Then and Now: Hawley General Store

          One of the oldest structures on the town square, the Hawley Building has prominently stood on its west side, housing some of Huntley's most recognizable businesses. The large, brick, “L” shaped building has watched the town grow for well over a century, seeing Huntley go from a small, but prosperous, dairy producer, to being one of fastest advancing villages in McHenry County. The building's humble beginnings go back to the man that constructed it; the namesake of the historic structure.

          Around 1863/1864, a young John Hawley came to America from Germany with his widowed mother. After first settling in Michigan, they moved to Crystal Lake. It was not long before Mr. Hawley began to carve out a name for himself. In the 1870s, he began to court a young woman by the name of Mina Weltzien. Mina, the daughter of Charles Weltzien, was part of a well-known and prosperous family in town, with some members in the dairy industry, and her sister marrying David Haeger, owner of Dundee Brick Yard. On January 1, 1878, John Hawley and Mina Weltzien were wed. About a year later, John Hawley would construct his mercantile business on the west end of the square.

          Prior to the Hawley Building, a two and a half story wood frame structure sat on the south-west corner of Woodstock and Coral Sts. This structure, originally owned by John Wales and later owned by Willard and Clara Cummings, was picked up and moved to Vine St. Around 1879, John Hawley finished his new building. The large two story brick structure was constructed in an “L” shape, with one storefront facing the square, and the other storefront facing Main St. John Hawley had his store on the first floor, and a barber operated in the basement of the building. The entrance for the barber was originally in the back of the building, but within a decade of being constructed, a new entrance was dug out near the front of the building on the Coral St. side. John Hawley ran his successful general store up until around 1900, when his interest shifted more to farming and being a director of the State Bank of Huntley.

         The business remained a general store after John Hawley left, and in the early 1900s, was owned by Smith and Weltzien. Later, closer to 1909, James W. Burns, who married John Hawley's daughter Edith, and Mr. Weltzien were the proprietors of the store, being named the White Front Store. James Burns, an inventive mind, created a type of conversion for a Ford truck to turn the truck into a camper or ambulance for a field hospital. His creation could be seen in the store, and the idea was well ahead of its time. However, the high cost of the conversion kit most likely hindered sales, and the idea was short lived.

         During this time, the upstairs remained as active as the business on the first floor. Prior to the construction of Pabst's Hall in 1916, basketball games were held in “Smith and Weltzien's Hall.” Other events held upstairs were dances, get-togethers, and movies. In the 1920s, due to increased enrollment at the schools in Huntley, part of the high school class was taught on the second floor in the room overlooking Main St. This would end in 1924 when the new high school was built. Later, the upstairs became a recreation hall, containing pool tables and a few bowling lanes.

         After decades as a general store, the building was sold to Henry F. Heinemann, who moved his hardware business from Main St. to this site. In 1946, Henry's son Earl joined the business, and they continued to prosper at the site until they purchased the old wood structure across Coral St. They razed the structure, then one of the oldest on the square, around 1947 and erected their new, “modern,” hardware store, which still stands today.

         Sometime after moving, the building became a grocery store. On April of 1953, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Purdom purchased the business, and ran it as Harry's Grocery. The supermarket on the square would be a staple for decades of residents doing their local shopping. On August 31, 1965, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Purdom sold the business to Donald McCollum. McCollum operated the store as Don's Super Valu. In 1972, Don was looking to sell the business. This caught the attention of Harry Purdom's son, who was also named Harry. The younger Harry was highly interested at getting the grocery store that his father once operated back, and around July of 1972, Harry Purdom purchased not only the business, but the entire building as well. Harry would renovate the building, changing the upstairs to apartments, though keeping one of the bowling lanes intact, and modernizing the grocery store on the first floor. He would continue to run the business as Harry's Super Valu until 1975, when the supplier was switched to IGA. From then through the 1980s, Harry's IGA remained a cornerstone for the businesses on the square.

         In 1989, another town square staple opened: Luigi's Pizza. The restaurant was well known for its thin crust pizza, and hosted many Huntley residents as well as out-of-towners for around 26 years. Around the corner, Shampooch and Kitty would move into the potion of the building that faces Main St., where they still remain today. In 2015, Luigi's Pizza was sold to Sal and Sue Bongiovanni, owners of Sal's Pizza in Algonquin. Since the sale, the name was changed to Sal's Pizza, and the building has undergone an extensive renovation to the exterior that has included uncovering the metal work and old transom windows that have been hidden beneath signs for over 50 years. Sal and Sue look forward to establishing themselves as an important part of this town's history and serving fine Italian food for many years to come.



Hawley general store circa 1880.

Hawley store. Circa 1890. Note the stuffed dear and barber pole.

Harry's IGA 1976. Photo taken by Gene and Norma Lindsey. Compliments the Huntley Area Public Library



Hawley general store 2013, prior to 2015 renovation.

