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.

When John Stenger's daughter, Anna Elizabeth married Henry Germann, they had 14 children. 8 of them were girls whom we have affectionately dubbed the Germann Girls.

Evelyn Leahy Hankel sent us this picture of her mother, Evelyn Genevieve Germann, back in Naperville in 1915 awaiting her wedding date on June 28th, 1916.

According to the family tradition, each Germann Girl was to spend one year living in Naperville prior to their wedding date.

According to Evelyn, this party was held in the Germann dining room of the Stenger Farmhouse of her mother's grandfather, John Stenger, whom they had all lived with there until his death in 1911.

The dining room was decorated by Evelyn's sisters who are standing in the back. From the left, they are, Minnie Germann, Magdalene Germann, and Marie Germann (author of the family's history, After 100 Years) The rest of the women are school friends of Evelyn's mother from St. Peter and Paul School. Evelyn's mother is in the center of the photo, and to her left is her dear friend Anna Knoch and to her right is another of her sisters, Pauline Germann.

Many thanks to Evelyn, who sent us this photo.

Rich La Susa, one of our interviewees for the Stenger Documentary has written about the four Stenger Brewery bottles that Tom Majewski found during a privy dig in The Pilsner, a publication of the Chicagoland Brewiana Society.

To read the article, click here http://ez-files.net/download.php?file=315f7659fb9b0ee98328aabf19112177

After a restful night at the hotel, we ate at the Grove Cafe in downtown Ames. There we found out that they did indeed have pancakes the size of a dinner plate and we also found out that Larry, the husband of the boss, snores thanks to a chalkboard hung on the wall.

After breakfast, we headed to the Ames Historical Society where Dennis C. Wendell, the Collections Curator at the society, (and also probably one of the nicest human beings we have ever met) gave us a short tour of downtown Ames helping us search for a location with the best ambiance in which to interview Maureen. A funeral parlor was briefly considered, but the Ames Public Library ended up being the best and most quiet place for our interview. Dennis was helpful to the umpteenth degree and raided his house for what we call beer steins (but the Germans actually call them bierkrugs which means beer mug in German) and his friend, Don Faas’, house as well for empty beer bottles.

The picture on the left is our set before the props Dennis gave us. The picture on the right is the set after Liz did her lighting magic and we rolled in a table from the library staff room.

At this point we were ready to interview Maureen Ogle. Maureen is incredibly well spoken and intelligent with a strong voice and when she gets excited she gets a twinkle in her eye. Maureen, in her own words, loves teaching people about history.

During the interview, Maureen postulated that the American depression in 1893 (which was just as severe as the Great Depression in the 1930s) could have been a contributing factor in John Stenger selling his brewery. (Which he did in 1893.)

Maureen talked about how Germans civilized drinking. In the early 1800s most Americans were drinking whiskey in dark dingy saloons. Near the 1850s when German speaking immigrants started coming to America in large numbers they brought with them their culture of leisure time and pleasurable beer drinking. They also brought along beer gardens.

After the interview, we talked with Maureen about her newest project while she signed our books. She will again tackle the American identity while telling the history of another item that Americans consume and have consumed in large quantities throughout history. Look for that in the next year.

At this point, we knew that we wanted to treat Dennis to lunch (he was helping us move tables for goodness sake!) So at his suggestion we went to Olde Main and had an excellent lunch complimented by their Red Monkey Root Beer which was brewed in their on-site brewery. We had a wonderful time chatting with Dennis while we ate, and promised to visit him if we were ever to return to Ames in the future.

We had one more stop to make before we left Ames, and that was at Stam, an amazing chocolatier just a few doors down from Olde Main. We had seen it earlier on our tour with Dennis that morning. They are the only franchise that carries Stam chocolate which is produced in Des Moines, and they also carry various other chocolates and licorice which evidently is well loved by the Dutch. Something Liz had not known but found intensely interesting because she had spent her undergrad at Hope College in Holland, MI, a school that proudly displayed its Dutch heritage. (Liz even wore wooden shoes and learned Clompen, a Dutch dance, while at Hope.)

Terry, the owner of Stam saw our NCTV17 jackets and started to inquire about why we were in town. While Liz told him about the Stenger Documentary and our interview with Maureen Ogle, the woman in line behind us overheard her and told Laura that she was a home brewer from Oregon. Liz and Laura promptly told both of them to go buy Maureen Ogle’s book, Ambitious Brew.

With our chocolates (Laura bought 5 or 6 of them and ate them all on the car ride home) and coffee in tow, we got back in the car for our return ride.

Here is a picture of Grinnell, Iowa which we passed on our way and we took a picture in homage to Debbie Grinnell from the Naper Settlement.

