People of Mount Prospect

Does MPHS have Photographs: No

 Date of interview: 11/15/1994

 Text of oral History interview:

NANCY HANKS: I want to thank the two of you for agreeing to be interviewed today and for signing the release form.

ROGER JOHNSTON: Our pleasure.

NANCY: I am going to ask you a little bit about the biography of your family. What’s your full name?

ROGER: My name is Roger A. Johnston.

NANCY: And your maiden name Beatrice was?

BEATRICE: Erickson.

NANCY: When and where were you born? I’ll ask you first.

ROGER: I was born in Chicago on July 11, 1915. At the time, we were living –my mom and dad –about a block and a half from Cubs ballpark. It was on Racine which is the street that leads into Clark Street. Of course, that’s on the north side of Chicago.

NANCY: Beatrice, how about you?

BEATRICE: I was born April 11, 1917.

NANCY: The place of birth was?

BEATRICE: Chicago.

NANCY: Who were your parents?

ROGER: My father’s name was Albert M. Johnston. My mother’s name was Anna Charlotte Johnston. Of course, her maiden name was Croonborg. Both my mother and father were born here in Chicago, and their parents came from Sweden back in the 1880s.

NANCY: Beatrice, how about your parents?

BEATRICE: Mabel and Carl Erickson.

NANCY: What was your mother’s maiden name?

BEATRICE: Shogren.

NANCY: When did you move to Mt. Prospect?

ROGER: That was in 1951. To be exact, on February 26.

NANCY: Your address now is 900 South Lancaster?

BEATRICE: Yes.

NANCY: Have you ever lived at any other address in the village?

ROGER: Yes. When we first moved here, the address was 106 South Hi-Lushi. We lived there for 18 years and moved here in 1968, so it has to be 26 years that we are here.

NANCY: How has Mt. Prospect changed since you’ve lived here?

BEATRICE: The population has increased by 12 times as many.

ROGER: At least 10 times.

NANCY: How about other changes?

ROGER: It always has been a friendly community.

BEATRICE: Always and has remained that. That really hasn’t changed, wouldn’t you say? How else has it changed? Well, Golf Road was a two-lane road. Central Road was a two-lane road. It was just a small community.

ROGER: When we first moved out here, the railroad crossing at Central Road used to be a whistle crossing. Trains would go through there –freight trains at night –blowing the whistle.

NANCY: That was it. If you didn’t hear them, there was no gate and no signal.

ROGER: I think there were flashing lights. That was all at the time.

BEATRICE: There were steam engines that used to blow the whistle.

ROGER: When we lived on Hi-Lushi, it was the village limit to the west. Beyond that were farmer’s fields. Our kids used to go out and be with the farmer when he was reaping his crops.

BEATRICE: And play in the peat bogs out there.

NANCY: Before you came here, what did you know about Mt. Prospect?

BEATRICE: I don’t think we knew anything about Mt. Prospect. We just kept going farther and farther on the day that we were looking. We probably started out in Evanston. No, not in Evanston. Park Ridge. We kept moving farther out.

ROGER: Even before that, I think we looked in Edison Park first.

BEATRICE: Right. Edison Park. We just kept going farther out.

ROGER: From Park Ridge we went to Des Plaines. We still didn’t find anything to our liking.

BEATRICE: In the way of housing. We wanted to live in the country. This was the country.

NANCY: What are some of the events that you remember happening in the village?

BEATRICE: I can’t recall any big, disastrous thing that happened.

NANCY: How about some of the interesting things or things that were fun? Right before the holidays –July Fourth or parades?

BEATRICE: There always were parades. Our children were in Campfire and Boy Scouts. We have two girls and a boy, and they were in that. I was involved in Campfire. Roger was involved in Boy Scouts. We marched in those parades.

ROGER: Yes. I was –what do they call it? –cubmaster. That’s what they call it.

NANCY: What do you feel are landmarks in the community?

BEATRICE: I think Van Dreil’s Drug Store for one. Keefer’s also, although he doesn’t own it.

NANCY: Is Van Dreil spelled D-R-E-I-L?

ROGER: That is correct.

BEATRICE: That sounds good.

NANCY: And Keefer’s is a drug store?

BEATRICE: Yes.

NANCY: What was Van Dreil’s?

BEATRICE: That was a drug store.

ROGER: A full drug store. After Herb Van Dreil died, it was taken over by what is his name?

BEATRICE: I don’t know.

ROGER: Anyhow, he figured one drug store was enough in town, and he went in for all these fancy pieces of equipment –walkers.

BEATRICE: Lots of the buildings have changed on Main Street there. Some of them have been torn down and rebuilt.

ROGER: You used to do your grocery shopping at Meeske’s in town.

BEATRICE: That store is still there, but it is Continental Bakery now.

NANCY: Is that Meeske?

ROGER: Yes. The thing that is interesting about that is I guess it always was this time of year wasn’t it that he got that great big barrel of olives in?

BEATRICE: Yes.

ROGER: They were imported from Spain. I don’t know how he got them all the way here. He put them in the store, and the women could bring their own glass jars. He had one scoop, and I think that one scoop held like a pint.

BEATRICE: I don’t remember, but I know you brought your own.

ROGER: You’d go in there with that, throw in however many scoops you wanted and tell the girl at the checkout counter

BEATRICE: Sort of a bulk, and it was wonderful.

ROGER: Yes. It was a bulk, and you had it for quite a few years. Getting back to when we first moved out here in 1951, that same group of stores was where Keefer’s Drug Store is now. Keefer’s originally used to be on the north side of Northwest Highway between Main Street and Emerson. Later it moved to its present location. There also was a bakery. The name of it was Lenhardt. That was a bakery, and the main bakery itself was in Des Plaines. What they would do is make deliveries early every morning and during the day as needed coming up to Mt. Prospect.

BEATRICE: That was the National Tea. There was a little gal who worked there named Jessie Mileski. She lived in a little house just south of St. Mark Church, and St. Mark bought her property when she died. Her husband died, and she moved out of there. St. Mark bought her property, and that’s part of St. Mark’s property.

ROGER: Her property was 204 South Wille. I know, because I was on the committee at the time our church acquired it.

NANCY: OK. We’ll go on to the stores and merchants. What do you remember most about shopping downtown?

BEATRICE: There was Jewel on Northwest Highway.

ROGER: Close to Central.

BEATRICE: It was around what? –Wille, Pine.

ROGER: I guess Pine Street.

NANCY: Of course, you’ve mentioned Meeske’s. Did you go to the Lenhardt Bakery?

BEATRICE: Yes.

NANCY: For groceries, you shopped at Meeske’s?

BEATRICE: Mostly at Meeske’s.

NANCY: How about clothes and shoes?

BEATRICE: There was Strauss’s ladies apparel, and it is still there.

ROGER: What do they call it now?

BEATRICE: Now it is called Mary Jane’s or Plain Jane’s. I don’t remember exactly. It is still there. Strausses owned it, and their daughter Mary Jane is there now.

NANCY: Oh, she is the owner?

BEATRICE: Yes.

NANCY: How about hardware items?

ROGER: Old Busse’s Hardware.

BEATRICE: And Bierman.

NANCY: And Bierman is spelled how?

ROGER: Bierman.

NANCY: How about farm equipment?

ROGER: That was Frank. Let’s see.

NANCY: Did you need any farm equipment?

BEATRICE: No.

NANCY: How about other supplies? How about for cars?

ROGER: Let’s see. Where did we go? We didn’t buy any here locally. For all the car repairs that we ever needed at that time, we used to go to Busse Buick which is where Northwest Electrical Supply is now. I’ll just add this here. Then they moved to where they are located on Rand Road now. Busse took it over, and then who was it? It wasn’t Joe Retro. That’s the one there now. Joe Mitchell took it over, and he is still there.

NANCY: How about for medicine? Where did you shop?

ROGER: Keefer or Van Dreil. I think we went to Keefer, because he was on this side of the tracks.

NANCY: What other things did the stores carry? What did your family usually buy there besides the groceries, the car repair and shoes?

BEATRICE: Elaine Buffy had the Gift Box on Main Street between Northwest Highway and Busse. It was a card and gift shop.

NANCY: Where was that located?

BEATRICE: It was on Main Street between Northwest Highway and Busse. Owen Baxter had a shoe store on Northwest Highway just north of Central.

ROGER: I guess there is a chop suey place there now.

BEATRICE: There is Sophie’s Polish Deli and an Oriental takeout place.

NANCY: Is that Northwest Highway and Central?

BEATRICE: Yes. At Central. Right. It was great. We used to do a lot of shopping locally.

ROGER: Except for family shopping and Christmas shopping. Then we went either to Evanston or Elgin. It was about 20 miles either way.

NANCY: Do you still go out that way much?

BEATRICE: Not necessarily to Elgin. Sometimes to Old Orchard. Wieboldts was in Evanston. We used to drive out there a lot and shop.

ROGER: There are so many big shopping centers now like Randhurst.

NANCY: Let’s start with you Beatrice on the school that you attended.

BEATRICE: Let’s see. I think I started in Trumbull School in Edgewater.

NANCY: How many years?

BEATRICE: I think I was only there for about three years.

NANCY: And then do you remember your next school?

BEATRICE: Yes. My father built a home in West Rogers Park, and I attended. What was the name of that school on Fairfield?

ROGER: Bowden.

BEATRICE: No.

ROGER: Clinton

BEATRICE: Clinton School. Yes.

NANCY: In Rogers Park?

BEATRICE: In Rogers Park. Until a new school was built about three blocks from where I lived, and that was Daniel Boone School. I graduated from there.

NANCY: How about you, Roger?

ROGER: I also started out at Trumbull School, and then went to Sullivan Junior High. Then I went to Senn High, from which I graduated.

BEATRICE: I did too.

NANCY: What were your favorite subjects or classes?

BEATRICE: Let me see now. I loved manual training. In eighth grade, the girls were allowed to take a semester of manual training, and we had such an adorable teacher. I loved that class. I made a wonderful wicker basket in that class. I loved a lot of other classes, too.

NANCY: But that one stands out in your mind. I think that is great. How about you, Roger?

ROGER: Let’s see. I think that I probably found history as interesting a subject as any I ever had. Others I think I just took, because I had to take something to graduate. I hadn’t formulated any strong desires.

NANCY: How far did you live from your schools? Were you always real close?

BEATRICE: I was close just to the last grade school I went to. I was only a couple of blocks away. For Senn High School, we had to take transportation. That was farther away –a streetcar.

ROGER: There were no buses standing by to take us.

