Looking Back 10-29-25

130 Years Ago

October 26, 1895

A. P. Farley, the photographer, has just purchased an apparatus with which he is able to take photographs at night.

A new barn is being built on the Phil Wade property, corner of First and Elm Streets.

The new house being built by Joseph Morris in Wade & Merit's addition, is well under way.

High School Notes — The twelfth grade has a membership of eighteen and if they all get through next spring it will make a large graduating class.

120 Years Ago

October 27, 1905

Commencing Sunday, F. Weber & Son will keep their meat market closed on Sundays until further notice.

The Pontiac Leader moved this week into their new quarters erected especially for the Leader plant in Pontiac. They have installed a new newspaper press.

Speaking of narrow escapes, Will Hibsch, who works in Wann's Clothing Store, had one the other day that was a hair raiser. He was riding to his home in the east part of town on his wheel. When about a block from home he heard the crack of a rifle and felt something strike his hat. He stopped, took the headpiece off and on each side of the front rim of the hat was a round hole made by the bullet. If he had been six inches farther along it would have killed him. The shot was fired by some small boys shooting at a mark.

A special train will leave Fairbury Sunday afternoon at 12:30 o'clock for Cardiff, where the Fairbury Athletic Club and the Spaulding Athletic Club of Chicago, will play ball.

110 Years Ago

October 29, 1915

The stockholders of the Fairbury Bank have purchased the building owned by the T. S. O. McDowell estate and occupied by the Fairbury Shoe Store. The Fairbury Bank owns the building it now occupies and the one occupied by the J. T. Gill Music Store, and with its latest acquisition, it has three nice building lots adjoining each other.

Perry and Karl Keck and Van O. Wharton motored to Elkhart, Ind., Saturday in the Keck car, to have the car overhauled at the factory.

Before a monster audience which completely filled the Central Opera House, the Gilpins, hypnotists, opened a three-night engagement last night. The big feature of the evening was the ending of the fifty-hour sleep, of a young man which began Tuesday evening in the window of C. B. Day's Plumbing Shop. It had attracted the greatest attention the past two days.

Avoca — born to Mr. and Mrs. Rollie Taylor, on Wednesday, October 20, a girl, Helen Ellene.

100 Years Ago

October 30, 1925

George A. Patten, a well known retired farmer of Saunemin, died suddenly about 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon while engaged in hauling corn from the John A. Shapland farm to the elevator at Saunemin. He had gone to the farm to assist his son, Charles A. Patten and was engaged in hauling corn from the farm to the elevator. As the team hauling a load of corn to town entered the village of Saunemin and approached the elevator, bystanders noticed Mr. Patten lying back on the load of corn. They stopped the team and made a hasty examination, finding Mr. Patten to be apparently unconscious. They removed him from the wagon and carried him into the office of Dr. C. F. Ross, who made an examination, finding that life was extinct when the body had been brought in. Mr. Patten was 76 years old.

The old Columbia Hotel, landmark of Chenoa, was burned to the ground last Friday afternoon by fire which was discovered in the kitchen of the two-story frame structure, at 2:30 o'clock. The loss, established at about $15,000, was partly covered by insurance. The flames are thought to have started in the kitchen from a faulty stove. Mrs. Mary Jontry is the owner. The hotel stood near the Chicago & Alton Railroad tracks.

Sunday morning when Mrs. Doda Johnson was walking home from church in company with Mrs. W. G. Bingham, she stopped in at Mrs. M. Kershner's with Mrs. Bingham, who said she had an errand there, and found that about fifteen others, members of her Sunday School class, the Loyal Daughters, also had stopped there, to meet her and entertain her at dinner in celebration of her birthday. At her place at table was a large birthday cake containing seventy-five candles.

90 Years Ago

October 25, 1935

Horace Goembel ran his Plymouth coupe into the rear of a truck east of Fairbury Wednesday night. Mr. Goembel was not injured, but the front end of the car was damaged. The radiator was caved in and pushed back, against the engine, the fan and fan shaft broken off, one of the headlights knocked off and other damage done.

The L. A. C. C. held its October meeting on Thursday afternoon at the home of Mrs. Nola Ellinger, of Eppards Point, with Mrs. Dorothy Tollensdorf and Mrs. Anna Menton assisting. Roll call, "Places I Would Like to See," was answered by twenty-four members. Mrs. Mattie Carter as leader read an interesting paper on the care of the hair, entitled "Overhead." Plans were completed for a Halloween party to be held on Thursday, October 31, at the Lodemia Town Hall. At the close of the afternoon refreshments were served by the hostesses.

Last Wednesday the Frog Pond school taught by Miss Edna Vail and the Howarth school taught by Miss Vivian Henderson met at the Vail timber for a hare and hound hunt. The hounds had quite a time, but had lots of fun chasing through several timbers and across fields following the confetti trail of the hares. After the second hunt in which teams exchanged places, the hares and hounds called a truce and gathered around the bonfire to roast wieners.

