Naperville 1920 / 2020 - Setting the Stage

According to contemporary reports, a wild winter storm greeted the new year as 1920 dawned in Illinois. The President was Woodrow Wilson. The Governor was Frank Lowden. With World War I wrapping up, the nation was intending to go back to normal, but normal was anything but in the 1920s.

WWI ended in November of 1928, but the Treaty of Versailles didn't actually take effect until January 10, 1920. The last soldiers were coming home from overseas, having experienced more of the world than their parents or grandparents ever had. Many of the women who had filled in for their menfolk were reluctant to take off their trousers, put their dresses back on and return to the kitchen. Patriotism was high across the nation.

But patriotism was morphing into a nationalism that sowed suspicion. The rise of communism, socialism and fascism in Europe raised fears in the U.S. The first "Red Scare" raids in November 1919 and January 1920 were to oust leftist leaders and political and labor radicals. Immigrants were looked at differently and there were calls to close the borders to immigration. The Ku Klux Klan, once a Confederate social club, adopted an "Americanism" creed that embraced intolerance not only for immigrants, but also for blacks, Catholics, Jews and various practices they deemed "immoral."

So what was it like during this time in little Naperville?
Naperville was incorporated as a city in 1890 and by 1912 was a commission form of government with a mayor and several commissioners instead of aldermen and wards. Mayor Charles B. Bowman was a professor at North-Western College (later renamed North Central College). His commissioners were Alexander Grush (who owned a meat market), Robert Enck (who was in coal supply), Charles Rohr (who was a florist), and C.C. Coleman (who was a druggist.)

The men met at the "new" city hall after moving from their location above the jail and firehouse which was located about where the Apple Store is on Jefferson. The local Masons had just built a new building in 1916 (the Naperville Running Company building) and had moved out of their rooms above the First National Bank. That building, now La Sorella di Francesca, became the new city hall.

Naperville's quarries were no longer being worked, so the main employer in town was the Kroehler Manufacturing Company, renamed in 1915 as the Naperville Lounge Company started incorporating other factories.

While Edward Hospital doesn't look anything like it did in 1920, it did exist as a popular Sanitarium. The YMCA, which does still boast its original building, had been completed in 1911 and even allowed women to use the facilities at certain times of the week. Another landmark from the 1920s that still exists in some form today is Nichols Library, which was built in 1898.

George Santayana said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" while Mark Twain is supposed to have replied "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Comparing 1920 to 2020 is certainly an interesting exercise that may be useful as well!

More on the Mormon Story

Local history books from DuPage and Will Counties and even Chicago are great resources to learn more about Pierce and Aaron Hawley, but much of Pierce Hawley's story is also recounted in the book Polygamy on the Pedernales; Lyman Wight's Mormon Villages in Antebellum Texas, 1845 to 1858 by Melvin C. Johnson.

Written around the time that the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch was in the news, the parallels are obvious. Lyman Wight was a charismatic yet not-mainstream-Mormon leader, much like Warren Jeffs. Wight's religious compound was in Texas, just like Jeffs'. Both men also advocated plural wives and marrying very young girls.

Wight's group collapsed from within due to unrest and disillusionment. About two thirds of Jeffs' group have returned to their Texas compound, although Jeffs himself is serving time in a Utah prison for arranging the marriage of a fourteen-year-old girl. He still faces trial in Texas and the announcement that the Utah Supreme Court will not block extradition hit the newspapers, strangely enough, last week on November 26, which is where this research started!

In the Days before "Just Say No" Came to Our Schools

While researching whiskey and black strap and the drinking habits of settlers in the 1800's, Kate found a few interesting stories in The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2 by Paul Selby.

In the chapter on Kendall County, the writer tells some stories about school customs in the first half of the nineteenth century. Until larger number of German immigrants arrived, Christmas was not really a big deal. The Charles Dickens version became common only after Queen Victoria took up the custom from her German-born husband and most early Americans celebrated Christmas like an ordinary Sunday.

By the 1840's, however, customs started changing, and one odd one was called "Barring Out." A few days before Christmas, the pupils at the local one-room school would bar the door against the teacher until he promised them a treat for Christmas Day. Apparently, some students went even farther by throwing the teacher in the river, tying him up, or burying him in a snow bank. A few teachers resigned their positions rather than face the mob of students, but at least one "was forced to treat his pupils to 'blackstrap' and all the boys became drunk."

Rockin' Out with the Revolution Patriots

"Don't know much about history" Sam Cooke warbled and everyone understood him to mean that he didn't care much for his history classes. Or as the Talking Barbie Doll might have said: "History is hard!" And now we have unpopular Ben from the "Lost" television show as a history teacher in the alternate universe! No wonder it's hard to get folks excited about history!

But "Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration" certainly makes history look cool. Released a few weeks ago, the video by Soomo Publishing has America's founding fathers working on the Declaration of Independence in what one reviewer called "an '80's hair band music video."

Based on the 2007 song and video "Apologize" by One Republic, featuring Timbaland, "Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration" is catchy and fun and proves that history can be presented in an interesting way.

Soomo Publishing is a forward-thinking company with creative "new media" ideas on changing how students and professors use college textbooks. Normally Soomo provides quite serious information using web technology to gather and present the curriculum in a way that may be engaging young people as never before.

They offer programs including World History, Government, International Relations and a few others. The curriculum can be augmented by each individual teacher and it works with the brand-new iPad. This may be the way our next generation learns.

While many of us still prefer a musty old book, you have to admit that the music video grabs your attention!

The Oregon Trail in Illinois

While recently reading "Searching for Tamsen Donner" by Gabrielle Burton, Kate learned that two of the families of the doomed Oregon Trail party were from Illinois. James Reed was a businessman from Springfield who operated a general store, sawmill and furniture factory, among other ventures, and George Donner himself was a fellow Springfield citizen.

Googling to see if there were any other Illinois ties to the Oregon Trail, Kate found a rather surprising connection: Oregon Trail Days in Oregon, Illinois.

While Oregon has long been a favorite place to visit, Kate had never heard of Oregon Trail Days, and for good reason. This summer will be its inaugural event.

Prompted by the threat of budget woes closing two nearby state parks, a group of concerned citizens decided to launch the festival as a way to boost awareness of the Oregon area as a tourism destination. While one of Oregon's charms is that it is NOT over-run with tourists, it certainly makes sense to get more people aware of what a treasure the area is and ensure that it remains open to all.

Planned for July 16 through 18, the event will celebrate Oregon's Native American and Western heritage. Activities will include Native American dancing and drumming, a cowboy medicine show and covered wagon rides.

The event's committee says: "We are sure that you and your family will have a rip-roaring, foot stomping, knee slapping, gosh darn good time," and they mean it! You have to go to the Oregon Trail Days web site to see all of the fun and interesting events they have planned.