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 History of Northlake > The 1950's |
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Alderman
Casimir Krause was among the first aldermen.
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| Casimir Krause |
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"The
first thing we had to do was to get some laws passed because you can’t do a thing without a law,”
recalled Krause, 90, who resided at the Casa San Carlo Retirement Community until his passing
in 2000. “We spent days - Oh, days on end - for the first six months debating different laws.
Some were passed easily and others were debated until 10 or 11 o’clock.”
Some
of the first ordinances and resolutions established wards within respective boundaries, created a
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| Police issuing parking tickets - 1954. |
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zoning commission, a building code committee, and approved the retail sale of alcohol.
The
City operated with a budget of $16,300 and salaries for the mayor and the aldermen were $960 and
$240, respectively.
In
1950, the first city code was announced. It prohibited residents from keeping chickens within the
City limits.
Much
the same way council members did not have a permanent home, law enforcement officials also were operating
in a makeshift work station.
Fred
Heck, a bus driver with some experience as a police officer, was hired as the chief of police and
advised 11 volunteer police officers.
All
officers used their own vehicles and the police station was in Heck’s living room.
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| Mayor Joseph Griffin |
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In
1953, Joseph Griffin was elected as mayor.
It
was the 1950's and in Northlake as in so many cities around the country, the soggy farmland was beginning
to harvest within the boom of the post-war economy.
Sanitary
sewers, as well as a three-million gallon, water reservoir and the West Leyden High School were built
during the decade.
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| Mayor Griffin discussing street improvements with residents. |
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Industries
such as Scholle Chemical and Automatic Electric Company bought land on the City’s western perimeter.
Automatic
Electric Company, which was built in 1957, was more than one million square feet and cost over $16 million
to construct. Automatic Electric manufactured telephones, dial switching equipment and other telephone
equipment to roughly 5,000 independent telephone companies in the country.
The
one-story facility sat on a portion of the Westward Ho Golf Course.
The
Westward Ho Golf Course, located at what is now called Westward Ho and Golfview drives, was one of the
country’s premiere spots for golf.
Established
in 1923, the golf course was an offspring of the Oak Park’s Westward Ho County Club.
Until
its sale to the Automatic Electric Company in 1957, the Westward Ho Golf Course was host to
legendary athletes, including players from the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, as well as the famed golf
legend Chick Evans, who called the course his “beloved Westward Ho,” in his book “Chick Evans Golf.”
In
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| Westward Ho Golf Course |
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1936, sports history was made when eight of Japan’s best golfers challenged American’s professional golfers.
In the end, U.S. golfers prevailed.
The
course ceased operation in 1957, after not only the construction of Automatic Electric, but also the sale
of another portion of its land to the Villa Scalabrini Home for the Aged.
The
home, which sits on the fourth hole of the course, dedicated itself to the care of elderly Italian-Americans.
Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante were largely responsible for obtaining most of the operating funds.
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