Important dates in Wheaton's history

October 1, 1874
Gary-Wheaton Bank was founded by Jesse Wheaton, Erastus Gary and Elbert Gary.
October 4, 1976
Death of Graeme Stewart, Wheaton real estate developer and mid-century modern builder. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Stewart hit upon the idea of creating a home plan that served young families but would be different than the "cookie cutter" ranches of the era. Stewart is buried with his wife, Ruth Cook Stewart, at Wheaton Cemetery.
October 7, 1918
Death of Winston Morton at Camp Grant, Rockford, Ill.; cause of death: influenza pneumonia. Morton, born in Kentucky but who worked in Wheaton as a barber's porter, died while in training at Camp Grant. He was the only African-American soldier from Wheaton who died in WWI.
October 8, 1846
Birth of Judge Elbert Henry Gary, Wheaton leader; co-founder (with his uncle, Jesse Wheaton) of the Gary-Wheaton Bank; served two terms as a DuPage County judge, 1882 to
1890; lawyer; president of U.S. Steel Corp.; namesake of Gary, Indiana.
October 13-15, 1940
Wheaton celebrated Frontier Days on Front Street. The storefronts were transformed to look like the Wild West. Men participated in a beard-growing contest and the townspeople
dressed in frontier clothing. Stagecoach rides were offered and buffalo burgers were served.
October 18, 1924
Harold "Red" Grange, graduate of Wheaton High School, leaves Wheaton to attend the University of Illinois. While playing in a football game against the University of Michigan, Grange scored four touchdowns within the first 12 minutes of the game. The next year, Grange joined the Chicago Bears. In 2008, he was named the best college football player of all time by ESPN and, in 2011, he was named the Greatest Big Ten icon by the Big Ten Network.
October 1890
John Quincy Adams, a distant cousin of the former president of the same name, financed the construction of the Adams Memorial Library to honor his wife, Marilla, who had died of
tuberculosis. The construction was completed and the library was dedicated the following year.
October 1912
The new brick Aurora, Elgin and Chicago Railway station opens at Main and Liberty Streets. It replaced an outgrown wooden station built 10 years earlier. The service was called "one of the best provided by any interurban line in the United States." The station served Wheaton riders until the electric railroad ended service in 1957. It was demolished in 1966 and replaced with a parking lot.
October 2001
Mawi Asgedom, an Ethiopian refugee, author and motivational speaker, was resettled in Wheaton by World Relief. He appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" along with other immigrants who told their stories about why they came to America

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