Day in McHenry County History

This “Day in McHenry County History” is not all inclusive. Dated material was taken from local history books up through 1994.

January

1st1839First marriage in Dunham Township between Jacob A. Davis and Helen M. Diggins.
 1912Harvard Odd Fellows formed.
4th1915Woodstock Hospital moves to its longtime location on South Street at the corner of Blakely Street.
5th1909A Christian Science Group hold their first meeting in Woodstock.
 1920The Crystal Lake Community High School District is formed.
7th1839The first marriage is performed in Alden Township between Timothy Fuller and Esther Disbrow.
 1946The Cary Lions formed.
8th1855Ridgefield is laid out as a village.
 1868First Presbyterian Church of Harvard organized.
9th1983Cary is incorporated as a village.
 1914The Woodstock Hospital is chartered.
10th1842The First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake is organized.
 1874Crystal Lake is incorporated as a village.
11th1979Low temperature mark of -34o was recorded equaling 90 year low.
12th1920McHenry Community High School District is formed.
13th1973Prairie Grove voters agree to incorporate the Village.
14th1863Dedication of the Alden Methodist Church.
 1926Dedication of the Marengo Community High School.
16th1836Illinois State Legislature names new McHenry County after Major William McHenry who fought in the Black Hawk War.
 1959McHenry County Association for Retarded Children (later Pioneer Center) was formed.
19th1934Fox River Grove American Legion Post 119 formed.
22nd1920McHenry American Legion Post 491 formed.
 1923First Rotary Club in McHenry County is organized in Harvard.
 1920McHenry American Legion Post 491 formed.
23rd1965Lake in the Hills Lion Club formed.
25th1918Woodstock Moose Lodge formed.
27th1920Richmond-Burton High School District formed.
29th1913Marengo Eastern Star formed.
30th1955Radio Station WMCW of Harvard goes on the air.
 
 

February

1st1913Soil Improvement Association hires the first farm advisor.
2nd1957The U.S.S. Bigelow naval destroyer is named after Medal of Honor recipient, Elmer Bigelow of Hebron. The destroyer was christened and launched at Bath Iron Works, Maine.
3rd1835Major William McHenry, military leader and state legislator for whom McHenry County was named, died on this date.
 1895St. Johns Evangelical Church is organized in Union.
4th1842First marriage in Hartland between William Fanning and Catherine Donnelly.
 1887Slocum’s Orchestra entertains at dance at Masonic Hall in Union.
 1895Permission given to the Harvard Telephone Company to start and maintain a phone service.
 1896Cary Royal Neighbors of American organized.
 1897Harvard Eastern Star formed.
6th1839Virginia Presbyterian Church organized near Ridgefield.
8th1951Alden Fire Department started.
9th1850Congregational Church of Algonquin organized.
 1954Public Library of Fox River Grove established.
 1857Marengo is incorporated as a town.
14th1855An attempt to move the county seat from Woodstock to Algonquin was defeated by vote.
16th1961First National Bank of Crystal lake receives its charter.
18th1900Fire destroys 1879 structure of St. John the Baptist Church in Johnsburg.
21st1921Algonquin Woman’s Club founds the Algonquin Public Library.
22nd1930First water over the new dam at Wonder Lake.
23rd1846Presbyterians in Dorr Township organizes.
24th1844St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church is organized in Algonquin.
 1857Amos B. Coon prepares incorporation charter for Marengo Village.
 1907Harvard Knights of Columbus organized.
25th1859Plat of Carey Station (Cary) filed for record.
 1890Algonquin incorporated as a village.
27th1856The old Stone Church built in Marengo for the Methodists. It later became the Colonial Theater.
 1858Closing of the Collegiate Institute of Marengo just 4 months after it opened. The 5-story brick building burned to the ground in the 1860’s.
28th1869Harvard incorporated as a village.
 1902Triple murder at Ellsworth home in Woodstock.
29th1952Harvard Grange #1923 formed.
 
