Welcome to the Calumet City Historical Society website!
The Society would like to encourage everyone interested in Calumet City and local Calumet area history to become members and actively become involved in its goals.

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Upcoming Events / Membership Form

Membership Form

Center is Open!
The Center and Museum is open most Tuesdays, 2:00-4:00 p.m.,
Thursdays, 1:00-4:00 p.m., and Second Sundays, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
[masks required].

Next Meeting & Program
Victorian-Era Housing Types
Sun., October 11, 2020 - 2:00 pm. / Program - 3:00 pm.
A digital presentation of Victorian-era housing styles w/local examples.
Calumet City Historical Society Center, 760 Wentworth Ave.
​
2020 Annual Raffle Winners:
1st Place - Jane Mecha
2nd Place - Terry Olszewski
3rd Place - Calumet Memorial American Legion Post 330
4th Place - Leni Wosczynski

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

Email / Call / CCHS Center
calcityhistory@aol.com / 708-832-9390 or 773-814-4520 / 760 Wentworth Ave.
​Donations accepted.

2020 Program Schedule
January 12 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
February 9 - Show and Tell.
March 8 - "Calumet City's own Tim Bales talks about playing trumpet with The Ides of March Rock Band."
April 12 - Easter Sunday - No meeting.
April 26 - event postponed!
May - Mother's Day - No meeting/program.
June 14 - meeting canceled.
July 12 - "All About Butterflies".
August 9 - "Lost Hammond, Indiana" by Joseph S. Pete.
​September 13 - "Remembering 125 years - Early Calumet City History"
by Prof. Joseph Bigott -- Annual Raffle Drawing.
October 11 - Victorian-Era House Types.
November 8 - "Calumet Beginnings, Local History from the Ground Up"
​by Prof. Kenneth Schoon.


2019 Program Schedule
January 13 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
February 10 - Show and Tell.
March 10 - "History of Homewood" by Jim Wright.
April 14 - "Let the Dead Speak: Cemeteries and Symbols -
Holy Cross Cemetery" by Rhiannon Cizon.
June 9 - "Saint Victor Church" - Presentation & Tour -
Plus a special St. Victor Pentecost Concert!
July 14 - "Folk and Frontier Houses" by Mike Wolski.
August 11 - "Calumet City Forest Preserves" by Stephen DeFalco.
​September 8 - Heritage Day Americana - log cabin site.
October 13 - South Suburban Genealogical & Historical Society & Library
​by Patty Higgins.
November 10 - "Ghost Story on Ruth Street" by Chris Roth.


2018 Program Schedule
January 14 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
February 11 - "Fashion from 1900 to 1930" by Rhiannon Cizon.
March 11 - "The Underground Railroad in the Calumet Region"
by Tom Shepherd.
April 8 - Show and Tell.
June 10 - "125th Anniversary of St. Andrew the Apostle parish"
presentation and guided tour ​by Sue Warner.
July 8 - Pictorial from the SouthtownStar Calumet City collection 1990s.
August 12 - "The Golden Age of the Circus : How the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train Wreck of 1918 in Hammond Affected the Entertainment World" by showman Al Slaggert.
September 9 - Heritage Day Americana - log cabin site - 12:00-4:00 p.m.
October 14 - "Why Did My Ancestory Eat Those Kinds of Foods?" 
by Peg Kapustiak.
November 11 - "19th Century Swedish Settlements in the South Shore" presentation and new book by Prof. Kenneth Schoon.

Schrum Heritage Log Cabin - ca. 1836

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

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

"Italians of the Calumet Region." Photo courtesy of Tony Arduino.

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

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

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

CCHS Center & Museum Location:  760 Wentworth Avenue, Calumet City, IL 60409
September & October Hours:  Tuesdays 2:00 - 4:00 p.m., Thursdays 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. & 2nd Sunday 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. 
November Hours:  Thursdays 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. & 2nd Sunday 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
December Hours:  Thursdays 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. (closed Christmas week).
(708) 832-9390 or (773) 814-4520
calcityhistory@aol.com