Berwyn resident helps celebrate City Hall’s 75th anniversary

BERWYN – In true community fashion, the city of Berwyn celebrated the 75th anniversary of its City Hall building with a ceremony Monday night.

The ceremony, which included a flag raising courtesy of the American Legion and a performance from the Morton High School Band, came together after one resident and local business owner received an original version of a city program from 1939.

Historian, photographer and studio owner Matt Schademann said once he realized the 75th anniversary of city hall was approaching – with the help of research assistant Elizabeth Kurr – he began preparing for the event.

The goal of the ceremony, according to Schademann, was to educate residents about two mayors who both played major roles in bringing the Berwyn Municipal Building to town.

Schademann said both former mayors, Frank Novotny and Anton Janura, who were honored during the evening ceremony are the people who built the city of Berwyn.

“This is a chance for everyone to put their political motivations aside and pay homage to the memory of great leaders who we’ve forgotten many years later,” Schademann said.

Both Novotny and Janura were key players in the city’s municipal building, according to Schademann.

In 1933, Novotny first proposed the idea for building a new building which would house a police and fire station, court room, city services and city hall.

Although Novotny had the costs for such construction and the plans for a city hall building worked out, he died in car crash in January of 1934 before being able to see his plans laid out.

Five years after Novotny’s death, then Berwyn Mayor Anton Janura recognized the city’s need for its own city hall.

Ground broke at 26th Street and Wesley Avenue for the municipal building in 1938, according to Schademann. City Hall was completed about a year after the construction began.

Seventy-five years later, Schademann said he hopes the historical based ceremony ignites the community’s interest in Berwyn’s past.

He said the interesting part is that issues the city faced in the past are eerily similar to those issues the community faces today.

“I hope that people will look into our history more,” Schademann said. “[After] looking through the newspapers from that day, the irony is that the more things change, the more they stay the same.”