Looking Back for Feb. 10, 2021

1921 – 100 YEARS AGO

Wes Abbott is busy these days getting the old Burt property on Main Street in Malta up on blocks that it may be removed to some vacant lots he recently purchased. Mr. Abbott plans to fix the building up in good shape and use it as his residence. The building is one of the earlier business places of the town and was first occupied by Mrs. Linn as a millinery store.

Men admire a pretty face, a good figure, but most of all the happy, healthy, contented woman, as beauty fades and the figure will change. Women who are troubled with backache, headaches, those dreadful dragging sensations, and nervous irritability, cannot hope to be popular, and advancement in either home, business or social life is impossible. The cause of these troubles, however, yields quickly to Lydia E Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, as it is a natural restorative for such conditions and dispels effectually all those distressing symptoms.

A lot of shoes were stolen from a C.B. & Q. train Saturday night and hidden under the snow fence just out of Shabbona. When found, the company was notified and when near Savanna in this state, the crew discovered the loss. They were billed from New York City to a point in Idaho. Sheriff Decker suggested that the goods be replaced in their hiding place because the thieves would be sure to return and get them. Four railroad detectives did this but at midnight they went home. Of course the thieves would not call for them before 12. The small hours of the morning would be the time and so while the shoes have been recovered, the thieves escaped.

Robert McCann, little son of Mr. and Mrs. John McCann, was sick a couple of days last week and when his mother asked him one morning if he was going to get up for his breakfast he told her to bring his breakfast to bed with him “like his daddy does.” Little Robert has recovered from the slight cold which was the cause of his illness.

J.W. Concidine, night desk sergeant at the police station, has been named custodian of the Memorial clock, and every Thursday the clock is to be wound, and correctly set, if it is not telling time in accordance with other timekeepers of the city.

1946 – 75 YEARS AGO

The first rural call for the DeKalb fire company this year came in last night but fortunately it did not prove serious. A roof fire three miles from the city on the Gurler Road drew the firemen to the Hans Lavene home owned by Axel Skoglund. The call came in at about 5:30 o’clock. Sparks from the chimney are thought to have caused the call. A small hole was burned in the roof. Firemen quickly ended the blaze and thereby once again proved the value of the community truck. Such a fire might have been serious had it gained a start and had the people been forced to wait for buckets to do the job.

It looks very much as if there might be some skating at the Anaconda rink. The rink had been ready for several weeks but the weather failed. With yesterday’s nippy wind and continued chill through the night it was thought a try at flooding might be made today, if it did not turn mild again.

Another large addition to the present Cyclone plant in DeKalb is being constructed in the rear of the company property. Work has not progressed to such a great extent on this portion, but it is now being rushed and the structure should be enclosed within a short time. Foundation work for even further building is already in place.

Despite the low temperature, students enrolled in the Civil Pilots Training course at the Teachers College received their retake flight examinations at the Waterman airport yesterday. As a result three more young men, William Terwilliger, Ralph Howe and Wesley Johnson, and one young woman, May Wohrer, have received their private pilot’s license.

Alice McQueen was hostess at this week’s meeting of the South Grove Home Bureau. Ten members and seven guests enjoyed a bountiful pot luck dinner the main feature of which was a beautifully decorated cake honoring Mrs. John Hutchinson’s birthday.

The second regular meeting of the Plowboys Four-H Club met Thursday evening at the home of Wendell and Alan Hueber, of near Malta. Adopting a motion presented at the meeting, the club in the future will be known as the Plowboys Four-H Club, thus dropping South Grove from the name of the group.

Because the condition of the ice on the pond at the State Teachers College is not very good, the ice carnival which had been scheduled for this coming Sunday has again been postponed. Just when it will be held is not known.

1971 – 50 YEARS AGO

Apollo 14′s astronauts accelerated down a precision course to a landing in the South Pacific today with “a wealth of information” from the moon and new proof of man’s ability to explore the unknown.

Re-investment of various funds and the raising of the village of Kirkland clerk’s salary were the main items of business at the recent village board meeting. The salary of the clerk was raised to $600 per year with the requirement that he be in the office seven hours a week.

The Good Citizen award winners were introduced at the recent meeting of the John Stark Chapter of DAR. These girls were chosen by their classmates and teachers on the basis of patriotism, leadership and cooperation. The recipients are; Deborah Hardy of Shabbona, Sue Lawrence of Genoa-Kingston, Christine Herleman of Sycamore, Rosemary Heinisch of DeKalb, Margaret Kerzich of Notre Dame, Jean Evans of Waterman and Barbara Scholl of Malta.

Nominations for naming the proposed new library at Northern Illinois University are again being accepted for a period that will end March 15, 1971.

Some 135 policemen from all over the state, Iowa and Wisconsin, have registered for the DeKalb Police Benevolent and Protective Association invitational pistol shoot which is underway today at the new indoor pistol range in the municipal building.

1996 – 25 YEARS AGO

A house, formerly located on Exchange Street in Sycamore, was moved down State Street yesterday. The roof of the house was cut off to help facilitate the house’s move near Sycamore Junior High School.

Kishwaukee Community Hospital has relocated its heliport, the first step toward an expansion of its emergency room service. The hospital’s board of directors now hopes to go before the Illinois House Facilities Planning Commission within 10 days, with an application to proceed with a 10,000- to 11,000-square-foot expansion of its emergency facility.

The much debated housing development proposed near Mt. Hunger Road and Route 23, was finally approved by the Sycamore City Council, despite cries from residents to put the brakes on growth.

– Compiled by Sue Breese