130 Years Ago
October 6, 1894
G. W. Eckhart has re-opened his lunch room near the depot. He gave a grand opening on Monday night in which the Fairbury band assisted.
Our Cropsey correspondent says S. A. Hayward sold 160 acres of land west of Sibley to Mr. Steinberg for $12,000, or a trifle over $70 an acre.
Fred M. Slotter has moved his barber shop from the east end and is now located in the basement under the New Sherman Hotel.
The reunion of the 129th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was held at the opera house Thursday.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. George Jessup, Tuesday, Oct. 2, a girl.
120 Years Ago
October 7, 1904
The new auditorium and reading room of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in this city, was dedicated with appropriate services on Sunday morning and evening, October 2.
Mike Meister's team became frightened at boys playing football under the electric lights on the common in front of the German Apostolic Church on Thursday evening and ran away, throwing Mrs. Meister out and breaking her leg.
Tom Salmon, janitor of the Central Opera House, shot off a little fireworks Tuesday left over from "Old Arkansas," and did not get out of the way quickly enough. He now wears his hand in a bandage.
Miss Fern Cook left Monday for Cincinnati, O., where she will resume her studies at the Conservatory of Music.
110 Years Ago
October 9, 1914
H. M. Pauley, who has had charge of the Central Illinois Utilities Company's electric light system in this city the past two years, will leave the latter part of the month for Oelwein, Ia., where he goes to take charge of a plant.
Mr. and Mrs. James Glinnen have returned from their wedding trip and have gone to housekeeping on their farm northeast of town.
Jesse Worwick has resigned his position with the Adams Express Company in Peoria and returned to Fairbury.
At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Gibb in this city on Wednesday afternoon at 3 o'clock, occurred the marriage of their daughter, Miss Eva to Roscoe L. Combes, D. J. A. Chapman, of the M. E. Church, performing the ceremony.
100 Years Ago
October 3, 1924
Mr. and Mrs. James Glennon were very pleasantly surprised on Tuesday evening of last week when the Avoca Home Bureau members and their families journeyed to their home, north of town to help them celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. The evening was spent in playing various games and music. Refreshments were served. The ladies of the unit gave Mrs. Glennon a beautiful and useful gift.
A young son of Mr. and Mrs. Barrie Romig captured a two-headed garter snake this week. The snake was seven inches long and was quite active. The two heads were joined close together and were perfect. When caught it thrust out its tongues in both heads and showed other manifestations that it was very much alive. On account of its rarity, the snake was put to death and preserved in alcohol.
J. W. Walton has disposed of his sixty shares of stock in the Central Theatre to H. J. Ramsey, the deal being closed this week. This makes Mr. Ramsey the largest individual stockholder, the total number of shares being 150. The interior of the building was redecorated this fall and improvements made on the outside, and with the addition of the pavement now being put down in front of the structure, will add greatly to its appearance.
90 Years Ago
October 5, 1934
We have heard of and seen many kinds of beans, but Joe Garber raised some this summer that took only a few to make the fence on which they grew tumble down under their weight. These beans are of the Italian variety and the largest one of several that found their way to The Blade office weighed 16 pounds 12 ounces, It is curvical in shape and 46 inches long.
Mrs. F. L. Churchill has been confined to the hospital since last Saturday evening as the result of a fall. She was coming out of the Central Theatre picture show, when she tripped on the top step and fell to the bottom. Her nose was broken and she was otherwise bruised and hurt.
John McFadden, aged 45, a transient, who was beating his way, together with two other "knights of the road," from Pontiac to Forrest, died Sunday night about 11:30 o'clock at the Fairbury Hospital as a result of shock and exposure following a fall from a Wabash freight train, in which his right hand was run over just above the wrist. The accident occurred last Saturday night about 8:30 o'clock, a short distance north of Champlin Station, which is about four miles northwest of Fairbury.
80 Years Ago
October 6, 1944
Sgt. Warren Craig surprised his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Craig, Monday when he arrived home from the Aleutians on his first furlough in two years. Warren is not enthusiastic over anything Aleutian. The winters are not severe as to temperature, which never gets below zero, but the high wind does disagreeable things with the snow. The wind is continuous summer and winter. Victory gardens do not flourish there although the men succeeded in growing radishes. Some of the wild vegetation is edible. Warren described the army living quarters as resembling the half of a huge oil tank divided lengthwise.
The golf tournament Sunday afternoon at the Indian Creek golf course was the most successful yet of these occasions. The day was ideal, some 40 took part in the tournament and 84 gathered for the supper. It was the supper that was the feature of the day. Platter after platter of fried chicken, the cake section looked like the entries at the Fairbury Fair, the baked bean server kept up a steady rotary motion of her right arm, great mounds of potato chips and bread and butter sandwiches and a fine array of pickles and relishes.
The month of October has been designated as the time for the National War Fund Drive. Throughout the country 10,000 communities will hold campaigns to raise $250,000,000 for the war front and home front agencies. The slogan is "We can't let them down now." “We want to give as freely as they give.” “Victory starts here at home.” “Everybody wants to give and nearly everyone does.” The money raised in the National War Fund drive goes to nineteen different agencies with more than half of it going to our own boys through the USO, the United Seaman's Service and War Prisoners Aid.
