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1922 – 100 Years Ago
After completing the grading necessary near the railroad crossing on South Fourth Street, James Coyne, who has the work of grading up the cement roads in the vicinity of DeKalb, is now putting on a shoulder, working towards the city limits. The weeds have been cut and burned, while the scrapers and plows are working continuously all day. Mr. Coyne says before the South Fourth Street job is completed a railing will be erected guarding the railroad crossing.
Yesterday’s heat was almost too much for the pavement of the city, especially that of Lincoln Highway and in several places along the newly paved section the asphalt filler was drawn up from the bricks. This may have been helped in a small degree by horses traveling over the street during the heat of the day, but it was noticed at the Second Street intersection that the asphalt filler was melted by the hot sun.
Bricklayers of the city have been busy the last three or four days removing many of the bumps in the pavement on Locust Street and at the intersections. After the brick pavement is completed, it would be a help to motorists if some of the side streets could be gone over with a grader and remove innumerable holes. On some of the side streets, Market and State Street for instance, a machine must be kept down below 10 miles an hour and even then a passenger is apt to be sent through the roof of the car.
It is many years ago since a person in DeKalb has been accused of stealing a horse but that came near being the case Monday night when Bill Allen drove down the street with a horse tied to his Ford. But in this case Allen did not know he was running away with a horse. Allen drove up to the Illinois Power company offices to do his usual work around the office. About six o’clock he left the place and got in his car to drive away. He started away from the curb and had gone but a little ways when he heard a man shouting to him at the top of his lungs. Looking around Bill saw a horse tied to his car and George Letheby chasing the horse. When Letheby drove up to the curb he had tied his horse to the car, thinking that the car would be there when he returned, planning to be gone but a minute.
1947 – 75 Years Ago
Mrs. Mayme Summerfield of Kirkland has purchased the share of the Kirkland Café owned by Mrs. Etta McKern and took full possession August 11.
Donkey ball, that game of unpredictable happenings, will be one of the two outstanding features at the Prather lighted diamond on Sunday evening. Announcement was made this morning that a last minute contact assured the Joliet Rivals, outstanding in that area, as the competition for the Hybrids of DeKalb in feature game during the night. The outstanding diamond ball game will be prefaced by a session of donkey ball.
The Eakle float will be entered in the parade at the State Legion convention in Chicago Sunday. On Monday Mr. and Mrs. Eakle will leave with the float for New York City to attend the national convention. They will be accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Williams and Mr. and Mrs. Robert White and will go by way of Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.
Although a courtesy driving campaign has just been completed in DeKalb, there are several motorists who failed to learn from the drive. Yesterday afternoon car drivers left a blind man stranded in the middle of the street at Fourth and the Lincoln Highway and would not stop their autos to allow him and his Seeing Eye dog to proceed. Mr. F. Day, a resident of Davenport, Iowa, and blind since birth, had come to DeKalb by bus to have his accordion repaired at the Wurlitzer plant. Mr. Day makes his living by playing the accordion at night clubs. He was accompanied by his Seeing Eye dog, a German shepherd.
Illinois State Historical Library is gathering material for the history of Illinois in World War II. If any local organizations have a record of the activities in Civilian defense, civilian war activities drives, contributions given by churches or other organizations, facts on war production, industrial or agricultural or any unique or outstanding contributions, please send them to the librarians at the Sycamore Public Library.
1972 – 50 Years Ago
The defense plans to seek a delay in the trial on obscenity charges filed against W. R. L. Sales Company of Rockford, operators of the “Paperback Grotto,” an adult book store in DeKalb. W. R. L. Sales is charged with the selling of two items of obscene writing.
On identical 16-3 votes, the DeKalb County Board Wednesday night placed the County Nursing Home on a self-supporting basis and selected an adjustment in the patient care rate as a means to bring revenues in line with operating costs.
A bus tour of south county landmarks, museums and historical site markers is being sponsored by the DeKalb County Historical Society on Saturday. The tour will begin at the DeKalb Farm Bureau parking lot on North Sixth Street at 10 a.m. when participants will board an air-conditioned bus and end at the same location about 3 p.m. Some of the highlights of the tour conducted by the society will include the Stone Mill Museum in Sandwich, the Olmstead Museum in Somonauk, the cabin site of the first white settlers in the county at Hinckley, the former home site of Gov. Beveridge and the Somonauk UP Church.
1997 – 25 Years Ago
DeKalb County’s “Used Oil and Paint Collection Day” on Saturday was similar to Iowa’s Field of Dreams. At times the cars lined up for more than a mile and waited for close to 20 minutes to get near the drop-off area. Collection organizers realized that if you collect it, they will come.
Nurses sometimes go unnoticed because they walk in the shadows of the doctors they assist. However, Northern Illinois University’s nurses are running away with all the attention lately. NIU’s School of Nursing ranked among the top 15 out of 215 Bachelor of Science in nursing degree programs across the country on the National Council Licensure Examination. The program is also celebrating a 100% pass rate from their first class to complete the new post master’s family nurse practitioner course.
A tornado rolled through the county this morning demolishing one home and damaging numerous other structures in its isolated path. The winds marked a mile-long line five miles south of DeKalb along Perry and Willow Run roads. No one was injured by the brief tornado, but it is expected to have caused more than $150,000 in damage.
– Compiled by Sue Breese