Niles Centre, Illinois (Skokie) - Founding businesses within a one-block radius from downtown's center.

A pictorial history of the intersection at Lincoln Avenue (formerly called: Main Street) and Oakton Street in Downtown Skokie (Niles Centre, Incorporated 1888; Americanized to Niles Center in 1910; Renamed to Skokie 1940).

The name Skokie comes from the Potawatomi word for "Marsh."

In 1888, the community was incorporated as Niles Centre, then in 1910, the spelling of Centre was Americanized to "Center." 

However, the name caused postal confusion with the neighboring village of Niles. A village-renaming campaign began in the 1930s. In a referendum on November 15, 1940, residents chose the Indian name "Skokie" over the name "Devonshire."

During the real estate boom of the 1920s, large parcels of land were subdivided; many two-flat and three-flat apartment buildings were built, along with "Chicago" bungalows being the dominant architectural choice.

Large-scale development ended as a result of the Great Depression of 1929. It was not until the 1940s and into the 1950s that parents of the baby boom generation moved their families out of Chicago and into the suburbs. Skokie's housing development began again at a fever pitch. Consequently, the village developed commercially. (For example, Westfield Old Orchard was turned into Old Orchard Shopping Center.)

During the night of November 27, 1934, after a gunfight in nearby Barrington, Illinois (called the Battle of Barrington) that left two FBI agents dead, two accomplices of the notorious, 25-year-old bank-robber, "Baby Face Nelson" (Lester Gillis) dumped his bullet-riddled body in a ditch along Niles Center Road adjoining the St. Peter Catholic Cemetery, a block north of Oakton Avenue in the town. 

---

Some of the businesses are by the intersection of Lincoln Avenue & Oakton Street in Skokie.

St. Peter Catholic School and Church, Established in 1868. Postcard, circa 1880

St. Peter Catholic Church Postcard, circa 1900

Peter Blameuser General Merchandise [Wines, Liquors, Cigars] circa 1870

Blameuser Building. 1895

Klehm & Sons "The Cheap Store" Building circa 1896 

Klehm Bros General Store circa 1900 

Klehm Bros General Store circa 1905

Fred Schoening Wagon & Carriage Maker and Dry Goods Store circa 1900
{Phone: Niles Center 16-W}

Schoeneberger General Store Interior, circa 1900

Robert Siegel Cigar Store circa 1905

Lincoln Avenue from St-Peters Church Steeple, circa 1890

Lincoln Avenue North of Oakton, 1890

Niles Center Theater, circa 1916

Lincoln Avenue North of Oakton, circa 1905

Lincoln Avenue North of Oakton, circa 1930

Aerial Lincoln Avenue and Oakton 1930

A. Kutz [Plumbing and Gas Fitting]

Alf's Hall [Dancing & Party Venue]

Bergman General Store

Charles Luebbers, Niles Center Tavern {Tel: Niles Center 84}

Freres Brothers Bakery {Tel: Niles Center 1013}

Hermann Gerhardt Horse Shoe Shop [Horseshoers & Wagon Maker]

Johanannes Schoeneberger General Store

Ludwig Luebbers [Wagon & Buggies Maker, Blacksmithing, Horseshoers]

Niles Center Bank

Niles Center Grocery & Market

Niles Center Mercantile [Studebaker Dealer, Farm Machinery, Seed] {Tel: Niles Center 26-J}

Tony Saul Tavern

Skokie Incorporated on November 15, 1940, changing its name from Niles Center.

1st National Bank of Skokie

A&P Grocery

Able Currency Exchange

Affiliated Bank

Albert’s Pizza

Alice Beauty Shop

Barney’s Place

Community Bakery

Consumers Millinery Store

Desiree Restaurant

Dieden’s Smart Shop

Florsheim Shoes

Heinz Electrical Appliance Shop {Tel: Skokie 598}

King Realtors

Krier’s Restaurant

Niles Center Coal and Building Material Co. [Lumber Mill, Building Material] {Tel: Skokie 600}

