Village of Downers Grove history

Some worked on the Illinois-Michigan Canal, construction of which began in 1836.

Henry Carpenter had opened the first store and post office in 1842.

The remains of the founder, Pierce Downer, and his wife Lucy, who died within a day of each other in 1863, are on Linscott Avenue.

The year before the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad came through town in 1864, Samuel Curtiss established the first subdivision in what would become the southeastern side of the central business district.

In 1873 local leaders incorporated as the village of Downers Grove.

Village population had grown to 500 by 1885.

The first sewers were built by village ordinance in 1888.

In 1891, they founded St Mary's of Gostyn, the village's oldest Roman Catholic church.

In 1892, just north of the Belmont station, Chicago businessmen, including Marshall Field, founded the first nine-hole golf course west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The Belmont Golf Course, the first nine-hole golf course west of the Appalachians, was opened just west of the village in 1893.

An annual directory of 1899 listed 575 names in Gostyn or East Grove.

A fire destroyed Dicke Tool buildings in 1906.

The village adopted the commission form of government in 1917.

Downers Grove resident Lottie Homan O’Neill was in 1922 the first woman elected to the Illinois legislature.

The Tivoli Theatre was built in 1928.

The village celebrated its centennial on July 4, 1932, with a parade and pageant helping to raise spirits a little during the Depression.

Born on April 13, 1943 in Aurora, Illinois Jim spent 33 years in Downers Grove as a middle school teacher of history and government.

Established in 1947, Argonne attracted employees with high-level technical and scientific skill who were very supportive of good schools, tile arts, youth activities, and many community groups.

Downers Grove became a college town in 1966 when George Williams College moved from the Hyde Park section of Chicago to its location on 31st Street.

The Downers Grove Historical Society is an independent, non-profit volunteer organization that was incorporated in 1968.

The peak enrollment was reached in the elementary district in 1971-72, with 6,267 students, thirteen elementary schools, and two junior high schools.

The community gained a hospital in 1976 when Good Samaritan Hospital opened on Highland Avenue.

The village council presented plaques containing pieces of the Old Plank Road, uncovered in 1981 during reconstruction of Ogden Avenue.

In addition, the village elected its first woman mayor, Betty Cheever, in April, 1983.

By 2000, the village of Downers Grove consisted of 13 square miles, with 48,724 residents.

The award was created in 2019 to honor those whose significant service and contributions to the Village of Downers Grove have earned them a place in its history, following in the footsteps of noted teacher, author, historian, and community volunteer, Montrew Dunham.