80 Years Ago

October 26, 1945

There is nothing new on the T. P. & W. strike situation. This is especially true of trains, for up to last evening there had been no trains over the road since October 1.

The members of the Indian Creek Golf Club are going to have a wiener roast Sunday afternoon at their club house at 5:30 o'clock. It will be preceded by a work afternoon starting at 2:30. Of course if the afternoon is too nice the work part may develop into a two-ball foursome.

Mrs. D. J. Giancarli received a message from her brother, First Lt. Joseph Mattioli, that he had arrived in San Francisco, Calif., Tuesday and would go from there to the Mayo General Hospital at Galesburg. Lt. Mattioli was a Japanese prisoner for many months.

Four combines came in and combined beans for Clarence Maley who is in the hospital. Those furnishing combines were Glenn Ruff, Raymond Tavener, Jean Smallwood and Wayne Ziller. Trucks were furnished by Raymond Tavener, Glenn Ruff and Lester Perkins.

70 Years Ago

October 26, 1955

Two-and-a-half year old Johnny Holforty, son of Mr. and Mrs. Chuck Holforty of this city, is recovering in Mercy Hospital in Chicago from a serious injury received in a fall from a tree.

The Fairbury Chapter of Future Farmers of America was honored at a dinner sponsored by the Rotarians at the Honegger House Cafe.

Fairbury's new grade school building will be "staked-out" the early part of next week.

The city council accepted a petition for the admittance into the city of eight lots at the north edge of the present city limits.

60 Years Ago

October 28, 1965

A new coin-operated laundry is going up at the corner of 1st and Locust Streets. Business owners will be Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Aberle, however, Aberle will still be employed by Harve's IGA. Real estate owner is Larry Pritts, Normal. The property formerly belonged to P. C. James of Pontiac. Concrete block walls are up at the 34 x 44-foot building. Kafer crews are presently laying drain tile.

Capt. Francis Mowery of Fairbury, head of district six state police, directed a manhunt Tuesday morning and afternoon near Saunemin. Three Chicagoans were booked for strong-arm robbery and auto theft. A Gary, Ind., man was held for illegal possession of liquor. The entire investigation came forth when the foursome wrecked their car on the Griswold blacktop one and a half miles north of Ill. 116. A state police plane and dog were also called in.

M. Dan Fugate of Fairbury had a narrow scrape with death about 10:45 a.m. Monday when he brushed against a 34,000 volt transformer at the Sinclair plant, Rte. 3, Pontiac. The surge of electricity knocked him 14 feet to the ground. He was painting near the transformer. Electricity was supposedly turned off. Fugate's entire right side was scorched. His right arm received second degree burns from his shoulder to his wrist. His right foot was also severely blistered. He received two broken ribs in his left side, a broken left collarbone and a severe cut on the back of his head as a result of the fall. The wound required 13 stitches. He will remain in the hospital a week to 10 days recovering.

50 Years Ago

October 30, 1975

Plans to build a new plant in Fairbury with a projected employment of 150 persons were announced today by CTS Knights Inc., of Sandwich. The new building will immediately add about 100 jobs to the Fairbury community. The firm, world leader in the manufacture of quartz crystals used in communications, computers and the new electronic watches, has purchased seven acres west of Fairbury from the Association of Commerce's Industrial Development committee. The Fairbury plant will be the 19^th in the company lineup, including four overseas subsidiaries.

The National Newspaper Association has adopted a resolution opposing H. R. 10130, the House bill which would increase the national minimum wage to $3 per hour. The bill also contains a provision which would tie future minimum wage increases to the Consumer Price Index, and it suggests that overtime compensation be raised to two and one-half times the base wage. NNA Executive Vice President Theodore A. Serrill predicted that industry, faced with a 30 percent rise in the minimum wage, will have "no choice but to pass these additional costs on to the consumer in the form of increased prices."

The weather man smiled, the kids smiled, the old folks smiled; singers sang and dancers danced; ponies pranced, steam engines chugged, a cider mill crunched out clear amber liquid and patient cows gave down milk to tentative amateur dairymen. Spellers spelled, fresh-churned butter oozed over home-made bread, succulent pork simmered over charcoal and everyone had a ball at Fairbury's Bicentennial Harvest Festival Saturday. Entertainment started at noon and went on non-stop until at least 9 p.m., with the square dancers being the last to give up.

40 Years Ago

October 24, 1985

The Rose Bowl wants the Prairie Central High School marching band! PCHS band director Mike Stalker was given the official word of an invitation to participate in the 1987 or 1988 Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, Calif. The Rose Bowl bid is a remarkable tribute to a first-year band, albeit one comprised of musicians who won trophy after trophy in the former Fairbury-Cropsey and Forrest-Strawn-Wing bands. The FCHS band received a bid from the Tournament of Roses a few years ago, but declined the invitation because of the financial problems the district was facing. Estimated cost of the trip is around $100,000.

