www.FranzosenbuschHeritageProject.org                     Home

Lommatzsch Family

Reinhold O. Lommatzsch and his wife, Emma, left Berlin, Germany, in 1899 to settle in Forest Park for several years. He moved his family to Hillside and built a home on the southwest corner of Center and May Streets, where the Celozzi (formerly Celozzi-Ettleson) Body Shop is now located.  He became a Hillside Village Trustee in 1908 and also served as Hillside's Fire Chief of the Volunteer Fire Department.  His children, Walter, Louise (Geisler), Louis and Emma (Dollie), were born in Forest Park. Reinhold Jr., (Hans) and Paul were born in Hillside.

Reinhold Lommatzsch Sr. started a greenhouse business in his back yard, but soon expanded to several large greenhouses for the cemetery trade near Herman Boese Monuments, and remained in business for forty years. (The property is now vacant.)

Reinhold Lommatzsch Sr., active in Hillside affairs, was President of the School Board when District #93 voted for a new brick school building in 1918. He built a home at 229 Oak Ridge Avenue (1913) on the hill to avoid a flooding problem. (It was not unusual for the boiler room of the greenhouses to be under water during recurring floods.)

Reinhold Lommatzsch Jr., (Hans) worked as a part-time policeman with Chief Adam Stang and Officer Eugene Schmaizreid.  He married Ruth (Klemm) in 1936 in the Boeger farmhouse where the Klemm family (Herman, Amanda, and their children, Ruth, Bernard, Carl and Dorothy) had lived for seventeen years.  A son, Richard, was born in 1937 in the home at 229 Oak Ridge Avenue, where the Lommatzsch family resided for more than forty years.  Hans also worked on the old Aurora and Elgin line.  He worked as a motorman for 14 years and recalls speeds of up to 90 miles per hour through open country.

Ruth Lommatzsch became active as a historian.  She co-authored (with Ann Hoogstra) the book, "Progress, Pride, Growth, 1905 - 1980, 75^th Anniversary --Village of Hillside", C.1981 published by Village of Hillside, Hillside, IL.  This book serves as one of many primary sources for information on this website.

Ruth Lommatzschand Ann Hoogstra ALSO co-authored the book (we call the "blue sky" book) "Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hillside, Illinois, "God With Us" - 125 Years 1858 - 1983 c. 1983 published by the Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Ruth and Ann were among the first to comment on the "hand hewn timbers" they found in the basement of an old farmhouse off of Wolf and 22^nd Streets in Westchester.  Further investigation revealed the building to contain the first Lutheran schoolhouse referred to in the archives of Immanuel Lutheran Church.  This building was moved onto Save the Prairie Society property in 1985 and is now know as the Franzosenbusch Prairie House. 

Last Modified:  09/20/2003