During the tumultuous first half of the 20th century, Kankakee experienced the excitement of the 1920s and the pain of the Great Depression and resolutely met the world wars with determination, hard work, and pride. In the pages of Kankakee: 1911-1953, author Norman S. Stevens paints Kankakee's human face in the wake of the defining moments of the early 1900s. Kankakee\ celebrated its centennial year in 1953, and this book celebrates and remembers the politicians, businesspeople, soldiers, pleasure seekers, and housewives—the ordinary men and women who made Kankakee the great city that still stands today.