 

March

1st1939McHenry County splits into Lake and McHenry Counties.
 1871German Evangelical Lutheran Church is organized in Huntley.
 1876St. Johns Congregation Lutheran Church of Algonquin organized.
 1900Harvard gets rural free mail delivery.
 1900Rural Free Delivery for mail begins in McHenry County.
 1958Union Lions Club is organized.
3rd1920Huntley Community High School District is formed.
4th1946Woodstock VFW Post 5040 mustered in.
5th1953McHenry Moose Lodge #691 chartered.
 1882Birth of Egbert Anson Van Alstyne, McHenry County’s most famous song writer who wrote “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree,” Pretty Baby,” and “Drifting and Dreaming.”
6th1843Burton Township (smallest of McHenry County’s Townships) first established as Wentworth Precinct.
9th1930Last day of service for the Elgin and Belvidere Trolley.
10th1839First marriage in Algonquin Township between Franklin Wallace and Hannah S. Beardsley, the first teacher in the township in Crystal Lake.
11th1911First service of Cary Holy Cross Lutheran Church.
13th1845Dorr post office established.
 1889Chemung Modern Woodmen of American organized.
 193780th Anniversary of Woodstock Sentinel.
15th1919McHenry American Legion Post 491 was founded.
 1861School House in West McHenry burns.
16th1836Mrs. Mary (O.P.) Rogers becomes the first white woman to live in Coral Township.
17th1831McHenry County has its first mixed jury of men and women.
18th1874Algonquin Mutual Fire Insurance Company organized.
 1859Harvard Masonic Lodge No. 209 was chartered.
19th1961Harvard VFW Post 5504 mustered in.
 1982County’s worst air disaster – Air National Guard Tanker crashed near Greenwood.
20th1810Birth of William A. McConnell in Pennsylvania who was the first settler of Richmond Township.
 1836First public religious service held in Pleasant Grove (Marengo) at Calvin Spencer’s house.
21st1875St. John’s United Church of Christ (Harmony) was organized.
  West Harmony Methodist Church organized.
 1895Summit Camp #53 of the Royal Neighbors of America organized in Nunda Township.
22nd1952Hebron Green Giants take the Illinois State Basketball Championship.
23rd1909A monument is erected in the Woodstock City Square Park dedicated to county soldiers and sailors.
24th1811Birth of Dr. Christy G. Wheeler, the first practicing physician in McHenry County and a first settler of McHenry.
 1927Marengo organizes the first Kiwanis Club in the county.
25th1963Crystal Lake Rotary forms.
26th1894Richmond Eastern Star formed.
 1840Bela Tyron commissioned first postmaster of Hebron Township.
27th1807Birth of Thomas Stillwell Huntley, founder of Huntley, IL.
 1840Bela Tyron commissioned first postmaster of Hebron Township.
 1885Harvard Modern Woodmen of America organized.
 1955Marengo Jaycees organized.
28th1922Soil Improvement Association becomes McHenry County Farm Bureau.
 1928Florence Nursing Home begins operation in Marengo.
29th1916Crystal Lake Rebekahs Lodge #793 forms.
 1920Hebron Community High School District forms.
30th1895Meeting held to organize a Nunda Chapter of Eastern Star.
 1939Seneca Grange #1896 organized.
 
 

