People of Mount Prospect

Does MPHS have photographs: Yes

Interviewer: Carol Ventura

Date of Interview: December 6, 1993

Oral History Text:

CAROL VENTURA: My name is Carol Ventura, it’s December 6, 1993 and I am interviewing Alice Teichert, a resident of Mt. Prospect. Thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed and for signing the consent form. Just for the information, would you state your full name, including your maiden name.

TEICHERT: My name is Alice L. Teichert. My maiden name was Jones.

VENTURA: Where were you born?

TEICHERT: I was born in Lima, Illinois.

VENTURA: When were you born?

TEICHERT: On October 16, 1924.

VENTURA: And your parents’ names?

TEICHERT: My father’s name was Charles Remington Jones, and my mother’s –I don’t care to give her maiden name. The bank always asks your mother’s maiden name, and I don’t feel that I should disclose that.

VENTURA: That’s a very valid point. Your mother’s name was Alice Jones.

TEICHERT: It was Alice, also.

VENTURA: When did you move to Mt. Prospect?

TEICHERT: We moved to Mt. Prospect April 22, 1956.

VENTURA: Was your husband an attorney at that time?

TEICHERT: Yes, he was. He had just passed the bar about a year before. We moved here with our three children. My youngest daughter was about five months old –no, seven months old, I guess. She was born in November, and we were here in April.

VENTURA: You have two sons, is that correct?

TEICHERT: Yes, two sons.

VENTURA: And how old were your sons?

TEICHERT: The oldest was eight and the other son was five.

VENTURA: What are your children’s names?

TEICHERT: My children’s names –the oldest is Robert Dale, Jr., and William Douglas and Nancy Ann.

VENTURA: What is your present address?

TEICHERT: 1205 West Robin Lane, Mt. Prospect. Our former address in Mt. Prospect was 515 North Wille Street. We lived on the north side in a Brickman home, which was a very nice, very well-built home. We had property in Northbrook, a half an acre lot, but when we priced the houses there to build one, they were quite expensive. And then my brother-in-law, Bob’s brother, and sister-in-law lived on Wille Street. They had just purchased a home on Wille Street –600 North Wille–and we went to visit them and we just loved Mt. Prospect. We loved the homes and everything, so we built one in the next block.

VENTURA: So that was in 1956 when you first moved here?

TEICHERT: Right. We sold the other lot and we moved here.

VENTURA: So you built a new home?

TEICHERT: Yes. We moved into a new home. We made a lot of nice friends. People were very friendly and very nice. I notice in there you’re talking about the different stores in town. I remember on Wednesday afternoon you could not find any store open in town.

VENTURA: Oh, really? Why?

TEICHERT: Maybe the grocery store. Everyone closed –all the paint stores and everything. They all closed on Wednesday afternoon. I don’t know why. The only store that was around that I could take the children and just mosey around and just look into –you know –was a Ben Franklin.

VENTURA: Oh, yes. I remember the Ben Franklin –dime stores, right?

TEICHERT: Yes, it was. Ben Franklin, right on Route 83. Much later the Prospect Day paper moved into that place. It was right off Northwest Highway. That’s the only place I could go shopping because we didn’t have a Randhurst, we didn’t have anything around here. The nearest shopping center, I guess, was Old Orchard.

VENTURA: Was Golf-Mill established then?

TEICHERT: I don’t know.

VENTURA: I’m not sure when Golf-Mill came into being. Old Orchard is older.

TEICHERT: I only remember my husband gave me instructions as to how to get to Old Orchard because I’m really not good at directions.

VENTURA: So you did drive then, when you moved here?

TEICHERT: Oh, yes.

VENTURA: And you had a car at your disposal?

TEICHERT: Yes. In fact, we had a Buick. We’ve always had Buicks. We purchased another Buick from –it was Busse Buick we used to have. We’ve always done our purchasing from the Buick. Now it’s Mitchell Buick, and they’ve been very nice all the time to us. But each time we purchased a car it had a different name, but it was the same place.

VENTURA: One time it was Busse Buick.

TEICHERT: Well, they moved to different places. And I remember Kieffer’s Drugstore. There was another –there was a little drugstore on the corner of Route 83 and Prospect that you could sit at a counter and have a soda or a malted milk or something like that. And I remember my son Robbie had a tooth that had grown from the upper part of his palate, you know, and he had the tooth pulled and then for a little –well, to celebrate because he was so nice and everything, a little treat for him, my husband took him there to have a malt. Everything was quite different then. I think there were either 8,000 or 10,000 people here at the time.

VENTURA: In Mt. Prospect, yes.

TEICHERT: I’m glad that it’s grown, though, because I think we have a lot of places to shop and things now that we didn’t have then. Of course, we have the beautiful library.

VENTURA: That’s true.

TEICHERT: We didn’t have that then.

VENTURA: We have a lot of wonderful facilities here, really, that weren’t here at the beginning.

TEICHERT: Oh, yes –Randhurst, now, Mayor Slaver built in his time when he was mayor. He was one responsible. Well, each time they say the mayors are responsible for certain things.

VENTURA: Since your husband was the mayor, we’re going to get into some of the things that took place and the changes that took place while your husband was mayor.

TEICHERT: Oh, good.

VENTURA: In fact, now, if you want to talk about –during what years was your husband…?

TEICHERT: Well, he was a trustee. First he ran for office in 1963.

VENTURA: That was about six years after you moved to Mt. Prospect.

TEICHERT: Yes, 1956.

VENTURA: He was an attorney here first, locally?

TEICHERT: No, he worked for Ekco Housewares in Franklin Park.

VENTURA: As an attorney for them?

TEICHERT: As an attorney, yes. In fact, he was heading up the patent department there, and then American Home Products bought this company later, but he was still the attorney for Ekco Products. But anyway, let’s see, in 1963 he ran as a trustee with two other men –John Edder and –isn’t that terrible, I can’t remember those names.

VENTURA: That’s all right. So he ran for trustee first.

TEICHERT: Yes, with two other men.

VENTURA: And then he served as trustee for a while?

TEICHERT: No, they lost. And so, in 1965 he ran with some other men as trustee on a slate with –oh, I know. The first one he ran with Bob Jackson, who was president of the park board later, and John Edder and Bob. I think the reason they weren’t elected is because they were really sort of green and unknowledgeable about it –about politics. We just thought it was a little town that you just ran for office. We didn’t realize that there were a lot of things going on that you weren’t aware of.

VENTURA: So then he ran again?

TEICHERT: Yes, and then he ran again with Dan Congrave and Joe Gratani and –I can’t remember the other man. But anyway, they ran on a slate and they won and Dan Congrave was the mayor.

VENTURA: And you husband was a trustee then.

TEICHERT: Yes. After about a year or so, I think my husband realized that a lot of things were done that maybe weren’t approved by him. He wasn’t approving them, and Joe Gratani, also, and so my husband decided that –and with the urging of other people –to run for mayor instead the next time that we had. So, he ran for mayor alone against a slate of Mayor Congrave’s.

VENTURA: What year was that?

TEICHERT: That was in 1967 –no 1969.

VENTURA: Did he win that time, then?

TEICHERT: Oh, yes, but he just ran alone. No one thought he would ever win. We called it “the impossible dream.”

VENTURA: But he obviously had a good slate, and one that people felt. …

TEICHERT: He didn’t have a slate –well, yes.

VENTURA: I mean what he was purporting to do for the village.

TEICHERT: In fact, well, there were a lot of things I guess I really shouldn’t talk about.

VENTURA: That’s all right.

TEICHERT: But anyway, people just really didn’t like what was happening in town.

VENTURA: They wanted some change.

TEICHERT: And my husband wanted to have –we had a referendum before he was mayor, this was, to have home rule and to have a village and to have the type of government we have, by the people, and to keep this a village. The other, Mayor Con grave and his group, they wanted it to become a city and to have precinct captains, and Mayor Congrave, I think, at the time wanted to become a full-time mayor. I’m not sure, but I believe that was what he would have liked to have become –you know, a full-time mayor. We felt that if you have a village government by the people that you have a different type of government. We have our mayor, and the trustees are not employees of the village. And then you have the village-manager-type system, which was what we had the referendum on, where the village manager is the top.

VENTURA: He is an employee.

TEICHERT: Yes. He’s an employee and he’s paid the top salary. He is like the president of a company, and he runs everything. He hires and fires, and he’s educated –trained in this line.

VENTURA: But then your husband as mayor is…

TEICHERT: But the mayor and that, they would be like the board. ..

VENTURA: The CEO or something.

TEICHERT: …in a company. They would make the laws, and so forth, but they were not involved in the everyday fixing of streets and the day-to-day decisions.

VENTURA: Sure. They spent their time on the broader picture, I assume.

TEICHERT: Yes. And so, we did have a referendum by the people that said we should have the village-manager-type government in Mt. Prospect, which kept us a village. And, oh, we had to go into court and everything because there was a lot of opposition against having the village manager system against a city –city against village.

VENTURA: As compared to a city.

TEICHERT: That’s why I get a little upset when I hear people call our town a city, because it isn’t.

VENTURA: We know all the struggle that…

TEICHERT: We fought really hard to keep it a village.

VENTURA: Well, I think when people say that they’re just using it as a generic term.

TEICHERT: Ch, yes. They don’t understand.

VENTURA: But when you’ve fought so hard for something. ..

TEICHERT: But they also thought that the mayor was like Mayor Daley, you know –I mean, in charge of everything, which he is not. But he makes the laws only.

VENTURA: So how many years. ..?

TEICHERT: He was mayor for two terms –for eight years.

VENTURA: What were some of the changes that took place in the village?

TEICHERT: Well, the first thing was, we had so much flooding going on. The first thing he did was, on Weller Creek that runs through town, they had to do a lot of changing on Weller Creek and take trees down, and so forth. He formed a flood committee, “Clean Streams” –a clean streams and drainage committee which looked into all these different homes. And then over on Busse and Lonquist, and everything, he and the park district and a developer put that lake –you know, that Clearwater Park –in, and that served as a little pond, you know.

VENTURA: A retention pond?

TEICHERT: And as a retention pond, also. That kept 1,000 people’s homes from flooding.

VENTURA: Isn’t that amazing.

TEICHERT: Because I remember when he was first elected and there would be rainstorms, people would call in the middle of the night and he’d go out there and make sure the sandbags were there, and they were helping them. I said, “Well, what can you do out there in the middle of the night?” He said, “Nothing but hold their hands and let them know that I really care.” And he really did. He loved doing it, and he was very farsighted, I think, about –well, building the library. At the time the bank was moving from there offices, which is now our village hall, and so at the time that this space was open, when Central School was down, National Tea Company wanted to buy this land.

VENTURA: Oh, they did? To put a National store on?

