They were young. They were in their late teens at the oldest, but their community spirit, and the vim and vigor with which they worked for Mokena are still worthy of our respect to this day. Their hearts beat for our community. The Camp Fire Girls, a group of adolescent ladies that were very similar to the modern-day Girl Scouts, did many good deeds for the village in their short existence, and inspired those around them. Their members and leaders were a solid representation of our town, and while they were all ordinary girls, their impressive list of accomplishments elevates them to the status of local heroes.
In the years before the First World War, the scouting movement swept the United States, which culminated in the official formation of the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. Mokena’s boys formed their first troop in 1914, and as they grew successful in their endeavors, their sisters looked on, and feeling the same drive to do well, decided that they would not be left behind in the shadows. Having been founded in 1912 as a direct answer to the Boy Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls of America came to town in 1915 when our village’s first official camp was formed. This group formed out of a pre-existing girls’ club called I.R.B., the initials of which stood for some meaning long since lost to the ages. On March 6th, 1915, a meeting of girls was held at Front Street’s Bechstein Hall, and a group of eight members called their organization into existence. These founders, whose names read like a who’s who of Mokena in this time, were Alma Bechstein, Esther Bosold, Cora Cooper, Agnes Frisch, Olive Geuther, Eunice Hacker, Ruth Niethammer, and Myrtle Oswald. The girls ranged in age from 15 to 17, and represented a cross section of the community, being the daughters of the pastor of St. John’s Church, a Front Street merchant, and a railroad worker, among others.
In getting on their feet, they got a boost from member Alma Bechstein’s mother Emma, a true Mokenian who was known to help worthwhile local efforts, while the girls also received help in getting their charter through her father, W.H. Bechstein, the village grain dealer. For their guardian, a position not unlike a troop leader, the new Camp Fire chose 26-year-old Margaret Semmler, the wife of Mokena’s correspondent to the Joliet News.While she was newly married and had only lived in town for about a year at this time, Margaret showed the heart she had for her new home by being the guiding light to this new group of well-doers. At the outset, Mrs. Semmler’s husband William noted in his village column of the News that “the young ladies are taking a keen interest in the new organization and are displaying remarkable enthusiasm and are determined to make their society a power for good in the community.” The original eight members of the Moke Camp would quickly be joined by more local girls, and before long, 15 members were attained, the requisite number to make a Camp. The young ladies christened their new assemblage the Moke Camp, after the mythical Chief Moke, a Potawatomi man said to live on the prairie where Mokena would later be born. Before long, the new Camp adopted a star as their official symbol.
The Camp Fire Girls followed “The Law of the Camp Fire”, their creed, which stated “seek beauty, give service, pursue knowledge, be trustworthy, hold on to health, glorify work,” and “be happy.” According to their laws, the young ladies were not allowed to accept any monetary donations, and had to work for any money their Camp earned. At the meetings of the group Camp business was discussed, with songs being sung, as well as a time for games and socializing. The gatherings rotated at the houses of the members, and in some cases, such as when they met with Cora Cooper or the sisters Alice and Dora Andresen, they commuted en masse to their farms north of town on spring wagons. Staying true to Chief Moke and the namesake of their camp, the girls favored Potawatomi imagery, donning fringed gowns and beaded headbands that they wove themselves.
The Moke Camp were a busy group of girls. Typical of their activities was a bonfire held in the wooded thickets alongside Hickory Creek on April 17th, 1915. The camp’s full membership formed up at the home of Margaret Semmler on Niethammer Avenue, and walked to the woods with their lunches in bags which they tied to sticks, which in turn were hoisted over their shoulders for the march. Once their council fire was started, the girls roasted hot dogs, and in the words of Joliet News correspondent William Semmler, “they tramped through the woods and had a pleasant outing.” Barely a week later, the Camp re-convened at the Semmler place at the crisp hour of 5:00 o’clock in the morning, this time for a sumptuous breakfast of roasted marshmallows. Also being a vigorous, energetic lot, that same day members Carrie Cappel and Eunice Hacker hiked from Mokena to Joliet, finishing the trek in about three hours. Around the same time, some of the other girls made a round trip to Frankfort by foot.
