Da'Cove

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After the first pioneers settled, other friends and relatives came to claim lands. In 1837 there were thirty families living in the Dunklee's Grove area. By 1844 there were 200 people living in the vicinity. Gradually businesses were established, such as a steam grist mill, a general store, a cobbler's shop and a blacksmith shop. In 1867 the Heidemann Mill was constructed in Addison to serve the residents who had been taking their grain to surrounding communities to be ground. By 1853 state laws enabled school districts to be formed, and District 4 came into being with the building of its first public school in 1858. Peter Nikel was the teacher. The building was located on the southwest corner of Addison and Army Trail roads. Today it is part of the Edward Green home. The German population of Addison Township formed a church in 1838 which was called the German United Reformed Lutheran Congregation of Dunklee's Grove. In 1849 the first church school building was erected in Addison, near the corner of Army Trail Road and May Street. In 1864 the Evangelical Lutheran Teachers' Seminary was built in Addison to train teachers for the Lutheran school system. Their lecture hall, which opened in 1885, included a chapel, and it was here that the residents of Addison worshipped from 1893-1906. In 1906 the Lutheran congregation built the St. Paul Church along Army Trail Road near Lake Street. In 1874 the Evangelical Lutheran Orphan Home was built to "raise, train, and educate orphans, half orphans and other children entrusted to its care." All children from the Orphan Home who were of school age went to St. Paul's Christian Day School. After graduation from the eighth grade, the girls would remain in the Home for work and future training. The boys were placed on farms, truck farms or in greenhouses to work. In 1884 the village of Addison became incorporated. The population at the time was 400. The first president was Henry Buchholz, who served in that position from 1884 to 1891. In 1890 five Addison men formed the Addison Railroad Company, Inc. These were William Leeseberg, Louis Stuenkel, Edward Rotermund, Professor Johann Backhaus, and H. Z. Zuttermeister. Stock capital amounted to $5,000. A charter was issued on July 16, 1890, for the right to a stretch of land from today's North Avenue into Addison to build a railroad track. An agreement was made with the Illinois Central Railroad officials to provide the railroad bed and equipment and to maintain and operate the railroad for fifty years from that date. The cost of the whole right-of-way was $16,488.90. The first train came to Addison for the Orphan Home Picnic on September 12, 1890.

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Telephone service became available in 1895. Addison's first bank, the Addison State Bank, opened in 1902. In 1912 the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois brought in light and power lines. Electric street lights burned in Addison for the first time on February 1 That same year the Western United Gas and Electric Company brought gas lines into the area.

In 1913 the Lutheran Teachers' Seminary moved out of Addison to River Forest, where it is now known as Concordia College. The Seminary had been a vital part of Addison's history for almost fifty years. The Seminary buildings were purchased by the Chicago City Mission Society as a home for dependent children who had had little opportunity for moral, mental or physical development. The children, who were referred by the juvenile courts, were moved from Chicago to Addison in 1916. This became known as the Addison Manual Training School for Boys and the Industrial School for Girls,  known generally as the Kinderheim.

Street improvements began in the late 19th century. During the 1920s roadways were improved and the automobile made its appearance. The former muddy roads and dusty trails gave way to gravel and concrete roads, and the population patterns began changing. With better routes and the railroad, people were building their homes along the roads.

Two lanes of Lake Street were paved in 1922. A narrow gauge railroad was built along Lake Street to the quarry in Elmhurst to bring gravel and cement to the site. When the roadwork was completed, these tracks were removed. Because of the desire to thoroughly modernize the town, a water system was installed in 1924.

Also, by 1924 the Kinderheim had outgrown the structures which had housed the Seminary, and the building was torn down to make room for a new two-story brick building to house the young people of Kinderheim. This was completed in 1925. Today that structure serves as the municipal building and houses the police department.

Increased traffic along Lake Street prompted the widening of the road in 1930 to forty feet all the way from Cook County line to Ontarioville, a distance of 12'h miles, and the constructing of a three-span bridge over Salt Creek at Lake Street. Addison was served by the Marigold Bus Line, which came from Chicago every hour on the hour. It followed the same route that had been used in 1837 by the Frink and Walker Line on its way toward Galena, these stage coaches having stopped for a change of horses in Addison.