Yesterday, our day began with Liz giving a one hour presentation on how NCTV17 makes a documentary as part of a joint event for members of both NCTV17 and the Naperville Heritage Society. She opened her presentation by citing her main inspiration behind her ideas: Dunkin Donuts coffee. She spoke to an almost full crowd in the chapel at Naper Settlement using clips from the many documentaries NCTV17 has made: One in a Million: The Prince Castle and Cock Robin Story, Community Building on the Great Frontier: The Story of Joseph Naper and the Founding of Naperville, The Naperville Riverwalk: The First 25 Years, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: The Martin Mitchell Mansion Story, and A Role of Their Own in order to illustrate how pre-production, production, and post-production all work seamlessly together in the creation of a documentary.

Lots of familiar faces were at the presentation.









There was a the lovely reception afterwards that was catered by My Chef (we loved the lemon squares and cream cheese puffs). Then Liz and Laura were off to Ames, Iowa in order to interview Maureen Ogle, the author of Ambitious Brew, a highly entertaining and intelligent book about the history of the brewing industry in America, for the Stenger Documentary.

On the second half of our five hour drive we discovered that Iowa gas stations are interesting. Not only did the one we stopped at that night have very large swords for sale, but the employee working behind the counter informed us that her manager was a cross dresser while we paid for our gas.

When we finally got to our hotel, we were pleased to find that the desk clerk was a nice young man (a self-professed townie) who told us that the best breakfast place in Ames was the Grove Cafe which was not pretty but had pancakes the size of a dinner plate. His advice to us, Just order one.

Good night everyone. Tune in tomorrow to read about our second day in Iowa.

Well, Liz and Laura are finally back in the office today.

As we look at our trip in review, we realize how lucky we are to have been able to make this trip out to Oregon.

We have seen beautiful rolling hills, Stenger brewery memorabilia and pictures that we did not know existed (Our current favorite is the one of Anna Elizabeth Stenger Germann on the donkey in front of the waterfall-she is the one on the right), and spent a large part of our time in the extreme hospitality of the descendents of John Stenger: Evelyn Leahy Hankel, her daughter, Paulette, Bill Leahy, and Ann Chick.

We still do not know where the Stenger beer recipe is nor whether there are any existing Stenger beer bottles out there, but we do know that John Stenger would be very proud of his modern day descendents that have lovingly kept his memory and that of their grandparents and parents alive.

Thank you all for making this a great trip full of stories, wonderful pictures, and for sharing with us your most treasured possession: your family.

Portland highways are completely confusing. Not only are there highways to contend with, but numerous bridges as well that cross over the Willamette River that goes right through Portland. But we persevered because we were incredibly interested in finding our way to Voodoo Doughnuts, a funky doughnut shop Laura found out about when doing research for the trip.

Emmett (an incredibly nice and helpful guy) was our guide as he gave us a tour of their rotating doughnut case: raspberry filled chocolate covered doughnuts shaped like people (Laura’s favorite), vegan doughnuts covered in various candies and breakfast cereals, and a Memphis doughnut-a fried banana fritter drizzled with peanut butter and chocolate chips which Liz immediately recognized as a tribute to Elvis.

After buying a dozen (we will share them later with Laura’s sister and her husband who live in Portland), we were off to navigate the Portland highways again to meet and interview Ann Chick. On the way to Veneta, Oregon where Ann lives, we saw lots of open space populated briefly by pit stops and big stores like Wal-Mart and Target. (It looked a little bit like driving to Champaign-Urbana, IL) But once we got closer to Veneta we saw beautiful open fields filled with ponds and small loose forests. Liz even saw an enormous (and by enormous, we mean enormous-the picture does not do it justice) nest on top of an old telephone pole that she said was most likely an eagle’s nest. (It looked like a condo, if you ask Laura)

We got a little lost once we passed the Veneta sign, but a quick call to Ann put us on the right path again, and once we got on the right street, we were amazed at the wonderful homes hidden off behind the trees.

Ann graciously met us when we pulled into her driveway, and did not mind at all when Liz started to completely rearrange her living room in order to get the best shot for the documentary. While Liz set up the camera, Laura was once again put on picture duty (the fun part!) and got to look at all of the fantastic photos that Ann had of her Great Grandmother, Anna Germann Stenger, and her family.

We also got to see the bishop chair that John Stenger once sat in and apparently was very dear to him. Ann had thought that it was called the Bishop chair because whenever the Bishop came to the home of John Stenger in Naperville, he would sit in this chair. When Ann looked the chair up online she found out that it was also called a Bishop chair because he top of the chair has a gothic style to it and what appears to be crosses.