TEICHERT: Yes, and can you imagine, because right across the street, over where that mushroom farm or the onion farm was over there, that was an A&P store. Then we had a Meeske’s down on Route 83, and then we had a Jewel over on Northwest Highway, and then this would have been the National Tea Company. I mean, right in the center of our town? It just wasn’t plausible. The library really –they thought the little library over there could be used as a senior citizens building.

VENTURA: Now, where was the first library –the little library?

TEICHERT: Well, I’m talking about the senior citizens building. That was the library.

VENTURA: Okay, what we now use as the senior citizens.

TEICHERT: That was the library.

VENTURA: That was the library initially.

TEICHERT: But during the time my husband was mayor, when he became mayor it seemed like there were so many adjustments to be made because so many people wanted to be annexed to our community.

VENTURA: Oh, to Mt. Prospect?

TEICHERT: Because Prospect Heights was deciding whether they wanted to have their own mayor and so forth and so on. They weren’t incorporated, I don’t believe. And so they were changing their type of government, or doing something, and a lot of the people didn’t want to go into Prospect Heights or didn’t want to accept that part. They wanted to come into Mt. Prospect. It just seemed like the growth was so big. And then everybody was fighting to get down to United Airlines and to…

VENTURA: And to have that part of their village?

TEICHERT: …seal off the oil fields and everything, too. And so, there was a tremendous growth when my husband was mayor, on the north and the south sides. That’s where we had the most growth at the time, I mean through all the years, and that sort of sealed off our…

VENTURA: During his eight years.

TEICHERT: Yes, and that sort of sealed off all the land, though, from other people. The oil fields there, I remember there was one man that was holding up –if he would come into Mt. Prospect, all of the oil fields would be encircled by Mt. Prospect, you know. Nobody could touch it. And Des Plaines wanted it, and all different….

VENTURA: Sure.

TEICHERT: And so, this man had a house and a little land, and he didn’t –just a little part on the map, and he didn’t want to annex to anyone. But then my husband went and talked to him, and he liked him so much that he decided. …

VENTURA: He liked your husband?

TEICHERT: Yes. He decided he’d like to come into Mt. Prospect, and so there it was all sealed. We were so happy.

VENTURA: Now, that’s all around? Why don’t you tell people, for the record, where that area is.

TEICHERT: Well, it’s way south, near United Airlines.

VENTURA: Isn’t it around Higgins Road?

TEICHERT: Yes, where the oil fields are, and everything, and they never wanted to incorporate or anything because they had their own fire department and things like that –you know, United Airlines did. But then I guess they decided recently and the oil field came into Mt. Prospect now. So my husband won’t get credit for that.

VENTURA: No, it’s a little too late. But he initiated it, which is too bad.

TEICHERT: Yes, he initiated all the industrial land over off of Rand Road –you know the industrial complex there?

VENTURA: Right.

TEICHERT: That came into Mt. Prospect. There was like Northern Illinois Gas, or something.

VENTURA: Yes. That definitely helps the tax base to have all of those industries.

TEICHERT: Oh, yes, but see, then the next mayor comes along and he gets credit for that.

VENTURA: Yes.

TEICHERT: One thing I am proud of right away is, he took care of the S-curve.

VENTURA: On Route 83?

TEICHERT: By St. Raymond’s on 83 there was a death place. I mean, there were so many accidents there, and everything. No one could get a light at the time from the state. I don’t know, my husband just seemed to, like, “Well, we’ll just go and find out about why we can’t get a light.”

VENTURA: He wouldn’t take no for an answer.

TEICHERT: No, and he just seemed to do that. He was so –well, of course, I love him, so that’s why –but he was very charming.

VENTURA: It sounds as though he was.

TEICHERT: He really was.

VENTURA: Sure, and very caring about people.

TEICHERT: So he was able to get a light put in there, and, of course, that changed the whole thing because that was very. ..

VENTURA: Very dangerous.

TEICHERT: They changed the S-curve and it was a lot better then.

VENTURA: Right. Now, did you say they had to do a referendum to get the library, too?

TEICHERT: No. You see, my husband at the time –well, whenever the library or whenever –I don’t think the library has ever had a referendum passed. Maybe they never will. People don’t seem to care if you have enough books.

VENTURA: They don’t want their taxes raised.

TEICHERT: And years ago there was a little problem there because the library was like a separate –well, they still are separate from the village.

VENTURA: A separate entity.

TEICHERT: The thing is, at the time there was a little political stuff going on where the people and the library, years and years ago, this was like, “We don’t have to tell you what our budget is or how much we are spending,” but the village has to give them money. They would make out a budget, they’d bring it to the village, and then the village would approve of their budget. ..

VENTURA: Appropriate the money for it.

TEICHERT: …and give it to them.

VENTURA: But they didn’t want to tell what they were using it for.

TEICHERT: But there was this battle going on all the time — “Well, we don’t have to tell you what our –you are not in control of the library.” I mean, there were a lot of problems before Bob was mayor.

VENTURA: And a lot of headaches, I’m sure.

TEICHERT: Yes. So, whenever they would have a referendum where they would want something, it wouldn’t pass. Even the schools won’t pass, you know.

VENTURA: Right.

TEICHERT: So I think at the time we needed a new village hall, and the bank was building that nice, big building they have.

VENTURA: Where they are now.

TEICHERT: They said the village could buy their old bank building. At the time they needed a new library here, and the senior citizens needed a place to meet because all of the churches and everything were always coming to Bob and saying,”Why can’t we have a senior center where all of the groups can meet and where we can all have. ..?” So it just seemed like a wonderful idea, just to build the library –to buy this land and build the library –and buy the old bank building for the village hall so that the police and fire department could have more room than that old building, because that’s where our village hall was. It was so cramped and so crowded. It really was small for the town. So the village board approved of it.

VENTURA: That’s wonderful.

TEICHERT: And they didn’t have a referendum, but then the people were really mad at my husband.

VENTURA: Were they?

TEICHERT: Yes, because they felt that they should have had a referendum for the library. Well, we wouldn’t have had it.

VENTURA: We wouldn’t be sitting here today.

TEICHERT: No, and we wouldn’t have had the village hall. We wouldn’t have had anything.

VENTURA: Right, and the senior center.

TEICHERT: You know, it’s like the library, how much did it cost? Three million dollars. Do you think that library would be built today –I mean, can you imagine the cost? I think the whole thing was a little over three million dollars, for that bank building. ..

VENTURA: The senior center and the library –for all three.

TEICHERT: I mean, all together, and my goodness.

VENTURA: You wouldn’t be able to touch the land now for. ..

TEICHERT: People were saying, “Well, why don’t you just build a second story on that old” –you know, the senior citizen building –“and make that the library.” And we’re saying, “That is not going to serve all the people that we have in the community now –54,000 people.” That served people when they were 10,000 people.

VENTURA: It’s a good thing that you and your husband were that farsighted that you could see that that wasn’t going to be enough for the village.

TEICHERT: He took a lot. He didn’t run after that, not because of that. And everybody said that if he had run again he probably wouldn’t be elected because of the library. I don’t believe that and neither did he, but it’s just that he had spent…

VENTURA: Eight years is a long time.

TEICHERT: …twelve years. Well, he was a trustee for four years.

VENTURA: He was a trustee first, right.

TEICHERT: And then eight years. You know, that’s a part-time job, and at the time it took so much time because of all the annexations and all the different things going on.

VENTURA: So he still was working and he had his family.

TEICHERT: He had to work and he had the family and everything.

VENTURA: Twelve years of public service is a long time.

TEICHERT: That was an awful lot. And now, there is hardly anything to do, really, in town.

VENTURA: Sure, because we don’t have any more land.

TEICHERT: And also he was the liquor commissioner.

VENTURA: All kinds of everything.

TEICHERT: Yes. But it was a very wonderful time, serving the community.

VENTURA: A time of a lot of change.

TEICHERT: And even today so many people are so nice to me, and they’ve always been nice to Bob. They still called him mayor, and he was very proud of the things that he did.

VENTURA: Well, I’m sure that in retrospect people appreciated what he did and saw the value in it. Sometimes, unfortunately, when we’re doing things people who are not as farsighted can’t appreciate what we’re doing.

TEICHERT: But, I’ll tell you, if the library has a referendum again it won’t pass, even for more books. I don’t know why that is.

VENTURA: Well, as you said, people don’t want to spend. If you ask them if they would spend more money, they tend to say no.

TEICHERT: You know, that is a shame. But see, my husband was not going to go on to any other political future. I mean, he had nothing else in mind. And so, he was able to really be farsighted and say, “Well, I think this is best for my town. I don’t have to worry about being elected again or doing anything because 11m not going on to any state. …”

[Side B]

TEICHERT: To finish off that, I think that he felt that he would do what he felt would benefit the village more. You have to look ahead. He knew that we needed these things, and so I think that’s why –and the village board knew it, also. They had to approve it, of course, and so they did. I think it was wonderful.

VENTURA: It was, and we as residents have a great deal to be thankful for, for his foresight and for doing it.

TEICHERT: I think so, too. There are so many things that he did do –another thing that he did was, someone just told me the other day, George March. He said, “I remember when Bob Epley and George” –Bob Epley was the village manager at the time, and he and my husband went downtown to the MSD — Metropolitan Sanitary District –and they were going to decided about a deep tunnel plan. Well, Des Plaines did not want it, but Arlington Heights and Mt. Prospect, we wanted the deep tunnel plan for flooding and so forth. He said my husband made the most wonderful speech about why it should be put in the northwest suburbs, and they gave it to the northwest suburbs and they started the deep tunnel plan.

VENTURA: And that has made a dramatic difference.

TEICHERT: Oh, it really has. The only thing we felt that, we wanted to go to Lake Michigan for water instead of Chicago because we didn’t feel that Chicago should be able to turn our spigot on and off or price us. Lake Michigan would have been better.

VENTURA: Yes.

TEICHERT: And there are a lot of things I can’t think of right now.

VENTURA: It must have been an interesting time for you, and also for the children.

TEICHERT: Ch, yes, well, the children –one thing, though, that I remember about Mt. Prospect when the kids were younger was midget football –Mt. Prospect Midget Football we had. That was the most wonderful group of people you’d ever want to meet.

VENTURA: Was that through the park district or through the school?

TEICHERT: Through the park district. They played over at Lions Park. Actually, my husband wrote up the by-laws and everything for that. I’m not sure ~- midget football was not governed by the park district?

VENTURA: No. Your husband set up the fields.

TEICHERT: It was an individual thing. It wasn’t by the park district. It was a group of people just like the softball group. My husband started that, too. Well, he didn’t start midget football because there were some other people that started that, but the softball, they just got together and they would play up at Prospect High School, and then finally the park district got involved with twelve-inch softball.

VENTURA: And made it more organized.

TEICHERT: I mean sixteen-inch softball. Then they started getting together, and now they have a huge softball tournament and [other] tournaments. They play every night almost. My husband played softball all through the years until he was about sixty years old.

