Looking Back for April 20, 2022

The Lucinda Avenue bridge out at Woodley Avenue is pictured looking west to Northern Illinois State Teachers College in August 1954.

1922 – 100 YEARS AGO

Guy F. Norton, father of Mrs. H. U. Myers, seriously injured himself this week while raking the lawn and was compelled to undergo a serious operation at the city hospital. Mr. Norton, who is 73 years of age, is reported to have injured the gall bladder. Although Mr. Norton has passed the three score and ten mile stone of his life, he is very active, and reports from the hospital are that he is making very satisfactory recovery.

With a report resembling that of a cannon, and scattering cinders for several feet, a steam hose on the Spring Valley train broke while the train was standing at the North Western station this morning. The hose was faulty, and with a heavy pressure of steam burst. As it broke, cinders flew all around the platform on the north side of the track and many of the larger pieces were on the opposite platform near the waiting rooms. No one was injured, although it is a miracle, as there are generally many people boarding the train just before it leaves for the north.

John Kitner of Waterman has purchased the two buildings west of the Price and Wood dry goods store from the Bradbury heirs.

Robert Percy of Ohio Grove has moved his household goods to the farm he purchased of Mrs. Will Spohn. Mrs. Spohn has moved to her house on DeKalb Avenue in Sycamore.

Due to the old tile becoming filled with tree roots, the stretch of ground adjoining the church in Malta at the south end of town is being retiled this week. The task is no small one, but it was found necessary as the trees in that vicinity had caused many of the tiles to become of little use.

Tourists using Annie’s Woods report that the city water in the grounds has not yet been turned on for the summer, and it makes it rather inconvenient for them there. One tourist pulled in there Sunday afternoon and erected his tent so that it was over one of the large furnaces, but the smoke stack was on the outside. This made it possible for the party to keep comfortably warm without the discomfort of the smoke.

Eddie Cooper, alias Harry Bennott, a fugitive from justice, having made good his escape from the Kansas reformatory at Independence, April 11, was arrested here this morning by Special Office Harry Rowe, as a Bennott called at the general delivery window in the post office for his mail. Rowe has been on guard in the post office since April 12, at the expense of the sheriff of Independence, Kansas, and the Kansas authorities will probably come for the man at once.

1947 – 75 YEARS AGO

Fire this morning completely destroyed the farm home tenanted by the Chester Nelson family located about three-quarters of a mile south of Elva. The home was burned to the ground and only a few contents were saved. The fire was discovered about 9 o’clock this morning and the DeKalb community truck was summoned but the fire had too great a start and there was little that could be done except to protect nearby buildings. A tank wagon belonging to the California Packing Corporation brought water to help fight the flames.

Sycamore grade school teachers will be presented their contracts for next year and many of them will have a raise as a result of a board meeting held on Thursday evening. Just how much a teacher will get in the new raise depends on his or her qualifications as set up by the board. The salary range will begin at a minimum of $1,800 and range upward to $3,400 for those having a bachelor’s degree and $3,700 for those having a master’s degree.

Fourteen Scouts of Troop 28 with Scoutmaster Elmer Holbo and assistants Elmer Holm and Paul B Hayes enjoyed an overnight hike last night and today at Camp Rotary-MacQueen near Kirkland. Also present for the camp were members of Troop 30 of Mooseheart and Scoutmaster Larry Hubbell. Mr. Hubbell was associated with Troop 28 when he attended teachers college here.

Gaining entrance by breaking a hole in the glass in the front door, burglars obtained about $15.00 in small change and three silver dollars from the Niemenen grocery store at Pleasant and Eleventh Streets sometime during the night. The theft was discovered about 6:20 o’clock this morning. The police were immediately notified and are investigating the theft. Efforts were made by the burglars to jimmy the lock but being unsuccessful in this attempt a hole was broken in the glass large enough to allow a small person to climb through.

1972 – 50 YEARS AGO

Space Center, Houston – Skimming within 12 miles of the moon, Apollo 16′s astronauts activated their lander today and zeroed in for the first descent to a craggy alpine plateau in the middle of the central lunar highlands. John W. Young and Charles M. Duke donned their spacesuits 40 minutes ahead of schedule in preparation to set down the four-legged landing craft, Orion, in a boulder-littered area.

Bids will be opened Friday on a share-the-cost tree planting program for DeKalb residents. The pilot project, approved by the DeKalb City Council, will allow property owners in the city to purchase four different varieties of trees in any number for planting in their front yard and parkway. The city, which expects the total cost of the tree and the planting of the tree to be around $30 to $40, will pay half the cost. The four types of trees being offered are Norwegian Maples, Amur Maples, American Hornbeams and Littleleaf Lindens.

1997 – 25 YEARS AGO

For only the fourth time in the school’s history, all students in Kishwaukee College’s nursing program passed the state board exam on their first attempt, bucking the declining national pass rate.

Local residents may soon have access to a nature trail winding through DeKalb and Sycamore, and into the Fox Valley, with construction of a new bicycle path slated to begin this summer. The DeKalb County Forest Preserve District has coordinated an effort to construct a new 5-mile strip, which will connect trails in the DeKalb and Sycamore park districts. The new trail will give DeKalb residents an open path to the Great Western Trail, the 17-mile route, off North Avenue, leading through St. Charles into trails near Elgin and Aurora.

With ground-breaking for a new elementary school expected by mid-summer, the Sycamore Park District is moving forward with its plans to develop park land adjacent to the school’s property. In cooperation with the school district, park district officials have already developed design plans for the 8-acre park, which will be located near Borden Avenue adjacent to the 2 acres of school district-owned land.

– Compiled by Sue Breese