A history of Elmhurst,
since 1882
Postcards, papers and photographs of Elmhurst from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Members of the Potawatomi Native American people, who settled along Salt Creek just south of where the city would develop, are the earliest known settlers of the Elmhurst area. Around 1836, European-American immigrants settled on tracts of land along the same creek. At what would become Elmhurst City Centre, a native of Ohio named Gerry Bates established a community on a tract of "treeless land" in 1842.
The following year, Hill Cottage Tavern opened where St. Charles Road and Cottage Hill Avenue presently intersect. In 1845, the community was officially named Cottage Hill when a post office was established.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Elmhurst’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewPostcard of Byrd's Nest in, 1908: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Elmhurst
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Elmhurst, decade by decade
![Elmhurst, Ill., C. & N.W. Ry. [Chicago and North Western Railway] Station](https://images.towntapestry.org/story/4357/490d99938c37fbec9c30-s.jpg)
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Elmhurst, Ill., Chicago & North-Western Ry. station (1880) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Historic places
National Register · via Wikidata
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (4) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.