Palatine Historical Society

06/15/2026

Flag Day 2026

06/14/2026

Happy Flag Day.

06/12/2026

Around 5 o’clock Sunday Morning April 17, 1887, two freight trains pulled onto the same sidetrack at Palatine to allow a passenger train to pass through. The northbound train stopped on the sidetrack as planned, but the engineer of the southbound train lost control and was unable to stop his train. Seeing a wreck was imminent, the train men all jumped from the trains and were uninjured. The two trains collided resulting in both locomotives and 6 freight cars being destroyed. This was just the prelude to the real disaster, however. A wrecking crew was sent out from Chicago to clear up the mess and as usual a large crowd of men and boys gathered around to watch the spectacle, particularly around the water tower used to re-fill the steam engines since that’s where most of the action was. In the late afternoon, there was a sudden pop sound like a gunshot and the water tower collapsed in an instant. 80,000 gallons of water, dozens of 24 foot long 6 X 6 inch wood staves, and iron bands came down on the men and boys gathered below. The crowd initially fled when the tower came down but immediately returned to rescue those trapped under the timbers. When it was all over, 5 men and boys died immediately in this disaster with several others lucky to escape with injuries.

*Died at the Scene*
Edward Wenke, Palatine
William Garms, Palatine
George Myer, boy, Arlington Heights
William Myer, brother of George above, Arlington Heights
Frederick Boeger, Arlington Heights

*Severely Injured – Probably Fatal*
John Asmust, Palatine, crushed about the head
Charles Storms, boy, Palatine

06/09/2026

🇺🇸Palatine’s Flag Day Celebration🇺🇸
This Saturday, June 13th @
The Clayson House Museum at 9:30am

06/05/2026

Only 10 years after moving into the new municipal building on Brockway and Washington Streets in 1929, Palatine’s volunteer fire department had again grown to the point that it was out of space. The firemen offered to pull down the original Village Hall on Slade St. and build a new modern fire station there, returning to their original site from 1889. This was all done with volunteer labor by the firemen and no cost to the Village. The station opened in 1942 and is the part of the building now occupied by My Flavor It Place. A large addition was built on the east side of the station in 1952 which is the part of the building currently occupied by Madcats. This new addition provided much more garage space and a large hall on the second floor. Again, this was all done with volunteer labor by the firemen. This building served as a fire station until 1980 when it was closed and converted into commercial space.

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.