Nunn Busch

Oakton Drug

Rodell Pontiac Dealership

Schmitz Tavern

Siegal’s Cigars

Skokie Camera

Skokie Cleaners

Skokie Jewelers

Skokie Music

Skokie Paint

Urbanis Sinclair Gas Station

Village Inn Pizza

Walgreens Drug Store

Oakton and Lincoln Avenue looking West circa 1948

The intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Oakton 1946

Lincoln Avenue North of Oakton 1957

Oakton East from Lincoln Avenue, 1960

Oakton West at Lincoln Avenue, circa 1960

Lincoln Avenue at Oakton, circa 1960

Aerial of Lincoln Avenue from St-Peter Church Steeple, circa 1965

 Aerial of Lincoln Avenue and Oakton, circa 1973

Lincoln Avenue and Oakton 1991

Aerial of Lincoln Avenue South from St-Peter Church Steeple 1994

ADDITIONAL READING: Dr. A. Louise Klehm: Niles Center (Skokie) Illinois' First Lady of Family Practice.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The Krauss Building, 209 W. High St, Freeburg, Illinois.

Located at 209 West High Street, this building was built by Andreas (Andrew) Krauss. Andrew opened a General Store in this building on November 1, 1878.

He came to Freeburg in 1852 at the age of 19, and had operated a store someplace else in Freeburg, but that location is unknown.

Andrew operated his new store on the west side of the building and the Post Office was located on the East side of the building. He lived on the second floor with his family and the third floor would be used as a meeting place for various organizations in town.

Business was good for Andrew in Freeburg and soon he wrote home (Germany) for other members of the family to come to America. His nephew, Philip Krauss arrived in Freeburg in 1865 at the age of 16, and began work in his Uncle's General Store.

Andrew retired in 1890 and turned the store over to Philip, who operated this business until 1915, when he too retired and sold the entire stock to Robert Browning & Arthur Reinheimer. They named the business The Freeburg Mercantile Company.

In January 1908, A. Rosinsky of Mascoutah, Illinois, moved his clothing business into the east side of the building after the Post Office moved to a new location in town. This business was called The St. Louis Shoe & Clothing Company. Later the name was changed to The Leader Clothing Store, and sometime later the business moved to the William Schiek building at the corner of Richland and High Street.

The space on the east side of the Krauss building was soon occupied by Gus Rauth, who on July 2, 1909, opened a saloon in the vacant space. On the west side of the building, Mr. Reinheimer had purchased the business interest of Mr. Browning and together with his sister, Mrs. Freda Reuter, operated the store. In March, 1917, a new sanitary counter was installed to ensure the keeping of meat. One of the biggest problems in the early years of grocery stores was keeping the flies and insects out of the meat cases, especially since AC was not yet invented.

In March, 1919, August G. Koesterer purchased the Krauss building from the heirs of Andrew Krauss. August was one of Freeburg's most successful retailers. After an extensive remodeling, he moved his stock of goods from his existing store into his new building and called his business The A.G. Koesterer & Company. One main changes he made to this structure was to remove the wall that divided the main floor into two sections. Sadly, in the fall of 1921, August Koesterer became seriously ill and died on November 26th from Meningitis at the age of 34. His brother Albert J. Koesterer, who had worked in the store, took over the business changing the name to A.J. Koesterer & Company.

By this time, the style of shopping had greatly changed. Instead of giving the clerk a list for your items, shelves and aisles were arranged so the customer could actually get their own product. The introduction of canned goods began to replace dry goods.

In December, 1929, A.J. announced he would be closing due to lack in sales. J.E. Atkins, manager of the Stovall Sales Company of St. Louis arrived in Freeburg to conduct a three day liquidation sale in which all stock and goods were sold.

In August, 1930, the Freeburg Commercial Club (later known as the Chamber of Commerce), purchased the building for the sum of $3,600 in an effort to attract a new business in town. In July, 1931, the George Newton Garment Factory of St. Louis moved into the building, sending George Kumbera to act as manager. He would later buy controlling interest in this company. This company first started out as a Rayon Factory but soon switched to a Dress Factory.

In June, 1935, a large addition was made to the building, adding more cutting tables, sewing machines and other machinery. At the height of this company's operation in 1938, there were more than 200 people, mostly Freeburg ladies, employed by the Freeburg plant. In May, 1940, Mr. Kumbera, manager of the Freeburg factory, sold his interest to his partner, Richard B. Croneheim of St. Louis. Mr. Croneheim soon made an announcement that the factory would be closing due to lack of sales.

Immediately the Forest City Dress Company purchased the building and business and all of its equipment, including the 130 sewing machines. A few changes were made to the structure and work continued. By 1944, a garment workers union had been formed with Ms. Angeline Zipfel serving as the first president. She was employed at the plant. Sadly, in 1956, and without much notice, the factory simply pulled out of the building. Large trucks were seen moving all of the machinery out of the building.

