Looking Back 10-22-25

130 Years Ago

October 19, 1895

The Odd Fellows Temple at Fairbury, the building of which has to so large a degree engrossed the attention of members of the fraternity in this vicinity, was dedicated Wednesday according to program with impressive ceremonies. Commencing at 1:30 in the afternoon the dedicatory services took place in the lodge room, occupying about two hours' time. The grand master, Hon. Henry Phillips, of Virginia, Ill, presided and Grand Secretary James S. Miller, of Springfield, and Deputy Grand Master James F. Mansfield, honored the occasion by their presence.

The city authorities are putting in a cement crossing across Third Street west of the city hall. Mr. Bowman does the work free and the city pays for the material. The square is to be graded up to crossing level. If the cement stands the wear at that crossing it will be a good advertisement.

120 Years Ago

October 20, 1905

The Pantitorium, a new institution in Fairbury, opened in the Sterling Tailor Shop Monday. The object is to keep every man's clothing, who is a member, cleaned and neatly pressed, and his shoes shined. The dues are a dollar a month. Gene Carrithers is the manager.

G. Y. McDowell has commenced to remodel the room in his building vacated by S. E. Ellis' barber shop and will fix it up with modern banking fixtures. He expects to open the bank in about a month.

Allen Thatcher, son of Dr. and Mrs. A. H. Thatcher, had his face pretty badly skinned up Tuesday evening when a horse he was riding stumbled and fell.

Miss Nellie Way left Monday for St. Louis, Mo., where she will attend school. Her mother accompanied her to the city, returning Tuesday.

110 Years Ago

October 22, 1915

Nelson Bittner, son of Mr. and Mrs. D. N. Bittner, has a baseball that he would not part with for a great deal. The ball was sent to Nelson by Beals Becker, a cousin of Mrs. Bittner, and a member of the Philadelphia Nationals baseball team. On the ball are the signatures of all the members of the team, including the president, Mr. Baker. Among the signatures are those of Grover Alexander, the great pitcher. As the Philadelphia Nationals won the National League pennant this year, the ball is all the more highly prized by Nelson.

Zimmerman & Son, of Wenona, were here Tuesday and leased the Franzen building, where they will open a grocery store about November first.

There is a machine being installed in the Mundt Jewelry Store building, a machine that promises to be of vast interest to mankind. It is a machine that is new in the scientific world, and while it is a machine that has been sought after by many scientists and inventors, it fell to the lot of two Livingston County men to invent and perfect it. The new device is a refrigerating machine for family use. It is a little machine that sits right on top of the ordinary ice box and keeps the box cooler than it could possibly be kept with ice. It requires no attention, working automatically. The patentee is H. J. Smith, of Dwight, and the chemist is Dr. C. H. Barr, of that city.

100 Years Ago

October 23, 1925

The rodeo exhibition certainly ran into a bunch of bad weather here. After the weather of two weeks ago had been so bad that it was impossible to show one day at all, and the other it was so cold the attendance was small, those having the rodeo in charge decided to stay over and give their performance Friday and Saturday of last week. But again the weather man was against them. It rained all day Friday and on Saturday there was only a light attendance. The worst part of it was the people putting on the rodeo gave a first-class exhibition.

After everybody else had taken a vacation, the city clock is doing likewise. The first of the week the cord holding one of the weights broke, and up to the present time another one has not been procured, although it has been ordered. In the meantime the people have just commenced to find out just how much they depend on the city clock for the time of day.

Contractor C. H. Schnetzler now has a large force of men working both day and night so that the Central Theatre may soon be opened to the public. The dream of the management to make this theatre the finest of its size in this part of the state is being realized. When the doors are thrown open to the public, the patrons will be justly proud of their theatre, for they will see a wonderful new stage with a screen setting whose magnificence will seldom if ever be equalled in a theatre of this size.

