As part of its 75th anniversary celebrations, the village of Harwood Heights has dedicated the 5100 block of Oconto Avenue to recognize its founder and first mayor.
The corner of Foster and Oconto Avenues was the site on June 20 for a dedication of a street in honor of the late Herbert Huening.
Family and friends braved 95-degree heat when they gathered for the reveal of the signage introducing Honorary Herbert W. Huening Way. A tall ladder was used to reach the top of the street pole to pull back the covering over the brown sign.
“As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of our village, it is appropriate to recognize our first mayor,” said Arlene Jezierny, mayor of Harwood Heights, in a proclamation she read a proclamation at the dedication.
“Mr. Huening died at an early age of 64 but left a legacy behind, the Village of Harwood Heights, a place we can all call home,” Jezierny said.
Huening, a World War II Navy veteran, made several attempts in the 1940s to get Chicago to annex the area to the city, but they never came to fruition, according to Jezierny. Taking the initiative, Huening achieved the incorporation of Harwood Heights in 1947.
With a vote of 350, the incorporation was passed on November 25, 1947, she said, and on March 4, 1948, the official charter was awarded.
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With a population of 400, the village was bordered on the north by Foster Avenue, the south by Lawrence Avenue, Harlem Avenue to the east and Oketo Avenue on the west, Jezierny said.
The current population of Harwood Heights is more than 9,065, Jezierny said. Since the inception of Harwood Heights, the village has had nine mayors.
“That’s why we’re so proud of this man, this mayor, Herbert Huening, who actually had the gumption to say, ‘Let’s start our own village.’
“And if he didn’t,” Jezierny said, “where would we be today?
“This is a good thing, it’s a great community, it’s northwest of Chicago, we have everything at our fingertips and it’s perfect,” Jezierny said.
Herbert Huening was mayor from 1947 to 1957 and lived on the 5100 block of Oconto Avenue, with his home serving as the first village hall, his daughters said.
Open meetings were held in the basement of the home now occupied by Huening’s daughter Lorraine Davis and her husband Ed Davis. The residence has been renovated and has two stories.
The basement, as a use for a village hall, was, “a good foundation,” Lorraine Davis said.
Lorraine Davis and her sister Beverly Hradisky of Norwood Park, Huening’s younger daughter, recalled Village Board meetings held in the basement setting which they both agreed had no filters in speech and maybe ventilation.
“It could be a rowdy group,” Hradisky said. “If you opened the door, all this (tobacco) smoke, it was just like, cough, cough.”
Hradisky remembered the village’s only policeman would stop by for a cup of coffee. A village plumber could just swing by too.
“We were everything,” Hradisky said. “At the time, we didn’t probably think much of it because we were young.
“It was what it was. That was our life and okay,” Hradisky said. “You don’t really learn to appreciate it until you get older.”
Herbert Huening’s granddaughter Denice Tegethoff of Park Ridge and son Michael Tegethoff, 14, a rising sophomore at Maine South High School, also attended.
Denice Tegethoff recently looked in a local history book, “and there’s my grandfather’s name, the whole thing, so it’s cool,” she said.
Herbert Huening worked as the superintendent of an envelope company, and his father was a builder. The first mayor’s son, George, resides in Indiana, family members said.
Herbert Huening died on May 10, 1972.
Jezierny said of the street name recognition, “I think it’s certainly long overdue. I’m glad the majority of family is here celebrating.”