The Freeburg Chamber of Commerce quickly regained control of the building and in 1957, Ted Rehmer of Fayetteville, Illinois, would operate a tavern on the main floor of the building. Over the years, the Chamber would make several attempts to sell this building or to get another factory to show interest.

In September, 1964, Jacob Brinkman of Waterloo, Illinois, purchased the building for $12,000 with the intent of opening a hardware store. E. M Wiegman Company had been using much of the space for storage.

Once again, the building was extensively remodeled and a Western Auto Store moved into this structure. Jerry Miller, of Waterloo, Illinois, was the manager. Mr. Brinkman was an associate of the Western Auto Company. In 1966, the Western Auto was changed to a True Value Hardware Store still managed by Jerry Miller. This store would close in 1977.

In May, 1978, this building was purchased by Dave Favre, Ray Swyear and Howard Prater as a business venture. Nothing came out of this purchase. In June, 1979, John & Alice Rudy purchased the building and again after an extensive remodel, opened the Freeburg Bi-rite Grocery Store. Other businesses to occupy the building were: Watters Trading Post, opened in October, 1986, closed in April 1988. An arcade was operated here for a short time in a room behind the trading post.

Color & Create opened in April 1989 and is currently located in this building. Other business to operate here was Venezia Pizzeria, which opened December, 1988 and closed in June, 1999, and Jack & Jill's Cut. Freeburg Chiropractic opened in 2003 and is currently located in the east side of the building.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of Chicago Sidewalk Nameplates (Stamps and Plaques).

Sidewalk stamps can be found on the streets of small and large American cities. These ubiquitous inscriptions are the proud commemorations of a job well done and a practical and long-term form of advertising. They are also explicitly required by law.

CITY OF CHICAGO RULES

RULES REGARDING CONSTRUCTION IN THE PUBLIC WAY UNDER

2‐102‐030(L); 2‐102‐040; 10‐20‐210

LAST UPDATED JANUARY 2014

Before the top or finishing of concrete walks has set, the contractor or person building the walk shall place in such walk in front of each lot or parcel of property a stamp or plate giving the name and address of the contractor or person building the walk and the year in which the work was done. The top of said plate or stamp, which must not cover more than 54 square inches of surface, shall be flush and even with the top of the finished walk, and must be of a permanent character plainly stamped or firmly bedded in the concrete in such a manner that it cannot become loose or be easily removed or defaced. Wherever one contractor or person has laid walks in front of three or more adjoining lots or parcels of property in one continuous stretch, one of the above named stamps placed in the walk at each end of said stretch of walk will be sufficient. (Prior code § 33-38; Amend Coun. J. 1-14-97, p. 37762, § 44)

The city code was adopted to hold the contractor responsible for their work should anything be defective in the concrete sidewalk they laid.

There are two different types of Nameplates, stamps, and plaques, and they serve two purposes — identification and advertisement.

The most common type of sidewalk marker is stamped into newly poured concrete. It becomes an indelible feature of the sidewalk, sharing the same space as children’s footprints and lovers’ inscriptions.

Stamps most often bear the name of the construction firm that laid the sidewalk, and the year the work was done. Additional information can include the company’s location and telephone number. Sometimes a stamp will carry broader information, such as the name of a subdivision and its developer.

The less common form is a precast brass plaque set into wet concrete. These are not “stamps” as such, although they are used similarly. 

Stamps and plaques are “permanent” in different ways. Stamps are part of the sidewalk and rarely filled in or removed. However, they are easily and often lost when a portion of the sidewalk is reconstructed. There are rare examples where an old stamp is integrated into a new sidewalk, but this is an exceptional occurrence. 

Brass plaques can be more easily removed from a sidewalk, although they are also most often removed when the sidewalk is reconstructed. They do have a better chance of surviving as individual artifacts.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Racists Miss the Point of this Billboard in Justice, Illinois; September of 1991.

A controversial billboard on the Tri-State Tollway designed to focus attention on racism on golf courses has been vandalized and will come down only six days after it was put up.

After the billboard was spray-painted with racist messages and a swastika over the weekend, artist Mark Heckman and the billboard company decided the time had come to take it down, even though it was supposed to stay a month.

