Palatine: Past and Present

The property at the northeast corner of Wilson and Brockway has a long and rich history.

Back in 1897, a mansion sat at 56 W. Wilson Street, where the former Mia Cucina Restaurant building stands today.

The home was owned by Dr. William P. Schirding, an ear, nose and throat doctor, along with his wife. The couple lived in the home until at least 1924, but according to the Palatine Historical Society, by 1929, the house and its inhabitants were gone.

Then is when a man named Walter F. Swanson set out to build the downtown area up, from Bothwell to Brockway Street east to west, and from Wood to Wilson Street north to south. 

Swanson planned to erect the State Bank of Palatine where the doctor’s house once stood and even laid the foundation (pictured right), but that plan was stopped in its tracks in October of 1929, when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression soon followed.

The State Bank of Palatine instead was built on the southwest corner of Slade and Bothwell, where the building still stands today, and is occupied by Guidant Wealth Advisors.

In the summer of 1953, a grocery store by the name of Jewel Tea Company opened its doors in what is now the former Mia Cucina building, but moved to Jewel’s current location on Plum Grove Road in 1964. 

Over the next ten years, S&H Green Stamps moved in, and then the Ben Franklin store relocated there for a time after fire destroyed its Brockway location.   

The building sat empty for many years until Mia Cucina Restaurant opened in 1994. The restaurant went out of business in 2006 and has remained vacant ever since. 

A new dining establishment will now be taking over the spot.

Tap House Grill received initial approval form the Village of Palatine in December 2012, and Deputy Village Manager Mike Jacobs said the business is now finalizing floor plans and will be going through the special use process in the coming months. 

Information provided by Marilyn Pedersen, Palatine Historical Society museum coordinator.