When Trouble Brews...

   When we look back on our past, we tend to focus on the idyllic. Visions of small-town rural Mokena enchant us, a place where everyone knew each other, and nothing ever went wrong. In reality, not all was perfect, or even always peaceful. After all, our forefathers were just as human as we are, and were people who had passions and tempers, both of which flared when faced with unpleasant situations or neighbors that were viewed as less than desirable. One such instance thereof of the many that dot our history took place 142 years ago, and involved several members of the well-known Schiek family of Mokena. 

   The Schieks were a hardy clan originally from the village of Neckarbischofsheim, in today’s southwestern Germany. As their homeland and Europe at large were torn by violent revolutions in 1848, they, like many of their countrymen, re-planted themselves in America. After completing a hike by foot from Chicago, the family patriarch and matriarch, Georg Heinrich and Juliana Rosina Schiek could proudly count themselves as some of the first German folk to settle what would become Frankfort Township, ultimately setting down their stakes here in August 1848. 

   The Schiek brood was a big one, counting seven children altogether, who ranged in ages from twenty-six to five upon their arrival in Illinois. One by one, the members of this family carved out a home in our midst. Philipp Schiek, the oldest, was an agriculturist who made a farm for himself on modern-day Wolf Road, while Johann Schiek, or John, as he came to be known, became one of Mokena’s first saloon keepers after the Rock Island railroad was built in 1852. Over the years, he would own at least two farms near town. 

   Julia Schiek was wed to Carl Gall, who operated Mokena’s first inn when the locomotives first puffed into town, and later married Moritz Weiss, a pioneering pharmacist in the village. Ferdinand Schiek was also a Front Street innkeeper for decades, (having owned the old landmark that last housed Paul E’s restaurant) and also kept a farm on what is today 187^th Street near where Marley would later sprout up. His sister Barbara Schiek married Henry Stoll, a jack of many trades.

   The youngest Schieks, Jakob and his brother Heinrich Jr, or Henry, both ran farms on 187^th Street, a little way west of Wolf Road. All of the members of this family found success in Mokena, and collectively left their mark on our community’s history.

   Alas, at this point, the narrative shifts in tone. In the fall of 1878, some of the family members found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Through the fog of ages, it’s not entirely clear what transpired to get them there, but enough has remained to indicate that at least one of them ran afoul of an archaic law relating to “selling liquor to persons in the habit of getting drunk”, the perpetrator likely having been saloon owner John Schiek.

   Regardless of how it came about, the aftermath of this affair has been left abundantly clear for Mokenians of today. The events were reported on by two Joliet newspapers, the Joliet Daily News and the Joliet Signal, and while almost definitely filled with bias and sensationalism, they give us a snapshot of what played out. Tempers had reached a boiling point in the affair, and when Henry Stoll, brother-in-law of the Schieks, was taken into custody in part of this episode, it pushed John Schiek, his brother Jacob, and his adult son Charles over the edge. 

   As was covered by the Daily News, amidst their legal troubles at the end of October 1878, the Schieks put Mokena justice of the peace Francis Morgan, a 34-year-old enforcer of the law, square into their crosshairs. Originally a native of Pennsylvania, Justice Morgan had lost his arm 14 years previously while serving the Union in the Civil War. With their dander sufficiently raised, the trio of Schieks stormed his house in town, which on the day in question so happened to also contain a gentleman named Bobzin, who worked as the justice’s constable. An audience with the lawmen was demanded, and in the vivid language of the Daily News, it was printed that “the Schieks opened upon Morgan and Bobzin with a fusillade, in mixed German and English, of cussing and obscene blackguardism.”

   Justice Morgan and Bobzin kept their composure and remained steely in the face of the verbal abuse that was being dealt to them. After “firing off their jaws for a few minutes”, the Schieks wore themselves out and beat a retreat. However, they weren’t totally out of steam yet. About 15 minutes later, they came back to Justice Morgan’s, and this time, with a vengeance. Upon their reappearance, the one-armed veteran was seated at a desk in his office, and one of the Schieks – it’s no longer clear who – burst into the house, and commenced beating him with a chair. 

   The situation looked hopeless for the justice. From our standpoint nearly 142 years later, we can’t but wonder if any fear arose in him during the attack, and if so, if it matched what he may have felt on the battlefield during the war. In a stroke of luck, his Norwegian-born wife Margaret and Constable Bobzin rushed to his aid and rescued him, fighting off his attacker. As all of this was happening, the other two Schieks continued their verbal barrage, “firing their jaws right lively” as the Daily News put it; one standing in the doorway, the other at a window. Before long, Margaret Morgan and Bobzin managed to fend off the Schieks for good. It is to their credit that no one was seriously hurt in the entire episode. 

   In the end, the grand jury indicted Charles, Jacob and John Schiek, and they found themselves saddled with charges of inciting a riot. In reporting on the event, the Joliet Signal, placed itself in the Schieks corner and struck a much gentler, more sympathetic tone with them. It struck up a defense crediting the Schieks with being “among the oldest and most respectable citizens” of Mokena, and that “none of them were ever known to commit an unlawful act or do a mean thing.” The charges foisted upon them by the grand jury were preposterous, the paper said, and they were handed down “solely on evidence originating from malice and personal resentment.” 

