Palatine Township History
Palatine Township is a square piece of land that measures six miles by six miles and lies in northwestern Cook County, Illinois. The history of this parcel of land is very closely tied to that of our county, our state and our country. It is, in fact, a prime example of the progress of the world. It is difficult to understand this part of the world without studying the forces that have shaped our civilization. Although no war has ever been fought here, the march of world events has echoed on our streets, worked through our factories and businesses and entered our homes.
Many peoples, inventions and ideas have moved through Palatine Township. Occasionally these elements have clashed, but, more often than not, the Township has been a place of peace and beauty and serenity. The suburbs that lie inside the Township mark out a middle ground between the world-class city of Chicago and the world-feeding agricultural areas that surround it. Though the Township contains a bit of both rural and urban elements, our homes and neighborhoods are, by design, a refuge from the bustle and worries of the world.
The first inhabitants in the area were the Native Americans, a group of people who came from northeastern Asia about twenty thousand years ago and quickly spread throughout the Americas. Our part of the world occupied the northeastern edge of a great Native American civilization called the Mississippian Culture. These peaceful people settled in large cities and farmed the surrounding land beginning around 800 AD. Tribal members supplemented their diet by hunting bison and antelope.
Several misfortunes befell these people: The Little Ice Age may have caused the Mississippian civilization to lose population prior to the arrival of the Europeans. When Europeans arrived, conflict between American colonists and the British caused warlike Eastern tribes to move into our region. Explorers and settlers introduced liquor, firearms and disease. Eventually the tribes were persuaded / forced to give up their land and move to reservations in Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
In the 1830’s Yankees from New England heard reports about fabulous opportunities in the Midwest, then known as the West. The federal government began selling small plots of land at low prices. The Yankees developed a fever for land and all the natural resources contained therein. Leaving their homes and farms, they traveled long distances to settle the raw wilderness. Some died along the way. Some arrived but later gave up and went back. But most persevered and helped to create our American character: a certain independence, a rugged individualism and a love of wide open spaces.
It is believed that the first white man to settle in Palatine Township was George Ela, who in 1835 cleared a field in Deer Grove and built a cabin. During the next fifteen years settlers like Ela transformed the prairies and wetlands into farms producing potatoes, wheat, corn and cattle. They built private roads, schools, churches and small businesses. The nearest government office was a day’s drive to the Cook County Courthouse in downtown Chicago.
In 1850, with the population climbing, the citizens voted to form a local government: the Township of Palatine. This gave them the power to levy taxes, build public roads and enjoy the benefits of the law in a local Justices Court. Elected officials resolved to stop the damage to property caused by farm animals running at large. This meant identifying animals and their marks, regulating grazing hours, inspecting fences and impounding strays.
Northern Illinois actively opposed slavery and defended the Union during the Civil War. Our young men marched bravely off to war and an uncertain future. They fought battles and suffered disease. Palatine Township soldiers gave their lives at Vicksburg and Brice’s Crossroads in Mississippi. Some died in Confederate prisons like the one at Millen, Georgia. The war left bitter memories for a generation.
In the 1850’s a second wave of immigration began. Germans began to buy land in the Township and settle down as farmers and small shopkeepers. Although the Germans had their own language and culture, they, just like the Yankees, shared the American dream of prosperity and freedom. Working hard, the two groups continued the great agricultural expansion of the area.
The United States became known as a great melting pot. Successive groups of immigrants enriched our lives and brought new skills, new styles, even new words into the language. But, it should also be noted, it took a hundred years for German-Americans in Palatine Township to completely assimilate. The last religious service in German was in 1955.
There was friction between groups too. Many Yankees came from a Puritan background and took up the banner of Prohibition. Alcoholic beverages were banned by the federal government in 1919, arousing great indignation in those who considered them to be a part of their culture. This great social experiment, which was honored only formally in Palatine Township, was, by 1933, judged a failure and repealed.
Women worked behind the scenes and sometimes in the streets to civilize American life. They helped enact child labor laws and demanded better sanitation. Palatine Township women fought for the right to vote and run for office and sit in the jury box. Participation by women in public life has had an important tempering effect on our nation.
Palatine Township has not been without labor strife. Local dairy farmers unionized very early on. They pressed their case vigorously for good prices. Distributors and consumers wanted more testing to ensure a quality product. There were many strikes and much milk poured down the drain in anger.
The great Age of Agriculture in Palatine Township lasted from 1835 to about 1950. If we could climb into a time machine and visit that Age at its height, we might be shocked at what we see: dirt, mud, swearing, spitting, everything done by hand. Water, for example, was collected by gutters for storage in underground cisterns. It was then pumped by hand to the kitchen for cleaning and washing purposes. Many hours were devoted to washing clothes with tub and washboard.
