Dixon’s Heritage Square celebrates a golden year

DIXON – Heritage Square has always made its residents’ golden years their No. 1 priority. Lately, it’s had some other golden years on its mind, too: its own.

This year marks the Dixon retirement facility’s golden jubilee – 50 years of giving seniors a place to call home, where the staff prides itself on providing the kind of quality of life that comes from celebrating life.

Calling itself an “oasis in senior living,” Heritage Square aims for a model of self-sufficiency, creating its own community where residents don’t have to go far to find what they need. Need to visit the doctor? Have a therapy appointment? Need to go to the salon for a new hairdo? Everything residents need is right on campus, providing them a sense of normalcy and independence, while helping hands are never far away.

Unlike for-profit, corporate nursing homes, Heritage Square is a nonprofit facility, with decisions about its functions made solely within its offices. Residents can also weigh in, through an elected Resident Council of peers who can have a voice in those decisions.

Bonnie O’Connell’s tenure as Heritage Square’s nursing director and administrator encompassed most of the recent half of the home’s history. She retired in March after overseeing its operations for the past 16 years, where she emphasized to her staff that when they are happy, the residents are happy.

“With Heritage Square, it’s all about the residents and the staff,” O’Connell said. “The highest well-being equals their longevity here. The more you can identify when they come in and take what they’re independent with, and what they can do, and help them do what they can do, the longer they are going to remain here and the longer Heritage Square is going to remain strong.”

O’Connell handed Heritage Square’s reins over to current administrator Dan Howard, ushering in a new chapter in the home’s history at the 50-year mark.

“I’m absolutely honored, humbled and privileged to be the administrator here,” Howard said. “Bonnie has set a high bar. I’ve come to love the charm, the elegance and the traditions that occur here that these fine people have started at the beginning. With the wisdom at the beginning, it was so wise of the board to establish our mission statement: Providing the highest quality of care in a warm and loving environment.”

Howard and his staff of around 100 employees – many of whom are from Dixon – were hard at work this summer putting together celebration plans for Heritage Square’s 50th anniversary.

Heritage Square has 47 sheltered care and 25 skilled nursing care beds, as well as independent living duplexes. Artwork from residents of both the home and in Dixon are featured throughout the facility. The outdoor patio area has a garden, fountain, sheltered picnic tables and a 40-foot tree that gets all decked out in lights each Christmas.

Residents enjoy activities such as bowling on the patio, Bingo, trivia contests, ice cream socials, dances, luaus and special suppers. Special events also are planned for each holiday. Ecumenical church services welcome people of all faiths each Sunday, and Catholic services are held Tuesday mornings. For those who don’t have computers or internet access, the Ronald Reagan Room study provides both.

Although 50 candles will be on Heritage Square’s birthday cake this year, its story actually began 75 years ago.

In 1949, Laura Rogers of Grand Detour put together her estate plan with Dixon attorney Robert Warner. Rogers wished to leave part of her estate to establish a retirement home in Dixon. The endeavor would be called the Dixon Old People’s Home Fund, and Rogers and Warner selected members of a board of directors to establish the home. The board took a big step forward in 1963, when it bought the former North Dixon School property – coincidentally where Rogers graduated from high school in 1893. The old school was razed 10 years later.

Rogers died in 1971 at age 98 and her estate plan was put into motion. With that money, along with funds raised, the board set out make Rogers’ wish a reality.

But first, they needed something new for something Old.

The name Dixon Old People’s Home didn’t quite fit in with modern sensibilities so the board decided to find a different name. Two options were considered: Dixon Square or Heritage House. Heritage Square was the compromise the board reached.

Raymond Bowman, who had served as administrator at Pinecrest Manor in Mount Morris, was hired in 1972 by the board of directors to serve as a building and planning consultant. As bids started coming in, it was clear that the project would require more money, so two additional estate plans kicked in more cash and the facility became a reality.

Bowman went on to become the home’s first administrator and served until 1986.

Ground was broken in July 1973, and 16 months later Heritage Square welcomed the community to an open house on Nov. 2-3, 1974, that drew about 2,800 people to see the community’s newest retirement home. Among the notable features at the time were resident-controlled heating and air conditioning, and all carpeted floors.

Bill Reigle remembers Heritage Square’s first few years, particularly when dealing with some the misconceptions of the time. Many people equated modern with money.

Reigle served on the home’s board of directors for 42 years, from 1979-2021, and during most of that time he was also a lender at Dixon National Bank and later Amcore bank.

“We had a little problem early on getting over the idea that this was only for the rich,” Reigle said. “We had to convince people that it’s not the way it is. It was a facility that there was nothing like it in northern Illinois really at that time, where you could come and say, ‘Wow, this is something else!’ Our rates were less, plus the fact that in our bylaws, the board took the position that we would never put anybody out, even if they ran out of money.”

It didn’t take much convincing. Nine months later – after Louise Tyler became the first resident on Nov. 8 – Heritage Square was at operating capacity.

Right from the start, Heritage Square’s staff worked not only to provide quality care to their residents, but also laid the foundation that future staffers continue to build on today.

Through the years Heritage Square has grown, with additions to the complex to the north and east made in the 1990s, including the Warner Campus set of independent living duplexes.

Although the area had much to celebrate through the years, it also faced challenges. Particularly a challenge no one saw coming: a worldwide pandemic.

Protecting the health of its residents and assuring their physical and mental wellbeing became an even greater concern than before, not to mention having to follow a slew of new state and federal government regulations to make it all happen.

The pandemic was a challenging time for O’Connell and her staff, but they rose to the challenge.

“During the pandemic – and I hate to bring the word up – it never proved itself more than it did then,” O’Connell said. “This facility took over with the rules and with all the government wanted of us, and we did it – we crossed the T’s, dotted the I’s, and we did it without any problems. It was because we had the best staff, the most staff, and everyone came together to protect these residents who mean a lot to everyone.”

About 1,000 residents have lived at Heritage Square during its 50-year run. Some of the earliest residents, like Laura Rogers, were students at the former school building that once was on its site. Other residents were classmates of famous Dixon residents such as Ronald Reagan and Louella Parsons, and likely shared stories of those days among each other.

The oldest resident to have lived there was Mary Crombie, who died in 2003 at age 113; the lifelong Chicago Cubs fan was the oldest verified living resident of Illinois, fourth-oldest in the nation and ninth-oldest in the world at the time. At one point, Heritage Square had 11 residents aged 100 or older, O’Connell said.

Charles Beckman has served on Heritage Square’s board of directors since 1987 and is a past president. The retired associate circuit judge is especially proud of the home’s record – which has earned it a 5-star rating from the Illinois Department of Health – and the dedication of its leadership.

“The things that impress me most are the dedication of the board, who all come in with the same ideas and the same principles and we carry those into effect as best we can. All of that is overshadowed by the quality of the administrators that we’ve had. They have all been top-notch, and [O’Connell and Howard] are right at the top.”

A board of directors that gets along well also brings in administrators and leadership that do the same, Reigle said.

“I don’t ever remember going home from a board meeting having any animosity from anybody,” he said. “People had their input, and some had their differences of opinion, but before we went home we’d resolve it.”

O’Connell was grateful to have a board that worked well with her, which in turn helped residents.

“A lot of times, if we needed a copy machine or whatever,” she said, “one of the board members would ask, ‘What does it cost, and what do we need to do?’ and they just make it happen.”

Howard said he feels the same. When looking ahead, he’s committed to making Heritage Square’s future as successful as its past.

“My prime directive as an administrator is the safety and well-being of our residents,” Howard said. “The commitment of providing quality care will continue. Our commitment to quality care will not be diminished.”