"The billboard has served its purpose, and I don't want anyone getting hurt," said Heckman, who has parlayed the controversy into morning national talk show appearances for later this week. "So I don't have a problem with the sign being removed."

Tom Carroll, an official of Gannett Outdoor Chicago, the billboard company, said the sign, which advertises the fictitious Afro Country Club, "Where only the ball is white," is slated to come down barring high winds or rain. The billboard, located just north of 83rd Street in south suburban Justice, is visible to northbound tollway traffic.

Heckman, 28, of Grand Rapids, Mich., said he has produced two dozen political billboards in recent years, but this one sparked the strongest reaction by far. "I want to stimulate people with my work, but not to violence." he said.

Since the billboard was put up last Thursday, owners of the public warehouse near the sign, as well as Heckman, have received a steady stream of harassing and threatening telephone calls. Many of the complaints to the billboard company were callers who believed that the country club actually existed, Carroll said.

The vandalism apparently occurred late Saturday night or early Sunday, with the culprits perhaps providing their own ladder to climb the eight feet up to the walkway ladder that is used by workmen to mount the billboard signs, said Justice Police Chief Paul Washich.
In addition to the swastika and the letters KKK, the billboard also was spray-painted with the initials J and M.

By early Monday, work crews from Gannett Outdoor had removed the graffiti and repainted part of the sign.

"It's difficult for me to believe that this could still happen, but that was the whole point of the billboard," Heckman said. "I hope it makes some people think about racism."

Despite the complaints, Heckman and Carroll said they have received many calls from people praising the billboard. Heckman said the work was paid for by an anonymous benefactor in Michigan and placed on the Tri-State, also known as Interstate Highway 294, because a location in downtown Chicago was too expensive.

The tollway billboard cost $3,500 a month. Heckman will receive a rebate for the unused time.
Among Heckma's better known billboards was an AIDS awareness sign displayed in Chicago in 1989. That work featured 2,001 condoms dipped in paint and thrown against a canvas.

Carroll said a "generic" and noncontroversial billboard would go up in place of Heckman's.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The words "Grocery," "Ordinary," and "Doggery" Meant The Same Thing in different eras starting in the 18th Century.

Before the 20th Century, the terms "Grocery," "Ordinary, and "Doggery" "had different meanings than today. During this time, whiskey drinking was the reigning vice, and a stock of liquors was being kept for sale, by the glass, in almost every roadside cabin and stops on stagecoach routes. The settlers' cabins often displayed a sign with the word "grocery" printed on it, meaning 'liquor by the glass or bottle sold here.' In addition to the liquor, they often kept a small stock of general provisions and supplies. Doggeries were cheap saloons. The owner of a grocery was called a grocer. 

The distances between one habitation and another were often considerable, and people traveling late in the day were frequently frozen to death in extreme weather, especially in intoxicated conditions. Indeed there were more deaths from freezing than from any other fatality. Winters would kill mostly transient dwellers such as discharged soldiers, sailors, and farmhands out of work for the winter. 

The grocery stores we know today were called "General Stores" back then. General Stores 

Proof: Ordinances of the Town of Chicago were incorporated on August 12, 1833.

The saloon in Chicago had its origin in two places. The oldest was the inn or tavern, a combination kitchen, hotel, and drinking establishment. Much of the city's early social life revolved around Wolf Point on the Chicago River. Such spots included James Kinzie's (John Kinzie's son) Green Tree Tavern. Mark Beaubien opened the Eagle Exchange Tavern in a log cabin on the south bank of the Chicago River in 1829, then added a frame addition to the Eagle in 1831. Beaubien also opened the Sauganash Hotel, Chicago's first hotel, serving food and drink. 

The second type of drinking establishment evolved from grocers and provisioners who began to sell hard liquor in wholesale quantities. At first, their sample rooms were places where customers could taste-test the stock; long afterward, "sample room" became another name for a saloon. By the late 1850s, the term saloon had begun to appear in directories and was commonly used as a term for licensed drinking establishments that specialized in beer and liquor sales by the glass, with food and lodging as secondary concerns in some places. Stops such as Stacey's Tavern in present-day Glen Ellyn or the Pre-Emption House in Naperville were popular among farmers journeying to the city.

As the rapidly growing ethnic population swelled, the saloon ranks through the mid-nineteenth Century, but during the early 1880s, a growing overcapacity in the brewery industry began to force change. Overestimates of future growth and easy rail access to Chicago for St. Louis and Milwaukee brewers left all producers scrambling for retail outlets.

