Coming from the Horras collection, this shot gives an excellent taste of what Front Street used to look like. Here the viewer is looking westward with Mokena Street behind him and Wolf Road in the distance. This image was used in a postcard that dated probably from around 1910, when most Mokenians still called the road Main Street.
Back then it would've been the main drag through town, a place that was unavoidable in the everyday lives of our forefathers. Aside from regular homes, there would've been the post office, some general stores, a few saloons, a butcher, at least one blacksmith, a hall for meeting purposes, and probably a hardware store and a pharmacy.
Looks a little different 100 years later, doesn't it? (I'm just glad I don't have to traverse that road in the rain) This isn't a true color photo, the colors were added by hand at some later date. The oldest color images of Front Street I've ever seen are from the early 1950s, so I wonder if the color of the buildings accurately reflects how they looked back then. Hmm, makes you think!
Interestingly enough, of all the buildings in this photo, only two of them are still standing.
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