Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Monahan, Brothers 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com December 3, 2007, 1:18 am

Author: Past & Present, 1907

MONAHAN BROTHERS. The firm of Monahan Brothers, located on North Joliet and 
Crowley streets, represents that spirit of enterprise, energy and 
progressiveness that has placed Joliet in the front rank of the cities of 
Illinois for manufacturing and commercial pre-eminence. The members of the 
firm are Dave D. and Frank J. Monahan, who were born and reared in Joliet, 
where they were afforded liberal educational privileges. Their parents were 
John B. and Bridget (Reynolds) Monahan, who were among the early settlers of 
this section of the state and shared in the efforts made to develop and 
improve the district. The father was a contractor in plastering and two of his 
sons, James P. and Edward, learned the trade under him and are now successful 
contractors in that line in the city of Chicago. Another son, John B. Monahan, 
assists in the machine shop owned by the firm of Monahan Brothers. Elizabeth 
Monahan, a daughter of the family, is a graduate of St. Mary's Academy and 
superintends a well equipped and complete grocery store in the Monahan Block 
at the corner of Iowa avenue and Washington street. The family were all 
provided with excellent school privileges. On leaving school Dave Monahan, as 
he is familiarly known among his associates and many friends, was appointed 
city clerk, which position he filled with credit to himself and satisfaction 
to his constituents from 1889 until 1893. In 1897 he entered the list of 
bidders for city contracts and became so successful in handling the men and in 
executing the work entrusted to him that his brother, Frank J. Monahan, who 
was foreman over the machine shop of the Illinois Steel Company, was induced 
to become his partner. In so doing they established a plant which gives them 
many advantages in carrying on contract work. In their machine shop they 
manufacture hydraulic valves and other equipments essential to water and gas 
plants, besides doing general repair work. They have not only the necessary 
machinery for doing all kinds of repair work, but also for excavating and 
sewer construction, including a trenching machine that can accomplish more 
work than one hundred men digging by the old time method with pick and shovel. 
Their up-to-date equipment and intelligent conception of the work to be 
performed, their justice and consideration to the men in their employ and 
their straightforward dealing at all times gives them a legitimate monopoly of 
the city contracts and their work never fails to prove satisfactory to the 
engineering department and to all those having an interest therein. The 
Monahan Brothers have also erected a fine business block in the city—a 
handsome brick structure with marble trimmings—which is a monument to their 
good taste as well as their industry and successful business management. D. D. 
Monahan makes him home in this building with his wife and two children. He 
wedded Miss Emma L. Stephen, a daughter of Sebastian and Annie (Ryan) Stephen, 
who were old settlers of Will county. The marriage of the young couple was 
celebrated in 1899 and they now have two children, John B. and Frank A., aged 
seven and two years respectively. The Monahan brothers are active members of 
the democratic party and are stalwart supporters of all public movements that 
tend to develop and upbuild the city. They are strict adherents of St. Mary's 
Catholic church and they stand for all that is upright and beneficial in the 
city, being champions of every movement for the material, intellectual, social 
and moral progress of Joliet, where their entire lives have been passed and 
where they have made an excellent record in business circles.

Additional Comments:
Past and Present of Will County, Illinois, by W. W. Stevens, President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907.

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