Photo gallery: A history of Carol Stream

Oct. 28, 1971: The new $135,000 Carol Stream Village Hall at 415 N. Gary St. Municipal offices were located in a converted model home before completion of the building. (Alton Kaste / Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Tribune

Dec. 16, 2013 12:13 PM PT

When a Naperville clerk told construction executive Jay W. Stream to “build your own town,” he did just that. When Stream encountered problems building a subdivision in Naperville in the early 1950s, he began buying land outside Wheaton that would become Carol Stream. In 1957, Stream’s daughter, Carol, was in a fatal car accident that left her in a coma for four months. When she awoke, she learned that the village was named after her, and it was incorporated in 1959.

Nov. 4, 1971: Carol Stream residents demonstrate against condominium rezoning during the dedication of the new village hall. They claimed population density would be too high in the project and that it would overburden the school system. (John Austad / Chicago Tribune)

Feb. 9, 1976: With volunteer firemen on strike, Carol Stream’s fire department has only five full-time men. (Hardy Wieting / Chicago Tribune)

March 5, 1982: Debris blocks a doorway at a five-story apartment building at 555 Gunderson Dr. in Carol Stream after a fire damaged eight of the building’s 60 units. About 100 people were evacuated from the building, including some 30 who were rescued from balconies. One firefighter was hospitalized suffering from smoke inhalation. The blaze, believed to have started in a fourth-floor storage room, sent flames shooting from fourth-floor windows. About 30 residents were left homeless and spent the night at Glenbard North High School. (George Thompson / Chicago Tribune)

July 9, 1982: New homes sit boarded up due to the fact that there are not buyers for them. These homes were on the far west side of Carol Stream. (John Dziekan / Chicago Tribune)

May 1, 1985: With his wife, Christa, and daughter, Kimberly, Alex Kentfield finishes planting a tree on the parkway in front of his Carol Stream home. Planting trees on village parkways was against a village ordinance, but Kentfield lobbied to change that. (Quentin Dodt / Chicago Tribune)

April 14, 1987: Pupils get an uplifting lesson in air currents during a launch conducted by the Carol Stream Parent-Teacher Association. The previous year, cards attached to the balloons reached New York and Canada. (James Mayo / Chicago Tribune)

June 9, 1987: The debris from four years of learning paves the floor of Glenbard North High School in Carol Stream as seniors clear out their lockers on the last day of classes. Sophomore Krista Lally (left) didn’t want to let go of departing senior Chris Walke. (James Mayo / Chicago Tribune)

July 10, 1987: Rev. Margaret Gramley, pastor of the St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Carol Stream, gazes on charred ruins after an extra-alarm blaze swept through the structure. A Wheaton firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation. (John Dziekan / Chicago Tribune)

Jan. 22, 1989: This privately owned Carol Stream residence known as Tall Trees is “one of the country’s finest examples of Greek Revival architecture.” It was built in the mid-1850s. (James O’Leary / Chicago Tribune)

Feb. 12, 1989: HealthStart dietician Betsy Potter grades Hamlet Restaurant chef Peter Steinam’s entrees, which are presented by owner Jack Rigert. HealthStart Professionals Ltd., a weight control center, analyzed restaurant menus and recommended healthy choices. (Tribune Archive photo / Chicago Tribune)

Jan. 13, 1990: Westwinds in Carol Stream exemplifies Gerald Harker’s emphasis on curb appeal, custom aspects and accommodation to lifestyle demands, to which the response has been “tremendous.” Harker was the president of Centex Homes’ Illinois division. (Karen Engstrom / Chicago Tribune)

Jan. 24, 1990: Bob Ballenger, principal of Carol Stream’s Jay Stream Junior High School, waits to pass out good behavior tokens to those who keep quiet in the corridors. Five tokens earn a free period. (James Mayo / Chicago Tribune)

March 15, 1991: A girl at Western Trails School in Carol Stream reaches out to touch an alligator during a live animal demonstration that also included a boa constrictor and a tarantula. (James Mayo / Chicago Tribune)

Aug. 4, 1991: Carol Stream doubled in population in the 1980s to about 32,000, and developments such as Rolling Oaks have pushed the top home prices over $350,000. (John Dziekan / Chicago Tribune)

March 1, 1992: Employees of Jefferson Smurfit Corporation at 450 E. North Ave. in Carol Stream. Evan Wise (center) is manager of mill research, while H.P. Didwania (left) and Jeffrey E. Farnsworth are senior project engineers. (Jose Osorio / Chicago Tribune)