NANCY: A streetcar to Senn High School.

ROGER: You were a farther distance away than I was.

BEATRICE: A little bit.

NANCY: So you got to school via streetcar or walking?

ROGER: Yes. When the weather was decent, we never minded walking at all.

BEATRICE: I didn’t walk very much. It was pretty far.

ROGER: You had almost twice as far as I did, and I lived over a mile.

NANCY: Do you ever get transported by car ever where your dad got the car out?

BEATRICE: No! No! No!

ROGER: People were lucky if they could ride the streetcar in those days. The ones who could afford an automobile for the family were the ones way up in society.

NANCY: What time did school start?

ROGER: 8 a.m. at Senn.

BEATRICE: I don’t remember. I’m thinking that grade school was about 9 a.m.

ROGER: Yes. 9 a.m.

NANCY: What time did you have to get up in the morning to be at school on time?

ROGER: I got up at 6:30 to 6:45 a.m. I guess that’s no different from today.

NANCY: I see that our neighbor’s kids go to the weight room at the high school at 6 a.m.

BEATRICE: We didn’t have anything like that. We didn’t get up for anything like that. We got up in time to eat breakfast, get dressed and go.

NANCY: Before you left for school, did have any chores in the morning?

ROGER: No. That’s one thing that I never had.

BEATRICE: No.

NANCY: Before you went to school, did you eat breakfast?

BEATRICE: Absolutely.

ROGER: Either that or collapsed before the noon hour.

NANCY: Could you describe a typical breakfast meal that you would eat before you went off to school?

ROGER: In the wintertime, it would be a warm cereal I guess. My mother would give us a fried or boiled egg on other mornings. Of course, in summer it would be a dry cereal and either a cup of coffee or glass of milk. And orange juice or some kind of juice.

NANCY: How about you?

BEATRICE: Probably pretty much the same. Toast, a sweet roll or cereal. Milk.

NANCY: Did you bring lunch to school?

BEATRICE: Yes. There was no lunch program.

NANCY: Did you ever go home for lunch?

BEATRICE: Yes. I was close enough. Were you?

ROGER: In grade school, I could do it.

BEATRICE: In high school, we either brought our lunch or bought our lunch.

ROGER: I used to eat in the cafeteria. It was 25 or 30 cents, and I had all I could eat.

BEATRICE: Yes. Right. Sometimes we would go out to one of the little School stores, where they had food. I would get a sandwich or something there, but most of the time we brought our lunch.

NANCY: OK. What was in your lunch or a typical lunch?

BEATRICE: I can remember summer sausage. When I buy summer sausage today or eat a piece of summer sausage, I can remember the sandwiches I took to school. Summer sausage and probably a lot of other things.

NANCY: Just bread and butter or mayonnaise?

BEATRICE: No. It was just a sandwich.

NANCY: Did you ever have sandwich spread? Sandwich spread was something my mother relied heavily on. They still sell it.

BEATRICE: No. It was butter and no margarine. I don’t remember what else. I am sure there were a lot of other things.

NANCY: Summer sausage sandwiches. Was the school lunch at the building in the high school cafeteria anything like barbecues?

ROGER: No. I don’t recall that. I remember one of my favorites used to be German noodles, which was noodles and peas mixed together.

BEATRICE: I don’t remember anything about those. I imagine that I brought lunch more often than going to the cafeteria.

NANCY: Approximately how many students did you have in your classes at school?

ROGER: We used to run about 35 or 40.

NANCY: Would you say that’s the grade school?

BEATRICE: Yes. In grade school.

ROGER: I can remember even in grade school that went a little bit higher. There used to be six rows of eight desks in a row, so that would be 48.

BEATRICE: 48. Absolutely.

ROGER: Teachers would shudder if they thought they had to handle 48 kids today.

NANCY: What was a typical order for the day? Did you start the day with a special song, prayers or Pledge of Allegiance?

ROGER: Pledge of Allegiance.

BEATRICE: Yes.

NANCY: What was a typical day?

BEATRICE: In grade school?

NANCY: I would say grade school.

BEATRICE: I suppose it was the Pledge of Allegiance.

ROGER: And maybe an hour or so of each subject whether it was history, arithmetic or writing classes. We would spend another hour or so reading. We had to read aloud when the teacher would call on us.

BEATRICE: I don’t remember.

NANCY: Did you have spelling bees?

ROGER: Yes. We had that. Usually, we had spelling from 11:30 a.m. to noon. That was the half hour just before we went home for lunch.

NANCY: Do you remember art?

ROGER: Art was another one.

NANCY: Did you have a gym program?

ROGER: Yes.

BEATRICE: Sure. The girls wore black gym bloomers.

NANCY: That was something you changed to, because you wouldn’t have worn those to school, would you have?

BEATRICE: No. We changed to those.

NANCY: The next question is what did you wear to school?

BEATRICE: Skirts, sweaters and blouses. Never slacks. Nobody wore slacks in those days.

NANCY: Was there a dress code? Well, that was that you didn’t wear slacks.

BEATRICE: That’s right. We just didn’t wear slacks. I don’t know that it was a dress code. People just didn’t wear slacks. Women didn’t wear slacks.

NANCY: Men did.

ROGER: They were just starting to wear them then. Mostly in grade school, we were still wearing knickers and sweaters. A favorite of the boys, too, in wintertime were these high-top shoes, if we could get them.

BEATRICE: I remember another subject in grade school that I dearly loved, and that was cooking. We would make little things, and we would have little metal containers with an earthenware dish inside. It had a little cover on it and a handle, and you would cook or bake something in school. Sometimes you were able to put it into the little containers and take it home. I used to love that. I really did. Another thing that I remember is we used to have to wash our desks and bring a jar of some kind of soapwater from home. We would have to wash our desks with it.

NANCY: That’s interesting. How did you carry soapwater?

BEATRICE: In a jar, and it got kind of smelly and moldy in there after awhile. I had a friend who still lives here in Mt. Prospect, and we have known each other since about sixth grade in grammar school. We were gigglers. We would be down there on our hands and knees washing our desks. We probably got down on our hands and knees, because we were giggling so much. We didn’t want the teacher to see us. We would be washing off our desks, and we had inkwells. Some of the boys were very nasty. They would take a girl’s hair and dip it into the inkwells.

ROGER: That’s what I was thinking of here. I was going to bring up the inkwell. How we used to have those straight pens all the time.

BEATRICE: We would dip it into the inkwell.

NANCY: Every now and then did you have it happen that you dipped into the well, brought it up to write and a little drop flew back on the paper?

BEATRICE: I still remember that.

NANCY: Was there anything that your parents refused to let you wear to school?

ROGER: I don’t recall any problems in that day.

BEATRICE: I remember having problems with our own children wanting to wear certain things.

NANCY: But not in your day?

BEATRICE: I don’t remember that.

NANCY: Describe some things you did during your play or recess period or games that were fun and popular to play.

BEATRICE: Baseball for one thing was fun. I can remember one time a gal who was up to bat threw her bat and knocked out the teeth of the teacher. That was Dora Limberafi.

NANCY: Should we put that down to special memories in junior high and high school?

BEATRICE: Sure.

NANCY: Is there anything that was popular at recess?

BEATRICE: I can’t remember what else we did at recess. Probably jump rope. We used to jump rope.

ROGER: The boys I guess used to run around the place and play tag.

BEATRICE: Maybe marbles. There were so many things that they don’t do these days.

NANCY: They still run around.

BEATRICE: Yes. They run around. I bet they don’t shoot marbles.

NANCY: No.

BEATRICE: They lag for pennies now.

NANCY: Do you remember the specific songs that were taught and frequently sung at school?

BEATRICE: Star Spangled Banner. My Country Tis of Thee.

ROGER: Do you remember this one? “Over The Ocean Flies a Fairy Tale.”

BEATRICE: I don’t remember that.

ROGER: That was a very pretty song.

NANCY: But you don’t remember the exact name of it?

ROGER: I couldn’t even begin to say.

BEATRICE: I don’t either. In music, we probably sang a lot of songs, but I don’t remember.

NANCY: What arts and crafts were done at school that were especially memorable and fun?

BEATRICE: Sewing.

ROGER: I don’t know how we would fit it in, but they always used to have a lot of plays. First one class would have to have a play for Thanksgiving. Another one would be for Christmas and Easter. Sometimes, two or three classes would go together. They would need more actors and extras.

NANCY: OK. Now do you have a favorite teacher? You mentioned your manual training teacher?

BEATRICE: I don’t remember his name, but he was a younger person. Boy, I was getting old and sophisticated by that time. He was a dream.

NANCY: Roger, how about you?

ROGER: Let’s see. What was the question? I was reading.

NANCY: A favorite teacher, and why did you like him or her?

ROGER: I can’t think of anyone. I can think of a couple I thought were characters by just the way they conducted themselves and all.

BEATRICE: Some of them were nice, and some of them you couldn’t feel comfortable with. There were others whose classes that you wished you weren’t in.

ROGER: There is one incident I think about very once in awhile. In all my days of grade school and high school, I had one tardiness. I was late one morning. Just as I got to the doorknob to turn it and to go into the homeroom, the bell started to ring. So I got in and closed the door with my hand. The teacher looked at me –this was Myra Smith –and said, “You’re tardy.” I said, “I’m tardy? I’m in the door. She said, “You’re not in your seat.” She was so calm and easygoing about it.

NANCY: That’s quite a record.

ROGER: I don’t know if I could do it today. I liked that too much. I might be tardy all the time.

BEATRICE: I liked my gym teacher, my cooking teachers and some of the other teachers.

NANCY: How would you answer this? –I would never forget the day at Trumbull School when or I would never forget the day at Senn High School when

BEATRICE: I was chewing gum in a science class. Mr. Hoff told me to go out into the hall during the whole class. 1 was very shy, and that was very embarrassing to me.

ROGER: Was that in high school?

BEATRICE: High school.

NANCY: That was a time when no gum was allowed.

BEATRICE: Right. Absolutely. I don’t remember any other particularly embarrassing moments.

NANCY: Roger, how about you?

ROGER: It brings to my mind right now when I was taking Spanish in high school. The teacher was Bertha Vincent and had buttery red hair. She used to wear it in a beehive, just like someone back at the turn of the last century. We had a Jewish boy in class. He was one of these characters who was always in and out of something. He was good kid, but if anything was going to happen to or with anybody it was going to happen with him. He used to come into class and chew gum quite a bit. Miss Vincent said to us when we came into class, “We’ll talk in English now, and I’ll tell you what I expect of you. After than, I expect you to be speaking in Spanish.” This guy, Jack Spector, would come in there and before long would be smacking his jaws with gum. Miss Vincent would say, “Senor Spector, que tiene usted en su boca,” which means “what have you got in your mouth.” He always would say, “Gum.” “No habla en ingles,” which means don’t talk in English just Espanol. She would say, “Es chicle,” which means “it is gum.” Then she would say, “Escupo,” meaning “spit it out.” This would go on a couple of times every week.