April

1st1905McHenry Eastern Star formed.
 1908Woodstock Royal Neighbors of America formed.
 1943Comprehensive WWII rationing begins. Local O.P.A. office located in Woodstock.
 1967McHenry County College established.
2nd1850First township elections for all townships. Previous to this from 1837 to 1850 this county was organized into precincts (Fox Precinct was the first to be created on June 5, 1837 and comprised “More land than the present McHenry County.” At one time this county and Lake County were combined.
3rd1890First regular Algonquin Village Board meeting held.
 1914Cary State Bank receives its charter.
4th1899Harvard Mystic Workers of the World organizes.
 1929Woodstock Lions form.
 1930Marengo State Bank was founded.
 1995Barnard Mills and Greenwood vote to incorporate.
5th1875First Woodstock Board of Education elected.
6th1914Algonquin Eastern Star formed.
 1917U.S. enters WWI; McHenry County supplied 1475 men of which 57 were to lose their lives.
 1971McHenry County Conservation District created by voter referendum.
7th1883J.B. Manzer G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union Civil War Veterans) organized in Harvard.
 1954Woodstock Jaycees organized.
 1955McHenry Rotary formed.
 1960Huntley Farmside newspaper started.
8th1839First marriage in Seneca Township: John Ackerson to Elizabeth Dickenson.
9th1956Village of Sunnyside is incorporated.
11th1965A tornado struck the Crystal Lake Plaza in Crystal Lake killing six people. A child was also killed in Island Lake.
12th1948Kiwanis Club of Wonder Lake forms – the oldest in McHenry County.
13th1971Ground broken for new courthouse on Route 47 – a $3,229,000. project.
14th1950All passenger service on the Galena Div. Freeport (C & NW) ended.
15th1911Prosperity Lodge of the Mystic Workers of the World forms in McHenry.
16th1942Harvard Women of the Moose chartered.
 1956A petition was granted for the St. Paul’s Episcopal Mission in McHenry.
 1957Crystal Lake voters adopt a city manager form of government.
17th1884Death of Richard Simpkins, the first settler of Coral Township.
 1858Riley Methodist Church organized.
20th1965Frances Kuhn is elected Mayor of Woodstock – the first woman mayor in McHenry County.
21st1883The Nunda G.A.R. Post 226 organized.
 1967Tornado kills 21 in nearby Boone County before ravaging rural areas of Marengo, Dunham, Hartland, and Greenwood Townships.
22nd1964Algonquin Jaycees organized.
 1965Marengo Republican News begins 100th year of publication.
24th1952McHenry Chamber of Commerce incorporates as not-for-profit.
25th1880Zion Lutheran Church was founded in Marengo.
26th1898McHenry County’s contribution of soldiers to the Spanish-American War effort—Co. G, 3rd Regiment of Illinois Infantry Volunteers mustered up.
 1960First meeting of McHenry County Chapter of Illinois Retired Teachers.
27th1946Marengo VFW Post 5766 mustered in.
 1967Killer tornado strikes McHenry County.
28th1885The Crystal Lake Village Board gives Nunda Band permission to erect a bandstand in the Virginia Street Park. It was removed in 1891.
29th1921Harvard Moose Lodge was chartered.
 1952Woodstock is the first city in the county to adopt the city manager form of government.
30th1947Huntley Lions formed.
 
 

May

1st1853German Presbyterians organize in Greenwood Township.
 1876Richmond Gazette established.
 1901Huntley’s first bank opens, the Bank of Huntley.
 1932Woodstock Post Office occupied. This was the only Federally owned building in McHenry County.
 1965The Crystal lake Chamber of Commerce operates full time.
2nd1886Crystal Lake ordinance notes that saloons must be closed from

10:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. and all day Sunday.

4th1893The Baptists are the first religious group to organize in the county. The first Baptist Church was located in Crystal Lake.
 1942Harvard Lions formed.
5th1873Saint Mary’s Mission (a protestant Episcopal church) organized in Spring Grove.
 1895Every Crystal Lake male between 25 and 50 had to pay $1.00 poll tax or work on streets one ten-hour day.
7th1837Birth of William Beardsley, the first child born in Crystal Lake.
 1886Hebron Modern Woodmen of America formed.
9th1888Ringwood Modern Woodmen of America formed.
 1921Pioneer flyer, Ralph Clayton Diggins of Harvard, flew the first air express between New York and Chicago.
 1934First National Bank of Woodstock is founded.
10th1823Birth date of Henry W. Mead – he platted the Village of Hebron.
 1837State Legislature establishes Village of McHenry as the county seat.
  First term of the McHenry County Circuit Court convenes in McHenry.
11th1933First of a series of milk strikes in the county.
12th1847Baptists organize in Dorr Township.
13th1839First marriage in Dorr Township: Oscar H. Douglass to Sarah Gaff.
14th1861McHenry County Board of Supervisors met in Woodstock to form the general outline of county volunteer Civil War units (Companies).
15th1951Crystal Lake Jaycees organized.
17th1909Delos F. Diggins Library in Harvard dedicated.
18th1883Cyclone strikes in Alden and Chemung.
23rd1895Assessor’s plat for Greenwood Village recorded.
 1906The typewriter replaces longhand records of McHenry County government.
26th1978Clarence M. Siems dies; Siems Memorial Park established near Union.
27th1837First post office established in McHenry County at Crystal Lake.
28th1966Formal opening of the Illinois Railway Museum in Union.
29th1957Crystal Lake News and McHenry County Guide started.
30th1953Johnsburg Public School ceased the practice of hiring Catholic nuns as staff. A parochial school was then started.
 1978Ambutal of Crystal Lake opens.
31st1939Last day of service on the Kenosha Division Railroad through Hebron.
 1957Illinois Bell Telephone closes switchboard operations in Marengo.
 
