130 Years Ago
December 29, 1894
The First National Bank, the banks of L. B. Dominy and Walton Brothers have employed Chris Hahn as night watchman. He will pass from one to the other, going inside each one in turn and staying twenty minutes at each visit.
The young ladies of the cooking club gave a supper to their friends Wednesday evening at the home of Miss Anita Pence, which is spoken of as doing great credit to their taste and culinary skill. The members of the club present were: Misses Esther Sharples, Nelle Gillette, Hattie Westervelt, Lillie Hahn and Anita Pence. The guests of the evening were: Miss Hayes, of Bloomington; Miss Cora Mahoney, George Westervelt, Frank Veatch, Thomas Payne, Marshall Gordon, Will Braun and Charles Purdum.
Hammond & Stewart's Lyceam Theatre Company will fill a week's engagement at Mapel's Hall, starting on January 7. "The Street Waifs of New York" will be given as the opening production.
120 Years Ago
December 30, 1904
The thermometer Tuesday at noon registered 48 degrees above zero and Tuesday at midnight it was just two above, a drop of 46 degrees in 12 hours.
Manager Wade, of the Central Opera House, has signed a contract with "York State Folks," which will show here Friday night, January 6.
William Hallock accidentally shot himself Tuesday with a revolver. He had caught a mink in a trap on the Hugh McKee farm and when he went to stoop over, the revolver, which was in his pocket, was discharged, making a bad flesh wound.
W. P. Sutter has sold his residence on East Locust Street to Jacob Schieler, of Remington, Ind., and the latter gentleman has moved his household goods here.
Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Henning have gone to Ontario, Calif., to spend the winter.
110 Years Ago
January 1, 1915
The cold weather during the past two or three weeks has caused a good thickness of ice to form and the ice men are hard at work harvesting the crop. The Perlee Produce company got in their next year's supply last week. It was taken from the Munz sandpit and was from 5½ to 9 inches thick.
M. Fuller has purchased an 80-acre farm a mile and a quarter south of Padua, paying $212.50 an acre for it. Mr. Fuller does not expect to move onto the farm until 1916, as it is rented until that time.
Old Man Winter arrived here last Friday, and by Saturday morning it was 22 below zero.
Market — Hogs, $6 to $6.50; corn, 63c; oats, 47c; eggs, 28c; butter, 30c.
100 Years Ago
January 2, 1925
Friends of J. Edward Bangs, of Chicago, received from him New Year greetings, sent out in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of his first school teaching and the thirtieth anniversary of his wedding. Mr. Bangs was for many years at the head of the Fairbury schools and to his due goes the credit of first placing our schools on a rank with the best in the state.
The J. T. Gill piano store on West Locust Street is now open for business and Mr. Gill invites all persons interested now or in the near future in the purchase of a high grade upright piano, player-piano or reproducing piano, to call at his piano store and examine these high grade Adam Schaaf pianos, before purchasing another make.
Don't forget to feed the birds. The brown creepers, downy and hairy woodpeckers and nuthatches, our winter birds, that live on the eggs of insects found on the trunks of trees, are completely shut off from their food supply by the coating of ice on the trees. Bunches of suet tied to the trunk of a tree will save the birds' lives and afford their friends great pleasure in watching them devour it.
Driving to Peoria Saturday in his new Hupmobile, J. N. Bach found himself headed east when the car struck an unusually icy bit of paving just west of Peoria. The car whirled clear around and skidded off to one side of the pavement, breaking a wheel.
90 Years Ago
December 28, 1934
Miss Dorothy Harvey chose the day after Christmas for her marriage to Earle Skinner, the 25th wedding anniversary of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Otis Harvey. The service was read by the Rev. M. B. Van Leer at his home at half past three o'clock, Wednesday afternoon. The attendants were Miss Vera Skinner and Welby Harvey. The bride wore a brown velvet dress with harmonizing accessories. Dinner for the near relatives was served at the Harvey home and in the evening Mr. and Mrs. Skinner left for Chicago to make their home.