VENTURA: Oh, did he!

TEICHERT: Yes. He loved softball.

VENTURA: What schools did your children go to? What grade school?

TEICHERT: Robbie and Bill and Nancy, they all went to Fairview.

VENTURA: Where is that located?

TEICHERT: That’s on the north side. That was on Memory Lane. The Fairview School –Memory Lane and what other?

TEICHERT: I think it was Isabella ____________.

TEICHERT: No, not Isabella. That runs the same as…

TEICHERT: Maybe we’re not on Fairview.

TEICHERT: I can’t think. It’s up by Prospect High School on the north side.

VENTURA: Okay, and then they all went to Prospect High School?

TEICHERT: No, Robbie went to Prospect for a year or two years. They went to Central School, too. Rob and Bill went to Central.

VENTURA: Was that a junior high?

TEICHERT: That was a junior high. And my daughter Nancy went to Gregory School, which was off of 83. It’s near Rand Road. Now they’ve sold it because some other church group bought it.

VENTURA: The church group that had it, yes.

TEICHERT: It was Schroeder’s farm. That’s another thing. They sold Schroeder’s farm –they took their farm away, and everything –to build this Gregory School which only served the community for, I don’t know, seven to ten years.

VENTURA: Oh, really? And then it was sold to the church?

TEICHERT: And then they sold it because there weren’t enough children to go to school.

VENTURA: They didn’t need the school, yes.

TEICHERT: I think that’s what happened with this referendum. People were thinking. First you have too many schools, then you don’t have enough. Like Forest View School, they’ve sold that. That’s where both of my sons graduated from.

VENTURA: Oh, so they went to Prospect first, and then to Forest View?

TEICHERT: Robbie went to Prospect first. Bill went all the way through Forest View, and so did Nancy, but Robbie graduated from Forest View, too. Now they don’t have any school left. Forest View is gone.

VENTURA: That’s true. Where did you do most of your shopping? Did you shop downtown in Mt. Prospect?

TEICHERT: Oh, yes, a lot. Novak & Parker.

VENTURA: Groceries, you mentioned earlier.

TEICHERT: Groceries –Jewel and Meeske’s, and then there was a little delicatessen, and Golden Delicatessen, and that’s where the parking lot is at…

VENTURA: Oh, for the train station?

TEICHERT: …83 and. ..

VENTURA: Emerson?

TEICHERT: No, that’s not Emerson. What’s that little street that goes past the Old Town Inn?

VENTURA: Is that Wille?

TEICHERT: What street is that?

VENTURA: I don’t know. That little short street.

TEICHERT: I’m forgetful. Anyway, that little, short street that goes, and Golden’s was there. They had a delicatessen, and you could go there anytime –you know, like Sundays if your aunts or uncles or anybody would come out to visit, you could always run to Golden’s and. ..

VENTURA: They were open.

TEICHERT: …they had salads and all kinds of things that you could hurry up and get, you know. They knew everybody in town. Bill Golden, I still see him around.

VENTURA: What about hardware?

TEICHERT: Oh, Busse-Bierman Hardware. They were always very nice. –

VENTURA: Where were they located?

TEICHERT: They were located –well, they’re still there, where they are now, right by Old Town.

VENTURA: Oh, by the tavern –that little hardware.

TEICHERT: Yes, that little hardware store.

VENTURA: That is a great little [hardware store].

TEICHERT: And there was a paint store on 83, right under the Republicans’ building, under there. That used to go for paint. I can’t remember that man’s name.

TEICHERT: ____________________.

TEICHERT: Come over here. I can’t hear you.

TEICHERT: __________ Colletsen’s, where the Chinese restaurant is now?

VENTURA: Oh, Alice’s?

TEICHERT: Yes. That was like for men and boys ____________.

VENTURA: That was a clothing store.

TEICHERT: And the Gift Box was next to that.

TEICHERT: Ch, the Gift Box. Yes, that always was a place –later on, of course…

VENTURA: The bakery –Continental?

TEICHERT: No, it was next door to…?

VENTURA: No, how long has that Continental Bakery. ..?

TEICHERT: That was Meeske’s.

VENTURA: That’s where Meeske’s was, before Continental took it over. Well, I imagine that as the wife of the mayor that you went to a lot of social functions.

TEICHERT: Ch, yes.

VENTURA: Was that an interesting time for you?

TEICHERT: Ch, it really was. I remember after Bob was elected there was a big ball –we called it a citizens’ ball –at Randhurst, and they were so nice to us. Randhurst was always wonderful to us. We had a big ball, right on the floor. I think it was over by Montgomery Ward’s –that area there –with a big band, and all the citizens came.

VENTURA: Ch, how interesting.

TEICHERT: That was really nice. And there were a lot of other things. All of the different groups, like Lions Club and all of them, are always so nice to me. When they invited Bob for dinner or something, they would invite me also, which was very nice. The mayor before, apparently –I don’t think his wife liked to attend some of those.

VENTURA: Perhaps she didn’t like socializing or didn’t feel comfortable with it, or something.

TEICHERT: Well, it wasn’t really socializing because half of the time. ..

VENTURA: You had to listen to all those meetings.

TEICHERT: …you’d go to homeowners groups, and so forth, and then the wife would sit alone while the husband would be encircled by people in that community talking about a hole in their street or what they needed for their area. And then sometimes it got a little boring because it seemed like after a while it got to be that you felt very left out. Those were the homeowners’ dinners and dances. And then, too, you would attend so many of those things that you would lose your own friends and being with your real good friends.

VENTURA: Sure, because you only have so much time.

TEICHERT: Yes. That’s another reason why I guess he decided not to run again. We wanted to get back into our own life.

VENTURA: You had mentioned, was it your sister who lived here on Wille before you came out?

TEICHERT: No, it was Bob’s brother and sister-in-law.

VENTURA: So you did have family close.

TEICHERT: Oh, yes, and they still lived here. When we moved out here, though, it was so –it was like moving out into the country. My mother used to say, “Oh, you’re moving way out there into the sticks, away from Chicago. It’s so far in the country.”

VENTURA: It was very different because there was a lot of farming. I have relatives who moved to Arlington Heights — what is now Arlington Heights –many years ago in the early fifties, and we all were from Chicago. We used to say, “We’re going out to the farm.” Now, they didn’t farm, but it was all farm land when you drove out here. So yes, this did seem like a long way away from the city.

TEICHERT: Yes, that’s the big change.

VENTURA: There are no more farms.

TEICHERT: No, but it’s so wonderful to have a Randhurst.

VENTURA: Ch, yes. Randhurst made a big difference.

TEICHERT: Ch, it really did. I’ll never forget that. And to have a hospital, Northwest Community Hospital. We didn’t have a hospital around, either.

VENTURA: When did that come into the area? Do you recall?

TEICHERT: Northwest Community Hospital –when was the hospital built?

VENTURA: Was that in the sixties also?

TEICHERT: I remember when we lived on Wille Street they came around asking for donations. They were talking about building a hospital. And then you had to promise to pay so much a month to contribute to …

VENTURA: Oh, a pledge.

TEICHERT: …a pledge for a hospital. You know, when you’ve just built a new house and all the things.

VENTURA: And you have a young family.

TEICHERT: Well, we did pledge. I don’t remember exactly, but I thought, Oh, my gosh, how are we going to…? My husband said, “We have to pledge money,” because, one time my Nancy fell out of the buggy while I was sprinkling the dirt because we were trying to germinate the lawn –you know, the grass seed –and the spray was going on her so I put her behind me in the buggy and was spraying. All of a sudden she had turned over and fallen out of the buggy and she cut her head open on the brake on the buggy. I didn’t know where to take her. I had to take her to some clinic. The people across the street helped me. We went to some clinic in Prospect Heights.

VENTURA: Oh, really, so there wasn’t any. …

TEICHERT: No.

VENTURA: So Holy Family wasn’t around ______________?

TEICHERT: Well, that was pretty far away from where we lived.

VENTURA: Sure.

TEICHERT: I don’t know, when you’re first here –we had only been here a month or so, because we didn’t have grass then. Nowadays my son Robbie works over at Northwest Community, and my daughter, Nancy, has just graduated nursing and she just passed the state board this last summer.

VENTURA: That’s wonderful.

TEICHERT: They were so wonderful to my husband when he passed away, at Northwest. We’ve always been very proud of having contributed even a small amount to Northwest Community. I mean, all those different things. Oh, I remember Kruse’s, over where Mr. & Mrs. P.?

VENTURA: Yes. Kruse’s had a restaurant.

TEICHERT: We had every Sunday after midget football –all the kids played midget football, and I was president of the women’s auxiliary for two years, and we had all these little girls. We had twelve teams –senior teams and junior teams–and we were such a wonderful group of people. Oh, I just loved those people. In fact, a lot of people said if it weren’t for midget football my husband wouldn’t have been elected –midget football and St. Raymond’s church, even though we’re not Catholic.

VENTURA: Oh, really? But you were so involved.

TEICHERT: But St. Raymond’s, they were always wonderful to us, too.

VENTURA: So then you’d all go into Kruse’s after football?

TEICHERT: Oh, yes, after football, and we’d have chicken and dumpling soup –homemade chicken and dumpling soup and hamburgers. All the kids, you know. This was the place to go after midget football in the afternoon. Then we had dinner-dances and floor shows that I put on when I was the president.

VENTURA: From the auxiliary?

TEICHERT: Yes, for all the football people. First it grew from, we started at Old Orchard and we had a dinner-dance — no, we started at Salt Creek where we just had a dance, then we had the floor show and we’d have all the coaches dressed up in white cheerleader skirts, and they wore strainers from Ekco and T-shirts, and then they’d put on some kind of funny wigs, and then they’d have on their regular old men’s shoes or boots or whatever they wore. They weren’t dressed like women, they just looked so funny. Some of them were like high school teachers and doctors. I remember Dr. Wayne and all of these different people –Dr. Cochero and all of them. They were all involved, and they’d get into this floor show and do cheerleading, and then all the mothers would do their cheerleading. We had a wonderful, wonderful floor show, and it got so big we had to have it at Chevy Chase.

VENTURA: Oh, did you? It got too big for Old Orchard –for the country club at Old Orchard?

TEICHERT: Oh, yes. Two years we had it there, and I remember I was so proud. In the ladies’ room I heard these women talking. They had invited other people from other towns to come, and they said, “And wait until you see the floor show. It is so funny.” We all had a good time. That was a good time of life.

VENTURA: Is there anyone thing that you would want the children who live in Mt. Prospect to remember about the history of their hometown?

TEICHERT: Well, I think that I’d like them to –first of all, if they look at that history book that was put together by the historical society, I wish they would go to the village hall and see a nice picture of my husband.

VENTURA: That picture in there is not complimentary.

