It was 1862 during the Civil War when the Union Army lieutenant Joseph R. McChesney, son of a circuit rider preacher, decided the Village of Danby needed a dry goods store. He opened it on the west side of Main street. Danby, later renamed Glen Ellyn, was a small but growing town and it welcomed the convenience of the little grocery. For a time Joseph R. McChesney was also the area's postmaster.

As the years went by, son Joseph D. McChesney, who bought into the family business, helped to grow the store and make changes as customers wanted more and different goods beyond groceries. McChesney's began selling household items and clothing.

Because the family was so community minded, father and son volunteered as firefighters, often using their own equipment to fight fires.

Customer demands included fresh meat, which the family bought from a young butcher named Oscar Miller, and resold in their store. Charles H. McChesney, grandson to Joseph R., invited Miller to open a shop right next door to McChesney's on Main street in 1913. Miller and the McChesneys worked well together managing day-to-day business. In fact, they worked so well together that Oscar bought interest in McChesney's and in April 1921 they became partners renaming the store McChesney and Miller, Inc.

Charles McChesney died in 1947. In 1953 Oscar Miller and his wife Eva (Kuhn) Miller bought the business from the estate to become the sole owners.

Oscar and Eva Miller's son Harry began working at the store while a student at Glenbard High School. Harry too became a volunteer firefighter just as the McChesneys did. In 1940 Harry married Eileen Abell whom he had known for many years. They had three daughters, Sandy (Mrs. Bill Behrmann), Linda (Mrs. Kermit Ludwig), and Jo Ann (Mrs. Corban Klug).

When Oscar died in 1962 Harry and his mother Eva continued operating the store. Management of the business was passed over in 1973 to sons-in-law Bill Behrmann and Kermit Ludwig. Bill started working part-time at the store while attending Glenbard West High School and became the assistant grocery manager in 1965. In 1982 Harry Miller retired after 50 years with the store and 33 years as a Glen Ellyn Volunteer Fireman, retiring as Second Assistant Chief Emeritus.

Sandy Behrmann and Linda Ludwig along with their husbands, owned and operated the store when their father Harry Miller passed away in November, 1986. The Behrmanns and Ludwigs co-managed the store until October 1, 2002, when the Behrmann family bought the Ludwig's interest in the store. Bill Behrmann, the company president, co-owns McChesney and Miller, Inc. with his daughters Christine and Jill. Chris, who has worked at the store since she was 16, now manages the cashiers and the front office.

The fifth generation -- Chris's and Jill's children -- are a familiar sight at the store.