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- History of the Village
- Timeline 1900 - 1950
1900 - 1950
- The area’s population is between 100 and 150 people.
- The town consists of a creamery, a blacksmith shop, a general store, two Lutheran churches, two saloons, an elementary school, a lumber yard and a train station, which is the hub of activity.
- A Sears house - a build-it-yourself house purchased from Sears, Roebuck and Co. was built in Ontarioville in 1903.
- Lake Street is a gravel road. It also goes by the name of Highway 20, State Road, State and Galena Road, and Grant Highway.
- August Anderson, owner of the Village blacksmith shop, buys the first automobile in Ontarioville in 1920. It was a Bush Chain-Driven Sidewinder, with two seats and no top.
- The flu epidemic of 1918 hits the area hard. One family lost five sons and several other residents died.
- By 1920, the population has grown to 250. By 1930, it is 350.
- Electricity comes to Ontarioville in 1923.
- The Ontarioville Fire Department is formed in 1924, using the $282 collected from residents and farmers.
- The Illinois Pet Cemetery is established in 1926, a mile outside the Village. Being the first such cemetery of its kind in the country, it brings burials from all over the United States.
- A violent wind, hail and rain storm does thousands of dollars in damage to Ontarioville on July 6, 1927. Cattle left in the field were actually killed by the large hail stones.
- Plans to pave Lake Street in the early 1920s are blocked by prominent community members, who fear it will bring too much traffic to the area and endanger their businesses.
- Emil and Frieda Rinne open a candy store on Lake Street. It later becomes Rinne’s Tavern, a popular spot for residents to drink and dance.
- The two-room Ontarioville School opens in 1929.
- Lake Street is widened and paved between 1930 and 1933.
- Indoor plumbing arrives in the early 1940s.
- Resident Harold Hitzman was the area’s only World War II casualty. He died on the aircraft carrier Yorktown, which sank during the Battle of the Coral Sea in June 1942.