McHenry’s Honorary Street Sign Program was so popular that there was a waiting list to be considered for a sign, according to Parks and Recreation Director Bill Hobson.

Started in 2005, the program allowed for honorary street signs, on sites requested by the person or families, in perpetuity. The number of signs and requests allowed per year were later capped at three, Hobson said – leading to that waiting list.

Some intersections were more requested than others, like Riverside Drive at Pearl Street. There are signs on either side of that intersection: one for Fred Meyer, one of the first public works directors, and one for James “Keev” Keevil. He was a police officer who started McHenry’s dispatch program.

The honorary signs “started to proliferate and stack on top of each other,” Hobson said. So in 2016, the policy was revised so that signs would only be displayed for 10 years with no opportunity to renew.

With pushback from families for the reduced time period, the street sign program was suspended altogether in 2022 – but with discussion on a memorial plaza or wall to recognized “distinguished citizens,” Hobson said.

He presented the McHenry City Council this week with designs for a honorary wall or plaza at Green Street Park.

Council members, however, have other ideas.

The plaza designs suggested by Hitchcock Design Group and created as part of McHenry’s downtown plan have steep price tags, 6th Ward Alderwoman Chris Bassi said.

Instead of signs or a plaza, Bassi suggested families could be encouraged to purchase a tree with an engraved marker for Arbor Day to “beautify any park that they chose. I think that is a better alternative.”

Alderwoman Sue Miller, 7th Ward, said her concern was the location.

“I don’t know if this park is the destination for the recognition,” Miller said.

She would rather see a plaza for resident recognition be included in the next phase of McHenry’s Riverwalk extension. The next section is set to run east along Boone Creek from the Green Street bridge and include a pedestrian bridge too. Planning or design for that section is dependent on future development, however.

Another idea, from Second Ward Alderman Andy Glab, was to ask Tom and Ginelle Popovich if a memorial wall could be included in their plans for Landmark School.

On Thursday, the couple closed on their purchase of the 132-year-old school from McHenry School District 15, according to Jeff Schubert, chief school business official. The Popovichs have suggested turning the building into a community center for McHenry residents.

A Riverwalk location would also serve to focus on McHenry history, Hobson said, due to its location near Landmark and the town’s original mill. Plans for that section also call for a pedestrian bridge made from the bridge that once crossed the river at Pearl Street.

”Whatever we wind up doing here ... recognizing our own history is a part of that," Hobson said.

At a central plaza, the memorials could also include QR codes to bring visitors to a city website with information on the person honored, he added.

“I think that is a great idea to honor the individuals. There is not a lot of honoring going on if they have no idea who they are,” said McHenry County Board member Pam Althoff. The former and first woman mayor and state senator from McHenry also has a honorary street sign, at North John Street and Judy Lane.

A map of McHenry’s current honorary street signs, and its previous policy, can be found at: mchenry.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=04a2fa53d8da48459bcd0e191f563ce4.