The answer lay in adapting the British "Tied-House" control system. Brewers purchased hundreds of storefronts, especially in highly desired corner locations. The brewers rented to prospective saloonkeepers and all the furnishings, including recreational equipment such as billiard tables and bowling alleys. Schlitz and a few others built elaborate saloons, examples of which still survive in Chicago today. The Chicago City Council also contributed to the brewery domination by increasing the saloon license from $50 to $500 between 1883 and 1885 to pay for an expanded police force supposedly made necessary by the increasing barroom brawls. Relatively few independent proprietors could afford to pay such amounts.

An 1880s Grocer's Newspaper Ad.

The General Store.
Today's stores offer a great variety of merchandise for the convenience of their customers, but in the 1800s, merchants simply sold the items they could obtain and resell. These general stores, mercantile or emporiums, served rural populations of small towns and villages and the farmers and ranchers in the surrounding areas. They offered a place where people could find food and necessities that would have otherwise been difficult to obtain.

In addition to merchandise, a general store offered a meeting place for isolated people to socialize and do business. Many of these stores also doubled as a post office.

During the first part of the 19th ceCenturythese, stores stocked necessities, but as the economy prospered after the Civil War, more and more luxury items found their way onto the shelves. The storekeepers purchased merchandise from salesmen representing large wholesale houses and manufacturers in larger cities and seaside ports.

At first, only locally produced perishable goods were sold in general stores. With the expansion of the railroads, the advent of mass production, and advances in technology, such as the refrigerated boxcar, the local shopkeeper could receive and sell goods from countries far away and southern and western America states.

What was a general store like in the 19th Century?
Indeed, not anything approaching the modern grocery or department store. Most stores had at least one large display window, but inside, they were still dark and gloomy — and, depending on their geographical location, probably damp and humid to boot. Most were crowded with shelving along every wall. The floors were also crammed with boxes, barrels, crates, and tables holding goods.

The front counter held display cases for smaller items and needed machineries such as a coffee grinder, scales for weighing merchandise, and a cash register. Surplus inventory was stored in the cellar or basement or possibly on the second floor if that was not the living quarters of the grocer's Family.

Most of the items found in a general store would be familiar to us today. Food and consumables included coffee beans, spices, baking powder, oatmeal, flour, sugar, tropical fruit, hard candy, eggs, milk, butter, fruit and vegetables, honey and molasses, crackers, cheese, syrup and dried beans, cigars, and tobacco.

The apothecary section of the store, as in a modern grocery or department store, was well represented with patent-specific medicines, remedies, soaps, toiletries, and elixirs. The major difference between the medicine then and now is that it's illegal to sell snake oil! Most patent remedies of the era were alcohol-based, which explained their popularity in many cases. 

The dry goods section of the store included bolts of cloth, pins and needles, thread, ribbon, silk, buttons, collars, undergarments, suspenders, dungarees, hats, and shoes. Essential items such as rifles, pistols, ammunition, lanterns, lamps, rope, crockery, pots and pans, cooking utensils and dishes, farm and milking equipment parts, and sometimes even coffins could be found inside a general mercantile!

The average store would have been considered none too clean by modern standards. The roads outside were unpaved and unwashed; the dirt tracked in by customers would have included animal waste (and possibly human if someone had emptied their chamber pot into the street). The cast-iron stove heating the store during cold weather produced soot that settled over much of the merchandise. And it was not unheard of to discover rodents foraging about inside the store.

When money was scarce, the shopkeeper might extend credit to a regular customer or accept payment in kind (bartering for meat, eggs, and/or crops).

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

An illustration of Chicago's Dearborn Street Bridge in 1834. This was the city’s third bridge over the Chicago River and its first drawbridge.

An illustration of Chicago's Dearborn Street Bridge in 1834. This was the city’s third bridge over the Chicago River and its first drawbridge.

The Lake Michigan Seiche of 1954 in Chicago.

Definition of a Seiche
A seiche (SAYSH) is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, harbors, and seas. The key requirement for forming a seiche is that the body of water is at least partially bounded, allowing the formation of the standing wave.

---

Lakefront Was Caught Off Guard By A Deadly Inland Tidal Wave.
As the line of windy squalls passed out over Lake Michigan that hot June morning 60 years ago, Joseph Pecararo assumed the worst of the day's weather was over. The sky was clear, and the lake was still by the time the 24-year-old lifeguard captain arrived for work at North Avenue beach.

