History
Farming, Mining, and More Digging
Following the completion of the canal, Romeo was an agricultural town, sending off grain, milk, and other produce on the railroad line that passed through town. Digging the canal was what created Romeo. Digging deeper is what would put Romeo on the map. In the late 1880s, three quarries went into operation: Bruce Quarry, Santa Fe Quarry, and Consumer Quarry. They produced limestone in such quantities (two trainloads every morning) that Romeo was given the nickname “Stone City.” Farmers used pulverized limestone to rejuvenate their soil and the rock was used in early road construction as well as building construction. Many buildings in Lockport, Lemont, and Joliet were made of Romeo limestone, but the most famous of them all was the Illinois State Capitol building in Springfield. It wasn’t long before even more digging came to Romeo, this time in the 1890s for the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The purpose of this canal was to carry Chicago’s sewage away from the city. Once again, immigrants came to Romeo to find work.
Image courtesy of the Benac family
The Incorporation of Romeoville
It was in this environment of canal digging, quarry mining, and farming that the people of Romeo decided it was time to incorporate into an actual village. On January 19, 1895, residents voted 42 to 20 for incorporation at John Miller's Barber Shop and to change the name of the town to Romeoville. Two days later, Romeoville was officially proclaimed as a village. On February 16, Louis Hamann was elected the first President of the Romeoville Board of Trustees, which is the fancy way of saying mayor. The early mayors were elected to two-year terms. The first village hall was also built in that year on a piece of land purchased from the Vogt family farm. Constructed by local carpenters Chris and Louis Hanson, it was used for government business, a meeting room, space for dances and parties, and a jail (there was one cell).
The IslandAt this time, much of Romeoville is east of the canal, then there is some land between the canal and the Des Plaines River, and then there is the island. You may not think of it as an island, as 135 th
Street somewhat sneakily hides the bridges, but it is and it used to be occupied by 29 buildings including a hotel, church, restaurant, homes, and more. The earliest records of island ownership date back to 1835, the same year the plat of Romeo was created. During the construction of the Sanitary and Ship Canal, homes were rented out by canal workers until the job was done. The heyday of the island ran from 1890 – 1940. There were permeant residents and plenty of cottages that were rented out by visitors in the summer. A number of hunting and fishing clubs were maintained on the island too. A church existed on the island until 1922 when it burned down. The Island Hotel, owned by the Startz family, was there until it too burned down. Reading through early Romeoville history, you will find a great many buildings burned down. One building on the island that did not burn down was Murphy’s Cafe. In fact, it still stands today. In the 1980s, the Forest Preserve District of Will County bought up all the land on the island and knocked down the buildings with the goal of returning the island to its wild form. They spared Murphy’s Café, however, and turned it into a museum. They named the new nature preserve after the island itself: Isle a Cache.
Isle a la Cache is French for "Island of the Hiding Place". A cache was one of the many things the French fur traders learned from the native population. Someone would dig a deep hole and ensure it was dried out by lighting a fire inside of it. They then lined the bottom with stone, sticks, or dried grasses and then packed their supplies or wares into the space. Finally, they would cover the top of the hole with brush and rocks to hide it from animals and other people. If done right, this cache of supplies could last years before it was uncovered for retrieval. Remember, the fur traders were exploring and hunting via canoe and there is only so much space in them. Caching would allow them to carry the supplies they needed for the hunting trip and dig up the supplies they needed for the trip home. Given the name of the island, it would appear this place was a popular spot to cache items.
Image courtesy of the Startz family
Bridges and Electric Rail Lines
Once Romeoville’s portion of the Sanitary and Ship Canal wrapped up, a permanent bridge was built over it in 1899. A swing bridge, it rested on a vertical pivot and a bridge tender would rotate it 90 degrees to allow ships on the canal to pass. The bridge was a Warren through truss style with a “bob-tailed” design and was the first of 15 originally built across the canal. It was 302 feet long, 18 feet wide, and cost $33,621 to build ($1.2 million today). It would connect the two sides of Romeoville for more than 90 years before it was retired and moved to Forest Preserve land. It was saved not only because it was so old, but because it was the last of the original 15 bridges to survive. You can still walk across the bridge today on Centennial Trail.
