Just south of Lake Avenue on Harms Road in Glenview is ‘Hackney’s on Harms’. Serving customers ever since the Prohibition Era, Hackney’s is a popular restaurant on Chicago’s North Shore. It’s business boomed after the Second World War as the surrounding area became developed. Still, there was no shortage of customers during the war years, thanks to a neighboring military camp. The relationship between Hackney’s and the Army, however, was not always healthy!
A soldier’s hangout
Camp Skokie Valley was originally a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp built in 1933 to house laborers working on the Skokie Lagoons project. Abandoned in 1942 the camp was repurposed during the Second World War. Moving into the facilities was the 740th Military Police (MP) Battalion, a unit primarily concerned with maintaining the internal security of the Chicago and Milwaukee areas.
Click here to read more on the history of Camp Skokie Valley and its inhabitants.
Naturally the soldiers sought a place where they could find refreshments off-base and socialize. They did not need to look far.
Right across the street from the camp on Harms Road was Hackney’s. A Prohibition Era tavern that served customers from the back porch of a farmhouse, until the late 1950s when a second building was added next door, it offered good food and beverages in an area still dominated by farmland.1 That the tavern had a positive effect on the Army’s morale at Camp Skokie Valley is undeniable.
One veteran of the 740th MP Battalion still had fond memories of Hackney’s almost seventy-five years after his military service. Jule Kahn served in the unit from 1943 to 1944 and played in the battalion’s band, later pursuing a civilian career as a professional drummer. He recalled that the MPs were always at Hackney’s. The tavern was a place where ‘you could get a hamburger. You could get a- not a hotdog… roast beef! A roast beef sandwich’.2
An un-gentle wind
Despite the tavern welcoming the soldiers’ business, Hackney’s was not entirely safe from the Army.
On the evening of 19 August, 1943, a demonstration was held by the 740th MP Battalion at the north end of Camp Skokie Valley. A simulation presented the following scenario: an attacking force advances but is stopped by several enemy machine gun nests, the attacking commander calls upon his 60 mm mortar teams to silence the guns, and the machine gunners retreat before dummy mortar shells fall onto their positions.
Each of the battalion’s four companies furnished a mortar team. Observing the simulation and representing the theoretical attacking force was most of the 740th MP Battalion. Unbeknownst to the men was an additional surprise drill courtesy of Lt. William E. Sheppard, the battalion’s chemical warfare officer.
Released onto the field was tear gas and smoke. The soldiers quickly donned their gas masks.
The battalion’s officers considered the demonstration a success, and it was described as such in the camp’s newspaper the following week. What the newspaper article, the official story, didn’t mention was an unfortunate miscalculation on the part of Lt. Sheppard. For information on this mistake the soldiers had to look under the newspaper’s satire section:3
Patrons of Hackney’s tavern, that exclusive spot across from the area where the mortar and gas demonstration was held last Thursday evening, fell victims of the gas attack. The wind, drifting softly from West to East, carried the tear gas right to the bar and the tables of the unsuspecting customers, who suddenly found themselves weeping into their beer. Rumor has it that the management is offering a price for Lt. Sheppard’s head.
Newspaper of the 740th MP Battalion of 25 August, 1943.
More victims of the attack were had. These included civilians working at the camp and the sentries on guard posts nine and ten.
Unpleasant as it was the un-wanted gas attack was a rare exception in the positive relationship that Hackney’s enjoyed with Camp Skokie Valley. And even then the episode was something to be laughed about by the tavern’s patrons and the soldiers across the street.
Sources
- GHC, Architectural Resources in Glenview, IL: Historic Structures Survey Report (Chicago: Granacki Historic Consultants [GHC], 2008), pp.34-5.
- Kahn, Jule. Personal interview. 20 August, 2018.
- The official story of the demonstration is provided in ‘Demonstration Termed Success’, 25 August, 1943, Skokie Mudhen, p.4, Newspapers on Microfilm Collection (NMC), Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (ALPL); the victims of the gas attack are described in ‘Notes from the Battalion Cynic’, 25 August, 1943, Skokie Mudhen, p.2, NMC, ALPL.
My father in law John (Jim) Clark was stationed there. He had fond memories of Mrs. Masterson and her burgers. He was from Oconee Il.
So enjoyed the article about Camp Skokie Valley. My mother, Kitz’s Masterson ran Hackney’s while my Dad, Jim Masterson was on his way to Japan in the war. She often told us stories about this time and the tear gas instance was one of them. She loved the reference that patrons were crying in their beer at Hackney’s. There were lots of stories an pictures. She was a great story teller and I cherish all the ones she shared with us kids.