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 involved in its goals.  Contact: calcityhistory@aol.com, 708-832-9390, or 773-814-4520.

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Upcoming Events / Membership Form
2022 Membership Drive Underway!

Membership Form

Post Holiday Luncheon
January 9, 2022
Our Annual Luncheon has returned.  Reservations required. 
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Next Meeting & Program
February 13, 2022
"The Underground Railroad at the Jan Ton Family Farm site designation, and the new African American Water Trail"

Schedule:
2:00 p.m. - General Membership meeting - 
followed by refreshments.
3:00 p.m. - Program begins.
Admission Free.
The Center is open 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Calumet City Historical Society Center, 760 Wentworth Avenue
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You can support the Calumet City Historical Society with an annual membership or donation.  Download Form from the link.

General Membership Meetings & Programs
Second Sundays (generally) -​ 760 Wentworth Ave - Open to the public
Meeting at 2:00 p.m. - Refreshments - Program at 3:00 p.m.


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 Water Trail"
by Tom Shepherd and Laura Barghusen.
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 - TBA.

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.
May 9 - Mother's Day - no meeting/program.
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.
Sept. 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.
​December - Happy Holidays!

There was no Heritage Day this year.

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.
July 12 - no program.
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 Domestic Architectural Styles."
November 8 - "Calumet Beginnings: Early Regional 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.

Schrum Heritage Log Cabin - ca. 1836

Originally the Saint Andrew Rectory, b. 1892, 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.

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

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

CCHS Center & Museum:  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.
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(708) 832-9390 or (773) 814-4520
calcityhistory@aol.com