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1921 – 100 YEARS AGO
George Gurler recently had returned to him a watch which he lost 39 years ago in the Daniel Lattin slough, five miles south of town. Mr. Gurler was hunting with J. S. Cusson in the slough when he noticed the loss of his watch, chain and fob. They systematically hunted the ground again and again and after spending a half day in search of the watch, they gave it up as lost. The slough was drained and this year planted with corn. Percy Lattin, who was plowing corn, noticed one of the plows was clogged. In cleaning it he found a watch and chain, which he knew belonged to Mr. Gurler, having heard him speak of it. The case of the watch was in very good condition, but from its long burial, the works were rusted badly.
Hosea W. Willard, one of the few pioneers of Sycamore, will celebrate his 95th birthday on July 17. Mr. Willard has lived continuously in Sycamore for 78 years, and has been active in the work of contracting and building many of the homes there. His health has been excellent and he still enjoys reading and calls from his many friends, and will doubtless round out the century in splendid mental and physical condition.
There was no preaching services at the Advent church in Cortland on Sunday as Reverend G. T. Plummer was called elsewhere.
Streetlights now burn all night on our main street and in the Cortland town hall.
Although his car was overturned and caught fire, Mr. Willrett of Malta and party escaped serious injury when the car was crowded into the ditch by a Buick last evening near Waterman. Mr. Wilrett and friends were driving into Waterman in his Essex car at 9:00 o’clock last night, when a Buick five-passenger car passed him. The Buick cut in front of Mr. Willrett’s car, catching his front fender and wheel, turning the car over. The auto caught fire but this trouble was quickly settled with the aid of a small fire extinguisher in the car. The fenders were bent and the paint somewhat damaged.
DeKalb County Telephone Company’s filing with the Illinois State Public Utilities commission for permission to discontinue the exchange at Esmond was contested by patrons at a hearing before the commission in Chicago.
1946 – 75 YEARS AGO
A dog locked in the Foster gasoline station at Ninth and Lincoln Highway by mistake when the station was closed last night, accomplished considerable damage before the station was opened this morning. The dog, which evidently wandered into the station without being observed and had gone to sleep, was locked in. During the night, the dog had apparently made frantic efforts to get out and in doing so had really caused a mess. Knocking jars of oil to the floor, the oil was scattered all over the place and the oily feet of the dog had littered the walls and windows as it jumped about trying to gain freedom.
One of the busiest days in some time was had yesterday by the DeKalb city ambulance with seven calls being answered during the day.
New potatoes from the gardens of Clare are of fine quality. Corn has been plowed, generally for the last time and the moving of hay into the barns or bailing in the field is being completed.
Bus service between DeKalb and Sycamore was started this morning with a number of residents of both communities taking advantage of the new service. Although this was the first day for the bus service, good loads were noted throughout the morning. The first run to Sycamore is at 5:55 in the morning with the last being at 10:45 in the evening. The first bus in the morning leaves Sycamore at 6:15 o’clock and the last one in the evening leaves at 11:15 o’clock.
Seaman Harold G. Cadie of Cortland, who is serving in the Navy, is enjoying a furlough at the home of his parents in Cortland at the present time. He enlisted on April 25 and is now enjoying a few days off duty after completing his boot training at Great Lakes.
Trying to find a cool spot is the popular pastime of nearly all of the residents of this county as the heat wave continues. Over the weekend period, all were finding it most difficult to sleep and many were noted trying to sleep in their yards but mosquitoes were too thick to make this comfortable. Hopkins Park was a very popular spot yesterday with hundreds taking their dinners and going to the park to eat and also to use the facilities of the swimming pool. It was even too hot to enjoy driving through the daytime and last evening it was enjoyable while riding but the heat seemed worse when stopped.
1971 – 50 YEARS AGO
A concentrated effort to find a new site for construction of low-income housing so a neighborhood park can be preserved will begin as a result of last night’s city council meeting. The open land, technically not a park but used as such by Little League ball players, is located between Taylor and Garden Street and west of Tenth.
Official investigators said today a sudden loss of cabin pressure through a leaky seal killed the three Soyuz 11 cosmonauts only 30 minutes away from touching down on earth after nearly 24 days in space. The key finding of the report, made public 12 days after the June 30 deaths, was that the cosmonauts were victims of a defect in their ship and had not succumbed to the physical punishment of their record 23-day flight.
On July 1, Mrs. Marie Angel, who has been post mistress at the Esmond post office since 1940, held an open house to commemorate the postal department becoming an independent organization. The first Esmond post office was located one mile south of town, then known as Deerfield, Ill., later moving to its present site.
1996 – 25 YEARS AGO
Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced today that they have agreed on a swift divorce, after 3 years of separation and public sniping and a decade or more of misery.
The fourth annual DeKalb Airshow, “A Festival of Wings,” is poised to step into the national spotlight. In addition to the thousands that are expected to attend the annual two-day event this weekend, millions will have the opportunity to see one of the highlights of this year’s air show. A Hollywood production crew will be on location filming two of the show’s premiere performers, three-time National Championship Pilot Gene Soucy and wing-walker Teresa Stokes, for an upcoming Discovery Channel special.
A historic style streetlight brightened downtown DeKalb last night. Four of the lights are being given a trial run in the 100 block of East Lincoln Highway. If the lights prove feasible and acceptable to the community, the city plans to install them through downtown to the east lagoon of Northern Illinois University’s campus, where such lights already exist.
– Compiled by Sue Breese