Then and Now: Bowl-Hi Lanes

           Around 100 years after its founding, Huntley was looking to expand as time continued to advance. The decade after WWII was bringing more families out to the suburbs, and with that came a growth in business. One of the earliest examples of this is Huntley's Bowl-Hi Lanes. In a time when the village was experiencing new changes, this business paved the way for development on the north side.

            Up until the 1950s, the farthest businesses north were Art Garlieb Implement dealership (established in 1931), and Little America tavern (established in 1936). But the mid-century brought new life to a prime area of town. In the second half of the 1940s, Algonquin Black Top (now Algonquin Road) was continued from Ruth Road to Rt. 47. Prior to this, drivers had to turn on to Ruth and subsequently on to Main St. to get in to town. The new extension, however, created what would become a vibrant new corner. The first business to realize this possible new boom was Dairy Mart, which saw construction around 1955 at the south-east corner of Rt. 47 and North Street. Soon after, business began to boom on the north side.

            Following the construction of the Dairy Mart, ground was broken for a new structure on the north-east corner of Rt. 47 and the recently extended Algonquin Black Top. Prior to this, the property was part of one of Edwin Deicke's farms, but the corner was prime for development, being a main connecting point between the south-east side of the county and one of the main arteries running north and south through Illinois. Harry Weltzien saw this, and in 1956 constructed Bowl-Hi Lanes. This new bowling alley featured 12 automatic lanes, as well as a restaurant on the south-east corner and a bar on the north-east corner. Before Bowl-Hi, Huntley's only bowling alley was a four lane alley and bar located in the old Smith & Weltzien's Hall on the square (now apartments above Sal's Pizza). The new Bowl-Hi Lanes was state of the art, no longer needing people to set pins like the former bowling alley, as well as being an air-conditioned building. For many years, the alley remained in the Weltzien family, being managed Harry and his son, Wendell (Windy) Weltzien. During this time, the restaurant saw many recognizable tenants for the restaurant, such as Joe Rizzo, who operated the Bowl-Hi Restaurant starting around 1957 through 1962, and Meta Tessmer, a long time restaurant operator and owner who owned the Bowl-Hi Restaurant from 1962 through the mid-1960s. The restaurant was sold to Jasia and Adolph Polkehn in 1965, and later closed in late 1966. After closing, the equipment was sold to Beverly Kubis, who used it in her new restaurant on the square called the Village Inn.

            With the old restaurant portion vacant, Wendell and his father decided to use the space for a clothing store. Here they sold suits, sport coats, slacks, shoes, and other types of clothing. The business was doing so well that they began to use part of the basement for a continuation of their showroom floor.

            On August 1^st, 1972, ownership of Bowl-Hi changed. Harry and Wendell Weltzien sold the business to Charles Hanson and Lenny Zielinski. Windy moved the clothing store from the old restaurant space and in 1974, constructed Weltzien's Country Store immediately north of the bowling alley. Since that time, more restaurants have called the corner spot home, with one of the most recognizable being Mona's Restaurant.

            The restaurant, owned by Mona Wickersheim and her family, opened in the remodeled former Sinclair gas station in 1982 and operated on that site until around 1990. After that, it was announced that Mona would move her restaurant into the open space at Bowl-Hi. Mona's Hometown Restaurant opened in early 1990 and had their grand-opening on March 18^th, 1990. Here, Mona was able to continue her well-loved business for the community. By the mid-1990s the restaurant was owned by Sam Abdullai, who renamed the business as Flora's Cafe and operate it      until 2004.

            A scary moment occurred in September 12, 1998, when a small fire broke out in the basement below the restaurant. The fire was spotted in the morning by an employee at the cafe, and the fire department was quickly called. If the fire had found its way to the main level, where the oiled wooden lanes were, the entire building would most likely have been destroyed. Luckily, the quick action of the Huntley Fire department, as well as the other eight fire and rescue crews that arrived, kept the fire contained to a downstairs storage area. Due to the quick response, the bowling alley itself was able to reopen before the end of the month.

            Since Flora's Cafe, there has been multiple restaurants in the space. But Bowl-Hi's ownership has remained constant. Today the bowling alley is managed by Don Zielinski, the third generation to operate the bowling alley. Throughout the more than forty years under the Zielienski's ownership, as well as the early time with Harry and Wendell Weltzien, Bowl-Hi has been a community landmark, hosting hundreds of bowling leagues, many tournaments, fundraisers, and events for all. As time continues, the future only looks brighter and brighter for the family owned bowling alley. And though the town may continue to change, this early north side business shows no signs of stopping.

 

Bowl-Hi Lanes, circa 1960

Bowl-Hi Lanes, 1976. Photo taken by Gene and Norma Lindsey, courtesy of the Huntley Area Public Library.