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1924 – 100 Years Ago
Annie’s Woods, known throughout the stretch of the Lincoln Highway from coast to coast as one of the most pleasing and comfortable of the many camping grounds, has ceased to be the haven of rest and comfort. The woods on the north and western sides are completely under water, and part of the driveway has been submerged. Reports from the shack at the woods this afternoon state that the water is rapidly receding and that it will only be a few days before the woods will again be safe and dry.
Several complaints coming from residents on South Second Street in the neighborhood of Roosevelt Street are that motorists have been causing considerable noise in that neighborhood. At the present time there are several residents who are ill and the noises have been very bothersome. It is stated that the greatest trouble is experienced after midnight. Autoists finding it necessary to drive in this neighborhood at this hour are being asked to consider those who do not wish to be awakened at that time.
Work on the various building operations in Sycamore was continued today after the rain yesterday. Contractors have started on the actual construction of the Johnson building and already the place is beginning to loom into view, with a force of brick layers on the job. The work on the Pierce bank was also started again today, with the excavation and building up of the basement. Carpenters in the city also kept on the job and the 29 new houses in the city are fast nearing completion.
A haystack on the Stafford farm in Ohio Grove was struck by lightning on Tuesday evening and burned to the ground.
Interior decorators are at present engaged in refinishing the new store that will be opened in the space made vacant by the moving of the P. S. Corey Tire Shop to the oil station on West Lincoln Highway. The store will be known as the Holmes Hat Shop, and will be operated by two DeKalb women. When completed, the store will be very pleasing in appearance. The outside has also been given attention. It is not known as yet when the official opening will take place.
Following the completion of the task of painting the several fire alarm boxes and hydrant in this city, one of the painters yesterday was given the work of painting all of the turtle-back traffic regulators at the First, Second, Third and Fourth street intersections on the Lincoln Highway. The iron covers are being repainted white.
1949– 75 Years Ago
It was on August 6, 1923 that the funeral train of President Harding went through DeKalb. It traveled over the Chicago and North Western between Clinton and Chicago.
Work is being finished on the removing of the steeple on the building that was once the St. Michaels Mission Church in Clare. The building is now used as a community center. A small truckload of hay was removed from the loft, where it had been carried and stored by birds through the years. The building was erected in 1921 after fire had destroyed the new church on the same site in November of 1920. When paved roads became common and transportation much simpler the mission was closed. The property was sold and has been used as a Red Cross center and community center.
We don’t know where the sheep were, but the cows were in the corn on a couple of farms in the north end of the county last week end. Approximately 18 steers belonging to John F. Wall got lost in about 260 acres of corn on the Wall and Frank Hunter farms and they couldn’t find them among the tall stalks. Mr. Wall promptly chartered an airplane and the search was on. They didn’t find them all on Saturday so they continued their search on Sunday.
Wise, VA – Students at the newly chartered Southwest Virginia College and Commercial School here will be expected to keep their grousing to themselves. The charter for the school provides that “griping shall not be tolerated.” The ban on student complaints, the charter explained, is not aimed at imposing bondage upon the student body. The rule is intended “for expediency and to safeguard the college.”
The DeKalb County draft office in the Sycamore Armory will be closed, press association dispatches said today, as an economy measure. The DeKalb County office will be consolidated with those of DuPage and Kane counties and the office will be in Wheaton.
For the past several months the Greyhound busses have been using their parking lot on North Fourth Street to the rear of the bank but at present are forced to park on the street as the parking area undergoes improvement.
1974 – 50 Years Ago
The 18th annual Northern Illinois Steam Power Club’s show gets underway tomorrow. Fourteen steam engines are expected for the show which runs through Sunday at the Taylor Marshall Farm, northeast of Sycamore.
Appearing more alone than ever, President Nixon told his cabinet Tuesday he does not plan to resign and feels he has not committed an impeachable offense.
DeKalb County Board of Health member Ivan Williams last night predicted the county’s Tuberculosis Sanitarium, located at 2331 Sycamore Road, would be phased out. Williams proposed that the sanitarium building, which also houses the County Health Department and the Family Service Agency, be sold for frontage property and that the wooded area in the back of the building be sold to the DeKalb Park District at a minimal price.
Fannie Sims got permission for her restaurant-tavern at last night’s Sycamore City Council meeting, then push came to shove. The council itself had no trouble granting Mrs. Sims’ request for a special use permit allowing her to reconstruct the Dixie Inn which was destroyed by fire on July 24, 1972, after she promised to provide the off-street parking required by the Sycamore Plan Commission’s favorable recommendation.
1999 - 25 Years Ago
Training and planning kept local school bus contractor Laidlaw Transit, Inc. busy during the summer months. DeKalb Branch Manager Andrew Lord and his staff are in the final stages of preparation for the beginning of the 1999-2000 academic year. Drivers have been hired and trained. New buses have been purchased. Bus routes have been designed for efficiency.
A proposal to resurface parts of Route 34 on the west end of Sandwich and widen parts of it on the east end of town is expected to be approved by the Illinois Department of Transpiration next spring.
With the summer hear in full effect, the owner of YaDa Dada’s Ice Cream parlor provided complementary scoops of premium homemade ice cream to the Meals on Wheels and Med/Vac volunteers.
Nearby residents of the Humane Manufacturing plant blamed everything from severe asthma attacks and headaches to decreased property values on the plant’s escaping odors. The Genoa plant, located in the southern half of a manufacturing building at 538 S. Sycamore St., molds matting from tire retreading materials. In the later part of May, Humane began installing air filtration and deodorizing equipment in its Genoa plant to remove airborne particles believed to be the cause of the odors.
Compiled by Sue Breese