In 1900, the same year the Sanitary and Ship Canal officially opened, the Chicago and Joliet Rapid Transit Company built an electric railroad through the village limits, running along where New Avenue is today. It connected Romeoville south to Rockdale and north to Cicero Avenue in Chicago and served as an important means of transportation for Romeville residents. It allowed them to find work elsewhere like the Joliet Steel Mill or to attend school at Joliet Junior College. In the early 1900s, Romeoville had at least five taverns and a year around population that never exceeded 180.
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
Other Uses for Quarries
As the 1900s progressed and the canal digging was behind it, another one of Romeoville’s key industries took a hit. Around 1915, construction techniques changed. More buildings were being built of bricks and concrete and Romeo’s quarrying industry, along with the importance of the town itself, declined.
The quarry operators found other ways to bring in income, however. The quarries were fed by natural springs and, when not actively being pumped out, would flood. In the winter time, this led to a booming ice business. When the ice would freeze to 12-14 inches thick, blocks 20 inches wide by 40 inches long would be cut and floated down a channel of water to a chute at the ice house. Lifted by a pulley system, the blocks were lifted into the house and packed together with chipped ice. The blocks would be stacked until the house was filled and then covered with sawdust to prevent melting in the summer. Trains would pull up next to the ice houses for loading all year around. 600-700 boxcars full of ice would be shipped per year!
The other way to produce income was recreation. In 1916, Bruce Quarry took advantage of a quarry full of water and opened Clearwater Lake/Romeo Beach. They brought in sand to make a shoreline and created an attraction that people came from 40 miles away to enjoy, including the Chicago White Sox. Owner Harold Bruce was a Sox fan, so one day a year was set aside for the players and their families to come enjoy the amenities. Romeo Beach operated from Memorial Day to Labor Day and often had cars lined up at 7 am to get in. Sometimes the gates would have to be closed because they could not accommodate all the people who wanted to get in.
The quarry owners weren’t the only ones to get in on the action. Peter Startz owned a strip of land that ran alongside the Bruce Quarry and leased the property to Red Wing Camping Club, which built cottages on the land and brought in summer vacationers.
The Santa Fe Quarry was also filled with water and used for swimming, fishing, and boating in the summer and ice skating in the winter.
Education
The first modern school house in Will County was built at the intersection of Route 53 and Taylor Road in 1923. It had electric lights, indoor plumbing, and a separate furnace room.
At that same time, just a bit further south, a different school was taking shape. Bernard J. Shiel, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, had a vision to construct a school where work skills could be taught to underprivileged Chicago boys. At about the same time these technical school plans were being formulated, an aging Michael and Frances Fitzpatrick approached the Archbishop of Chicago about donating 170 acres of land to the church. The Archbishop put Fitzpatrick’s land together with Shiel’s idea. Funding was the next step, but the economy of the late 1920’s was on shaky ground. Sheil brought up fundraising with the Holy Name Society of Chicago. This was an organization of 150,000 men from Chicago parishes who supported the Archdiocese in creative ways. The Society came through and, in recognition of their generosity, the institution was named the Holy Name Technical School when it opened in 1932.
Sheil continued to look for benefactors for his institution and found one in developer, manufacturer, and industrialist Frank J. Lewis. Lewis saw the good the new school would do and was able to arrange for salvaged construction materials from demolished buildings to be sent to the school. Over the years, Lewis would continue his support of the school through salvaged materials and financing. In 1934, the school honored him by renaming the institution Lewis Holy Name Technical School. Sheil wanted the boys to be taught technical skills and self-confidence so they could quickly find a job in an economy trapped in the Great Depression. He also had an eye to the future and chose the exciting new field of aviation as a focal point. Flight was still cutting edge at the time. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made his famous solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to do the same in 1932, just 10 days prior to the school’s dedication. Today, this school is called Lewis University.
Image courtesy of Lewis University
Route 66 and White Fence FarmRoute 66, the 2,448 mile long road that stretched from Chicago to Los Angeles was officially commissioned on November 11, 1926. It wound southwest through Illinois and passed through Romeoville, running along present-day Joliet Road from St. James Gate to Bolingbrook Drive, then continuing along Route 53 to Renwick Road. Romeoville was along official Route 66 from 1929-1939 and then on the alternate route after that.
White Fence Farm, the long time dining staple in Romeoville, pre-dates even Route 66! Photos taken from the building look out at a gravel road where Route 66 would eventually be. In the early years, the farm was owned by Stuyvesant Peabody who, as one newspaper said at the time, "has a stable of some of the finest horses that paw the turf." This included a horse named Great Heart who set a world record for hurdles with a leap of 8 feet 13-16 inches at the South Shore Country Club horse show in 1923. White Fence Farm is where these great horses lived when they weren't competing.
