Looking Back: 4-9-25

130 Years Ago

April 6, 1895

Dr. H. H. Salmon returned to this city Thursday, a graduate in dentistry, ready for business. The graduating exercises were held in Chicago, Wednesday, there being 400 in the class. Four of them delivered addresses, Dr. Salmon being the class historian.

Frances Sharpless is the proud possessor of a fine new Victoria bicycle.

At the township election Tuesday the entire Republican ticket was elected, as follows: supervisor, T. A. McKenzie; town clerk, John Sorg; assessor, G. W. Bennett; collector, T. F. Baker; commissioner of highways, H. B. Taylor; justice of the peace, F. M. Vail; school trustee, H. J. Dancaster.

Miss Cora Mahoney is home from the musical college at Bloomington.

120 Years Ago

April 7, 1905

N. L. Wann has purchased the entire interest in the clothing department of W. J. Bethard's store.

Miss Ivah Walters, of Penfield, and Walter Fitzgerald, of near this city, were united in marriage at Penfield, Wednesday, April 5.

F. L. Eads and family will leave for Centralia, Mo., the latter part of this week, where they will make their home.

Mrs. J. L. Jenkins has leased the J. W. Walton house vacated by Mr. Corser and moved into it this week. Lewis Henderson will make some improvements in the house vacated by Mrs. Jenkins and occupy it himself.

110 Years Ago

April 9, 1915

A short time ago The Blade printed an article stating that Marion Fugate would engage in the manufacture of ice cream and butter in this city. A. B. Claudon Jr. will be a partner with Mr. Fugate in the new enterprise.

R. C. Huntoon Jr. has purchased the residence property of the late Martha Foster on West Oak Street. The house is at present occupied by Mr. and Mrs. George Decker. The consideration was $2,500.

The voters at Pontiac put the town dry Tuesday by a majority of 881.

Mr. and Mrs. Don Morrison were thrown from their buggy and Bud Codlin received a bump on the head Monday evening a mile north of town, when the Morrison and Codlin buggies came together. Mrs. Morrison received a badly sprained ankle.

100 Years Ago

April 10, 1925

On account of an epidemic of measles, mumps, etc., both the township high and grade schools were closed Wednesday noon and will not open again until Monday morning. In the meantime the school buildings are being fumigated, and next Tuesday a school nurse will be here to see that the quarantine laws are enforced. Along with the order to close the schools, Mr. Ramsey, manager of the Central Theatre, was notified not to admit children under 16 years of age. The action taken to close the schools and take other drastic measures to stop the epidemic came after much deliberation by the school authorities, the board of health and city council. The epidemic had been cutting into the school attendance until on Wednesday morning 95 children were absent in the grade school.

John Wessels, maintenance man on the hard road, received a couple of painful burns on his face last Friday. He, together with Clarence Harley, was making some repairs on the hard road, using hot tar. In replenishing the heating container, Mr. Wessels dropped a chunk of tar into it, causing the hot tar to splash up, some of it striking Mr. Wessels' upper lip and the side of his face. He promptly pulled the hot tar off his face and lip, the skin coming with it. The injury was very painful but not serious.

A touring car driven by C. W. Deputy and a truck belonging to the C.I.P.S. Company, on which a number of their men were returning from work, came together Monday evening at the corner of First and Oak Streets. Both cars were rather badly damaged and several men on the truck were thrown off, but no one was hurt. This corner has been the scene of a number of accidents within the past few months.

90 Years Ago

April 5, 1935

On April 2, 1885, J. K. Shook and Miss Sadie Dietz, of this city, were united in marriage at the home of the bride's parents in the northwest part of the city. Nim Mapel and his sister, Clara, lifelong friends of Mr. Shook, acted as escorts. The young people entered the living room of the home as the strains of music were being played by the sister of the bride, Mrs. Jennie Wright. Tuesday of this week marked the 50th anniversary of this event. Mr. Shook's daughter, Mrs. Gertrude S. Baily, and the present Mrs. Shook, arranged a surprise party for the evening and invited in a few friends to celebrate the occasion. A social evening was enjoyed by all, and a dainty lunch served on the same dishes that were used for the occasion 50 years ago.

