The Lemont Area Historical Society  has generously offered to share photos and accompanying information with Patch readers each week, depicting people, places and things from the village’s storied past.

This week, just in time for the holidays, the Lemont Historical Society is featuring a photo of a New Year’s Eve party at Tom’s Place in downtown Lemont.

By doing a little detective work, John Quinn of the historical society narrowed down the date of the party as Dec. 31, 1963. He discovered that Frank & Gene’s Pizza, whose sign is hanging over the door near the pay phone, first opened in 1963 – and the calendar on the wall shows Tuesday, Dec. 31, which would be the correct date for New Year’s Eve that year.

Other notable details about the photo: Tom’s Place was established in 1924 by Tom Laketa Sr. According to Quinn, Tom Laketa Jr. is behind the bar on the left and Milan Laketa is the bartender on the right.

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Discover more about Lemont history at the historical society museum in the Old Stone Church at 306 Lemont St. The museum is open to the public and welcomes visitors. For more information, visit the LAHS web site at http://www.lemonthistorical.org/ or contact lemontahs@sbcglobal.net.

The Lemont Area Historical Society also invites readers to share their photos of Lemont’s past, to be added to the LAHS archives.

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