Front Street—Mokena

History:

The arrival of the Rock Island Railroad in 1852 led to the plotting of the Village of Mokena in that year by Allen Denny.  The original plot included 13 lots on what is now Front Street from present Wolf Road to Mokena Street and six lots from Mokena Street to Division. The top postcard photograph shows Front Street looking northeast. The two prominent buildings located on the left are the Mokena State Bank and the Old Exchange Hotel, which later became home to the Kolber Hardware Store. The electric lines and overhead street lights running down the south side of the street were added in 1913.  Notice the water trough that was set up in front of the bank for horses along Front Street. The bottom postcard shows a similar view of Front Street. Notice the train depot just to the right of the photograph.

Source Credit:

These photographs are part of the Local History Project digitization project at Minooka Community High School.

We Need Your Help:

David Belden is a history teacher at Minooka Community High School and is currently publishing local postcard books with Arcadia Publishing in his Local History classes, including Grundy County, Joliet, Will County, Princeton and I&M Canal.  He and his students are currently looking for I&M photos and postcards and Joliet photographs. If you are interested in contributing a postcard image, please email him at: dbelden@mchs.net or localhistory@mchs.net call 815-467-2140 x260. To view more postcards and images, visit www.localhistoryproject.org or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/localhistory