The Sears No. 2069 That Survived Chicago Heights’ Gangland Era

333 W. 16th St., Chicago Heights, discovered by Matthew Hendrickson.

The Sears model No. 2069 was a striking Craftsman bungalow designed by Henry Lawrence Wilson.

This is an unusual Sears house in Chicago Heights. It has the floor plan of the Sears No. 2069 house, and the sides all match up. However, the front of the house differs from the catalog illustration. The dormer has an extra window, the fenestration is wrong on the first floor. The front porch has been rebuilt and the original front door replaced. The low-pitched roofline matches the catalog and the house has original decorative five-piece brackets from Sears.

Another curious detail is that the No. 2069 was only sold until 1923, yet this house was built in 1927 — as confirmed by contemporary news reports. This is uncommon, but there have been instances where a customer requested a discontinued Sears model.

Let's take a closer look.

The No. 2069 featured a distinctive floor plan. There originally was a separate mantel nook in the living room with seating. There were beamed ceilings in the dining room and a built-in buffet and a window seat. In the rear there was an enclosed sleeping porch.

The No. 2069 had an unusual window configuration on the side with the dining room. A new front porch was added in 2023, which further distinguishes the home from its catalog counterpart.

The rear of the house matches the floor plan, including the side porch.

The dining room is separated from the living room by a colonnade. It still has the original coffered ceilings.

The original owners were Carl L. Fiedler and his wife, Rosa, who moved into their new house in the summer of 1927. 

Chicago Heights: A City in Turmoil

When the Fiedlers settled into their new Sears home, Chicago Heights was far from a quiet suburb. The city was in the grip of Prohibition-era violence. Sicilian gangs controlled illegal distilleries and liquor distribution, gambling, vice operations, and extortion rackets across the South suburbs.

By 1926, Chicago Heights had become a battleground for rival factions. The city became the site of dozens of murders tied to organized crime. Even the police were not safe — the police chief of neighboring South Chicago Heights, LeRoy Gilbert, was murdered during this violent period when someone fired a sawed-off shotgun into his living room. 

Al Capone himself reportedly supervised operations in Chicago Heights, ensuring that his allies held key local offices. 

A House Under Fire

Meanwhile, Carl was a local realtor and active in city politics — outspoken, civic-minded, and never afraid of controversy. Newspaper accounts suggest he was something of a civic gadfly, filing lawsuits against taxing bodies and even challenging the legality of local ballots. At one point, after he was slapped and kicked by a city official, he sued the city of Chicago Heights for $100,000. He served as president of the Seventh Ward Improvement Association and was involved with the Better Government Association. Those roles often placed him at odds with local officials during a time when Chicago Heights politics were deeply entangled with organized crime and corruption.

In fact, Carl’s activism nearly cost him his life.

In the early hours of August 24, 1927, the quiet of the Fiedlers’ new home was shattered by gunfire. According to a front-page article in The Chicago Heights Star, two shotgun blasts were fired through the bedroom window of the Fiedler home while Carl and Rosa slept.

The slugs, likely fired from two separate guns, missed the couple by only a few feet. One blast tore through the lower pane of the window at the foot of their bed, passed through heavily insulated walls, and smashed into a dining room picture. The second shot pierced the upper pane of the window, cut through plaster and lath, and blew holes in the bedroom closets. Buckshot and broken glass were scattered throughout the bedroom and dining room.

Police found that the shells were made from flattened buckshot — the type commonly used in gangster warfare.

Carl reported hearing two men running down the street moments after the attack, jumping into a car that sped away with its muffler wide open. Although the police searched the area, no arrests were made.

When reporters asked Carl whether he believed the shooting was meant to intimidate him, he responded with characteristic defiance:

“Well, you know whom I’ve been exposing,” he told them. 

“Do you think that I would endanger the lives of those in my household as a publicity stunt? I am certain the attack was meant to kill me, and the only fear I experienced was for the safety of my wife. I know who is responsible for it, but I refuse to be intimidated.”

The story perfectly captured the dangerous political climate of Chicago Heights in 1927.

National newspapers described the city as “Seething in bloodshed, site of a hundred gang murders,  a cauldron of rum-running, bootlegging, distilling, and home-brewing, a city hopelessly enmeshed in gangster activities...." The federal government eventually stepped in. In 1929, agents raided the town, destroying stills and illegal slot machines, arresting (or deporting) scores of mobsters, and even uncovering corruption within the Cook County government. 

Life After the Shooting

Despite the violence, Carl and Rosa continued to live in the house. Carl remained active in public affairs.

 Carl died in 1935 from heart disease — a passing notable enough that his obituary included the cause of death, perhaps to quiet speculation after his turbulent public life. Rosa stayed in the home for several more years, dying in 1944 at the age of 75, closing the chapter on the Fiedler family’s long residence.

Legacy of Resilience

The juxtaposition of a peaceful family home against a backdrop of social upheaval makes this property — and Chicago Heights itself — a rich subject for historians. Nearly a hundred years later, the No. 2069 remains a survivor and a reminder that even ordinary-looking homes can hold extraordinary stories.

Copyright Disclaimer: All photographs in this post (unless otherwise noted) are from real estate aggregate Redfin.com and are used in this post for the purposes of education, consistent with 17 USC §107.