The Fall of the Erickson Barn and The History of Front and Mokena St.

Matt and Israel talk about the recent storm that came through town and did significant damage down Front Street as well as the collapse of a beloved historic barn, built by the Erickson family in the early 1900's.
We also discuss the building that sits on the south east corner of First and Mokena Street. Today the home of Audiologic and the newest addition to Front Street, Hustle & Heart, this site holds a long history as a center of town for generations. Matt shares some great stories of this site that has a long, and at times, troubling, past.
This episode is based on Matt's blog post from May 1, 2022 titled, Down on The Corner." You can find that episode here!
Be sure to check out our video on YouTube as well for additional pictures and videos. You can find that here!

Chapters

• 0:00 Historic Barns and Building Renewal
• 15:03 Memories of Mokena's Corner Legacy
• 23:13 Corner History and Business Continuity

Transcript

Israel: 0:00

Welcome to Mokina's Front Porch. A Mokina history podcast with Matt Galick and me, israel Smith. Matt, it's another beautiful summer night.

Matt: 0:15

Yes it certainly is, and so we're out back on the patio. Yeah, something we haven't done yet again this year. No, definitely not.

Israel: 0:22

This past week it'll be a week ago tonight we had the big storms that came through and did a lot of damage and kind of seemed to go right over downtown. Yeah, definitely did. In the episode we just released I had talked to Chief Howard Stevens and he, you know, had talked to Chief Joe Cirelli and he gave a good kind of account of what the fire department was doing.

Israel: 0:43

I can imagine there was a number of things. The damage at the dock was really significant, but Gino seemed to think that would be back up to where it was pretty quickly. He told me that Thursday was it. Two days later, after the storm they went to the trusses up for the ceiling.

Matt: 1:02

Oh cool.

Israel: 1:02

And if that would have been up, it would have held everything in place.

Matt: 1:06

Oh really, so they just kind of missed by a few days. Yeah, I bet.

Israel: 1:09

But then at the end, at Schoolhouse and First Street, we had the barn collapse. Yes, that was, and that barn is a historic barn.

Matt: 1:23

So I wanted to talk a little bit at the beginning of this episode about that barn.

Israel: 1:25

So can you just kind of give the significance of it?

Matt: 1:27

Yeah, well, that barn, that dairy barn there, belonged to the you could call it. It's been owned by various people, that farm over the years, of course, but the family that owned the farm when that was built would have been around 1910 or thereabouts. That was the erickson family, john and josephine erickson, and if any of our listeners, um, they, they probably will recognize that last name as uh, the erickson's until very recently still lived around here. Uh, people will probably remember uh tuffy erickson and uh annickson all really great people live down in Flanagan Illinois now where they sold their farm up here and moved down there to farm.

Israel: 2:14

When was that? Because did that family live on the farm there until then and were they farming from here, farming from?

Matt: 2:22

here? Oh, no, definitely not. The Erikson family, john and Josephine, acquired that property in 1905 from the Schweizer brothers and they retained it for the rest of their lives until their daughter and son-in-law, mabel and Elmer Benson, acquired it, and that would have been the 1930s and they same thing. They held on onto it for quite a long time. I believe it was sold after they passed in the 1970s. So there are a lot of people still around who remember the Bensons.

Matt: 2:58

But yeah, the Eriksons were pretty unique in the history of Mokina in that they were a Swedish family in a mostly German town. They came to America in the 1880s and I believe they were in Will County not too long after that. But they conducted Swedish religious services at their home, which still stands around 1910, 1911 and there thereabouts. For the handful of other Swedish people that were around in the area and they also, one of their claims to fame was that on their property was a pretty good sized baseball field that locals called Ericsson Field or Ericsson Park. That stood just north of the house and the barn where today First Court is. Oh really, yeah, yeah, the Mokina baseball team played there in the pre-World War I days. Oh, that's interesting. Oh, yeah, yeah, against teams from all over, from Chicago even.

Israel: 3:57

So that would have been a pretty happening spot, I mean there was a lot of people in a very active area.