The oats sowing season started off with a bang for two of our farmers yesterday. In the morning George Hoffman had the end of one of his fingers taken off in an oats seeder and yesterday afternoon Hiram Gaines had two fingers injured in the same way. Two of them were split and the nail taken off of one. Mr. Gaines works for Ned Wagner, south of town.

Louis Wenger, residing south of Forrest, had around 110 fine Plymouth Rock chickens stolen from his farm early Wednesday morning. Mr. Wenger discovered the theft soon after it occurred, reported to Sheriff Kammermann, and followed the tracks of the truck as far as Forrest, where the trail was lost.

80 Years Ago

April 6, 1945

When Miss Marian McDowell returned home Tuesday evening she found their dog dead on the front porch, it having been poisoned. About every so often people's pet are the victims of some person or persons who, if they were as low in stature as they are in principle, they could walk under a snake without bending over. The McDowell dog bothered no ore or anything.

John Wagenseller, residing four miles northwest of Fairbury, is in the Osteopathic Hospital, Chicago, recovering from a very bad fall he sustained last Thursday morning. It is not known whether he suffered a fainting spell or not, but in some manner he fell over the stairway guard rail on the second floor and landing on the stairway, rolled all the way to the bottom. It was thought at first that he had possibly suffered a broken vertebra in his back or neck, but an examination at the hospital showed he had not broken any bones in the fall.

An autoist whose name we did not learn, had a pretty narrow escape Tuesday afternoon about 3 o'clock. He came up to the Second Street railroad crossing from the south just as a fast freight came from the west. The front end of the car was just over the south rail when the driver decided to let the train go by before he went across. About that time the engine of the car died. The driver got out of the car and pushed it back just as the train roared by.

70 Years Ago

April 14, 1955

About 30 young people gathered at the Fred Haas home Friday evening for a potluck supper honoring Miss Arlene Werner, who is here from Silverton, Ore. Miss Werner will reside with the Jacob Stortzes.

A cob fire on the John Mehrkens Jr. farm six and a half miles southeast of town Friday morning brought out the local fire department to prevent the blaze from spreading to a nearby crib and tool shed.

Jane Roth, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Roth of this city and a junior at Fairbury High School, will attend the United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth tour this summer as a delegate of the Rebekah District Lodge No. 16.

Raymond Stevens and Jay Morris were elected to the Fairbury-Cropsey Unit Board of Education in Saturday's election.

60 Years Ago

April 8, 1965

After a long wait, Spring arrived Tuesday in Fairbury, borne on the wave of a two-inch rainfall which fell throughout Monday. In fact, Spring almost got passed by in favor of Summer, for the high temperatures both Tuesday and Wednesday were in the mid-70s. Indian Creek jumped out of its banks Tuesday noon, and so did the Vermilion River north of Fairbury. When the river left its banks, it isolated Knoll Lodge while flowing through a cornfield.

In Livingston County, what is the cost of bringing up junior? What does it take, locally, to raise a child from birth to age 18? The cost has risen tremendously in the past 20 years. Back in 1945, when a survey of this sort was conducted, it was estimated that a typical family in the United States spent a total of $7,425 in providing for a child to age 18. Today, it takes more than that for his food alone. Current figures put food costs at $8,700 for a boy and $8,200 for a girl. The 798 boys and girls in Livingston County who are arriving at 18 this year represent an overall outlay of $17,875,000 on the part of their parents.

Chet Maier, of Fairbury, was awarded an electric carving knife as the master farmer award at the Alyco dinner held Saturday night at Meadowbrook gym. Approximately 225 attended. He yielded 135 bushels of corn on 20 acres which was custom farmed by Clarence Hirstein. Guest speaker for the evening was Ernie Harper, vice-president of Alyco from Sullivan. V. Roy, the magician, entertained the group.

