Woodstock Centennial Program (1952)

Woodstock Centennial Program (1952)

1952

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Woodstock Centennial Program
Woodstock Illinois 1852 100 Years 1952
June 19.20.21.22 1952
Illustrated History of Woodstock, Illinois

WOODSTOCK CENTENNIAL Program of Events
Saturday June 14, Centennial Ball and Coronation of Queen. Sunday June 15, All Day Sports Show at City Park.
Thursday June 19, 1 P.M. Kiddies Parade. 8:30 P.M. Pageant, Community High School Field.
Friday June 20, All Afternoon Program in City Square. 8:30 P.M. Pageant, Community High School Field.
Saturday June 21,12:00 Noon Huge Float Parade. 8:30 P.M. Pageant, Community High School Field.
Sunday June 22nd, 11:30 A.M. Union Church Service and Mass Choir at City Park. All Afternoon Program at City Park. 8:30 Pageant, Community High School Field.

One hundred and eight years ago, on June 4, 1844, a plat was ordered recorded on the books of McHenry County. It had been produced by George Dean who had purchased it from Alvin Judd and the land was described as being "The South half of the South West quarter of Section No. five of Township No. forty-four North of range No. seven East of the third principal meridian in McHenry County and State of Illinois," and was given the obvious name of "Centerville" because the only reason for choosing this particular eighty acre tract for a new settlement had been that it was approximately the center of the newly created McHenry County. At a special election the voters had given such a site their preference for the new county seat. The land selected for this new town was unsettled, somewhat uneven with scattered trees, thick under brush and marshes. The plat was carefully made with streets running north and south, east and west and allowing two acres for a public square; it was bound by Church, East (now Seminary), South and Hayward Streets and covered about twenty-four blocks.
Through the years in the life of this community three events seem to have greatly influenced its development varying it from the average pioneer settlement.
The first of these was the fact that it was a county seat before it existed. Many of its first citizens were already McHenry County residents; some of them had been influential in its creation. The Judds, Austins, Goulders, Griffings and Belchers belonged to this group and it was Alvin Judd who was the first one to build in Centerville. He erected a small tavern near the site of the First National Bank and like all early inns, it had a room that could be used as a meeting place and undoubtedly many gatherings were held here to discuss the court house that must soon be built. In July a contract was drawn up for its construction in the center of the public square. The late summer saw its completion. It was a plain two story frame building thirty-three by forty feet with a hall about eight feet wide running from east to west. The north side of the building was used for the living quarters of the sheriff, the south east corner for his office, and the south west corner for the jail. The court room occupied the second story and this room was to be the scene of many meetings of all kinds from political to religious and school to parties. The cost was $275.00. The records from the old court house in McHenry settlement were brought to Centerville and placed in the new building.
Early in 1845 the new community felt that as a name "Centerville" was undesirable and as Joel Johnson would attend to the legal procedure necessary to change it, he was allowed the selection of another name, so in memory of his old home in Vermont, he desired that the county seat be called "Woodstock." The county officers moved from McHenry and the first lawyers, D. C. Bush and William Sloan, came. As a county seat Woodstock grew more rapidly than the average pioneer settlement. The Belchers built a tavern on the site of the present courthouse; Dwight and Beach opened the first general store; it stood where the McHenry County Title Company's building is today. Dr. King came to practice. The Presbyterians organized the first church and for one year held their services in the court room. As early as 1846 it was necssary to have more room for county offices and records, so a brick building with thick walls and tin roof was erected on the corner where the State Bank now stands. This county building was later to be called the "Rat Hole" and was so named even in county records. One history gives the'following reason: "In the winter of '47 there was a heavy wind which suddenly lifted the tin roof from the county office building and carried it some distance away. The county officers, in their offices at the time, naturally did not care to remain longer under such conditions and rushed out with all possible haste. As they came forth they were greeted with a derisive shout and laughter from Henry Petrie, a merchant who exclaimed in great glee: "See the D—d rats crawl out of their holes!" Petrie was a Whig of very pronounced opinions, and had no sympathy with the Democratic Party to which the county officers belonged.
In the years 1846 and '47 there were buildings erected on the east and south sides of the square. A wagon shop was opened, also a flax mill. The first school was taught in 1846; David Richardson, the teacher had his classrooms in the court room for which he paid $2,00 a month rent. The first church in Woodstock was erected by the Presbyterians in 1847 at the corner of Jefferson and church Streets. More and more people were drawn to the growing settlement, bringing a variety of enterprises characteristic of pioneer life. A newspaper was published, a second church, the Baptist, was organized, another hotel came, more stores were opened, the third church, the Methodist, was organized. In 1851 Neill Donnelly built the most pretentious structure so far to be erected in the settlement; it was a three story building located where we see the present sheriff's residence.
All of this great activity and growth led, of course, to one vital necessity — the urgent need of establishing a local government. This was accomplished by the passage of a bill by the state legislature permiting Woodstock to be incorporated as a village and the date was June 22, 1852, which is the day, one hundred years later, that we are now celebrating. The first president of the new village board was Alvin Judd who had lately returned from an adventurous trip to the California gold fields; the trustees were Joseph Goulder, Lawrence S. Church, B. Durfee, Ira C. Trowbridge, Ithrum Taylor and George H. Griffing. This form of government was to be used until 1873.
In 1852 another large building was erected on the corner of Van Buren and Dean where the Gould building now is and the third floor was an assembly room called Phoenix Hall which for many years would be the setting for much of the social life of the village.

