Albert C. Hillertz Oral History

              LAURA FRUME: I am interviewing today Bud Hillertz.  It is November 30, 1993, and we are at his home at 6 N. Edward in Mt. Prospect.  I'd like to thank you today for agreeing to be interviewed and for signing the release form.  First of all, we are going to start with some biographical questions.  What is your full name?

BUD HILLERTZ: Albert C. Hillertz.  Do you want the spelling of it, too?

FRUME: No, that's fine, because we've got that written down.  When and where were you born?

HILLERTZ: July 29, 1926.

FRUME: In Chicago.

HILLERTZ: Chicago, Illinois, right.

FRUME: And who were your parents?

HILLERTZ: Albert, Sr., and Dorothy Hillertz.

FRUME: And your grandparents?

HILLERTZ: They were from the old country, and at the time I was born my grandmother, who was Sophie Hillertz, she passed on when I was two years old, so that's the extent of my know-ledge related to that generation.

FRUME: Okay.  When did you move to Mt. Prospect?

HILLERTZ: 1953, about the middle of the year.

FRUME: So you've been here forty years.

HILLERTZ: Right, and proud of it.

FRUME: Great.  We've already said your address–have you ever lived at any other addresses?

HILLERTZ: Yes, two other locations.  The house before this was 823 Dresser Drive, and the first home was 208 S. Pine, over behind St. Raymond's and St. Mark's.

FRUME: What did you know about Mt. Prospect before you came here?

HILLERTZ: I used to play golf on the country club there, and I fell in love with this town at that time.  So I've been out here about–well, that's when I was a young teenager, and I always wanted to move to Mt. Prospect.  Our first home on Pine, which I mentioned, we served as general con-tractors.  We did a lot of the work ourselves.

FRUME: That's interesting.  So you would come out here from Chicago to play golf?

HILLERTZ: Right.

FRUME: How has Mt. Prospect changed since you've lived here?

HILLERTZ: Okay, good question.  It has literally exploded.  We came to Mt. Prospect, as I said, in 1953, and the population was around 4,000.  We know it's now about 55,000 or somewhere around there, so, like I say, I can't be selfish.  The town has grown considerably.  We have suf-fered a lot of growing pains, but we still love the town and we're still here.

FRUME: That's for sure, it has grown.  What are some of the events you remember happening in the village?

HILLERTZ: Ho, ho, ho, all right.  The train wreck.

FRUME: Okay.

HILLERTZ: Evidently, the train derailed right by the railroad station, and the boxcars as they de-railed came flying across Route 83 and it blocked up–tied up–the whole town for almost a week because the cars were off in the–right by Main Street there, and almost smack down to the rail-road station.

FRUME: This was in 1953?

HILLERTZ: I'd say–we came here in 1953, so maybe 1954 or 1955 or somewhere around there.  Now, let me keep on talking.  I remember taking a shower and getting myself cleaned up–at that time I took the train, and we had steam engines.  You had a nice shower and everything, and you're nice and clean, the steam engine would pull up, the clinkers would come off in your hair, and everything else, and you were a mess before you even got on the train.

FRUME: That was like smoke?

HILLERTZ: No, the coal.  They were coal-burning engines.  I'm sure you've seen those on the cartoons.

FRUME: Right, yes.

HILLERTZ: Then another major event that I felt was major, was Goldblatt's used to be over here, and that was a major, major fire.  It burned the whole thing down.

FRUME: Where was that located?

HILLERTZ: Right behind the 31 Flavors, that big building there which later was rebuilt and be-came K-Mart, and then from there they closed it and now Walgreen's owns it.  You know, right behind 31 Flavors?  That was K-Mart, and something happened.  The store was only open about two years–a total failure; they pulled the string–and then it sat there, vacant, and now Walgreen's with their computer department is there.

FRUME: So there is still a building there.

HILLERTZ: Yes, a new building now.  The Goldblatt's building are you familiar with Goldblatt's?

FRUME: Yes, the store.

HILLERTZ: Okay, well, they're a real old-time store, and that was a huge, huge fire.

FRUME: Do you remember when that happened?

