The Blue Islanders are our local amateur hockey team, which plays in the South Suburban Adult Hockey League (SSAHL). The team consists almost entirely of former pond and high school skaters who have lived, worked, played or are connected with Blue Island. You can cheer on our Blue Islanders at the Southwest Ice Arena in Crestwood or the Oak Lawn …

The Blue Island Opera House was built by John L. Zacharias, Blue Island’s first mayor and founder of the First National Bank of Blue Island. The Opera House replaced Robinson Hall, an enormous 1850s wood structure that was destroyed in 1896 during the great fire of Blue Island. When the Opera House was first constructed the auditorium featured vaudeville and repertoire …

The depot that was constructed when the Rock Island first established service in Blue Island in 1852 was a tiny wooden building that, according to contemporary accounts, “both inside and out presented anything but an inviting aspect.” With the arrival of the railroad came the dissolution of the canal and plank road systems that in the early days were among …

Elmer Bennett and his wife Christina were engaged in the livery business in Blue Island before the turn of the twentieth century. The Bennett House was built from bricks made at the Reusnow brickyard. Clay left by the glacial lake bed surrounding Blue Island became the raw material that made Blue Island the brick-making capital of the world for three-quarters …

In 1769 the Ottawa Chief, Pontiac, was murdered. His tribesmen believed the Illinois to be responsible, so they combined forces with the Pottawatomi, Chippewa, Sauk and Fox tribes to seek revenge. The attack was said to begin just east of this location, at Fay’s Point where the Little Calumet meets Stoney Creek (now the Cal-Sag Channel). The Illinois fled the …