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Artist's Conception Of First Court House
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About this time it became very evident that a new court house was needed. After much active discussion the supervisors adopted a resolution which provided that if the citizens of Woodstock would purchase the ground owned by Mary Mahon (being the land on which the present court house is located) and donate the same to the county, the county would give the square with the old court house to the citizens of the town. At that time $3000 was a large sum of money for Woodstock people to raise, but they contributed willingly so that the little park might be saved for their village.
In June 1855 the second event which had great influence in the development of Woodstock occurred; it was the arrival of the Chicago, St. Paul and Fon du Lac (as it was then called) Railroad. Prior to this transportation had been over roads that for the most of the year were impassible. Horseback was the quickest method of travel but if heavy loads had to be drawn by horse or oxen it was so slow a process that to haul products any distance was a losing venture.
With the advent of the railroad Woodstock became the shipping center of all the surrounding country. In inumerable ways this facility of transportation changed the mode of life, the products raised and type of manufactured articles produced. Woodstock was no longer an isolated town for now with the railroad and with the telegraph soon to come it would be connected with the entire country.
Two newspapers had been started in the village prior to this time and both had failed but on July 17, 1856, the Woodstock Sentinel was established and from that time to the present a priceless historical record of events in the life of Woodstock has been printed in this paper.
There were bitter political campaigns in the good old days the same as today and a very bitter one was that of 1856 when Fremont and Buchanan were both running for President, the latter won, but Fremont carried McHenry county and a Republican party was organized in the county where it has remained the dominant party ever since.
The fine new court house (which is the present one) was completed in 1857 at a cost of $47,000, and the records, equipment and prisoners were moved into the new quarters. The following year, fourteen years after its construction, the little old court house in the center of the park was destroyed by fire. During its lifetime the primitive nucleus of a village had developed into a thriving town which naturally caused the passing of the pioneer in this community. So many names of those early settlers should be listed here along with the diversified contributions they made for the public good that it is regretable that space cannot be allowed for it.
The Presbyterians moved their first frame church off the Jefferson and Church corner and built a brick building in its place. This interesting old structure is still standing on the Dacy Lumber Company grounds.
The last of the fifties and first of the sixties were filled with uncertainty and apprehension; there was war talk, preparation for war and finally the Civil War came. Then, in that conflict, as in all since, Woodstock gave more of men and funds than it was called upon to do. As soon as it was known that men were needed, there were two companies organized — The Woodstock Light Guards with L. D. Kelly as Captain, which was the second company in Illinois to organize, and the Woodstock Rifles with M. L. Joslyn as Captain. After that more and more men went into the service while life at home centered around events at the war fronts with little interest shown concerning growth and progress in Woodstock. It was years before the village was again aroused to its former altertness in local affairs.
There were two large fires in the early seventies; one on October 8, 1871 — the same date as the Chicago fire — which destroyed the west portion of the south side of the square and the other in August 1872, which burned all the buildings on Benton street from East Jackson to East Judd. These disasters gave incentive to the construction of numerous buildings, many of which, though somewhat altered, are standing today.
When Woodstock reached its twenty-second year as a village, in 1873, the citizens voted favorably to incorporate as a city. The first mayor was John S. Wheat. The city was divided into two wards — North and South. The aldermen for the former were E. E. Richards, T. J. Dacy, and Fred Arnold; for the latter William H. Steward, August Badger and George K. Bunker. Seventeen years passed before Woodstock had a city hall. The burned site of the Bunker store at the corner of Dean and Van Buren remained vacant until 1889 when the city hall was erected there. It was dedicated September 2, 1890 and has housed the city offices, public library and fire department ever since. The "Opera House" on the second floor has had a most colorful existence.
In April, 1893 the entire south half of the east side of the square was burned destroying one of the town's most famous land marks—the Rat Hole. This last conflagration succeeded in consuming most of what was left of the structures of the early days. This was the year that saw the corporate city limits expand from one square mile to two.

