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Compiled by Roger Matile and John Etheredge from articles published in the Ledger-Sentinel, Fox Valley Sentinel, Oswego Ledger, Kendall County Record and historical information provided by the village of Montgomery.
January 2002
Plans to build a Portillo’s restaurant in the Oswego Commons shopping center at U.S. Route 34 and Douglas Road in the village were reviewed by the village plan commission.
Officials with the Dominick’s grocery chain announced they would close their store on Douglas Road in Montgomery when they opened their new store in the Oswego Commons shopping center later in the year. Dominick’s had operated its Montgomery store in the Settlers Landing shopping center since 1984.
January 1997
The Montgomery Police Department replaced its police dog, “Brando,” with a new dog, “Zanto.” Village board member William Keck told his board colleagues that Brando had failed to perform up to police expectations.
Oswego Village Board members were upset to receive notice from Jones Intercable that the firm would increase the monthly cost to its local customers for ‘tier one’ cable service, from $23.99 to $25.49. Village President Budd Bieber noted that Jones’ exclusive franchise agreement to provide cable television service to village residents would expire in two years. “If anyone out there wants to start a cable television service, come see us,” Bieber said.
January 1992
The Montgomery Police Commission approved the hiring of a 12th officer for the village department. The commission set the officer’s hourly salary at $12.04.
Oswego School Board members presided over a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the re-opening of Boulder Hill Elementary School. During an emergency meeting two months earlier, the board had voted to temporarily close the school to allow contractors to remove all asbestos materials from the building. The board acted after learning that tests had determined the level of airborne asbestos in the school had exceeded federal standards.
Area officials voiced support for a plan to construct the new Rush Copley Medical Center on a 95 acre parcel along U.S. Route 34 in Aurora, just north of the Kane-Kendall County line. A year earlier, most of the same area officials had voiced opposition to a plan to construct the hospital closer to the city’s Fox Valley Mall.
Contractors for the Illinois Department of Transportation put up temporary traffic signals at the intersection of U.S. Route 30 and Wolf’s Crossing Road, east of Oswego. The project pleased local officials and several residents who had repeatedly called on the agency to put up the signals as a safety measure. IDOT acted after a Plano kindergarten teacher died in an accident at the intersection four months earlier.
January 1987
Dennis Hastert, a 1961 Oswego High School graduate, was sworn-in as a freshman member of the 100th U.S. Congress in ceremonies held on Capitol Hill.
Construction had started on the first buildings in Oswego’s new Kendall Point Business Center off U.S. Route 34, just south of U.S. Route 30.
The village of Oswego issued 16 building permits for new single family homes in the village in 1986, up from the three permits issued in 1985, the Ledger-Sentinel reported.
January 1982
A proposal to develop the 211 acre Fox Hollow Subdivision off U.S. Route 34 (now the site of the Mill Race Creek Subdivision) in Oswego was the topic of an ongoing community controversy. Many village residents were concerned that the project would double the village’s population and objected to plans to construct apartments and a shopping center as part of the development. A group of residents successfully petitioned to place an advisory referendum on the proposal on the March party primary ballot. But the residents were outraged when the village board announced plans to cast a final ballot on the project during a meeting Feb. 1, six weeks before the referendum. At the time of the controversy, the village’s population was 3,900, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
January 1977
Members of the Boulder Hill Civic Association announced plans to organize a special committee to study the possible annexation of the unincorporated subdivision to the Village of Oswego. Association members noted that a survey of Hill residents had found the majority of those responding in favor of annexation to Oswego, instead of Montgomery or incorporation. Oswego Village President Harry Fuller expressed a willingness to study the possible annexation of Boulder Hill by the village. Referring to Boulder Hill residents, Fuller said, “The longer they wait to make a decision, the harder it will be to work it out.”
January 1972
During their monthly meeting, the Oswegoland Park District Board of Commissioners learned that attendance for the two year-old Civic Center pool was 51,200 for the 1971 season.
January 1967
The Oswego-Montgomery area was blanketed by a record snowfall estimated at 23 inches. “After a mild winter with very little snow, and especially after last Tuesday’s record temperatures in the 60s, the blizzard of Thursday and Friday really was a shock,” the Oswego Ledger reported.
Members of Junior College District Board 516 were conducting a contest to name the proposed new junior college. The contest winner was set to receive a one semester scholarship plus $25 in cash. (The board eventually chose to honor a late Indian chief who once lived in the area, Waubonsee.)
January 1962
The Ledger editorialized, “Too often the commendable things people do are glossed over. We think the Oswego Village Board deserves a pat on the back for the excellent job of snow removal this winter. Not only did they engineer the job, but a number of them spent a good many hours working themselves.
“Probably we should also mention the members of the volunteer fire department at the same time. The firemen answered three calls in less than 24 hours Tuesday in 10 degree below zero weather. How would you like to be called out of a nice warm bed at 4:30 a.m. in 10 degree below zero weather to fight a fire?”