HILLERTZ: I'd say somewhere about 1957 or 1958 somewhere around there.

FRUME: So the store was in operation for just a few years.

HILLERTZ: Oh, now wait a minute. Back off now.  The K-Mart was only in operation for two years.  The Goldblatt's store was there for many, many years as we came to Mt. Prospect.  I think there were there for at least ten or fifteen years, or maybe longer than that.  You could see the flames roaring up.

FRUME: Did the Mt. Prospect Fire Department put that out, or did Des Plaines come?

HILLERTZ: No, no.  I've got notes on that.  At that time the village of Mt. Prospect had volun-teer firemen, and so they responded and I think that Des Plaines helped out, too.  But it was a huge, huge fire.  You could actually see the flames roaring up.

FRUME: Getting back to the train wreck, you said it took a whole week for them to__________?

HILLERTZ: Oh, sure, to get the freight cars they were lying on their side right across Route 83 there where the gates go down.

FRUME: Yes.

HILLERTZ: Sure.  They had to get the wreckers there.  I know it was at least three or four days.  I don't know how many cars derailed, but there were a couple of them right across you know where Route 83 and Main Street was.

FRUME: Yes.  So did anyone get hurt in that?

HILLERTZ: No, it was a freight train, thank goodness for that.

FRUME: But no one was standing there.

HILLERTZ: No, nobody was standing there, but a couple of them almost knocked the train station down.

FRUME: That would have been a tragedy.  Were you still able to take the commuter to work then?  

HILLERTZ: Oh, yes, the trains functioned but the automobile traffic suffered severely.

FRUME: That would have rough if they had to go down to move across the tracks.

HILLERTZ: Now, over here that's actually Des Plaines where the Oldsmobile dealer is, I think the used car lot was the Red Balloon Restaurant.

FRUME: When was that?

HILLERTZ: Now you've got me.  I'd say maybe ten years ago a real fancy restaurant and that's of that.  I've got more to tell you.  Okay, the floor is yours.

FRUME: You can just go on with other events you remember.

HILLERTZ: Okay.  I've prepared notes.  You know the center of town, the Old Town Inn?

FRUME: Yes.

HILLERTZ: That was a bowling alley at one time with six bowling alleys, and where the restau-rant is, underneath there is the bowling ________.  Okay, you've got that.  A Haberkamp Mr. Haberkamp was the florist, and he was also the fire chief.  They had a nice florist and it was over behind the post office that looks like a ranch home now, but that was a real nice florist at one time.

FRUME: And they moved, didn't they, to Arlington Heights?

HILLERTZ: Yes, they're in ________.  Now, I told you about the steam engine.  Now, the bank location started off you know where the you're familiar with the town right there at Busse and Main Street where that Mexican restaurant is, that's where the Mt. Prospect Bank was, and then the moved over to where the village hall is, and then they built a third building which you know of now.  At that time it was called the Mt. Prospect State Bank, and if I had any money at that time I could have bought their stock and I'd be super rich because their stock really exploded.  That's before First Chicago swallowed them up.  Okay, shall I continue?  Oh, by the way, this is a cheap shot against the bank at that time it was a full-service bank.  You could go pay your tele-phone bill, your electric bill and everything else.  Now you know the rest of it.  The train wreck, we covered that.  The bowling alley, as I told you, that was right in town there.  It was six lanes a little bitty bowling alley.  Then you know where the Fish Furniture place was, or is, and now it became another?

FRUME: On Rand Road?

HILLERTZ: That was also a bowling alley.  That was a big bowling alley and they closed that.  Then we also had another bowling alley over at Golf and Route 83 called "Stri-King," and they closed that up, too.

FRUME: That seems like it was a favorite pastime of people.

HILLERTZ: Oh, yes.  At that time I think the bowling was more lucrative as far as business as-pect, and, of course, now it went down.  Okay, now, the police department was made up of two people.  George Wittenburg was the police chief and Andy Kranz, I think it's pronounced, was the lieutenant.  That was the extent of our police department.  He always carried a big gun with him, and I think if he had fired it he probably would have blown himself out of his shoes.  Okay, now, the only restaurant at that time when we moved to Mt. Prospect was Kruse's.  That is what you know today as Mr. and Mrs. P's.  That was a German . . ..

