HS Board

Does MPHS have photographs: Miscellaneous images

Address in MP: 

Birth Date:  

Death Date: 

Marriage: No information

Children: Had three sons and a daughter

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments:

Robert Eppley was the first professional Village Manager in Mount Prospect. A World War II veteran, he was educated in Political Science at Ohio State University, where he was very active in the school newspaper, the glee club, and the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Prior to coming to Mount Prospect he was the City Manager of Wheaton, Illinois. He was selected by a unanimous vote of the Village Board in 1971 and when he came to Mount Prospect his salary of $28,000 made him the highest paid municipal administrator in the Northwest Suburbs. He later became the President of the Illinois City Managers Association.

Does MPHS have photographs: Yes

Address in MP: 801 E. Central

Birth Date: May 12, 1883

Death Date: June, 1968

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments:

Bertha Ehard was a dynamo in Mount Prospect. In 1926 she started the Mount Prospect Campfire Girls, a girls club similar to the Girls Scouts. She worked in Chicago and would come home at night and rush over the one room Central School house and hurry to build a fire in the pot bellied stove to try to warm up the building before the girls got there. The group chose the name “Potawatomi” and received a charter from the national Camp Fire Girls in 1927. The organization fostered understanding and appreciation of nature, an interest in Native American History and responsibility to the community. The group was lobbied for and picked some of the unusual names of the streets in the southern half of Mount Prospect, such as Hi Lusi or Wapella. These were meant to be Native American words, although some of them have since turned out to be made up. Bertha Ehard was also a Charter member of the Mount Prospect Woman’s Club and a founder of the Mount Prospect Public Library. In 1945 she was elected a Library Director and Finance Chairman. She continued to serve as treasurer until 1963. She was a life member of the Chicago Art Institute and helped to organize the United Youth Fund Drive. Later in life a club for young women was named for her and the E-Hart Girls were born.

 

Does MPHS have photographs: Yes

Address in MP: Never Lived in Mount Prospect

Birth Date: November 29, 1837

Death Date: September 21,1916

Marriage: Married at least twice

Date: 1887 (Carlein), 1883 (Agnes)

Spouses: First Wife: Carlein Anna (Frey) Second Wife: Agnes (Milne)

Children: Grace, Hezekiah, Lydia, Ezra, Agnes, Evangeline, Ester, Paul, Minerva, Rena, Athena, Orpheus, Eliza

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments:

Ezra Eggleston was the first developer in Mount Prospect; he was responsible for the name of the town. He purchased the land that is today downtown Mount Prospect in 1874 and on August 24th 1874 filed a plat map with the Name Mount Prospect. The name was to signify first that Mount Prospect sits on a glacier ridge and is therefore one of the highest points in Cook County and secondly that there were great prospects in the town. He built the first train station in Mount Prospect, although he did this without consulting the Chicago Northwestern Railroad, as he believed that if there was a train station the trains would stop. They did stop, however for the first few years Mount Prospect was simply a flag stop. Ezra believed that people would flock to the community since it was higher than much of Cook County, most of which was very low lying and periodically had problems with flooding and unhealthy stagnant water. He also thought that the access to the rail line would be a big draw. Unfortunately his calculations were off and he had very poor timing. At this time almost all of Illinois was within ten mile of a railroad, so this was not as much of a draw as he had hoped. He also put his development on the market three years after the Great Chicago Fire, when many people in the area were still recovering and rebuilding in the city, and a year after the start of the Panic of 1873, a recession know as the Great Depression until 1930. By 1882 Ezra was bankrupt and much of his holdings were sold off for past due tax payments. He made little or no money from the endeavor but he did name Mount Prospect and platted out the main triangle in downtown (although many of the streets were renamed in the Busse/Wille Re-subdivision of 1905). Little is know of Ezra Eggleston personally. He had been a merchant in Chicago and had lost quite a bit of money is the fire when his grain silos burnt. He was clearly an educated man and it has been claimed that he had a medical degree and that he personally delivered all of his thirteen children. After he left Mount Prospect, it is believed that he became a minister but his later whereabouts are unknown.