Growing Up In Mount Prospect

Happy 4th of July!! Enjoy a few photos from past parades, likely around 1980.

1. Members of the Medinah Shriners Police Unit zoom around near Evan's Restaurant (now Emerson's Ale House) as they make their way down Emerson Street.
2. The colorful Busse Flowers float, featuring little ones dressed up as flowers.
3. The Prospect Marching Knights march down Emerson Street past Mount Prospect State Bank.

Make every day a Throwback Thursday by wearing a commemorative t-shirt for these beloved local businesses of Mount Prospect past! We are restocking our Hotter Than Mother's Music and Sammy Skobel t-shirts.

Get your shirt at www.mtphist.org/shop. Please note, orders will take a few weeks to arrive. If you need a size not listed, please email us at [email protected] by Monday, May 27.

Proceeds from each purchase go towards covering various museum expenses, from restocking archival materials and program supplies to funding repairs on our historic buildings. Your purchase also supports the creation of new product designs. Thank you for your support!

This bird's-eye view photo of Golf Road and Linneman Street was taken in the mid-1970s. St. John's Lutheran Church, along with school and cemetery, are pictured just above the center of the image. The surroundings have changed immensely since the St. John congregation was founded in 1848! Some of the "new" neighbors visible in this photo are Redemption Bible Church, Trinity United Methodist Church, and Huntington Commons.

What other sites do you recognize in this photo?

Thank you, teachers, for all you do! We hope you enjoy Teacher Appreciation Week!

There are have been (and still are!) so many dedicated, talented teachers throughout Mount Prospect's history who have made a difference in the lives of local students. Who were your favorite teachers growing up?

Photos:
1. Gladys Ackley reads to Kindergartners at Lincoln School, which is the present-day Lincoln Middle School. Gladys was very active in District 57, which included serving as principal of Lincoln and Sunset Park Schools.

2. Robert Ferguson poses for a photo behind the equipment in his science lab in Central School. He taught 7th and 8th grade science at Central School, and later became principal at Central School, Lions Park School, Busse School, and Westbrook School.

3. Rev. J.E.A. Mueller and the students of St. Paul Lutheran School took this class photo around 1915. Rev. Mueller served as both pastor and sole school teacher when he arrived at the new congregation in 1913. Classes met in a small building on Main Street, formally the first home of the Meyn family.

These photos were taken about 20 years apart in approximately the same spot near Main Street!

The black and white photo was taken in the 1950s on the grounds of Central School. The new Prospect Theatre is across the street and Busse Buick is next to the movie theater. The next building down the block was home to Mount Prospect State Bank. Main Street was only two lanes, so the sides of the street are lined with parked cars.

The color photo was taken in the late 1970s or early 1980s on the grounds of the new Mount Prospect Public Library building. The Prospect Theatre was still showing movies, but Northwest Electrical Supply occupied the former Busse Buick building next door. If you look very closely at the back of the next building on the block, formerly Mount Prospect State Bank, you'll see the sign for Sammy Skobel's Hot Dogs Plus. By the time this photo was taken, Main Street was expanded to a four-lane road and street parking was removed.

Happy 4th of July!! Enjoy these photos from the 1957 and 1958 4th of July parades.

1. Lions Club float
2. Campfire Girls float, featuring their "outer space recruit ship"
3. The Gift Shop float parked in the staging area at Lions Park
4. The Keefer's and Van Driel's float approaches the intersection of Northwest Highway and Emerson Street

Do you remember attending the Lions Club 4th of July Festival?

This annual festival has been held at Melas Park since the 1980s, but before that all of the carnival rides and games were set up in Lions Memorial Park. These photos were taken at the 1978 carnival.

For almost 50 years this building on Northwest Highway near Central Road was home to Jake's Pizza. This postcard shows a painting of Jake's shortly after it opened in the mid-1960s.

But Jake's was only one of many restaurants located here! Myrt and Bill Hampe constructed the building in 1950 as a permanent site for their popular seasonal lunch wagon. Later restaurants included Mell and Paul's, Golden Isle, and today's Trezero's Kitchen + Tap.

Do you remember eating at Jake's? Or one of the other restaurants in this building? Share your memories in the comments!

Learn more about local history hidden in plain sight in "Mount Prospect Historic Sites." Pre-order your autographed copy at https://www.mtphist.org/product/images-of-america-mount-prospect-historic-sites/

If you were to look at a map of Mount Prospect from the 1870s, you probably wouldn’t recognize many of the street names. Eggleston’s original map of Mount Prospect included street names like Carpenter Street, Park Avenue, and Center Avenue, along with many others that were later changed during the Busse-Wille Resubdivision in the early 1900s.