Looking Back for May 25, 2022

1922 – 100 YEARS AGO

One of the 709 taxi cabs created some little excitement on the street nearing the railroad crossing at Fourth Street, one of the rear tires blew. The driver, believing he could get to the barn and make better time in changing than doing it on the street, kept on going. He had hardly gone 25 feet when first one rim and then another left the wheel and started down the railroad track even at a faster gait than the car was traveling. The car was not driven at a rapid rate of speed and the driver, after securing the various parts scattered along the street, managed to get to the garage.

Petty thieving of flowers along the Lincoln Highway especially from flower pots that have been installed to beautify the highway is reported from the Lincolnway restaurant. Swanson & Hayes last fall installed two ornamental flower pots in front of the building and have made a special effort to keep them filled with blooming plants. The last few days there have been several flowers there, but today there is not a bloom to be seen, some miscreant coming along last night and taking everything in sight.

Hinckley is the one town in DeKalb County which is making intensive efforts to put over a community building. Mr. Karr says there is no town in northern Illinois which has a better location for a community building than the lot donated by the late Mr. Wagner. The lot is about 125 by 225 feet and is a beauty. Future generations will look back to the progressive people of the Hinckley community as being leaders of the movement in DeKalb County.

Fire Chief McEvoy has his fighting clothes on this week, and his opponents are going to be the gasoline filling stations of the city unless those in charge more carefully observe the law about the sale of gasoline. Two or three instances have been reported where people are able to obtain gasoline from various service stations in any kind of a container. This, he says, is contrary to law, which requires that every container shall be painted red.

Plans have been completed whereby the Burlington Way and Lincoln Highway post at Fourth Street and Lincoln Highway is to be removed, much to the joy of the motorists of the city. In its place two traffic lights will be installed similar to those used at other intersections along the highway.

1947 – 75 YEARS AGO

Interstate airport will be advertised for sale June 1, Mayor Hugo Hakala has been informed by the War Assets Administration, and DeKalb will enter a bid of one dollar. H.H. Bennett of the WAA informed the mayor that it was necessary to advertise the property before it could be sold, but that the city had top priority when it came to consideration of the bids. Advertising the sale of the airport is the only legal way that the WAA can initiate the sale, Bennett told the mayor. It is not known here just how long it will take the legal preliminaries to be cleared, but the city hopes to have possession of the port in a matter of weeks, Hakala said.

During the thunderstorm in Somonauk on Thursday afternoon, lightning carried into a lamp socket in the living room of the Mrs. Mary Henrich home touching off a small blaze. Schoolchildren passing by tried to notify the owner but there was nobody home. A neighbor entered the home and with the aid of firemen and friends soon had the blaze under control. Damage was confined to the contents of the living room.

Last night’s rain failed to halt work on the bridge over the Kishwaukee River on West Lincoln Highway where excavation for the eastern pier is well underway. The center pier of the new bridge is built and the river has been channeled alongside of it while the crane digs out the hole for the eastern pier. Part of the west pier is completed. Gasoline engines operate pumps which keep the surplus water from interfering with the excavation. The rain did not raise the river level far enough to overflow the temporary cofferdam, which keeps the river in its temporary channel.

Rough crossing over the Chicago and North Western railroad tracks are being eliminated in DeKalb by a new process of welding the rails. A wartime development, the welding process makes the rails over the crossings one continuous strip of solid steel. Formerly, the rails were joined by angle irons every 33 feet. These joints took a terrific pounding from the heavy loads and locomotives.

Burglars entered the Corey service station located at West Lincoln Highway and John Street, sometime during the night and stole several articles, the theft being discovered when the station was opened for business this morning.

1972 – 50 YEARS AGO

The United States and the Soviet Union wrapped up another accord in President Nixon’s visit to the summit today, signing an agreement whereby their navies will stop “playing a game of chicken” on the high seas.

A unique memorial service will be conducted in front of the Northern Illinois University Laboratory School at 10:30 a.m. Friday. A handmade tombstone will be placed on the lawn by students, taps played and a memorial service conducted by a local minister in memory of the school’s 73-year history which began in 1899 with the MacMurray Training School on campus. The facility is to be closed this summer permanently and turned into a public school next fall.

A helicopter put an air-conditioning unit on top of the NIU psychology-math building Tuesday at about 4:45 p.m. The copter was originally scheduled to aid the contractors Monday afternoon, but it made a forced landing without incident at the DeKalb airport.

The Ambulance Referendum held Saturday for voters in the Maple Park and Countryside Fire District passed by a large margin, 213 votes for and 9 against the issue. Polling places were at the Legion Hall, Maple Park, and the Klemm Farm, Hinckley Road. The passing of the referendum will not create a tax-supported Ambulance District similar to the present tax-supported fire department.

1997 – 25 YEARS AGO

Despite recent high-profile drug arrests associated with DeKalb High School students, some are still shocked that there is drug activity in halls, stalls, and locker rooms of the county’s largest school. Although the extent of the problem is unknown, school officials are not denying students are exposed to, or exposing others to, drugs every day. But they contend they are taking the necessary steps to create an essentially drug-free school.

The DeKalb Chamber of Commerce has weighed in on the mall debate by sending the results of a survey of its membership to the city council. The survey shows strong support for the mall in the business community, with 78 percent of those responding to the survey saying the mall would benefit DeKalb in general.

Creative Corners, a DeKalb Park District preschool program, will give children the opportunity to create nature-related crafts and try new experiences too messy for home, and teach children how to let their imaginations flow. A variety of media will be used, inducing dried flowers, chalk, paint, beads and nature objects.

– Compiled by Sue Breese

Shaw Local News Network

Shaw Local News Network

Shaw Local News Network provides local news throughout northern Illinois