Downers Grove and the Milnes family
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Day; "Little Women"was showing at the Tivoli; and Mr. RoeMilnes,tenor, gave a recitalat the homeof hisparents Mr. andMrs. James Milnes. Every summer the fear of polio wasrenewed with eachnew case of a child or youngperson beingstruckdownwith the dreaded disease. In Augustof 1949, whichproved to be an epidemic yearfor polioin the Chicago area, the Downers Grove Fall Festival was postponed to September, after the wave of poliohad reached its peak. That year,the Hinsdale Sanitariumbecame the fourth hospitalin the entire Chicagoarea which would accept an acute case of polio.The hospital set up to takecare of 12patients, which was thoughtto be adequate to handle any out- breakof polio. At onetime duringthe epidemic of 1949, there were thirty polio patients in the Sanitarium at one time, requiring one whole wing of the Hospital.During the entire season there wasa total of seventy poliopatients at this Hinsdale hospital! Theurgent need for a larger community hospi- tal facility was recognized by the leaders of several westsuburban villages, and a campaign for fundsto build a 200-bed capacity Hinsdale Sanitariumand Hospitalwas embarked on by seven villages: LaGrange, LaGrange Park, Western Springs, Hinsdale, ClarendonHills, Westmont. and Downers Grove.The Seventh Day Adventist Church, the operators of the Hinsdale Sanitarium, pledged $500,000, and matching fundsof $1,500,000 wereexpected to bemade available from state andfederal sources under terms of the Hill-Burton Hospital Con- struction Act. The peopleof DownersGrove participated actively in the campaign during 1950to raise $1,000,000 to helpfinance the new $3,000,000 brick and concrete, fireproofHinsdale Sanitar- ium and Hospital.Gordon Metcalf and Grant Dicke of Downers Grovewerenamed as mem- bers of the Civic Advisory Council for the Hospi- tal, along with seven other members representing the variousvillages. The first meetingof this nine-member group was heldJanuary 15,1951. Quarterly meetingswere scheduled with the Hospital Board of Trustees to counsel andadvise the Hospitaladministration in formulating and carryingout policies. Thenumber of students entering theschools of Downers Grove increased each year as many new familiesmoved into the Village. School enroll. ment would continue to increase as childrenof the"baby-boom" years would bereaching school age. In October of 1949, it became evident that it was necessary to start a process of counting children andpredicting theschool population for the years to come.As a result of this Public School Census, the following data werecollect- ed. (See opposite page) On June 9,1951, aftermonths of enthusiastic campaigning for the needs of the schools in order to educate the children of the community, Dow- ners Grove residents went to the polls to voice their supportof the public schools by passing propositions to increasethe educationaltax rates. The people of Downers Grove wentto the polls in referendum after referendumto vote for propositions to raise their own tax rates to increase teachers' salaries and for propositions on bondapproval for new school buildings. The passage of these referenda wasnot always easy. There were timeswhen the voters votedon the same proposition two or three times before it was passed. Dedicated supporters workedlong and hard in order to make the educational needs knownto the community. During the nexttwentyyears, the community of Downers Grove built nineelementary schools, two junior highschools, one new highschool, and twenty additions to those buildingsand to the older'existing schools! In spite of all the time and energyspentin workingon the changes and adjustments of the Village to meetthe needs of its residents, there was time as there always had been to seek cultural pleasures. The Downers Grove Music Club, originally a womenos organization, was founded in 1927, affiliated with theNationalFederation of Music Clubsin 1932, and two years later extended the privileges of the Club to associate members. At the Fall Festival of 1948, the Club presented an outdoor program of music by two of their mem- bers, MargaretPorterThompson, violinist,and Madeline Mochel, soprano, assisted by Don Whitaker,trumpeter. The members in 1949 included: Helen Allaway,Mary Anderson, Maud Antkoviak, Esther Binder, Marilyn Bowers, MaudeBrouillette, Esther Coutre, DorothyCraigmile, Zella Creswell, CarolineEddy, Pearl Fairchild, Adelaide Farrar,
description
A brief excerpt from "Downers Grove 1832 to 1982" published by the Heritage Festival Task Force of Downers Grove, Ill., 1982.