Romeoville's Early MayorsFrom two waves of canal workers to quarry laborers and oil refinery employees, early Romeoville was built and populated by immigrants. These immigrants weren't just residents though, they were also the decision makers. Romeoville had 10 mayors in its first 34 years of existence. 6 of those 10 were immigrants; born in another country. Two from Germany, two from Croatia, one from Norway, and one from the Isle of Man.
There were 10 mayors in the first 34 years, but in the following 40 years, there was only one mayor: Neil Murphy. First elected in 1929, he took over a town in debt and paid it off as well as presided over a period of tremendous growth. He did it all while owning and operating his own business with his wife, Ruth. Murphy’s Café was a well known establishment throughout Will, Grundy, DuPage, and Cook counties for it’s broiled steaks and southern fried chicken, as well as its live music on weekends until 1 am. Murphy operated the restaurant successfully for 40 years before selling it, which was around the same time he voluntarily declined to seek another term as mayor. Murphy Drive and Murphy Park are named after him. Learn more about Romeoville's mayors .
The Boom and Expansion of Village ServicesThe population of Romeoville in 1929 was 200 people and approximately 46 homes. Heading into 1957, the population of Romeoville was roughly the same. Things were about to change in a big way. That year, six hundred acres of farmland became the Hampton Park neighborhood. Visitors saw models displayed on Arlington Drive with seven different floor plans to choose from. In the first week, 192 of the Alexander Construction Company homes sold for about $13,000 each. Construction began on Fenton Avenue with the prefabricated houses arriving on trucks. Doors and windows came pre-installed and tile or carpet was already attached to the floor. Cranes would unload the pieces and workers built ten homes in a day.
Give this rapidly expanding population, Village services needed to expand as well. On the evening of November 5, 1958, the Romeoville Village Board passed an ordinance that created the Department of Public Works. Public Works was responsible for building and maintaining the streets and signage, water mains, and gas and sewer lines in the booming town.
In April of 1960, a meeting was held to form an organization that would meet the safety needs of the community. That night, the Romeoville Volunteer Fire Department was created. They took delivery of their first fire engine four months later.
Also in 1960, Village Hall moved into the Hampton Park neighborhood. The new building, donated by Alexander Construction Company, had an office for every department, a board room, and housed the police and fire departments. The first Village Hall served the community for 65 years, but with the population shifting west and the need for more government services, a new hall was needed.
Because of Hampton Park, the population of Romeoville soared from under 200 in 1956 to over 3,500 in 1960, a 1,676% increase. In 1964, another section of 446 acres of the Hampton Park subdivision was annexed by the Village. These annexations, in addition to other small parcels of annexed land, greatly increased the Village's population, which was now at 6,358 residents, a 78 %growth in four years.
The Parks & Recreation Department was established in 1965 by a referendum that was passed by voters. By 1969, the recreation program had a staff of 53 part-timers, ran 19 programs, and had 5,200 kids participating.
Also in 1969, the Romeoville Police Department became a full time department.
The Refinery ExpandsAs the years passed and oil became more and more important of a commodity, the plant expanded and changed ownership many times. The refinery purchased Consumer Quarry used it as a recreation area for its employees before draining it in 1960 and using it as coke storage and a cooling pond. Then, in 1965, a merger of Pure Oil and Union Oil California brought a $200 million investment to the refinery, greatly expanding the facilities. 80% of that expansion occurred within Village limits. Neal Murphy, the mayor at the time, said it was the “greatest things to happen to our village.”
Image courtesy of Illinois State Geological Survey
Schools
The massive population spike caused a flurry of new schools to be built. Valley View School, built in 1955, simply wasn’t enough. Four additional schools were constructed in 8 years.
- Park View School (1962)
- Lockport West High School (1963)
- West View Junior High (1966)
- Ridgeview Elementary School (1969)
Despite these new schools, the demand for classroom space could not keep up. Romeoville’s population was over 15,000 by 1971, compared to 200 people just 14 years prior. There were 75-96 new students entering school each week. Predicted total enrollment for 1971 was over 7,000 kids. Something had to be done.
