March 28, 2024
Looking Back | Morris Herald-News


Looking Back

Looking Back for Nov. 18, 2020

1920 – 100 YEARS AGO

With Thanksgiving Day just a week from today, the people of this vicinity are wondering where and when they are going to get their turkey. Naturally, the various meat markets will have some of the fowls, but the big demand is for those right fresh from the country. Only one of two of the farmers near here have any for sale, and it is said they are asking quite a price for them.

With the recent attempted robbery of the banks of the nearby towns, a number of people expect to wake up any morning and hear that one of the locals had been entered. The chances for this are very slim; however, as all of them have first-class, up-to-date burglar alarm devices, and all of them are located in spots where it would be very hard to get in without attracting attention.

E.S. Rauworth, president of the Apollo Company, is very proud over the completion of the first reproducing Apollo grand, which has recently gone through the factory. The first instrument was purchased by Mrs. Hugh Buckingham of Memphis,Tenn., formerly Miss Louise Lewis of this city.

A business transaction that will be of great interest to some local people is the renting of the Boone Tire & Rubber Company’s building at Sycamore by the Marvel Rubber Company of Chicago. The new tenants expect to start manufacturing their product very soon, but the exact date they will start is not known at the present time. A number of local people held stock in the Boone Tire & Rubber Company and will be glad to know that there will be an income from the building.

While nothing definite has been done on the proposition of a company of state militia to be stationed here, local men boosting for it have not given up hope and the chances are still very good for the company coming here. A city as large as this should have a company, it is the belief of the men backing it, as it is impossible to tell when it might be needed to quiet disturbances here.

Three more Italians left the first of this week for their native land, one of them being employed by the American Steel & Wire Company here for some years and the other two have worked on the North Western railroad. Most of them had nothing when they came, have saved their money and then go back to live the rest of their lives in retirement.

Glidden school folks are immensely proud of the fact that they are to dedicate their new Victrola at the parent-teacher’s meeting.

1945 – 75 YEARS AGO

Announcement has been made that the Ben Hur restaurant is closing on Monday, Nov. 19, and will remain closed for the entire week. It is planned to reopen on Monday, Nov. 26. During the period the place is closed, decorators will take over and the place is expected to present a new and brighter appearance in a week.

Whether the pheasants know it or not, there are more potential hunters equipped to go after them this year than ever before. This information is gleaned from the office of the city clerk of Sycamore, where licenses sold this year top the all-time record. There have been 319 hunting licenses sold to the present time, and there are still some sales being made daily.

Announcement was made at Fort Sheridan yesterday that a number of DeKalb area men will arrive in Chicago on Saturday on the 33rd Division troop train. Those from DeKalb said to be aboard this train are Clyde King, Sidney J. Boddy, Russell E. Benson, Albin S. Telford, and Lavern C. Armstrong. Others from this vicinity expected to arrive in Chicago tomorrow are William C. Groom of Plano, Robert Uphoff of Kirkland, Vernon E. Houghtby of Shabbona, Virgil D. Lewis of Sycamore and Frank E Woodruff of Marengo.

Pheasant hunters were out at dawn in Clare Sunday for the first day of the season. With the frequent sound of guns and the troop trains routed through Clare one can scarcely believe the war has ended.

As efforts are being made by the new operators of the Sycamore Fargo hotel to refurnish the institution, they are confronted with another situation, an unusually heavy demand for rooms on the part of the public. Over the weekends are usually regarded as light periods at most hotels, there was a heavy demand. This was traced to the large number of out of town pheasant hunters who came here for that sport.

Three youngsters of the Kingston community were brought before Justice of the Peace Muhe early this week on charges of trespassing. The charge was the outgrowth of a pheasant hunting trip west of Kingston when the youngsters not only hunted on a farm without permission but shot one of the chickens.

1970 – 50 YEARS AGO

The Sycamore Board of Education last night approved the construction of a walkway from the North Elementary School grounds to Pine Trail Street, eliminating the necessity of students walking or riding bicycles on Brickville Road, which is the only other entrance to the school property. The new gravel walkway will be 8 feet wide by 800 feet long and run along school property lines directly behind the Jerde property.

A farm supply firm affiliated with the Illinois Agricultural Association, F.S. Services Inc. announced Tuesday the purchase of 52 farm supply outlets in the Midwest from Monsanto Chemical Corp. of St. Louis. This includes two outlets in DeKalb County at Kirkland and Waterman.

The pending 69-mile East-West tollway extension that will serve the DeKalb area will be the most modern highway facility in the world when it opens to traffic approximately Aug. 1, 1973. It will be designed and constructed on the basis of the latest and most advanced techniques available in the field of highway technology.

1995 – 25 YEARS AGO

Compromise may be in the works between developers and a DeKalb alderman which could produce the one vote needed to pass an agreement bringing Walgreens to downtown.

The DeKalb City Council unanimously approved an annexation agreement with Tinley Park-based Panduit Corp., for a 140-acre site on Fairview Drive. Panduit plans to develop about 360,000 square feet of office, warehouse and manufacturing space in its first phase, expected to be completed by the end of 1997. The company makes plastic components for the wiring and communications industries.

Despite complaints from local residents, including a written protest from neighbors, the Sycamore City Council approved the St. Alban’s subdivision on Locust Street.

The DeKalb City Council is expected to dedicate a memorial to former police Sgt. Gilbert “Dick” Goff tonight, 25 years after the plan was first drawn up. Goff died of a heart attack on Sept. 25, 1970. He was 49. Goff had been with the DeKalb Police Department for 18 years. The memorial consists of the garden area installed around the city hall flag pole this year, and a plaque which has been donated by Johnny James Monuments.

– Compiled by Sue Breese