History of the Addison Police Department

The history of the Addison Police Department begins with the appointment of its first Town Marchall, Henry A. Overkamp, on October 13, 1884, shortly after the Village was incorporated. Henry later served two terms as Village President. Overkamp Street in the Oak Knoll subdivision is named in his honor. The terms Town Marshall, Town Constable, and Policeman were used interchangeably in the early days of the village. The first reference to the term policeman occured in 1898 when the Village Board appointed Henry Senne to the position, authorizing as part of his duties, "To lock up vagrants and tramps in the evening in the village calaboose and release them the next morning, except when necessary to hold them longer." 1898 was also the year that the first Village Hall was built for the sum of $750.00.

On May 29, 1900, Fred Krage was sworn in as Town Constable. His photo, along with two of his pistols and handcuffs, are proudly displayed in the Office of the Chief of Police. The Department's Anderson Room was named after Chief Nels Anderson. Nels was appointed Chief of Police after the Village Board officially created the Police Departmentin 1960 and bought the Kinderheim School, located at 131 W. Lake Street, which became the permanent site for the Police Department and Village Hall. When Nels was first hired as a part time patrolman in 1950 there was only one police vehicle and it was not equipped with a radio. Instead, a red flag was raised at Feine's Shell Station at Addison Rd. and Lake St. when a call came in for the police. When Nels sawthe flag raised he would find a telephone and call Fiene's to see what the message was. The Department has come a long way since then and under the leadership of Chief Bill Hayden, the Department has embraced the principals of Community Oriented Policing and achieved national accreditation status in the years 2000 and 2003.