Transcript of Downers Grove and the Milnes family
Day; "Little Women" was showing at the Tivoli;and Mr. Roe Milnes, tenor, gave a recital at thehomeof his parents Mr. and Mrs. James Milnes.
Every summer the fear of polio was renewedwith each new case of a child or young personbeing struck down with the dreaded disease. InAugust of 1949, which proved to be an epidemicyear for polio in the Chicago area, the DownersGrove Fall Festival was postponed to September,after the wave of polio had reached its peak.
That year, the Hinsdale Sanitarium becamethe fourth hospital in the entire Chicago areawhich would accept an acute case of polio. Thehospital set up to take care of 12 patients, whichwas thought to be adequate to handle any out-break of polio. At one time during the epidemicof 1949, there were thirty polio patients in theSanitarium at one time, requiring one wholewing of the Hospital. During the entire seasonthere was a total of seventy polio patients at thisHinsdale hospital!
The urgent need for a larger community hospi-tal facility was recognized by the leaders ofseveral west suburban villages, and a campaignfor funds to build a 200-bed capacity HinsdaleSanitarium and Hospital was embarked on byseven villages: LaGrange, LaGrange Park,Western Springs, Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills,Westmont. and Downers Grove. The SeventhDay Adventist Church, the operators of theHinsdale Sanitarium, pledged $500,000, andmatching funds of $1,500,000 were expected tobe made available from state and federal sourcesunder terms of the Hill-Burton Hospital Con-struction Act.
The people of Downers Grove participatedactively in the campaign during 1950 to raise$1,000,000 to help finance the new $3,000,000brick and concrete, fireproof Hinsdale Sanitar-ium and Hospital. Gordon Metcalf and GrantDicke of Downers Grove were named as mem-bers of the Civic Advisory Council for the Hospi-tal, along with seven other members representingthe various villages. The first meeting of thisnine-member group was held January 15, 1951.Quarterly meetings were scheduled with theHospital Board of Trustees to counsel and advisethe Hospital administration in formulating andcarrying out policies.
The number of students entering the schools ofDowners Grove increased each year as many newfamilies moved into the Village. School enroll.
ment would continue to increase as children ofthe "baby-boom" years would be reaching schoolage.
In October of 1949, it became evident that itwas necessary to start a process of countingchildren and predicting the school population forthe years to come. As a result of this PublicSchool Census, the following data were collect-ed. (See opposite page)
On June 9,1951, after months of enthusiasticcampaigning for the needs of the schools in orderto educate the children of the community, Dow-ners Grove residents went to the polls to voicetheir support of the public schools by passingpropositions to increase the educational taxrates.
The people of Downers Grove went to the pollsin referendum after referendum to vote forpropositions to raise their own tax rates toincrease teachers' salaries and for propositionson bond approval for new school buildings. Thepassage of these referenda was not always easy.There were times when the voters voted on thesame proposition two or three times before it waspassed. Dedicated supporters worked long andhard in order to make the educational needsknown to the community.
During the next twenty years, the communityof Downers Grove built nine elementary schools,two junior high schools, one new high school, andtwenty additions to those buildings and to theolder'existing schools!
In spite of all the time and energy spent inworking on the changes and adjustments of theVillage to meet the needs of its residents, therewas time as there always had been to seekcultural pleasures.
The Downers Grove Music Club, originally awomenos organization, was founded in 1927,affiliated with the National Federation of MusicClubs in 1932, and two years later extended theprivileges of the Club to associate members. Atthe Fall Festival of 1948, the Club presented anoutdoor program of music by two of their mem-bers, Margaret Porter Thompson, violinist, andMadeline Mochel, soprano, assisted by DonWhitaker, trumpeter.