50 Years Ago

April 10, 1975

Fairbury firemen responded to an alarm at the Fairbury fairgrounds at 4:15 a.m. Monday after Police officer Curt Van Note discovered smoke flowing from a center of the south horse barn. Firemen found a hole charred in the floor of the tack room in the Bud Gerber stables in the center section of the building. With the exception of the hole in the wood floor, damage was limited to smoke. Gerber said he had accidentally left a "drop-in" electric water heater in a pail Sunday evening after medicating a sore horse, and had forgotten to disconnect it. The heater apparently boiled the pail dry, charred the floor and then shorted out the cord.

Ground was broken Monday morning in the Timber Ridge addition to Fairbury for a new home being erected by Dr. Cesar Secoquian. Dr. Secoquian, a surgeon, is affiliated with Fairbury Medical Associates Ltd., and plans to move his residence here from Pontiac, where he is currently chief of staff at St. James Hospital. Melvin Zimmerman is the general contractor for the residence.

Roderick "Rod" Stevens of Dwight is the new cashier at Citizens State Bank of Cropsey. He assumed his new position on April 7. Stevens graduated from Dwight Township High School in 1969 and from Winston Churchill College in 1971. He was employed with C.I.T. Financial Services at Kankakee from July 1971 until coming to Citizens State Bank at Cropsey. His wife is the former Kay Hoffman of Fairbury, daughter of Mrs. Jean Hoffman of Fairbury and Clyde Hoffman of Gibson City. They have one son, Todd Jeffrey, 6 months old. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Stevens of Dwight.

40 Years Ago

April 4, 1985

Maurie Cox swept all three city precincts Tuesday on his way to a decisive 672-400 win over incumbent James Steidinger in the Fairbury mayoral race. In the other contested city race, Patty Tetley won election to that office with a 682-364 verdict over Audrey Kidd. City Treasurer John Gerber Jr. and aldermen Clarence Simpson, Robert Walter Jr. and Sam Runyon all won re-election without opposition.

Nearly everyone agrees it could have been much worse than it was. Strong winds which helped dissipate vapors and excellent teamwork by the Fairbury Fire Department, Sewer Department and Civil Defense minimized the effects of 2,110 gallons of gasoline which escaped from a bulk storage tank last Thursday. The 20,000 gallon storage tank is owned by Dean Moser and one of his employees, Everett Crews, went to the site shortly after 3 p.m. to load his delivery truck. Crews noticed the leak. Authorities were notified and the clean-up began.

Debold Householder, a lifelong Fairbury resident, celebrated his 102nd birthday Friday with family and friends at Fairview Haven Nursing Home where he's been a resident for 13 years. Celebrating with him were daughters, Irene Hodgson, Forrest, and Florence Day, Fairbury; his son and daughter-in-law, Ray and Alice, Fairbury; and a nephew, Frank Gooding, Fairbury. A diehard Republican, Debold sports a "Reagan" button on his vest. He says, "I voted for Teddy Roosevelt when I was 21 and I've voted for every Republican since . . ."

30 Years Ago

April 5, 1995

Voters in the Prairie Central School District passed a $12.67 million building bond referendum on Tuesday, allowing for building renovations at five sites in Chatsworth, Fairbury and Forrest, and allowing a new junior high building to be constructed at Forrest. The referendum carried in the Livingston County part of the district by 364 votes: 1,580 "yes" to 1,234 "no." In McLean County, the referendum passed with 49 "yes" and 28 "no" votes. Ford County had not yet reported by press time.

Scott McGuire, a fifth grade student at Meadowbrook Elementary in Forrest, went to Huff Hall at the University of Illinois this past Saturday and walked away with the championship in the 10-year-old division. McGuire hit 24 out of 25 free throws, but not until 16 other shooters had taken their turn. Of those 16 others, five had hit 22 out of the 25 baskets. According to McGuire's dad, his son made his first 10 free throw shots before missing #11. He then hit the last 14 to win the championship. He is the son of Tim and Wendy McGuire of Forrest.

