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1922 – 100 YEARS AGO
Beginning today, two trains on the North Western line will be discontinued. No definite statement of the reason for stopping these trains was issued but it is thought by railroad men that shortage of coal is the main reason. Train number 10 going east at 12:28 p.m. and train number 13 westbound at 2:20 p.m. were the passenger trains that were discontinued. It is not known when these trains will again be put in service.
Work on the Ellwood addition was completed this morning and the contractors have already loaded some of their material and machinery on the cars ready to ship it back to Chicago. The work, which was planned to be finished by the time of the big farmers’ picnic, was delayed several times by the failure of material to arrive. Despite the fact of the unavoidable setbacks, the pavement was completed nearly on contract time. The new paving will probably be opened tomorrow morning.
Boys accumulated 12 tons of dandelions for which they were paid one cent a pound by the officials of Ponca City, Okla., in a campaign to rid the city of the weed. Many were eager to take the dandelions home, they make good wine, you know, but disinfectant was put on them to ruin them for beverage purposes.
A very pleasant afternoon was spent in the Driscoll Grove last Thursday afternoon when the Clare M. E. Ladies Aid gathered for a picnic luncheon. There were lots of good things to eat after the regular business meeting.
A small fire was discovered in the rear of W. W. Cooper’s furniture store in Genoa early Thursday morning about 2:50 a.m. by officer Crawford. He at once called Cooper and then fired a few shots to arouse the neighborhood after which the bell was rung. It was necessary to use some water although a small chemical outfit was used. The damage was very light and was covered by insurance. It is thought to have started from a defective wire or by spontaneous combustion.
A lighted fire cracker thrown into the billboard in front of the State theatre yesterday afternoon set fire to the posters and caused considerable excitement for a few minutes. The fire cracker set the paper bills burning and had it not been for the work of Frank Biagini, who tore the poster out and put out the blaze with water, the damage might have been considerable.
1947 – 75 YEARS AGO
Over the Fourth of July holiday, the DeKalb fire department was called out twice, once on Thursday evening and the second time yesterday. One of the calls was due to firecrackers. Thursday evening about 8:30 o’clock the department was summoned to 1016 West Lincoln Highway to the apartment occupied by G. Ward. A chair, mattress and some bedding were destroyed. Water was used to extinguish the blaze. Yesterday a grass fire on the Clarence Buehler farm on Annie Glidden Road was responsible for a call to the station. The blaze started from firecrackers.
Back in those heady, exciting days just before the war in 1941, a young Chicago lad drifted down to Galesburg and learned to fly an airplane in a hurry. There might be a war and he wanted to know how to fly. Army flyers were a glamorous lot in those days. Even as he tested his fledgling wings, he was dreaming of the day where he would have his own airport. The war came and went and the youthful Chicagoan flew all right, two long years of it, as a civilian flight instructor, teaching others how to fly the way the army wanted them taught. Today, however, his other dream has come true, too. He has his own airport and it’s coming along pretty good, too. Carrel Carls was this name of the youthful Chicagoan and his airport is the newest one in DeKalb County, the Sycamore airport, one mile east of the county seat on Highway 64.
Lewis Asheland of Esmond is taking a week’s vacation from his work at the DeKalb foundry. He is having an oil burner and bathroom installed in his home.
Sycamore’s city clock located on the corner of Somonauk and West State Street on the Strain Building is receiving a “brightening up” process this morning. The numbers of the clock, which were hardly visible, are receiving a coat of black paint. It is expected that the white on the face of the clock will also be painted.
The commercial pea harvest started in DeKalb County yesterday about ten days and two weeks later than usual. California Packing Corporation started harvesting the early pea crop on all their farms in the county and the packing lines at the DeKalb plant began humming yesterday.
1972 – 50 YEARS AGO
Faced with a continuing need for subsidizing from the county’s general fund, the County Home Committee adopted the goal of placing the county home on a self-supporting basis.
County Highway Supt. Willard Williams revealed plans to raise a portion of Plank Road which flooded recently, causing a halt in traffic over the road for two days. Williams said his department will raise the road level of a portion of the highway nearly one-quarter of a mile east of Route 23. This section of road lies in a saucer-like terrain and was covered by 11 inches of water following the recent heavy rainfall in the Sycamore area.
With prospects of standing at the highest point in DeKalb County, pupils from the Haish summer school boarded a school bus and headed for the NIU campus Wednesday morning. For most students, the tour of the University Center was a new experience, topped by an elevator ride to the 16th floor Sky Room. Predictably, the first landmark to be recognized was McDonald’s golden arches.
A worker in the DeKalb Chronicle circulation department assembled a gigantic seven-section special historical edition going out with the regular issue of the paper today. The weight of the annual edition is some two pounds four ounces, a hefty load for carriers and readers alike.
1997 – 25 YEARS AGO
When Sycamore resident Juanita Doss was doing research for her “veterans” book, ”Gone But Not Forgotten,” she found a veteran buried in Sycamore’s Elmwood Cemetery by the name of Joseph Hunt who did not have a gravestone. Through research, Doss found out that Hunt was an African-American soldier who died in 1966 at Hines Veterans Hospital. She obtained a copy of Hunt’s discharge papers and death certificate so that a free gravestone could be purchased. For his 83rd birthday, Hunt received a veteran’s stone, flag and flowers in red, white, and blue.
Allyn Davenport’s hot dog stand at the corner of Lincoln Highway and Second Street gives downtown DeKalb an old-time feel. But to business owners, Davenport is famous for something other than polish sausage and popcorn, his commitment to keeping downtown clean. Davenport works seven days a week, 365 days a year picking up garbage, scrubbing dumpsters and watering flowers in downtown DeKalb.
– Compiled by Sue Breese