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Mount Prospect in the
1950s
The 1950s was a time of great change in Mount Prospect. The population grew at an immense rate and the institutions in the community had to learn to deal with the new residents. The population growth was spurred by a number of different factors. World War II had been over for a few years and many of the GI’s had returned. Many of them had gotten married and were looking for a place to raise a family. Chicago was facing a housing shortage and many felt that the suburbs could offer a better life than the crowded inner city. Because of this the suburbs around Chicago began to grow at an incredible pace. The search for a more comfortable life was also aided by the post war economic boom. Jobs were plentiful and many citizens were very optimistic. They believed that their lives would be better than the lives of their parents and that their children’s lives would be better than theirs. As these suburbs grew, huge highways, like the Northwest Tollway and the Edens were constructed to serve these communities. The conversion of Old Orchard field into O’Hare International (1959) provided another incentive to move out of the city, as there were now jobs located in the suburbs.
As the population grew the community changed, more sub-developments were created, clubs were formed, the municipal services expanded, and the school districts scrambled to find homes for the multitude of children. The “Baby Boom” was played out clearly in Mount Prospect. Adele Rutkowski, long time resident of Mount Prospect, remembers her neighborhood having over 140 children in the 1950s. All of these children needed an education, so there was a boom in the construction of schools. As the community shifted away from its German Lutheran roots towards a more diverse population, there was also a need for new churches and Sunday schools. Businesses expanded and new ones were started. This period was a time of great transition. Mount Prospect went from being a small, semi-rural community, where farms still dotted the landscape, to a major post war suburb. This short booklet and the exhibit it accompanies will look at some of these changes and their effects on the community.