But we must remember that time never moves backward. Our citizens were always on the lookout for improvements and planning for the future. The Township made enormous strides during the Age of Agriculture. Newspapers and magazines quickly disseminated the latest advances in medicine, communication and transportation.
With the turn of the century Palatine Township residents shared the nation’s excitement over a whole slew of new technologies. The telephone helped to shrink the world and raise productivity. The automobile allowed city-dwellers to explore the countryside with relative ease. Swarms of car owners on muddy back roads eventually forced Cook County to build concrete roads beginning in the 1920’s.
Motion pictures took entertainment to a much higher level. The Saturday night movie at the local theater became an institution and audiences eagerly anticipated the latest features. Teams of movie photographers fanned out across the nation to make newsreel shorts of anything of interest. Unfortunately, they used film stock made of nitrates which did not last. Many short documentaries taken in Palatine Township have apparently been lost or destroyed.
Radio made its first appearance in the 1920’s. Prior to this vaudeville entertainers needed strong lungs for their acts. In early experiments radios were placed right on the stage and concertgoers were amazed to hear a performer’s whispering breath. Radio brought news to its listeners even while storms were knocking down telegraph wires.
Another thrilling invention was the airplane. Housewives shocked their husbands when they told them they flew in an airplane earlier in the day for a couple of bucks. In the 1920’s flying was unregulated and pilots performed many stunts in local skies. An eight year old Palatine boy, billed as the world’s youngest glider pilot, was photographed in a field southwest of Smith Road and Palatine Road.
Local residents got their first taste of television at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. They lined up for hours for a chance to see themselves on a small screen. Of course it took another decade to perfect the medium. Radar and the computer were invented just in time to help Allied efforts in the waning days of World War II.
Wars continued to mold our character. The United States was reluctant to get involved in World War I. George Washington had cautioned against foreign entanglements. But when the German juggernaut began sweeping across the face of Europe, our nation went to war to keep our friends free. Our young men rose to the occasion and performed heroically in battle. Those who stayed home supported the war by donating money, clothing and medical supplies to the front. We won the war and in the process local residents developed a broader view of the world and an appreciation for its many peoples and cultures.
With Europe beaten and exhausted, the United States became the breadbasket of the world. But local farmers, who helped create that breadbasket, became victims of their own success. Palatine Township became the promised land for city dwellers, anxious to enjoy the benefits of fresh country air and beautiful scenery. The land became too expensive to farm. Developers went to work buying land, laying out residential areas and building homes. Development reached a fever pitch in the late 1920’s as tracts of land were cleared and neighborhoods replaced fields.
Then, almost overnight, the Great Depression descended upon the area and economic activity slowed. About fifteen percent of the population lost their jobs. Banks closed, people saw their savings evaporate, and families were turned out of their homes. Churches and fraternal organizations stepped into the breach and supplied the destitute with food and clothing. An army of homeless men walked back and forth across the country, knocking on back doors where, with luck, a sandwich might be offered. Local governments pitched in to help those with the most difficult problems.
Just as the United States was getting back on its feet, dictators in Europe, Italy and Japan again threatened our friends. Again we took responsibility for keeping the world free and joined the defense. World War II was much larger in scale and involved even greater sacrifices for Palatine Township residents. Many more people fought and died. We know a great deal about these heroes because Paddock Publications’ local newspapers published thousands of letters from servicemen and women.
World War II profoundly changed the suburbs. Men came home to marry and start families. Women, who had worked during the war making guns and tanks, developed a new independence and self-respect. Together they created a tremendous demand for housing and begot a new generation of baby-boomers. The federal government helped finance the homes and built highways to reach them.
World War II hardly ended when the United States faced an even more formidable foe in the Communist governments of the U.S.S.R. and China. When North Korea invaded South Korea. We fought the Communists to a draw with great loss of life on both sides.
African-Americans, who had been emancipated during the Civil War, continued to be marginalized. Having served proudly in all these wars, they came home to the same old racism and segregation. In the 1950’s suburbanites began to take part in marches through the South to end segregation. When they came back, the marchers began to realize that the North had racial problems too. Ethnic humor, so broadly evident in suburban minstrel shows before the war, had been a part of that problem.
The Vietnam War, which was fought to stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia, split public opinion in America. Township residents again fought bravely, but the home front became divided over the value of the war. Eventually we withdrew and South Vietnam fell to the Communists.