 

June

1st1909First State Bank of Harvard chartered. Original of this bank started in 1866 and is the oldest continuous bank in McHenry County.
 1954St. Margaret Mary Church of Algonquin erected.
 1960Lock added to the 1939 McHenry Dam on the Fox River to accommodate increased recreational use of the river.
 1967McHenry County college becomes a reality.
2nd1881Petition to the Crystal Lake Board to have hog pens and cow yards abutting sidewalks in corporate limits removed to a reasonable distance.
 1885Handcuffs purchased for the use of Crystal Lake police.
3rd1845Commissioners Court names Woodstock Precinct before the townships were set up in 1850.
 1948Alden Community Club organized.
4th1895Crystal Lake passes an ordinance granting Nunda Electric Light Company a franchise.
5th1837First Court was held in McHenry, the county seat.
 1883The Chicago Telephone Co. was given the right of way to place poles on public streets provided they did not interfere with travel or drainage.
7th1904Crystal Lake passes an ordinance regulating speed of autos to 8 mph.
 1912Crystal Lake passes an ordinance that the merry-go-round must shut music at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Saturday.
 1917American Red Cross chapter organized in the county. The charter was signed by Woodrow Wilson.
10th1919Between 15,000 and 20,000 welcome WWI McHenry County soldiers home at a celebration in the Woodstock Public Square.
 1920Huntley School Dist. 158, the first consolidated district in McHenry county, was formed.
 1921Union American Legion Henry F. Miller Post 482 formed.
11th1883Cyclone strikes in Dunham Township.
 1905St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Harvard formed.
12th1914Crystal Lake Odd Fellows formed.
18th1939Dedication of Johnsburg cement bridge.
 1942Harvard holds first Harvard Milk Day.
19th1936Community Methodist Church of Fox River Grove organized.
20th1913Boy Scout master’s certificate to Dr. J.A. Steele, a Marengo Dentist. Marengo had the first Boy Scout troop in McHenry County.
 1994Construction of Motorola plant begins in Harvard.
21st1836Birth of Dr. S. Fillmore Bennett, author of “In the Sweet Bye and Bye.” He is buried in Cedar Vale Cemetery, Solon Mills.
22nd1852Woodstock incorporated as a village.
 1902Hebron has its first automobile owner.
23rd1952Alden Hebron garage started.
24th1903First recorded bank robbery in the county takes place at the Cary Exchange Bank and nets $3500.
25th1887Hebron’s first high school commencement.
 1952Village of Island Lake incorporated.
26th1920Marengo Community High School District is formed.
29th1895In Harvard the birth of Paul V. Galvin the founder of Motorola.
30th1930Harvard Chamber of Commerce organizes.
 1960Hebron Rescue Squad receives its not-for-profit charter.

July

1st1915Dr. Miriam Yampolsky, first woman doctor in county, sets up practice in Crystal Lake.
 1952County Board of School trustees created.
2nd1922McHenry Golf Course opens with 9 holes. The second 9 holes were added in 1926.
3rd1837The first election in the Fox precinct which incorporated all McHenry County west and two miles east of the Fox River.
4th1939The first child born in Richmond Township to John and Pamelia Purdy. Baby’s name is Sarah.
 1855The first courthouse in Woodstock burns.
 1890GAR monument dedicated in Greenwood Cemetery. 1000 in attendance.
 1891The cornerstone of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Harvard is laid.
 1899The first trip on the electric road from Harvard to Fontana on the Chicago, Harvard, and Lake Geneva line.
 1976Opening ceremony for the McHenry County Historical Society Museum in Union.
6th1837First post office between Galena and Chicago established at Coral.
7th1896Crystal Lake paid A.B. Conover 50¢ to bury a cat.
8th1933The Village of Lakewood was born.
 1952Harvard Kiwanis forms.
10th1919First meeting of the Christian Science Society of Crystal Lake.
 1940Burton-Richmond Fire District formed.
 1951Crystal Lake Kiwanis forms
12th1920WWII Congressional medal of Honor recipient and namesake for the destroyer U.S.S. Bigelow, Elmer C. Bigelow was born in Hebron.
13th1988Hebron Township Committee on Youth created. Hebron is the most sparsely populated township in Illinois with such a committee.
17th1920Algonquin American Legion Post 670 formed.
 1943The closing of the Chemung Post Office.
19th1969Woodstock Community Unit School District 200 was formed.
20th1871The first bank in Marengo opens – the First National Bank.
22nd1840Richmond founder, William McConnell, was appointed first postmaster.
24th1852McHenry County Medical Society organized.
 1962English Prairie School District 9, last one room school in McHenry County, was annexed to Richmond Elementary District.
28th1787Birth of Prescott Whittemore who named Grafton Township after Grafton Township, New Hampshire.
29th1949July 29th –31st, first McHenry County Fair held since 1924.
 