Fairbury Hospital's employment rolls took another hit last week as 18 full-time-equivalent positions fell under the knife on Friday. Hospital board president Bill Fugate said Monday that the board had known there was a need in staffing reductions due to a "slowing down of the services we'd been doing." Fugate said that the board specifically asked for a list of positions, not persons, to be cut or reduced because of the "small community" involved.

20 Years Ago

April 6, 2005

Fairburians can look skyward to see progress. The famous clock tower is officially under reconstruction. The guts, the arms and the faces are in Pekin at the clock company. The clock-smith will be changing everything over from mercury switches and metal arms to electronic and wood. The clock will also run on a flywheel, like it was originally designed to do. The new system will keep better time and will automatically reset itself when needed. The repairs are hoped to be done and the clock running by August.

Prairie Central Junior High eighth grader, Kelcy Shafer, has been selected as an Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) Scholar Attitude Award winner. Earlier this year, she was nominated to compete for the award by PCJH Principal Dan Vaughan. The award honors eighth grade students who have excelled in the classroom and in IESA activities. In addition to completing the required forms, Kelcey also had to compose an essay entitled, "The Value of Sportsmanship." She is the daughter of Tim and Becky Shafer of Fairbury.

Helen Streib of rural Fairbury celebrated her 90th birthday Sunday, April 3 at the American Legion Home in Fairbury with a dinner for family and friends. She was born on April 3, 1915 in rural Lexington, in the same house her mother was born in. She is the daughter of the late Harry and Coral Fritz. Her husband, Elmer Streib, to whom she was married on Sept. 19, 1947, died on Dec. 8, 1993. She is a 1932 graduate of Lexington High School, was a past president of Fairbury Hospital Auxiliary and Rebekahs District 16. She taught piano and was a Sunday School teacher for 20 years.

10 Years Ago

April 8, 2015

Charles and Sandra Goembel of Strawn celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on March 14. A trip to Las Vegas is planned with their children and their spouses to celebrate the occasion. Goembel and the former Sandra Bricker were married March 14, 1965 at Fairbury. Rev. Gordan Rief officiated. Their attendants were Duane Martin and Linda Raney Roth. They are the parents of Allen (Michelle) Goembel, Senoia, Ga.; Denise (Keith) Beal, Forrest; Daren (Natasha) Goembel., Savoy; and Alicia Goembel of Bloomington. They also have 10 grandchildren. He was employed at Nussbaum Trucking and is currently employed at Forrest Plumbing and Heating. She is a daycare provider.

The Fairbury City Council has accepted a bid from Route 24 Computers, Inc. for the installation of cameras in the police evidence room. Route 24 was the low bid at $1,525. Other bids came from Advanced Communications at $2,049 and MCS Office Technologies at $2,250.85. Council members also accepted the low bid of $5,385 from Nussbaum for a boiler upgrade and authorized pay request 14 from Tarter Construction in the amount of $27,723.34 for the Brian J. Munz Public Safety Complex. The city also agreed to a 99-year lease with SELCAS for the corner property which includes the old laundromat. SELCAS will make the area into a parking lot.

Emily Bane of Fairbury and Marcus Bradbury of Elizabethtown, Ky., are announcing their engagement and approaching marriage. The bride-to-be is the daughter of Dr. Philip Bane and Dr. Dannielle Jackson of Fairbury. She is a graduate of Prairie Central High School and received her doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Illinois. She is employed at Eastside Veterinary Clinic in Fairbury. The future bridegroom is the son of Tommy and Linda Bradbury of Elizabethtown. He is a graduate of Central Hardin High School and received his doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Auburn University. He is employed at Veterinary Specialty Center in Buffalo Grove. The couple plans to be married on July 10, 2015 in Atlanta.

"Looking Back" from Kari Kamrath is sponsored each week by Duffy-Pils Memorial Homes with locations in Fairbury, Chenoa and Colfax.