Ann had other items that her Great Aunt Marie Germann (the author of After 100 Years, which was a memoir of life on the Stenger farm) had told her had been in the brewery. We saw a beautiful New Haven Clock that used to sit on the desk of John Stenger. (Ann put a key in the clock to wind it up so we could hear it chime.) Ann also owns a small serving platter that Anna Elizabeth Stenger gave to her parents as a Christmas gift in 1876 when she was barely 20 years old. The Bishop chair clock, and serving tray were all beautifully crafted and just serve to remind us that the art of craftsmanship today is just not what it used to be.

The interview with Ann was wonderful as well. She drew from the well of memories that her Great Aunt Marie wrote about in After 100 Years. In this memoir, Marie wrote about John having been injured, but does not say how. Ann had heard a version different than any we have heard before, but you will all have to wait for the documentary to find out what that is.

Liz was also happy to see the Bears beat the Seattle Seahawks at Ann’s house. (Sorry, Ann!)

As we head back to Portland on I-5, we are recapping on what a great and rewarding trip this has been.

Our final thoughts will be posted tomorrow.

This morning we were 15 minutes early for our interview with Liisa Penner, so we decided to take advantage of the time and take a quick walk around the area. We walked by a winery that sold Chocolate Orange Whey Wine (Liz nor Laura could find anything wrong with that), then we passed a snow covered garden enclosed in a red gate with what looked like its own personal address, and finally we came upon a unique and neat reproduction of the first fort in Astoria, Fort Astoria. The reproduced fort was maybe 1/8 of the size of the original fort and was structured against a wall where part of the fort was painted on the wall. (see the picture in the upper left corner so you can fully understand.)

At promptly 8:30am we were back at the Clatsop County Historical Society, where the friendly curator, let us in and we were able to meet Liisa Penner for the first time. It turns out that her name is spelled with two is because she was born in Finland. (Laura was wondering about that since she first started emailing Liisa but never asked.) Liisa gave us free reign to pick a location for her interview. After being tempted by the old-fashioned bar on the second story of the building with a giant moose head hanging by it, Liz decided it would be too hard to properly light the area and the giant mirror behind the bar was not helpful either. (The mirror might have aided the bartender in keeping his eyes on his patrons when his back was turned, but the last thing a person with a video camera wants is to see their self in the shot)

Liz found the perfect location in one of the downstairs galleries while Laura set to the task of scanning in Evelyn’s photos and documents as well as a photo and ads of the North Pacific Brewery. (In the picture here you can see Laura making herself at home at yet another historical society.)

About an hour later, it was showtime, and we sat Liisa down and began asking her questions about Joseph Schamberger (he was married to Mary Stenger making him John Stenger’s son-in-law) and the North Pacific Brewery. Liisa had a wealth of information which she had gleaned from various newspaper articles, Cumtux articles (Cumtux is the Clatsop County Historical Society’s quarterly magazine), and census records. She provided us with all of the facts she could find on Joseph Schamberger and the North Pacific Brewery as well as some insights such as Joseph Schamberger wasn’t so far off base thinking that moving to Astoria would improve the health of his wife, Mary. Apparently malaria and other such infectious diseases were not common in the town. According to Liisa, air is clearer here because it comes off the Pacific. We agree, the air is a lot different from the kind we breathe in Chicago.

After the interview with Liisa, we met with Evelyn again at the Clatsop County Historical Society so we could meet her brother, Bill Leahy. Paulette, Evelyn’s daughter was there as well with more Goonies gifts for Laura. (Sidenote: Paulette is wonderful and has been a great help to us while we were in Astoria. We hope she will come out for the Stenger Brewery Documentary Premiere with her sister, Patty, and mother, Evelyn. It helps that the Oprah show is taped in Chicago, because apparently Oprah is to Paulette what the Goonies are to Laura.)

While Paulette went out for coffee with her husband, we sat down with Evelyn and Bill and talked about the Stenger Brewery, the Germann family (remember the hard G there), and the history of Astoria. Bill’s father-in-law was a manager for the telephone company back in the late 1800’s—early 1900’s and Bill had brought along two phone books to show us. One was from 1899 and had phone numbers from the whole West Coast from San Diego and Los Angeles to Portland and Seattle. Then he showed us a phone book from 1910 that represented phone numbers only from Portland, Oregon. The phone book of the whole west coast was only half the size of the phone book that was printed 11 years later for Portland, Oregon. Talk about a growth spurt!

As you all must know by now, Astoria, OR has been a location for many Hollywood films. Evelyn has one more idea for a movie that should be filmed in Astoria which she has written to Steven Spielberg about. Evelyn’s idea is based on a true story that involves a shipwreck, the only surviving sailor, and the Native American girl who saved him. Evelyn is a romantic woman who has even published a book of poetry. Listen up, Mr. Spielberg, Liz and Laura give this idea two thumbs up!