TEICHERT: No, it was not. It was terrible.

VENTURA: Didn’t you mention that there were several items in there that weren’t correct that you would like to…?

TEICHERT: No, it wasn’t that it wasn’t correct. My husband started the paramedics in Mt. Prospect, too. I mean, there were a lot of different things. I think they only touched on the library, but they didn’t touch on that we did have a referendum and he really started the referendum for the village-manager type of government in our community.

VENTURA: Right, as we discussed earlier.

TEICHERT: Which is very important to our whole community.

VENTURA: Certainly.

TEICHERT: Because I’d like the children to know what kind of government this is. This is not city government where you have precincts and trustees who only care about a certain little part of their community. Also, it’s not controlled by any political party. We do not run on a political party, Republicans or Democrats. You just run as a citizen. That’s very important to know that.

VENTURA: And that’s a very important fact for the young children, too, to remember.

TEICHERT: And then there were so many people who gave so much time, and they still do –that work on committees and things that you’re doing now, too. You give up time because you love this community and you care about what the past is and the present and what the future will be.

VENTURA: Sure, certainly.

TEICHERT: I just hope they remember that.

VENTURA: You really have broadened the knowledge, I think, for the students or for any of the people in the community who want to listen, because I think it really was very, very interesting, what you had to say about the village and what was going on at that time. So I’d like to thank you very much for doing this interview.

TEICHERT: Well, thank you, Carol. It was a pleasure.

VENTURA: It was very nice.

TEICHERT: Yes.

VENTURA: Thanks.

 

Does MPHS have photographs: No

Interviewer: Dorothy Halverson

Date of Interview: August 8, 1991

Oral History Text:

DOROTHY HALVERSON: [remarks joined in progress] …Owen in Mt. Prospect. Evelyn lives out in Wonder Lake. She was working at Keefer’s today, and it was more convenient to have her come here for the interview. Today is August 8th, 5:30 p.m., 1991, and I want to thank Evelyn for agreeing to be interviewed and for signing the release forms. Now we’ll start off. Can you tell me your full name?

EVELYN SCHUBECK: Evelyn Lange Schubeck.

HALVERSON: And when were you born and where?

SCHUBECK: I was born December 11, 1920, in Park Ridge, Illinois.

HALVERSON: And your parents names?

SCHUBECK: My father’s name was Walter Lange. My mother’s name was Laura.

HALVERSON: And when did you move to Mt. Prospect?

SCHUBECK: We moved to Mt. Prospect in 1930.

HALVERSON: And tell me a little bit about your house that you moved to.

SCHUBECK: The father and grandfather built the house. It wasn’t quite finished by the time school started, so we would come with my dad and grandfather and stay at the house there and let them work until school started, and then we’d go to school and go home with them in the evening. So by the end of September, they had the house finished, and we moved in. It was a bigger house than we were used to. We had more room to run around, more room to play. It was strange because some of the rooms weren’t completely finished-they didn’t have wallpaper, they didn’t have paint on it. But the basics were there, and you had a place that you can sleep. So, that was when I was in fourth grade, and I continued on to go to school there at St. John’s until the eighth grade. I graduated from there in 1934 of June, and then I went on to Arlington Heights to high school.

HALVERSON: How did you get there?

SCHUBECK: The Garlisch boys drove the car and they dropped their brothers and sisters off at St. John’s and then they’d stop next door and pick us up and then we rode on from there. It was the weirdest contraption, that old car. Why, I remember one time the car broke down and froze our ears. It seemed like an awful, awful long time to get from the house to the high school.

HALVERSON: Which is just a couple miles.

SCHUBECK: Yes. Actually it was only five miles, but it seemed forever.

HALVERSON: Now your house was a little-there’s some land around it. Did your father farm?

SCHUBECK: Oh, yes. There was five acres of land there.

HALVERSON: What did he raise?

SCHUBECK: He raised beets and carrots and parsnips and parsley and tomatoes and onion sets.

HALVERSON: Was this his full-time business?

SCHUBECK: No. My grandfather was working on the farm continually, but Dad worked at Stewart-Warner to supplement the monies to keep five kids and a mother and a father. Our grandparents lived with us, too, so there was a house full of people.

HALVERSON: Now, Mt. Prospect was the town that you went to. What did you mostly do when you went to Mt. Prospect? Did you shop for your groceries there or what did you shop?

SCHUBECK: Yes. We shopped at the National Tea Store, which was on Main Street and the hardware store, which was on Busse, which is Busse Biermann’s. And we got our shoes at the little shoe store on Busse Avenue.

HALVERSON: You said for farm equipment, anything that your father used to use?

SCHUBECK: Oh, yes. Whenever any of the equipment on the farm broke down, they’d bring it into town to Mr. Mein, who had a blacksmith shop on Northwest Highway and Busse, and he’d fix it. We had an old 1929 Ford truck that we used to drive. I remember that thing because it had three pedals on the floor and you never knew which pedal to push.

HALVERSON: Did you drive it? Did you learn to drive it?

SCHUBECK: Oh, yes. Out in the field we drove. I was about ten. That was about the time I learned to drive a car. Of course, you didn’t get a license until you were sixteen.

HALVERSON: Did you have a horse, like to do the plowing?

SCHUBECK: We had two horses. Old Doll, and Bill was the other one. One was-no, Mike was his name-Mike was sway-back. We didn’t have to use a saddle to ride him. They used them to plow and cultivate.

HALVERSON: Did you have cows and chickens?

SCHUBECK: No, not at first. The chickens came later, but only having five acres, you couldn’t have a cow. But we used to go to Mr. Linnemann to get milk, who lived down the road. [tape interrupted] We went to Grandpa Kruse’s, and when Dad would have a beer, then the kids would get penny candy. But we didn’t get to town too often because there just wasn’t enough time for the farm work.

HALVERSON: There were a couple factories. Did you ever get to see these factories that were in town? We heard about the pickle factory.

SCHUBECK: No. I never went in there, but it was owned by Mr. Budlong, and there used to be little storage sheds where we stored our onion sets. The other thing was the Crowfoot, which was a staple factory. Never went in there, either, because it was too small. [tape interrupted]

HALVERSON: When you graduated from high school, then what did you do?

SCHUBECK: I went to work at Stewart-Warner in Chicago, and I worked there until after the war. Then after the war all the boys came back, so I was out of a job. My grandfather happened to be at Mrs. Burda’s Tavern and Lunchroom one day, and she asked him which one of his granddaughters would like to work in the store because she couldn’t get along with the girl that worked for her husband. And so my grandfather came home and the sister next oldest to me, she said, “When Joe comes back from service,” she said, “I’m not going to work.” And the other sister, the younger sister said, “I’d never get along with that biddie.” So who did that leave, but little old me? [laughter] So I tried. I went to work. I talked to her. She was showing me around there at the store and we had a fountain in there and showed me how to make the stuff at the fountain, and I didn’t think I was going to last two weeks. It was really something. But I did. I stuck it out.

HALVERSON: It was not a drugstore then?

SCHUBECK: Yes, it was. She had a man, whose name was on the door, to fill prescriptions since her husband passed away and she wasn’t a pharmacist. But I worked for her until she sold the store to Steve Brandt. He bought it in ’46, ’47. And then he sold to Keefer, and every time the business was sold, I went right with it just like a fixture.

HALVERSON: And eventually it just became a drugstore then?

SCHUBECK: Yes. But Wally’s was kind of a-there was a fountain in the store when Brandt had it and when they closed the little store and built the big one out in front. They had a fountain there, and I used to get up at 6:30 in the morning and come down and make coffee, go to the bakery and get the sweet rolls and have sweet rolls and coffee before they. ..

HALVERSON: There was a bakery in town?

SCHUBECK: Oh, yes. Horlich’s Bakery.

HALVERSON: And you bought the things from there?

SCHUBECK: We bought the things from there, yes. And then I’d stay there until about two o’clock, three o’clock in the afternoon.

HALVERSON: And how did you get home again?

SCHUBECK: By car. I drove my own car, yes, because, I mean, no bus service. There was nothing.

HALVERSON: What was your salary?

SCHUBECK: For Burda when I started, I was making $25 and when I started working for Steve Brandt, then it went up to about $50, which was good money those days, you know.

HALVERSON: And those were eight-hour days?

SCHUBECK: Eight hour days, yes. And, of course, there for a while Brandt opened up another store in Lake Zurich, and then I’d spend my time between Mt. Prospect and Lake Zurich. But that didn’t last too long. Then he sold the store to Keefer, and we still had the fountain in the store then. They were eight-hour days there, five days a week.

HALVERSON: You were closed on Sunday?

SCHUBECK: No, they were open from like nine to one. The store was always open, 365 days a year, just like it is now. And what else can I say about that? [laughs] [tape interrupted]

HALVERSON: When did you move? Now Keefer is on this side of the tracks now. What year did you move?

SCHUBECK: It’s got to be at least twenty years ago because Jerry has been there now sixteen or seventeen. Of course, when we moved over on this other side, it just became more or less a drugstore. We had no fountain. And the original store that was there was Brumburg’s Dime Store. And the other stores around us were Sunberg’s Men Store, Strass’ Ladies Shop, and there was a laundromat there and a grocery store where Sam’s is now. What else?

|HALVERSON: Schule’s came later?

SCHUBECK: Yes.

HALVERSON: That was McMann’s also.

SCHUBECK: Yes, before that. They sold more less clothing and. .

HALVERSON: Dry goods.

SCHUBECK: …and dry goods and stuff like that, yes.

HALVERSON: The first pharmacist, did he make his own pills like with a mortar and a pestle?

SCHUBECK: He did a lot of compounding, yes, but not altogether. I mean, there’s always been. ..

HALVERSON: The cough medicines that he would pour.

SCHUBECK: Yes. Or the doctor would prescribe a mixture, you know, for different things together. The favorite one was Benalin and H~codan. [laughter] And that, of course, did cure a cough because a couple times, you know, in the wintertime somebody’s germ jumped on you, you know, and I mean you had a cough. You had to take something to clear it up, and that stuff really cut.

HALVERSON: I suppose a lot of people came in and told you their problem and would like medication without a prescription also, wouldn’t they?

SCHUBECK: That’s true. That’s true. And they still do. I mean, they. ..

HALVERSON: Especially arthritis or looking for something to put on.

SCHUBECK: And rubs and different aspirin. Well, now they got so many different kinds-Advil and all that other stuff like Motrin and all those things. But, basically it was all prescriptions and also we have these things for cancer patients, the bags and. .. HALVERSON: Oh, you sell those?

SCHUBECK: Oh, yes. We have a lot of people. It’s amazing how many people. ..

HALVERSON: Do you fill syringes, too?

SCHUBECK: No. Oh, no. It’s amazing the amount of people that have cancer and, I mean, it’s not just in town. ..

HALVERSON: Oh, you mean supplies, medical supplies.