 

August

1st1920Hebron American Legion Eugene Drill Post 606 formed.
2nd1841First Germans arrive in Johnsburg – at first an exclusively German Catholic center.
4th1875First issue of the McHenry Plaindealer
 1931Crystal Lake Lions form.
5th1840First session of the county commissioners held in the new McHenry courthouse and jail located on the public square on Pearl Street in McHenry. (County seat moved to Centerville — Woodstock – in September, 1844.
 1903First Major League baseball team to play in McHenry County: Cubs vs. Oliver Typewriter Team in Woodstock.
6th1862Nancy Joyce Fischer born in McHenry.
 1920Huntley American Legion Post was chartered.
 1931Riley Grange organized with 25 charger members—first in county.
 193690 page Centennial edition of the Crystal Lake Herald comes out loaded with historical information on Crystal Lake.
9th1954Richmond Rotary formed.
11th1958Village of Oakwood Hills organized.
 1975Chicago & Northwestern Railroad terminates its commuter operations to Lake Geneva. All runs end at Richmond until 1980 when McHenry becomes the end of the line.
13th1919Death at 90 of Richard Gillilan the youngest son of McHenry County’s first settlers Samuel and Margaret Gillilan.
15th1894St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church (McHenry) offered first mass.
 1937St. Patrick’s Church in Harland Township celebrates 100th anniversary.
16th1916Death of Eman Opatrny, the first developer of Fox River Grove and the builder of the Castle Pavilion.
19th1841Probably the first marriage in Riley Township between Caroline E. Cobb, a first McHenry County teacher, and Spencer Flanders.
 1950Egbert Anson Van Alstyne, Marengo pianist and songwriter, honored in Chicago for his contributions to music with such songs as “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree,” “Pretty Baby,” “Drifting and Dreaming.”
 1956New Harvard Hospital opens.
21st1886Marengo Odd Fellows formed.
 1919Incorporation of Fox River Grove as village.
23rd1877First Harvest Festival held in Greenwood Township—Queen Anne Prairie.
 1921Woodstock Sentinel becomes the county’s first daily newspaper.
24th1881Woodstock G.A.R. Post 108 formed.
25th1839First marriage in Coral Township: Samuel H. Bullard to Samantha Dunham
 1875Orin and Lucas Disbrow sell two acres of land to the town of Alden for a cemetery.
26th1835First death is Deida Gillilan. Daughter of first county settlers Samuel and Margaret Gillilan in Algonquin Township.
27th1872Buildings on the east side of the Woodstock Square burn down.
28th1852Marengo Baptist Church organized.
 1962Kishwaukee Trail chapter organized.
30th1952Nativity Lutheran Church in Wonder Lake organized.
 1959Phone service in Woodstock changes from manual to dial.
 
 

