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1920 – 100 YEARS AGO
Approximately $6,000 in Christmas savings checks was mailed out by the Fourth Street Bank today and will soon be spent very profitably and enjoyably in buying Christmas gifts. Some of the money undoubtedly will be returned to the bank to start savings accounts for next year as the bank has announced that the accounts will be opened almost immediately. The checks, the result of small investments throughout the past year, will gladden hearts of many kiddies and grownups tomorrow. For at this time of year, money always seems to be a little more welcome than at any other.
A sight that caused a great many people of this city to stop and look this morning was when one little Velie car was seen towing two large Republic trucks with a disabled Velie touring car piled on the carriage part of one of the trucks. The cars are the property of the George Von Decker Contract Hauling Company of Clinton. They left the city early yesterday with all cars in good condition. First one of the trucks broke down, then the other, until finally the touring car towed them all in to DeKalb, where repairs were made.
All of the children in the towns of Shabbona and Lee are being vaccinated at the present time for small pox, as this disease has broken out in these places. In neither of the two places is there anyone who is seriously ill, as there is very little danger of a real epidemic. The reason for this is because of the vaccine with which almost everyone has had a “shot” at one time or another.
Unless a large amount of water comes from somewhere very soon, the kids of this city who like ice skating are apt to be out of luck, as there is but very little water in the normal pond. The pond is the only place here that the kids have to skate in and at the present time there is about enough water for 20 or 30 of them to get on at once. In years past, the pond has been able to accommodate as many as 200 and 300 people.
A number of accidents have happened on the cement road in Malta this year, and most of them have occurred right at the entrance into town. In some cases, the men going to town are to blame, while in others the driver on the highway was at fault. This brings home more clearly than ever the need for careful driving at this spot and especially now as the roads will soon be covered with ice and snow.
1945 – 75 YEARS AGO
Pvt. Robert G. Kittleson, who is stationed a quarter-mile off the coast of Korea in the village of Jensen, would like to hear from his friends, according to his letters. He states that it is getting cold over there and also stated that the people there are about 150 years behind us. He is one of the cooks there and is enjoying his work.
Carroll Mummert, county farm adviser, was burned about the face and hands yesterday morning while caring for the furnace. Believing the fire to be out, he put a little kerosene on and it backfired. Fortunately, the burns were not serious on his face and one hand, but he has third-degree burns on the other hand.
Without fanfare or unusual publicity a new firm has been organized and is now active in Sycamore. Although employing only five at the present time, there are indications that the business has a splendid chance to prosper and become one of the valuable smaller organizations of the community. The firm is composed of Carl and Rolly Larson, well known Sycamore residents who are operating the greenhouse here, and Jerry O’Connell, recently discharged from the Air Force. The two Larson brothers will retain their interest in the greenhouse as before and Mr. O’Connell enters the picture as a partner in the manufacture of wreaths. At the present time, all activity is centered on the making of Christmas wreaths, both for decoration and grave purposes.
At 1:30 a.m. this morning, the DeKalb Fire Department was called to 144 S. Fifth Street where a fire had been discovered in a coal shed. Two trucks answered the call and the blaze was soon brought under control, but not before the inside of the shed had been scorched considerably. The fire is thought to have started in some rubbish which was in the shed. The loss was slight. The building is owned by the Haish estate.
Pfc. Ray Williams of DeKalb was recently awarded the Bronze Star Medal according to a communication received from the 96th Division in the Philippines. He was awarded the medal for meritorious service against the enemy at Okinawa.
1970 – 50 YEARS AGO
Forty-nine freight cars of a 90-car Burlington Northern freight train derailed a mile east of Waterman last night at 11:25 p.m., killing three men who were apparently riding in the box cars as transients.
The Kishwaukee College Board of Trustees last night unanimously approved a proposal to establish a Kishwaukee College Foundation. The nonprofit organization will work “for the advancement of the college,” according to Kishwaukee College President Dr. Lamar Fly.
The DeKalb County Natural Resources Center in Russell Forest Preserve, Genoa, may have to depend on all county school districts to continue if federal funds are not accessible next year, according to Ward Miller, director of the center. The center was originally funded from its start in 1968 by a Title III elementary and secondary education grant, which expires in March 1971.
The new sheriff for DeKalb County is Wilbur Scott. Scott, who moved up from his former position of chief deputy, succeeds Melvin Shaw, who was recently head of the detective division of the Sheriff’s Department.
Approximately 32 townspeople and NIU interest groups met at city hall last night to form a citizen’s Committee to Save the Arboretum. The area residents and northern student chapter of the American Institute of Biological Sciences are combining efforts to stall the bid opening on Dec. 22, at which time the new psychology-math building is to be approved for the site at the corner of Normal Road and West Lincoln Highway in the remaining three acres of the arboretum.
1995 – 25 YEARS AGO
Clinton Rosette Middle School recently has become one of Channel 2’s weather stations around Chicago that will provide information for its weather broadcasts.
Opponents to a request to rezone land along Route 64 for construction of a church are hoping the full DeKalb County Board will side with them when the matter is taken up. The county board’s planning and zoning committee, on a 3-2 vote, approved a request from the United Pentecostal Church to rezone just under two acres of land and grant a special use permit for the construction of a church. The property is located along Route 64, just west of Five Points Road, located among several single-family homes. The committee’s approval came despite objections from neighboring property owners that the church would be out of place with the character of the area.
– Compiled by Sue Breese