Carpentersville

Welcome to the Carpentersville Page. Our goal is to bring back some fun memories of growing up in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Please take your time and check out all of the Carpentersville images and files, they are sure to bring back many memories.

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What was Carpentersville like way back in the olden days?

Carpentersville was a place where we all felt safe, any time of day or night. A place we called home, a place with friends, family and great people. Whether you lived there for a year or a life time, the memories of Carpentersville are forever in your mind. Check out all of the Carpentersville images and files we have been collecting.

The History of Carpentersville

Carpentersville was first settled by Charles Valentine Carpenter and his brother, Daniel. In 1837, the two brothers, en route to the Rock River, made camp along the east bank of the Fox River to wait out the spring floods that made continuing their oxcart journey impossible. They ended up staying in the area to settle what was then called Carpenters’ Grove. In 1851 Charles’s son, Angelo, platted the land and renamed the town Carpentersville, which was incorporated in 1887. He acquired a dam and then a mill, which he converted into a yarn and flannel factory.

In 1864 Carpenter established an iron foundry and blacksmith shop called the Illinois Iron & Bolt Company. The company later acquired the Star Manufacturing Company, which produced agricultural machinery. During the 1870s and 1880s German, Swedish, and Polish immigrants came to work in the factories. Carpenter housed the workers, built a church, and held cultural events. Although he moved to Elgin in 1875, Carpenter continued his business interests in Carpentersville. He persuaded the Chicago & North Western Railroad to extend its tracks from East Dundee to the area and built an iron bridge with his own funds to accommodate the rail line. By 1912 Carpenter’s two companies employed 2,000 people. Star Manufacturing remained in Carpentersville until 1977.

For the next hundred years, Carpentersville did not grow as rapidly as other Fox River communities which had more direct rail connections to Chicago. The electric interurban railroad came to Carpentersville in 1896. The line was built by the Carpentersville, Elgin and Aurora Railway from a connection with the streetcar system in Elgin, Illinois and ran for four miles, terminating at the Illinois Iron and Bolt foundry on Main Street. This company changed ownership several times, including the Aurora, Elgin and Chicago Railway. It ended up being owned by the Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric Company in 1924. This line was always operated separately from the rest of the system, which included all traction lines between Carpentersville and Yorkville. This was a great convenience to factory workers who traveled to Elgin and for Elgin workers to come to Carpentersville. The line was used by everyone to enjoy Elgin’s Trout Park and to enjoy the “summer cars” for a cool ride. The line started to fail with the onset of the Great Depression and the establishment and paving of Illinois Route 31, which encouraged automobile use and the creation of a bus route. The final blow came in 1933, when a tornado destroyed the bridge over the Fox River just south of West Dundee.

Until the 1950s, Carpentersville consisted of a street grid along the Fox River centered around Main Street, which was the only highway bridge across the Fox River between Algonquin and Dundee. In the mid-1950s, Leonard W. Besinger began a subdivision named Meadowdale north of Carpentersville. By 1956 Besinger had accumulated more than 2,600 acres along Illinois Route 25 between Bolz Rd and Illinois Route 68. Other area residents thwarted his attempts to incorporate Meadowdale as an independent town. So Besinger had Carpentersville annex the property. Once the Meadowdale Shopping Center (which was anchored by Wieboldt’s, Carson Pirie Scott, Cook’s, and W.C. Grants as well as an indoor ice skating rink) was completed it overshadowed the commercial district by the river. A large section of the shopping mall on the north side was torn down in the 1990s and a new post office building was built.

In 1956, to reflect this population shift, Dundee Community High School relocated from its former site on Illinois Route 31 to Cleveland Avenue (now Carpentersville Middle School). In 1964, a second high school, named for Irving Crown, opened on Kings Road on the northern edge of Carpentersville. The two schools merged in 1984.

From 1958 to 1969, Carpentersville was home to the Meadowdale International Raceway, a 3.27 miles (5.26 km) long automobile race track located west of Illinois Route 31 which was also started by Besinger. The site is now a Township Park and County Forest Preserve.

Carpentersville Wiki Page

Carpentersville History – The Carpenters PDF

1956 April – Zero Down Homes PDF

1956 November Dundee School Vote PDF

Morningside of Meadowdale Brochure PDF

Plymouth Homes Brochure PDF

Meadowdale Brochure PDF

1973 Carpentersville Jamboree Booklet PDF

4 Villages and Cville’s Empire Builder PDF

1966 Map of Carpentersville and Dundee PDF

Helping Hand PDF

This is Your Library 1962 PDF

Meadowdale Youth Center Dedication Article Part 1 PDF

Meadowdale Youth Center Dedication Article Part 2 PDF

1959 Carpentersville Police Article PDF

1960 Carpentersville Fire Dept Article PDF

1968 July Little Miss Peanut PDF

1969 December Youth Center and Ice Skating PDF

1970 Ice Skating Article PDF

1972 July Jamboree Article PDF

1987 Carpentersville Centennial Article PDF

1963 Fire Demonstrations Article PDF

Various Images From Carpentersville’s Past 1800s – 1980s

412 Amarillo Court

Santas Village and Dundale Drive In Aerial View July 1966

Pancake Jamboree

Meadowdale 1958

VFW Post 5915 Ladies Aux

Phil Aleo Book – Dundee Township Moments Frozen In Time

Vehicle Tax Sticker 1968

Vehicle tax sticker 1967

Vehicle Stickers 1973

Star Manufacturing of Carpentersville

Miss Poppy 1972 Carol Johnson

Medical Announcement

Meadowdale Shopping Center Aerial View July 1966-2

Meadowdale Shopping Center Aerial View July 1966

Lakewood Lodge Estates 1966

Home of the Week

Hills Mccanna 1969

Helping Hand

Feb 1966 Cville Fire

Egors

Dundee Carpentersville Library (4)

Dundee Carpentersville Library (3)

Dundee Carpentersville Library (2)

Dundee Carpentersville Library (1)

Dolphin Cove

Cville Motorcycle Tax Tag 1976

Cville Main St looking west 1900s

Cville Boy Scouts 1972

Cville Boy Scout Troop 32 – 1970

Cub Scout Parade Thanksgiving3

Cub Scout Parade Thanksgiving2

Cub Scout Parade Thanksgiving1

Conolite 1968

Carpentersville Sign 1976

Carpentersville Railroad Station

Carpentersville Public Library 1898

Carpentersville Pre-1920s

Carpentersville Model Homes

Carpentersville Drug Store 1941

Carpentersville Congregational Church 1898

Carpentersville Condensing Factory Fox River

Carpentersville Across from Mall

Carpentersville 1898

Carpentersville (3)

Carpentersville (2)

Carpentersville Iron and Bolt Co

Carpenter Park Winter Time

Carpenter Park June 1975 Cville Jamboree

Carpenter Park Fall

Austin Ave Blizzard of 1967

Austin Ave 1967

Austin Ave 1967 Blizzard

Amarillo Court Summer Baseball

Aerial View of Carpentersville July 1966

Aerial View of Carpentersville July 1966 (2)

Aerial View July 1966 Crown High

1967HarrisonSt

1967 Bizzard

1965 Miss Carpentersville

1957 Carpentersville

1913 Algonquin Dundee Carpentersville Telephone Directory (3)

1913 Algonquin Dundee Carpentersville Telephone Directory (2)

1913 Algonquin Dundee Carpentersville Telephone Directory (1)

Leonard Besinger dies 8-11-1982

White Hen Pantry

United States Steel Homes – 170 Austin Ave

Shell Station Similar to Rocky’s

Rt 62 – 25 and Helm Rd 1940s

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