Looking Back for February 8, 2023

The county tuberculosis sanitarium on Sycamore Road in DeKalb, formerly the Charles W. Marsh house, receives repair work on the front porch in July 1958.

1923 – 100 YEARS AGO

Some car driver last night, without any care for speed laws or without respect for other machines, came close to being the cause of a serious accident when his car, which was going at the rate of about 40 miles an hour and had a trailer attached to it containing empty barrels, nearly crashed into a passing automobile on the Waterman road. It seems that at a rate of speed that the man was going, the trailer would zig zag back and forth along the road and when the car turned off to pass this machine the trailer nearly crashed into the passing machine.

Elvin Carlson and family moved into their new home on the corner of Locust and Park Avenue this morning. The Carlsons have been waiting several weeks for the completion of the home. The house is built according to the plans which Mr. Carlson specified and he, as well as the family, are pleased in their new location.

Announcement today that Gillman Gullickson, the photographer, has secured a long time lease on the Charles Putnam property on North Second Street, brings about the consummation of plans that Mr. Guillickson has had under way for many years. Shortly after entering into business here, Mr. Gullickson expressed his desires to be on the ground floor, and since that time has been awaiting the opportunity. It is the plans of the new tenant of the property to remodel the building formerly used as a cafeteria into one of the best equipped and most modern studios in this part of the community.

Emil Johnson, undertaker of this city, has added another feature to his business, which will fill a need and also be a valuable asset to him. Mr. Johnson has purchased a new Sayer & Scoville hearse finished in battleship grey. A new machine is one of the most modern and later models of this company, which specialized in making cars for such occasions. The car was ordered some time ago but did not reach Mr. Johnson until this week.

The Dettmer family of Esmond is enjoying a radio outfit that was installed in its home the past week.

The Gus Benander home of Cortland, north-west of town is quarantined for scarlet fever. It is reported the three youngest daughters, Ruth, Eleanor and Edith, have the fever. Ruth has been attending the DeKalb High School. The others attend the Crane school in the country.

1948 – 75YEARS AGO

The War Assets Administration announced today that the quitclaim deed to a 42-acre $176,000 war surplus airport has been mailed to officials of DeKalb, Ill. The transfer gives buildings and property of the field to the city without cost. WAA said that the airport must be operated as a municipal project under the jurisdiction of the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Government aircraft maintain the rights of free entry to the field and the federal government retains the right to re-acquire the property in a national emergency.

Fragmentary reports from only a few townships early today seemed to indicate that DeKalb County’s drive for a symbolic carload of corn to ease hunger pains in Europe would be successful. Robert F. McCormick, treasurer of the drive, reported that he had piece-meal returns from five townships, but that the returns amounted to a little better than $1,300. Contributions from the cities of Sycamore and DeKalb were very small in comparison to the donations from the rural sections of the townships.

Good deeds by Boy Scouts cover a wide range of actions, but the one performed by a group of Scouts from Troop Four in DeKalb this year was a little out of the ordinary. This group of eight Scouts, directed by assistant Scoutmaster William Johnson, was working for a merit badge in civics. The boys were not content just to visit the City Council meetings, or to watch a court session or two, they wanted something different. Then somebody suggested that there was an old, old cemetery somewhere out north of town all grown up to weeds and bushes and said it would be a good idea if it was cleaned out. The boys investigated and found the old Whitemore cemetery, just off the North First Street was indeed abandoned and needed cleaning. They gave up all their spare time to work on this project for many weeks. Now the old cemetery where some of the county’s pioneer residents are buried is spick and span and the boys have their civics merit badges.

This morning four calls were received for the DeKalb ambulance within a span of a few hours. Two of the calls were to take patients to the hospital and the other two were to take patients to their homes from the hospitals.

1973 – 50 YEARS AGO

Snowfall has been especially light in DeKalb this winter so motorists have gotten off pretty easily as far as icy roads. Wednesday’s 1.5 inches of snow apparently caught some drivers’ off-guard and the result was 11 minor mishaps, including several directly caused by icy conditions.

There was still no official word today on the release date or site for American POWs but military sources said the first exchange of North and South Vietnamese prisoners will take place this weekend.

The Somonauk Junior Woman’s Club is supporting a program to help save the bird that is America’s national symbol, the bald eagle. The club is collecting food labels and for each label sent in, the company will buy approximately 15 square feet of private land next to the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota where nesting eagles have been found.

The need for a roadway connecting the two phases of University Village drew the most discussion, but remained unresolved in a public hearing conducted by the DeKalb Planning Commission. Phase II of University Village will cover 10 acres and handle 168 housing units. The new units will have exactly the same construction as the present building and additional parking for 304 cars will be provided. The first phase of University Village has 241 units and developers said there are also plans for two more phases to be added later.

1998 – 25 YEARS AGO

The Castle is under siege. Northern Illinois University’s Altgeld Hall, sometimes called “the Castle,” is surrounded by problems of all kinds, crumbling bricks, leaky windows, bad heating and air conditioning and lots of asbestos. Three gargoyles have become casualties and have fallen from their posts. Help is on its way, however, as last year the Illinois Board of Higher Education granted NIU more than $19 million to repair and remodel the crumbling building.

Police were lead on a chase Thursday afternoon after a felony defendant ran out of the DeKalb County Courthouse and into a nearby residential neighborhood. The defendant of Aurora had just appeared before a judge for a preliminary hearing when he ran from the courthouse. The bailiff was transferring the defendant to sheriff’s police in a hallway outside the courtroom when he broke free. After running through a residential neighborhood just north of the courthouse, the defendant was apprehended within seven minutes near the intersection of Maple and Exchange streets, directly behind the courthouse.

The DeKalb Liquor Commission unanimously recommended to ban video poker machines from the city at its meeting. The idea behind the ban is that the machines have little value outside being a front for illegal gambling.

– Compiled by Sue Breese