The first European settlers started coming to McHenry County around 1834. By 1836 a hamlet along the Fox River was settled and named McHenry. Mayor Peter Doherty, set up an event in order to celebrate the city’s centennial in the summer of 1936. The mayor appointed a committee to put together a roster of events that would be talked about for many years to come. The committee consisted of Nicholas Justen, R.I. Overton, and E.J. Buss, all well-known names in McHenry. One of the highlights was a list of former residents, who the committee hoped would be able to come back and attend the festivities.
City leaders decided on a three day celebration running from July 31 to Aug 2. Peter Justen was assigned the task of making sure that businesses, streets and houses around town were all decorated in red, white and blue for the event. All three days had a theme with the first day being called McHenry Day. On the first day, the city’s Mother’s Club hosted a tea party at the high school. During the run of the centennial, Centennial Queen had a different competition every evening, also held at the high school. An album was kept at City Hall, that people visiting out of town would register so others could find them while they were visiting. Booklets were sold at City Hall that covered the history of the city. The festivities were let by George Johnson, the Centennial’s chairmen. There was a tour of the historic places of interest.
Saturday was Home-Coming Day, which was led off with a parade at 10am. The Daily Sentinel noted that the local floats would make floats from the city jealous. Then City Park (now Veteran’s Park) hosted an ox roast. A huge pit was dug in the park for the roast and 5000 buns were ordered for the event. Attendees were also invited to bring their own basket lunches. There was ice cream, coffee and other items for sale, which would help offset some of the costs for the celebration. Following that was a Home-Comers program which featured speeches from Mayor Doherty and school superintendent Chauncey Duker. The last event of the day was an Old-Timers baseball game and a band concert.
The last day of the celebration was known as a day of Memorial exercises. The centennial queen competition come to a close with the queen being crowned. Runners up would be part of the queen’s court. The opening event of the day was water races and stunts down on the Fox River. Music was provided at the races by the Woodstock high school band. The McHenry high school hosted a play featuring over 150 people that covered the last 100 years of McHenry’s history. Also at the high school was a exhibit of roughly 5,000 historic items brought by various citizens. Some of the artifacts were from McHenry, others from folks who had family heirlooms they wanted to show off. During the three day run of the celebration had about 4,000 people attending, ensuring this event celebrating McHenry’s history would itself be a memorable piece of McHenry’s history.
Sources
- “Plans Should Be Started Now For Big Centennial” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 16 Jan 1936, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 13 Oct 2024.
- “100 Years Old; Celebration To Start July 31.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 23 Jul 1936, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 13 Oct 2024.
- “McHenry Plans Big Celebration of Centennial.” The Daily Sentinel. (Woodstock, IL) 29 Jul 1936, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 13 Oct 2024.
- “Big Centennial Celebration Opens Friday.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 30 Jul 1936, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 4 Dec 2024.
- “Old Timers Enjoy Centennial at McHenry Now.” The Daily Sentinel. (Woodstock, IL) 1 Aug 1936, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 13 Oct 2024.
- “Historic and Antique Exhibits Total Over 5,000.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 6 Aug 1936, 8. Newspapers.com. Web. 13 Oct 2024.
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