September

1st1847Lewis Boon plats Troy in Greenwood Township north of Thompson Rd.
 1890Hebron Tribune newspaper started.
2nd1844First marriage in Grafton Township: Sanford Haight to Mary A. Sprague.
 1872Village of Richmond incorporated.
 1950Lake-in-the-Hills Property Owners Association organized.
3rd1842Montelona Baptist Church organized in Richmond.
 1945Dedication of St. Mary Minor Seminary in Crystal Lake.
4th1837First road plans begun by the Commissioner’s Court to build a road north from McHenry to the state line—probably the route that State 31 now follows.
 1956First McHenry Hospital opens below the McHenry Medical Group building on Green Street.
5th1965Last run of Chicago to Madison (C&NW) mail and passenger trains west of Harvard.
7th1840First marriage in Hebron Township: George C. Hopkins to Rebecca Tuttle.
8th1869First meeting in McHenry County of the Old Settler’s Association.
10th1906McHenry State Bank has its start as West McHenry State Bank.
11th1852Huntley congregational Church organized.
 1887St. John’s Lutheran Church organized in Union.
 1914Electric Street lights for Marengo’s State Street.
 1953Ridgefield Grange organized.
12th1935Marengo Republican-News Centennial edition comes out.
13th1851Fox River Courier announces the first passenger run to Huntley of the Galena, Chicago and Union Railroad.
14th1835Arrival of Calvin Spencer of Virginia, the first settler of Marengo which was first called Pleasant Grove.
 1844Meeting held to organize the Presbyterian Church to serve Alden and Hebron.
 1893Marengo incorporated as a city.
15th1886The Chicago phone book first lists telephone toll stations in McHenry County.
 1964Hebron Jaycees organized.
  Harvard Herald goes semi-weekly – first in the county.
16th1957Marengo Lions formed.
17th1874Alden Mutual Fire Insurance Company formed.
 1967McHenry County Historical Society dedicates a marker to the Gillilan family of Algonquin, the first settlers of McHenry County.
18th1925Crystal Lake Moose Lodge formed.
 1939Algonquin Lions formed.
19th1898Birth of Rev. Joel E. Wheeler, the first minister of McHenry County. He located in McHenry.
20th1838Frist birth in McHenry Township: Ellen Augusta Wheeler to the Christy Wheelers.
 1847St. Mark’s Lodge #63 Free Masons organized in Woodstock.
 1965McHenry’s Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church founded.
23rd1844Courthouse moved form McHenry to Centerville (Woodstock) which was more centrally located.
 1914Crystal Lake becomes a city.
24th1850Birth of Henry L. Ferris in a log cabin east of Alden. He was the inventor of numerous labor saving devices including a hay carrier.
 1919Marengo American Legion Kishwaukee Post 192 formed.
27th1919Woodstock American Legion Post 412 formed.
  Harvard American Legion Post 265 formed.
29th1954Harvard Jaycees organized.
30th1857Marengo collegiate Institute (private school) officially opened in a five story brick building on W. Prairie Street.
 
 

October

1st1857Scheduled the completion date of the Woodstock Court House on the Square – it was destroyed by fire the following year.
 1875Crystal Lake’s firs paper, the Nunda Advertiser, was established.
 1929First phone exchange in county (1895) Harvard sells out to Illinois Bell.
 1931Riley Grange #1858 formed.
2nd1854Richmond Masonic Lodge 143 chartered.
 1980Melvin Stuessy, Woodstock Educator/Mayor, died.
3rd1854McHenry Masonic Lodge 158 chartered.
 1907Leader Stove factory in Marengo burns to ground.
4th1848Masonic Lodge 63 in Woodstock chartered.
 1942St. John’s Lutheran Church of Island Lake organized
 1979County Board adopts Year 2000 Land Use Plan to guide development.
5th1853Marengo Masonic Lodge 138 chartered.
 1855Nunda Masonic Lodge 169 chartered.
 1859Harvard Masonic Lodge 309 chartered.
 1913Algonquin Masonic Lodge 960 chartered.
6th1807Birth of Calvin Spencer, first settler of Marengo.
 1858Hebron Masonic Lodge 604 chartered.
 1902Spring Grove was incorporated.
 1919Greenwood community High School District formed although no school was ever held.
7th1977Moraine Hills State Park merged with McHenry Dam State Park and opened.
8th1962Chuck Hiller of Johnsburg hit a grand slam homer (first in World Series History for a National League player) for Giants against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium.
11th1927Cary-Grove Masonic Lodge chartered.
13th1966McHenry Lions Club formed.
14th1909Marengo-Kishwaukee Lodge Knights of Pythias formed.
 1982Harvard Historical Society museum opens in old St. Paul Lutheran Church building.
15th1889Hebron Odd Fellows formed.
 1914Crystal Lake Rebekahs Lodge 784 formed.
 1945Fox River Post 4600 of the VFW formed – oldest in McHenry County.
 1953Kiwanis Club of Woodstock forms.
 1992Expanded Government Center (courthouse) and correctional facility dedicated.
16th1960Church of the Nazarene chartered in Crystal Lake.
17th1869Immanuel Lutheran Church of Crystal Lake conducts first service.
18th1955First meeting of the Crystal Lake Area Senior Citizens.
19th1850Presbyterian Church organizes in Marengo.
 1891Harvard Women’s Club founded.
24th1865First Congregational Church in Dorr Township established.
 1906Woodstock Elks formed.
27th1919Alden Community High School District formed.
28th1962Dedication of Spring Grove Grade School.
31st1873First telegraph message sent from McHenry.
 
