CAROL STREAM

A short history of Carol Stream

In 1853, St. John Wahlund Catholic Church was built in what was then referred to as Gretna. The church was closed in 1867. When St. Michael's was opened in Wheaton in 1872, St. Stephen's parishioners were transferred to that parish. The church building was dismantled sometime in the late 19th century. St. Stephen's Cemetery was located adjacent to the church building and was last used for burial in 1910. St. Stephen's Cemetery (located north of the Great Western Trail behind the Ozinga concrete plant on St. Charles Road) was rededicated 100 years later on September 12, 2010.

In 1952, a farm from the area was featured on NBC; it was the site for the first outdoor telecast by the network in 1954.

A common misconception is that the municipality of Carol Stream was named for a local minor waterway. In fact, Carol Stream is one of the few communities in America that took its name from the first and last names of a living person: Carol Stream, the daughter of its founder Jay Stream. Carol Stream herself moved to Arizona as an adult, living there until her death on January 18, 2020.

Jay W. Stream (April 17, 1921 – January 22, 2006), a military veteran who had previously sold insurance and ready-mix concrete, was in the mid-1950s heading Durable Construction Company. He became frustrated with red tape while negotiating a planned 350–400 home subdivision in nearby Naperville, Illinois. A Naperville clerk reportedly advised Stream to "build your own town", and in 1957, Stream began buying unincorporated farmland outside Wheaton. He hoped to allow people to work in the town they lived in, rather than have to commute to Chicago.

On August 26, 1957, Carol and three friends were returning from Racine, Wisconsin, in a 1949 Studebaker. While attempting to cross U.S. Route 45 in central Kenosha County, the car was struck in the right rear corner, killing 15-year-old Richard Christie of Chicago, the passenger seated there. Carol was ejected through the windshield and into a utility pole. Neurosurgeons at Kenosha Memorial Hospital said the comatose girl might never awaken or, if she did, would likely be severely handicapped. On advice of the doctors that her recovery might improve with good news, Jay decided to name the new community in her honor. After four months in a coma, Carol regained consciousness. Learning that the new village bore her full name, Carol said she thought it "odd and silly" at first (as she told Chicago Tribune reporter Eric Zorn in 1991).

Carol Stream was to be named Jacqueline Stream, but her parents changed her name to Carol when her due date fell near Christmas. She never lived in her namesake community, but moved from Wheaton, Illinois, to Arizona in 1957 following the end of her parents' marriage. She participated in municipal celebrations and rides in parades during anniversary celebrations of the municipality's 1959 incorporation, and she was frequently asked for autographs when she was in town. She died in Arizona on January 18, 2020.

One of the town's two middle schools, Jay Stream Middle School is named after the founder, Jay Stream, who died on January 22, 2006.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Carol Stream, Illinois, revision 1378524455 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.