Matt: 4:02

Oh, absolutely, absolutely yeah. There were hundreds and hundreds of people in a very active area. Oh, absolutely Absolutely yeah, there were hundreds and hundreds of people from all over would come to these games. It was quite a big deal.

Israel: 4:09

So how long has it been since that's been an active farm?

Matt: 4:14

Let's see, I know that as of the 70s, it was still being farmed. And then I think, let's see, it was a good sized farm. It was about 108 or 9 acres at the peak at least, when the ericsons owned it uh, and that property uh, stretched to the south quite a ways, um, and encompassed an area see, I'm trying to envision plat maps in my head off uh and to the uh east a ways. I believe I'm trying to. I know that it was still being farmed in the 70s, though, and then, uh, a good portion of that was subdivided, not too terribly, uh, much longer after that, but um, yeah, I'm.

Israel: 4:57

Did it go south of the tracks? Did that farm go south of the tracks or was it all?

Matt: 5:01

north. I believe it did. Yeah, it's been a while since I've looked at the actual dimensions of that farm, uh, once again in old plat maps, but if I'm trying to envision it, I'm.

Israel: 5:10

I believe it did okay, yeah, so how old do you think that barn was?

Matt: 5:16

I'd say it was built roughly around 1910 or thereabouts. Uh, definitely during the Erickson years.

Israel: 5:26

So not as old as the McGovern and Yunker barn, but is there any Not quite as old, yeah. Any others that are that old still in town?

Matt: 5:37

The only two dairy barns that still stand are the big one, as we know, on the McGovern-Yunker Farm on LaPorte Road, and then there's another one that stands on 191st Street where Brandau Farm Stand is now. That was formerly the Schweizer-Yunker Farm and those Yunkers were relatives of Eddie and Laverne Yunkers, but that barn on 191st Street was built in 1907. So it was roughly about the same age. But yeah, those are the only two left.

Israel: 6:12

Yeah, how sad and that was. We went and walked around, looked at it and all that beautiful old wood, yeah, yeah, it's too bad. It's too bad. That's gone from the landscape. It is.

Matt: 6:26

It's a huge tragedy and a huge loss for our community. I was devastated. Yeah, still am.

Israel: 6:31

For this episode. We wanted to talk about one of your blog posts that go back to May 1st of 2022.

Matt: 6:37

Yeah, definitely.

Israel: 6:39

It was called Down on the Corner, sure. So this building has recently gotten new tenants, with the hearing aid place moving over one spot, the insurance left and the new business there is Hustle and Heart, yeah, but this building has been a number of things over the years we did the walk down Front Street and talked about it a couple of times, but it's nice to see that there's new life in there now and they seem to be doing a good job. What has this building kind of been to you over the years, Matt?

Matt: 7:09

Within my lifetime. It's interesting I still primarily think of this building as a bar because that's what it was for all of my childhood and a little bit into my adolescence and it had many bars there over the years. And then in the early 2000s it was really significantly rehabbed, remodeled, expanded, although that original building that was built right after the end of World War II is still under there Still. All that doesn't really look anything like it did.

Israel: 7:43

Back then it was a little brick building they did a really good job of you know, updating it, keeping some historical charm to it yeah, absolutely.

Matt: 7:52

Oh yeah, absolutely it does. Yeah, I like the old well, not old, but the old looking clapboard siding on the building. I think that's pretty cool, so kind of reminiscent of the building that was there before this one. It didn't really look totally like this, but certain elements, like the little bit around the windows, maybe that that old wooden siding kind of reminds me a little bit of it.

Israel: 8:15

Yeah, and I love you know this building when I walk by and right behind it is that great picture from the railroad men you know their post, with the men sitting in their suits and ties on the bench there. So really historic area and really for Mokina for a long time one of the major centers. You know the center of town right?

Matt: 8:38

Oh, absolutely it is. Yeah, that intersection's right in the middle of town. Like to me, that's what the heart of Mokina is is Front Street and Mokina Street right there.

Israel: 8:49

And I don't know. Maybe you mentioned it before, but there used to be a hanging light in the middle. Do you remember that or did you know about that?

Matt: 8:55

yeah, I didn't know there. Yes, there was a hanging blinking light there. That was a little before my time, but I have seen pictures of it.