The work of mining coal at the Co-operative Coal Company mine has been greatly handicapped since Wednesday of last week when the motor that operates the coal-cutting machine burned out. It was impossible to obtain the necessary repairs for several days and the machine was not put in operation until yesterday morning. This break, coming as it did during the flush season, made it very costly for the coal company.
A one-footed bluejay that spends its winters in some comfortable quarters nearby the T. D. Karnes home and depends on the Karnes feeding shelf for its meals, turned in there last week, its fourth consecutive winter it has stopped with them.
Mrs. T. J. Patterson fell on the slippery streets in Forrest and broke her left arm just above the elbow. The break was a bad one, the ends turning as they broke. She is at her home in this city.
80 Years Ago
December 29, 1944
The Werling Meat Market, conducted by Mr. and Mrs. F. A. Werling, is going out of business at the close of business tomorrow night. The only exception is that they will remain open next week until they dispose of their supply of fresh meats. Their grocery stock will be sold to a local grocery firm. The Werlings, who have conducted the market for the past 42 years, are quitting business because of ill health. This meat market has been in the Werling family and located in the same building for three-quarters of a century.
Fairbury people who were listening to Bob Hope's show Tuesday evening had the pleasure of hearing a voice that was quite familiar to them, that of Lt. Julia Flanagan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Flanagan, of this city. Lt. Flanagan and Hope had a several minutes skit on the half hour program, Hope introducing her as "one of the angels of mercy" who had recently returned from overseas duty. Lt. Flanagan was graduated from St. Joseph's Hospital in Bloomington in 1941. Her sister Margaret was graduated at the same time and the two entered the Army Nurse Corps. Both served in New Guinea and were returned to the States on rest leave.
Last Friday about one o'clock at the corner of Fourth and Hickory Streets, R. N. Stiver was driving east with a truck loaded with corn. Lyle Huette was driving north with a sedan. As he approached the corner Lyle thought it might be close, so put on his brakes. He braked his wheels all right but the car didn't seem to know it, considering the icy pavement, and kept right on going, crashing into the rear end of the truck, badly damaging the front end. Both vehicles were going at a low rate of speed and the accident was unavoidable.
70 Years Ago
December 30, 1954
Of all the wonderful gifts exchanged Christmas, there is one which probably caused the most enjoyment for its senders and the person who received it. Police Officer Charles Baker last Thursday received $10.60, which had been raised by the children of the Edison School, where Charlie is on duty during the noon hours to protect the children from Route 24 traffic. The children making the gift will be interested to learn that the money was used to buy a pair of fur-lined gloves and a Sunday hat.
Moving pictures come back to Fairbury tomorrow night after a 31-month absence. Lloyd Shoemaker has announced that his Loy-Ola Theatre will show its first movie tomorrow night beginning at 7 p.m. The wide-screen, technicolor production, "Yellow Mountain" will be shown, plus the usual and entertaining Walt Disney cartoon, "Pecos Bill." The Cinemascope picture, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" will play Sunday through Thursday. The last movie to play here at the Central Theatre was on June 25, 1952. It was destroyed by fire the following day.
Two fingerprints have been the only tangible bit of evidence uncovered in the investigation into the burglarizing of the Walton Dept. Store here during the early morning hours last Thursday. Sheriff Willis Harms told the Blade yesterday that following a check through files which contained fingerprints of known criminals, the prints had gone unidentified. The loss – set by W. E. Butcher, manager of the store, at between $6,500 and $7,000 – stands as one of the largest ever sustained by a local firm in a single burglary. Included in the loot taken from the vault located on the landing between the first and second floor, was $3,500 in cash and some $3,000 to $3,500 in checks. About $115 was missing from cash registers located throughout the store.
60 Years Ago
December 31, 1964
Only four pins on the last frame kept Jerry Dowling from that bowling rarity, a perfect 300 game, last Wednesday night in the Classic League at Old Susannah Lanes in Fairbury. "That's the high game of the year at Old Susannah, and also in the history of the firm," said Bill Weber, co-owner of the Lanes. Dowling crashed all the pins on his fist 11 balls. "And I was really shaking after that 11th one," he said later. "For that matter, I was shaking plenty after the 10th one, and lucky on the 11th, and they all fell, although I didn't have a good hit, but I really sliced through on the 12th ball, and left four of them standing."
