Celebrating our 50th Anniversary!
1975 - 2025

​​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.

---

Upcoming Events / Membership Form
The 2025 Membership Drive is underway!
Please support the Calumet City Historical Society by purchasing a membership!

Membership Form

Meeting & Program ~ April 13, 2025
The National Park Service in Our Region
- Places to Experience Our Cultural History in Illinois -
by Prof. Norman Moline

Schedule:
2:00 p.m. - General Membership Meeting --
followed by refreshments.
3:00 p.m. - Program begins --
This program is co-sponsored by Illinois Humanities.
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 - April 2025

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.

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 region- 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 - TBA.
​
​
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.  The 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.  The Annual Meeting.
​December - No program - Happy Holidays!
​
​
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.  The Annual Raffle.
​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. 

​
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; The Annual Raffle.
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.

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

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!
​Next Annual Raffle is September 14, 2025!

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]