Making Naperville History

On April 26, 2014, the city of Naperville revisited a piece of their history at a memorial honoring the 1946 train wreck.  In addition to Mayor A. George Pradel, there was a crowd of long-time Naperville residents at the train station that beautiful spring day including City Councilmen Paul Hinterlong and Paul Kuhn.  Brant Bobosky officiated as a group of living descendants of the accident victims looked on with tears in their eyes.  Over the weekend, local author Chuck Spinner reminded us of the importance of studying history as he relayed a mix-up in recording and reporting the number of fatalities of the train wreck.  Chuck relayed that there had been a total of 45 fatalities, instead of the previously recorded 47.  Attending the train wreck memorial was personal for me because I remember my mother, Ruth Keroson, telling about how she went there to help rescue the accident victims.

Rounding out the weekend to commemorate Naperville history, April 27th was the official book launch open house for my newly-released memoir, "My Hometown - Naperville" where we also celebrated the anniversary of my grandfather Joseph Ory's birthday which had been 130 years ago.  On Saturday nights Joe Ory would ride one of his Percheon draft horses into town to drink whiskey and play poker at the Pre-Emption House.  In a personal interview of him by the newspaper in December 1946, Joe Ory spoke about the time he threw a blank bullet into the wood stove of Hobson School.  Back in 1959, I attended the two-room Granger School and I was surprised when three of my former classmates, Sandy Fraley, Susan Campbell, and Dave Mersman attended my book launch and reminisced about the day that President Kennedy was shot.

For more old-time Naperville photographs and stories, check out my website, myhometownnaperville.com or get a copy of my book at Anderson Bookshop. My book is also for sale at Naperville General Store in the same building where my great-great-great uncle Nicholas Yack had a store in the late 1860's prior to it being known as Soukups Hardware.  What an interesting time that must have been, before Naperville had automobiles, telephones, and in-door plumbing.  For more questions about what she remembers of Naperville history, you may contact Kathy Keroson by email at kathykeroson@gmail.com.