J. Patrick Page, a teacher at West View, developed a radical plan called 45-15. Students would be divided into four groups with only three groups attending school at any one time. Students would attend classes for 45 days and be on vacation for 15 days. This plan would happen all year around. It was presented to the school board as well as the Superintendent of Schools in Springfield. Since there was no law in Illinois that permitted a school to go on a year around plan, a new bill was required. On June 30, 1970, Governor Richard Ogilvie came to Romeoville and signed a bill in the West View gym that allowed Valley View to become a year around school. This is why Valley View School District's number is 365. The 45-15 plan brought nationwide attention to Romeoville and was in effect until 1980 when enrollment began to decline.
The four schools that were built in rapid succession are still in use today. Park View was renamed R.C. Hill in 1977 after a beloved janitor at the school who passed away. Lockport West was renamed Romeoville High in 1972. West View was renamed A. Vito Martinez in 1991 after the long serving (and first) school board president. Ridgeview was renamed Irene King in 1978 after a long time teacher .
The Story of O'Hara WoodsFollowing some late night calls and a promise that the land would be used for a park, Mayor John O’Hara was able to secure an agreement from the Alexander brothers (who lived in Colorado) to sell 68 acres of woods to the Village. On October 15, 1969, the Romeoville Village Board approved the purchase. Mayor O’Hara and Village Attorney Richard Buck flew out to Grand Junction Colorado to hand the brothers the down payment. Another 12 acres would be added later, bringing the total up to 80 acres of pristine woodland, something Mayor O’Hara called at the time “probably my most profound accomplishment [as mayor].” As O’Hara left office in April of 1973, the Village Board named the woods after the man who had spearheaded the purchase.
Years later, it would turn out this purchase was more than just some woodlands. It was pristine woodlands. This was some of the last undisturbed maple prairie groves remaining in northeastern Illinois. Additionally, the woods lie on a migratory bird route, so there are roughly 130 species of birds that can be found among the trees throughout the year. On July 7, 1982, the Village Board dedicated O’Hara Woods as an Illinois Nature Preserve under the Illinois Nature Preserves System Act. This status is reserved for the highest quality/most important habitats in the state. Permanently protected by state law, nature preserves are private and public lands that have rare plants, animals, or other unique natural features. Read the extended story of O'Hara Woods .
Image courtesy of the O'Hara family
Romeoville's Library
In 1967, the Jaycees, a volunteer organization, sponsored a Community Attitude Survey where 63% of residents said they wanted a library. Before it could be constructed, a new library district had to be formed, which would cover everyone living in DuPage Township. A referendum was held in 1969 and 56% of township voters said yes, so the Fountaindale Library District began. Until a permanent facility could be built, the Romeoville library was housed in Park View School. It opened on June 19, 1971, but couldn’t be accessed by the public until the school day was over. The permanent library opened in its present-day location, 201 W. Normantown Road, on June 9, 1975.
Due to the way township boundaries were drawn, anyone living south of 135th Street could not use the Romeoville library. In 2008, the Fountaindale Library District agreed to transfer its portion of Romeoville to the Des Plaines Valley Library District, finally uniting all of Romeoville in the same library district. In 2011, Des Plaines Valley was renamed the White Oak Library District and renovations began on the Romeoville branch. A ribbon cutting was held in June 2012 for the new-look library in Romeoville. Read the full story of the Romeoville library .
The President Comes to Romeoville
Romeoville hosted a very special visitor on October 16, 1984: the President of the United States. Romeoville was one of multiple Chicagoland stops, including Bolingbrook and Glen Ellyn, that Ronald Reagan made in the final weeks leading up to the election. He stopped at Wilco where he toured the electronics lab and dropped in on an auto mechanic class. He was given an honorary degree (Doctor of Humanities) by Lewis University and then made a short address to the crowd before departing. “[The job training] program, nationwide, has an average rate of placement in jobs of 70 percent… Well, you’re topping that sizably; your job placement rate here is 85 percent. And I think you can all be proud that Wilco is a winner,” proclaimed the president. To help secure Reagan’s short visit to Wilco, the detectives of the Romeoville Police Department were each paired up with a Secret Service agent. It was the first and only time a sitting president has visited the village. Read the full story on the presidential visit
or watch video of President Reagan's visit
.
Image courtesy of Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
I-55 & Weber Interchange and the Second Boom
In 1987, 70,000 square feet of development occurred in Romeoville, most of which was industrial. In 1989, 1.2 million square feet of development occurred and was spread across industrial, light manufacturing, and service-oriented companies. In 1990, Mayor Strobbe said “I envision growth moving like a circle. First comes economic growth, then comes the jobs, then housing, and then commercial development.” Part of the reason for this development explosion was the securing of a Romeoville interchange at Weber Road and I-55.
