1921 – 100 YEARS AGO
The city authorities are about ready to decide upon a plan for the improvement of Lincoln Highway at least from First to Fourth Street. One of the problems connected with it has been and is to put the street in proper shape for traffic and leave room between parked automobiles and the car tracks, so vehicle traffic may meet and pass street cars between intersections.
Miss Hazel Ludwig of Kingston is home from Rockford for the holidays.
A London woman applied for a judicial separation on the grounds that her husband was “at home too much.” The woman testified that she had entered into the marriage compact on the strict understanding that her husband only came home for weekends.
If the present good weather continues and the roads maintain their present condition it is probably that several from DeKalb will drive over to Cary, north of Algonquin on Sunday, January 23, to see the annual international ski jumping tournament on the North Ski Club.
Work is progressing most satisfactorily on the work of changing the old Methodist church building at North Fourth and Locust streets into the welfare building of the American Steel & Wire Co. The steel girders are now being placed in position and if the material comes rapidly enough, the job will be finished before long. Although nothing official has been given out concerning the future of the building when it is completed, it is expected that it will house all of the welfare activities of the steel employees with such features as gymnasium, assembly room and similar departments.
Otto Swanson of Kingston, who recently had his foot straightened in a Chicago hospital, was able to return home Friday.
Part of the wall of the Jacob Haish building at Third Street and Lincoln Highway fell in early Sunday morning. The section of the wall that fell is at the north end of the building. As it was dangerous for people passing in the alley, the police roped off a danger zone. Repairs will be made on the structure at once.
With the mercury in the thermometers keeping well above the freezing mark, local children are beginning to despair of having any ice skating at all this season. When the snow was on the ground, the Everett playground was fixed in number one order, but the cold weather has stayed away ever since. Now the snow is melted and even if it did turn cold, the ground could not be banked to hold water.
1946 – 75 YEARS AGO
Last Thursday afternoon, Robert L. Shaffer, 23, of 509 First Avenue of Sterling was having some trouble with his car. Shaffer drove into the Ray Corey gas station on West LincolnHighway. As he was pulling into the driveway for repairs, he lost control of the car and the garage doors to the grease rack were shattered. Damage was estimated by Mr. Corey at over $200. The cause for the accident it was later learned was the freezing of the brakes on the car.
Fire, which had gained good headway before being discovered, completely destroyed the Bovee School on the South First Street road last evening. The fire was flaming throughout the building when found about 5 o’clock and although the DeKalb Fire department rural truck answered the call, it was impossible to save the building. Smaller buildings near the school were protected and prevented from burning due to the work of the fire department.
Cyclone Fence Company, at the end of the year, closed its war activity after having produced huge amounts of woven wire for service needs.
Red and green, the two most important colors used in traffic signals, are the colors most commonly confused by persons who are color bind.
Workers of the Nehring Electrical Workers of DeKalb will be given the Mantoux Hest to determine possible cases of tuberculosis as the first project of the DeKalb County T. B. Association during the new year. Tests of this type, which are highly valuable in determining possible cases of the disease before they have advanced to a point to become dangerous, are made possible through the purchase of Christmas seals.
Roads in Victor, as elsewhere, have been extremely slippery. There have been no serious accidents, but people have been bruised and are badly damaged, fences torn down and some poles belonging to either electric company or telephone ruined. Even a tractor took to the ditch and had to be hauled out.
About 1:30 this afternoon, a truck loaded with a steer and one calf was parked in front of the Ward store waiting for the driver to finish his lunch. Before the driver returned from his dinner, a semi-trailer backed into the rear of the cattle truck and although it did little damage to the truck, it did shatter the end gate. The steer saw its chance for freedom and took it.
1971 – 50 YEARS AGO
Expanded direct telephone dialing, now planned for March 21 in DeKalb, will give customers faster and surer service at no anticipated additional rate.
DeKalb city crews, assisted by Protano Trucking and Elliott & Wood contractors’ equipment and men, are underway with snow removal and disposal work through the day after a whopper of a snow storm dumped some 7 to 10 inches on the area.
When the Bookstore of the Northern Illinois University Center was faced recently with the problem of disposing of about 2,000 outdated textbook titles, bookstore director Harold Ball came up with a unique solution. He found that the libraries of the seven adult prisons in the state would be happy to have the books, which range in subject matter from accounting and computer sciences to zoology.
Women are wearing the pants at DeKalb Public Hospital (with the approval of the hospital board). The fashion change began last week.
A district warehouse, which is owned by DeKalb-Ogle, a subsidiary of Continental Telephone System, is scheduled to be finished in late January. Located off Pleasant Street, near the DeKalb Municipal Airport, the building will also provide office space for craftsmen, such as construction, installation, and repair and their supervisors.
1996 – 25 YEARS AGO
Under a cloudy, gray sky and with a light snow falling, DeKalb business and city officials welcome the area’s newest retailer. Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse officially opened Thursday during a board-cutting ceremony in front of the store. The store is located along Sycamore Road on the former county farm property. The 160,000-square-foot facility opened its doors to customers.
Members of the DeKalb County Board’s Finance Committee think establishing a land acquisition fund for the DeKalb County Forest Preserve is a good idea. Yet many of them are saying just don’t ask for the county board to help fund it right now.
A proposal to turn an old factory building in the middle of one of DeKalb’s heaviest industrial districts, into an antique gallery and outlet mall is now working its way through the city’s approval process. Al Griffith, who owns the former Wurlitzer plant on Pleasant Street, is seeking to convert the building from industrial to commercial use, creating a retail center similar to the Piano Factory mall in St. Charles. Since 1988, the 340,000-square-foot building has served as an “incubator” industrial facility, providing lower rent for businesses just starting out, and warehousing space to meet the expansion need of area companies.
– Compiled by Sue Breese