Following the Blackhawk War, through the period of 1835-1850, large numbers of immigrants began arriving in the Schaumburg Township. The lay of the land was good as well as the lay of the women, no I'm kidding. Schaumburg's resident farmers came mostly from Schaumburg-Lippe Germany.

There was only a slight English presence in the beginning which made it a bit of a struggle for English settlers, especially because the main language at that time was German. So they left. No, they really left.

Eventually the townspeople, mostly of Lutheran faith, decided that they would need a Church. They allocated 40 acres, built a barn and named it St. Peter's Church & Day School. The resident pastor & teacher at that time was Reverend Francis Hoffman. He was also, uncoincidentally I'm sure, the postmaster for the area and may been the inspiration for the name of Hoffman Estates, a neighboring town. Although, it could've been inspired by the Hoffman brothers from Arizona who built the first housing communities in the area later in the century.

St. Peters Church & School

Then:
Now:

Around this time the cost of land was approximately $1.25 per acre. I live on less than an acre now.

The center of the town was located at the intersection of Schaumburg Road & Roselle Road, although now you'd never know it. Back in the day it was referred to as "Easy Street", lined with the homes of wealthy farmers. This is where I live and where the recreation begins.

Intersection of Schaumburg Rd. & Roselle Rd.

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Now:

The Southwest corner of the intersection used to be the location of The Schaumburg House, the main town building. Importantly, it housed not only the post office, but a general store, a meeting hall & a dance hall. This was where men met to vote. Now it is a clock-tower. These things happen.


On the Southeast corner stands what was formally known as The Quindel House, a hotel & saloon. This building is still there hidden inside updated walls. It was moved 15-18 feet to make room for some street widening and is now known as Lou Malnati's Pizzeria. I'll go ahead and give this building credit for being a champion and being the only building at this intersection to have survived the modern world.

Southwest Corner of Schaumburg Rd. & Roselle Rd.

Then:
Now:

The Northeast corner contained the first bank in Schaumburg, which received $21,000.00 in deposits on opening day in 1905 and now no longer exists. In it's place are some park benches and fancy sidewalk tiles.

Hough Roselle, a man whose large influential powers were given to him by the business of flax seed, convinced the Railways to come through Roselle, which is his namesake, instead of Schaumburg and this made Schaumburg very sad. This is kind of like Disney/Pixar's 'Cars' and everything stayed the same in Schaumburg until about 50 years into the future when in 1955 highway construction came, suburbia sprouted and Schaumburg became a metropolitan giant (watch out).

Now we have Woodfield Mall, Ikea, Medieval Times & very few pictures from any historical periods.

THANK YOU.