BEATRICE: That’s how you remember it.

NANCY: What did you do after school in the way of chores, work or play?

ROGER: I used to work in what was like a Jewel store, but they called it Loblaw. That was a Canadian outfit, and eventually Jewel bought them out.

NANCY: How was it pronounced?

ROGER: Loblaw. Later bought out by Jewel. We used to work there on Saturdays. We would start at 7 a.m., and sometimes we would work up to 11 p.m. or 11:~U p.m. We got three dollars a day for it and thought we were in heaven. Of course, this was in high school. I used to have a paper route from the time I was in seventh or eighth grade until maybe midway through high school. It was an afternoon route.

NANCY: Did children hang out in their free time or where did they hang out?

ROGER: Let’s see. What did we do?

BEATRICE: In grade school, we used to just get together and play all kinds of games.

NANCY After school?

BEATRICE: After school, the girls would jump rope. We would have jacks –throw the ball and pick up the jacks. In the decent weather in the summertime, we even would be out at night. We would play Run Sheep Run and wonderful games where you would run and hide. It was great. In the wintertime, we would go ice skating. In the summertime, we were roller skating and bike riding.

ROGER: What we boys used to do was gather some old lumber and build a hut.

BEATRICE: This was during grade school.

ROGER: Yes. This was grade school.

BEATRICE: As we would progress, then we would do other things. I don’t even remember. There weren’t any malls. We didn’t go to any malls.

ROGER: Another thing the boys used to do, too, in the summertime and when the weather was suitable was go to these city parks and play football. Touch football was what we really did. We used to do a lot of baseball. We would go like to Winnemac Park.

BEATRICE: That’s right, and I was on a basketball team. I was on a Park District basketball team. We did get into some sports.

NANCY: So those were your special memories of junior high and high school? Would you say they were the after-school activities, friends and part-time jobs?

BEATRICE: Yes.

NANCY: Did you baby-sit?

BEATRICE: Yes. I did.

ROGER: I’ve got to tell you one thing, too. On Saturday afternoons, my mother or dad would give me 15 cents to go to the show. It was 10 cents to get into the show and a nickel for a bag of popcorn. Think of the kids doing that today for 15 cents. You couldn’t buy even a bar of candy for that now.

NANCY: We will follow up with your fondest memory of early downtown Mt. Prospect.

ROGER: Downtown Mt. Prospect? I don’t know if this would really be related to that, but I was talking about baseball for boys before. That was another thing when we first moved out here. A lot of merchants in town and a lot of businesses would sponsor these Little League teams. It was all volunteer, and there were several of us dads who would be managers of the teams for the kids and umpires. I even was that for awhile. We used to furnish our own umpires. They were not paid by some other type of professional baseball organization or anything of the sort. This was all on a volunteer basis. Some played in the evenings, and we also could play on Saturday afternoon. However, the things were scheduled.

BEATRICE: Speaking of downtown Mt. Prospect, we lived closed enough to the train station where Roger would take the train and go down to work. It was such a wonderful, rural thing, because we had been raised in the city. It was just great. He would be able to walk to the train, or I would drive him to the train. Coming home, it was the same way picking him up at the train.

ROGER: If I were running a little late in the morning, we used to be able to look out that north window in our home on Hi-Lusi. I could see when the puff of smoke would start to rise when the train was leaving Arlington, so I would say, “Bea, come on and let’s go. We’ve got to get down.” She would drive me. It was about six blocks or something like that. I’d be able to get down to the crossing at Main Street and catch the train in time.

NANCY: That kind of got the steam up.

BEATRICE: A puff of smoke from the steam engine in Arlington would signal.

ROGER: I’ve got to tell you about this. One time I drove the car down there, and Bea was just in her robe for some reason or another. I was so used to taking the key out of the car that I took it out and jumped on the train. There she was with hardly any clothes on. It was one of our neighbors a couple of doors the other side of us who drove you home, and you got your set of keys and drove back.

BEATRICE: I don’t quite remember all that, but I do remember after we moved there that it was so wonderful to look out our kitchen window into our own backyard. Our little children were playing out in our own backyard. That was the biggest thrill.

NANCY: Had you lived in an apartment in the city?

BEATRICE: We had. I lived in a home that my folks had built there. When Roger and I were married, it was right after the war. We lived in an apartment in the same area. We lived there for about five years, didn’t we? It was four or five years in the apartment. Then we came out here, and it was our first home.

NANCY: Just to look out in your own backyard and have a place for your children to play.

BEATRICE: Sure. We lived in an apartment where they had a cement yard, and that’s where our kids played. There was an alley behind it. This home was wonderful. Pheasants would come.

ROGER: Pheasants would come for about a year or two, and then they were gone after that. I can remember even after getting on the train and pulling out of Mt. Prospect on the south side of the tracks there was a cornfield. It wasn’t unusual at all to see two of three pheasants rise out of that while we were going. Out here on Golf Road where Loeman’s Plaza is now there was a line of trees. I can remember one morning when Fred Sheath picked us up, and I was working for Union Oil just north of Woodfield Shopping Center. Looking out there on the snow, we counted eight or nine pheasants walking around out there. They showed up so distinctly in that white snow background.

NANCY: If there one thing that you would want your children to remember about the history of their hometown, what would it be?

ROGER: The relationship that our children had with others in the community. It seemed like there were just little things. It was never difficult to acquire friends or find something to do. They were active all the way, and particularly my daughters have close association with their school friends.

BEATRICE: Their friends from school. They attend their reunions. They just love to see each other, even though they all live far away. None of them lives close.

NANCY: Where do your children live? Did you say one was in Wisconsin?

BEATRICE: Right. Our son the eldest lives in Wisconsin a couple of hundred miles up. Our middle child –a girl –lives in Colorado. The youngest daughter lives in Bloomington, Illinois. They all are married and have children. We have seven grandchildren. They always have loved Mt. Prospect and always were involved in anything that was going on. There was only one school when we first moved here. No. A central school was here in town, but one grade school on the outskirts here. That was the outskirts, and the was Lincoln School. It was brand new when we moved here. David started in first grade there.

NANCY: OK. In that respect as far as schools, but do you think that Mt. Prospect is still a neighborly and friendly community?

BEATRICE: I think so. You just don’t get a chance to know all your neighbors as well.

ROGER: There are a few people that isolate themselves and don’t make any effort.

BEATRICE: We are involved in so many things and have been over the years that we have accumulated many, many friends. We really can’t imagine moving away from our church, activities and friends.

NANCY: What do you think the future holds for this community?

BEATRICE: I think it is going to keep on growing and growing, if there is any property left to build on. I think it always is going to be a family community.

ROGER: I think it will be strictly a bedroom community. There are a few bits of light industry here, but still its limits are defined now.

BEATRICE: When they developed Lions Park, it was fun. Then they had the swimming pool, and our kids used to go over to the swimming pool. After the parades, the parades all would come back to Lions Park. They would have little ceremonies in Lions Park. One thing they had was Folger’s Mountain, and that was probably when Folger’s coffee became popular. They named the high-rise in the ground Folger’s Mountain. It was a little sledding hill. They didn’t ski. Toboggans. That’s what it was. Then at July Fourth, they would shoot fireworks off from that hill. They were not just aerial fireworks. There were ground fireworks that were up the hill and on the sides of the hill. We would sit down below, and they were just absolutely beautiful fireworks. We’ve never seen anything like it since.

NANCY: Do they still do that?

BEATRICE: No. I don’t thing the mountain is there anymore.

ROGER: No. They took Folger’s Mountain down, because people were sledding down there. I guess a couple of children got involved in an accident, and the park district was sued for it. They figured they wouldn’t expose themselves anymore.

NANCY: Was Lions Park like lions in a zoo?

BEATRICE: Lions.

NANCY: It was Lions.

ROGER: It’s right by where Lions Park School is right now.

NANCY: Lions Park. Is that from the Lions organization?

BEATRICE: I would think so, because they would have chicken dinners once a year around July Fourth. They all would be out there cooking chicken on big grills.

ROGER: Yes. The Lions Club. Before they had July Fourth as you say sponsored by the Lions. Now they are over at [Mellow’s] Park on July Fourth. They used to be over at Lions Park.

NANCY: I am going to take additional biographical information then. We will start with Roger A. Johnston.

ROGER: With a “t.”

NANCY: What does the “A” stand for?

ROGER: Albert.

NANCY: Beatrice, what does “C” stand for?

BEATRICE: Carolyn.

NANCY: Your full legal name is?

BEATRICE: Beatrice Carolyn Erickson.

NANCY: Roger, you were born in Chicago.

ROGER: 7/11/15.

NANCY: Roger, your mother’s full name?

ROGER: Anna Charlotte. Her maiden name. Is that what you want?

NANCY: Yes.

ROGER: Croonborg.

NANCY: And your mother’s full name?

BEATRICE: Mabel Agda Shogren.

NANCY: Do you know where your mother was born?

ROGER: Chicago.

NANCY: And how about your mother?

BEATRICE: Chicago.

NANCY: And fathers?

ROGER: Both Chicago. Wait a minute. Your father wasn’t.

BEATRICE: My father was not born in Chicago.

ROGER: My parents were both born in Chicago.

NANCY: Your father’s full name?

ROGER: Albert Mathew. Sometimes it is spelled with a double “t,” but he never used it.

NANCY: And your father’s full name?

BEATRICE: Carl Gustav.

ROGER: Gustav is the ordinary way of spelling it. I don’t know if I ever saw your dad’s full name written out.

BEATRICE: I’m not sure. That’s probably right.

NANCY: Roger, where was your father born?

ROGER: Chicago. My mother also.

NANCY: Bea, now about you?

BEATRICE: My father was born in Sweden.

NANCY: Let’s talk about your children. Yes. I’m going to ask about your children. Do you want to give me the name and age?

BEATRICE: Not the date of birth but the age. David is 50. Susan if you want the whole name is 48. Mary is 43.

ROGER: There is a five-year difference.

NANCY: What was your occupation?

ROGER: I worked with Union Oil Company in lube oil and grease as a supply manager.

NANCY: Bea, what about you?

