April 25, 2024
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Lehigh whistle will again sound at midnight in Oglesby

New Year’s tradition will return in 2023 after it was revived a year ago

By Shaw Local News Network
The plant entrance to the Lehigh Portland Cement Company in Oglesby. A recording of the factory whistle was played every New Year's by Albert Delvalle, who used to work at the plant.

The plant entrance to the Lehigh Portland Cement Company in Oglesby. A recording of the factory whistle was played every New Year's by Albert Delvalle, who used to work at the plant. (Photo provided)

Oglesby residents can pour some champagne Sunday and give a toast to the sound of the midnight whistle. The recording plays for a total of 95 seconds with 5 second intervals.

The New Year’s tradition will return in 2023 after it was revived just a year ago.

The Lehigh Portland Cement Co. whistle that signaled shift changes at the plant shuttered in 1963 will sound at midnight Sunday in downtown Oglesby to bring in a new year.

The New Year’s tradition was started and carried on for years when Albert Delvalee, of 233 N. Woodland Ave., with the help Jim Reed, played a recording of the whistle at the stroke of midnight, using the tape recording, a microphone, an amplifier and two loudspeakers on 10-foot poles in his yard.

The plan is to play the recording from the city’s downtown at midnight.