After meeting with Evelyn and Bill, we headed over to The North Pacific Brewery building which now houses a Firemen’s Museum as well as a children’s museum to tape some footage for the documentary. There we got footage of bottles embossed with North Pacific Brewery and a small glass with the brewery’s name on it. (Sidenote: No Stenger bottles were found.) In the museum, there was also a receipt for ice sold from the North Pacific Brewery. Lots of old time breweries sold ice as well as beer and this brewery was no different.

When we were done taping at the brewery, we only had one more thing to see on our way out of town: the Goonies house (or what we thought was the Goonies house? Paulette, am I standing in front of the right house? There was no sign! ;))

Currently we are driving to Portland, trying to get off of the mountain before any of the forecasted rain, snow, or ice hits. What a view!

Tomorrow we are off to interview Ann Chick, another descendent of John Stenger who lives in Veneta, OR. Our blog may be a little bit late because of all of the driving we will have to do. To be continued. (Feel free to post some comments, folks. We like feedback)

Laura called Liz on her cell phone at 7:30am this morning with a crucial question: Liz, did you look out your hotel window yet?

Liz answered, Yes, Laura, I did. How about next time, you call me on the hotel phone?

Soon after we were eating pancakes at the local breakfast nook, Pig N Pancake, where Laura noticed the infamous rock from the Goonies movie on the front page of the Daily Astorian newspaper.

Deeply enthralled, she opened the newspaper to find out more and saw an article about a documentary crew from Naperville in town to interview Evelyn Leahy Hankel on the inside front cover.

Ecstatic that we had been written about in the town’s daily newspaper, we met Evelyn’s daughter, Paulette, in the lobby of our hotel and followed her to her home where Evelyn lives with her.

Evelyn greeted us with open arms and began to show us pictures of her family that she had carefully spread out on the kitchen table. She also offered us Stenger cookies which were made from a secret family recipe. Later on we joked with Evelyn about how a Stenger family cookie recipe could survive a hundred years, but the Stenger beer recipe was no where to be found. Were the cookies better tasting than the beer? There is no way to know.

While Evelyn finished showing Laura her family pictures, Liz, set up the camera, lights, and microphone. Unfortunately, Evelyn had no more photos of John Stenger nor the Stenger Brewery, but she had other great photos of her family. One of them was a wonderful photo of Louis and Marie Germann (Evelyn pronounced it Grr-men with a hard G) with animals on the Stenger farm. Apparently they were the last ones to leave the farm before their mother Anna Elizabeth Stenger Germann sold off the land and packed up all of their remaining items for their new destination, Berkeley, CA. Louis, Pauline, and Marie had all gotten jobs for Kroehler Manufacturing Co. San Francisco office, and their parents decided to move out to California with them.

Another photo shows Anna Knoch (Evelyn pronounced this Kanuck) who was a good friend of her mother or her aunt at someone’s house in Naperville sitting at a large table with about a dozen other girls all smiling for the camera.

After Evelyn explained the last photo to Laura, Liz announced it was time for the interview. Evelyn looked fantastic in her purple jacket and once she sat down, she passionately told us all about her family history.

When Liz asked Evelyn about John Stenger, she said, He was a very handsome and romantic man from my past. He came to America so young.

When Laura asked Evelyn about the Gold Rush, she responded, John Michael was very lucky in the Gold Fields, we never heard an amount, but we always heard our grandfather was very wealthy.

At 1:45pm, we wrapped up our interview with Evelyn so we could all get back to our hotel by 2pm to meet a reporter from the Daily Astorian, which Paulette had graciously arranged for us. (Paulette also graciously arranged to give me a fantastic rubber Goonies bracelet left over from the movie fest. Thank you, Paulette!!)

At the hotel, Evelyn relayed her family history for the reporter while Liz explained why we were making the Stenger Brewery documentary.

One hour later, we were taking Evelyn back home while braving the patchy icy streets. (We had to burn rubber to get up the hill to where Evelyn lived due to the unexpected ice.)

On the way back to the hotel again, Liz noticed the Astoria column, a 125 ft structure built to commemorate the founding and history of Astoria. Inside of the column is 164 steps which Liz and Laura ended up climbing in order to tape the breathtaking views of Astoria that they hope to use in the documentary. (At the top of the column, a nice couple from out of town Laura if she knew where the infamous rock in Goonies was. She confessed sadly that she did not.)

At the top, we could see the spectacular Columbia River, the extensive Evergreen forests surrounding the town, and Astoria itself with its many older, multi-colored Victorian homes. We even managed to get an amateur photographer to take our photo at the bottom of the column.

We are currently writing this blog from the Wet Dog Café/ Astoria Brewery where the fish in the fish and chips melts in your mouth and the brownies are made with their specialty stout.

Our stomachs are full, our legs stronger after the 164 steps, and our bodies thinking it’s 8pm when it’s really 2 hours earlier. We sign off here so we can some rest before our 8:30am interview with Liisa Penner at the Clatsop County Historical Society.