The members in 1949 included:Helen Allaway, Mary Anderson, Maud Antkoviak,Esther Binder, Marilyn Bowers, Maude Brouillette,Esther Coutre, Dorothy Craigmile, Zella Creswell,Caroline Eddy, Pearl Fairchild, Adelaide Farrar,
Louise Flood, Esther Geissert, Mary Goddard, Mar-glret Haggerty, Flora Janssen, Catherine Kay,Elaine Kotraba, Ida LaMon, Marion Lower. Mer-cedes Lueders, Adelyn Lyness, Clara Lyon, LillianMichel, Thelma Milnes, Madeline Mochel, MirnaMosher, Edna Pohlmann, Lillian Powell, BernadineRigsbee, Harriet Smith, Mildred Stephenson, Bar-bara Thomas, Margaret Thompson, Hazel Wein-heimer and Dora Whidden.
In addition there were fotty or so associatemembers.
The theatre group of Downers Grove gavetheir first post-war play at Downers Grove HighSchool (now North High) in the season of 1945-46. Each year the group presented two or threeplays for the community. In July of 1952, theDowners Grove Civic Theatre filed Articles ofIncorporation. Their first Board of Directorsincluded Jane Jacobus, Frank Brockway, Mar-garetBurger, Francis Erickson, Ralph Erickson,Virginia Harris, Charles Hanson, James Robin-son, Eleanor Schmidt and Elon Wolf. Thegroup's purpose was to foster and promote the artof drama and stage technique for the mutualentertainment and education of the members
and the people of the Village of Downers Groveand the surrounding community.
The incorporation formaliied the theatregloup which had been giving plays since 1936!That first year the group called itielf the GrovePlayers Guild and by ihe season of l93g theDowners Grove Little Theatre. Those first few
Sherrill Milnes
years a struggling young group presented anumber of plays under many handicaps, and thegroup disbanded early in the war years.
Three of four shows were presented each yearfrom the 1948-49 season on. By 1959 the gioupwas unofficially called the Grove Players, and in1979 the change was made official.
Ron Holous, who had been President of theGrove Players and very active in the progress ofthe group, resigned in 1979 to form another localtheatre group, The Downers Grove Guild. topresent Broadway's hit musicals.
Choral singing had been a community venturesince the early 1900's in Downers Grove. TheChoral Union, one of the earliest choruses, wasorganized in about 1910 under the direction ofEdward Eilert. The West Suburban Choral Soci-ety was conducted in the 1920's bv Thomas A.Pape of Downers Grove, with Marion Lowerorganist and Thelma Roe accompanist. Mem-bers of local church choirs frequently joinedtogether to perform "The Messiah". By 1925 theannual performance of this oratorio had become
a tradition, first under the direction of Mrs.Mabel Rassweiler and later under William pohl-mann. In 1948 Thelma Roe Milnes became thedirector of the "Messiah Chorus" which formedthe nucleus of the Downers Grove OratorioSociety.
The Oratorio Society, under the direction ofThelma Roe Milnes as conductor and DonaldP1".ry as accompanist, consisted of as many as8 5- 1^00 voices and gave two performances a year .
After the death of Thelma Roe Milnes in1,969, Margaret Bollinger was appointed con-ductor of the Oratorio Society and continues toprovide outstanding musical ieadership for thegroup.
No history of Downers Grove would be com-plete without a tribute to Thelma Roe Milnesand her family. Mrs. Milnes was a descendant ofDr. Franklin K. Roe, one of the earliest settlersin Downers Grove. The Roe family was distin-guished for its many members who had madeoutstanding musical contributions to the com-munitv.
i
Margaret Bollinger
Sherrill Milnes, directing, Donald Drew, at piano.
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The musical tradition extended to the two sonsof James and Thelma Roe Milnes; Roe, a tenor,who showed great promise as a young man butchose to remain in the community, and Sherrill,the baritone, who is applauded by musical audi-ences all over the world for his operatic perform-ances.
