Palatine Historical Society

05/29/2026

The Plum Grove Nursing Home, now Aliya of Palatine, at 24 S. Plum Grove Road first opened in a large brick house formerly owned by Henry and Sophie Freise on February 12, 1948. It quickly outgrew the size of the house and built an addition on the Plum Grove Road side of the house to accommodate more patients. Further additions on the north and west sides of the house soon had the house nearly completely engulfed by additions. A postcard from the late 1960s shows the building in this state with part of the house still visible. A final addition on the south side and removing the roof of the house completely surrounded the original brick house with newer additions. The original 1913 Freise house is still there, it just can no longer be seen as it has been absorbed into the more modern structure.

05/22/2026

A Maennerchor is a German men’s chorus. They were very popular in communities with a heavy German population and Palatine was no exception. The Palatine Maennerchor started in 1874 and served Palatine for over 40 years. The organization was more than just a chorus, it was also a social club. They gave concerts and performed at many civic events in Palatine and the surrounding communities. They organized the dedication of Palatine’s largest building in 1884, the Batterman Brick Block (fun fact from a few weeks ago), which became one of their common venues for concerts, balls, and even plays. Many of the members were Palatine’s business and civic leaders such as H. C. Batterman, Henry Prellberg, Charles Ost, William Hunnerberg, Mayor A. S. Olms, and others. The little boy in the middle underneath the platform in the photo is Frank Danielsen who would become Palatine’s undertaker and future Mayor. The organization disbanded in 1917 due to declining membership and of course there was that little war going on in Europe at the time too.

05/19/2026

05/08/2026

Continuing from last week’s story, by 1929 the Village had outgrown the original Village Hall on Slade St. and built a much larger new building on the northwest corner of Brockway and Washington Streets where the current Solstice Senior Living building is located. The police and fire department had a large garage area for their equipment and a 55-foot tall hose tower for hanging up the canvas fire hoses to dry. There was a municipal court room on the 1st floor, and the Village had room to consolidate all of their offices in one building. The police moved into their new headquarters complete with a brand new jail in July of 1929, but less than a month later were embarrassed when their very first prisoner broke out using a piece of pipe from the ongoing construction to bend the bars on the window. That story made it all the way to the New York newspapers. The fire department and Village offices moved in shortly after the police department and the building was fully occupied by August of 1929. This building served Palatine for the next 50 years until it too was outgrown and the Village moved its offices to the current location on Wood Street.

05/01/2026

The Village of Palatine was incorporated in 1866, but we did not have a Village Hall until much later. Town meetings, voting, and other civic events were held in the various halls around town such as the Hunnerburg Hotel Hall which was rented for $12 per year to host board meetings. It wasn’t until 1889 that Palatine built a dedicated Village Hall located on Slade St. where the current Madcats and My Flavor It Place reside. It was a 2-story wood frame building with the 1st floor dedicated to the police and fire departments and 2nd floor housing the Village offices and a meeting hall. It also had a bell tower to house the fire bell that would sound the alarm when a fire was reported. This building served the Village well for 40 years, but by 1929 more space was needed and the Village, police, and fire departments moved to a much larger new building on Brockway St. south of Palatine Road. The original Village Hall building is long gone but the fire bell remains, now housed in the bell tower at the Clayson House Museum.

04/24/2026

When the railroad came through and established a stop at Palatine in 1855, an old boxcar was used as a depot followed by a small shed which would allow passengers to wait for trains while at least slightly sheltered from the weather. The first “real” depot was built in the early to mid 1860s and located on the north side of the tracks between Brockway and Bothwell Streets, between the current Dario’s sandwich shop and the railroad tracks. This depot had a large waiting area heated by a stove and an office area for the stationmaster and telegraph operations. On the south side of the railroad tracks was a park area known as “Depot Park” and a watchtower to better see approaching trains. The depot connected Palatine to the rest of the country by rail travel and through the telegraph wires. This depot served Palatine for about 85 years before being replace in 1949 by a modern new depot at the Bothwell St. crossing. Our current depot features a large bay window inspired by the bay window on the depot from the 1860s which was where the stationmaster would sit so he could better see the trains approaching.

04/17/2026

Palatine businessman Henry C. Batterman built Palatine’s first skyscraper in 1884 located in the triangle of land between Brockway St., Slade St., and the railroad tracks where the current firefighter’s memorial is located. The building was 3 ½ stories, reaching a then staggering height of 45 feet. The building was approximately 75 X 65 feet and made entirely of brick, taking up a large portion of the block. When it was being built there were as many as 20 men working on it and bricklayers were paid $4 per 1,000 bricks laid. The building housed a bank on the first floor as well as many other businesses throughout the years such as grocery stores, variety stores, a billiard hall, sweet shop, millinery shop, barber shop, several doctor’s offices, and at least one residence. The top floor was a large wide open dance hall known as Batterman’s Hall or The Palatine Opera House. The hall would be used for dances, musical performances, and civic meetings. The building suffered a major fire in 1901 which caused extensive damage but the brick walls prevented total destruction. By the late 1930s, the building was sorely out of date and had few tenants resulting in its demolition in 1938. If you are wondering how such a large building fit into that tiny triangle, the answer is the triangle was much larger at that time. There was only one railroad track and a siding track, so there was more usable space it that direction. To the south, Slade St. ran right up against the current Munson Jewlers (no sidewalk) and was only 66 feet wide with no parking spaces so there was much more space on that side as well.

04/15/2026

We’ve got a lot of exciting events coming up—trust us, you won’t want to miss these. 👀

Mark your calendars… more details coming soon! 🗓

Kid's Day: May 3rd, 1-4pm @ The Clayson House 🦋

General Mtg & Public Program: “The History of Palatine Told Through Newspapers”: May 20th, 7-8pm @ Palatine Community Center, Room 1B 📰

Flag Day: June 13th, 9:30-11am @ The Clayson House 🇺🇸

HERstory Crawl: June 28th, 1-4pm Downtown Palatine 🚶‍♀️

04/10/2026

Palatine’s first hotel was and still is located between Wilson St. and the railroad tracks just east of Brockway Street. Morgan Johnson bought the lot from Palatine’s founder Joel Wood in 1855 when the railroad first came through and the “depot” was just an old boxcar. Sometime between 1855 and 1867, probably about the time the first real depot was built right next to his property in the early 1860s, he built a store and large building on his property. He sold the building and property to Michael Kuebler in 1867 who started Palatine’s first hotel there. The hotel had 11 bedrooms, 2 parlors, dining room where meals were served family style, refreshment parlor, stable, and large dance hall over the stable. Guests could stay for $3 per week, but only the dining room and parlors were heated, the rooms were very cold. It was in a prime location serving railroad travelers from the depot and other travelers who could keep their horses in the stable with free hay. Mr. Kuebler sold the business to William Hunnerberg in 1879 who ran the Hunnerberg Hotel and Hall until his death in 1900. His daughter Mrs. Emma Stroker took over the business after his death and continued to run it under the name Union Hotel until her health failed in the early 1920s. By 1922, the hotel was closed and in 1929 the stable and large hall was torn down. Eventually the building was sold to Dick Sanford in 1941 who operated Dick’s Depot Tavern in it for a short period before moving next door to the current Lamplighter’s location. Many businesses have occupied the building over the years including the current Dario’s sandwich shop.