​​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
Please support the Calumet City Historical Society by purchasing a membership!
P.S. All new memberships will be good through December, 2027.

Membership Form

Meeting & Program ~ October 11, 2026
America 250
Declaring Independence:
Comparing the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress
and the Declaration of Independence
By Prof. Joseph Bigott

Schedule:
1:00 p.m. - Center Opens.
2:00 p.m. - General Membership Meeting,
followed by refreshments.
3:00 p.m. - Program begins.

Special Roads Trips exhibit in Museum.

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!

Program Flyer - October 2026

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.

2026 Program Schedule
January 11 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
February 8 - "Pre-Civil War Quilts: Secret Codes to Freedom on the Underground Railroad" by Connie Martin.
March 8 - "Route 66 in Illinois" by John Weiss.
​April 12 - "Revolutionary Activity in Illi-Michiana" -Prof. Ken Schoon.
May - no meeting/program this month.
June 14 - "Pictorial from the Daily Southtown: Cal City in the 1990s"
and museum scavenger hunt.
July 12 - "The Illinois & Michigan Canal: Connecting Illinois Farms to Chicago, the Nation, and the World" by Dr. Norman Moline.
August 9 - "Wheel of Cal City" - this classic 1980s game show returns!
Sept. 12 - Arts & Crafts Market at the Heritage Cabin - log cabin site.
Sept. 13 - "Early History of the Good Roads Association" 
by Sandy Vasko.  The Annual Raffle.
October 11 - "America 250 ~ Declaring Independence:
Comparing the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress and
the Declaration of Independence" by Prof. Joe Bigott. 
November 8 - "US 24 in Illinois - A Travelogue - Celebrating 100 Years" by Mike Wolski.  The Annual Meeting.
​December - no meeting/program - Happy Holidays!
January 10, 2027 - Post Holiday Luncheon.

2025 Program Schedule
January 12 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
February 9 - "The Lincoln Special — 160th Anniversary of the
Lincoln Funeral Train" by Chris Allen.
March 9 - "19th Century Life Through Artifacts, in the Calumet Area" by Mario Bovino and Mike Bovino.
April 13 - "The National Park Service in Our Region:  Places to Experience Our Cultural History in Illinois" by Dr. Norman Moline.
​May - no meeting/program.
June 8 - "Nostalgic Roseland" by Daniel Bovino.
July 13 - "History of Brick Architecture in Chicagoland" by Will Quam.
August 10 - "Wheel of Cal City" - an exciting new game recreated.
Sept. 13 - Arts & Crafts Market at Heritage Day — log cabin site.
Sept. 14 - "The Subdivisions Along Both Sides of the State Line"
by Tom Novak.  The Annual Raffle.
October 12 - "Alexander Hamilton" by Jim Gibbons.
November 9 - "100th Anniversary of Lincoln School"
​by Mary Ellen Uribe and Lauren Mendez.  The Annual Meeting.
​December - no meeting/program.
​

2024 Program Schedule
January 14 - Post Holiday Luncheon.
Feb. 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.  The Annual Raffle.
Sept. 21 - Arts & Crafts and Flea Market at the Heritage Cabin.
October 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.  The Annual Meeting.
​December - No meeting/program.
​
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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.
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. Ken Schoon.
September 10 - "Researching Early History of West Hammond and Calumet City" by Prof. Joseph Bigott.  The Annual Raffle.
​September 16 - Arts & Crafts and Flea Market at the Heritage Cabin!
October 8 - "Family Heirlooms — 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. 

The Arts & Crafts Market at the Heritage Cabin for 2026 was another success!  Thank you to all who participated!

Schrum Heritage Log Cabin, ca. 1836 & 1865

2026 Annual Raffle Winners!
Drawing was Sunday, September 13!
1st place - Karen Kamradt, Prescott Valley, Ariz. (grand-daughter of former mayor)
2nd place - Marilynn Thompson, Dyer, Ind. 
3rd place - Penny Lundquist, Calumet City
4th place - Liz Wright, Downers Grove
5th place - Larry Kutz, Hegewisch-Chicago
Congratulations to the winners!

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]