Not content with just camping on the outskirts of town, the girls set their sights on renting a cottage at the New Lenox Methodist Campground in the summer of 1915. After liberally peppering Mokena with colorful posters advertising the event, they put on a bake sale at Paul Rinke’s meat market on June 19th, 1915 to raise money for the rent, and when the day was out, the Moke Camp counted $19 to their name, or close to $500 in today’s money. The young Mokenians got settled in at the Campground at the end of July, and enjoyed their time out of town despite damp weather. While in our neighboring community, the Mokena Boy Scouts hiked to New Lenox to visit the girls, where 10 pounds of hot dogs eventually disappeared over the camp fire.
Aside from various activities offered by the churches, the Mokena of the First World War era was not exactly a place brimming with opportunities in the way of fun for local youth. Seizing the initiative, the Moke Camp Fire Girls sought to change that. At the beginning of summer 1915, a committee of four members visited member Eunice Hacker’s father, mayor George Hacker, and asked for his permission to build a tennis court in the village. They got his word, and a plot of land north of the Methodist and St. John’s Churches was chosen. By early August the work was done, the new playing surface being complete with a double court net. The court was open to anyone in town who wished to use it, each player only had to supply their own ball and racket.
Mokena headed into the summer of 1915, and the Fourth of July appeared on the horizon. Always a day of great gaiety and mirth in our village, that year the Mokena Men’s Club was at the helm of planning the festivities. As things were coming together, the Camp Fire Girls approached the businessmen of the Club with an idea, something new for that year. Why not put on a parade? After all, it was years since the village had seen one, the last parade for the Fourth having been held in 1903, and the girls reasoned that it would “bring a crowd to town and liven things up.” The young ladies suggested to the men that the town businesses should each enter floats in the procession. Traditionally this was done using horses and wagons, but as cars were slowly edging them out of traffic, it was resolved that it would be an auto parade, a first in the history of the town. The parade was a huge success, wending its way through the main streets of town complete with a Charlie Chaplin impersonator, and ended at Cappel Grove just south of town.
Once the revelries kicked off at the Grove, an area just south of town complete with a dance pavilion, the Boy Scouts and others took part in the day’s program. The Moke Camp was in charge of the flag raising ceremonies, and their leader, Margaret Semmler, read a patriotic verse. One of the Andresen sisters, both of which were Camp members, read the Declaration of Independence. Different types of games rounded out the rest of the day, and cash prizes were awarded to the best floats from the parade. While those of local businessman Frank Liess and the Sippel general store ranked first and second, the Camp Fire Girls landed in third place, and were given $2 for their efforts.
The Moke Camp Fire Girls in the village Fourth of July parade, circa 1915. At the wheel is local grain merchant and early supporter of the Camp W.H. Bechstein. In the passenger's seat is Camp guardian Margaret Semmler. In the back seat left to right are Carrie Cappel, Alma Bechstein, and Ruth Niethammer.
Over the rest of 1915, the work of these Mokena youths stirred up so much interest amongst the girls of town that a second Camp Fire was established in April 1916. For their guardian, the new group chose Mrs. Mabel McGovney, a former school teacher, and thus forth christened themselves the Potawatomi Camp, again hearkening back to our rich native past. The list of their deeds is impressive and inspiring. Taken as a whole, the apex of the girls’ achievements was their planning and staging of Mokena’s first public Memorial Day celebration in 1916. Originally known as Decoration Day, this reverent occasion was born as a direct result of our great national bloodletting, the Civil War. Originally observed as a day in which to honor the legions of Union dead of the North, it was first formally marked in 1868, three years after the conflict’s end. Over the years, village residents observed the occasion privately, and without great pomp and circumstance. Correspondent Semmler even decreed that the occasion had been “neglected” in our midst, adding with a sting that “the churches of the village and the various societies have apparently never given the matter any thought.” As the Civil War was still very much within living memory in their day, Mokena’s Camp Fire Girls had a deep recognition and appreciation of the day’s meaning, and sought to bring it into the light.
They first felt deep reverence for the occasion in May 1915, when they ventured into the tangled overgrowth of the old Denny Cemetery and decorated with flags and flowers the grave of Charles Denny, who marched as one of General Washington’s men in the Revolution. Previously, this patriotic duty of adorning his and the many graves of Mokena’s Civil War soldiers was shouldered entirely by aging local veteran John A. Hatch, who not only made the rounds on his own, but also humbly took care of all the associated expenses out of his own pocket.
