The Redeker General Store was operated by the Redeker family from 1897 to 1914. Members of the family are pictured out front. The store was located at the corner of Vail Avenue and Campbell Street (the address is 1 North Vail). It was sold in 1914 to August Sass. In 1918 he sold it to James Reese, who ran a furniture store at that location. After that it was a pool hall. It stood vacant for a decade and then it became various bars/restaurants. It sill looks much the same on the outside as it did over 100 years ago. This item is part of the collection of the Arlington Heights Historical Society (http://www.ahmuseum.org).

Today a restaurant called Cortland's Garage is in the space that was once Redeker General Store.

Redeker Family

Description Friedrich Redeker Jr. was born on March 11, 1871, in Muenchehagen, Germany. He came to America with his parents in 1882 and they settled in Arlington Heights. He married Wilhelmina (Mina) Boeger on November 12, 1893, and they had three children: Herman, John and Eleanore. His father, Friederich Redeker Sr., built, owned and operated the Redeker General Store, which was in a building that still stands (as of 2011) at the northeast corner of Vail Avenue and Campbell Street(1 N. Vail Ave.) in Arlington Heights. Friedrich Jr. and his son Herman worked in the store until 1913. In 1911, Friedrich Jr. helped organize The People’s State Bank and at the time of his death was the president of that institution. He also served as an alderman and as trustee of St. Peter Lutheran Church. He died on January 12, 1925. Wilhelmina Boeger Redeker was born on February 14, 1872, in Cook County, Illinois. During the last years of her life she was living with her son Herman in the original farmhouse which was settled by her grandfather in 1848 on Old Plum Grove Road in Schaumburg. She died June 22, 1966, and is buried in Memory Gardens Cemetery. Eleanore Redeker was born in Arlington Heights on June 20, 1905. She worked as a bank clerk; at one point at The People's State Bank. On September 12, 1938, she was married to Earl D. Ackerman. She died on October 23, 1960 and is buried in Memory Gardens cemetery