BEATRICE: I worked for quite a number of years. I was secretary to a fellow who was a secretary of the Illinois Cooperator’s Association. Then I became a preschool teacher. I taught for 20 years.

NANCY: Where did you teach?

BEATRICE: St. Mark’s preschool.

ROGER: Yes. That’s the church here.

NANCY: You joined St. Mark’s on Palm Sunday.

ROGER: 1952. It was one year after we moved out here.

NANCY: Where was it located then?

ROGER: Where it is today. Really, it was on Evergreen then between Pine Street and Willie. Then when they built the church, they took the address of 200 S. Wille Street.

BEATRICE: The entrance is on Wille Street.

NANCY: The new church was built when?

ROGER: I’m trying to think of when that was. I even was on the committee for that, but 1 don’t remember exactly. Rasmussen was still pastor then. I’ve got some old booklets around here that would tell me.

NANCY: You’ve been active members. Have you been in things like choir?

BEATRICE: My goodness sake! In all kinds of committees.

ROGER: Bea was a member of the church council.

BEATRICE: So were you.

ROGER: I was too.

BEATRICE: I was the first woman elected to the church council, as a matter of fact. You were on the church council.

ROGER: I was treasurer and president the last year.

NANCY: How large is that church would you say?

ROGER: I don’t know what it is. Probably closer to 1,200. I think at on time it was over 1,600. But of course, so many churches came around here, and a good part of our membership came from Arlington Heights and Palatine. Many of those people just went back to their own area.

NANCY: What is it?

ROGER: Lutheran.

NANCY: Is it associated with any of the various synods?

ROGER: ELCA –Evangelical Lutheran Church. It’s four letters.

BEATRICE: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It has combined with other Lutheran synods a couple of times.

ROGER: The United Lutheran was separate at one time. They just never have combined with the Missouri synod.

 

Does MPHS have photographs: No

Address in Mount Prospect: Unknown

Birth Date: Unknown

Death Date: Unknown

Marriage
Date: Unknown

Spouse: Unknown

Children: Diane, Betty and Derwood

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments:

E. H. Janssen was the first dentist in Mount Prospect. For many years he was the only dentist in Mount Prospect. He had an office in Mount Prospect, as well as offices in Chicago and Lombard. However, as Mount Prospect developed he began to spend most of his time here. His first office in Mount Prospect was at 100 E. Northwest Highway, but he later moved to a larger office at 214 E. Emerson.

Does MPHS have photographs: No

Address in Mount Prospect: Plum Grove Estates

Birth Date: Unknown

Death Date: Unknown

Marriage
Date: Unknown

Spouse: Unknown

Children: Unknown

Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments:

Dr. V. J. Jacey, who had offices in Mount Prospect, is believed to be the first doctor in the Chicago area to use penicillin. In 1944, penicillin was used by the military but was not available to civilian doctors. Dr. V. J. Jacey had a patient who was dying from a rare form of meningitis, so he wired Washington asking for a sample of the drug. It was sent over within hours and saved the life of the patient.

Does MPHS have photographs: Yes

Date of Interview: Unknown

Interviewer: Dolores Haugh

Oral History Text:

DOLORES HAUGH: …interviewer is Dolores Haugh. I’m interviewing Mary Jo Hutchings. I want to thank you, Mary Jo, for consenting to our conversation this morning. Well, there’s a lot of things that you know, Mary Jo, I’m sure, that are of interest to the people. I’ve known you for a long time, and have always felt that you’ve contributed so much, not only through the library but now through the Mount Prospect Women’s Club. We’re just going to kind of reminisce a little bit about when things started rolling, and pick your brain, so to speak.

MARY JO HUTCHINGS: Okay.

HAUGH: I think the one thing I left off at the beginning was your address, so if you just want to give me that, that’s okay.

HUTCHINGS:

HAUGH: And when were you born?

HUTCHINGS: County Cork, Ireland.

HAUGH: Ah! How wonderful. Sure ‘n’ begorra.

HUTCHINGS: Sure ‘n’ begorra.

HAUGH: And it says “when,” but you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.

HUTCHINGS: Oh, I’m getting to the age now where it’s okay. 1919.

HAUGH: And your grandparents were? Why don’t we just skip that one over a little bit. When did you move to Mount Prospect?

HUTCHINGS: I moved to Mount Prospect June 26, 1965-one of the best moves we’ve ever done.

HAUGH: Oh, I love it. That’s what I like to hear. Have you ever lived anywhere else in the village?

HUTCHINGS: No, not in the village. My husband found this house on a rainy night.

HAUGH: Oh, how nice.

HUTCHINGS: He called me in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and said, “I found this house which I think is great. It’s close to the high school. We don’t have to bus them. Would you like to come up and look at it?” And I said, “No. If you like it, that’s fine,” and that’s what happened.

HAUGH: Were your children in high school then, or not yet?

HUTCHINGS: No, they had just finished eighth grade in Tennessee and were preparing for high school here, and so we were

looking for a good high school and we found one.

HAUGH: Right. Prospect, right?

HUTCHINGS: Yes.

HAUGH: Right on. And when you did move in, the downtown is pretty much where it is now, right?

HUTCHINGS: Yes, pretty much the same. I think it was a little different from what it is now. We used to shop at the A&P that was north of Central right there on [Route] 83, and that was very convenient.

HAUGH: Did you know Gusse~ that used to work in there?

HUTCHINGS: No.

HAUGH: Oh. I thought maybe you might. She was an old-timer in that A&P. Some of the other stores that you off-hand remember that you kind of used-how about the drugstore? Which one was there. ..?

HUTCHINGS: Oh, Duretti’s we got to know very well, because Grandpa and Grandma lived with us and so Mr. Duretti and I got to be old friends.

HAUGH: Real buddies. Now, that was in the same place it is now, right?

HUTCHINGS: Yes.

HAUGH: Oh, okay. At that time the village was growing-I mean, there were new stores coming in.

HUTCHINGS: Oh, it certainly was growing at that time.

HAUGH: But I think most of the time that you were here, I wanted to get into some of your earlier recollections of the library, and tell me a little bit about how you got into the Mount Prospect library and when, and a little bit about the background-and I’ll just let you talk.

HUTCHINGS: Well, that was funny because we moved here, as I say, in June and went in to get a card right away-that’s the first thing any normal librarian does is to see where the library is.

HAUGH: Oh, where did you go to school, by the way?

HUTCHINGS: The University of Illinois.

HAUGH: In library science?

HUTCHINGS: Oh, yes. I have a master’s in library science.

HAUGH: Wonderful.

HUTCHINGS: And I worked there-I worked at Northwestern; at the university library for a year after I had gotten my degree, and then I went to Lake Forest and I was there for five years, and then I went on to Northwestern University library. They didn’t know what to do with me up there, so they got me a special job which was their first reader’s adviser at Northwestern University. Of course, we were real pleased about that because my husband’s family is quite involved with Northwestern University, and one of our daughters graduated from Northwestern University.

HAUGH: Which one?

HUTCHINGS: Donna. But anyway, that would be a whole long story in itself. Let’s go back to what you asked me about. When we moved here, we went to the library, and the librarian came out and said, “Gee, you look familiar.” I said, “No, I just moved here two days ago.” And she said, “You’re Mary. ..Mary Jo something,” and I said, “Oh yes, I’m Mary Jo Hutchings.” And she said, “Crystal Lake.” I had been the librarian at Crystal Lake also-it sounds like I couldn’t keep a job, doesn’t it?-before. Mrs. Schlemmer was the [Mount Prospect] librarian at that time. The place was growing so tremendously and she really needed additional help.

HAUGH: You mean Mount Prospect itself.

HUTCHINGS: And the library, and people wanted things. They were moving in. You know, the population in 1960 was 18,000, and in 1966 it was 30,000. So you see, we moved in at a time when the place had literally doubled itself, practically, in population, and that’s always hard on the library or on anything-on the village itself. It was growing so tremendously. So she said, “You know, I just have to have more help.” I said, “Thank you very much, but, no, I’m not going to get involved with the library because I’ve got these two gals I’ve got to get straightened out,” and all of this. She said, “Oh, please. We need it so desperately, and I know you’d be a big help.” So, it didn’t take very much, and I came home and told Roy and he said, “Oh, no. Not again.” So here we were, and I joined the staff on September 15. Then in January Mrs. Schlemmer retired and they were l looking for a new librarian and, of course, I was there. I said, “Oh, I really don’t want to do administration. I love reference. That’s what I like to do.” But the board asked me to, so I stayed and I was still the acting librarian until March of ’81.

HAUGH: Great. Who was the head of the library board when you came on, do you remember?

HUTCHINGS: It isn’t important. I think it was Mary Berg, perhaps. The board was outgoing and very interested in knowing what was going on. It was very easy to work with the board. In fact, there were two women that are very responsible and whose names should be part of the history of the library, as far as I know it-that is, from the ’60s on. Mrs. Schlemmer did a great job of keeping the library together from the time the women’s club established it in somebody’s house many, many years ago in the ’20s, I believe, and until 1942 [when] the library became tax supported. She stayed with it the entire time until I was there, and worked day and night and night and day and gave it all she could. She deserves a lot of credit. But when the library had grown to such an extent that it needed additional professional help, why, these two women who joined the board-Mary Berg and Mary Clark-went down to A.L.A., found out all about. ..

HAUGH: What’s A.L.A.?

HUTCHINGS: The American Library Association. ..to find out, what does a good board member do, and believe me, they did it. And they deserve a lot of credit. It was marvelous working with those two people and the rest of the members of the board at that time. I don’t know what else you need to know, because it’s been a turbulent sixteen years for me …

HAUGH: But mainly with the village, right.

HUTCHINGS: …but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. All the time, there were differences among the two boards, financially, and misunderstandings concerning the growth of the library and the need for the growth of the library, both financially and professionally. It was to my advantage, and I’m very happy to say, that I was friendly with all members of all the boards throughout, and that was a difficult thing because there were very philosophical differences.

HAUGH: I remember the time somebody tried to put censorship in our library.

HUTCHINGS: Oh, my. That would make a very interesting thing; yes, it would. That came shortly after I was librarian, too. It was not one of the books I had purchased. Mrs. Schlemmer had purchased it, but I felt very strongly that I had to defend her right to have chosen it. As a matter of fact, it eventually ended up on the University of Illinois reading list for sociology. I’m not going to tell you the name of the book.

HAUGH: I know what it was, but I’m not going to say it either. Now tell me a little bit-when you came then, was the library in the place where the senior center is now, or did you moved into there? I can’t remember.