   The family members stood trial, and the Signal reported that none of the charges stuck. In a final barb thrown in the direction of the grand jury, the Signal huffed that Will County taxpayers were the losers in the case, as they were ones shouldering the brunt of the costs. As nostalgia tends to forget sagas such as these, it is important to bring them back to light, if only to make us, Mokenians of the 21^st century, thankful for the relative peace we enjoy today. 

Tripping the Light Fantastic: Dancing at Cappel's Grove

In today’s age, when village residents are seeking a fun day spent with friends or a romantic night out, they usually leave Mokena. The long-ago advent of the automobile has secured this fact. However, for a generation of Mokenians, there was a time when countless locals came together, made merry and found love right at home, in a pastoral grove of trees just outside town that held a dance pavilion where dreams were made. 

   Mokena has long been a community driven by its organizations. A well-established group of yesteryear was the Mokena Men’s Club, founded in the summer of 1908. Laid out in their articles of incorporation, the organization’s goal was to “promote public and private good” as well as to “build, control, (and) acquire buildings, dance hall, skating rinks, bars and objects of amusements, etc.” Summed up, they wanted to provide for fun in town. As the Men’s Club was born, a dance pavilion already existed in McGovney’s Grove a touch outside town on today’s LaPorte Road, but it had its limitations, namely its shabby condition and its size, which measured in at forty by eighty feet. 

   The Men’s Club set to building a newer, better one, and an idyllic patch of trees known locally as Cappel’s Grove was chosen as the spot, being situated a little south of town and just northwest of St. John’s Cemetery. In early June 1908, five acres in the grove were leased from Elizabeth Cappel, the family’s matriarch, and before long a committee of five gentlemen from the Men’s Club were formed to oversee construction of the new pavilion. Builders under local contractor Herman Geiger got to work in early summer 1908, who used Birdseye maple for the dancefloor, which came out to measure sixty by one hundred feet. Everything in the grove was lit by gas lamps. A refreshment stand was built as part of the pavilion, where soft drinks and coffee could be had, but no alcohol, as the Men’s Club decided early on to keep it away from the grove. Construction was rushed to have the pavilion ready in time for July 4^th, its grand opening day. William Semmler, Mokena’s correspondent to the Joliet News, beamed with pride at the new project, writing that “this floor will be one of the finest in the county.”

   On opening day, July 4^th, 1908, the brand-new pavilion was handsomely decorated for the Fourth, where in the afternoon patriotic speechifying was done by attorneys George Barr of Joliet and Mokena native Arthur McGovney. For that evening, 300 dance tickets were sold, and 65 gallons of ice cream vanished before the partier’s eyes. Revelers came from all parts of eastern Will County to enjoy the festivities. Correspondent Semmler covered the bash, and noted that “peace and order were evidence everywhere on the grounds”, and referencing the Men’s Club no booze policy, he added “no drunkenness or disorderly conduct being observed.”

   The first summer of Cappel Grove’s new existence was a successful one, setting the tone for future seasons, with one small example being a dance held at the end of July that first year that netted over $200 in profit for the Men’s Club in 161 sold dance tickets. The pavilion and the grove itself were host not only just to dances, but also to “moonlight picnics” and church functions of every sort. The pavilion featured live bands and orchestras from Chicago, and early on, a dance ticket would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty cents for men, with free admission for ladies. By the 1920s, the price had risen to seventy-five cents to a dollar, depending on the event. (Or roughly thirteen dollars in today’s money) A huge improvement came to Cappel’s Grove at the end of 1913 when it was wired for electricity, replacing the old gas lights. 

   A type of bus service was even set up within a year of the pavilion first opening, which consisted of a big, horse-drawn wagon piloted by one of the village businessmen that ferried patrons from a point in town to and from Cappel’s Grove. Later the rig was upgraded to an auto. 

   Being the host to a constant atmosphere of Saturnalia, there were, of course, some who stepped over the line with their merrymaking. In the summer of 1913, the new Bunny Hug and Turkey Trot dances were declared forbidden at the grove due to their salaciousness. The next year, the Tango made the list. In October of that year, the cashier’s office and refreshment stand were burgled, and at a dance in June 1917, Deputy Sheriff Fred Mau of Mokena, who was working the pavilion as a security officer, was given a black eye by two roughs from Joliet. The incident involving Deputy Mau was not the first that occurred that season at the grove. After this brawl, the Men’s Club was “incensed by recent outbreaks of rowdyism”, and then hired plain clothes security men, who were authorized to ban anyone caught misbehaving. 

  After decades of service to Mokena, Cappel’s Grove was sold in 1935, and the pavilion dismantled not long thereafter. By 1942, what had once been the grove had been subdivided and named Woodland Acres, and nowadays the aptly named Woodland Circle curves over the site where so many laughs and moments of joy were had in years past. Taking in the shady neighborhood today, it’s still easy to be transported back to those days.