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German Presbyterian Church - Built 1854 [photo]
The Hoy Block 1864 [photo]
First Baseball Team 1875 [photo]
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During the gay nineties the third event occurred which was to influence and shape Woodstock history. It was the coming of the Oliver Typewriter factory in December 1896.
A Methodist clergyman, Thomas Oliver of Epworth, Iowa, following a vision, had invented the first visible typewriter and with the aid of his fellow citizens had a small shop where these machines were so successfully made that they desired a larger location near Chicago. Enterprising citizens of Woodstock who were looking for manufacturing industries heard of this and they offered the Oliver concern a building if they would stay in Woodstock for a period of five years. The plant came and discouraged the town by making only one hundred machines in the first eight months, but the plant expanded rapidly and at its peak employed almost 2000 people and made 350 machines a day. The advent of the Oliver was the beginning of an industrial period that still exists here; after the Oliver came another typewriter — the Emerson. While today neither name is found on the industrial list, in their places are many other shops and factories which give employment to approximately 2,500 people.
Once more war distressed the nation, this time against Spain and although of comparatively short duration many Woodstock men entered the armed services.
The twentieth century brought in the mechanical inventions that were to revolutionize conditions all over the world; Woodstock was a part of it from the time in 1901 when Dr. Windmueller's new automobile, after taking several hours to generate enough steam, went hesitatingly along the unpaved city streets and caused everyone who heard it to hasten to the window to see the rare sight. Later they peered into the sky to see a huge frightening monster flying through the air scaring them as well as the chickens and the birds. It was not long, however, before man became not only used to the motor cars, but eager to own them. The dirt and graveled roads were not good for auto travel so a great era of paved roads began.
Once more war came—a world war—and Woodstock again gave its men, while at home its money and resources were used in a great effort to help bring the conflict to a conclusion. When World War I was over, Woodstock, who from the earliest days had been given to big celebrations, surpassed them all in the tremendous welcome given the returned fighting force back from a "war that was not only to end all war, but was to make the world safe for democracy."
The great depression hurt Woodstock as it did the entire country and then came the terrible realization that World War I had not resulted in a peaceful world. World War II with all the grief, waste, and uselessness had come causing Woodstock to again put forth its greatest effort to help stop the devastation. During the last half of our hundred years such tremendous amounts of productiveness have had to be given to the pursuits of war instead of for the benefit of our community that it is to the credit of the Woodstock people that its city has advanced to the extent it has.
On the square, and on the streets leading to it, are business houses carrying select merchandise of the greatest variety that furnish the needs of the citizen of today. There are two banks, each one occupying an historic site.
The schools have come a long way since the class room was the county court room where the equipment was of the most meager kind and they wrote with quill pens. A child of that era would look with eyes of wonderment at the school of today. Woodstock has two grade schools — Clay and Dean — Central Junior High, Community High School, Todd School and St. Mary's.
People today can worship in the church of theii choice; it is no longer necessary to use the halls and court room. The following denominations represented in Woodstock have erected buildings in which their services are held: Baptist, Christian Science, Congregational, Free Methodist, Grace Evangelical, Methodist, Presbyterian, St. Ann's Episcopal, St. John's Lutheran and St. Mary's Catholic.
Seventy-nine years after its incorporation as a city Woodstock voted to have the city management plan of government. The mayor is James H. Cooney and the aldermen of the four wards are: Gordon Botts, Melvin Belcher, Walter Sahs, Charles Paine, Arnold Geister, Ernest Foote, Jacob Heisler and R. J. Heniken.
The Woodstock Chamber of Commerce, the Woodstock Civic Club, and the Woodstock Lion's Club are alert to our city's needs and strive to help solve the problems that arise and promote causes that will benefit Woodstock.