 

November

1st1848Birth of Fred Hatch, inventor of first upright silo in 1873 east of Spring Grove. Historical Society plaqued the site in 1980.
 1886J.H. Patterson Lumber Company started in Marengo.
 1887Village of Crystal Lake gets oil burning street lights.
2nd1898Dunham Woman’s Club organized.
3rd1838Methodist Episcopal Church organized in Richmond.
4th1957Fox River Grove-Cary Kiwanis forms.
 1986Voters approve creation of Marengo-Union consolidated School District. 165 from former Union District 8, Marengo District 140, and Hawthorne District 17.
6th1849McHenry County citizens by vote change from a precinct form of government and adopt the township system of government. Precincts lasted from 1837 to 1850.
  Dorr Township organized.
 1888Ridgefield Modern Woodmen of America formed.
8th1994Community of Ringwood voted to incorporate.
9th1949First Annual meeting of the 4-H Town which was organized in part to lease the fairgrounds on behalf of the 4-H organization.
10th1839First marriage in McHenry Township: Joseph Fellows to Christiana Robinault.
13th1992Johnsburg was annexed by the incorporated Village of Sunnyside, but the name of the new municipality was then legally changed to Johnsburg.
18th1739Birth of Major Watson (1739-1840), the only Revolutionary soldier buried in McHenry County. Watson (Major was just a first name) is buried in the Linn-Hebron cemetery in Hebron.
 1834First recognized McHenry County settlers, Samuel and Margaret Gillilan reach the west bank of the Fox River at present day Algonquin. A stone marker placed by the McHenry county Historical society marks the spot at the corner of Route 31 and Cary Road.
18th1987Huntley Odd Fellows formed.
23rd1895Village of Hebron was incorporated.
 1912County Soil Improvement Association, the forerunner of the Farm Bureau, was formed.
 1974Name of Sunrise Ridge, incorporated in 1974, was changed to Wonder Lake by 1980.
24th1919Woodstock Community High School District formed.
  Marengo Community High School District formed.
26th1886Richmond Modern Woodmen of America formed.
 1899St. Joseph Catholic Church building in Richmond was dedicated.
 1946Bull Valley Garden Club organized.
 1963McHenry County Historical Society chartered.
27th1919Harvard Community High School District formed.
 1961Cary Jaycees organized.
28th1905Norge Ski club leases hill near Cary for ski jumping events.
 1955Kiwanis Club of McHenry forms.
29th1889State Bank of Woodstock chartered.
30th1837First marriage in Burton Township: Jonathan Imeson and Mary Wray.
 1965Death of first McHenry County man in Vietnam War: PFC Lester Erwin Becker of Harvard in Dunham Township.
 
 

December

2nd1919Large old school on South Street in Woodstock burns down.
3rd1926Crystal Lake Library receives charter to operate.
5th1843Commissioner’s Court makes Algonquin part of Fox precinct prior to townships.
6th1959Dedication of Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock.
7th1941Joe Nelles (Army) and Tom Lounsbury (Navy) killed at bombing of Pearl Harbor. First county natives to lose lives in WWII.
9th1911Lotus Country Woman’s Club forms in Spring Grove.
10th1877Woodstock Literary and Library Association forms.
12th1980Melvin Aavang, first licensed pilot in McHenry County died.
13th1924Dedication of McHenry Community High School, now East Campus High School, in McHenry.
17th1844Algonquin Village plat accepted and adopted.
18th1843Congregational Church of Richmond organizes.
20th1900Crystal Lake Mystic Workers of the World organize.
 1920Illinois Bell takes over phone exchanges in McHenry, Union, and Crystal Lake.
24th1902Richmond’s worst fire destroys Main Street.
26th1870Immanuel Lutheran Church organized in Crystal Lake.
29th1882Harley Wayne G.A.R. made up of Union Army soldiers Post 169 organized in Marengo.
31st1885West McHenry Modern Woodmen of American organizes.