In the Words of Women
/Did you know that Lombard’s first newspaper was created by two women?
Kathryn Reynolds, c.1904, Lombard Historical Society Archives.
In the spring of 1912, two good friends Katharine Reynolds and Grace Hanger decided to create a newspaper for their hometown which they loved. In honor of International Women’s Day, LHS would like to shine a spotlight on these two women, their lives, and their contribution to Lombard.
Katharine Reynolds was born in what was Bohemia, today the Czech Republic, in 1882 then emigrated to the United States with her family at the age of six. She graduated from the state teachers’ college in Normal, Illinois. In 1905, she married Henry Reynolds in Chicago and the two of them moved to Lombard. Together they established a homestead on Lombard’s west side which they named Camp Content.
Grace B. Hanger was born in Iowa in 1870. Her home was located on North Martha Street in what is now the Hebel House. She was a woman who owned a store called Mrs. Hanger’s Dry Goods Store (Approximately Located at 24 W. St. Charles Rd.) which stood on St. Charles Road, just east of the Graue House (Lombard Towers Today).
Hanger Dry Goods, nd., Lombard Historical Society Archives
The store was co-owned by a partner whose name, unfortunately, has been lost to memory. Both Hanger and Reynolds were very progressive women and it was in Hanger’s store that the idea of Lombard having its own newspaper was made. Both women were intelligent and very progressive. According to an article written by Amy Collings, Lombard’s newspaper was printed in Downers Grove and it was thanks to Reynolds and Hanger that Lombard was able to print their own newspaper.
On March 16th, 1912, the first issue of the Lombard Breeze was published. On the first page of the issue, it is written that “The Lombard Breeze is sound morally and mentally and has been dedicated by its founders to the fight for progress, for cleanliness in all things, beauty in all things, and honesty in all things.”[i]
This first issue also published the policy in which this paper would run stating,
“To tell all real news honestly, fully; to work in, for and with the town; to be strictly impartial and non-partisan; to give all men a square deal…no cheaply sensational horrors, no morbidly harrowing stories will stain our pages. Neither will we notice or take account of any petty gossip or permit malicious, venomous scandal to creep into our columns…We realize and hope you realize that at times we may be forced to utter truths that will hurt, truths that you would rather not hear, and we would rather not utter, but when those times come, we expect to do out duty fearlessly and we shall depend on your to understand.”[ii]
In the first issue, Reynolds is listed as the Editor and the Publishers as Brainard and Reynolds. Could Brainard be the elusive “partner” that worked with Hanger? At this point, we do not know but the paper was printed in Hanger’s store, but it does give room for thought. The paper offered spaces for local advertisements, book reviews, recipes, and announcements on ways to assist in raising funds for equipment for the school gymnasium.[iii] Eventually though, Reynold’s brother Frank Jirsa bought the Lombard Breeze as well as his own press and begin publishing the Lombard Spectator in 1927.
Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.
Hanger would eventually move to Dubuque, Iowa with her two children, Annis and Halsey, when her husband, Arthur Basil Hanger, was transferred by his work. Her store was purchased and operated by Fred H. Vette. Sadly, Arthur died in an automobile accident in April 1931. Hanger remained in Iowa for the rest of her life and died in her daughter’s home in January 1937 at the age of 66. Her obituary was written in the Lombard Spectator, describing how she was held in high regard and makes mention of her being the “founder and first proprietor of the dry goods store now operated by Fred H. Vette.”[iv]
Reynolds had been a writer for some time before she published the Lombard Breeze and became a more popular author in the years following. For two and a half years, Reynolds and her family moved to Argentina in 1913 while her husband worked for a British employer to run a factory. She felt so homesick that she began to work on her first novel, Green Valley, of which the subdivision and school were named after. Green Valley was published in 1919 by Little Brown and Co. after her family was able to move back to Lombard.
Her second novel, Willow Creek was published in 1922, and both novels sold well. Both novels focused on Reynold’s adoration of small-town life. Green Valley appeared to showcase Reynold’s love for Lombard and Willow Creek was a story for women as it focused on women’s themes.
It has been noted that she used thinly disguised local residents in her novels, which was the source of much delight for Lombard residents.[v] Reynolds also wrote poetry as well as articles for magazines such as Woman’s World and Collier’s. She was also included in the Who’s Who in America 1926-’27. [vi] Reynolds also wrote the script for the 1933 Lilac Pageant as well as wrote and directed the 1934 pageant.
Reynolds also spoke on women’s rights, focusing primarily on women’s health. She believed that male doctors were not sympathetic and negligent to women’s health needs. She developed this negative view of male doctors after the doctor who delivered her first son was under the influence of alcohol and left her in poor condition. Her other three sons were delivered by women doctors.[vii]
Kathryn Reynolds, nd.
As a well-known environmentalist, Reynolds was at the center of an interesting episode in her life when she attempted to establish her own village which she would call Oak Crest. Her reasoning was that she wanted to protect the great oak trees which stood in her neighborhood which she feared that real estate developers from Lombard would destroy.[viii] Of course the annexation did not happen and there are still oak trees in the area.
Reynolds passed away in 1961 in Ramona California at the age of 79. In her tribute to Lombard, published in the Lombard Spectator in 1927, Reynolds wrote, “Just simple beauty and peace . . . stillness and ease of the soul . . . neighbors and friends. That was the Lombard when first I knew it . . . may it always be that way. I love them--the little towns of our land."[ix]
Both Hanger and Reynolds were intelligent and progressive women. They had their own careers, ideals, goals. These women accomplished them in a time when society’s expectations were that women served domestic roles. While Reynolds had become more of a household name in Lombard, Hanger has always been given her recognition as being a prominent businesswoman as well as one of the women who established Lombard’s first newspaper.
-Written by Claire Svehla, Lombard Historical Society Intern
References
[i] Reynolds, Katharine, ed. “An Event.” Lombard Breeze, March 16, 1912.
[ii] Reynolds, Katharine, ed. “Our Policy.” Lombard Breeze, March 16, 1912.
[iii] Budd, Lillian. Footsteps on the Tall Grass Prairie: a History of Lombard, Illinois. Lombard, IL: Lombard Historical Society, 1977.
[iv] Jirsa, Frank, ed. “Founder of Lombard Store Dies in Iowa.” Lombard Spectator, January 14, 1937.
[v] Fruehe, Margot. “Lombard.” DuPage County Historical Society. DuPage County Historical Society, September 23, 2019. https://dupagehistory.org/dupage-roots/lombard/.
[vi] Carroll, S. R. “IN LOVE WITH THE LITTLE TOWN OF LOMBARD.” chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune, August 31, 2018. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-05-26-9605260339-story.html.
[vii] Verden, Stacy L. “Katharine Reynolds.” n.d.
[viii] “Woman Seeks Beauty Town Near Lombard.” Chicago Tribune, March 28, 1926.
[ix] Carroll, S. R. “IN LOVE WITH THE LITTLE TOWN OF LOMBARD.”
