It is about as much of a hill as one will see in this part of Ogle County. So the little village nestled between park land and agricultural acres, and shaded with a plentiful variety of trees, can claim the name as a legitimate description of its being.
Like most communities, the name it now bears is not its first.
Hillcrest, formed in the early 1950s, was originally known as the Bogue Addition, after the prominent Rochelle physician, Dr. Arthur Bogue, who owned the farmhous e on top of the “hill” and started development of the location.
The community was first incorporated as a means to control the propagation of house trailers, which many residents thought should be kept to a minimum.
Bogue, now deceased, is remembered by former patients as a Clark Gable look a like (perhaps it was the mustache) who specialized in appendectomies and favored large cars. His vehicles were referred to as “Appendix Pullmans” by associates, recalls Rochelle resident Faye Archer.
Bogue didn’t care for the title Bogue Addition, said the first Village President Thurman Holt.
The doctor soon renamed the community Hillcrest; however, that turned out to be a difficult operation to undertake. Like reputations a name once given is hard to dispose of.
“It took a long time to live The Bogue Addition down and get people to call it Hillcrest,” said Holt. In fact it took almost a decade for the new name to stick.
Anyone with photos, newspaper articles or stories, please share. Hillcrest is an incredible community with much history to be learned.
