Does MPHS have photographs: Yes
Address in Mount Prospect: 215 S. Emerson
Birth Date: 1900
Death Date: November 30, 1970
Marriage
Date:
Spouse: Helen
Children: Marryanne and Herbert J.
Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments
Herb Van Driel started working in a drug store in 1913. He bought his own store in Chicago in 1927 and claimed that in this store he sold cigarettes and gum to John Dillinger. Herb Van Driel moved to Mount Prospect in the early 1940s. He bought an existing drug store at the corner of Emerson and Northwest Highway. When Van Driel came to Mount Prospect, the two doctors in town already had an agreement with another pharmacist. So Van Driel branched out and added a lunch counter, serving ham sandwiches and home made pies. He said that in the first few years most of his business was in food. While there was rationing during World War Two, Van Driel was a distributor for different foods and cigarettes and was able to establish himself as one of the important businesses in town. He later went on to be one of the founding members of the second incarnation of the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce (originally founded in 1926, dissolved in 1932 then founded again in 1947). He was also a member of the Chicago Retail Druggist Association, National Association of Retail Druggists, The Mount Prospect Lions Club, and the Des Plaines Elks Lodge. In 1968 he sold the business, although it still maintains his name. He died in 1970.