Israel: 9:03

Uh, so I know it was there back in the 1960s or thereabouts somebody recently just said that I can't remember offhand who it was, but I thought that was interesting yeah, it's a real townie kind of feel thing.

Matt: 9:14

Yeah it had, the light had moved by the time I came along. When I was growing up, when I was still pretty little, the blinking red stoplight was at Front Street and Wolf Road. Oh, okay, long before there was a stoplight there. Yeah, and I think the Village still owns that light, really. I have seen it since then. Yeah, oh, that's cool I think it's at the Village Garage, at least I hope they still have it. Yeah, yeah, wow.

Israel: 9:36

But yeah, yeah, well, good, you know this article. You titled it Down on the Corner again from Sunday May 1st 2022. And this is a little different. You know, with the podcast, more recently we've been shifting to doing more videos and not as many of the audio only, which is you know how we started and really the first year and a half was strictly doing audio. So, uh, I thought it was still wanted to keep what we started with and sharing these stories.

Israel: 10:08

So with the video and also make a video, um, obviously, if you're watching this. But, uh, put some of the the cool video and stuff from around town and some of the pictures, as always, that Matt included. Yeah, definitely With that, matt. Let's hear down in the corner.

Matt: 10:25

It can be called the Times Square of Mokina. The intersection of Front and Mokina Streets is a place where countless town gatherings have been held Everyone's been there. Countless village residents pass through the intersection daily have been held Everyone's been there. Countless village residents pass through the intersection daily and indeed during the much-vaunted Christmas Fest parade the crowd is thickest here. In the not-too-distant past, movable letters would even be hung between opposite telephone poles here, heralding the coming of big events in the village's social calendar. Being such a prominent place in our community, it is naturally the site of no small amount of local history. A passerby's attention is easily drawn to the old two-story Italianate house on the northeast side of the crossing, the old Blazer building. Indeed, it's been covered in depth here. Nevertheless, looking across the street to the southeast corner, we have another place that is rich in history. Street to the southeast corner, we have another place that is rich in history.

Matt: 11:19

Cutting through the fog of ages, it can be seen that this corner has been part of the village since its earliest days, being charted as part of founding father Alan Denny's first addition to Mokena. In the first years of the 1850s, this lot, along with the few adjoining to the east, were spoken for at an early date by James Ducker, an Englishman who, in 1853, established a general store in Mokina, it proudly counting itself as one of the first business enterprises in our newly born town. He came to prosper in our midst and, even though he moved his business to Joliet in 1874, the Ducker family still retained ownership of this property until just after the turn of the 20th century. Emerging through the blur of the past, a young man named Herman Jacobus is the first known entrepreneur to run a business on this corner. The earliest blip on the historic radar is an advertisement bearing the date September 4,. Historic radar is an advertisement bearing the date September 4, 1875, that appeared in an issue of the Mokina Advertiser that announced his opening a meat market here purveyor of a general assortment of fresh and salt meats. Another insert from Jacobus appeared nearly a year later in the August 1, 1876 issue of the same paper that further elaborated on his business, it talking of smoked ham, bacon and summer sausage, while also promising cash paid for hides and tello. Before opening his doors here, the Prussian-born Hermann Jacobus married Julia Scher, a member of a well-known local family, in November 1873 at the German United Evangelical St John's Church, with whom he came to raise a family Business, hummed along here for Jacobus, and he found himself cited by the incipient Mokina Board of Health in the summer of 1883 for having excessive manure adjoining the hog pen near his slaughterhouse.