70 Years Ago
October 14, 1954
Some people around Fairbury like their football so well they have said they would swim an ocean to get to a game. Nine of the local gentry were almost put to that test Sunday when they braved Chicago's worst flood in 69 years to make their way to the Chicago Bears-Baltimore Colts game. One carload, which included Henry Phillips, Bill Weber, Dr. D. H. Johnston and P. M. Hotaling, was forced to make several detours to find open roads to the Chicago north side. One such by-pass led the foursome well into Indiana. Five other intrepid fans, Dean Williams, Spud Schlipf, Clifford Stephens, Roy Taylor and J. A. Patterson, got as far as Kankakee in their automobile, but at that point abandoned the vehicle in favor of transportation by rail. The game ended in a down-pour but the Bears won 28-9, so all else was forgotten.
Eldon Aupperle left the plains of Illinois for the elongated South American country of Chile on Tuesday, where he will remain six months under the International Farm Youth Exchange program. Eldon, who prefers the title of Bud to his given name, and who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Aupperle, is the second Fairbury youth to be given the opportunity of visiting foreign countries under the IFYE program. Peggy Hoffman is presently in New Zealand.
The entire Weber addition is now a part of the city of Fairbury. It became a part of the city in its entirety last Wednesday evening when the city council passed an ordinance accepting four acres of the addition as a part of the city. There are ten acres in the addition, six acres of which were within the city limits when Bill Weber and Charles Hicks purchased it October 4, 1952.
60 Years Ago
October 8, 1964
Miss Barbara Elliott, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rennon Elliott of Fairbury, was elected Treasurer of Section 17 at the Section F.H.A. Fall Rally on Saturday, October 3. Barbara is a junior at Fairbury-Cropsey High School and has been an active member of the local F. H. A. More than 800 F.H.A. members, advisers and guests attended the rally which was held in Capen Auditorium on the I.S.U. campus. The Fairbury-Cropsey F.H.A. received a public relations award for outstanding work during 1963-64. Thirty members of the local chapter and their adviser, Mrs. Margaret Fagot, attended the meeting on Saturday.
Cafeteria service at Westview school in Fairbury is scheduled to start Tuesday, Oct. 13, according to Supt. Les Miller. This was the last phase of construction remaining in the new school which was occupied just in time for the start of school in August.
Miss Jane Rieger, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Rieger, and Thomas Bounds, son of Mr. and Mrs. Olen Bounds, both of near Forrest, were married Saturday, Sept. 26, 1964 at two o'clock in the afternoon at the Methodist Church in Fairbury. Rev. H. Richard Brinkman officiated the double ring ceremony before the immediate families. Mrs. June Tooley, Forrest, was her twin sister's matron of honor. Edwards Bounds, Forrest, was his brother's best man. The new Mrs. Bounds is a 1964 graduate of Forrest-Strawn-Wing High School. Mr. Bounds is also a 1964 graduate of Forrest-Strawn-Wing High School and is engaged in farming.
50 Years Ago
October 10, 1974
At 4 p.m. Friday, Forrest, Strawn and Fairbury fire departments answered a call to bring under control a corn field fire on the Joe Broquard farm located 1½ miles west of Forrest. Destroyed in the inferno was 20 acres of corn. Loss was estimated at $6,000. Reportedly, flaming debris from a burning trash barrel caused the field fire.
Three Fairbury women with artistic abilities, Mrs. Dave Steffen, Mrs. Glenn Weber and Mrs. John R. Goold, spend their spare time painting and firing china plates, vases, pitchers, mugs, bowls and a variety of other china pieces. They all received china painting instructions from Mrs. J. Kenneth Johnson of Pontiac, who is presently serving as president of the Illinois State Federation of China Painters. China paint is applied so softly that even the deepest colors are muted, with depth of color achieved by adding layer upon layer of paint and firing in a kiln after each application. All three artists have kilns in their homes.
A total of 31 students in the American Field Service exchange program will spend Friday through Sunday in the Fairbury-Cropsey area for an AFS weekend. Fifteen of the students are from overseas currently studying in local high schools, and another, Mike Dal from Sweden, is back visiting in Forrest where he was a student two years ago. Five more of the group are area youths who spent time overseas under the AFS Americans Abroad program, and still another was in the AFS Domestic exchange program, studying last year in Oregon.
40 Years Ago
October 4, 1984
With the stroke of his pen, Illinois Governor James Thompson recently paved the way for three area school districts pursuing consolidation to receive $500,000 in debt retirement money, that they came within 24 hours of losing. The funds will be sent north from Springfield if voters in the Chatsworth, Forrest-Strawn-Wing and Fairbury-Cropsey school systems approve consolidation in the Nov. 6 general election.
