Edellyn Farm
In 1914, while President of Morris & Co., Thomas E. Wilson established his country estate along Telegraph Road northwest of Lake Forest, Illinois. The estate was a working stock farm from the beginning, and was named after the Wilson children: Edward and Helen. Edellyn Farm was the Wilson family's summer home. They also owned a residence in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw, along with farms in Earlham, Iowa and Nevada, Iowa, and a ranch in New Mexico.
Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 29, Folder 11, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Left: Photograph of south side of Edellyn Farm house. Right: Photograph of Thomas E. Wilson, Helen Wilson, and Elizabeth Foss Wilson on south porch of house.
![The program cover has a black-and-white photograph of Thomas E. Wilson in the center. Thomas E. Wilson is a young white man with dark hair, wearing a white shirt and tie, and a dark jacket. Above the photograph is printed "Program T. E. Wilson Picnic for Employees of" and the Wilson & Co. logo. Below the photograph is printed "Edellyn Farms, near Lake Forest, Ill. September 4th, Nineteen Hundred and Sixteen.](/media/images/wilsonte-0394-001.original.jpg)
Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 33, Folder 5, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
A company picnic at Edellyn Farm in 1916 offered employees of the newly reorganized Wilson & Co. a day of food, athletic games, horse shows, and general company culture building.
![Black-and-white photograph of 24 white men and women and one white child, seated and standing in a grassy field with a few trees and shrubs visible behind them. The majority smile into the camera. Most of the women are wearing cloche hats, and a few wear the popular 1920s style of women's suits with ties and vests.](/media/images/wilsonte-0359-001.original.jpg)
Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 28, Folder 8, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Edward Foss Wilson is shown standing back row, far left. Elizabeth Foss Wilson is shown in first standing row, fourth from left. The young boy lying on the grass in the front is Bruce Forbes, brother of Malcom Forbes, publisher of Forbes Magazine. Bruce Forbes spent a summer at Edellyn Farm.
![Black-and-white photograph of five white men and women and two white girls seated and standing in a grassy field with a few trees and shrubs visible behind them.](/media/images/wilsonte-0360-001.original.jpg)
Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 28, Folder 8, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Thomas E. Wilson is shown standing, far right. Thomas' sister, Margaret Wilson Hunter is shown seated, far left. Margaret's daughter, Ruth, is show seated, second from right.