A new bridge will be erected this coming year over Indian Creek on the South First Street road, at an estimated cost of $52,000. Money for the project was approved by the county board of supervisors at their recent meeting in Pontiac. Half the funds will come from the county, and half from the tax-aid-to-bridges fund. The new structure will replace a one-lane bridge, long known as the Walton Bridge, on the township road where it crosses the creek adjacent to the Howard Arnold sand pit.
Miss June Cheryl Mowery, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Russell Mowery, Fairbury, and Ronald Gene Slagel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Slagel, R.R.3, Fairbury, were united in marriage on Saturday, Dec. 26, at 7:30 p.m. The Rev. William Asher performed the double ring ceremony in the First Baptist church in the presence of 150 guests. A reception was held in the church parlor immediately following the ceremony. She is a graduate of Fairbury-Cropsey High School and is attending Bradley University. He graduated from Electronic Machine Accounting College and is employed at Carson Pirie Scott and Co., Peoria, as an IBM programmer. The couple will make their home in Morton.
50 Years Ago
January 2, 1975
Fairbury Mayor Roy Taylor now plans to serve out the remaining two years of his current term. For the past several weeks he has been considering the possibility of resigning, in the wake of a heart attack three weeks ago. Taylor did resign, however, his post as president of the Fairbury Hospital board at that group's meeting two weeks ago. He will continue as a member of the board, and a new president is expected to be named at the board's January meeting, when Taylor's resignation becomes effective.
Today, Jan. 2, 1954, after nearly 35 years of rolling out of bed at 5 a.m. six days a week, Duane "Buck" Morris, faces up to the hardest part of his new-found retirement: the task of rolling over and sleeping until 7 a.m.! It was April of 1940 that "Buck" began work as a substitute clerk and carrier in the Fairbury post office, and Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 31, he was slated to deposit the last bit of mail in the last box on Route One, after 34½ years of active service. That tenure includes nearly six years of active duty in the U. S. Air Force "and most of that time I got up even earlier than 5 a.m." said Morris, who spent 24 years in the Air Force active reserve following the war, and is also president of the Fairbury Fair.
Eli Meister, Fairbury, has been named Manager of Fairbury Edwards Soil Service, Inc., effective Jan. 1, 1975. He succeeds Ken Broquard of Fairbury, who last week was named general manager of the entire Edwards operation, which also has plants in Pontiac, Dwight and Strawn. Meister has been with the Edwards organization since April 1, 1969, except for two years service with the U. S. Army. Recently, he had been in charge of operations at the company's Strawn plant.
40 Years Ago
December 27, 1984
For the 32nd year, area merchants and the Fairbury Blade will present a crib full of prizes to the first baby born in 1985 at Fairbury Hospital. The contest began in 1954 when Duane Ifft, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Ifft, was the first recipient.
Linda Virkler of Strawn has been selected for inclusion in the 1985 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Virkler, a student at the School of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Mo., is the daughter of James Virkler of Strawn. Students whose names are chosen to appear in Who's Who have to show academic achievements, service to the community, leadership in extracurricular activities and potential for continued success.
What started as a normal photo shoot, culminated into an award winning photograph that is featured on the cover of the 1984 Greater Livingston County phonebooks. "The Gathering" is also presently on world tour after receiving state and national awards. It was one of approximately 10,000 photos submitted to the Professional Photographers of America's Merit program and one of seven percent selected. In the picture, shot by photographer Ron Jankun, Dale and Marsha Pokarney of Dwight, and their children, Amanda, 6, and Erik, 4, are stooping down to feed a group of hungry ducks eager to nibble at their bread crumbs from the base of a windmill located at the Country Mansion Restaurant in Dwight.
30 Years Ago
December 28, 1994
Mr. and Mrs. John R. Goold of rural route 2, Fairbury, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday, Jan. 7 with an open house at Fairbury Country Club. A dinner will be held at Baby Bulls, Pontiac, hosted by their children, Jay Goold of Fairbury; Ann and Dan Arendell of Bloomington; and Joan and Dennis Smeltzer of Monroe, WI. They have three grandchildren. Goold and Mary Ellen Wink were married Jan. 9, 1945 at the Presbyterian Church, Fairbury. They are retired from farming.