The Camp Fire Girls had great expectations for what Memorial Day could be in Mokena, but in order to put on any kind of event for the day, they needed funds. To solve this prickly issue, they put their minds together, and after much brainstorming, it was decided to stage a play. After a period of rehearsing together, the curtain went up on February 26th, 1916 at Mokena Hall to the premier of When the Cat’s Away, a one-act comedy. As the doors at the Hall opened that cold night, the town folk streamed in with high confidence in the girls, as their work on the previous Fourth of July was still the talk of the community. They would not be disappointed. The full complement of Camp Fire Girls were there, attired in their Potawatomi garb, gracing a stage that was “prettily decorated with a latticed background entwined with roses” that gave the scene the effect of a rose garden. All of the lights in the hall were turned down, leaving the whole auditorium swaddled in a reddish glow that emanated from the footlights’ covering of red paper, and the charcoal-fueled campfire in the middle of the stage. Sisters Eva and Louise Groth, both members of the Moke Camp, gave a piano duet, and rounding out the evening were readings performed by Miss Catherine Mitchell and her pupil, both having come to town from Joliet. Once again, the Camp Fire Girls made a big splash, and the whole program was a success.
The planning for Memorial Day began in earnest after the play. Helping the girls in their endeavors were some “enterprising church people” and some of the village’s old Civil War veterans. On Sunday afternoon, May 28th, 1916, John A. Hatch took the Potawatomi Camp under his wing and together they went to Marshall Cemetery, where he showed them the graves of old Union soldiers, which the girls then decorated with flags and flowers. The Moke Camp followed suit that Tuesday, and did the same at the St. John and St. Mary Cemeteries, as well as at the historic Denny Cemetery. The big day came for the both of the Mokena Camps on May 30th, when once again the Mokena Hall was used for the event, this time being festooned with flags and bunting. The young ladies invited three of the village’s heartiest Civil War veterans, including the aforementioned John Hatch, as well as Griffin Marshall and Elijah McGovney, who were escorted to places of honor on the hall’s stage by the girls. At 2 o’clock their program started, with stirring music being furnished by the village’s Boy Scout band, to which the Camp Fire Girls sung “Strew Fairest Flowers”, along with the community’s ladies’ quartette, who performed several selections as well, including “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground,” an old Civil War tune. The speaker of the day was Rev. J.M. Schneider of Joliet, who gave a rousing address in three sections. First, he hailed both Camp Fires for their work marking the day in our village, and then he moved to the ideals of preserving the Union for which the audience’s parents and grandparents had so perilously toiled. The reverend than moved to a topic that was gaining in earnestness in his day; namely the brutal conflict raging in Europe that we now refer to as World War I. With a heavy note, he warned the folk of Mokena against a spirit of militarism, and said that while he was for America being on the defensive, he stated that he “did not feel that it is right for (mothers) to raise their sons to be a soldier and fodder for cannons.”
To wind up the day, Mrs. Grace McGovney read an honor roll containing the names of every Civil War soldier buried in Mokena. While admission to the program was free, the Camp Fire Girls accepted donations from generous residents, and even set up a candy booth at the Hall. At the end of the day, the counted $26 in their coffers.
As the United States entered World War I in the spring of 1917, both the Moke and the Potawatomi Camps kept up their good deeds in town, backing up our local doughboys by working arm in arm with the Red Cross’s efforts on the home front. Alas, all good things must come to an end. For reasons long since disappeared into the ether of the past, the Mokena Camp Fire Girls dissolved in the spring of 1918. One by one they got married and started families, but in the words of their erstwhile guardian’s husband, each “always cherished the fond and pleasant memories” they had made with the Camp. Over the years, the girls held reunions where old times were re-lived and old Camp Fire songs sung, with these gatherings happening on an annual basis at least through the 1920s. The last known reunion took place in Mokena in the 1960s, when the girls were now mothers and grandmothers.
The Camp Fire Girls of our village went above and beyond in their endeavors for our community. They reached for the stars bringing holidays to us that we now all too often take for granted. May their memories be immortal. The girls’ can-do attitude and their Mokena spirit come along once a generation. Even though over a century separates us from their deeds, they have set an example that would be a worthy one for us to follow. Who of us will take up the torch?
So cool
ReplyDeleteThank you Kathie!
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