90 Years Ago

October 18, 1935

The miners of the Co-operative Coal Company, who have again been idle this week, due to some differences that have arisen, will go back to work this morning. There is some talk of reorganization. It is hoped by all Fairbury citizens that the mine continues to operate. This company is one of Fairbury's oldest business institutions, soon to be celebrating it's fiftieth anniversary. It is to be hoped that the 50^th anniversary of the mine will be celebrated by increased cooperation and enthusiasm in making it a success.

A lot of mechanical corn pickers were sold here this fall, but if one is to judge from the cornhuskers that are available, the mechanical ones would not be needed. The cornhuskers (mostly from Kentucky) started coming in the latter part of last week, and by the first of this week, the town was full of them, a part of whom found work. Corn husking this year should be a profitable job as the corn is all standing up well in the fields and the yield is large.

Anyone who might have looked in on the Rotary Club session Tuesday evening could easily have gotten the impression that members of that organization were preparing to embark for Ethiopia to help Emperor Haile Selassie resist the oncoming army of Mussolini men, for E. H. Bastion, local fire arms connoisseur, was on the program, and had a large division of his arsenal with him. The collection of revolvers, pistols, rifles, etc., which Mr. Bastion exhibited were mostly antiques, but the majority of them were in working condition and ready for action.

80 Years Ago

October 19, 1945

Captain Fred Harris, former Fairbury boy, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Gibson T. Harris, who is now a chaplain in the United States Army, and at present on leave, visited relatives and friends in this city on several occasions during the past two weeks. On Sunday evening, he was the speaker at the evening service at the First Baptist Church, and gave a very interesting account of some of his experiences as chaplain. He has been stationed in England during the past two years.

Raymond Tyler, caretaker at Graceland Cemetery, is in the Fairbury Hospital as the result of a bad fall on Wednesday afternoon. He was picking pears at the P. J. Keck home and was in the top of the tree. He had just filled a bucket and started to come down, when the limb on which he stepped broke and he fell a distance of some 20 or 25 feet. His back was badly injured.

While this year's F. T. H. S. homecoming festivities were a success from every point of view, the parade preceding the football game, was outstanding. The various floats were exceptionally fine and as the parade, headed by the high school band, made its way along our main thoroughfare there was a general comment of praise for the artistic manner in which they had been completed. The float depicting the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima was an exceptional one. The faculty and students are to be congratulated.

70 Years Ago

October 20, 1955

Work on Fairbury's new grade school is beginning this week, according to Jay Carter, who has been hired by the board to supervise the project. On Tuesday George Wearda, Pekin architect, met with school officials to work out final plans of the building.

W. W. Wessel will leave for a five-day trip to Cuba, which he won as first prize in a General Electric sales contest, among Class B dealers over a 10-week contest.

Rep. L. C. Arends promised his cooperation in attempting to secure a new post office building for Fairbury.

Three Fairbury boys, Terry Elliott, Don Smallwood and Delmar Church, won prizes in the Corn Harvest Days poster contest. They went on tour of the city of Chicago for two days and were guests of radio and television station WGN.

60 Years Ago

October 21, 1965

McDonald's Restaurant and Hicksatomic Station are conducting an open house and grand opening this weekend. There will be free coffee, rolls, pie and door prizes at McDonald's on Friday and Saturday nights, and the famous Mohammed's Kiltie Band from Peoria will be featured at the restaurant. At Hicksatomic, you might be one of the lucky customers to purchase gasoline at 1937 prices!

The DAR citizenship award of Fairbury-Cropsey High School has been awarded by the faculty for the 1966 school year to Barbara Crews, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Everett Crews of Fairbury. Barbara is an honor-roll student, active in all school activities, member in the band, plays piano for the girls and mixed chorus, is treasurer of the math club, Student Council representative, co-editor of the school newspaper, active in church activities and many other activities. She was selected on service, leadership, dependability and patriotism.

