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1922 – 100 YEARS AGO
The same old story. Stranger secures blank checks from DeKalb bank. Makes checks payable to himself. Checks returned to ”depositor” with no funds. Such happened here yesterday when a man cashed two checks in a restaurant, one for $8.00 and the other for $10.00 after informing the clerk of the place he worked for the North Western railroad. And yet the clerk did not know that the North Western never pays its help with DeKalb bank checks.
Although he could not see the ringside, E. P. Ellwood says he has a wonderful imagination and with the aid of his radiophone outfit sat in his wireless room at home and enjoyed the prize fight held in New York Monday night between Greg and Gibbons. Mr. Ellwood says that with the outfit he has at home he heard every blow, practically, and every announcement that was made from the ringside. He states he could not see the blows landed as the fighters were in the ring, but he had plenty of other thrills during the evening and he is now more of a radiophone fan than ever.
Contractor Beckstrom, who is in charge of the major contracts at the high school, is receiving many carloads of gravel each day, as well as other material for the school addition. Much of the material received by Mr. Beckstrom comes in gondolas and on account of the apparently unavoidable coal strike the first of the coming month, little time is lost in getting the cars unloaded. A big hopper has been fixed up, at the station railroad yards and men are kept busy filling this, and the matter of loading and unloading takes very little time.
Dr. Gloss of DeKalb gave a very interesting talk to the students of the high school yesterday during the general exercise period about the Chinese and their mode of living. Dr. Gloss has worked among the Chinese for several years and is well acquainted with the conditions and feelings of the people. In her talk, she laid especial stress on the Chinese of today who are breaking away from the customs of their fathers and are becoming more and more to disregard the ancestral form of worship.
Fred Delmar’s fighting lions, a traveling vaudeville act, was the attraction at the North Western station this noon, after arriving from Janesville, Wis. The train going west at noon time refused to carry the caged animals and they necessarily laid over until the 2:15 train. The animals, according to the man in charge, state a good vaudeville act in the steel cage, and will play at the Dixon theatre for the remainder of the week.
1947 – 75 YEARS AGO
Mrs. Ed Weaver and children spent Sunday at the Chester Freeman home in Malta.
As the state starts wrecking the old bridge across the Lincoln Highway and west of the DeKalb business district, traffic is being routed over a temporary bridge, built just south of the old structure. The old iron bridge is being wrecked and will be replaced with the new structure. It is expected that the construction work will be rushed to allow the completion before summer.
Thieves were surprised on Wednesday night as they were robbing a refrigerator car of the Chicago Great Western railroad. Police officers fired short at the culprits, but they managed to make a getaway. A dressed half pig was found along the tracks evidently dropped by the thieves. A meat train had stopped for water and coal when the attempted robbery took place.
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Olson of Victor moved to the farm southwest of Leland which they purchased from Donald Henderson. Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Henderson moved to the farm they bought southwest of Hinckley. They have lived on the Don Henderson farm. They will be missed in the community as both have taken an active part in all community affairs, the church, Home Bureau and Farm Bureau. Mr. Henderson has been leader of the Boys Four-H Club for a number of years. They intend to keep up their interest in the Suydam church and as much of the other as it is possible.
The cab of a semi-trailer truck owned by the Rochelle Transit Company was damaged this morning by flames which were fed by the huge gasoline tanks. The fire is thought to have been caused by a break in the gasoline line. John Myers, driver of the truck, thought he detected the smell of smoke as he crossed the temporary bridge over the Kishwaukee. Noting the flames, he brought the truck to an abrupt stop in the center of the street in front of 183 West Lincoln Highway and hopped out. It took about fifteen minutes to squelch the flames and they were finally extinguished when the pressure hose was used to wash out the tank. Damage was confined to the cab, the valuable cargo of yarn being hauled from the Caron plant at Rochelle to Chicago not being harmed.
1972 – 50 YEARS AGO
DeKalb residents may find in a year or two that an old tune about putting nickels in the nickelodeon may again become popular. This time the tune will have lyrics about DeKalb’s parking meters. Most of DeKalb residents have grown accustomed to the fact of DeKalb’s penny parking meters and free hours. The DeKalb City Council currently is studying plans to increase the number of parking meters in off-street parking facilities, to raise the parking rates and structure, and to eliminate about 240 parking spaces in the central downtown business district.
What do the University Center, Del Monte Corporation and the Northern Illinois University Huskies basketball squad have in common? They are all being cited for their outstanding contributions toward bettering human relations and are the business industry and individual winners respectively in the annual competition sponsored by the DeKalb Human Relations Commission.
Good Samaritans always come forth in trouble times. And one of those times was last night when the snow was howling around the stumbling figures of a Chronicle paper boy as he was delivering his route in Cortland, trudging through drifts above his knees. A thoughtful and very considerate customer, Frank Smith, saw the plight of the youth, Randy Ackland, and took him inside, making his some hot chocolate. When Smith saw the storm was not subsiding, he donned his coat and took the carrier the rest of the way in his auto, thus proving that there was some “good news” for at least one carrier who braved the elements as they all do year around.
1997 – 25 YEARS AGO
Northern Illinois University has received a nod of approval from the state Senate to look at land and partnership as it prepares a long-term vision for the university. The bill, which passed on a 54-1 vote, allows NIU to designate land known as the “North 40″ near the engineering building, and more than 289 acres west of campus, as special development areas. It also allows the school to work with developers in a public/private partnership.
In an effort to preserve wildlife habitat and minimize flooding concerns, members of the DeKalb Park District have taken measures to improve local golf courses. Golf course committee members have devised a plan which would add a new retention pond at the Buena Vista golf course, located off Annie Glidden Road. The committee also plans to expand existing wetlands at the River Heights golf course. Both of these courses, built on the Kishwaukee River, have been subject to substantial damage from the heavy floods over the past year.
– Compiled by Sue Breese