With temperatures expected to climb to nearly 100, he expected a big Saturday crowd.

But so far, the beach was deserted, except for a pair of fishermen out on the hook-shaped pier and a line of rowboats stored in front of the beach house, ready for use in an emergency.

They turned out to be of no use at all against the silent killer racing toward the beach from the southeast that morning: a freakish, 10-foot-high inland tidal wave that would sweep eight anglers to death and pound the Lake Michigan shoreline all the way from the Chicago River to Wilmette on its way into the history books.

"The water came up suddenly, and our boats began to float," remembers Pecararo, now general superintendent of beaches for the Chicago Park District.

"We ran out and went to pull the boats up, and when we did, there was a wave."

The wall of water crashed over the lifeguards without warning, knocking them from their feet. When they surfaced, "we laughed, we thought it was kind of funny," he remembers.

"But seconds later, a person came running over and said there was a fisherman swept off the pier," Pecararo said. John Jaworski, fishing with his 18-year-old son Joseph, had disappeared.

Jaworski was just the first of the victims of one of Lake Michigan's most unusual phenomena: the seiche.

Such potentially deadly waves, the worst of which hit Chicago on June 26, 1954, are formed when a squall line with high winds drives water across the lake in the same way that blowing on a hot cup of coffee pushes the liquid toward the far rim. The winds then pass off the lake, but the water sloshes back across, producing damaging waves with no storm to warn of their impending arrival.

That morning, the seiche-producing storm started in LaCrosse, Wis., and moved southeasterly through Madison, Rockford, and Milwaukee. At 7:30 a.m., it crossed over Chicago and blew out onto Lake Michigan at nearly 55 miles an hour.

At 8:10 a.m., it hit Michigan City, pushing a 5-foot wall of water over the breakwater and onto the shore. It then reflected back and began racing toward Chicago, where it crashed with terrifying fury an hour and 20 minutes later.

Unlike anglers in Michigan City, who fled the squall for higher ground, the Chicago fishermen had no storm to warn them of the deadly wave racing their way.

The only warning Herbert Riederer, then a 24-year-old state conservation officer, had of the impending wave was a wet shoe. He'd just finished writing a ticket to a fisherman without a license when water suddenly rose onto the Montrose Harbor breakwater where he was standing.

"I stepped up to higher ground," he remembers. "As I did, I heard a rush of water, and when I looked back, I saw people being washed off the pier."

"It's not something you can forget," he said. "I can still see that woman. She was riding the crest of this huge wave into the harbor mouth, then she disappeared."

Mae Gabriel, 48, and her husband, Edward, 49, were later found drowned.

Riederer, who had no radio, raced for help to a nearby roadway, where he "commandeered the first car I saw and had him drive me to the bait shop" a half-mile away, where the nearest phone was located.

Soon Montrose Harbor was crawling with divers, including the lifeguards from North Avenue Beach. They had just recovered Jaworski's body in the rough water by forming a line and pushing it toward the shore when a squad car rolled up with the news: "Dozens down at Montrose!" "We jumped in the squad car. It was a wild ride," Pecararo remembers.

Three bodies were pulled from the harbor that morning; four more were recovered later. One was Theodore Stempinski, the man Riederer, who is no longer with the conservation service, had issued the ticket. He had apparently stopped to pick up his fishing gear before fleeing the pier.

The deadly seiche triggered a flurry of scientific study into the phenomenon that quickly saved lives: Just weeks later, on July 6, 1954, a similar storm passed over Chicago, prompting the local weather service to issue a seiche warning.

When the seiche hit, waters rushed into the Loyola beach parking lot and up the North Avenue beach house steps, then raced away. But the beaches had been cleared, and no one was hurt.

Since the 1954 disaster, so-called seiche fences have been installed on many breakwaters. The simple metal cables and posts anchored in concrete are intended to provide a handhold in the event of a sudden wave.

Large seiches remain relatively rare. Over the last 100 years, weather watchers have recorded about 10 major ones on Lake Michigan. Last year three seiche warnings were issued for Chicago, none for waves approaching the size of those in 1954, Pecararo said.

"We never saw anything like that," Pecararo remembers. "I thought the end of the world was coming."

By William Recktenwald, Chicago Tribune Staff Writer. 

