Here at NCTV17 we often collaborate with the Naper Settlement/Naperville Heritage Society. They let us interview them for our historical documentaries and help us behind the scenes with research, and we help them videotape elder Naperville residents for their Oral History Project.

The latest Oral History Project taping took Bryan Ogg, Research Associate at the Naper Settlement and myself (Laura Zinger, Associate Producer at NCTV17) three hours away to a small town in Western Illinois where we taped 96- year- old Harold Schrader talking about the Naperville he grew up in.

Before we met with Harold, we stopped off at a nice small town restaurant called Olympia Flame.

On the way to Harold’s we saw an interesting road sign that Bryan insisted we take a picture of.

Once we got to Harold’s house, I set up the camera, and then Bryan started to interview him about his past. Harold remembered swimming in the quarries and old time Naperville businesses from his youth in Naperville. He also remembered Caroline Martin Mitchell and the car she would drive around town. Harold shared his memories for two hours and ten minutes.

On the way home, Bryan and I saw many other interesting sites along Rt. 71 including an airplane that was crashed into the ground symbolizing an agricultural crash that had occurred in the area and another small town called Norway, IL which apparently was the first Norwegian Settlement in the United States.

Hopefully Harold’s oral history will add more insight into the town that Naperville once was, so that its rich history will never be lost.