HUTCHINGS: No. The library was where [the senior center] is now. When we got there it was growing so tremendously; in fact, people came from Arlington Heights and all around to use the Mount Prospect library-they really did. We were in a growing situation, but the first thing I realized was that we had to move the children’s room from the downstairs upstairs before we could ever think in terms of expanding or getting a new library. The bad part of it was, there was no basement in that library-only in a very small part of it-so that it was not structurally able to withstand any more remodeling on the second floor, and there wasn’t any space to build around it because then there would be no parking.

HAUGH: Wasn’t there an idea of having a bookmobiles for a while?

HUTCHINGS: Yes. We did think about that, but that’s a very expensive operation, too, because you have to have the bookmobile, you have to have additional staff for that and insurance, and all kinds of problems with the bookmobile. The town is too spread out, really, for that and it was not feasible. The board looked at every alternative, and the only alternative that was really feasible was to expand into a new library. The first thing we did was expand upstairs, and that was very helpful. That enabled us to use the children’s room for a business section because when I first came to the library, the majority of our circulation was children’s books. We were located right next to the Central School, and so the majority of our usage was in the juvenile department. I felt we had to get more adults in there, so I bought heavily for the business community and they were very helpful also. The Rotary and the Kiwanis and the Lions Club; the Jaycees and the Women’s Club all gave us …

HAUGH: Did you get any money from some of the businesses?

HUTCHINGS: I just mentioned that they were very helpful and gave us money or expansion. And so, I think that really was the beginning of the real tremendous growth of circulation due to the business participation.

HAUGH: And there was a big changeover. And, of course, the location was great because you were right in the downtown area.

HUTCHINGS: We were right in the downtown area, which was excellent.

HAUGH: Sure, because people had to pretty much shop there until Randhurst opened, so there was a lot of people that had to go downtown.

HUTCHINGS: My first year in 1966 we had an exhibit at Randhurst and invited the secretary of state who is also the state library-at that time that was Mr. [Paul] Powell-and he came to our library. We had our first series of book reviews at that time and put in a copy machine. We had courtesy cards for teachers, and 2,900 kids enrolled in the summer reading program. We had our very first National Library Week celebration, a poster contest for the grade school children, an open house, and the Friends of the Library had a big book sale which yielded us $1,000 that year. And then right away, of course, because of the demand, the growth of the library, we extended the hours, and in ’67 we started to be open on Sundays. We also had large-type books. We were the first in the system to be open on Sundays, and we were the first in the system to have large-type books. We added a microfilm reader, a pamphlet [file]. We had junior volunteers, even. And then the Mount Prospect Historical Society had an open house for us-an appreciation-for the staff, for the Women’s Club, and we were very happy to have that in our honor. The Junior Women’s Club served Magnus Farm: for the first time we were able to do work for the shut-ins. And, of course, because our collection was so small, we immediately put in an American lending library; that is, where we were able to rent these books or best sellers and other books that we couldn’t buy at the time.

HAUGH: Now, is that the same or different from the interlibrary.

HUTCHINGS: Oh, no. That’s entirely different.

HAUGH: But you had that, too, didn’t you?

HUTCHINGS: When I first came here we did, and the books were processed in Oak Park. That didn’t seem reasonable to me, because if you needed a book and it was being processed in Oak Park, it took forever to get here. I stopped that immediately and did our own, because at that time we did have one professional and myself, and that one professional was Bertha A~~leb~ who was an excellent cataloger from the University of Wisconsin. So she and I cataloged all the books, and we were able to get them out as soon as we received them. If you wanted a book and it had not been processed, that didn’t stop us. We gave it to you anyway. So we did start to build up our circulation. We even had a computer lecturer introduced by Harper faculty. He came over and gave us a lecture on the computer.

HAUGH: Now, what year was that?

HUTCHINGS: That was 1969.

HAUGH: My heavens. Way ahead of the time.

HUTCHINGS: And in 1970 we were also the first library to circulate art prints. We charged $1.00 then-we’re a little but more lucrative now; you can have them for $8.00. And we also had cassettes and we were the first library to lend them. So in spite of the fact that we didn’t have a whole lot of money, we tried to stay up professionally with what was going on.

HAUGH: That was great; see, I was with the paper, if you remember, the Day Publications, in ’66 …

HUTCHINGS: I surely do.

HAUGH: …and one of the first pictures I had on the front page was of your open house. All these things bring other memories back, too.

HUTCHINGS: While I’m talking about it, I think I should indicate-and not because you’re here, because I’ve said it many, many times-that you, Dolores Haugh, have given so much to the community and we always felt if we were in any kind of problem or needed any kind of publicity, we would just call Dolores. You were an excellent friend of the library, and we appreciated it through the years.

HAUGH: Well. ..I don’t know if you know this, but I worked my way through high school in the library. I love library work anyway, and, of course, I’m like you-I get hooked on this research stuff. I still do.

HUTCHINGS: Right. It’s more fun-more fun than administration. However, we had wonderful people on the staff, wonderful people on board, and I must say I had a wonderful time and would not have traded it for anything. Eighteen happy, happy years. My husband was retiring and he said, “Hey, it’s time.” Thirty-eight years I had spent in libraries. They changed tremendously through the years, and I think I was there during the really, really fun time.

HAUGH: Just before all the computers and all the things-the technology took over, so to speak.

HUTCHINGS: Yes, although we did prepare ourselves. Before we moved to the new library, the women and the men on the staff did get a brief course from the C.L.S.I. people.

HAUGH: What’s C.L.S.I.?

HUTCHINGS: Well, let’s see-Cataloging Library Information System.

HAUGH: That’s okay. That sounds good.

HUTCHINGS: They were the only ones, of course, at that time that had the computerization of libraries, and we knew that this was the wave of the future so we’d better get with it, and we did and we learned about it. Of course, we did have computerization in our new library in ’76. I wrote the building program for that new building in 1976, but in 1975 during National Library Week a former president of the Women’s Club, Millie Heitman and I dug the hole for the new library.

HAUGH: Oh, that’s great.

HUTCHINGS: That was kind of fun.

HAUGH: Sure. The other thing I wanted to mention in regard to the library was not only your increase in circulation but when you first opened the building-the new building-you were criticized for not having enough books.

HUTCHINGS: Oh, absolutely.

HAUGH: Tell me a little bit about that, because the numbers went up.

HUTCHINGS: Oh, yes. The doubled in no time at all, and so our problem then was a lack of books. It’s just like moving from a very small bungalow into a large mansion, and we felt it was a mansion because we did have some room, finally, to spread out. I should have mentioned, too, that for a couple of years we operated out of a mobile unit in the back of the old library.

HAUGH: Because of space?

HUTCHINGS: The processing center was back there.

HAUGH: Oh, I never knew that.

HUTCHINGS: I had almost forgotten about that. You know, I’ve been retired for ten years, and a lot of things have happened and I just don’t recall. It’s kind of a long time ago.

HAUGH: Well, you know, one of the things I’m going to put in my article when I “do” you, is the fact that you came back to serve in the community again as president of the Mount Prospect Women’s Club. I want you to talk a little bit about that because I think that’s an important part of the history, too.

HUTCHINGS: Well, the Mount Prospect Women’s Club is philanthropic and social and educational, too. These women are really very dedicated, and we work hard on our luncheons and our other philanthropies in order to get the money to put back into the community. For instance, for scholarships we gave money to the police department, to the fire department, to the library, of course, and the library is very essential because we just never forget that it was founded by the women. In addition to our yearly contribution to the library, whenever any of our members die we always purchase books in their memory, and that’s a nice thing to do. I was also in the Friends of the Library for a couple of years.

HAUGH: Tell me a little about that. Do you remember when they started?

HUTCHINGS: Well, they had a Friends of the Library when I first came here in 1966. Somewhere along the line it kind of folded-around the ’70s, I think. But it has always been active, covertly. Today it is a very fine adjunct of the library, and has been successful with their book sales. Even when we moved to the new library, the second floor of the new library is now substantial enough to make a remodeling upstairs, and so we thought about that so that we wouldn’t get into that bind again. We brought in a lot of the old shelving from the old library upstairs so that the Friends could have a place to keep their books. That’s a luxury that probably no other library has because most Friends of the Library have to do it in somebody’s garage or basement or whatever.

HAUGH: Right. And it’s hard to sort and keep them in line, and so on.

HUTCHINGS: But as they need additional room, they can move upstairs. In fact, the administrative offices are already up there. I don’t anticipate a tremendous growth because the population had leveled off, if you’ll notice. From ’71 to ’75 it went from 35,000 to 48,000, and in 1976 it was pushing 50,000. Well, today-right this minute, practically-it is hardly more than 53,000.

HAUGH: That’s right.

HUTCHINGS: And so it has leveled off, and there really isn’t anyplace else to go. So, I think one of the nice things, too, about living in Mount Prospect is you know it isn’t going to grow that way too much anymore.

HAUGH: The only way to now is up, really, because your land is gone.

HUTCHINGS: That’s right, and we don’t want to go up as far as they want-a lot of people don’t. We want to keep this nice community the way it is.

HAUGH: That’s right, sure. Getting back a little bit to the downtown area again, do you remember if there were any factories or anything down in there?

HUTCHINGS: No, I don’t remember, but you asked earlier about stores and now it comes back to me. There was a wonderful time store across the. ..

HAUGH: Oh, Ben Franklin, wasn’t it?

HUTCHINGS: Yes.

HAUGH: Now, that was on Main Street.

HUTCHINGS: Out on Prospect Road across the. ..

HAUGH: Oh, okay, near Keefer’s, wasn’t it?

HUTCHINGS: I think on the other side. I think it was close to Keefer’s, perhaps on the other side of Main. I don’t know exactly, but I do remember that that was a wonderful store.

HAUGH: But it was on Prospect Avenue, though, wasn’t it?

HUTCHINGS: Yes, it was on Prospect Avenue.

HAUGH: I thought that they were at one time on Main Street over by the bakery. Now, was the library involved in the Fourth of July parades and things like that?

HUTCHINGS: Yes, and particularly in 1975. I’m glad you asked that-that’s kind of fun. I remember that we had a float in the July 4th parade, and it was called “Ben and Me”-Ben Franklin and me-and the reason we had it that particular time was that. ..do you know that on April 13 Jefferson was born, and in 1943 on that same date-the bicentennial of his birth-the library became tax supported-the first library became tax supported. So, we thought that was very good.

HAUGH: A nice, appropriate thing.

HUTCHINGS: We didn’t have too many through the years. We did have one other one that was quite good, but it was a little bit hard to get the time and the money to participate, and you really do need both.

