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1924 – 100 Years Ago
High number fans will be able to feast their eyes upon a real Illinois license attached to a DeKalb Ford which runs into the figures of 909,209. The license tag was received from Springfield this morning.
Tonight, the furniture firm known as Henaughan’s will formally go out of business, although for the past two weeks only the work of cleaning out the building has occupied the time of the members of the firm. On the death of the senior member of the firm, S. M. Henaughan, it was decided that the organization should cease business activities. John Henaughan will continue to conduct the undertaking parlor and will inaugurate a new method of furniture dealing through catalog.
Sycamore folks may well turn out tonight for the weekly band concert which will be given on the court house lawn. According to present weather predictions, there will be no rain today, and tonight’s’ crowd should be a record breaker. A most select program has been arranged and under the able and efficient direction of the leader, James Robertson, of DeKalb, the local musicians will give one of the choicest repertoires of the season.
Cake and ice cream will be served on the lawn at St. Mary’s church on Maple Park, Saturday evening, August 2. Music will be furnished by the Boy’s State Home band of St. Charles from 6:30 until 8:00 o’clock. Everyone come out and enjoy a good time.
Michael Malone yesterday afternoon, while going to his home on North Third street, was attacked by two dogs and his left arm was severely lacerated before he was able to drive the dogs away. The accident occurred on the corner of Third street and Locust. The two dogs came after Mr. Malone and he attempted to chase them away. He threw a brick at the dogs, but he was finally able to drive them away, but not before they had bitten him on the arm. A physician has taken care of the wound in order to prevent infection.
Employees of the power company yesterday afternoon finished the erection of the poles within the city limits that are to carry the high-tension lines for the purpose of supplying Malta with electrical energy. It is thought the work of erecting the cross bars and stringing the cable will be taken care of within the next few weeks. A gang of men has started on the work of erecting poles from the city limits of DeKalb to Malta and the service for Malta should be put into operation within a short time.
1949– 75 Years Ago
On Monday, Aug. 1, two new postal routes will be inaugurated in DeKalb that will serve about 1,200 persons who are at present receiving their mail on rural routes. Twice-a-day deliveries will be available to those residents starting Monday. Four full-time carriers have been added to care for the expanded service. Postmaster D. A. Leifheit reminded the residents where the new service will start Monday that they must have address numbers on their houses and also must have a mail box.
About 4 o’clock this morning the DeKalb fire department was summoned to the William Potts home, located at 625 North Ninth Street. A mattress in an upstairs bedroom was set afire by a lighted cigarette and dense clouds of smoke filled the upper part of the home. The firemen, after cooling the mattress off a bit with the use of chemicals, tossed it out the window and the danger was ended.
They say that a painter never paints his own house and that a shoe maker never remembers to repair his own shoes and it seems that some gas station operators fail to gas their own cars. One well known operator of a filling station took himself a drive in the early morning air when returning from Belvidere his conveyance ran out of the well-known petrol about 12:30 o’clock in the morning and left he and his family stranded on the Glidden Road just south of Tour 64. He started his trek to DeKalb afoot and fortunately a fellow motorist who remembered to keep plenty of gasoline in his tank, stopped and offered him a ride.
A. P., 20, one of four brothers and cousins involved in DeKalb County chicken stealing a year ago and who escaped the county jail by way of a basement door, is now in a Kentucky prison serving a year for chicken theft. A. P. led the jailbreak here, but neglected to stay out of sight of Chief Deputy Francis Sullivan in his flight. Sullivan saw him on a dark street in DeKalb, but recognized him and promptly picked him up again although he had no knowledge of the jail break.
1974 – 50 Years Ago
Reaching into the community with study and field trips, Ellwood School youngsters are growing more aware of the working world in the DeKalb area. Weekly field trips are the focus of the six-week summer program. Each Tuesday, children choose which of three trips they will take on Wednesday. As a community group for that week, they discuss the business or industry to be toured, and plan the photos they will take and questions they will ask.
Warren Willey, local farmer, left off pulling Jimpson weeds to compete in the first barbed wire rolling contest Saturday. In this unique competition, he won first over 15 others by rolling up his 100 feet of barbed wire in 66.8 seconds. Time penalties were assessed for rolls which were too small, under 24 inches in diameter, or too large, over 30 inches.
The Sycamore sky was filled with helium balloons yesterday morning when children from vacation church schools from the United Methodist, St. Peter’s Episcopal and Federated churches held their community sing on the courthouse lawn. The balloons were released at the conclusion of spelling L-O-V-E.
An Illinois native associated with two St. Louis universities for the past 18 years has been named dean of the new College of Professional Studies at NIU, becoming the highest-ranking woman administrator at the state’s second largest campus.
1999 - 25 Years Ago
Under the steaming heat of the summer’s sun, officials gathered to formally dedicate a new addition to Genoa’s recreation facilities. A new biking/jogging path has been completed parallel to the access road to new Kiernan Park, in cooperation with a business donor and the Genoa Township Park District.
Few words were uttered in support of Byron Materials’ request to establish a quarry just south of Fairdale, west of Kirkland, at a second public hearing held last night. Although the petitioner, Joe McKnight, was in attendance, he exercised his right not to address Hearing Officer Ron Klein or the more than 30 citizens who showed up in opposition to the quarry.
When Ruth Neumann moved into the last house at Warren Place in DeKalb, she became part of a subdivision that welcomed people by including them in neighborhood function. That was also 40 years ago. Since then, she has helped extend the neighborhood’s wish to make residents feel at home by keeping in touch with former residents, inviting them to take part in neighborhood gatherings.
– Compiled by Sue Breese