Lost Towns of Illinois - Village of Harlem, Illinois

After Illinois entered the Union, most of the land west of Chicago was set aside for veterans of the war of 1812. The area was originally called Kettlestrings Grove, then Oak Ridge, Illinois (named because of the many native oak trees), then the Village changed names and boundaries to Noyesville, then to Harlem, and finally to Oak Park.

Lost Towns of Illinois - Village of Harlem, Illinois (1884-1907)

Joseph and Betty (Willis) Kettlestrings, the first settler, spent 10 weeks crossing the Atlantic with the first two of their 11 children. Only six would survive them. Arriving in Baltimore, a third child was born as they pushed west, eventually coming to Chicago, population 350. Their ox-drawn, covered wagon had pulled them through marshy soil, rocky terrain and boggy wetlands till they came to "a ridge of dry land abounding with oak trees."

In 1839 a French-Indian trader, Leon Bourassa, received a land grant from President Martin Van Buren of 160 acres along the Des Plaines River north of what is now Roosevelt Road. By this time, the Indians had been banished to the west of the Mississippi River, but one Indian maiden remained to tend the graves of her ancestors. According to legend, she married Leon and they settled here on land which is now part of Forest Home Cemetery. The deed for the government land Bourassa purchased was personally signed by President Martin Van Buren.

Two prominent families arrived in the 1850s and became the first subdividers of the area. The Henry Quick family arrived in Noyesville from Harlem, New York. Quick soon became a prominent landholder and lent his original hometown's name (Harlem) to the eastern portion of Noyesville as well as to Harlem Avenue. The David Thatcher family settled to the west of Harlem Avenue and named their portion of the community Thatcher.

The railroad came in 1856 bringing with it a workforce who settled here thus claiming the date of the community's first settlement as 1856. 

A German immigrant, Ferdinand Haase, purchased a 40-acre tract of land in 1851 which he eventually enlarged to 240 acres and turned into a popular park for residents and city dwellers, mostly from Bourassa. Haase built a home styled after the manors of New Orleans that he had seen. When he buried three members of his family near the homestead, they became the first white settlers to be interred here. 

When the Chicago and Galena Union Railroad, (now the Northwestern) established a division where Des Plaines Avenue now approaches the track in 1856, it marked the beginning of public transportation in the area. Soon after the railroad arrived, a nearby landowner, John Henry Quick, purchased a farm on the site of what is now River Forest and built a two-story boarding house. At the same time, Mr. Israel Heller erected a store building nearby. There being no municipal control, Mr. Quick named everything that needed a name Harlem, after his hometown in New York City.

In 1856, the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad opened a shop and roundhouse at today's Des Plaines Avenue and Lake Street, bringing 25 men and their families to settle there. 

In the aftermath of the Chicago Fire in 1871, many refugees came to this community to build their homes.

In 1881 a small railway called The Dummy Line was built from Chicago's west side to the cemeteries.

For several decades after 1880, a small excursion boat called the White Fawn took sightseers up and down the Des Plaines River. Docking facilities were at Haase Park, a popular picnic grove of the time.

The Village of Harlem, which was comprised of the vast area which later became River Forest and a portion of Oak Park, was incorporated in 1884. Twenty gas streetlights were installed throughout town in 1886. They came complete with a lamplighter who received a salary of $12 per month. A sausage factory started in 1890 by Karl Lau became the areas the first industry. The Metropolitan Westside' L' began electrified rapid transit service in 1895. Because it ran through Garfield Park, it became known as the Garfield Line.

In 1897, the installation of electric lighting for "whomever desired this service," was available to those living on or doing business on Madison Street. The telephone came in 1898.

When the Village applied for its own Post Office, they were informed this was not possible since there already was a Harlem, Illinois with a Post Office on the northern fringe of Rockford. Hence, a new name for the Village had to be selected. A contest was held and the last portions of the name of the town North and East were joined in a clever manner - namely Forest Park. At a village hall meeting August 12, 1907, a resolution was passed changing the name of the Village of Harlem to the Village of Forest Park.

The Forest Park Amusement Park opened at Desplaines Avenue and Harrison Street in Forest Park in 1907. It was one of the most spectacular amusement parks in its day, featuring a roller coaster superstructure. Read about the entire life of Forest Park Amusement Park IN AMAZING DETAIL, and view over 25 amazing images. 

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.