Matt: 13:15

Time has given us precious few details about life on this corner during the Herman Jacobus tenure, and all signs indicate that he and his family packed up and left town at some juncture. Painting a vivid picture of 19th century existence in Mokena is fraught with hurdles due to a lack of comprehensive records and thorough journalistic coverage, and as such, the hazy early half of the history of this corner has left us with a mostly empty void until April 25, 1892, when a disastrous fire the scourge of our forefathers struck the site. At the time, the building on the property housed the meat market of a Mr Kennedy, and in reporting the blaze, the Joliet Weekly News bluntly stated that the fire was a really bad thing for the village, having started between 3 and 4 am. The conflagration began in the one-story property on the corner, and not only was it totally destroyed, but the flames jumped to a two-story frame building to the east, gutting it as well. The news described how the whole town was quickly aroused and that Mokina's hand engine and a bucket brigade valiantly fought the fires and were able to save the rest of the village. No one ever got to the bottom of what caused the fire, as was so often the case in those days, but most townfolk figured it must have been the work of an ember from the funnel of a caused the fire, as was so often the case in those days, but most townfolk figured it must have been the work of an ember from the funnel of a coal-fed locomotive. The loss of both buildings was heavy and both were considered old landmarks at the time. The now vacant corner lot became something of a headache to the village dads who, in December 1894, notified Jeanette Ducker at her Joliet home that the hole where the building stood needed to be filled in or at least fenced off.

Matt: 15:03

The turn of the 20th century is remembered as a dark time in the annals of Mokina's past. Various economical factors, such as the calamitous Panic of 1893, the worst financial crisis in our country's history up to that point, had caused an exodus of local businesses and people, with a meager 281 residents being counted within the village gates in 1900. A rebound slowly took hold, beginning first in 1907 with the construction of Bowman Dairy's milk bottling plant on today's Wolf Road, along with the opening of Mokena State Bank two years later. Dairy's milk bottling plant on today's Wolf Road, along with the opening of Mokena State Bank two years later. An integral part of this bounce back was Dr John J Cody, who overturned a new leaf in the life of this corner in March 1911, when he had a cozy one-story building constructed on it, measuring in at 16 by 32 feet. It contained the doctor's office and a drugstore.

Israel: 15:58

So, matt, in your blog post here you share this picture and it shows so it's a southwest facing picture of Mokina and Front Street.

Matt: 16:10

Yeah, yeah.

Israel: 16:11

So this kind of blank where the sidewalk corners are is where the building we're talking about sits today, right, Exactly. And we'd be kind of looking towards where the depot is Exactly. Yeah Well, the modern depot on the opposite side of the tracks.

Matt: 16:24

Exactly. Yeah, the modern depot is just on the other side of the tracks and those houses in the background are still on McGovernie Street. So that's McGovernie Street in the background.

Israel: 16:33

And you see the wooden sidewalks. So that's McGovern Street in the background. And you see the wooden sidewalks and the mud streets.

Matt: 16:39

Yeah, it's a pretty cool shot. I definitely wanted to use it in this one. Very cool, the whole locomotive is really cool too. Yeah, yeah, all right, very neat, love it.

Matt: 16:47

37-year-old physician, late of Iowa, dr Cody studied medicine at the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons and, upon his graduation in 1907, settled in Mokena. He was a medicine man of the old school and made house calls to his patients by horse and buggy, which he often rented from the livery stable of Henry Stillwagon further up Front Street. Further up Front Street. A reminiscence written years later said that snowstorms, rain or blazing heat did not stop Dr Cody when the sick needed his aid. In the days after New Year's 1910, he was so busy with measles cases that he couldn't even stop to eat. Dr John J Cody married Mokina girl Mildred Brinkerhoff in April 1908, and, after having endeared himself to the rest of the town, the Codys moved to Minooka in 1912, leaving behind the little building on the corner as their legacy. Before leaving our community, dr Cody opened an ice cream parlor in the drugstore which in time would come to be a popular meeting place for the players of Mokina's crack baseball team to be a popular meeting place for the players of Mokena's crack baseball team. Before the doctor left town for good, he disposed of his practice and the drugstore to another physician, dr Frank W Searles of New Lenox. Even though Dr Searles sold the building itself to Mokena State Bank cashier Frank Lease and local auctioneer Charles Mariety in the spring of 1912, he kept up the pharmacy business here. It was by all means a modern one, as the physician had the place wired for electricity within a year and had the honor of having a 240-watt lamp on the premises, which at the time was the most powerful light fixture in town.

Matt: 18:27

In the years between the World Wars, this corner was home to various enterprises. In the years between the world wars, this corner was home to various enterprises. One was the upholstering business of Albert Helmut, who counted no small part of his trade in the finishing of auto roofs, while others were a shoe repair shop by Fred Lenhart in the 1920s, a small grocery store run by Burke Gillette and the barber shop of Amos Bruns by Burke Gillette and the barbershop of Amos Bruns. In May of 1936, while hair was being cut here, john Yunker undertook some remodeling work on the building, having the place raised up and a concrete block foundation built under it, while an addition was tacked on to the structure's east side, which was used as an apartment by the Bruns family. While all of these concerns were relatively short-lived, mr Bruns would later establish a well-known and long-lasting restaurant in neighboring New Lenox.

Matt: 19:18

After the long and rough years of the Great Depression and the Second World War, normalcy returned in 1945, and with that another boom to Molkina. The village experienced an uptick in population, along with some new construction on Front Street. The old adage says that history repeats itself, and it did just that. On the corner for a new drugstore opened in early 1946. However, before the first customer came, a new building was constructed, and thus the modest old building from Dr Cody's day at least the second to have stood at this spot disappeared. Thus the modest old building from Dr Cody's day at least the second to have stood at this spot disappeared from the landscape. A local news report from November 1945 indicated that the old structure was moved slightly on the lot and incorporated into the new building. But in the same breath, mokena's most time-honored citizens remember the old edifice simply being torn down For the blink of an eye.

Matt: 20:15

Alan Cavett of Tinley Park kept shop in the new brick building on the corner until Henry B and Lillian Bowman bought the store in May 1947. Lately of Chicago where he owned a drugstore on the south side of the city. The 48-year-old Bowman was a native of Indiana and learned his trade at Valparaiso Pharmacy School. The Bowmans were perfect matches for our village, as were their daughters, jean Marilyn and Pat. The drugstore on the corner was very much a family affair and every member had their time working there. The Bowmans resided in living quarters within the building, which housed a typical pharmacy for its time and place, which also included a soda fountain with booths on the west side of the building. Pharmacy also boasted of a payphone, one of only very few in Mokina in this era. Due to the drugstore's close proximity to the Rock Island tracks, it wasn't uncommon for Mokinians to call the Bowmans to ask if a certain train had come through, but the family quickly got so used to hearing rumbling trains that they barely even noticed them. After Henry Bowman's untimely passing in May 1957, the pharmacy was still kept up by his family, with Pat Bowman bringing prescriptions to Allen Cavett in Tinley Park and then back to Mokena, all the while learning to drive along the way. The local business was sold on contract by the Bowmans to a pharmacist named William Geisler on December 1, 1957. However, he wasn't in business here too terribly long, as he too passed in 1959. At this point, dan Kerber came onto the scene and paid off the rest of the contract to Lillian Bowman in February 1960. Kerber found success on the corner before moving further west down Front Street in 1966 to a brand new building where he and later his son flourished for years Onward, the timeline marched and the red brick building underwent another transformation, this time from drugstore to restaurant.

Matt: 22:18

In the 1960s, eiffel, known affectionately as Doc, and Ruth White opened an eatery here, who will be fondly remembered by Mokinians of a certain age In time. The building would come to house a series of watering holes, counting gents such as Marty Clegg, mr Speedwell and Mel Widener as proprietors, while in later years housing bars known as the Depot and St Anthony's Pub. Meanwhile, in 2002, the building on the corner received a profound facelift, in which the entire structure was gutted, a new peaked roof raised up and the old brick walls of Bowman's Pharmacy were sandwiched in fresh clapboard siding. In a masterstroke of reuse, the old place was given a new lease on life and continues to stand triumphant today. Time has gifted modern Mokinians with 145 years of history here, and as the tides of time pass us by, we'll have 145 more.

Israel: 23:13

Yeah, well, that's a really interesting article and gives a lot of insight to a very important corner in town that's seen a number of businesses and business owners pass through.

Matt: 23:25

Oh, absolutely, over the years, tons of history there.

Israel: 23:28

Oh yeah, totally, yeah, yeah yeah, well, that's great and hopefully there's, as you said, another long history of businesses there as well.

Matt: 23:37

I hope so. Yeah, I really do, all right. Thanks, man Cool. You're welcome. Thanks for having me, you.