An accident involving two trucks sent one driver to Fairbury Hospital about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday. The incident occurred 2¼ miles west of here on Route 24. Steve Sutter, 19, Colfax, sustained severe lacerations about the head, and also back and leg injuries. Sutter was driving west in a dump truck owned by Lawndale Township of Colfax when a semi truck, also heading west, attempted to pass. The semi truck, driven by Ronald D. Robing, 35, Rossville, hit the Sutter vehicle in the left rear. Force of impact sent the dump truck, loaded with about six tons of rock, careening through a ditch, smashing a General Telephone repeater box, and finally ending 100 feet in a field.

50 Years Ago

October 23, 1975

"Two weeks from today we should be in," Westview principal Tony Menke told the Fairbury-Cropsey Board of Education Monday night in response to a question about the remodeling work at the facility. Menke's statement referred to the latest timetable for relocating sixth grade students from the Cropsey school to the remodeled Westview bus garage. According to Menke, the school will transport students and their books from the Cropsey building to their new Westview home on Friday, Oct. 31. Desks and other furniture would be moved on Saturday, paving the way for classes to begin in the new facility on Monday, Nov. 3.

Nearly stealing the show were the members of the Fairbury-Cropsey Alumni Band, who pulled the Great Switcheroo in front of hundreds of spectators between Third and Fourth Streets on Locust. The file reversal routine had the crowd in stitches and added to the Homecoming parade. The Alumni Band was appropriately followed not only by stretcher-bearers, but an ultra-modern SELCAS ambulance as well.

"George M!" is the musical comedy that marks the grand opening of The Conklin Players Dinner Theatre at Timberline, near Goodfield, on Oct. 31. The Conklin Players have found a permanent home in an old and round-top barn on Timberline and have remodeled it into a dinner theatre with main floor and mezzanine seating and buffet-style dinner featuring prime rib and chicken.

40 Years Ago

October 17, 1985

Unlike Al Jolson, who once proclaimed "I'd walk a million miles..." Don Doran has recorded 1,000,000 miles, accident-free, driving for Limestone Transit of Fairbury. Don started driving full-time for Limestone in 1968 and his safety record began Nov. 1, 1972. He passed the magic million number at the end of August this year. Don was feted by fellow workers at John Joda Legion Post home on Saturday, Oct. 5, where presentations were made by Steve Metz, their insurance carrier, and Scott Doran, his nephew and head of the firm.

A quartet of Hawk harriers turned in personal bests Thursday on the 3.0 Gardner course in a cross-country meet that saw Prairie Central beat Clifton Central in the team standings. Eric Brauman, Eric Kirchner, Aaron Steffen and Kevin Kafer all clocked their fastest times of the season, with Bob Brown the first man across the finish line for the Hawks.

On Sunday, Oct. 13 the Veterans of Foreign Wars installed a new post no. 9789 in Fairbury. The event was held in the banquet room at McDonald's Cafe. Dept. Commander Tom Morgan installed 16 new members. Elected as officers were Robert Slayton commander; Herbert Rathbun, quartermaster; James S. Story Sr., sr. vice commander; Harold D. Martin Jr., vice commander; William Allonge, chaplain; Edwin Runyon, one year trustee; Albert Meyer, two year trustee; Wendell Nylander, three year trustee.

30 Years Ago

October 18, 1995

The doors will open Friday night for the third year in a row at the IOOF Haunted House on Locust Street, Fairbury. The completely rebuilt haunted house will be hosted by 30 to 40 volunteers, with guest appearances by several town officials. Over 2,600 walked through last year. IOOF volunteers and others have been meeting once a month since the closing of last year's haunted house in preparation for the next year's venture. In the spring, meetings were held each week, with nightly sessions during October.

South East Livingston County Ambulance Service (SELCAS) Director, Roger Braun, submitted his resignation, effective Oct. 15, to pursue other opportunities. His various duties have been divided among SELCAS volunteers, with Volunteer Coordinator, Jim Hargett, serving as the liaison between SELCAS and BroMenn Healthcare.

