Charley Dean was born in Palatine to Tim & Hannah Dean. His father was half owner of a general store here. Charley Dean had a way with horses from the beginning. His first job, in his teens, was driving a team of horses to a delivery wagon in Chicago. Later he was hired by a prominent livery stable operator, Chris Strassheim, to work in the Strassheim Stables. Strassheim had a strong interest in light harness horses, and had several in training at the old Ravenswood double oval on Chicago’s northwest side. He became so impressed with the manner in which his new employee handled the livery stock that he put Dean in charge of his training stable and taught him, how to train trotting horses.

Charley grew homesick, vowing to return to his birthplace for good. During the Chicago period, Dean came to the attention of business tycoon Thomas Boyle, a breeder and owner of Standardbreds. Boyle’s Lincoln Stock Farm was without a manager and trainer-driver. The farm’s location happened to be on the outskirts of Palatine and Dean signed on to manage the place that eventually became his own. He was soon courting Anna McMahon, and after a brief engagement the couple was married and moved to Lincoln Stock Farm. On August 2 of 1892 the first of the six Dean children was born and named Charles E. Dean, Jr. The following year daughter Hazel arrived. Then came Bess, Ben, Alene and Jerry.

Boyle’s Lincoln Stock Farm appeared ready to become one of the sport’s important owner-breeders. But Boyle was plagued by ill health and gradually decided to sell the farm and quit. Charley Dean quickly arranged to buy the place with a down payment and make it into his own private training and breeding establishment. Charley gradually improved the barns, paddocks and track until he had created a near-perfect setup for the training and breeding of horses. Located close to Chicago, owners from the city patronized Dean farm from the beginning. As the man from Palatine gained fame on the tracks of Illinois and neighboring states, horses began arriving from everywhere. Dean’s ability to pick an undeveloped animal and turn it into an ace performer produced a long list of champions and near champions, including Fleming Boy, Angiola, Collateral, Summer Song, Henry H. and such free-legged pacing marvels as Minor Heir, Tony Swift, and Empire Direct. Most of his great campaigners came to him unbroken. Others such as The Broncho, were broken over again and re-educated after being placed in Dean’s hands. An outlaw and a failure, The Broncho became a champion the very next year after joining the Dean stable. Perhaps Dean’s greatest achievement was the making of Minor Heir into the world champion green pacer and Fleming Boy into the world champion green trotting stallion in 1908.

Chase Dean, Charley’s oldest son, also a great harness racer, came back to Palatine in the 1960’s and spoke to a magazine writer, “Tree-shaded pastures, rolling hay fields once spread in every direction,” he continued. “It’s all gone, like a dream. Take our race track, for instance. They filled in the back stretch with asphalt a few summers ago and it’s now a busy four-lane avenue. A super-market stands where our main training barn was located; an insurance outfit erected a skyscraper on the spot where Ben’s shop stood . . . it was a fine blacksmith shop and Ben was proud of it. The old horse graveyard “thought it would remain forever” has disappeared. Covered with small look-alike houses, each with its trimmed hedges and manicured lawn, you wouldn’t believe that a select group of champion horses rest beneath the foundations, ghosts who rest beneath those cardboard dwellings “The Broncho, Colbert, May” — yes, even the great Star Pointer.

The Dean farm on the outskirts of Palatine was famed the world over as a training ground for stakewinners. Half-a-dozen assistant trainers and from 30 to 40 stablemen checked in annually at Dean farm for the winter and spring prep of sometimes as many as 80 horses. When they became old enough to handle the lines, Chase Dean and his younger brother Jerry, were their father’s chief lieutenants. Another son, Ben Dean, was an expert blacksmith and shod all the horses at the colony.

While horse training was the main activity at Dean farm, it was not the only one. One hundred tons of hay was baled each year on the 118 acres and on another nearby spread leased by the Deans. Enough oats and the straw that went with them were raised to supply the grain and bedding for both the track prospects and the 50 to 75 turnouts and broodmares that populated the paddocks and pastures.

Charles and Chase Dean are both in the harness racing Hall of Fame.