From the "Village of Westchester -- 1925-1975 -- Golden Jubilee", 1976.

A Bit of Westchester History

(Second in a series)

Samuel Insull, who was born in London and educated at Oxford University, came to the United States to become a giant in the American utilities industry.  As stated earlier in this series, Insull was the leader of the group of investors that purchased the farm land that is now Westchester.

Insull had a dream for Westchester.  Westchester was to be an elegant suburb comprised largely of single family dwellings.  There was to be absolutely no industry to mar the beauty of the suburb.  Out of love for his homeland, Insull created a town with an English atmosphere; the original buildings in the village were fashioned after those in England and nearly all of our streets have English names.  It would be interesting to look for the name of your street either on a map of England or in an English history book.

George F. Nixon and Jacob L. Crane Jr., drew up the plans for the village.  Although the community was comprised largely of single family dwellings, twenty apartment buildings also became a part of the village plan in order to meet the demand for multiple family dwellings.

Westchester's streets were lined with 15,000 American Elm trees, making Westchester a truly elegant community.  The village also installed fire hydrants (Maywood provided fire protection for the village at that time.)

Westchester residents were able to enjoy Lake Michigan water which came through a 16" water main (later replaced by a 2" main) from the Chicago Water Works Building at Garfield & Austin to Pushek* (now Gardner) Road.  Westchester built a pumping station at Gardner Road and Roosevelt Road in 1953.  The Chicago Water Works pumps water to Westchester via pumping station located at Lombard Ave. and the Eisenhower Expressway n Oak Park.

The first water tower was an old silo located on Mannheim Road north of the Illinois Central Railroad tracks.  Later Westchester shared a water tank with Broadview.  Westchester's water is now stored in an underground reservior at Cermak and Mannheim Roads.

Click HERE to continue to part 3 of this series

*The article misspelled the street named for Clemens E. Puscheck.

Last Modified:  03/26/2005