What about the "Original Plat" today? Does it have any similarity in appearance to the one of one hundred years ago? Today it is bisected by paved roads and cement sidewalks. These are lined with homes, stores, industrial plants and buildings of all kinds. These roads are traveled by the greatest variety of vehicles in great numbers carrying merchandise from near and far places. There are electric lights to brighten the streets. There is a railroad running diagonally across whose trains can carry passengers to distant lands and long, long freights filled with supplies from all parts of the world. All this is foreign to the "Original Plat," but is there not one thing that remains the same? Listen to the names of the streets—Judd, Benton, Van Buren, Calhoun, Cass, Johnson, Jackson, Church, and Dean.
Those pioneer citizens knew these names too. What will the next one hundred years do to the "Original Plat?"
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Pratt House 1870 [photo]
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THE WOODSTOCK CENTENNIAL COMMISSION presents THE WOODSTOCK CENTURAMA Directed And Staged By Parker Zellers For The John B. Rogers Producing Co. Of Fostoria, Ohio
The Prologue
The Youth of America and the nations of the world arrive to pay homage to her majesty, "Miss Centennial."
Episode 1 "The Camp Of The Muscatins"
Here we see the primitive Indian village. Here amidst their tepees and around their council fires the red men paid homage to the Gods of Wind and Rain. Here long before the coming of the white man, life was fresh and free—lovers mated—and old men with wrinkled faces shivered while around the campfires, then passed on to the land of the Great Spirit.
Episode 2 "LaSalle Meets The Red Man"
LaSalle, the French explorer and fur trader, arrives to find new land in which to develop fur trading. The Indians greet LaSalle and his friends with suspicion and fear, for these are the first men they've ever seen with faces pale as the moon.
Episode 3 "Crashing The Frontier"
The white man's world was limited pretty much to the eastern seacoast. But as living conditions became crowded and more and more stories came back about great rich valleys and green forests that lay westward, families started to move. Packing their belongings in covered wagons, they looked to the west. But the Indian was reluctant to ignore the migration of the white man, to have his land taken from him —so attacks on the pioneers were frequent and many times disasterous.
Episode 8 "Readin', Ritin', And Rithmatic"
Here we look in on a school house in the year 1847, when the hickory stick warmed many a backside for misspelling a word or for tying pigtails into knots.
Episode 9 "June 100 Years Ago"
One hundred years ago this month our community of Woodstock was incorporated as a village. In this episode we recreate that momentous occasion.
Episode 10 "Antebellum Days"
Life in Woodstock at the beginning of the 1860's was quite gay and carefree— but the ugly head of national conflict was soon to make an appearance.
Episode 11 "The Battle Is On"
Here we witness a battle between the Blue and the Grey—-the North and South— a conflict that split a nation and pitted brother against brother.
Episode 12 "It's All Over"
The battle finally ended. Here we see the war-weary soldiers wending their way homeward, while Abraham Lincoln lifts his eyes heavenward in solemn prayer.
Episode 13 "Bikes, Bustles And Mustaches"
Here the fabulous gay 90's live again with all its color and gaiety, its striped blazers and tandem bikes, its can-can girls and the always popular picnic in the park.
Episode 4 "Where Shall It Be"
When McHenry was no longer convenient as county seat, a movement arose to move to a more central location. But the question was — "Where Shall It Be?"
Episode 5 "Centerville Becomes County Seat"
Through the tireless efforts of Alvin Judd and a few others, Centerville, later to become Woodstock, was born and claimed possession of the County Seat.
Episode 6 "The First Store"
The first store in Woodstock was opened in 1845 with Joseph Dwight and Oscar L. Beach. Here we see the store in operation, and maybe you'll recognize some familiar incidents. In some ways, times haven't changed.
Episode 7 "Remember The Sabbath"
It is with no particular mode of worship in mind that we inject this early church scene — but rather we do so to show the great faith in God that our ancestors possessed. Although, the days and the weeks were all too short for the work ttiat had to be done, they always found time to pause for worship.
Episode 14 "Lest We Forget"
A tribute to the heroes of the First World War — a Replica of Flanders Field.
Episode 15 "The Iwo Jima Flag Raising"
In tribute to the men and women who were engaged in World War II and to those who are presently engaged in conflicts in remote corners of the world—we present this reproduction of the Flag raising on Iwo Jima.
Episode 16 "Youth Salutes Industry"
As the title implies, the youth of America salute the industry of Woodstock and the nation.
Episode 17 "Transportation Through The Years"
From the humble Indian drag to the modern monarch of the air, the'progress of transportation passes in review.
Finale
The various episodes form spokes of the great wheel of life and slowly and rhythmically the wheel turns into the future.