HAUGH: For sure. We mentioned about having the Historical Society membership drive, but I know that the library has always been a good place to go to for history.

HUTCHINGS: Oh, yes.

HAUGH: You had a history file there, didn’t you?

HUTCHINGS: Well, when I first came to the library I wanted to know the history of the place, and so Mabel Abenheimer who had worked there for years did write down everything, and we do have it as near as we could determine. It should be in the history file.

HAUGH: That’s the history of the library, but what I’m talking about is the history of the village, because you had a lot of things in there, too, didn’t you, in your file?

HUTCHINGS: Well, as near as we could determine what had happened, and she was instrumental in helping us with that. So, we do have a history file; at least I’m quite sure we still do.

HAUGH: Sure, and I know you’ve always been supportive of the Historical Society, too.

HUTCHINGS: Oh, absolutely. Well, that’s very important because the Historical Society is the root of your town. I mean, you have to have a historical society, and I’m so happy that you are the president of it because if anybody really loves and radiates Mount Prospect, it’s you.

HAUGH: Well, thank you. You don’t have to put that in the script, by the way.

HUTCHINGS: It goes in the script. It better be in the script. It should be in the script-it is now. I mean, we’re talking objectively. We know that once we’re gone, we’re gone. We’re not worried about that either, but while you’re here there’s nothing wrong at all in accepting what is true, and it is true.

HAUGH: Thank you.

HUTCHINGS: There are many, many people. I’m not just saying that.

HAUGH: Well, I’ve always loved this town.

HUTCHINGS: And it shows.

HAUGH: It’s been my hometown for a long time. There’s so many times where there are things that are needed and nobody takes up the windmill fighting. You’ve got to have somebody that picks up the lance once in a while and goes for it.

HUTCHINGS: Yes, and you have dedicated yourself to that.

HAUGH: Well, one of the other questions I have here is, what is one of the fondest memories you have of the early Mount Prospect when you first came?

HUTCHINGS: That’s a hard one.

HAUGH: I know it is. What are some of the best memories you had of, say, the work that you did with the village? HUTCHINGS: Well, it was wonderful to see the library grow, and people really, really liking the library and wanted it to grow. It was a little bit unfortunate that we didn’t have a referendum, in retrospect, because I think the time was right and I think people would have voted yes. I really do, because a survey was made at the library and sixty-three percent of the population did want it and wanted it on referendum. However, I’ve never been involved in politics-I don’t understand politics; it’s one of the necessary evils-and the way it turned out it’s been a real blessing for the town because the senior center is a thriving club and a wonderful asset to the community. Also, the library itself-of course, in my estimation, the best thing that ever happened was the new library because we now had a wonderful space in which to grow, and we had a beautiful facility; modern, computerized. As I mentioned earlier, I am of the old school, and I enjoyed being a librarian very, very much all my years. Now it’s time for the computer age, and I’m glad that we are a part of it.

HAUGH: I suppose going back again to the comparison of the downtown as it is today, you see as all of us do a tremendous change in the downtown. I don’t know if it’s for the better or not, but. ..

HUTCHINGS: Well, it certainly looks lovely, and I think the Garden Club and other clubs are taking care of the downtown area by the station-it looks so pretty.

HAUGH: I think it’s the village that’s doing that.

HUTCHINGS: The village is doing it.

HAUGH: Yes, I think so.

HUTCHINGS: Well, our village-I would like to say something for our village, because I think our public works has done a fantastic job. Our snow removal is just great. They have always been very, very helpful, and it’s just a wonderful place to live, in Mount Prospect. You can call the village hall and ask for help, and you get it. Harold Fields has done a marvelous job down there, too, and I think we really should be happy to be able to call up and know these people, and that’s what’s wonderful about the town. We still can call people by name, and that means a lot to me.

HAUGH: It keeps the hometown feeling, even though we are 53,000, right?

HUTCHINGS: That’s right.

HAUGH: Now, the last question I have is, is there anyone thing that you would want the children to remember about the history of their hometown?

HUTCHINGS: Well, I believe, the big library.

HAUGH: I think the library, of course. What else? HUTCHINGS: Well, we have wonderful churches in Mount Prospect. ..to read and they have intercommunication with their peers, and also learn something about discipline in the children’s room and, of course, they are exposed to so many wonderful things that a lot of people in a lot of communities still don’t have. Mount Prospect has everything; we really do. It’s fine, and I don’t know what special thing they would remember. They just should remember that they are born and love Mount Prospect, and when they get married they should come back and live here again. HAUGH: There you’ve got it. We’ll keep this town agoin’ here. You know, I had one more question that popped in my head. Weren’t you there when they started the zebra stripes [bar coding on library materials]?

HUTCHINGS: Oh, absolutely. We did all that in the old library before we ever came into the new library.

HAUGH: I couldn’t remember when that started.

HUTCHINGS: Oh yes, sure. That was part of the learning process for the computer, and the books all had the zebras put on because otherwise, you see, when we opened we were computerized so we had to have it for the light pen. Everything was ready to go when we went into the new library.

HAUGH: That’s great. Well, I know, because I use the library myself so much, when these different things kind of happened, but I couldn’t remember that. But I remember now, it was in the old library when we had the zebra stripes.

HUTCHINGS: There is only one regret, and that is that we have dispensed with the card catalog. I think that there are many,many, many people who still don’t know how to use the terminals. The card catalog, of course, is almost out of date now and people are starting to do that, but it still is a very wonderful-maybe historic-thing that we should hang on to, because a lot of libraries have not dispensed with their card catalogs. It makes it a lot easier for the person because when you’re using the computer you have to know the exact title. When you’re flipping through the cards, you might stumble on it. I know that many, many people say they wish they still had the card catalog, but I guess that’s progress.

HAUGH: I guess it is, whether we want it or not sometimes. Well listen, thanks again, Mary Jo, for your time and also for all the things that you have given to the community over and above the professionalism which you have always extended to everybody, but also I feel that the work that you’ve done on a volunteer basis with the Women’s Club has brought that up to a new height. Last year you won how many. ..?

HUTCHINGS: We won seventeen.

HAUGH: Seventeen awards, and that’s in your different departments.

HUTCHINGS: And two on the state level.

HAUGH: And then this year you had another large number.

HUTCHINGS: We had another two at the state this year.

HAUGH: And eleven, was it, besides that?

HUTCHINGS: Fourteen.

HAUGH: Boy, when you look back on your two years as president, you know that there was a lot of good works done. HUTCHINGS: Well, it’s because people in Mount Prospect are wonderfully gracious and they’re willing to work. I like people that will work. Ask any of my oId staff.

HAUGH: Yes, right. Well, listen, thanks ever so much again.

HUTCHINGS: Well, it was wonderful. I enjoyed it in a way, and yet I feel very unprepared because having been retired for ten years I hope some of these things I’ve said were correct.

HAUGH: They will be fine. Don’t worry about that.

HUTCHINGS: But at any rate, it’s been fun.

HAUGH: Well again, thanks. We’ll be working together, I’m sure, in the future.

HUTCHINGS: I will look forward to that.

Does MPHS have photographs: Yes

Date of Interview: September 25, 1991

Interviewer: Jim Jirak

Oral History Text:

JIM JIRAK: I’m working on behalf of the oral history project for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the village of Mount Prospect. This evening I’m talking to Norbert C. Huecker at his home at 518 Noyes Street in Arlington Heights. Today is September 25-this is a Wednesday-1991. The time is about 7:00 in the evening. Norb, I want to thank you for agreeing to be interviewed and for signing the release forms. We appreciate your help in this project. Let me start out by asking you something simple, we hope-what is your full name?

NORBERT HUECKER: Norbert Heucker-H-U-E-C-K-E-R.

JIRAK: When were you born, and where?

HUECKER: 110 Northwest Highway; July 10, 1922. That’s right next to where the fire station and the police station was.

JIRAK: In Mount Prospect.

HUECKER: Yes.

JIRAK: And your parents were whom?

HUECKER: My dad’s name was Richard Huecker, and Amanda Huecker.

JIRAK: When did you move to Mount Prospect?

HUECKER: I was born there.

JIRAK: And so you have lived there all your life.

HUECKER: Yes.

JIRAK: What is your address now?

HUECKER: 518 East Noyes, Arlington Heights.

JIRAK: Have you ever lived at any other address in the village?

HUECKER: Ch, yes. In 1932 or something like that-or ’34-we moved over on 1 West Central Road in a home that my dad owned over there. That’s where the gas station is now. There was a home there before we torn that down and made a gas station there. When he moved there he had the garage next door, and we sold Plymouth and-first he sold Fords in 1932 there, and then he picked up a Ford in Detroit that time and it took nine quarts of oil to get back to Chicago. He said, “I’m not selling that car,” so then he sold Plymouth and DeSoto. But prior to that-this goes back to 110 North Northwest Highway-that’s where I was born-in the back there my dad had repair shops-a couple of repair bays back there; a pit to work on cars, too-and had the gas pump right out on Northwest Highway there where he sold gas. And then in the front of this building that they just tore down about three or four weeks go, he had one window in there and he would open up that window and he would put a car in there-because he was selling open Pontiacs and stuff like that there-and he would put a car in there, and on the other side of the store he sold some of these radios. These were the first radios that came into Mount Prospect. They ran on a storage battery like they’ve got in a car, and that’s the only battery they really had. You know, you have to charge these batteries up. But he sold those, and then he fixed shoes and all that stuff in the same building there. Then it was in 1932 or something that he had moved over on Central Road and Main Street-there’s a home there-and he bought the garage and that stuff in the back. That’s when he went into Ford for ’32 and then he stopped on account of the oil burning and then went into Plymouth and DeSoto for two years, and then he sold Fords again until 1937. Then in 1937 we dug all the dirt out by that corner there where the house is at and started making a gas station out of that. But prior to that, you figure from that building on-where I was born-you had Busse’s Grocery Store and you had Burda’s.

JIRAK: Where were they located?

HUECKER: They were right on the corner of Northwest Highway and Emerson. Burda’s had the drugstore there. And then there were doctors-Dr. Jensen had offices in that same building upstairs, and Dr. [William] Granzig. And if you go down the street a little north, there was nothing but homes, like the Busses-there was Castrina Busse, Edwin Busse and all of them just had homes all along there. That was really the only business that was there. I can remember right there at 110 Northwest Highway-that building that they just tore down-that was a cornfield. Right after the cornfield they had a baseball diamond there. I remember all the guys in town used to play baseball there. Anyway, they made a baseball diamond. We lived in the lower apartment there, and I remember they would be breaking windows all the time. They were playing with a sixteen-inch ball. But they fixed all the windows. Nothing’s been said here around town; well, I remember the creamery over there where Schimming used to be, but I don’t remember anything about it. And then, like I say, there was Crofoot Co. that had factory over there, right next to where the old village hall was.

