For the past 45 years, Orland Park residents Mona and Clarence Creer have watched with curiosity, and sometimes apprehension, as their town has undergone a dramatic transformation.
“We’ve gone from a population of 800 to more than 45,000. This used to be a farming community,” Mona Creer said. “The farms are gone, and there’s not much land left (to develop).”
The Creers live in the Old Orland Historic District, a quaint quarter-square-mile neighborhood in north central Orland Park bounded by 143rd Street, 144th Place, Beacon Avenue and West Avenue. The district is filled with turn-of-the-century houses described as Folk Victorian, Queen Anne, Italianate and Craftsman. About a dozen antiques stores and specialty shops, which attract many visitors, now fill the old bank and other 19th Century commercial buildings along Beacon Avenue.
Although the district is only about a mile from Orland Park’s sprawling shopping centers, strip malls and restaurants, it’s known best by antiques collectors and locals.
“A lot of new residents are not aware of Orland’s history or the historic district. They never go down that way,” said Mona Creer, a charter member of the Orland Historical Society, which formed in 1975 to preserve Orland Park’s history. The society, with about 100 members, draws between 20 and 30 people a month to its meetings.
In 1986, village officials designated the area as a historic district and adopted architectural review guidelines to ensure that the area’s historic character would be preserved. A seven-member Historic Preservation Review Commission oversees proposed alterations to existing buildings and construction of new buildings.
“There are many interesting old buildings, especially Humphrey House,” Creer said of the stately white farmhouse that sits on a hill at Beacon Avenue and 144th Place. The house was built in 1881 by John Humphrey, who was 8 years old when his family settled in the Orland area in 1846.
Humphrey became a state senator in 1870 and in 1892 was elected Orland Park’s first mayor, a position he held until his death in 1914. The house remained in the Humphrey family until it was willed to the historical society in 1987, along with a $150,000 trust fund. Interest from the fund is used for maintenance, utilities and other expenses.
Dorothy Thoms, 71, a lifelong resident of Orland Park, became a member of the historical society 12 years ago.
“I liked Orland when it was an old little town, and I hated to see things disappear,” Thoms said. “I’ve always been interested in history and old houses.”
For the past decade, Thoms, Creer and other society members have worked on Humphrey House, scraping and repairing windows and doors and cataloging the numerous pieces of furniture and articles left by the Humphrey family.
“The house was full of stored antiques. Everything you could think of was there,” Thoms said.
Bernard Harrington, 80, who has lived in Orland Park for 14 years, began working on Humphrey House about eight years ago.
When the society received an estimate of $5,000 to renovate the windows, volunteers tackled the job and saved $3,000. Along with others, Harrington has spent many hours removing, repairing, sanding and painting the 38 windows.
“All of our members are very good workers. We’re still looking for volunteers and trying to get younger members,” Thoms said. Most of the volunteers are 70 to 80 years old.
The society plans to have the house exterior painted this summer and to make repairs to the original wooden shutters.
On West Avenue just south of the historic district are two log cabins, built before 1860 and once located on farms west of Orland Park. In 1975, the society moved and reconstructed one of the cabins at its present site; the second cabin was disassembled, moved and rebuilt by the society in 1985, a project that took three years. Society members also give tours of the cabins, which were furnished to depict pioneer life.
In 1987, demolition of the Methodist church at 9967 W. 144th St. was proposed by the church to make way for a parking lot; residents and historical society members formed the Old Orland Heritage Foundation to raise money to restore the structure. Often referred to as “Twin Towers” because of two octagonal towers, the building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988 and now serves as a community center.
“Being on the National Register gives an added incentive to save it and restore its original condition,” Creer said.
“It’s a dirty shame to knock down something old. They don’t build like that anymore. When it’s gone, it’s gone,” Harrington said.
He and others have done extensive work on the church, including stripping and staining the wainscotting and doors and painting the walls. Although a local Boy Scout troop helped paint the basement and high school students put in a few weeks’ worth of elbow grease, Harrington laments the lack of volunteers.
“There were only six of us working there. It took 5 1/2 years going there every Saturday morning from 8:30 until 1,” Harrington said.
The building’s lower level was finished two years ago and is rented for meetings and other functions. Rentals help pay for the building’s ongoing renovation and for utilities.
Several other projects are under way, including collecting old photographs of the area, preserving the town’s artifacts, identifying historical buildings, recording oral history and developing educational programs.
“The historical society needs a museum as well. Humphrey House represents the life of Sen. Humphrey and can’t house all the artifacts of Orland’s history,” Creer explained.
Volunteers are needed to help conduct tours or work behind the scenes on other important projects.
“There are papers to be sorted and artifacts to be cataloged,” Creer said.
Harrington says that although the work is slow going, there’s a good reason to help preserve the town’s history and the structures.
“I think that some of this should be saved for the kids,” Harrington said, “for the great-grandchildren.”
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The Orland Historical Society meets at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at the Orland Park Public Library. The Humphrey House is open for tours from 2 to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month. It also is open by appointment for school groups, historians and others. Call the Humphrey House at 708-349-0065.
