A new dawn in the business life of Mokena has been announced with the coming arrival of Zap Tacos, which will set up shop for hungry customers at 19711 Mokena Street. This address has been home to many local concerns over the years, most recently the well-known insurance agency of the late Cadet Cottingham. Turning back the pages of time, we find that there’s no small amount of history attached to this old landmark, and when a new chapter starts, it’s best to look at the beginning of the book.
In order to really understand this place, one first has to know the man whose name will forever be connected to this property, and whose life is more tied to it than anyone else’s in the record of years. John Alexander Hatch was born February 27th, 1842 in what would later be Frankfort Township to rugged pioneer parents of English and Scottish birth. His earliest years were lived in the prairie wilderness, a world where neither Frankfort nor Mokena existed yet.
After spending his formative years here, as a young man John Hatch made his way to Tinley Park, then still known as New Bremen, where he found work with the Rock Island railroad. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he rallied to the flag and joined the 72nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry at Chicago’s Camp Douglas in August 1862. Private Hatch became a veteran of the storied Vicksburg campaign, among other clashes, and at one point even saw duty on the home front as a recruiter. Just after the start of the war’s last year, he was transferred to the 47th United States Colored Infantry, a unit made up of former slaves. In this new regiment Hatch was awarded the rank of Lieutenant, no small testimony to his skill at soldiering.
While John Hatch came out of the war’s veritable storm of shot and shell physically unscathed, he suffered a unique injury during his service that stayed with him for the rest of his days. While with the Colored Infantry in the gulf states, the region’s blinding sun caused irreversible damage to his vision.
Home from the battlefield, he married local belle Nancy McGovney in Mokena on May 10th, 1866. This union was ultimately blessed with nine children, all of which but one survived to adulthood. The first years of John and Nancy Hatch’s marriage held many travels for them. Soon after they tied the knot, the Hatches moved to the neighborhood of New Bremen, where John tried his hand at farming for three years. This was followed by a brief residence in Chicago, whereupon they went back to New Bremen for a spell. In 1869, the young family moved to Missouri with John’s parents, and finally came back to Mokena for good in 1876 after an absence of seven years.
With the re-planting of their roots in our neck of the woods, Hatch took a job at the general store of McGovney & Son, kept by his father and brother-in-law. Upon Mokena’s incorporation in 1880, he was elected clerk of the newly minted village, and thus, as the first to ever hold this position, the earliest written records of administrative doings in town are in his hand. John Hatch was the wearer of many hats in our community over the years, including postmaster, justice of the peace, and school director.
Bit by bit, Mr. Hatch became more established in the commercial affairs of Mokena, eventually branching out into the grain business, becoming the builder and proprietor of the town’s new grain elevator in 1884. After toiling at the general store for a while, he was at last able to buy the concern from his father-in-law along with the stock of goods. By the 1890s, John Hatch was maintaining his own general store on Front Street.
At some point towards the end of the 19th century, he further diversified his business portfolio and filled a long-wanted need in town by managing a hall for social gatherings such as dances, balls and meetings in the village. It has long since disappeared in the pages of posterity when exactly this began, if he had any partners in this venture, or even where exactly in town the hall stood. What is known, is that for some reason, John Hatch decided to have the building jacked up, hitched to teams of horses, and moved to a new location in winter 1901. Hatch Hall, as it was known around town, was set down south of the Rock Island tracks along Mokena Street, close to the grain elevator.
Hatch Hall as it appears today at 19711 Mokena Street.
A new life was on the horizon for the place. As soon as the dust settled after the move, Hatch moved his general store into the former hall. By the end of October 1901, new shelving was built and various tables moved into place to complete the building’s transformation. Part of the store was used as Hatch’s grain office, with their scales being installed as the store was coming together. It was the ultimate convenience for John Hatch, as all of his businesses were now under one roof. It what was deemed “improvement fever” by one Mokenian, cutting edge gas-powered lights were installed too, two in the store and one outside. It was miraculously said that the business was as light as day inside, and one resident, prone to exaggeration at comic levels, said the glow of the one outside could be seen two miles outside town. Riding the wave of modernity, a Gramophone was also set up in the store, and for a span of a week, concerts were held each night, which adoring Mokenians ate up.
At the dawn of the 20th century, John Hatch was one of Mokena’s most prominent businessmen, keeping not only the store, but also still selling grain, along with feed, coal, tile and everything in between. That Hatch was one of the most liked and well-respected men in the village would not need repeating in his day. After throwing a “dancing party” in the hall for the community’s youth in January 1900, Mokena’s youngsters “voted Mr. Hatch to be the best man in town.” After another dance about a week later, a local news correspondent noted that he “still cherished a place in his heart for the gayeties of young people.” The old veteran was later known to dole out large lumps of maple sugar to youngsters visiting the store. Years later, it would be warmly reflected that “he was a kind-hearted man who always went out of his way to do a favor to anybody. He was beloved by all who knew him. He always was of a cheerful disposition and made and retained friends readily.”
The book closed on John Hatch’s long life on July 17th, 1920, when his passing was rued on the front page of the News-Bulletin, our community’s erstwhile newspaper. Within months, Hatch’s youngest son Alfred re-converted the building into its second iteration as a hall. The store was deconstructed, the interior completely remodeled, and the floor even freshly polished. On November 20th, 1920, the opening dance was held with a handsome turnout, 77 tickets having been sold. In this era, silent movies were also screened at Hatch Hall, which were noted to be just as “good as can be seen in city theaters”. They were aided by musical accompaniment on a Bauer piano that Alfred Hatch had installed.
In January 1924, the old place was made over into the headquarters of the Hall Medicine Company, named not after the building, but rather its proprietor, the illustrious Don Carlos Hall. He, his wife Clara, and their children Don Carlos Jr, Walter, and Inez Hall moved into the place and also made it their home. They were newcomers in town, and rarely on the pages of Mokena’s history has there appeared a more unique couple than Mr. and Mrs. Hall. A salesman of patent medicine, former member of the Wisconsin state legislature, as well as a Shakespearian actor, Hall was affectionately called “Colonel” by those who knew him. The Halls were also known for their prowess at traveling by thumb, having crisscrossed the country hitchhiking. Favoring western attire and sporting long whiskers and flowing white locks, Colonel Hall had one of Mokena’s most unforgettable visages. When Chicago was in the world’s spotlight for the 1933 Century of Progress, Colonel and Clara Hall were naturally a part of it, running the “Days of ‘49” mining camp on the fairgrounds, hearkening back to the days of the California Gold Rush. The Colonel served as the settlement’s mayor, while Clara was the camp mother.
Colonel Don C. and Clara Hall, circa 1940.
By 1930, the Halls had packed up their household and relocated elsewhere within Mokena, and during the Great Depression and World War II years, the building served yet again as a public hall, hosting among other organizations, the William Martin Post of the VFW. In April 1953, Halley and David W. Noble, residents of Chicago and photo finishers by trade, took possession of Hatch Hall. They opened Noble’s Variety Store here, which sold a little bit of everything. They also brought the old place into the post-war era, thoroughly modernizing it with indoor plumbing, fluorescent lights, and even a coral rose color scheme to the interior. Like the Halls previous to them, the Nobles made their home in the building.
If the walls of Hatch Hall could talk, they’d tell of moments of whimsy; dances and masquerade balls, the business of fraternal meetings, and the coming and going of customers over the span of time. They’d reveal the personalities of some of the most interesting and unique people in our community’s history. In the frenetic pace of today’s world, it’s easy to get lost in the here and now. Upon pausing and reflecting, it’s just as easy to lose oneself in the history of this important, hallowed Mokena landmark.
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