To view the grainy, blurry 1935 photograph of Miner Street in downtown Des Plaines is to glimpse a slice of history nearly faded from local memories.
There are the Cypress and Zephyr saloons, where long lines of patrons from the nearby Echo Theater once stopped for drinks after shows. And, there’s First National Bank, the city’s first financial institution where, for years, local residents deposited their life savings.
The black-and-white photograph is one of hundreds on display at the Des Plaines Historical Society, 789 Pearson St., as part of a retrospective exhibit that runs through the end of the year.
The exhibit couldn’t have come at a better time. Municipal officials are looking at photos like this one as models for what could lie ahead for downtown Des Plaines as part of an ambitious redevelopment plan.
Through photos and artifacts, the exhibit traces the story of Des Plaines’ downtown from its beginnings as a railroad stop on the prairie landscape in the 1850s. There are more recent photos, too, that show the city’s prominence as a busy gathering spot for residents throughout the northwest suburbs.
The show also offers a peek into the future: On display are plans for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment that promises to lure people back to the downtown area and re-create that lively atmosphere.
The project features as its centerpiece a new, $12 million public library that will sit atop one floor of retail space on what is being called the Plaines Town Center.
“Des Plaines has always been a gathering point, a hub. All we want is to retain some of our historic identity,” said Jack Klaus, the city’s director of economic development.
The downtown Des Plaines of yesteryear could perhaps only exist in a museum exhibit. The area has changed radically over the years as many of its original businesses have been replaced.
In one photo, the exterior of the Des Plaines Theatre is shown in its full glory. One can even read its marquee: “Arsene Lupin Returns” and “Her Jungle Love.”
It’s a vivid memory for Shirley Spiegler Jacobs, 75, a lifelong Des Plaines resident who took in the exhibit and paused to reflect about the changes to downtown Des Plaines over the decades.
“We kids went to the theater every Friday night and Sunday afternoon,” she recalled. “I think I saw every musical that came along.”
Today, the theater is showing a movie that would have been unthinkable in 1935: “Boogie Nights,” a film about the 1970s porn industry. The bank is now a currency exchange and the Zephyr is a Chinese restaurant.
And downtown no longer bustles with hordes of families out for their weekly shopping trips, or teenagers flirting over milkshakes and soda drinks.
Brown’s Department Store, 1502 Miner St., closed in 1996, a year shy of its 100th anniversary. Gone also are Spiegler’s general store, the Sugar Bowl Sweet Shop, Shinner’s Market and Muench’s drugstore.
As a teenager, Jacobs said, she worked at Spiegler’s, which her paternal grandparents opened in 1900 at a spot on Ellinwood Street.
“It was a different kind of atmosphere then,” Jacobs said. “When you went downtown, you knew everybody, and everybody knew you. It was your typical small town.”
At least one store remains from the old downtown. Kinder Industrial Supply, 1545 Ellinwood St., has been around since 1873.
Jimmy Kinder, the owner, is a living piece of Des Plaines history. He is the fourth generation of Kinders to run the hardware store, which began as a tinsmith shop catering to local farmers.
Kinder says his store is the oldest business in Des Plaines. Much of the store looks like it did in the 1880s, except for the modern merchandise and, of course, the store’s Internet site.
“I enjoy the family history of the business. I feel like a real part of Des Plaines,” said Kinder.
In fact, the old Kinder family house, a Queen Anne-style beauty built in 1907 by his great-grandfather, Benjamin F. Kinder, now serves as the historical society’s museum.
Oldtimers like Kinder and Jacobs say they hope efforts to revitalize downtown Des Plaines will save a historic area that has been abandoned by major retailers and residents who’d rather shop in huge indoor malls.
“Downtown Des Plaines has really looked bad for quite a while now,” Jacobs said. “It’s really rather sad.”