SCHUBECK: Yes, for cancer patients.

HALVERSON: Colostomy bags and things like that?

SCHUBECK: Yes. And they come from all around, from Palatine and Arlington and Prospect Heights and Itasca.

HALVERSON: How many pharmacists are in there now?

SCHUBECK: Just one full-time. Jerry is full-time, but he has two other ones that help him out to give him a rest once in a while.

HALVERSON: And how many employees?

SCHUBECK: There’s one, two, three, four, five, six of us, I think. It’s way down, because, I mean, …

HALVERSON: Did you have more years ago, more employees there?

SCHUBECK: Oh, yes. When Keefer had the store, we had so many more employees there. There had to be at least twenty of us. But you see, I mean, the shifts now, Jerry works from nine to nine, and we work from nine to five and then somebody else comes in at five and works until nine, so actually you don’t need a lot of the extra help. [tape interrupted]

HALVERSON: When you first started, the town was a lot a different. The stores were different than now. Can you describe a little bit how the changes are?

SCHUBECK: Well, all the grocery stores have moved out of town. The ladies shop is still here yet, but the men’s store is gone. There are no laundromats in town. There used to be one right on Prospect Avenue down the street from the drugstore now. There were about three restaurants. Sometimes you’d bring your lunch to work, sometimes you’d eat out.

HALVERSON: Where did you eat?

SCHUBECK: At the Prospect House or go over to Kruse’s, because they had a nice dining room there and the home-cooked food is what I appreciated most. I want to stop, please. [tape interrupted] When I first started working in the drugstore most of the people just came in and asked what they could take for their illnesses. Most of the things were cough syrups or aspirin. They didn’t have too many antibiotics. I suppose they did have some, but I don’t remember which ones. As the years went on and things got more complicated, people just went to the doctor oftener than they did then. The prescriptions became more complicated and more antibiotics and more aspirin and more cough syrups, so many different kinds, and antihistamines and things like that, which you didn’t have a lot of when I first started working in the store. Now people still come in and ask for advice, but you can’t suggest too much because you might get into trouble. If they got sicker, you know, I mean, then you’d be in real trouble. Most of the doctors prescribe mixed cough mixtures, antibiotics, ear medicine, all kinds of eye preparations. It’s amazing.

HALVERSON: For cataracts.

SCHUBECK: For cataracts and for other eye infections also. Where before, they’d say, “Well, just go home and use boric acid and water and keep bathing it” until it went away, but now you got all this high-tech stuff.

HALVERSON: Do you remember what aspirins cost first?

SCHUBECK: When I first started, a bottle of a hundred aspirin was about 49 cents. And today it’s about $10.89 for Bayer. Of course, you got a lot of spin-offs now, you know, like the. ..

HALVERSON: Ibuprofen?

SCHUBECK: Yes. Things like. ..

HALVERSON: Acetaminophen.

SCHUBECK: Like Tylenol used to be the big thing. Now you got ibuprofen and a lot of generic things, you know, that can be made cheaper. Basically they’re the same thing, but less money.

HALVERSON: You all used to have penny candy there. Did you always have penny candy?

SCHUBECK: Yes. Always had penny candy. Not as much as we do now, but Mr. Bill’s were the big sellers and red hot dollars and little fish and Tootsie Rolls. When I started, you used to get two Tootsie Rolls for a penny and now they’re a nickel apiece.

HALVERSON: That hasn’t gone up much then.

SCHUBECK: No. [laughs] Let’s see, what else? Mary Jane’s. We still have those. And, I don’t know what the heck-the red whips.

HALVERSON: Licorice?

SCHUBECK: Yes, licorice. And candy bars were a nickel and now they’re forty-five cents, so it’s really changed. [tape interrupted]

HALVERSON: How were records kept years ago and how have they changed now? Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

SCHUBECK: When I first started, they used to write all the prescription numbers and what it was and who the doctor was and the patient’s name in a book. And maybe you filled fifteen, twenty prescriptions a day, which made it easier. Then, after a while, as the business grew, then you had a profile card where you wrote down the date the prescription was filled, the number, who it was for, what the medicine was and how much it cost, so that at the end of the year the customer would have a record of what he spent. And now, it’s all on computer, and we don’t have to do any extra writing any more-only to file all these prescriptions because as the thing comes off the computer, you get a little prescription label like, which you paste on another piece of paper and all that has to be filed. So consequently you’ve got reams and reams of paper. It’s amazing how much you use just to keep daily records, you know. And then, of course, at the end of the year, the computer can give you all the information on how many prescriptions you had filled that year and the cost. It even adds it up for you now, so you don’t have to do anything. When it comes for taxes and things like that, you just got a record of what each member of the family and how much you spent on them. The records are more complete.

HALVERSON: Did you always take cash or could you charge years ago?

SCHUBECK: No. You could charge. But it wasn’t like it is now because the prescriptions then were not as expensive as they are now. Good God, now some of the prescriptions are $90 and $100, and a lot of credit cards are being used now, which was unheard of years ago. That’s another thing. That’s another whole ball of wax. [tape interrupted]

HALVERSON: You’re living out in Wonder Lake now, but you still commute and come back here. There must be a special reason why you still come back to Mt. Prospect and work at Keefer’s.

SCHUBECK: Well, it’s because I’ve got forty-two years in, almost forty-three. At the end of August I start my forty-third year, and I like the people. I was born here, so I expect I’m going to die here. [laughter] But, no, I really do-I like the people. They’re all very friendly. They’re easy to get along with. All the kids I work with are all easy to get along with. And three days a week, that just gives you something different to do that you’re just not sitting and vegetating because I think that’s where a lot of people go wrong. After they reach the age of sixtyfive, they just sit down and that’s it. They have no hobbies, they have nothing to do. So they’re going to expire. I’m not planning on that. I’m going to die with my boots on. [laughter]

Does MPHS have photographs: No

Address in Mount Prospect: Unknown

Birth Date: Unknown

Death Date: Unknown

Marriage
Date: Unknown

Spouse: Unknow

Children: Unknown

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments:

Irma Schlemmer was the Head Librarian for the Mount Prospect Public Library in the early years of their existence. She was influential in the campaigned to make the Library a tax supported organization. She later worked as a trustee for the library. She was a president of the Mount Prospect Woman’s Club, the organization that first organized the Library. She was also a member of Saint Paul Church and the Saint Paul Ladies Aid. She worked as a high school teacher.

 

Oral History

Interviewer: Dolores Haugh (Note: Misspelling in text)

Date of Interview: May 25, 1970

Oral History Text:

DORIS WEBER: This is Doris Weber. The Mount Prospect Historical Society is having their last meeting of the year at the Mount Prospect Country Club, Monday evening, May 25, 1970. Delores Howe is presenting the program, Mrs. Irma Schlemmer.
DELORES HOWE: Irma is a neighbor of mine, and I live next door to her, practically. But really, I think my first recollection of Irma was when –I’m going to reminisce a little bit. We joined Yomarcos over at South Church when we first moved into town, and somehow or another we got involved as being program chairmen and we decided to make a Roaring ’20s party. So I went to Irma and I said, “Irma, help! I need help. I’ve got to do some research on this. What do you think I should do?” She said, “Oh, there is a real good book in the library on that but it’s out.” I said, “Well, whenever it comes in, give me a call.” I was over at my neighbor’s house, and it was a real terrible, rainy afternoon –it was a Sunday –and here, clippity clop through the rain, comes Irma Schlemmer with the book under her raincoat so that I could do my research homework for our Roaring ’20s party which, by the way, turned out to be a smash. But it takes a heap of people to get something going like a public library, and it’s hard to say where you draw the line of who begins what because as things go along there are many, many facets. Itls like a diamond. Itls rough at first, just like our historical society was. It was nothing. It was just a rock, and then all of a sudden out of that rock little chips began to form, and pretty soon there was depth to it, and pretty soon there were shining parts to it. There was growth and value. Even though a diamond is chipped away by time, the value of it increases as it becomes more brilliant and has more facets. I hope that our society will be this way, just as the library has been this way. Last month we heard some of the beginnings of sponsorship of the Mount Prospect Womens Club, and tonight, Irma, lId like you to just come up here. I’ll sit up here with you if youlre scared. But you know she really isnlt. And she’s always saying, “You know what, I’m so afraid,” and tonight she really didn’t feel good.
SCHLEMMER: I asked for some water because. ..
HOWE: She was really under duress tonight because Irma has been kind of ill. We l_re so glad you came through anyway.
SCHLEMMER: Well, thank you. I have Mrs.. She is so wonderful at this. I have no speech prepared, really.
HOWE: That’s fine. Tell it like it is.
SCHLEMMER: Mr. Jacks said to me, “Just put some notes down on an envelope,” and since I always do what I am told, that’s what I did. I was a little surprised. I knew that this talk was coming up, and I had been out of town for a few days and then came back on Wednesday night. Thursday morning I was out selling pop, and some man said to me, “I hear you’re going to give a talk at the library.” I said, “Oh, I am?” So after making a call that afternoon and spending all day Friday at an engagement that we came back [for], and Saturday going out of town, at two o’clock in the morning I started making my notes. So forgive me if it isn’t real –like Mr. Nixon would do.
MEMBER: Oh!
SCHLEMMER: I took an article here that –I spent a little time in Florida this winter with a couple of girls who were instrumental in starting this library, Mrs. Hopley and Mrs. Geringer, and I want to give them an awful lot of credit because they put an awful lot of time and they were not paid for it until after the library had been established. I’m going to read just as much as I –I gave this article one time to the newspaper, about four or five years ago, and I’m going to use it because it probably is about as complete as anything that I could get otherwise. This was sent out in — the birth of the Mount Prospect Library was in September of 1929, and it’s interesting to note the inception of the first public library in Mount Prospect took place after a book review held at the second Womans Club luncheon. The speaker was a Mrs. Wood whose topic was the literature of the day. A otation in the secretary’s minutes of this meeting read, “It  certainly made us want some of those books. I hope someday we can have a bookstore or a library in town.” This expressed wish for a library soon began to be realized. At the September 1929 meeting it was announced that a collection of fifty books could be secured from the Illinois State Library Extension Division on a three-month loan, then to be exchanged for others. Therefore, quoting further from the  minutes of that meeting, it was moved by Miss Bertha Ehard, seconded by Mrs. Pancona, and passed, that the club promote a movement towards starting a public library. It’s rather interesting to note that Bertha Ehard later served on the library board for thirteen years. In giving her little address when she resigned from the library board, or when her term had expired, she mentioned this. To me it was quite symbolic of Bertha Ehard because she was always very interested in the library, even before she was on the board. It was also voted that the library be kept open one day a week, the members to serve a~ librarians, and a slight charge made for fiction withdrawn by adults to help in building a fund for the purchase of new books. Letters were sent to all the organizations and business firms of the town, asking for their help financially and otherwise. On December 11, 1929, the president, Mrs. Ivers, reported that Mr. Herman Haas, then a member of the village board, had promised that the village board would take care of building shelves in the community hall for the library. Today one of the shelves used in the original library is stored in the basement of the present library –I hope. I always hoped nothing would ever happen to it because a real good friend of mine built it. On January 6, 1930, the library was open for business one day a week. Incidentally, this library was what is now the Episcopal church but was at that time –I see so many older  people. They know all about this, and I have for the benefit of maybe a few who don’t know that the old schoolhouse was the Episcopal church, which they purchased after Central School was built. This particular shelf that’s in the  basement of the library was put into a cloakroom and pulled out once a  week so that the children –and they circulated about 120 books a day, and they had 300 subscribers. In September of 1931  Mrs. Jack Garner, having served rather  regularly as a librarian, was voted a remuneration of two dollars per week for that service. Big deal! And she was glad to get it, and so was I. In May 1932 by formal action she was appointed as librarian. During this time the only source of income was by donations, door-to-door campaigns, card parties, luncheons, and different benefits to raise money for the maintenance of the library, both by individuals and local organizations. The majority of the books on the shelves were donated from their own collections. In 1942 Mr. Geringer resigned and yours truly was appointed to the position which she held until she resigned in 1966. And, by they way, I got two dollars a week, and if I figured it out how it would be by the hour, maybe five cents? The library became tax supported in 1943, and in that the Womens Club took no small part. Never has the interest and concern for the library diminished. All through the years they have contributed funds towards the purchase of land for the cost of the building and enlisted the interest and concern of the citizens of the community in behalf of the public library. Much can be said for the interest shown by the Illinois State Library who, by this time, allowed the use of a thousand children’s books for an unlimited time since it would take one year before the tax money was received. Their help  and advice and promotional materials for referendum were tremendous. Chicago Public Library also took us under their  wing. Mr. Rodin, who was then librarian and I had worked for him in Chicago at what they called sub-stations at that time, and that particular place is now the Hild Library which is one of Chicago’s regional branches –Mr. Rodin permitted us to have a thousand books for a fee of two hundred dollars a year which could be exchanged at any time; also, any special books that were loaned to the library for a six-week period. That loan was kept up until 1965 when it was discontinued because by that time I think we had built up a collection of books –about forty-five thousand –and we didn’t need their books. They were by that time pretty old, too. By this time the library had moved into the old Mount Prospect Bank building, and I am very fond of that little old building. I think it’s up there somewhere on the northeast corner of Busse Avenue and Main Street. Central School had been built, and the old schoolhouse had been purchased by the Episcopal church. After a number of years the library book collection had outgrown the small building and then moved into the vacant store at 111 South Main Street. Shelves were built by the members of the board, and all the furniture was loaned to the library by the Chicago Public Library –two round tables, a charging desk, about twenty chairs, and a magazine rack. Sometimes I think back and I think about those two round tables that they had. They were huge, and beautiful. Solid oak this thick, you know, and really, we have really beautiful furniture in the library now, but those old oak tables were something that you don’t see anymore today.
MEMBER: You can see them in my daughter-in-law’s house.
HOWE: Right.
SCHLEMMER: Well, I think it cost us one hundred and twenty-five dollars to refinish them. Yes, that’s right. Mr. Liebenow bought one of them.
LIEBENOW: Two.
SCHLEMMER: Did you buy both of them?
LIEBENOW: One of our pastors has one and my daughter-in-law has the other one.
SCHLEMMER: I know that we did sell them. That’s right, you were the Santa Claus. Five years later, in 1950, the library moved into its own home at 14 East Busse Avenue. Originally, that library cost thirty-five thousand dollars — twenty-seven thousand dollars for the building; correct me if I’m wrong. I think it was twenty-seven thousand for the building, and the rest, eight thousand, was to be for shelving and additional books. When we look back now we think that was an awful lot of building for that money. When we moved into it, it was the most beautiful place you ever wanted to see, after the little library and then this store. I think at this point I would like to ask Mrs. Bittner if she could, or would like to, tell about how we purchased the land for that property for that building.
BITTNER: You mean for the first library.
SCHLEMMER: Yes.
BITTNER: In the first place, we had a referendum. I think it was only for twenty-five thousand dollars, and so we were two thousand dollars short, then, in the end because they didn’t start the building right away. Some of the material went up in price and so we had to see how we were going to get that two thousand. There were donations, and I think we also used some of our rental money –fines and things like that –towards it. But anyhow, we managed to pay it. Then in the first place we were in this store building, and we thought it was about time that we built. Didn’t we have rental money, and someone from Springfield came to talk with us.
SCHLEMMER: Yes.
BITTNER: And she said, “Now, you really can’t just let this money grow like this because it’s against the law to do this. But,” she said, “if I were you I’d start looking for a place to build this building.” So we got a little bit frightened because we didn’t want them to come and take this money and we really wanted to do this, so we looked around. I know Bertha Ehard contacted the commissioner –to see about those lots where that sunken garden used to be –do you recall that? –where the station on Northwest Highway and Emerson is now. And I contacted Mr. Haas –do you remember that, Mr. Haas?
HAAS: Yes.
BITTNER: About the lot on the corner. I thought that was a beautiful lot. It had lovely trees on it, and I think at that time yourfather-in-law had passed away and this was an estate, as I recall. Wasn’t that right?
HAAS: Yes.
BITTNER: And so I contacted Mr. Haas, and Mr. Haas and Mr. Busse, Mrs. Busse’s son, came over to talk with me, and, yes, they were willing to sell the lot. Oh, I thought it was such a beautiful lot that it was almost a shame to put a building on it. We came to terms, and then Mr. Haas came to the library board meeting and talked with the other members of the library board. Of course, we couldn’t pay for that lot just offhand, but Mr. Haas was very generous in his arrangements with us for payment and through his kindness we were able to purchase this lovely piece of property and build the library. Is there anything that you could add to that, ?
SCHLEMMER: Mrs. Bittner, I think the most outstanding thing was to say what it cost compared to prices today, or would yourather not? The lot –that corner lot.
HAAS: I was acting as trustee for the estate. It wasn’t my  property.
BITTNER: No, I know. It was your father-in-law’s property, and he had passed away and Mr. Haas handled the estate. Do you remember the cost of the lot?
HAAS: Mrs. Busse would. =’p-[=BUSSE: Well, I thought it was. ..
BITTNER: Five thousand.
BUSSE: No.
-SCHLEMMER: No.
BITTNER: Three thousand?
BUSSE: Three thousand dollars was the cost.
SCHLEMMER: I thought it was two thousand.
BITTNER: I thought it was three thousand.
MEMBER: What year was that, Maida? Was that 1948?
SCHLEMMER: About 1948, yes, because the library was completed in 1950.
MEMBER: I’m sure you would have had to pay more from another party, too.
BITTNER: Well, I don’t know whether the lots were selling for that price in those days or not.
SCHLEMMER: There was a lot of vacant property.
MEMBER: That was a large lot, too, though, wasn’t it?
SCHLEMMER: It’s probably fifty feet wide.
BITTNER: Well, not much real estate was moving so I suppose that’s the reason for the price.
SCHLEMMER: At today’s price that was a ridiculous price.
BITTNER: And then when we wanted to expand, and we went to Mrs. Busse. I went to her and talked with her at her home. Her husband had built the home when they were married. She had gone to this home as a bride, and she felt that, oh, no, she couldn’t ever sell that house. I don’t know whatever changed her mind, but we talked about it, and well. ..
BUSSE: I knew I had to give up because it was for the library. You wouldn’t sell.
SCHLEMMER: We wouldn’t have done that.
BUSSE: But anyhow. ..
BITTNER: She was satisfied with the thirty-two thousand.
SCHLEMMER: Thirty thousand.
BITTNER: We didn’t get it as cheap as the corner lot. And then later on when we bargained for the parking lot, I guess that money, I think, was thirty-two thousand. Isn’t that right, the parking lot? Thirty-two thousand, because they had blacktopped it, ordone something with it, and put in the stops, and that made it more expensive. Did I cover too much?
SCHLEMMER: No. I just, perhaps, wanted to bring to light the fact that it was such a ridiculous price for a lot on a corner which turned out to be a business section later, with a bank across from there, that we were so lucky to get it at that time. After all, that was only twenty years ago. When the library was built they anticipated the building to house enough books to take care of a population of twenty thousand people, and I think there was around five or six thousand people at the time. We were very fortunate because we had to have three referendums to get that library through, so we were very happy. I know that the building cost twenty-seven thousand dollars, but I thought the referendum was for a little more.
BITTNER: I know that it was short.
SCHLEMMER: When we were in the store business picked up and we were open three days a week.
BITTNER: May I tell something there?
SCHLEMMER: Yes.
BITTNER: When we wanted to move from this old bank building, I contacted Mr. Busse, who was Bill Busse, Jr. This was his property, and it was vacant. At the time of the war there wasn’t too much business going on. The Red Cross had used it, and I guess the clothing exchange had used the back end of the building. Then it stood vacant, and so I asked if he thought that we could rent the front part of this for our library. I said, “You know, we can’t pay very much. We don’t have very much money here.” He said, “Yes, I know. Well, how much do you suppose you could pay?” Well, I didn’t know exactly what to say, but Mr. Green was with me and he couldn’t say how much he thought it was worth. So I said, “Ch, I don’t think we could pay more than forty- five dollars.” He thought a few minutes, and he said, “Well, I’ll tell you. You can have the whole building, the lower floor,  for the price because I’d rather have somebody in the building than to have it stand vacant, and I would just as soon do something for the library.” I thought that was very generous of him. We paid that price, I can’t tell you how long, until one day we got a little note, and it said, “You’ve been getting this much cheaper rate than any store on this street. Don’t you think you could pay a little more?” And then I think we doubled it. We paid ninety dollars, I believe, after that.
SCHLEMMER: It was a five-year contract.
BITTNER: Yes, it was a five-year contract, so that wasn’t bad either. We were still paying less than what some of theothers were paying. So, people in this community have been good to us in helping us purchase land and giving it to us reasonably,  and also renting at a reasonable price to us, also, when we didn’t have the money to do with.