FRUME: That was at Emerson and Mt. Prospect Road?

HILLERTZ: Prospect Avenue.  As I said, the population was 4,000 when we came here.  The volunteer fire department, as I pointed out, that was like the old-fashioned movies.  They'd blow the siren and everybody would come running and jump on the fire engine and away they'd go.  That would include all the merchants, and that.  Orville Kruse was the owner of the restaurant, and he'd run out there and do that, too.

FRUME: This was in the fifties?

HILLERTZ: Yes, since I've been here, the volunteer fire department.  Now, you know where that antique place is?

FRUME: At the corner of Northwest Highway and Central?

HILLERTZ: Yes, where Sara Lee that was at one time a big, huge lumberyard, and there was a railroad siding in there and they used to get boxcars full of drywall.  Do you know what drywall is?

FRUME: Yes.
 
HILLERTZ: They were huge and they went ahead, and I guess they overextended themselves to another lumberyard out in Rolling Meadows, and they went belly up so the building was revamped.  But that was a huge do-it-yourself place.  Oh, I tell you, those people were great.  I loved them.

FRUME: Do you remember the name of it?

HILLERTZ: Wille, That was their name.  Now, the next thing is, we go to St. Raymond's.  We started, as I said, in 1953.  At that time Father O'Brien was the pastor, and I think that was all we had, one priest, but maybe we had two priests.  He was an old-fashioned priest we loved him very dearly and we named our first son after him, Tom.  Now, Kieffer's.  They have been at several locations.  They've been on the other side where Marcy's was.  They were over there, and at that time they had a soda fountain.

FRUME: Was that on the south side of the tracks?

HILLERTZ: No, the north side.  Do you know where Marcy's Card Shop or Fanny May's is?

FRUME: Oh, yes.

HILLERTZ: They were in that building there, and at that time they had an ice cream parlor.  They sold ice cream sodas and all that good stuff.

FRUME: At one point you said the train almost went into their store.  Is that where it was located?

HILLERTZ: No, no.  I think I've confused you.  The train derailed on the other side, on the south side of the tracks.  It was right there at the intersection, on the south side.  That's where all the cars were lying across there.  And then I said they've had three locations, Pinet Street okay, here's something classic.  As I said, the first house we move to was on Pine Street 208, to be exact, and our first tax bill was $240.

FRUME: That's quite a bit different from today.

HILLERTZ: Car license sticker fees you drive a car?

FRUME: Yes.

HILLERTZ: Three dollars.

FRUME: And those are up around fifty now?

HILLERTZ: Thirty, or so, around there.  As you drive around the village in the center of town, all of these Georgians, which are the boxy types, that was all built by Bob Bluett.  He was a great builder at that time.

FRUME: In the fifties they built those?

HILLERTZ: Oh, before that time.  But he was a great builder, and so forth.  Now, in the center of town, do you know where that pancake house is?

FRUME: In the center of town?

HILLERTZ: The Carriage right across the street.  Do you know where that little triangle is?

FRUME: Yes.

HILLERTZ: Right across the street from the train station.

FRUME: I can't place it right now.

HILLERTZ: It's a little bitty restaurant.  Do you know where the Old Town Inn is?  Right across the street.

FRUME: Right.

HILLERTZ: That was and Enco gas station, and it later became Dunkin' Donuts.  And then, of course, it was closed and then they made it a . . . .

FRUME: Fanny May?

HILLERTZ: No, no.  Fanny May is on the north side our side of the tracks.  Then, as I told you, the Red Balloon.  I told you about Goldblatt's.  And then the K-Mart, I told you about that.  Now, the last thing which, in my opinion, was classic was the Mt. Prospect Country Club.  That was a private enterprise owned by the Sophies, and they sold it to a young import from overseas, I think it was for four or five million dollars.  At that time it was a lot of money.  His name was Dick Hoff, and it was rumored they never established the fact that he was part of the syndicate.  So they used to have some wild parties there, and it got so bad that they finally pulled the liquor li-cense and shut the whole thing down.  Another group of lawyers bought it, but they never got the license back so then it faded into condemnation proceedings, and then from there it became the Mt. Prospect Park District owns it now, which you're familiar with.

