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1922 – 100 YEARS AGO
By Clark, while attending services at the Christian Science church last night, had the misfortune to have someone steal his Ford coupe, and at noon today no trace of the machine has been found. Mr. Clark parked his machine in front of the building at 7:30 and an hour later informed the police department that it was gone. The night officers scoured the city until two o’clock this morning with the belief that it might have been taken by a gang of joy riders and left abandoned at some desolate point about town. The police department is making an effort to recover the property.
Big inroads on the huge pile of fuel on Oak Street belonging to the Illinois Power company have been made the last week or ten days as the pile directly east of the plant has begun to show signs of depletion. One of the automatic carriers has been on Oak Street for some time and the fuel is loaded into wagons, hauled to the plant and dumped close by for the large conveyor. The loading machine has been a valuable asset to the company in the handling of its fuel this summer.
Work at the new Self Service grocery store to be opened soon by Peter Stavrakas at Fifth and Lincoln Highway seems to be moving along very satisfactory. The new glass front has been installed and painted, while the decorators gave attention to the interior of the building several days ago. The store owner says he has been unable to determine an opening date as yet on account of some delay in the arrival of his fixtures. He is pressing manufacturers daily in an effort to get the shelving and other necessary equipment here at an early date.
Preliminary work on the installation of a radio station at the fire department headquarters has been about completed and the boys are now looking forward to the arrival of the machine and other equipment which was ordered several days ago. The aerials and antenna have been set up, the big switch installed outside the building, as well as the radio room decorated. With the equipment that is coming for the firemen’s station and the height of the aerials, the boys believe they will be able to get most anything that floats on the ether waves.
1947 – 75 YEARS AGO
The Marie Louise Olmstead Memorial Museum will be formerly dedicated to the public tomorrow, May 18, by L. B. Olmstead, 90-year-old attorney. Deigned as a permanent memorial to his wife who died October 30, 1916, Olmstead has purchased the second floor of the Somonauk State Bank Building and altered it to hold his great collection of relics. They were formerly housed in an old frame structure at his home in the west end of the village.
The First Baptist church of Somonauk celebrates the 90th anniversary of its founding at special services here tomorrow. The church was organized May 19, 1857, by a small group of people in the settlement and has grown into a flourishing and prosperous unit. This church is among the oldest in DeKalb County.
Nickel got its name from “kupfernichel,” a German term expressing the disgust of miners who, on searching for copper (kupfer) and finding ore that seemed to contain it, but didn’t, said it was the work of Old Nick. Later the demon metal came to be known as nickel.
Complaints have been received by members of the Malta Board about the carless habits that some of the bicycle riding children of this community have developed. The youngsters are riding their bicycles after dark without any protection in the form of tail lights or reflectors. As if this lack of protection was not serious enough, the riders have taken an attitude that the drivers of cars will avoid striking them and have been careless in riding in front of autos. Town board members are asking parents of all bike riding youngsters to make it a personal matter to check the riding habits of their youngsters.
Chief of Police Horace Fothergil, of Sycamore, has announced that a drive will start for speeders, stop sign violators, and noisy motorcycles. The chief explained that there are too many people abusing the stop signs and that from now on a complete stop will have to be made in Sycamore at all signs that read “Stop.” The shifting of gears into second will not be tolerated and no warnings will be given. Traffic tickets will be given to all violators.
The senior class of Hinckley Community High School has planned an unusual party of next week and one that is strictly for seniors only. The entire class of 22 leaves on Monday morning on a two-day excursion trip on Lake Michigan which will take them to Mackinac Island and return them to Hinckley again Wednesday evening.
1972 – 50 YEARS AGO
The name “Nor-Dek” has been selected by the Sons of Norway Lodge 518 for the new organization. The name was chosen at the regular May meeting of the group held recently in Union Hall, DeKalb.
W. Howard Kauffman of Waterman representing the Illinois Turkey Growers Association was one of 90 representatives from Illinois agricultural commodity organizations participating in the second annual Legislative-CommodityBreakfast. The purpose of the breakfast was to show state officials the diversified and large quantity of Illinois agricultural products.
DeKalbAg Research, Inc., of DeKalb, Illinois, one of the nation’s largest poultry breeders, received final USDA approval to manufacture Mareks Vaccine. The granting of license #271 to DeKalb to produce Mareks Vaccine now makes the vaccine available to all poultry producers through DeKalb’s network of distributive hatcheries and district managers.
George C. Wallace is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of spinal injury from a bullet wound at the hands of a would-be assassin, doctors reported today. They said he was making a remarkable recovery but that the paralysis could be permanent.
1997 – 25 YEARS AGO
Students at DeKalb High School are finding themselves on the front line in the war on drugs, and, some say, so far the battle does not go well. While some question the prevalence of the problem, the county’s top drug enforcement officer, a recent survey and interviews with students indicate drug use in the high school is all too common.
Tom Rosenow said all he wants is a pond, windmill and a white picket fence. But thanks to county zoning regulations, the local developer could end up in the cattle ranching business to get what he wants. The City of DeKalb’s Plan Commission put a stumbling block in Rosenow’s way last night by unanimously passing a resolution of objection to his county rezoning request that would allow him to construct the pond and windmill on his 35-acre piece of property at the northeast corner of Bethany Road and North First Street.
– Compiled by Sue Breese