Pedaling 153½ miles to earn money for St. Jude's Hospital, 15 youngsters and one adult participated Saturday in the St. Jude's Bike-A-Thon sponsored by the Fairbury Jaycees at the fairground. Those who participated and the number of miles they rode were: Justin Silchenmeyer, 20½; Chris Dameron, 16; Jeff Emberton, 15; Robert Bradley, 13½; Michael Hibler, 13½; Jason Haab, 12½; Gray Doran, 10; Michelle Bahler, 10; Melissa Pritchard, 8½; Austin Pritchard, 7½; Carrie Ricketts, 7; Jeremy Hensen, 5; Troy Carls, 5; Chad Bazzell, 5; Wendy Doran, 3½; and Nicholas Hensen, 1.
John Bachtold of Fairbury, ran to a first-place finish at Sunday's Country Companies/Town of Normal 10-mile race. Bachtold, who competed against 243 runners from Illinois, won the 45-49 age division title with a 1:04.42 finish. Sunday's competition was the third annual race sponsored by Country Companies and the Town of Normal, and was intended to promote healthy lifestyles for Illinois residents. The event, which was part of the 1984 Country Companies Grand Prix circuit of state-wide road races, also featured a 5-Kilometer race.
30 Years Ago
October 5, 1994
Perhaps best known for her vast knowledge of the Great Chatsworth Train Wreck and of late the writer of Happy Holler, a column in The Blade, Louise Stoutmeyer, 89, of Chatsworth, died Sunday, Oct. 2, at Humiston Haven Nursing Home in Pontiac, where she had been a resident for a short time. Her Happy Holler column struck a strong note on mankind's responsibility toward one another, while relating anecdotes of early memories, special histories that can only be told by the elderly. She wrote the historical section of the Chatsworth Centennial booklet, "The Train That Never Arrived" and wrote and self-published "The Sands of Time – 150 Years of Area History."
"It was the most confusing situation I've ever seen," said city alderman Jim Steidinger, two days after the city's payment of $4,000 to hold property known as the Honegger buildings in downtown Fairbury. A decision to make a maximum bid of $45,000 was made by city fathers following a closed session to discuss the acquisition of the property. When the city bid went to its maximum of $45,000, Dennis Rassi of rural Strawn bid $46,000 and paid the required 10 percent down. However, the payment was made with a stipulation that lead-based paints be removed. Auctioneer Maurice Steidinger, who conducted the sale, said the buildings were to be purchased "as is" and that Rassi would have to withdraw his stipulation if he was to win the bid. When that withdrawal did not come, the City of Fairbury offered to buy the buildings at $40,000.
20 Years Ago
October 6, 2004
Brothers J. W. and Isaac Walton gave the Fairbury Clock Tower to the city in 1912. They formally presented the tower to the city in a letter to the city council in January 1913. With the help of the Fairbury Rotary Club, Fairbury Chamber of Commerce and others, it is planned that the bell will toll once again. A fundraiser is scheduled to be held in front of Dave's Supermarket on Saturday, Nov. 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the sale of a brat lunch. The proceeds will be used for repairs to the clock.
The senior king and queen candidates for the Prairie Central High School homecoming include Jeni Young, Dustin Stephens, Cailin Moran, Luke Cleary, Carlee McCulloh, Michael Kilgus, Jolyn Koehl, Jess Tinges, Brittney McVey and Andy Mashburn. The 2004 king and queen will be announced at the pep rally Thursday night following the volleyball match. The crowning will take place at the homecoming dance Saturday night. Freshman attendants are Tyler Popejoy and Amy Williams. Sophomore attendants are Alex Diller and Jaleese Sipe. Junior attendants are Mike Sees and Katherine Mehri.
Duffy-Pils Memorial Home has announced that Randy McCulloh has graduated from Worsham College of Mortuary Science in Wheeling. McCulloh maintained an overall A average and graduated second in his class. He also received the Restorative Art Award for his excellent work in this area. McCullough and his wife Jill reside in Fairbury and have three children. He has been employed at Duffy-Pils since June 1, 2002.
10 Years Ago
October 1, 2014
Rep. Dan Brady was presented the LeadingAge Illinois Partners in Quality Award Thursday morning at Fairview Haven in Fairbury, in recognition of his commitment to advancing quality in older adult services. Fairview Haven administrator Rick Plattner presented the award to Brady as many residents and staff watched. Brady also spoke to the residents and conducted a question and answer period during his visit to the retirement community.
Prairie Central head basketball coach Rick Schertz has announced that the boys' basketball team will play Paxton-Buckley-Loda at the United Center in Chicago at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 10, 2015. Tickets to the event must be purchased buy Dec. 1. Ticket holders will be admitted to the PBL-PC game, as well as the Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks game that evening. Checks in the amount of $55 per person should be made payable to PCHS Boys Basketball and returned to Prairie Central High School.
Roger Aaron and Susan Taylor of Fairbury are announcing their engagement. The bride-to-be is the daughter of Kenneth and Shelva McMillion of Roanoke. The future bridegroom is the son of Tom Aaron of Alvin, Texas, and the late Estella Aaron. The couple is planning a March 14, 2015 wedding.
("Looking Back" from Kari Kamrath is sponsored each week on Fairbury News by Duffy-Pils Memorial Homes)