JIRAK: Do you remember what they made?

HUECKER: Well, Crofoot made staples-staples for stapling paper together. And then there was a cash register place in there, too. They made old cash registers-well, they weren’t old then; they were new cash registers-but they made those there. The man was Crofoot, and I think he made the Crofoot staples. But as you go down Busse, the florist over there was my uncle. When he got married my grandfather gave him a lot and a house right over there as a wedding present, and then he started the greenhouse over there. As you come along past the stores and you get down to the corner, [John C.] Moehling had that building on the corner over there. I think there is a chiropractor in there now.

JIRAK: Corner of …?

HUECKER: Of Main and Northwest Highway. There was a tavern in there, and I remember as a kid going in there with my dad. And then there were stores there-Meeske’s and some of those. They had a dry goods store. I remember the one fellow had a dry goods store-a nice man-and he would go downtown if people needed a spool of thread or something like that- the next day he would go downtown and pick up these ladies spools of thread. I can remember being in a gas station, pretty near a block away; he had a laugh like you wouldn’t believe. You could hear it a block away. But anyway, I don’t know how long he stayed there. Then right across the street, the First Bank building was on the corner of Busse and Main Street, and I remember when the bank moved out of there and they moved into the other quarters that was a little restaurant. I remember eating in that restaurant. Other than that, there was nothing but farms all around. Central Road and Northwest Highway and Rand Road and Foundry Road-nothing but farms just allover. I can remember, too, the farmers used to come into town with sugar beets. Sugar beets was a big thing in those days, and they would bring the sugar beets over by the railroad tracks. They had a method of lifting the trucks up and pouring the sugar beets in there, and then they would haul them away. But I can remember as a kid, playing on Northwest Highway, the first cement they had on it. They were adding lanes, but I can remember playing on Northwest Highway, sitting on the bales of straw. There are so many things [we did] as kids that I remember-I’m 69 years old-that kids [today] will never see, like seeing an ice man come, carry ice on his back and carry it up and put it in the icebox [after] they called you. I remember the milk~man, too, and how they would come down the street, and how in the wintertime that little cream would push out of the bottle and we’d try to get it. But so many things that kids would never realize or just can’t imagine. Just the same as I remember my dad when he sold cars, people would trade in bicycles, pianos, gold and everything else. When they bought a car they would trade all this stuff in. I can remember the gypsies that would come into town would buy old gold and that stuff, too. My dad would get a watch in trade on a car and I thought that one time that I could fix it. I tore it all apart. Well, I never got it together, but when the gypsies came to town I think I sold it, and maybe I got a dollar and a half for it. Like I say, Kruse’s on the other side of the railroad tracks-they were there. He was a beer distributor, plus he had the tavern and a restaurant there. People really liked it. In those days you would go in a tavern-well, I don’t visit them anyway-but they would have cheese and crackers there to eat and nibble on. But they put out wonderful meals. Prior to that, Herman Meyn was on the corner of Busse and Northwest Highway where the Carriage House is now. That’s where he started with his blacksmith shop. Then he moved over there on Emerson Street in back of P & Me, and that’s where he had his tractor place. I can remember horses in there, and I can remember shoeing the horses and how the horses would go to the bathroom. What a messy job-the horses going to the bathroom, and all that stuff, too. But he shoed horses in there, too. He was a hard-working guy. I remember on Pine Street the pickle factory they had there. I think it was Budlong pickle factory [Schillo Brothers Pickel Factory], and I remember the vats they had there. We got a kick as kids-and I know we’d throw things in the vats. And the birds, they’d be in there-Lord knows what they were putting in there-but I can remember we’d take pickles out of there and eat some of the pickles. They were good, but the sanitation wasn’t too good. They had onion houses there, too, where he would have onions all the time. Come Halloween, the biggest thing somebody would do on Halloween would be to tip over somebody’s outhouse. That was a big thing. Even like on the corner where I’m at-Central and Main, where I have my gas station now-across the street from that there was greenhouse there by the name of Homeyer-I think his name was Homeyer; Charlie Homeyer. He had that greenhouse there, and then later on in years a guy by the name of Bill McReynolds-they called it Hook’s Nursery-he was there. But I can remember as a kid, working across the street over there for 35 cents an hour, and there was no such thing as sticking your head up and looking around. You worked for that 35 cents an hour. Even for Heine Kruse-I worked for Heine Kruse; he was an uncle of mine-I worked on the beer truck from 5:00 in the morning until 7:00 at night for two dollars a day, and he said, “Don’t get hurt. I haven’t got any insurance on you.” But it was fun years. All along Central Road, it really was nothing but farms.

JIRAK: Norb, let me ask just for the record, can you tell us within an outline what considered the downtown area-what were the boundaries.

HUECKER: Well, the Busses on Emerson and Northwest Highway. That was about it. Later on in years it ran over where Main Street is over there-that was really about the biggest extent of it. Nobody realizes it, but that Elmhurst Road, as you see, it is an S-curve. But we had a commissioner in town, there, that was related-William Busse, the commissioner. I think he was mayor at the same time. His son had that garage there. It was Albert. When they made that road, Commissioner Busse said, “You’re going to bend that road, and you’re going to put that in front of my son’s garage,” and they did it. They bent it and put it in front of his son’s garage. In those days, they could have run it right straight through. There’s nothing there. But he said, “I want that road to go in front of my son’s garage,” and they put it in front of his son’s garage. But to me, it raised the value of my property, too, so I can’t complain. I can’t remember-on the other side of the railroad tracks-when those stores really started over there. That was later on. But the way I see and from what I hear, it’s just a shame that I don’t have my dad or I don’t have somebody really to inquire of why my dad even had the garage there. That was over there on Central Road. He sold gas, and that’s where he sold Fords until 1937. This was in ’34, and there was a lot of bootlegging. I can remember cars in there that they had confiscated or picked up. They had guns in them or liquor, and the police department was holding them. People don’t realize-I was driving through Arlington Heights the other day and I was telling a fellow right along Northwest Highway here in Arlington Heights-I think it was a gravel road or a two-lane road-I can remember they had a cigar store, Gander Cigars. Do you remember that?

JIRAK: Yes.

HUECKER: I can remember it was named after the guy’s geese, and the geese would be walking around there by the road. We went to church in Arlington Heights then, and I can remember my one uncle Mr. Deering, why, we’d be driving along, and he chewed tobacco. He spit out the front window and it would come in the back. We kids would dive on the floor. But between the sugar beets and things like that, there were peonies. Peonies were a big thing. Everybody was growing peonies. On Miller Road there were nothing but peonies. I remember my uncle across the street, Mr. Deering, had a lot there-a 50- or lOa-foot lot-they grew nothing but peonies. Between the peonies and the sugar beets, I think that was one of their biggest things. And as far as the automobiles, the only dealers at that time, really, was Busse and my dad.

JIRAK: Which Busse was that?

HUECKER: That was Albert.

JIRAK: Son of the commissioner, right?

HUECKER: His dad and his brother was the commissioner. But there was another fellow, Gilbert Busse, who was a wonderful man; the hardest working guy. You ought to see him working. He’d be there seven days a week working in that garage there for his brother Albert. Gilbert, he’s the grandfather to Wayne Busse. I can remember horses and buggies coming into town. On the corner of Central and Main, there, you’d see them. I can remember the one time, even Dr. Jensen had his horse, and he took the horse in co-Hopper’s Bowling Alley, and [in time] they got it thrown out. But he had the horse in the bowling alley. He was my dentist, but he was a nice guy.

JIRAK: Let me ask you, just to cover some of these point, where did your family shop for groceries?

HUECKER: Mainly right in town there.

JIRAK: Okay, with whom?

HUECKER: Busse’s store, and over at Meeske’s-you know, Meeskes had that place there. That would be the main ones.

JIRAK: Where were they located?

HUECKER: Busse’s was right on the highway-lOB Northwest Highway, or something like that; right next to where I was born.

JIRAK: And Meeske’s?

HUECKER: Meeske’s, they were on the corner of Busse by Elmhurst Road-right on the corner there.

JIRAK: That would be across from your station now.

HUECKER: Down on the next corner, right where the bakery is.

JIRAK: The Continental.

HUECKER: The Continental, yes-right there. That was Meeske’s building. The father had it, and then the sons. They ran it, but I don’t think they liked the business, or something.

JIRAK: Okay. How about clothes and shoes?

HUECKER: Well, this fellow right next to where the bakery is now, they had a dry goods place there, and they would sell stuff there, but I think the big thing in those days was Sears & Roebuck, you know-the catalog-because the catalogs were big and people would just order stuff from catalogs.

JIRAK: Was it pretty popular to go to Des Plaines, as far as you can recall?

HUECKER: Oh, I’d say yes. Later on people would go to Des Plaines, because I can remember going to Des Plaines and you would-how many years ago was that? Forty-five years ago. They would have a five and dime there, too. My wife really came from Des Plaines, but I can remember you would drive around the block maybe four, five, six times before you could find a parking place up in Des Plaines to go into these stores up in Des Plaines there. It’s hard to believe, but the story years ago as to why Mount Prospect never really had anything as far as stores, but they said if the Busses didn’t own the land, they just didn’t go into business, and it’s seemed kind of a proven fact. As far as even on the other side of Central Road where the drugstore is now-Duretti’s-that was Hook’s Nursery and prior to that it was Homeyer, but I remember my dad bought a lot on the opposite corner, which was a parking lot. He bought that as a business in 1922, and that was taken out of business in 1934 because they just didn’t want any business down in that thing. They just wanted it as far as Hook’s Nursery was and the drugstore is now.

JIRAK: Where did you shop for hardware?

HUECKER: Wille’s and Busse-Biermann. They were there then. Busse-Biermann-I can remember, too, [you needed] coal in those days; we had coal. I can remember on Central and Main Street, my gas station-now we live there. My mother, she had chickens-raised chickens there, too. On Saturday she maybe baked thirty, forty loaves of bread. I’m telling you, there’s nothing better than that homemade bread with butter and jelly. I remember Dr. Granzig would come over every Saturday morning and we would have bread. But she would make thirty, forty loaves of bread and I think sell them for 20 cents or something like that. But then raise chickens; I remember she had guinea hens there. It was a fun time. I remember no sidewalks. There were no sidewalks by the gas station there. Nothing. Just nothing but fields.