Jacob W. Ulfers, 106, believed to be the oldest resident of Livingston County, died at 6:25 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, 1985 at Fairview Haven Nursing Home, Fairbury, where he had been a resident for 9½ years since moving from the family farm north of Fairbury. Mr. Ulfers celebrated his 100tth birthday anniversary in July 1979. At the same time the farm received a centennial farm award which is given for a century of farm ownership. Mr. Ulfer's son, Warren, and his wife, Mary Ann, still live on, and operate the farm, which Jacob Ulfer's parents acquired when he was one month old.

Mr. and Mrs. Ron Monroe are parents of a baby girl born Oct. 12, weighing 4 lb. 14 oz. The baby, Patricia, was born two months prematurely at Mercy Hospital, Champaign and is in the intensive care unit. She is progressing well and will probably remain at the hospital for two weeks. Mother, Sharon, has returned home to rural Fairbury.

30 Years Ago

October 25, 1995

A Fairbury barn containing 100 ton of hay, 50 ton of straw and a feed wagon, was completely destroyed by fire, fueled by high winds Monday afternoon. One hundred twenty head of cattle were uninjured in the 2 p.m. fire on the Charles Steidinger farm, three miles west and 2½ miles south of Fairbury. Firemen from Fairbury, Forrest, Pontiac, Chenoa, Chatsworth and Octavia firemen from Cropsey, Colfax and Anchor responded to the blaze. Eight fire trucks ran continuously to a creek 3 miles north of the farm, hauling an estimated 300,000 gallons of water.

Nancy O'Donnell of W. Elm, Fairbury, had double bad luck due to the high winds around 8 p.m. Monday. A tree from her neighbor's yard fell on not one, but two of her and husband Jamie's vehicles. The tree had fallen through a fence, landing on their 1995 Ford Taurus and 1995 van.

Roger and Crystal Miller of Fairbury are the parents of a boy, Seth Roger Miller, born Friday, Oct. 13, 1995; Steven and Donna Folwell of Forrest are parents of a girl, Lindsay Jean Folwell, born Sunday, Oct. 15, 1995; Rick and Kim Steidinger of rural Forrest are parents of a boy, Clayton Richard, born Oct. 9, 1995.

20 Years Ago

October 26, 2005

Ann Yoder of Forrest, owner of Forrest European Imports and her business partner, Jane Bounds, are preparing for their 20^th anniversary. Yoder, who was originally from the Netherlands, opened the business in January of 1986. Forrest European Imports is located at 339 S. Center St., and has available furniture, figurines, china, jewelry, paintings and gifts. Bounds manages the gift line at the business, that is open Friday through Sunday.

Kevin and Jodi Slagel of Cropsey are parents of a baby daughter, born Oct. 14, 2005 at Gibson Area Hospital. Brittney Ann weighed 9 pounds, 3 ounces and was 19 inches long at birth. Maternal grandparents are David and Renee Enderli of Pontiac. Paternal grandparents are James and Lucille Slagel of Fairbury. The new arrival has two older sisters, Haley, 3, and Janelle, 2.

Stephanie Hartke, a Fairbury resident and salesperson for AtHome America, was recently honored as one of the top 25 executives for the month of July. Hartke received this honor by working a successful business as an AtHome America HomeStyle Specialist. For more than 20 years, AtHome America has been decorating homes through home shows with their extensive collection of stylish home decorating accessories.

10 Years Ago

October 28, 2015

The annual audit for Fairbury shows the city is in good financial shape. CPA Steve Chitwood presented the 2014-2015 audit at the Oct. 21 City Council meeting. The report did not find any deficiencies according to Fairbury Mayor Lynn Dameron. “We spent less than we took in, which is always good, and our balances are better than what they have been in the past,” he said. Another presentation caught the attention of the council but didn't deal with city finances. Samantha Slagel built a model of Fairbury City Hall out of popsicle sticks for a school project and displayed her work to the group. She is the daughter of David Slagel who serves on the council. The project is on display at City Hall for residents to look at.

JoAnne Myers of Fairbury will celebrate her 90^th birthday on Nov. 2 with a card shower. She married George Myers (deceased) on March 14, 1948 in Fairbury. They farmed south of Fairbury for many years. Her children are Georgia Wilkinson, Camargo, Ill.; and Greg and Jeff Myers, both of Fairbury.

Addison Bounds, son of Brian and Becky Bounds of Fairbury, and a student at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, was named player of the game following the Panthers' game against Southeast Missouri State on Oct. 10. In his new position at tight end, Bounds was among a host of players that gave the Panthers some breathing room in the second half of the game, catching an 11-yard touchdown pass on the Panthers' first drive. The Prairie Central High School graduate then found himself wide open on the next drive, catching a 65-yard pass for a score. He finished the day with five catches for 107 yards and the two scores.

Looking Back from Kari Kamrath is sponsored each week on Fairbury News by Duffy-Pils Memorial Home.