Illinois congressman Tom Ewing has been named to the chairmanship of one of five House Agriculture subcommittees. The assignment, according to Ewing, will prove to be of significant importance to the 15th District as Congress begins work on the 1995 Farm Bill. Ewing was named to chair the Risk Management and Specialty Crops Subcommittee. The subcommittee's jurisdiction includes fruits and vegetables, honey, peanuts, sugar and tobacco.
Fifty-two children from the Fairbury area have been recipients of $100 shopping sprees, thanks to the generosity of donors to The Blade and The Daily Leader Needy Kid's Christmas Fund, said Dixie Vogel executive director of the Livingston County drive. The program gives $100 vouchers to Livingston County children for winter clothing and other needed items. As of Friday, $42,000 had been received at the Pontiac office. The drive will conclude at the end of January.
20 Years Ago
December 29, 2004
Air Force Airman Stephen W. Harrell has graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. During the six weeks of training, the airman studied the Air Force mission, organization and military customs and courtesies; performed drill and ceremony marches and received physical training, rifle marksmanship, field training exercises and special training in human relations. Harrell is the son of Cindy Harrell of Forrest and is a 2004 graduate of Prairie Central High School.
The Prairie Central sophomore girls' basketball team has started the season with a 5-0 record. The first game of the year, the Hawks beat Eureka 48-33. then the Hawks traveled to Kankakee Bishop Mac for a 38-29 victory, followed by a big 40-35 victory against a very good Mahomet team. The Hawks continued their winning streak with a 40-37 overtime win at Olympia, giving them a 3-0 record in conference play. Then, in a non-conference game against Dwight, the Hawks won 43-34.
Rachel L. Schroen of Champaign and Matthew A. Aupperle of Bloomington are announcing their engagement. The bride-to-be is the daughter of Carol Tavener of Fairbury and Gordon Schroen of Chatsworth. She will graduate in May, 2005, from the University of Illinois with a teacher degree in music. The future bridegroom is the son of Robert and Kristi Aupperle of Fairbury. He is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and is employed at Citi Financial of Bloomington. The couple plans to be married May 28, 2005 at First Lutheran Church of Pontiac.
10 Years Ago
December 31, 2014
Brian Hassett has tendered his resignation as head football coach at Prairie Central High School, effective following the recent season, his 16th as chief of the grid program. Coach Hassett will continue to teach physical education and driver education at the school. Hassett amassed a record of 98 wins and 68 losses in his tenure at Prairie Central. The coach's teams were twice undefeated in regular season play, and earned ten play-off bids, winning a dozen state series games. In 2003, Hassett's “Hittin' Hawks” lost only the 4A state championship game, finishing runner-up to perennial state champ, Addison-Driscoll, a suburban parochial school. In 2006, Hassett's 11 again recorded only one loss – this time in the semifinals . . . again to Addison-Driscoll.
The PCJHS 7th grade boys' basketball team completed a very successful season so far as they enter the Christmas break. With a record of 11-3, the boys recently won the Twin County Conference tournament, completing it with a 38-29 victory over #1 seed PBL. In the championship game, the Hawks led from tip-off to buzzer, outscoring the Panthers in each quarter, with the Hawks coming out after halftime and outscoring PBL 16-8. Leading the well-balanced scoring for the Hawks was Jake Bachtold with 14 points, followed by Ty Drach, Connor Haab and Weston Cottrell all scoring 6, Brady Quinn with 4 and Caleb Embry chipping in 2.
Principal Club winners at Chenoa Elementary are Addie Metz, Cami Jones, Kamryn Wright, Nathan Powell, Zak Phinney, Sam Powell, Timmy Wilson, Katelyn Kennell, Meghan Gentry, Clayton Aguinaga, Liam Donovan, Jenna Woodrey, Valorie Raby, Mason Brewer and Kaylee Skaggs.
"Looking Back" from Kari Kamrath is sponsored each week on Fairbury News by Duffy-Pils Memorial Home.
