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1923 – 100 YEARS AGO
Tickets for the Maude Ballington Booth lecture at the State Teachers College went on sale this morning at Powell’s Second Street drug store. The students’ tickets were placed on sale at the same time at the state college offices. Maude Ballington Booth is one of the country’s most interesting lectures and will bring a message that will be of interest to everyone. As one of the organizers of the Volunteer Army, a corp working somewhat as does the Salvation Army, she will tell of experiences encountered while working among ex-convicts.
Much progress has been made on the Mable Brothers garage in the last few months, which nearly completes the exterior of the building. At present the men are at work on the inside installing the heating system and preparing the place for other interior work. It will be some time yet, however, before the building will be opened as there are many smaller tasks to be completed, which will take considerable time.
Sidney Grey of Genoa, well known in Sycamore, accidentally shot himself while handling a 32-calibre revolver. Grey, a youth of 20 years, claims he was about to kill a dog that has been in the way around the home and in carrying the gun in some manner it accidentally exploded and the bullet entered his body just above the hip. The bullet tore through the fleshy part of the hip and came out on the other side. Grey bled profusely and was taken to Sycamore physicians where the wound was dressed.
Many keys being lost to the padlock that Oleson & Walrod had stationed in their store, is the cause of another try with a new lock and new keys. The first of the series will be given out this morning. Those getting the keys will now have the privilege to try their keys as soon as they receive them, so that in this way the right one will be found. The prize will be a beautiful Community set of silverware.
One of the largest combined sales that has been held for years was held yesterday about one mile north of Waterman. Farmers for miles around gathered at the farm and witnessed the sale of thousands of dollars’ worth of farm machinery and livestock. Livestock, horses and several other farm animals were sold while sundry articles were also disposed of. It is estimated that at least 500 cars were present, parked in the yard and along the fences. Plows and other implements were placed in a vacant field preparatory to sale.
1948 – 75 YEARS AGO
Fighting fires is only a part of the work of a fireman and this morning the DeKalb fire department was called upon for some of its extra-curricular activity. About 9:30 o’clock a call was received to go to 226 E. Lincoln Highway and rescue a 2-year-old youngster who had locked himself in the bathroom on the second floor and then was unable to unlock the door. The youngster became panicky and the fire department was summoned. The rescue task was accomplished in short order as Fire Chief Stanley Tastad climbed a ladder to the second floor, opened the unlocked window, stepped in and unlocked the door to free the youngster.
If Sycamore had been in the earthquake area many of its citizens would have thought that one had occurred the other night when the bombs stored at Savanna exploded. Quite a few reported the shock it created and it traveled as far as 100 miles away. The fortunate and unusual thing about this is that no one was reported killed or injured.
Two registered Holstein-Friesian heifers will soon be on their way to Cuba. Francis Warberg of Hinckley recently sold two registered Holstein-Friesian heifers, Green Prairie Forbes Dora and Green Prairie Chief Sadie to the Everly Livestock Exporters, who will ship them to Cuba in the near future. These two heifers are now members of a select group, being among 40 carefully packed animals that are to be used as a foundation for the establishment of two herds in that country.
The new 1948 series F-1 Ford 1½-ton truck has a 114-inch wheelbase with 6½ foot pickup body. The new trucks offered in ½-ton, ¾-ton, 1-ton, 1½ ton, 2-ton, 2½-ton and 3-ton capacities provide a wider range of models and capacities than ever before, including the F-7 and F-8 series, the largest trucks Ford has ever built.
It is estimated that 10,000,000 American children speak some type of secret language, such as Pig Latin.
On Saturday evening the newly organized baton twirling corps of the Northern Illinois State Teachers College will present its first performance. It will be presented during the halftime of the Northern-Eastern basketball game.
1973 – 50 YEARS AGO
It took only about 10 seconds and a 150-foot brick smoke stack came tumbling down at the corner of Oak and Tenth streets. A fire in late October burned out a warehouse at that site and yesterday blasting experts from St. Charles brought the towering stack to its knees. Demolition of the warehouse was ordered by the city after the fire and now that the stack is down it will take about eight more days for Protano Crane and Demolition Service to finish the job.
The city of Washington said its final farewell today to Lyndon Baines Johnson. The body of the former President, eulogized as the “tall man with giant character,” was then taken home for burial in the Pedernales River country of Texas he loved.
Workers from the Visinage Inc. Construction Company are working on the 10,000-square-foot office building at 913 S. Fourth St., DeKalb. Sixty-four pieces of pre-cast concrete are being used in the erection of the building.
The White House made public today terms of the Vietnam cease-fire agreement which ends America’s longest war at 7 p.m. EST Saturday and promises what President Nixon called “peace with honor” throughout Southeast Asia.
1998 – 25 YEARS AGO
It keeps snowing and snowing in DeKalb County. And drivers keep going in the ditches and becoming involved in life-threatening accidents. Since the beginning of December, there have been more than 180 accidents on DeKalb County roadways. A significant number of those accidents have been caused, in part, due to snow and freezing rain.
Bud-weis-er – This three-syllable name ignited a sales bonanza for the beer maker last year after three frogs crooned the word, making it one of the most famous of Super Bowl commercials.
A local geneticist was inducted into the American Poultry Hall of Fame culminating a storied career in the poultry industry. James Warren Jr., of DeKalb, was one of five people honored at a ceremony at the World Congress in Atlanta.
When Terry Kelly saw a bulldozer bash into the house across the street from her, she smiled. And after the bulldozer crushed the house again, bringing a section of the roof, and eventually the entire house down, she smiled even more. No one lived in the house at 511 S. First St. in DeKalb, except a few raccoons and bats. But according to Kelly, the house has been causing trouble for her and her neighbors for more than 40 years.
– Compiled by Sue Breese