Another Gem

In the entire life of Front Street, its appearance has changed quite a lot. Our image of it now would be practically unrecognizable to Mokena's pioneers who started developing the street 158 years ago. While relatively few photos of Front Street exist from the 19th Century, the early 20th Century in this part of town was fairly well documented.

This early, hand-tinted postcard dating from around 1910 (part of the Horras Collection) shows the new Mokena State Bank and the Exchange Hotel. Founded by local businessmen and built in 1909, the bank has survived the test of time to become a well-known Mokena institution. The large building that housed the Exchange Hotel was one of the oldest in the entire town, and was possibly built around 1860. For several decades in the latter part of the 1800s Conrad Stoll ran a successful dry goods store here, sometime after which the Exchange Hotel moved into the building. The hotel seems like it was a pretty short lived venture, as Dave Kolber began his hardware store here shortly before the start of World War One.

Unfortunately, both of these historic structures were torn down in the 1960s, a decade which lends parts of Front Street its current appearance.

These two buildings stood on the site of Mokena State Bank's Front Street parking lot.