SCHLEMMER: The library graduated –when we were in this store on Main Street we got to be big business. We had increased now from a one-employee person to two people. Then we did have a little girl come in on Saturday mornings to put books back on the shelves. We were open three days a week and two evenings –Tuesdays and Thursdays from two to nine, and Saturdays from nine to one. Those evenings, those were my two evenings that I worked, and I’d work in the library alone there. I remember there weren’t many street lights at that time, and they weren’t very bright, and I’m surprised sometimes that I wasn’t more frightened going home because there wasn’t a soul to be seen. There is an old saying about taking the sidewalks in at night, and I believe that was it. But I don’t think I was as frightened then as I would be if I had to do it today. When we moved from the store into the new library, and it was quite a nice way to — all the shelves were in. I had had all of the books in the store in boxes and I labeled them A to B, C, and everything just fine. And so, we had asked to have the Boy Scouts move us. One Boy Scout and two fathers showed up, so we had the rest of the board members move the books over. Mr. Klevin, in such a hurry to get those books back on the shelves where they belonged, he started in and put them on from the beginning, back. But he started with the C’s. If he has started with the X, Y, Z’s or something it wouldn’t have been so bad, but we had to take all the books from the A, B, and I thought I had that fixed just perfectly. It took a whole day’s work to get those books back on the shelf, but he meant well. Five years later, in 1950, the library moved into its home, and in 1962 an addition was built to enlarge the facilities [due to] the ever-increasing population of the village. The first referendum was for two hundred fifty thousand dollars. The second referendum, we tried again and it did not pass, and the third time we reduced it to one hundred ninety-eight thousand dollars. I remember the –may I tell these funny stories?
HOWE: That’s what we want to hear.
SCHLEMMER: I was so upset. We were so busy and it was so crowded and we didn’t have enough room for books, and finally one Saturday morning we were so –and you know what the Saturday morning circulation is. I think everybody in Mount Prospect was in this library that particular morning. I got up on a chair –everybody was waiting in line, and I got on the chair, and I said, “Have you people voted today? Don’t you think you better get out and vote? Do you see why we need a new library?” Well, it passed. Building the new addition was, of course, a great deal more work than the building the original building because there was so much involved. We had no heat in the building. It was built during the wintertime, and they improvised stoves in there but they didn’t hold up very well. We were working there with our coats and galoshes on. The library must go on and, you know, we had to keep it open. And finally a couple of us went to work and we had to help the builders scrape the floor, the old linoleum off, and to lay the new linoleum so we could have our open house at the time that we had planned. It was my first experience, really, in being right underfoot where the builders were, and we ran into a little union trouble. One Saturday morning the union –as I say, these are little stories that made such an impression on me because they were my first experiences with anything like this. This union man carne in and said the men had to quit working. Well, what they were trying to do, they were breaking out the west wall for the addition and were putting a canvas there so that they could begin building on Monday morning so that we wouldn’t have to work in the open air in January. This union man carne in and he resented the fact that these men were working overtime on Saturday and tried to stop them from working. Well, we had to plead with him to let them go ahead so that they could get that done over the weekend so that we would have some sort of  protection because we still had the library open. Well, he stood there, and I noticed the little piece of a gun on the back of his pocket and the workmen were a little in awe of him, too. But they did get that canvas up, at any rate, and within a week the wall was put in and it made a little difference. But we still didn’t have any — then we got a point where we had to close because –we were closed, I think, for about six weeks then. There were so many organizations at the time. When the third referendum was reduced to one hundred ninety-eight thousand it meant that we had to cut out a few wall plugs and whatnot to bring the price down. We did that in our own home, too, so I know what that was like. But we were very fortunate. Brunings were very generous with a donation, and, of course, the Womens Club came across with a good deal of furniture that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. The Lions Club completely furnished the children’s room to the tune of two thousand dollars. In going back and thinking of the circulation and how –from 1943, from the time the library was tax supported. It was about six thousand a year and raised to two hundred seventy-nine thousand in 1966. That is when I left the library. Also, the borrowers were from three hundred to nineteen thousand. Also, there was another thing  that I brought up. When the library celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, actually the library at that time was thirty-nine years old. I don’t like to discount all the work that these people did before the library became tax supported because they worked in this Mrs. Iver’s basement, cataloging books. At that time they didn’t know anything about the Dewey Decimal System, which is used in the library. The Chicago Public Library was using the Poole System, and all libraries were installing the Dewey Decimal System which meant that all our books had to be recataloged. That’s why I don’t like to ignore the work of these people in the early times, who were interested enough and sufficiently interested enough, to get out and go house to house, begging for books. I think that just about takes care of the early history.
HOWE: Tell the story of bank building.
SCHLEMMER: Oh, yes. George Wittenburg used to work from six in the morning to six-thirty the next morning. He was also a one-man policemen at that time. He’d come in the little library. We’d just have just a little, old gas stove, and he’d light it when he went on duty. At six o’clock in the morning he would turn on the gas so that by two o’clock when we opened up it would be warm. Well, we were cooked on the backside all the time because we sat on top of the stove. There were no toilets; there was no water in that little, old building. I remember I brought some water one time and put it on the window sill, and by the time I went to use it it was frozen. So the little gas heater didn’t –but the fact [was] that Mr. Wittenburg, that was one little thing that he always did for us that we were always very, very grateful to him for doing.
BITTNER: Sometimes we couldn’t open the door, remember? I
SCHLEMMER: Yes, when you came. In closing, if there are any questions anyone would like to ask me, I might be glad to answer, but there is one thing that I do want to –I don’t want to discount my husband because we never had a janitor at the library until the new addition was built. We had a maintenance service, and so whenever there were any odd jobs to do, I repair. I remember three chairs in our basement at one time being repaired, and these were the chairs that we had borrowed from the public library. They were old, and whenever there was anything for him to do he helped, and I don’t want him to be forgotten, either. And another little thing that we did, he was village clerk at the  time when we were in the store, and we had to have death certificates. He had to sign death certificates, and if somebody had died during the night, why, we were called the first thing in the morning. So they always had to come to the library to get their death certificate, so that was just another little service that the library did for the public.
HOWE: Oh, dear!
SCHLEMMER: We never issued any wedding licenses, though. The dog and hunting licenses were taken care of at home.
BITTNER: Jack Weber did his share of work.
SCHLEMMER: Oh, I didn’t want to forget him, and I’ve got it down here, too, on my little envelope. When we moved into the original building we didn’t have enough lights in between the stacks. The stacks were on the north wall, and there was not enough lighting, so Mr. Weber very, very nicely installed –of course, he’s in the electrical business. It was just duck soup for him. But the highlight was when he installed the air conditioning, and I know he worked one whole Sunday –two of them worked a whole Sunday installing the air conditioning for us. So he’s been an old standby of the library for a long time, too.
BITTNER: One book, a journal –and you can look at it if you wish –this was the early book belonging to the Womens Club, and it says, “Library Fund” on the front of it and it’s dated May 1941, the first entry, so you can look all the way through here, even through the first year when we were tax supported when we didn’t have the money to operate, or the village didn’t provide us with money because we didn’t have a budget made out the year before and the ladies went door to door, collecting as theyhad in the past, and that is even included in here. They show each month what was given to the library or received from the library. If you’re interested in it, it’s probably the oldest relic we have.
SCHLEMMER: Oh, I think there is still one a little older than that. It’s a book like that. Madge, you have it at the library, don’t you? It’s like this and it has all the fines and rentals. We took in fifty-nine cents one day. Now looks good. I think that completes my talk.
HOWE: Well, thank you so much. We certainly appreciate it.
BITTNER: Tell them there are pictures and things that they
SCHLEMMER: Oh, yes, yes. I have some pictures here. These are some that my husband took during the process of building. One of the things I must say to Mrs. Busse is, I knew what a hard thing it was to tear her home down, and no one felt worse about it. I saw that beautiful woodwork –the beautiful rail and a bannister, they called in those days, being torn down just like the garbage collector today and put in a machine.
BUSSE: I remember that. I wished I could take it all. ..
SCHLEMMER: Oh, I wanted that so. It just seemed we should find a use for it, but nevertheless, that was something to behold.
BITTNER: Didn’t she see a light in the library one time and called someone? Didn’t you see a light in the library onetime that should be on …
BUSSE: Yes.
BITTNER: And you called someone and said, “There is a light burning in the library.” I don’t know who went over to see what was going on, but someone. I
SCHLEMMER: Well, I know that if anything unusual had turned up, the police would have been at my house at twelve o’clock at night to take me over to the library. They had a meeting upstairs, and one of the board members left and forgot to lock the door, and so the police came to the house at twelve o’clock.
HOWE: And swept you out in your nightgown, huh?
SCHLEMMER: Yes, that’s right.
HOWE: Well, we certainly want to thank you. I know that it’s been a little imposition tonight to come. ..
SCHLEMMER: Well, that’s perfectly all right.
HOWE: …but we’re so glad that you did.
SCHLEMMER: I enjoyed coming.
HOWE: We’re so glad that we have such a nice contingent out from our library –our present library. I will always hope that our historical society and the library and the Womens Club will always have as good a relationship as they do, I feel, right this minute because, you know, I don’t think there has ever been a time that I’ve gone to Mary Jo –this was celebrating the tax- upported library, but, you know, in a way that was kind of a boost for us because that was our first membership drive for our Mount Prospect Historical Society. [By] working together, I feel that this is the way it’s got to be with all of us. It’s just not one club. In order to get our museum we hope someday to have, I hope that all of the civic organizations, all the churches and everyone, will just really pitch in and help. Being here tonight doesn’t mean that you have to stay away next time, because we’re going to have a real good year. Next year, I’m sure, with Jack as leader and all of his cohorts who are going to be following him with a real booming board of directors, I’m sure that we’re going to see great things.
SCHLEMMER: You certainly are.
BITTNER: We want to thank the library for permitting us to store so many things up there. We hope that they’re not in your way, and we hope that someday real soon we will be able to take them from there and put them where they’ll be in a more permanent location.
HOWE: You won’t be sorry when we bring over our rosewood piano? We have what you call a rosewood elephant, if you know what I mean.
MEMBER: I don’t know where it is.
HOWE: It’s in Mrs. Frein’s dining room right at the present time. You know, it’s like trying to hide an elephant. But anyway, thank you so much. The second half of our pleasant duties as program chairman –first of all, I want to say, too, as Maida did, that it’s been a heap of fun. It’s been fun going around and people like Gussie Maleski and learning to know Lena Mueller and, oh, so many nice people — Ruth Carlson and Mr. Busse. I used to get the Busses all mixed up, and I still do, but now I know for sure who George L. is, anyway. And, of course, as I stand here I think of all the wonderful new people who we’ve met, too. I didn’t know Carolyn, and the first year we wrote our song was the first year we were talking about the historical society, and so I just thought I’d sneak that in when they wanted a little something put in about the authors. The very next mail, practically, here was a letter from Carolyn, and she said, “I’m interested in the historical society,” whereupon I lost her letter immediately, and so it wasn’t until a little later that we found the letter and got in touch with her and, of course, she’s been a great help, too. We have some corsages to present to our outgoing officers. This is the nice part of the program.
BITTNER: While you’re getting that ready, could I just say one thing –I want to thank you, Carolyn, for your legal advice this past years and your very great help to us in so many ways. And also, Evelyn Busse. And our social chairman and, of course, I’m very grateful to.
MEMBER: Jack, are you going to get one of those ?
JACK: Gee, I don’t know.
HOWE: I’ve got one for him tonight, would you believe.
MEMBER: I think while we’re waiting, may I make a brief announcement? I think most of you would like to know that, I understand Mr. and Mrs. Ted~, this is probably the last evening that you will be with us here, and that you’re leaving for Colorado.
WEIN: That’s about right.
MEMBER: Ted has been president of the village, and I’m sure he and his wife have done an awful lotfor the village. I wonder if you would stand up for a minute, if you would, so we can see you. We’d like to thank you very much.
MEMBER: I think that one of the wonderful things which is ahead for the historical society is indeed a museum, but I think that one of the wonderful things which the historical society already had was to have Mrs. Bittner as its charter president. I think that, and it was already mentioned, being the leader of a new organization is in itself very difficult, but I think to be the leader of, in this instance, a historical society which isn’t just a club but is a cultural organization –an organization which indeed is a benefit to the entire community –you needed the leadership qualities and the experience which Maida certainly gave to us. I know that she worked so very, very hard through a love for the organization, her love of history, which we know she has, and we needed her, I think, to steady us on our feet and then to get us pointed in the right direction. And Maida, from the officers here, the board of directors and the membership, I would like to present to you this gift as a token of our appreciation, with a well-earned thank you.
BITTNER: Thank you very much. I don’t know who you’re talking about with all of the nice statements that you made, but it doesn’t sound like me. I thank you so much.
MEMBER: In addition to the service given to the organization by Maida has been the service given by these four, the charter officers of the society, as well as Mrs. Fein who could not be here this evening. Edith Wilson served us as corresponding secretary and publicity chairman, and there is no doubt about the hard work that she had put in. Doris Weber served us as vice president and as membership chairman and, again, put in a great deal of work. Gertrude Transik served as treasurer, and I think it’s already been said the fine job that she did. And Delores Howe served as recording secretary and as program chairman, and I think her work is well known. Therefore, on behalf of the president, on behalf of the board of directors a~d the membership, I would like to present each one of you a token of the appreciation for the job that all of you did
HOWE: You thought we were kidding about having flowers.
MEMBER: Now we would like to install. .. [End of tape]