Spring House 1882 [photo]
South Side of Square 1885 [photo]
Fountain in Center of Square 1882 [photo]
Burning of Rat Hole 1892 or 1893 [photo]

First Volunteer Fire Department [photo]
Spring City Band 1885[photo]
National Guard Encampment 1885 [photo]
Dedication of Monument In Square 1909 [photo]

McHenry County Auto Club - Delavan Run [photo]
Oliver Typewriter Group 1914[photo]
Woodstock Aerial 1952 [photo]

City Hall 1952 [photo]
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Thanks To The Following Patrons
C. Russell Allen W. R. Meadow's Co.
Wm. M. Carroll, Jr. A. G. Meier & Co.
Joseph A. Connerty, Jr. Mississippi Line Co.
James H. Cooney Duncan Meter Corp.
Hugh Deneen Baxter & Woodman
Eckert & Caldwell Peabody Coal Co.
Theodore Hamer Medlar Studio
Wm. E. Hartnett The Electrometric Co.
Joslyn, Parker & Kell Guardian Elec. Mfg. Co.
Karl A. Koch R. C. Allen Business Machines Inc.
Chas. C. Stadtman Wm. Desmond
Don A. Wicks States Improvement Co.
Beu's Dry Cleaners The Elec. Auto-Lite Co.
Don Desmond Louis Sculley & Sons
John Dacy Louis Duddleston
Carl Braukhoff F. P. Klocek
Fred Engle W. H. DeWolf
The Borden Co. E. B. Stegmaier
Frank Thornber Co. 0. G. Schubert
Mueller Co. M. A. Butler
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A Letter of Thanks
When a community proudly undertakes to celebrate its 100th birthday and to commemorate the deeds of those who played a part in its founding and development, nothing is more important than the willingness of public-spirited citizens to accept individual responsibility and to offer their best in cooperation and sacrifice. Of equal importance is the willingness of organized groups to lend the constructive force of combined effort, and to those individuals we owe our thanks.
In such an undertaking as a centennial, it would be impossible to thank personally every one who has assisted in however small a manner; even such a medium as this is inadequate as an expression of appreciation. We do wish each person to know how much his time and effort meant in making the centennial a memorable event.
Having received a better understanding of our own people and their problems, we hope that we may be a better united community for the good of all its people.
The universal acceptance of the centennial is evidence of our determination to build a finer Woodstock as we commence our journey into the next hundred years.
Gratefully,
THE WOODSTOCK CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE