IMPORTANT DATES
1869 Village founded; Maywood Library Association founded.
1870s A 125-foot Observatory Tower was erected; First industry came to Maywood – Chicago Scraper and Ditching Company, located at 5th Ave. and St. Charles Rd. – the building also housed the Post Office (George R. Hall, first Postmaster) and the Maywood Company; South Side School was built (oldest school in Maywood) at 4th Ave. and Washington Blvd. – later it was used as the High School and then Emerson School; 25-30 houses built; Maywood Hotel, grocery store, meat market (Hugh Potter), and blacksmith shop opened; CNRR began stopping in Maywood.
1871 Great Chicago Fire led to over 100 homes built for settlers; Maywood Company gave five adjoining lots to homebuilders to assure well-rounded growth in Maywood.
1873 Panic of 1873; progress slowed for 15 years.
1874 Maywood Public Library founded.
1881 Village incorporated; A one-man police force was deemed necessary. The jail was made of two-by- fours and was roofless; a volunteer fire brigade was established – firefighters in good standing received $3 for each fire attended.
1884 First newspaper (“Home News”).
1893 First electric street cars; according to the census the population of Maywood was 4,000.
1895 Maywood Fire Department founded.
1897 Former Village Hall (on 5th Ave. just north of Oak St.) constructed; Twentieth Century Club was established by women to promote education, philanthropy and municipal reform.
1902 Horse-drawn Fire Dept. hose cart, start of telephone service.
1905 Carnegie Library built.
1908 Washington School occupied a two-room building – with additions this building was used until 1930, when it was replaced with the building that is now standing.
1911 Boy Scouts started; Proviso High School opened.
1912 Soldiers’ Widows Home built (for Civil War widows).
1918 Hines Hospital built.
1919 Checkerboard Airfield built.
1920 Air Mail Service begun from Checkerboard Field. 1921
Business Men’s Association established.
1923 Girl Scouts started.
1926 Charles Lindbergh flew Air Mail from Checkerboard Field.
1928 Recreation Board established.
1929 33rd Tank Co. (Co. B) formed, Illinois National Guard.
1939 Greater Maywood Association (now Maywood Chamber of Commerce) founded.
1940 Company B (122 men) formed as part of 192nd Tank Battalion.
1942 Bataan Death March (of the 89 men of Company B, who left the U.S., only 43 soldiers returned home safely); First Bataan Day Parade.
1953 Council/Manager form of government adopted.
1955-1960 Eisenhower Expressway opened.
1969 Loyola University Hospital opened.
1972 American Can Company closed.
1977 First Historic Home designation (Cluever House - Built 1913).
1981 First African-American Mayor (Joseph W. Freelon).
1988 Maywood Chamber of Commerce Gold Card Program instituted; Maywood Chamber of Commerce published its first Maywood Community Guide.
1997 Maywood Chamber of Commerce awarded a $6,800 grant from the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce to develop a Drug-Free Workplace Program.
1998 Maywood Chamber of Commerce Gold Card Program won the Governor’s Hometown Award; Maywood Public Library opened a new Central Library Annex.
1999 60th Anniversary “Diamond Jubilee” Year, Maywood Chamber of Commerce; Hugh A. Muir, Chamber’s sole surviving Founding Father, celebrated his 90th birthday; Maywood Public Library won the Chicago Building Congress 1999 Merit Award for construction under $10 Million; The American Institute of Architects Chicago Distinguished Building Award for the Maywood Public Library was presented to Ross Barney & Jankowski, Inc., the architectural firm; a new Veterans Memorial, honoring victims of the notorious “Bataan Death March,” was dedicated in the southeast corner of Maywood Park on Bataan Day (2nd Sunday of September). Chamber’s first Strategic Planning Retreat held.
2000 Karen A. Yarbrough, former Chamber President, won the race for 7th District State Representative;
105th Anniversary, Maywood Fire Department; dedication of Underground Railroad Memorial, 1st Avenue & Lake Street, by Operation Uplift & West Town Historical & Arts Museum; Aetna Plywood Company opened a new facility on a portion of the old American Can Company site along St. Charles Road.
2002 Maywood Chamber of Commerce awarded a $6,000 Member Initiative Grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, Chamber Board Member, Carolyn Johnson, received “The Loyola Spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award”; School-Based Health Center opened at Proviso East High School. Chamber’s 2nd Strategic Planning Retreat held.
2003
Chamber members participated in the development of the West Cook Consortium of Chambers; Chamber Web site www.
maywoodchamber.org was launched.
2004 Recommendations of the Economic Development Committee for its Purposes, Activities, and Strategies were approved by the Board, including the establishment of a low-interest loan program, supported by a consortium of local financial institutions and the Village; Chamber President/ CEO participated in the development of the West Cook Consortium of Chambers;
2005 Plans went forward for the establishment of a Maywood Community Development Corporation, a non-profit entity composed of several local banks, to provide a commercial loan program, a façade improvement loan program, and a code- compliance loan program; beginning in Fall 2005, Chamber members and organizations provided ongoing generous support to Katrina Disaster relief victims; Gold Card Committee name changed to Maywood Chamber Academic Excellence Program; in December 2005, Cintas Corporation opened a new facility on a portion of the old American Can Company site along St. Charles Road, east of Aetna Plywood, Inc.
2006 Formal establishment of the Maywood Community Development Corporation (MCDC) a non-profit entity composed of several local banks, to provide a commercial loan program, a façade improvement loan program, and a code-compliance loan program; in August. Chamber received Operation Uplift’s first Dr. Percy L. Julian Community Service Award. Chamber 3rd Strategic Planning Retreat.
2008
Chamber’s 4th Board Strategic Planning Retreat held.
2009
Hugh A. Muir celebrated his 100th birthday! MCDC, in collaboration with the Village, conducted seminars and workshops, regarding façade improvement, commercial and code compliance loan programs.
2010 The Maywood Community Development Corporation was forced to cease operations as a result of the severe economic downturn in early 2010 and the difficulties, faced by many banking institutions.
Maywood Chamber Of Commerce, P.O. Box 172, (708) 345-7077,
www.maywoodchamber.com 21
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