The Oswego Community School Planning Committee held one of its periodic meetings to discuss problems facing the local school system. The Ledger reported that one of the immediate problems was to provide school rooms for a rapidly growing student population. The student population had more than doubled between 1956 and 1961.
January 1957
The village of Oswego issued a total of 36 building permits in 1956 for projects worth a combined $207,625, the Ledger reported. Of the 36 permits issued, 16 went for new homes.
Milton “Les” Penn, chairman of the Oswego Village Board’s law and order committee, issued a notice that dog owners who let their pets roam freely in the village would be subject to $10 fines plus court costs. Penn issued the notice after three children were bitten by dogs in separate incidents over a two week period in the village.
January 1952
The Record reported the end of an era in local transportation: “CB&Q (passenger) trains No. 133 and 134, operating between Aurora and Streator, will make a final trip on Saturday, Feb. 2, 1952. The Burlington Transportation Co. will provide service for the towns served by trains 133 and 134. That is, inbound and outbound shipments of express, baggage, and cream will continue from the Burlington Depot as in the past, but will be handled by motor truck instead of rail.” The trains had provided passenger rail service for Oswego.
January 1947
A heavy snow fell on the Oswego-Montgomery area shortly after New Year’s Day 1947. The Kendall County Record’s Oswego correspondent described the snow as “unusually heavy” and reported that traffic was blocked on local streets.
January 1942
An illustration in the Record was headlined: “Here is how Germany Might Bomb our Mid-West Cities.” According to the information, German bombers could be re-supplied at Spitsbergen, Norway; Ellesmere Island; and at Hudson Bay, Canada for their trek from the west coast of Norway. “We are vulnerable to air attacks coming over the North Pole,” the paper warned.
“Citizens!” a front page ad read in the Record. “Our country having been forced into a war and now being subject to attack from within as well as from without, it is imperative for every loyal citizen to stand ready to render assistance in case of an emergency. In order to utilize your efforts to the best possible advantage, it is necessary that our Local Defense Councils have full information as to what work each of you is able and willing to do, if necessary. Accordingly, Thursday, Feb. 5, has been designed by the Kendall County Executive Board as Registration Day. Each community will have a committee in attendance at one of the places listed below for the purpose of registering everyone possible. Remember Pearl Harbor! Let it not happen here!”
January 1932
The Record contained this editorial comment: “Finland votes out prohibition and there are some, undoubtedly, who would like to see the United States tag after her in the matter. Most of the people, however, would prefer to have our country continue truly American on this as well as other points.”
The Record’s Oswego correspondent reported, “A 1927 model Chrysler sedan fully equipped and the gasoline tank partly filled with gasoline was abandoned in front of Scott Cutter’s pharmacy in Oswego last Tuesday, Dec. 29. The owner has not yet put in his appearance nor been located.”
January 1927
Another editorial comment from the Record: “Sheriff L.L. Urich of Kane County is to be complimented on the effort he is making to close the road houses of Kane County. The eradication of slot machines, punch boards, and illicit liquor will work a real achievement for Kane County. The county has been looked upon as the loosest county in the state outside of Cook for a number of years. It has been the “playground” for Chicago with plenty of road houses and lots of freedom.”
January 1912
The Record’s Oswego correspondent reported on Jan. 10, 1912 that Rudolph Knapp sold his meat market to Eugene Moyer. Then just a week later, Moyer sold the meat market to A. O. Rebel and A. Nengebauer. The meat market was located at 67 Main Street.
That same week, the Record report from Oswego: “The post office has been moved to new quarters in the Burkhart building (at the southeast corner of Main and Washington streets) and Postmaster Richards is proud of the new office. This structure contains the Oswego Bank, the post office and a garage. It was just completed and makes a fine improvement on the corner in Oswego that is most conspicuous to those who ride on the street cars.”
January 1907
On Jan 9, the Record reported that “The scarlet fever has broken out in the German settlement [on Wolf’s Crossing Road]. Four children of the Fred Bower family were reported to be down with it. Some members of the John H. Hafenrichter family are also affected, and both the houses are quarantined. Emma, a daughter of the latter family had gone to Colorado for her health but died there.”
January 1877
The Record’s Oswego correspondent reported, “Getting married and dying seem to be the two most prominent events of human existence, so accordingly I kept again a record of them the past year. Number of marriages, 19; of the persons they embraced, 28, or 13 males and 15 females were from this town and vicinity. Of this number, three males were married and unknown. It was a bad year for widows as none of them got married. There was a falling off of six marriages, 11 persons or four males and seven females, from the previous year. The number of deaths (not including infants, of which there were about four) were 20 of which 11 were males and nine females.”
January 1867
“For the first time this winter, we have good sleighing and anything that will slide is on the road,” the Record’s Oswego correspondent reported on Jan. 17, 1867.