FRUME: Right.

HILLERTZ: I think that about does it, all the notes that I have.

FRUME: Okay, why don't I go ahead with some other questions, then.

HILLERTZ: Sure

FRUME: What do you feel are landmarks in the community?

HILLERTZ: Good question.  This is Central Road, and there are two houses right before the in-tersection.  You know where Sentry Tile is.  Those are two of the original farm houses.  One was a Busse, and I think the other was Wille.  Do you know what I'm talking about?

FRUME: Yes, I do.

HILLERTZ: They're right over here.

FRUME: Right.  Now, the Busse home was moved there.  I think that was the second or third time it was moved.

HILLERTZ: Yes.

FRUME: Was the other home always there?

HILLERTZ: No, no.  They were right in the center of town, and they moved them.  Both of them were in the center of town.  That would be a landmark.  The station itself would be a landmark, and then there is a church over you can see the steeple sticking up, over off Golf Road.  That's always been a landmark.

FRUME: I don't know it.

HILLERTZ: Oh, you couldn't miss it when you go . . ..

FRUME: Yes, but I don't know the name of it right now.

HILLERTZ: I don't know the name of the church.  We don't go to that.  If you ask me the three major landmarks that I can think of they knocked down the old fire station.  And the traditional parade has always been the earmark, in my opinion, the Fourth of July parade.  We always attend that with our grandchildren, and everything else.  In thinking back, of course, the railroad station has been a landmar.  They'll always be there.

FRUME: Central School, they tore that down.  Right where the library is?

HILLERTZ: Yes.  That was another thing, too.  There has been quite a bit of building and knock-ing down.  Right now the Busse School are you familiar with that?

FRUME: No.

HILLERTZ: It's right over here.  The park district owns that, and they rented it to these schools which have the gifted children.  I can't think of the name of it.

FRUME: I know what you mean.  I can't think.

HILLERTZ: And then there was a musical the gifted musical.  There were two parties in there, rented by them, so they finally got them out.  They moved, and now they're going to knock down that building and make it a park.  I'm on that committee, incidentally.

FRUME: Oh, you are?

HILLERTZ: Yes, to revamp that park and see what we can do with it to make it more desirable.

FRUME: Make it into a baseball field or something?

HILLERTZ: Yes, well, it's no only a baseball field.  See, you're approaching the sensitive thing there.  Before I hang myself, I have nothing against baseball but we have to consider other people with little children, other than baseball.  That's why on the committee I advocate the use of the park for little children, and then just to keep the thing open for whatever you want to do.  Be- cause, you know, this organized baseball our kids played Little League; the are pluses and mi-nuses and I'm not going to bum-rap the program but I remember when I was a kid we'd just go out and have a ball.

FRUME: Yes, we were the same way unorganized.

HILLERTZ: Yes, no supervision.  I've got my feelings about Little League because I remember when our youngest son was quite active in it, if the kids would strike out these managers would just destroy them, those poor children, for striking out and everything else.  I felt like saying, "You idiots.  They're only children.  You can't expect them you treat them like big league play-ers."

FRUME: That's right.  It's just a game.  So you were talking about the different stores down-town.  Where did you do most of your shopping?  Where did you shop for groceries in the fifties.

HILLERTZ: Okay, good question.  Tri-State Electronics, do you know where they are?

FRUME: I've heard of them.

HILLERTZ: Do you know where Sara Lee is?

FRUME: Yes.

HILLERTZ: Well, the next street over on Northwest Highway, that is Tri-State Electronics, and that was the Jewel at that time.  So we had a small Jewel in there, and then evidently when Rand- hurst erupted I don't know the exact date of that Then the big Jewel opened up inside of Rand-hurst, and then we had a spin-off in their present location now.  As far as clothing was concerned, there were some independent clothiers.  There was a small department store right at Wille and Prospect Avenues, and it was a small, family operation.  Very good clothing at better prices.  And then, of course, Randhurst.  I think we had one bakery, and that was it.

