A walking history book of Elgin

"My uncle Richard T. Cahill, who will turn 99 years old on Aug. 16, is like a walking history book of Elgin," says his nephew Richard P. Cahill, also of Elgin.

"He is in great shape, both mentally and physically, and recalls events from years ago like they were yesterday."

Accompanied by his nephew Rich Cahill and Rich Cahill's wife Jackie Tredup, the elder Cahill, who now lives at Oak Crest Residence on South State Street only blocks from his childhood home, recently shared a variety of his nearly century-old memories of Elgin. They include recollections of some the city's first cars, Elgin's early "gangs," and playing in a band during the 1930s and 1940s.

"I was born at our family home on Preston Avenue on the eastside of Elgin," said the elder Richard Cahill. "My parents were Richard and Alice Cahill. I had three brothers - Edwin, Raymond, and Kenneth. One was two years younger than me and the other four years younger."

Cahill said his father and his uncle William Cahill laid many of the cement sidewalks in Elgin.

"Some of these still exist and are stamped with the name 'Laid by Cahill, Elgin, Ill.' located near the corners," he explains.

During the Depression of the 1930s when making a house payment was difficult, Cahill says his father sometimes did sidewalk work at homes foreclosed on by the bank in lieu of making a payment.

When he was still a child, the family moved into a house in the 800 block of Walnut Avenue near the intersection of South Street - a home he says holds some of his fondest memories.

"The street car tracks came to a dead-end at Walnut and Wilcox," he says. "The driver would get out and turn the electric contact around and then he drove the car back toward town from the other end," he explains.

"I attended Washington School on the west side though our family went to St. Mary's Church on the east side."

When St. Laurence was built on the west side, Cahill said the family transferred to that. "I was a pretty good student, but do remember one day when there was a big fire in town and we skipped school to see it - and we got caught."

"I also remember Elgin's terrible Palm Sunday tornado of 1920. We were home at the time and went to the downtown to see all the destruction."

"When I was a boy, police would also jump on the street car to make their calls," he adds.

Cahill also says he can vividly remember horses pulling fire wagons racing down Walnut Avenue, their hooves causing sparks on the pavement.

"Walnut Avenue was one of the few streets in Elgin paved with brick," notes Cahill. "The side streets were all dirt."

One thing from his youth that Cahill says we're not likely to see today is cattle being unloaded at the National Street train station.

"There was a livestock area there. Animals would then be driven along Walnut Avenue and out South Street to a farm at South and McLean. Usually, they would go quite orderly, but occasionally a bull would get loose and cause quite a disturbance."

When it came to having fun, Cahill says he has fond memories of ice skating at Lords Park. There was also an ice skating area at the site of the current Sunset Park subdivision. There were very few houses west of Wilcox, he notes. "The stores at Wilcox and Walnut weren't even there when I was a boy."

The Star Theater located next to the former Crocker Theater on South Grove Avenue was a favorite place, he said.

"I think we paid a dime to get in. The serials were quite exciting and always left you wondering what would happen so you would return the following week. There was no sound and when there were fights or other action, the piano would play faster."

When the circus came to town, Cahill says he sometimes got a free admission by taking a job watering the animals. Summer days were sometimes spent swimming in Tyler Creek. On quiet nights, the family would entertain itself with a gramophone.

"I took my first car ride in a Jeffery," Cahill said with a smile. "It was a seven passenger touring car with a top but no windows. We drove out to Bowes Corner at Bowes and Nesler and it was fun."

A few years later Cahill says he saw his first airplane.

"We saw it coming down near McLean and Larkin Avenues and it crashed there."

Gangs in the good old days? Cahill says they included the Chicken Park, Slop Hill, and the Dutch Flats gangs. The boys were protective of their own turf and this sometimes led to fighting. Other times, he said, there were more wholesome activities such as baseball.

Cahill graduated from high school in 1929 just months before the beginning of the Depression.

"We're not hiring, we're firing," he was told when he applied for work at the Elgin National Watch Company. Possessing an entrepreneurial spirit, Cahill joined three longtime friends in a band called the Imperials. The quartet played places throughout northern Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa.

"It was a time that some big bands were breaking up," he added, and smaller groups were becoming more economical to hire. "Locally, we played at places like the Baker Hotel, the Purple Grackle, and barn dances. Other times we played for free at places like the Elgin State Hospital, now the Elgin Mental Health Center."

In the years ahead, Cahill would eventually land a job as postmaster in Ontarioville, Ill. - the village that his wife Lucille was from.

"I met her working at a store in downtown Elgin," he said. Cahill's wife passed away two years ago and the two had a great life together, he says.

Cahill says he is proud to be a U.S. Army veteran from World War II and a life member of Elgin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1307. While in the service, he met Bob Hope and Red Skelton and was offered a ride back to the states on Hope's plane. He also boasts of being a Notre Dame season ticket holder for an amazing 45 years beginning in 1947.

Though Cahill's childhood memories remain his most distant, he says they are still some of his most vivid memories.

"No one ever locked their doors then. I think we were better behaved than kids today too," he added. "But, kids today are smarter. They have more opportunities too, that's for sure!"