The modest wood structure stands alone in a patchy field of grass, its doors propped open, apparently by sacks of grain.
Little is known about the Schaumburg mill captured in a black-and-white photograph from the early 1900s. That hasn’t stopped Jane Rozek from digging for answers to its history.
Rozek, a reference librarian at the Schaumburg Township District Library, is overseeing the library’s local-history digital archive.
Since the archive became available in 2001 to library patrons and Web-site visitors worldwide, she has kept catalog records corresponding with the online collection of historical documents, photographs and other material significant to Schaumburg Township.
The photo of the mill in the digital collection is one of a series of 1916 Schaumburg Centre postcards the library acquired.
The catalog description accompanying the scanned image describes the structure as “a grain mill or granary in Schaumburg that was possibly located south of the hardware store/Quindel hotel that was at the corner of Schaumburg and Roselle roads.”
“We do not know where this mill is. We’re still trying to pinpoint it,” Rozek said. “I’ve called people who’ve lived in the area and are now scattered.
“The detective work that is involved is the interesting part; it’s the fun part.”
Never-ending project
More than 230 images with corresponding catalog records are in the digital archive.
There are thousands of other items to be scanned and recorded in what Rozek considers a never-ending project.
Photos of newer structures and points of interest also will be in the archive because “in 25 years [the structures] are not going to be current,” she said.
Many items come from the community history files the library has maintained over the years. Others are from residents and members of local historical societies.
Making aging documents and photos available online prevents further damage through excessive handling, library officials said.
Also, if residents want to contribute items the originals can be returned after they have been scanned into the system.
Keeping farms `alive’
LaVonne Presley, a longtime Schaumburg resident who grew up in the area when it was a farm community, is one of the people working with the library on the project.
Presley and former resident Linda Valentine created a videotape library of oral histories by members of Schaumburg Township farm families, many of whom have relocated or retired.
They also obtained old photographs of various area farms that are being included in the digital archive.
The videotapes of the interviews will be available to library patrons within the next year. Eventually, library officials said, the tapes would be added to the archive.
“We were trying to preserve the history of the farm area,” Presley said.
“Schaumburg Township was very rare. It did not have a large town within the township; it was a farming community. There was no big town center that people gravitated to and wanted to preserve the history of the area. Being a farming community, everyone was dispersed.”
Presley added, “Today, there are a lot of people who are looking for a connection back to their roots.
“One of the places they turn to, usually, are libraries. [Using the digital archive] they might be able to find a picture of some of their ancestors or make a con-nection.”
Part of a trend
The library is in sync with a national trend in libraries of using technology to preserve and provide access to history, library director Michael Madden said. A lot of libraries have been doing this in recent years, he said.
“We had all these historical records and pictures just sitting around,” Madden said. “They’re things you’re afraid to let people touch because they’re unique items.
“On the other hand, you want people to see them. These are documents that existed only in a limited format and weren’t readily available. Now they’re readily available to anyone throughout the world.”
The project is similar to Digital Past, an online collection of historical ma-terials hosted by the Wheeling-based North Suburban Library System. So far that project comprises 24 libraries and museums and holds more than 31,500 images.
Officials at the Schaumburg-based library opted to start their own digital-archive project largely because “we just thought it would be better for us to have a little more control over what we were doing,” Rozek said
History lessons
Viewers can access the digital archive by visiting the local history page on the library’s Web site (www.stdl.org). They can find items through a hierarchical or keyword search and view individual items and their corresponding catalog record.
Once in the archive, they will discover a rich history surrounding the building at 17 S. Roselle Road in Schaumburg, today home of the Easy Street Pub.
The building was built around 1915 and was known as Charlie Krueger’s Inn and Boarding House. It served as a tavern and boarding house for the men who worked to pave Schaumburg Road, according to a description that accompanies an old black-and-white photo of the structure.
The catalog record accompanying the image tells the story of how the business eventually changed hands and for many years was known as Lengl’s Schaumburg Inn. Fire gutted the building in 1976, when it was purchased by its current owner, who restored the building and renamed it the Easy Street Pub.
The archive also has portraits and information about a few prominent people in the area’s past.
A photograph of Louis Menke Sr. and his wife, Eliesa, is there. Menke was a local architect, builder and contractor around the turn of the 20th Century. He was known for the design of his home, the Turret House at 17 E. Schaumburg Rd., which was built in 1901, and the Schaumburg Bank, which no longer exists.
Other historical items include:
– An index of Schaumburg Township landowners dating to1842, listing who owned certain plats in the area.
– A grave locator compiled from the old St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery in Schaumburg.
– An index of names from 1890-’92 of a daily milk-delivery log of a cheese-making plant. The plant used to be on the northwest corner of Higgins and Roselle Roads in Schaumburg.
`Kind of a clearinghouse’
“It’s just kind of a clearinghouse for Schaumburg Township history,” Rozek said. “We don’t want it to be the end-all, but we do want it to be a place people can come to for their first bit of research.”
The digital archive has gotten some attention from people in other parts of the world.
“People from Germany, in particular, who have an interest in the genealogy of their family, have used this site,” Rozek said.
“You don’t have to live in the area to use it. It’s a way to connect us to other people in the world who are interested in Schaumburg Township history.”
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Wanted: historical items
Officials at the Schaumburg Township District Library are asking residents to bring items of local interest to their attention so they can be included in the local-history digital archive.
For example, said reference librarian Jane Rozek, who is overseeing the archive: “If they own one of the early homes or have pictures of their home in the building phase, we would be interested in that. Or, pictures of an old school or even a church.”
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For more information on the local-history digital archive, call the reference desk at 847-923-3322 or visit www.stdl.org.
