A common misconception is that the municipality of
Carol Stream was named for a local minor waterway. In fact, Carol Stream is
one of the few communities in America that took its name from the first and
last names of a living person: Carol Stream, the daughter of its founder Jay
Stream.
Jay W. Stream (April 17, 1921 – January 22, 2006), a
military veteran who had previously sold insurance and ready-mix concrete,
was in the mid-1950s heading Durable Construction Company. He became
frustrated with red tape while negotiating a planned 350–400 home subdivision
in nearby Naperville, Illinois. A Naperville clerk reportedly advised Stream
to "build your own town", and in 1957, Stream began buying
unincorporated farmland outside Wheaton. He hoped to allow people to work in
the town they lived in, rather than have to commute to Chicago.
On August 26, 1957, Carol Stream and three friends were
returning from Racine, Wisconsin in a 1949 Studebaker. While attempting to
cross U.S. Route 45 in central Kenosha County, the car was struck in the
right rear corner, killing 15-year-old Richard Christie of Chicago, the
passenger seated there. Carol was ejected through the windshield and into a
utility pole. Neurosurgeons at Kenosha Memorial Hospital said the comatose
girl might never awaken or, if she did, would likely be severely handicapped.
On advice of the doctors that her recovery might improve with good news, Jay
decided to name the new community in her honor. After four months in a coma,
Carol regained consciousness.
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Wednesday, March 6, 2019
CAROL STREAM, ILLINOIS
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