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.