FRUME: Right downtown.

HILLERTZ: Right.

FRUME: Where did you shop for hardware items?

HILLERTZ: Wille, and then Busse-Bierman.  They're right in the center of town.

FRUME: And they're still there, right,______?

HILLERTZ: Right.  Both of those are a real service to the community.  Now we've lost Courtesy.  You know about that?

FRUME: Oh, right.  Handy Andy or somebody bought them out?

HILLERTZ: No, no, Menard's.

FRUME: That's right.  Yes, we're waiting for them to open.  How did you feel when the shop-ping centers, like Randhurst and Mt. Prospect Plaza, were built?  Did they make your life easier?  Did you switch from shopping downtown?

HILLERTZ: Yes.

FRUME: Did you ever feel any sense of guilt that you were leaving the downtown?

HILLERTZ: Good question.  I say no because the fact is that the merchants were not competitive.  As much as I'd like to be loyal to them, the variety they had was very limited.  So again, like I say, I believe in hometown buying and everything else wherever possible, and even buying things for my wife.  There used to be some nice gal clothing stores where I'd go in there, and I'd say, "I want a blouse," or whatever it is, and they'd go get it for me and I'd pay for it and away I'd go.  I hate shopping on these racks and racks and racks.

FRUME: Right, so you kind of miss the individual attention there.

HILLERTZ: Yes, the individual touch the person because I could walk into one of these stores and I knew the gal, and everything else.

FRUME: Between 1950 and 1960, like you said, Mt. Prospect's population increased dramatical-ly.

HILLERTZ: Right.

FRUME: Were people happy with the continued growth and annexations?

HILLERTZ: To answer your question, there were some hardheads, but you have to recognize the fact that it's growth, and so forth.  I didn't resent it.  We did have quite the warm feeling of a smaller town, but you have to accept it as growth.  That's progress, and there is nothing you can do about it.  You can't say, if somebody want to build a house next door to you, "Hey, you can't do that."

FRUME: Right.

HILLERTZ: There were a few hardheads, but it's functioned fairly well.  The village trustee system works pretty well, and the park district.

FRUME: How did the landscape change during the fifties?  Were there still a lot of farms and farmland around?

HILLERTZ: Good question.  There used to be a flow of farms from Des Plaines all the way out, maybe, past Arlington.  At one time this was rated the tomato capital of the world not the world but it was huge, and Campbell's Soup used to buy our tomatoes like mad.

FRUME: Is that right!  I knew that they grew onions, but I wasn't aware of the tomatoes.

HILLERTZ: Then we also had a mushroom farm out there somewhere near that.  That was about the sum total as far as agriculture is concerned.  Industry-wise, we didn't really have that much to support the tax burden.  But now it's progressed.  We have Business and Industrial Drive, and a few other things.  There's some manufacturing going on.

FRUME: ________________.

HILLERTZ: Okay, now, Northwest Electric, you know where they are?

FRUME: Refresh my memory.

HILLERTZ: Right on Main Street.

FRUME: Okay.

HILLERTZ: That used to be the Buick dealer.

FRUME: Oh, did one of the Busses own that?

HILLERTZ: Yes.  Now they're over here.  Do you know where they're at now?

FRUME: Right, on Rand Road.

HILLERTZ: Yes.  It was a small Buick franchise at that time.

FRUME: What was a typical day like for you and your wife in the fifties?  Did you take the train to work?

HILLERTZ: Oh, yes.  At that time my wife was working, too.  The usual get yourself going in the morning.  We wait for our first son, I think it was around four or five years.  At that time my wife taught kindergarten at St. Robert's in the city, and she took the train.  We used to both take the train.

FRUME: Oh, that's interesting.

HILLERTZ: And then finally I had another job assignment, and I was able to drive.  That was on the outskirts of the city.  It [our typical day] was normal usually weekends cut the grass, and everything like that.

FRUME: What did you do for recreation?

HILLERTZ: Good question the usual picnics, some golf.  Of course, both my first wife and my present wife were very much family oriented, so you had birthdays and everything else, and then the usual picnics.  What did we do for pleasure we bought a tent and we went camping.  That was the extent of what the budget would allow at that time.  We became campers and now, of course, we have a pop-up.  We still are camping.  That was my first wife and my second wife, so we're the outdoor type.

