1925 – 100 Years Ago

Spark Plug, the combination chemical and hose wagon of the DeKalb fire department was kept unusually busy yesterday on account of grass and auto fires. During the afternoon one of the Schulz wagons caught fire near Maple Park and Spark Plug was called on account of the wagon being close to a filling station. It is reported today that the two men in the wagon, narrowly escaped, as the machine suddenly exploded. They were required to crawl out the back end of the truck to escape being injured. The machine was destroyed.

Invitations have been received in this city from the board of directors and officers of the Exchange State Bank of Genoa to be present at the formal opening of the bank’s new rooms, vault and equipment, to be held on Saturday, September 5. The bank has just completed remodeling the banking room, and the installation of a new vault and equipment. The progress that has been made by the bank is of much interest to residents of this city, and no doubt many friends will attend the formal opening.

With the announcement that the laying of a slab at Marengo was completed on Tuesdays, the pavement north of Sycamore on Route 23 may be expected to be opened the latter part of this month. The workmen paving the stretch near Marengo started at Genoa and worked north. The work on the paving of the stretch between DeKalb and Sycamore will be completed about the middle of next week, it is stated today. At the present time the slab laying gang is working near the Fred Love farm.

Work on the part of many DeKalb Elks, was today being spoken of in the past or future tense, the Elks devoting all of today to pleasure afforded by attending the stag picnic at Hunt’s Grove, arranged by the Lincoln Highway Association of Elks lodges, of which the lodge of DeKalb is a member. A large number of members left early this morning for the picnic grounds near Ashton to be present for the afternoon entertainment.

Sycamore Izaak Waltoff League members are elated today over the arrival here the first of the week of a carload of small fish which were placed in the Kishwaukee. The chapter has been hard at work on this proposition for some time, and through hard efforts, the fish were promised, and finally arrived here.

1950– 75 Years Ago

Hot weather in great big quantities is badly needed for this area to mature the corn crop. The resort area climate of the north woods which has prevailed this summer has been wonderful for humans, grass, small grains and some vegetable crops, but it hasn’t helped the corn crop. There’s an old axiom in the grain belt that in a good corn summer people simmer. This year they hunted extra blankets.

Members of the DeKalb police force donned their blues this morning and will be wearing their winter uniforms for the next several months. Early in the spring new uniforms were purchased for the department with funds raised through a benefit basketball game and the police have been wearing those snappy uniforms throughout the summer.

The Sycamore swimming pool will close one of its most successful season Monday night after taking care of the usually large Labor Day crowd, barring bad weather. Customarily closed on Labor Day each year, the pool will end its 1950 summer which has been featured by the Red Cross sponsored water instruction project and by large crowds for open swimming all year.

The third battle of the Sycamore Lions Club’s war against insects in the city will be fought Sunday night as the Custom Foggers of DeKalb spray the streets and alleys again. Previous success with earlier foggings have encouraged the club to carry out the project again, with the city and its outlying areas scheduled for spraying. The removal of automobiles and trucks from the streets will allow for a better and faster job, since the fogging machine is turned off while passing them, club officials have announced.

An order just received from the air force re-opens for a limited time, recruiting of airmen for the 441st Troop Carrier Wing of the air reserve. So far as is known this is the last wing air reserve unit in this area to accept recruits. None are slated for the future.

At 1:55 o’clock this morning the DeKalb fire department was summoned to investigate smoke in the Kennedy building, which is located next to the fire station. Grabbing extinguishers, Captain Clayton Kennedy and the firemen investigated the source of the smoke and were forced to break the glass in the door to one of the apartments. A sofa bed in the apartment of F. Van Wie was smoldering and the apartment filled with smoke. Chemicals were used to put out the smoldering fire.

1975 – 50 Years Ago

Legal counsel from outside DeKalb will be employed by the DeKalb Public Hospital Board of Directors to investigate the legal rights and responsibilities of the board in connection with the city council ordinance directing the transfer of acute care services to Kishwaukee Community Hospital.

County officials still want to withhold money they say is owned by school, municipalities and other local taxing districts in tax administration fees. However, Tuesday they decided to look before they leap into action.

DeKalb AgResearch dealers are in town this week in force. More than 4,000 dealers from Colorado to Pennsylvania and from Canada to Tennessee arrived in DeKalb Monday for the first national dealers’ convention in 20 years. Smaller conventions are under way in other parts of the country. Tours of field demonstrations, including the Farm Progress Show site near Malta, will be conducted through Thursday.

The Illinois Department of Transportation and DeKalb finally reached an agreement on the maintenance of the pedestrian underpass at Hopkins Park. The pedestrian subway was built by the state between 1941 and 1942 but as agreement covering maintenance never was settled.

2000 – 25 Years Ago

DeKalb is full of gorgeous summer gardens of all sized and shapes, none more evident or appreciated than the one at 607 S. Fourth Street. That’s the home of Wenceslao Camano and his family, where many late afternoons and evenings the gardener himself will be seen in his front year, bent over his work.

Under a plan advanced by the City of DeKalb, the Pleasant Street area may be in for a significant rehabilitation. The program is one of the most significant achievements obtained by the City Council this year, and aldermen are to be praised for avoiding provincialism and supporting the rehab of this vital Third Ward neighborhood. Certainly, aldermen would have liked to have seen neighborhoods in their wards go first, but they agreed to wait.

Thursday marked the end of an era as John Plesa relinquished ownership of Andy’s Lounge, 317 E. Lincoln Highway. Plesa began work at the tavern in 1976 and has been in charge since 1988. The establishment has been in his family for three generations. It started at 10th and Oak streets in 1933, moving to its present location in 1948.

Compiled by Sue Breese