JIRAK: How about your drugstore; medicines and so forth?

HUECKER: Burda-they were there. See, Burda’s, they were on the corner of Northwest Highway and Emerson. I remember they had some kind of contest there I won, too, one time. I won the first balloon-tired bicycle that came into Mount Prospect-the first balloon-tired bicycle-and I had it a long time. You talk of going to school there-across the street from me over there; the gas station there-the public school there, and prior to that they had a little school-a regular church, like-and they used that as a school first. I can remember going eight years to that one over there-that public school over there.

JIRAK: Is that the one in the rear of St. John’s?

HUECKER: No, that’s the one where the library is now. I can remember even as a kid going to grammar school. I hung around with a kid on the south side, down by the creek there. I can remember on rainy days the water was over the handlebars of a bicycle in a real bad storm. I remember in the creek-hunting along the creek; a lot of pheasants, too-but there was a lot of things floating in the creek there that you don’t see floating in there anymore. They’ve got it cleaned up. But even on Emerson Street, there was a farm. The Krohn brothers or something-they ran it. It’s just hard to visualize. The place was nothing but farms, all around Mount Prospect, which I imagine was all over.

JIRAK: How did the stores advertise?

HUECKER: Mainly by the sign in the front of the building, that’s all. They had a sign in the front of the building like “Busse’s Groceries,” or things like that.

JIRAK: How about newspaper advertisements?

HUECKER: Well, I think there was somewhat, but you didn’t see much of it. I don’t remember seeing much of it.

JIRAK: Nothing like today.

HUECKER: No, nothing like today. Because I don’t even know, really, way back when whether they really had anything as far as printing locally. I can’t remember about papers and that stuff.

JIRAK: Do you remember what some of the earliest factories in Mount Prospect were?

HUECKER: Well, the earliest one I can remember is the creamery and Crofoot’s, and then later on you had Illinois Range that started up down there

JIRAK: On Central Road.

HUECKER: And there was Milburn Brothers; they were in the excavator-contractor business.

JIRAK: Well, you had the pickle factory.

HUECKER: They had the pickle factory, yes, and the onion factory over there.

JIRAK: Did they actually can pickles?

HUECKER: No, they didn’t do it. They just had them there, and they were just like-pickling there. They put them in vats and let them lay there, then they were taken some other place and they were canned.

JIRAK: Oh, okay, they didn’t can them there.

HUECKER: No. They had no facilities for canning. I can even remember as a kid, when my dad was over there I used to raise pigeons. In those days, kids would come around and let my pigeons out. I remember digging big holes by the pigeon coops, then laying dirt and cardboard on top. Then they’d fall into it-you know, to keep them away from my pigeons. But there was no such thing as anybody suing one another in those days.

JIRAK: Right. Do you remember any particular interesting stories? You’ve told a little bit about some of the places-particularly the pickle factory-but do you remember anything special about the creamery or the other places?

HUECKER: No, I really can’t remember; just that it was a creamery and then it went into an oil company-Schimming Oil, or something, was in later years. I remember, too, even with the fire department, in those days-this is right where the police station and the fire station is right now-they used to have water fights with the hose and that stuff. The fire department used to fight against other towns. They would have barrels up on a wire and they would have water fights to see who could drive the barrel down to the other end.

JIRAK: There is mention here of the night the power plant burned down. Do you remember anything about that?

HUECKER: I don’t remember that. I don’t know a thing about it. I don’t know what year that was.

JIRAK: Other than the stores and businesses, which buildings were downtown? You’ve got the library, the hospital. ..

HUECKER: the hospital-like Busse’s store and then Busse-Biermann and Wille’s-that was about the extent of the businesses that I can remember, and the dry goods stores and some of the grocery stores.

JIRAK: Did they have a library at that time, in the early ’30s?

HUECKER: I don’t remember a library, no.

JIRAK: How about the hospital?

HUECKER: Hospital, yes. They had that one on the south side of the tracks. Wolfarth-he was the fellow that ran that.

JIRAK: I presume that was for people that had to be temporarily

HUECKER: Either that or I think for people that wanted to have babies or things like that. My daughter was born at home, but she turned out to be a good gal.

JIRAK: Wille Hall-do you remember anything about Wille Hall?

HUECKER: I remember the name, but I just can’t place it. I remember talk of it. It’s like where the water tower is there, too-that was the main business in town; police station, fire station. They had the jail there, you know. They had everything there. At that time a fellow by the name of William Mawsaw, I think he was the chief and he was the deputy and a judge and everything else in town-William Mawsaw.

JIRAK: Where did children hang out, and was there a lovers’ lane worthy of the name?

HUECKER: No, I don’t remember a lovers’ lane. I just remember years ago that I would see cars going down Emerson Street and parking down there because there were dead-end roads that didn’t go anywhere. That’s where a lot of cars would sit. I don’t’ know-they must have been doing some hugging and kissing or something in there.

JIRAK: Okay. Was there anyplace special that businessmen got together to talk?

HUECKER: Not really.

JIRAK: Perhaps the taverns?

HUECKER: I imagine, to sit in the tavern. You see, in those days, too a big thing was like I can remember him and Mr. Kleinswick and my dad, too-most guys, too-a shot and a beer. That was a big thing. Or Wille’s Tavern-that was a big meeting place for businessmen and for guys that hunted and fished and that stuff, too. They would meet in there and talk about fishing and hunting and all that stuff. But they had like a regular hunting club that originated out of Wille’s Tavern.

JIRAK: Do you remember anything about parades downtown, or other special events like picnics or fairs or town events?

HUECKER: I don’t remember too much about parades, but I remember years ago they did have some. A Mr. Schuette, who was a German man in town-he came from Germany and he had a son Frank and they lost him in the service. But I can remember they got some kind of a race together like they have now. That really is big time, you know-a bicycle race-and I remember he was entered in it. I don’t think that lasted-only a year or two and that was the end of that. It kind of fell away.

JIRAK: Were the special Fourth of July or Memorial Day celebrations? Can you recall some of those?

HUECKER: I think just later on. Not the early years-they didn’t have anything. They didn’t have, really, any business to do anything or participate in it.

JIRAK: One of the questions, did the town decorate for holidays? If so, how?

HUECKER: I don’t think in the early years they did, but later on I think they did. But another thing that people don’t know, where the Fanny May candy is now, right on the corner there, they had what they called a sunken garden. It was really pretty. They had a little pond in there with water running all the time, and then they had little benches in there where you could sit. It was really beautiful. What happened to it, I really don’t know. They just took it out of there. But it really was nice. You’d think something like that would be interesting to see, even in this day. You can’t now. All you do it sit over there and eat candy at Fanny May.

JIRAK: How did people come downtown when you first came to Mount Prospect, as you were growing up there?

HUECKER: Well, they had automobiles, but you would see horse and buggies coming to town and tie up there.

JIRAK: The trains then were steam trains, I take it.

HUECKER: Steam trains then, yes. Young guys liked gals, too, and sometimes they’d give a little toot on the old steam when they passed the gals, not that it would get a , you see, but just to scare them a little bit.

JIRAK: Do you remember riding on the train yourself?

HUECKER: Yes, I did a few times. Until this day I don’t think I’ve been on a train fifteen times.

JIRAK: Where did you go? Did you go downtown?

HUECKER: Yes.

JIRAK: We’ve talked about the sugar beets being shipped to and from Mount Prospect. Do you recall at all the milk pails and that sort of thing?

HUECKER: Oh, I remember milk pails standing all around, even on farms. If you went to farms, you would see milk cans sitting around to be picked up. Another thing about the Haberkamps-I don’t know if their name was mentioned yet or not-but you know they had the florist over there on Emerson Street on the other side. They were old-timers in town.

JIRAK: Yes. They were the other florist in town, weren’t they.

HUECKER: Yes.

JIRAK: The Busses and the Haberkamps.

HUECKER: In those days, though, it wasn’t like now. They had greenhouses-where my uncle, he was Fred Busse-but they had greenhouses where they would raise all their flowers and that stuff. Most of them would raise that stuff to sell, but now I think it’s pretty near all shipped in due to airplanes.

JIRAK: We can probably sum it up, Norb, but what would you say is your fondest memory of early downtown Mount Prospect?

HUECKER: Oh, I think just the way it was. You figure with the horses coming into town and, like I say, where I’m at now look across the street and there was nothing but horses and cows. You’d see the cars on Rand Road over there, see. It was just nice, you know, seeing that stuff. It was a nice, little town. It’s a shame that even all these young kids just couldn’t start off in a little, old town like that and then grow up. I remember when the population was about 900 in Mount Prospect. Even with Mr. [George] Whittenberg, the chief, I remember he came into town. He was an unemployed carpenter. At that time my dad was on the Chamber of Commerce, or something they had there like that, you see, and they were having a meeting over there by the water tower in the village hall. My dad said [to George], “Get over there. They’re having a meeting tonight, and they’re looking for a policeman.” And George said, “God, I don’t know how to ride a motorcycle or anything else like that.” But anyway, he went over and he got the job. I remember one time he was chasing somebody, or what, and a dog flew out in front of the motorcycle. He hit that dog, and the only thing that saved him was he slid on his side along the gun, you know-slid on the holster and wore that all through. That’s the only thing that saved him, otherwise it would have skinned him all to pieces.

JIRAK: Maybe this seems like an obvious question, but how has downtown Mount Prospect changed over the years? Do you like the changes, or was it better the way it was?

HUECKER: Well, I don’t think there was ever enough changes, see. Nothing was just done. It isn’t like Des Plaines or Arlington Heights where they had more stores, more things to shop. Mount Prospect was limited to the amount of stores they had, so you’re going to lose people by not having everything so handy. Des Plaines was only three miles away; Arlington Heights three miles away-people could go there and have a better selection of shopping and getting stuff

JIRAK: That should about wind it up, Norb. You’ve talked about if there was anyone thing that you would want the children to remember about the history of their hometown, what would it be? Can you sum that up?

HUECKER: Like I say, you go places now and it’s nothing but a little town with farmers around it. That’s all I can say, you know.

JIRAK: You liked that rural atmosphere.

HUECKER: I think so. If you’ve lived in it and you’ve seen it, you really kind of miss it. Not that I’d go to Wisconsin or places like that-you see these places, and I know I couldn’t stand to live there now, when you’ve seen all the excitement that goes on in Mount Prospect.

JIRAK: Well, that should do it. We thank you very much for consenting to be interviewed. You now will have a place in history.