Bloomingdale, Illinois Reflects the Changes of Suburbs over the Past Century

When I first arrived in Bloomingdale, Illinois (north central Dupage County) Lake St. and Bloomingdale Road were two lane streets. Population was around 6,000. When you drove out past Indian Lakes Resort hotel on Schick Rd. ( Mrs. Schick- her maiden name- lives about 3 miles down the road) you had to drive across a creek running across the road. Spring was an adventure.

The intersection of Army Trail Rd. (named aft…

Bloomingdale, Illinois Reflects the Changes of Suburbs over the Past Century

When I first arrived in Bloomingdale, Illinois (north central Dupage County) Lake St. and Bloomingdale Road were two lane streets. Population was around 6,000. When you drove out past Indian Lakes Resort hotel on Schick Rd. ( Mrs. Schick- her maiden name- lives about 3 miles down the road) you had to drive across a creek running across the road. Spring was an adventure.

The intersection of Army Trail Rd. (named after the army path on the way to fight the Indian wars from Chicago) and Bloomingdale road was mostly vacant land (now the 6th most busiest intersection in Dupage County). If you needed to shop or needed groceries you had to go to Wheaton or Glen Ellyn, Illinois. To venture south of Army Trail Road on Schmale Rd. (then the location of the last remnants of the Bender farm, Indian Lakes gobbled up most of it) required a vehicle with strong axles and good road clearance. There is now a golf course maintenance shed where Mr. Schmale’s residence used to be (you couldn’t get from the street to his front door without first plotting a course around the junk, but this was identified by the worn foot paths).

Ah, but today we have what the HAVES have. Lake St is 4 lanes plus a median strip, Bloomingdale Rd. is 4 lanes (sorry to see all of those beautiful trees cut down), Army Trail Rd. will get the final widening to 4 lanes plus a median strip this year. Schick Rd. no longer requires driving your car through the creek, it’s 4 lane (Indian Lakes still has two 18 hole golf courses, but I wonder for how long). Schmale Rd. is now 4 lanes all the way to Wheaton.

I sold the last piece of the Bender Farm at Army Trail and Schmale Road (the highest point in Dupage County then. The top of the stop light at the intersction of Schmale and Army Trail was just below Mr. Bender’s front porch steps). You may now shop at the Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Best Buy, Dicks Sporting Goods, etc located there. The TGIF Restaurant is roughly the location of the old homestead ( Mr. Bender donated a picture of that intersection in 1900 to TGIF when it opened. I have not been in since they remodeled. It used to hang in the foyer, and showed two dirt roads intersecting.

Now we have a 1.5 million square feet regional mall (Stratford Square), Bloomingdale Court Center that includes Wal-Mart and runs for a half mile along Army trail Road. Every nationally known retailer is here. You are no longer required to leave town to shop, work (many large companies are located here, or commute 10 minutes to the metra station to the Chicago loop), play (36 holes of golf are located in town, and if you receive an invitation you can play at one of the PGA’s premier golf courses, Medinah Country Club is 2 miles away, 16 theatres are in town). You may buy a $250,000 condo (some less and some more), a $1,000,000 single family detached residence ( some less and some more). I can sell you vacant residential land for $8 per sq. ft. (some more and some less), or commercial/industrial land for $12 per sq. ft. (some less and some for a lot more)

Yes we have grown a lot, and are not too different than other suburbs in the area. However, I have my eye on some property in the Missouri Ozarks. If I act quickly, I can get there before the 4 lanes go in.