Mr. and Mrs. Ray Meenen of Forrest observed their 35^th wedding anniversary with a family picnic at their son's home. Meenen and Shirley Kennedy were married on Oct. 8, 1960 at St. John's Catholic Church in Fairbury. They have three children and two grandchildren.

20 Years Ago

October 19, 2005

A little over 2½ hours is all it took to harvest the corn crop of Maurice Sutter, rural Fairbury, on Wednesday, when about two dozen-plus neighbors and friends showed up with combines, trucks, trailers and man power. Sutter, who is recovering from heart surgery, has spent four of the last five weeks hospitalized at St. John's Hospital in Springfield and four days at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Those helping included Dale Barnes, Dennis Wenger, Terry Casson, Roger Meyers, Carlos Bahler, Jim Cottrell, Steve Ricketts, Jim Ifft, Dave Steidinger, Charles Steidinger, Derek Steidinger, Gary and Annette Steidinger, Travis Steidinger, Doug Raiz, Don Smith, Bob Wenger, Jerry Barrot, Dale Casson, Don Trowich, Dan Steidinger, Curt Meiss, Jim Kafer, Abe Meyers, Dick Haab (Evergreen FS) and Paul Sutter.

This year's Daughters of the American and Sons of the American Revolution Good Citizenship Award Winners at Prairie Central High School are Kelli Coldren, daughter of Dana and Sue Coldren, and David Shier, son of Marion and Jeannea Shier. The students were chosen by the faculty at PCHS.

Stephen Zimmerman and Kaci Taylor of Fairbury are the parents of a baby boy born at 8:45 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2005, at OSF Saint James-John W. Albrecht Medical Center, Pontiac. Cole Taylor Zimmerman weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and was 19½ inches long at birth. Maternal grandparents are David and Marsha Taylor of Fairbury, and paternal grandparents are Paul and Loretta Zimmerman of Fairbury.

10 Years Ago

October 21, 2015

The third and fourth grade students at Westview Elementary, during the month of September, raised money to support St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. The students raised $2,550 and met their goal. On Wednesday, Oct. 14, an assembly was held to honor the students who participated in the fundraiser: Jack Schahrer, Ellie Drach, Eli Meiss, Cora Morris, Gracie Edelman, Isabelle Buchenau, Evan Hansen, Sierra Styner, Tyler Curl, Makayla Gadberry, Adri Cottrell, Lily Schaffer, Jack Slagel, Alayna Brewster, Lane Whitfill and Reuben Mueller. Fourth grade teacher, Christy Decker, is the St. Jude Fundraiser Coordinator.

A few months ago, Gina Teliho, of Atlanta, Ga., did a small remodeling project on her older home. During the project, she found old letters laying between the rafters on top of the old ceiling. Some of these letters were mailed from Fairbury to Ridgway, Pennsylvania in 1915. The letters were written and received by members of the Arnold family and included a hand-drawn valentine heart. Using the Internet, Gina asked local Fairbury historian Dale C. Maley for assistance in reuniting these 100 year old love letters with current descendants of the family. Maley was unable to establish any family connection between the people involved with the letters and Fairbury. He was able to create the family tree of the Arnold family in Ridgway and determined that descendants of the Arnold family had moved to the Atlanta area. Using Maley's family tree information, Gina was then able to find Kelly Arnold, great-grandson of the Arnolds, who lives in the Atlanta area today.

John and Bonnie Traub of Fairbury will celebrate their 60^th wedding anniversary with a winter trip. Traub and the former Bonnie Stein were married Oct. 30, 1955 at the Sibley church. Their attendants were Jean Stein Kirby of Champaign and Harvey Traub of Bloomington. They are the parents of Debbie (Steve) Roach, DiAnn (Charles) Leman and John C. (Dede) Traub. They also have four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The couple were engaged in farming and also operated Traub Real Estate in Fairbury.

(Looking Back is sponsored each week by Duffy-Pils Memorial Home of Fairbury)