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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.
February 2002
Oswego and Montgomery staff members were continuing their joint efforts to establish a local Metra commuter rail Park & Ride facility. Oswego Village Administrator Carrie Hansen said the establishment of a Park & Ride facility could serve as a “demonstration project” that would show Metra and other state transportation officials that there is a need to eventually extend full commuter rail service along the existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway’s main line to the two villages.
February 1997
Officials with Lucent Technologies announced that demolition work would begin on the shuttered Western Electric/AT&T plant along the west bank of the Fox River just south of U.S. Route 30 in Montgomery in June. AT&T had halted production at the massive plant with 469,000 square feet of floor space two years earlier.
Village of Oswego officials were interested in annexing the Boulder Hill Market at Boulder Hill Pass and Route 25. But to do so, the village first needed to annex several unincorporated homes along Route 25. During a special village board meeting a group of Route 25 homeowners told Village President Budd Bieber and the board that they were not interested in annexing to the village.
February 1992
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) set up picket lines at Caterpillar’s Oswego Township plant near Montgomery. At issue in the ongoing labor strife between the union and the heavy equipment manufacturer was a new basic work agreement.
The Oswego-Montgomery area was no longer immune from the influence of gang activity. Oswego Police confirmed that they had identified “less than ten” known gang members among students at Oswego High School.
As part of the start-up of construction in Oswego’s new Lakeview Estates Subdivision, contractors for the developer installed a new storm sewer line through the existing Brookside Manor Subdivision north of Ill. Route 71. Advertisements for Lakeview Estates placed the starting prices for single family homes in the development “in the $130s.”
February 1987
The Oswego Village Board was proceeding with plans for a series of property annexations along Route 34 from an area just east of Boulder Hill Pass to Route 30. In a related matter, the Illinois Department of Transportation completed a traffic study of the Route 34 corridor from Ill. Route 59 in Aurora to Ill. Route 71 in Oswego.
February 1982
Many Boulder Hill residents were upset by a Montgomery Village Board vote that doubled water rates in the unincorporated subdivision. During a meeting of the Boulder Hill Civic Association, Paul Schuch, Montgomery’s village engineer, told an estimated 100 concerned Boulder Hill residents that the rate hikes were necessary to allow the village to maintain the integrity of the village’s water system.
February 1977
The Montgomery Village Board voted unanimously to send a letter to the West Aurora School District concerning the possible closure of Nicholson Elementary School on North Main Street in the village.
In a unanimous ballot, the Oswego School District Board voted to re-name Oswego Junior High School in honor of T. Lloyd Traughber who served as school district superintendent from 1948 to 1968. In the same ballot, the board named the district’s new junior high school, Reeve R. Thompson Junior High, to honor a long-time band and music teacher in the district.
February 1972
Jane Steele, an Oswego resident and bird expert, reported to the Oswego Ledger that she had observed American bald eagles during a recent visit to the Mississippi River Valley.
The Oswego Village Board granted pay increases of 5.5% to the four members of the village police department. The highest paid member of the department was receiving a monthly salary of $800, the Ledger reported.
February 1967
Oswego-Montgomery area residents spent time digging out from a record 23 inch snowfall that fell on most of northeastern Illinois in late January. The front page of the Feb. 2 edition of the Ledger featured photos of East View Elementary School and the Oswego Public Library buried in snow.
The new Junior College District Board set a Feb. 21 deadline for entrees in its contest to name the proposed new junior college. The board and college staffers were working to open the college at temporary locations throughout the district for the fall 1967 semester.
February 1962
Carr’s Department Store on Main Street in downtown Oswego was offering shoppers a Valentine’s Day toy sale. All toys regularly priced at $1 were marked down to 77 cents each.
The Oswego Community Library Association was continuing its fundraising efforts to pay for the construction of a new library building. The association had set a goal of raising $35,000. As of February 1962, a total of $3,502.55 had been raised, including $1,905.05 that had been collected during the 1958 “Oswegorama” community celebration and held in trust by the village.
February 1957
Representatives from a Chicago planning firm joined by members of the Oswego Plan Commission unveiled the first ever comprehensive land use plan for the village during a public meeting held in the gymnasium at Oswego High School. The Ledger reported that many local organizations helped raise $2,500 to have the plan prepared. The Ledger also noted, “Oswego is one of the smallest, if not the smallest, town in this part of the United States to have such an official plan prepared and ready for adoption.”
February 1952
In his weekly editorial, Ford Lippold, Ledger publisher and editor, noted that Oswego, like all other communities, was home to a “very few individuals who find fault with everything and everybody. They snipe continually at the school board, the village board, the PTA, the women’s clubs, the Lions Club, the ministers, the school teachers, the businessmen, their neighbors and so on...and yet, these same individuals never vote, never take part in civic affairs, and never are honest enough to do their vocalizing in the open. Yes, there are a lot of things that are needed to make Oswego a better place but let’s be constructive about it and above all...let’s not stoop to sniping.”
February 1942
Prompt action by the Oswego Volunteer Fire Department saved the Federated Church (now the Church of the Good Shepherd) from serious damage by fire Feb. 5, the Record reported. Firefighters were called to the church at Washington (Route 34) and Madison streets after the belfry caught fire from a spark from the church chimney. The Record reported that little damage was done to the wood frame building or a new organ which was covered by a tarpaulin.
February 1937
On Feb. 24, the Record reported: “The Oswego post of the American Legion is sponsoring another WLS barn dance show, which is to be staged in the Oswego high school gymnasium March 4-6.”
February 1932
The Record offered this editorial comment amidst the Great Depression: “We are indeed fortunate in Kendall County that most of the worst which can occur here has happened, and that people are forcibly ready to accept conditions as they are and to make the best of them. The stress in the towns is teaching us a new democracy. We are now quite ready to cooperate with all and with anything to improve conditions.”
The Record reported: “Surveyors are making a plat of Oswego for the purposes of selecting a desirable location for the Oswego-Naperville paved road.”
February 1917
On Feb. 7, 1917, Record editor and publisher H.R. Marshall wrote: “The government of the United States is preparing for war. A force of 500,000 men is expected to be raised to defend the coasts of the country—not for foreign invasion.”
The prospect of war with Germany called into question the loyalty of German immigrants. The Record reported that “one leading German of Chicago” assessed the situation this way: “…it is much the same as of a man who is asked to choose between mother and bride--the old home or the new--and he would choose the bride.”
February 1907
“The scarlet fever broke out here Thursday, though apparently not of the virulent kind,” the Record’s Oswego correspondent reported on Feb. 20, 1907. “Immediately everything was done to keep it from spreading. The houses in which any appearance of it was had were quarantined; the school was closed; no Sunday school nor other church services were held Sunday.”
February 1892
The Record reported: “The sick are still numerous but none dangerous.”
The Feb. 10 issue of the Record contained this comment about the pending World’s Fair in Chicago: “Chicago is overrun with highway robbers, thugs with revolvers and sandbags, and the police seem dazed. This is only a forecast of the troubles the World’s Fair will bring.”
February 1877
Crime was a problem in Oswego, according to the Record. The paper reported: “A man was overtaken and arrested here last week by Bristol Stationers for leaving their place with an overcoat not his own.” Another report: “Some of our fellow citizens had to get intimidated with the calaboose in order to wind up their sprees.”...
February 1867
The Record reported that during the evening of Feb. 9, 1867, fire destroyed virtually the entire east side of Main Street in downtown Oswego, from Washington to Jackson streets. Total damage to buildings and their contents, including village and township records, was set at $12,000, of which just over $7,000 was covered by insurance.