Does MPHS have photographs: Yes

Address in Mount Prospect: 400 S. I-Oka

Birth Date: 1905

Death Date: February 12, 1980

Marriage
Date:

Spouse: Elizabeth (Betty)

Children: David, Marcia, Paul

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments

C. O. Schlaver grew up on a farm in Sparta Wisconsin. From this “hands on” experience, he learned to hate farms. He moved off the farm, went to the University Of Wisconsin School Of Journalism and headed off to become a reporter. He moved to Mount Prospect in was much better known as a journalist, activist and politician. Clarence Schlaver was involved in local politics for thirty years in a number of different roles. He was a village Trustee for seven years beginning in 1954 and ending when he was elected Mayor in 1961. He founded the Good Neighbor Party in local politics, a group dedicated to the extension of services in the community. Through his leadership and the actions of the party, many of the municipal and educational services we have come to rely on were started.

C.O. Schlaver worked in the newspaper business in one form or another for many years. He was for a time a reporter and editor for the Star-Courier and later on the editorial staff of the Chicago Daily News. He printed his own small newspaper on Mount Prospect for a number of years, as well as helping a number of local students put together their own papers. He was the first full time editor of “The Quill” the monthly publication of Sigma Delta Chi, the national professional journalism society.

Schlaver was also involved with a number of other organizations. In 1972 he became the Executive Director of the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce a position he held until 1979, shortly before his death. He was a founding member of the Mount Prospect Historical Society, and involved with the Lions Club both at a local and state wide level.

Does MPHS have photographs: No

Address in Mount Prospect: 15 S. George Street

Birth Date: Circa 1815

Death Date: Circa 1875

Marriage
Date: Unknown

Spouse: Ann

Children: Peter, William, James, Joseph, Michael, Edward, and Mary Ann

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments

The oldest house in Mount Prospect originally belonged to Owen Rooney. It has been suggested that his son, William may have been the original builder but that is not born out by Federal Census data. William may have also owned farm land in Mount Prospect but it is not clear. It is it also not clear exactly when the house was built. Some people have made statements that it was built as far back as 1832, although that is not consistent with the historical context. There was no real settlement in the area before the conclusion of Black Hawk’s War and the treaty of 1833. As well, Owen Rooney was born in Ireland and would have been about 16 or 17 in 1832, a little young to have immigrated across the Atlantic and have bought a farm and built a house. This would have preceded the large scale Irish immigration to the United States by about 14 years. There are records of Owen Rooney being in Wisconsin in 1846. In 1847 there is a record of him buying 160 acres of land in Elk Grove Township, but the first record we have of him living in Elk Grove Township is not until the 1860 Census. He most likely built his house in the early 1850s. By then there would have been a railroad going through the area, although there was no station in Mount Prospect, and there would have been a lumber mill that could have provided the wood needed to build a frame house. What is known is that most of the area subdivided by Ezra Eggleston in 1874 had been the Rooney farm, so most of downtown was originally his farm. It is also not clear when Owen Rooney died, although he is listed in the 1870 Census in Elk Grove and is not listed in the 1880, although his wife and most of his family is, although no longer in Elk Grove.

Does MPHS have photographs: Yes

Address in Mount Prospect: 1 S. Owen

Birth Date: 1889

Death Date:

Marriage
Date: 1915

Spouse: Anna Meyer

Children: Three children

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments

John Pohlman was born in Mount Prospect in 1889. He had fifteen siblings and his family therefore made up a large percentage of Mount Prospect’s population, which was still fewer than 100. At the age of 6, John Pohlmann became one of the first 5 students to attend the Central School, Mount Prospect’s first school. At 20 he became the Station Master for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad in Mount Prospect. He worked in the Mount Prospect train station for the next 45 years. He was one of the organizers of the Mount Prospect Improvement Association and then was later one of the first Board of Trustees. He was also a charter member of Saint Paul Lutheran Church and the Mount Prospect Volunteer Fire Department. Below is a selection of an oral history of John Pohlmann.

 

John W. Pohlman; Interviewed by Delores Hough; November 24, 1969

Complete transcript available at the Mount Prospect Public Library.

JP: …we had one comical conductor on the Northwestern years and years back, and right in back of Kruse’s there was a farmer there who worked that land, and he had crashed at a big straw stack out there, and he was a comedian, you might call him, and called it “Monstrawstack,” and that name carried on for years. I remember it when I started, way back, people would say, “Oh, you’re working down at Monstrawstack.” “Where do you get that?” I knew it was called that, but out-of-town people would call it “Monstrawstack.” “That’s where you work.” At the time of my beginning at the railroad there was not much of Mount Prospect.

DH: What year did you start on the railroad?

JP: I stared in ninth month, the tenth, 1910. Is there anybody old enough to remember?

DH: How many trains did you have a day, going each way?

JP: Well, now, I think we had three in the forenoon and one around three-thirty, and then again about six-thirty. That was last. If you got hung up on the other end, you’d do like this. Of course, in those days you would never get home.

JP: Yes, well, he’s the man who put me to work. He was superintendent for this division at the time when I started. When I walked in there looking for a job, he said, “Well, what can you do? Can you push a pencil?” I said, “Well, I think I can.” “What education did you have?” Well, I had four months of business college outside of fourth grade. Well, we had no grade — we had fourth reader. What did they call them? Fourth readers.

DH: That probably was beyond fourth grade, though.

JP: Oh, yes. That was beyond that, of course. In those days it was reading, arithmetic, geography and history. That’s all we…

DH: How much of that did you study in German _________ high school?

JP: In German?

DH: Yes.

JP: One September to the other September, and from September to Easter when I was confirmed — a year and a half.

DH: And everything was German?

JP: Everything was German — no, they had an English reader then.

DH: Do you remember the time…the big snowstorm?

JP: That was in the year of 1917 and 1918. Do I remember it? Yes. I’ll tell you a little story about that, how people lived together in Mount Prospect, the few we had. The freight handlers — now, Charlie Mackleburg, who lives on Nolan Street near me there, he was one of the boys who was working freight, as was his father and so forth, and a couple of other fellows, and no train came. No train coming. Old Fred Mackleburg said to me, “John, the least you could do is furnish us with a deck of cards and a case of beer.” I’ll never forget it. So what did the guys do, like Herman Haas who lives on Mount Prospect yet — he was one, well, he was a linotype man _________ printing _________, so he got the idea, and he said, “Well, let’s all chip in a quarter.” There was Charlie Mackleburg and Louie Mackleburg, who has passed away, and I don’t know who the other one was, but three of them. They went across to Kruse’s and told them the story of what they wanted in there, and old Clarence opened up and gave them a deck of cards and a case of beer, and then he threw in a bottle of whiskey on top of it. About two o’clock in the afternoon, no train around yet. The beer was gone and whiskey was gone, so old Fred Mackleburg said, “Well, boys, I don’t think we have to wait for the train now anymore, and he was feeling his — and he said, “I’m going home.” And there was no train. I had mail hanging on the post. And there was no telephone.

Does MPHS have photographs: No

Address in Mount Prospect: 716 S. Emerson

Birth Date: Circa 1892

Death Date: December 25, 1959

Marriage
Date: Unknown

Spouse: Stanley Pierce was a Widower

Children: No

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments

Stanley Pierce was described by his neighbors as a nice man, who kept to himself and did not seem to have many close friends. He drove a sports car but tended to wear old clothes and did not seem to have a lot of money. Pierce died on Christmas Day in 1959 and from then on all of his neighbor’s assumptions were turned on their heads. Pierce died with $1200 in his pocket, which in 1959 would have bought a car. Later, a representative from Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust was going through his belongings and found the combination to a safe. Inside the safe was a treasure map that gave the location of over 6,000 $20 double eagle gold pieces in three separate stashes under small fruit trees in his back yard. The gold that was recovered had a face value of $120,000 but may have been worth over $250,000. The collection was said to have weighed over 400 pounds. It was also learned that Pierce had worked as an investment banker and had left his Alma Mata, the University of Chicago, one million dollars in his will.

 

Does MPHS have photographs: Yes

Address in Mount Prospect: 411 S. I-Oka

Birth Date: Unknown

Death Date: Unknown

Marriage
Date: Unknown

Spouse: Hester Pendelton

Children: David and Thomas

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments

Maurice Pendelton was the Mayor of Mount Prospect through the start of the huge post war boom in suburban construction. When he came into office World War II was just coming to an end. From there he watched as development in the area went from a slow trickle to tidal wave. Professionally, Pendelton worked as a publisher. He owned his own publishing business in Chicago, which specialized in printing lumber and wood working trade journals. He took this experience and used it to print the Prospector, Mount Prospect’s first newspaper.