FRUME: That's terrific.

HILLERTZ: And then we'd go down to the lake and do things like that, too.

FRUME: Did you ever go to bowling alleys, with all those bowling alleys you mentioned?

HILLERTZ: Yes, we did.  At that time they had candlelight bowl and they had church leagues.
We were not super active in the church.  We started at St. Raymond's, and we're at St. Emily's now.  We were not super active, but we were active.

FRUME: Were you members of any other clubs at that time?

HILLERTZ: Okay, good question.  Yes, because at the time I became widowered I got activated into a widowed group called NAME which was a Catholic organization, and that's how I met my present wife.  We were there for about three or four years maybe five years and both my wife and I became officers in the club and we spearheaded a lot of the drives and the activities.  I served as president for two years, and Laurie was the secretary for about two or three years, too.

FRUME: Does that club meet in Mt. Prospect?

HILLERTZ: There's all spin-off groups, or support groups.  Since that time there's a lot almost every parish or every location has something like that.  As far as you being from Glenview, we used to have a chapter down there, too, and that was sponsored by the archdiocese.  But that's immaterial.  Widowed people, we'd help them.  We had a lot of happiness with them, to know that we were able to men people's lives after they were destroyed.

FRUME: That's really great.  O'Hare Airport it's only eight-and-a-half miles from Mt. Prospect, and they went to commercial aviation in 1959.  Farms, country roads and golf courses disap-peared during the construction of that.  Do you know anyone who worked on that project, or do you have anything to say about how it affected Mt. Prospect?

HILLERTZ: Let's back up.

FRUME: Okay.

HILLERTZ: This is World War II.  They built airplanes out there.  That's how O'Hare Field erupted.  The Douglas plant was out there, and they built DC-6s, which was a four-engine trans-port, and they had a runway out there and they'd fly them right out of there.  That was even before they started consuming the farms at that time.  Did you know that, that they built airplanes out there?

FRUME: I wasn't aware of that.  Is that when it was called Old Orchard Field?

HILLERTZ: No, no well, yes.  It might have had the name of Old Orchard Field, yes.  And then they built airplanes and, of course, then World War II ended and then the farms started to get swallowed up by the contractors.  They call that progress, so I guess that's what it is.  Of course, the poor farmers, at the tax rate they couldn't afford to farm anymore.

FRUME: Oh, is that right!

HILLERTZ: Oh, sure, because say if you had fifty acres, you couldn't possibly pay the taxes on it because they were part of this.  Let's see, what else can I tell you?  That's about it.

FRUME: You don't have anything to say about how the building of O'Hare affected Mt. Prospect at all?

HILLERTZ: I really can't comment on that, but let me finish my statement so you'll understand.

FRUME: Okay.

HILLERTZ: We are also an airline family.

FRUME: Is that right!

HILLERTZ: Yes.  It's a very sensitive situation, and one of our family works for United.  So, like I say, some people scream about it, but one of the paychecks in our family is United Airlines.

FRUME: My husband is a pilot.  He flew out of O'Hare, too, for a while.

HILLERTZ: That's right.  He flew for American.

FRUME: Right.

HILLERTZ: Of course, Laurie and I, we do have the fringe benefit of travel.

FRUME: That's terrific, and it's nice and close to Mt. Prospect.

HILLERTZ: That's right, so like I say, we can always get a ride to the airport. In this particular marriage we've done a fair amount of traveling, which is partly responsible for the United Air-lines you know how that works, your being American Airlines.

FRUME: Yes.

HILLERTZ: They call them the ________revving of tickets, is what they call them________.

FRUME: Right.  It's not very much fun traveling that way sometimes, but . . ..  The 1960s, those were a turbulent time in the nation.  How did the issues like the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement did they affect life in Mt. Prospect at all, or do you feel that it was more of a sheltered village?

HILLERTZ: To the extent of a direct impact, unless you had somebody in service and everything else see, I was a product of World War II Air Force, and then . . ..