​​Welcome to the Calumet City Historical Society website!  The Society encourages anyone interested in history, Calumet City, and the Calumet region to become members and participate in our programs and events.  Contact: [email protected], ​708-832-9390, or 773-814-4520.

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Upcoming Events / Membership Form
Support CCHS with a membership!
Special - New memberships after Sept. 1 will be good through the end of 2025 as well!​

Membership Form

Meeting & Program ~ October 13, 2024
"Chicagoland :
More than the Sum of its Parts"
by Ann Keating, professor of Illinois history,
urban historian, and author of Encyclopedia Chicago!

Schedule:
2:00 p.m. - General Membership Meeting,
followed by refreshments.
On sale - 33/33/34 raffle tickets.
3:00 p.m. - Program begins.
4:00 p.m. - Raffle drawing, 2 cash prizes!
The Center is open 1:00-5:00 p.m.
​ 
Admission Free.
Calumet City Historical Society Center, 760 Wentworth Avenue.

Visit our table of history books for sale at the Center!
Including our latest book Hegewisch...

Program Flyer - October 2024

General Membership Meetings & Programs
Second Sundays -​ 760 Wentworth Avenue - Open to the public -
Meeting 2:00 p.m. - followed by refreshments - Program 3:00 p.m.

2024 Program Schedule
January 14 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
February 11 - "Fr. Augustus Tolton" by the Most Reverend Joseph Perry.
March 10 - "Hegewisch" new book by historian Cynthia Ogorek.
April 16 - "Life - an experience through Time" by Bob Kelsey.
​May - no meeting/program.
June 9 - "Duneland Dynamics: Scenes and Stories of the Dunes" by Prof. Ken Schoon.
July 14 - "Trash or Treasure" by Rex Newell of Rex's Antiques.
August 11 - "Cal City Jeopardy!" - a chance to test your Cal City trivia.
Sept. 8 - "100th Anniversary of the Name Change & Calumet City
​in the 1920s." by Prof. Joseph Bigott.  Annual Raffle.
Sept. 21 - Arts & Crafts and Flea Market at the Heritage Cabin.
Oct. 13 - "Chicagoland: More than the Sum of its Parts" by Ann Keating.
November 10 - "Lost East Chicago and Indiana Harbor"
a new book by Joseph S. Pete.
​December - No program - Happy Holidays!
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2023 Program Schedule
January 8 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
February 12 - "Geology as Destiny: Across the Chicago Portage,
a Story of Glaciers, Voyageurs, and Carp!" by Prof. David Dolak.
March 12 - "Stained Glass" by Melissa Hamming.
April 16 - "Secret Northwest Indiana," a new book by Joseph Pete.
​May - no meeting/program.
June 11 - Pictorial from the Daily Southtown, 1988-1999.
July 9 - "How Important is Water to You?" by Jerry Surufka.
August 13 - "City Trees: Inspiration and Identification"
by Prof. Kenneth Schoon.
September 10 - "Researching Early History of West Hammond and Calumet City" by Prof. Joseph Bigott.  Annual Raffle Drawing.
​September 16 - Arts & Crafts and Flea Market at the Heritage Cabin!
October 8 - "Family Heirlooms - plus Family History Papers & Photographs: What & How: Save & Donate Ideas" by Peg Kapustiak.
November 12 - "Mixers and Shakers - Your Saloon, Tavern, and barkeeping Ancestors before Prohibition" by Debra Dudek. 

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2022 Program Schedule
January 9 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
February 13 - "The Underground Railroad at the Jan Ton Family Farm site designation, and the new African American Heritage Water Trail" by Tom Shepherd and Lillian Holden.
March 13 - "Our Lady of Knock Parish" by Fr. Pat Lyons.
April 10 - "1950 Census Released" by Patty Higgins.
May - no meeting/program.
June 12 - "The Monee Creamery, now The Monee Heritage Center"     by Christi Holston.
​July 10 - "The Great Chicago Fire" by Jennifer Warner.
August 14 - "Northwest Indiana" by journalist Joseph Pete.
September 11 - "Globe, Liberty, Schrum, and areas before Calumet City" by David Postma.  Special 9/11 Tribute - Annual Raffle Drawing.
Sept. 17 - Flea Market and Arts & Crafts Sale at the Heritage Cabin!
October 9 - "100th Anniversary of the Calumet Memorial Park District" by Hollice Clark.
November 13 - "Pullman:  The Man, the Company, the Historical Park"  by Prof. Kenneth Schoon.  New book.  The Annual Meeting.


2021 Program Schedule
January 10 - No event.
February 14 - "History of Valentine's Day" by Sue Warner.
March 14 - "History and Mystery in the Graveyards" by Marlene Cook.
April 11 - "Rosies, Poodles, and Twiggy: Fashions from the 1940s to '70s" by Rhiannon Cizon.
June 13 - "All About Butterflies" by Dolly Foster.
July 11 - "Father Time" by Fred Schrum
August 8 - "American Domestic Architecture--New American Visions"  by Mike Wolski.
September 12 - "The Dixie Highway in Illinois" by James Wright.
October 3 - Victorian Afternoon Tea.
October 10 - "Pandemics, Epidemics, & other events" by Peg Kapustiak.
November 14 - "Fr. Jacques Marquette : The Calumet Area's First European Explorer and its first Christian Missionary" 
by Prof. Kenneth Schoon.  The Annual Meeting.
​There was no Heritage Day this year.

Thank you for a successful
​Arts & Crafts and Flea Market at the Heritage Cabin event.  We look forward to next year on September 20, 2025.

Arts & Crafts and Flea Market Flyer

Schrum Heritage Log Cabin - ca. 1836-1865

2024 Annual Raffle Winners!
Drawing September 8, 2024
1st place - Karen Emrick, Dyer, Ind.
2nd place - Linda Trinkle, Hammond, Ind.
3rd place - Len Bolda, Lansing
4th place - Marilyn Schultz, Calumet City
5th place - Raymond Kowal, Calumet City
Congratulations!

Memorial Park fieldhouse was built in 1924.

Schrum Pickle Works. Formerly near Wentworth Avenue & River Oaks Drive (formerly Schrum Rd.). Closed ca. 1982.

The original Charles Mayer bottling plant on State Line Street in 1886.

Originally the Saint Andrew Rectory, b. 1892, moved a block away to be saved as a private residence today.

Looking south on Wentworth Avenue at Pulaski Road. Notice City Hall and Bank Office Building on the right. Photo from Victoria Studio.

1926 Map of Globe area before Calumet City annexation and development of the greater River Oaks area, started in the 1960s.

West Hammond Trust & Savings Bank on State Street, b. 1919, survived until the Great Depression. It was a nightclub until 1995.

Globe Rendering Co. after 1910, replaced the 1860s Union Rendering Co. factory building after a fire.

Saint Victor School on Price Avenue, b. 1926. It opened with 340 pupils and was staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. It closed in 2004 and was razed in 2019.

Russell's Subdivision was platted in the 1880s before being incorporated into the Village of West Hammond in 1893.

 Calumet City Historical Society Center:  760 Wentworth Avenue, Calumet City, IL 60409 
January Hours:  Thursday 1:00-4:00 p.m.
February-April Hours:  Tuesday 2:00-4:00 p.m., Thursday 1:00-4:00 p.m., & 2nd Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m. 
May Hours:  Thursday 1:00-4:00 p.m.
June-November Hours:  Tuesday 2:00-4:00 p.m., Thursday 1:00-4:00 p.m., & 2nd Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m.
December Hours:  Thursday 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Donations accepted.
​
(708) 832-9390 or (773) 814-4520
[email protected]