In early 1987, the Village began a push for the interchange. After countless meetings between Village officials and State transportation officials, along with intergovernmental agreements, and the backing of the State and the private sector, a deal was reached. As soon as news about the $14 million interchange got out, land in the surrounding area was bought up by developers. 1,000 acres in the northeast became the Windham Lakes Business Park. 1,477 acres in the southeast became the gated Carillon senior community. An official groundbreaking for the interchange was held on October 26, 1989. By that time the interchange had already attracted more than $1 billion in projected development. One year later, on October 25, 1990, the Weber Road interchange on I-55 was opened, allowing residents and businesses fast access to the highway and to Chicago.
No new home building permit has been requested in Romeoville since 1979. In 1987, that changed with the construction of the Pine Trails subdivision. It kicked off a wave of new home building that included Honeytree townhomes, Poplar Ridge, and Lakewood Estates. Then in 1995, the village began expanding west of Weber Road, building homes at a rapid pace and giving rise to subdivisions including Wesglen, Wespark, and Weslake. These neighborhoods, in addition to others north of 135 th Street, and other developments that would follow, led to Romeoville’s second modern population boom. In 1990, there were 14,074 residents, increasing to 21,203 in 2000, and reaching 39,680 in 2010. The increase of 25,606 residents in 20 years represents a 182% growth.
Village Services Expand Again
Just like in the late 1950s, community growth drove expansion of Village services. The Fire Department to constructed two additional stations to protect the businesses and residents of Romeoville. Fire Station 2 (Marquette Business Park) was built in 1991 and Fire Station 3 (Normantown & Birch Lane) was constructed in 2008.
The recreation center was renovated and re-opened on January 11, 2002, featuring a fitness center, classrooms, basketball courts and an area for gymnastics and an area for seniors.
In 2005, Village Hall was 45 years old and, even after two annex buildings were constructed, was too small for the number of staff that it needed to house. Additionally, Romeoville's population was once again moving further west and Romeoville's government needed to split the difference. Planning for the future Village Hall began in November of that year. The 59 acre Lambert farm along 135 th Street was chosen for the new Municipal Center, which would combine Village Hall, the police station, and a board room with ample grounds to support community events. The new setup would allow residents to make one stop rather than having to visit many buildings to conduct their business. Construction began in May 2008 and the 118,000 square foot complex was officially opened in June 2010. The stonework on the building evokes the quarrying past of Romeoville and its old nickname, “Stone City.”
The Redevelopment of Spartan Square
The Romeoville Athletic & Event Center was opened in 2014 in an area dubbed Uptown Square, a 40 acre parcel of land sitting southwest of Normantown Road and Route 53 that underwent drastic redevelopment. First built in 1964 and called Hampton Park Terrace, this area saw much of its retail development migrate westward to space along Weber Road. The Village purchased 10 of these acres in 2008 (then know as Spartan Square) and proceeded to demolished buildings, conduct environmental cleanup, realign and rebuild roads, and build new structures. The first of these was the Romeoville Athletic & Event Center. It drew regional attention with an estimated 400,000 visitors annually. New buildings for restaurants and shopping followed in 2017. In 2021, an expansion to the Athletic & Event Center was completed, featuring additional basketball/volleyball courts. On September 10, 2023, the Romeoville Aquatic Center was opened immediately to the west of the Athletic & Event Center. The 22,000 square foot building features an indoor pool and a massive outdoor splash pad.
Train, Plane, and Automobile Infrastructure
Passenger train service returned to Romeoville on February 5, 2018 when a station opened on Metra's Heritage Corridor Line. It was the first new stop on the Heritage Corridor since Metra’s creation in 1984 and the first new stop on any Chicago area Metra line since 2011. It provides service between Joliet and Chicago Union Station.
On November 14, 2022, a major renovation of the I-55/Weber Road interchange and the widening of Weber Road was officially completed. Re-organized into a diverging diamond setup, traffic flow was greatly improved for the 35,000 vehicles that pass through the interchange daily.
Another major infrastructure project that was officially completed on that cold November day was the eight-story air traffic control tower at the Lewis University Airport. Over a decade in the making, the tower not only provides increased safety, but will make the airport more accessible in order to grow the regional economy and create jobs.
