradley were the original owners of the B. Harley Bradley home. The home was designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. They received the lot from Anna’s father, Warren Hickox Sr. Warren Hickox Sr. purchased two lots, giving one to his daughter and the other to his son. The couple resided in the house from 1901 until 1913. They sold the house to A.E. Cook.

David Bradley Manufacturing Company

David Bradley from Syracuse, N.Y. saved North Kankakee in 1895 from financial ruin with his farm implement factory. The town then renamed itself Bradley City and then just Bradley in 1895.

Factory invented the diamond plow, which was used on tough prairie soil in 1840. In 1960 David Bradley Manufacturing Company was sold and renamed to Bradley Rooper. 1982 Rooper Corporation closed its plants in Kankakee and Bradley on December 17, 1982. Then it was sold and turned into the Jobs Development Association, which is now the Bradley Industrial Park.