LOCAL HISTORY WOODSTOCK & MCHENRY COUNTY
Montgomery Ward Robbery & Kidnapping by Kirk Dawdy
In 1926, the popular Montgomery Ward Mail Order Catalog Company broke with its mail-order-only tradition and successfully opened its first retail outlet store in Indiana. Two years later, 1928, the Stafford Furniture and Undertaking building on the west side of the square was razed to build a new Montgomery Ward retail store in Woodstock. Two years later, 1930, the Donnely residence and millinery shop just to the north of the store burned to the ground. In its’ place, an addition to the original Montgomery Ward building was built, doubling the store size. Today the building is known as the Woodstock Mall.
Throughout the 1930s & ‘40s Woodstock’s Montgomery Ward was the largest department store in McHenry County and flourished. So much so, it became the target for a major robbery.
The November 21st, 1949 issue of the Woodstock Sentinel reported “McHenry County’s crime wave which has caused considerable excitement in recent month turned into ‘big time’ status when a lone and desperate gunman staged one of the most daring holdups in Woodstock in many years.”
The previous Saturday, November 19, 1949, soon after the Montgomery Ward store closed, a customer knocked on the front door saying he had left a package inside the store. Assistant Manager, Richard Henderson, recognized the man who had actually applied for a job several days earlier. After letting him inside, Henderson went to the basement to turn the store lights back on while store manager James Dwyer helped the customer retrieve his package.
When Henderson returned from the basement, he discovered manger Dwyer and the customer tussling. When he tried to help, the assailant brandished a revolver and forced both managers to the second floor where the store safe was located. While Dwyer was opening the safe, the gunman slugged Henderson over the head with his pistol, knocking him semi-unconscious.
After the safe was emptied of thousands of dollars, the gunman forced Dwyer downstairs and out of the building to a car parked in front of the store. He told Dwyer to “follow his instructions and make no attempt to shout, or he would get some of the medicine the other fellow received.”
At gunpoint, Dwyer was forced to drive south out of town on Route 47. When they reached Route 64 they headed east through St. Charles towards Chicago.
Soon after they had departed Woodstock, Assistant Manager Henderson, dazed and in pain, was able to sound the alarm. State Police in Elgin were notified to be on the lookout.
Three hours after leaving Woodstock, avoiding capture by the authorities, Dwyer and the gunman arrived in Chicago. Dwyer was let go, dropped off in a dark alley. When he managed to find a payphone, he called home to let everyone know he was OK and soon after was able to catch train back to Woodstock.
LOCAL HISTORY WOODSTOCK & MCHENRY COUNTY
Montgomery Ward Robbery & Kidnapping p2
There are no other follow-up newspaper accounts of the crime and, unfortunately, local police records from that time period no longer exist. It does not appear the gunman was ever identified nor caught and he got away with one of the most dramatic crimes in Woodstock’s history.
The theft and kidnapping is even more brazen when you consider the Montgomery Ward store was located within a few hundred feet of both the Woodstock Police Department (Opera House) and the County Sheriff’s office and residence (just north of the old Courthouse).
If you are in possession of Woodstock or McHenry County historical documents, images, items or have documented stories and are willing to share with the Woodstock Public Library’s Local History Archives please contact the Library at [email protected]