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1925 – 100 Years Ago
Graduation services or a class of 18 students will take place this evening at St. Mary’s Hall for the 1925 class of St. Mary’s parochial school. The program will begin at eight o’clock and the public is invited to attend. The children have arranged a most interesting program and the services will be such that everyone attending will find it of much interest.
Should a proposal that is now being considered by DeKalb city council be passed, this city will have stop signs on all streets crossing the Lincoln Highway from the state college gates to Evans Avenue, according to a resolution that has been introduced.
Running a splinter into three of his fingers is such a manner that all three fingers were pinned together, was the experience which R. G., a young man working in the action works of the Apollo Piano factory, underwent yesterday afternoon. The accident was most painful and will cause the young man to be at leisure for some time to come.
Movers, who have the task of moving the Wetzel house from its former site to a lot near the school seem to be meeting with no difficulty in getting the building well on its way. The hardest part of the task was experienced today when the building had to be turned off State Street onto California and headed north. There has been little damage to the pavement by the movers thus far, and it is believed they will be able to get the house at the new site by Saturday afternoon.
The ornamental lighting system of Sycamore, which is said to be one of the most attractive in this part of the state, is now being given a coat of white paint, which will add to the appearance. The entire post from the bottom to the top arches are being repainted, giving them a clean appearance, and making them much more conspicuous to strangers in the city.
Saturday, at the Jesse Buzzel woods, will occur the annual Charter Grove community picnic, which is always largely attended by Sycamore folks. A program of sports has been arranged for the men, women, and children, while the usual picnic dinner will be served at noon. In the afternoon it is understood there will be a prominent speaker in addition to a ball game and other attractions.
1950– 75 Years Ago
Another of the weekly concerts by the DeKalb Municipal Band under the direction of Dee Palmer will be held Tuesday evening, June 20, at the Hopkins Park amphitheater starting at 8 o’clock.
Crooksville, Ohio – A four-hour cloudburst sent thousands of gallons of water swirling through seven towns early today, flooding a 25-square-mile area in three southern Ohio counties. Thousands of residents in the rich coal mining and pottery making area were forced to flee their homes.
A cement bridge south of the Charles Erickson place, four miles south of Malta, was washed out Wednesday night during the heavy downpour. This bridge is over a dredged ditch. The rain was so heavy and fell with such rapidity that the water cut another channel. Water poured across the road in several places.
Hot weather helped drive 566 swimmers into the Sycamore Community pool Wednesday and Thursday, according to Emil Cassier, park superintendent. The Sycamore pool was opened Wednesday despite threatening weather and the absence of chlorine for the water. Attendance reached the 566 total in the first two days of operation.
Nobody around DeKalb can be found who can recall when the Kishwaukee river was as high as it was Thursday. South of the city, the water reached within inches of the stringers on the plank bridge, while on the Kishwaukee Country Club no one can recall the water being so high on the eighth green and some of the members have been there for 40 years or more.
DeKalb’s population has increased 2,413 in the past ten years according to the 1950 census. The 1950 population for DeKalb is 11,559, or a 26 percent increase over the 1940 population of 9,146.
June 17th is a day which looms large in the history of the DeKalb fire department. In 1913, about 9:30 in the morning, the new Webb fire truck, pride of the department, was struck by a Chicago and North Western passenger train at the First Street crossing. The truck was new, having been purchased only the fall before, the two men, L. L. Smith and Capt. Will Wall, were learning to operate the vehicle. Fireman Smith was the driver on this day. As the truck was going south on First Street the gate tender at the crossing rang his warning bell when the vehicle was about 15 feet away from the tracks. In attempting to stop the driver killed the engine and the truck skidded to a stop directly on the rack, squarely in front of the oncoming train.
1975 – 50 Years Ago
The DeKalb County Health Department will not conduct a school children immunization program. This decision came after the Board of Health last night deferred to the DeKalb County Medical Society, which opposed the proposal. The Medical Society doctors would continue immunizing children against diseases in physicians’ offices rather than at school, as had been proposed.
Safety and Law Enforcement Committee of the DeKalb County Board last night turned down a request that money confiscated from the Sycamore Moose and Sycamore Veterans Home be turned over to the Sycamore Baseball Complex. It was asked that the money seized in a slot machine raid by the state’s attorney’s office on March 1 be released.
Development of the 240-acre forest preserve site in Afton Township could proceed faster than originally thought. DeKalb County may qualify for state funds which would reimburse the county for half the cost of a development project.
Two DeKalb aldermen would vote for construction of a new city airport rather than paying up to $461,000 to renovate the present airport.
2000 – 25 Years Ago
Cortland may become the first community in Illinois, and possibly the nation, to establish a railroad quiet zone. The town of Cortland announced that a quiet zone has been approved by the Federal Railroad Administration and Union Pacific Railroad. The approval of a quite zone would mean trains no longer would be required to blow their horns at railroad crossings. Since 1994, Union Pacific required all trains to sound their horns at every crossing.
The city of DeKalb got a boost in its quest to capitalize on its history when Lincoln Highway was named a National Scenic Byway. City officials hope the designation will encourage tourism. The designation also means DeKalb will get preferential treatment when it comes to obtaining federal funds for improvements to the road and other related tourist attractions.
Like many other small towns in DeKalb County, Waterman faces had decisions about repairs and upgrades to water and sewer systems, roads and sidewalks. The current cost increases in Illinois on gas and oil products, including asphalt for road and street repairs, had the town fathers and mothers scratching their heads to come up with the best plan and financing for summer projects.
Mayor Bessie Chronopoulos announced Thursday that the building once housing the Box Office Brewery and Restaurant will soon reopen as Remo’s Fine Italian Dining/Remo’s Retro Nightclub.
Compiled by Sue Breese