Sherrill Milnes' first influence in music washis mother, as she taught her students on thepiano in her living room. Thelma Milnes saw thatSherrill had piano and violin lessons and receivedvocal training. Sherrill first sang in the FirstCongregational Church choir under his mother'sdirection. He attended Drake University, wherehe studied both instrumental and vocal music.He sang with the Chicago Symphony Chorusand during that time also made singing commer-cials. Milnes toured with the Opera Troupe ofBoris Goldovsky for five years. Then in 1964 hejoined the New York City Opera, and the follow-ing year Sherrill Milnes made his Metropolitandebut! An article in The New Yorker stated "theupper reaches of his voice have a brilliance ofsound that has not been heard from any baritonein a generation."
In December of 1969, after the death of hismother, Sherrill Milnes conducted the DownersGrove Oratorio Society in a performance of"Elijah" in her memory. On the tenth anniversa-ry of her death, he returned again to conduct amemorial performance of "Elijah" with the Ora-torio Society.
The Milnes family contributed more than halfthe building fund to the Indian BoundaryY.M.C.A., and the building is dedicated toJames and Thelma Roe Milnes. The SherrillMilnes Room is a community center for drama,recitals, and many other activities. Sherrill hasgiven benefit recitals at this Y.M.C.A. as well asreturning many times to the church where hesang in the choir as a boy.
Long-time residents and newcomers alike par-ticipated in the many performing groups, andthey also cooperated in bringing outstandingpersonalities to the local platform for the interestand pleasure of all the villagers. The DownersGrove Village Forum presented its first season in1948-49 and every year for some twenty yearscontinued to present a program series. The solepurpose of the Downers Grove Village Forumwas to bring outstanding personalities fromdiverse fields for their presentations in person.
A Board of seven couples selected and con-tracted for a program of five lectures or films bywell-known personalities and were assisted bymany residents who served as patrons. Seasontickets were sold at minimum rates to all whowished to attend the Forum presentations. Overthe years many outstanding figures were pre-sented by the Forum:
Norman Thomas, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr., Corne-lia Otis Skinner, Burton Holmes, Joe E. Brown,Emily Kimbrough, Charles Laughton, Arthur Trea-cher, General Mark Clark, Ogden Nash, Carl Sand-burg, Basil Rathbone, William Fulbright, HarryGolden, Lowell Thomas, Jr., Constance Bennett,Bergen Evans, Ralph Bunch, John Gielgud, VincentPrice, C. Northcote Parkinson, Joy Adamson, Ben-nett Cerf, John Griffith, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.,Vance Packard, and Joyce Brothers.
The Downers Grove Community ConcertAssociation held its first season in the Village inthe winter of 1947 -48 and is still bringing out-standing concert presentations to the communityin 1982. In the membership campaign for theconcert season of 1949-50, 800 tickets wereplaced on sale for $6.00 for the four present-ations of the season. The Board of Directors forthat season were:
Mr. and Mrs. G.N. Askew, Mr. and Mrs. B.A.Benson, Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Boyd, Mr. and Mrs. D.J.Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. J.J Churuti, Mrs. JeanDewey, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Drew, Mr. and Mrs.Leslie Flood, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Humphris, Mr.and Mrs. F.P. Kehoe, Miss Alice Katherine Kaut,Mr. and Mrs. H.M. Lindstrom, Mr. and Mrs. FrankLyness, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert C. Mochel, Mr. GlennOlney, Mr. and Mrs. V.A. Revert, and Mr. and Mrs.J.S. Tennery.
In 1947 there were three events in DownersGrove which were significant in the trend ofhuman relations in the Village:
-The Downers Grove Kiwanis Club was organized.-The first project chosen by the new Club wassupport of the organization of a Youth Center forDowners Grove teenagers.-The Community Coirncil, a not-for-profit organi-zation, was started-and is still functioning in 1982.
The Kiwanis Club held the first Fall Festivalin September,l94T,at the Downers Grove Com-munity High School, with all the profits to gotoward a new Youth Center. Mr. Clarence God-shalk of the Kiwanis Club was the GeneralChairman of the committee, which consisted ofrepresentatives from the American Legion, theVeterans of Foreign Wars, the Garden Clubs
