Looking Back 11-6-25

130 Years Ago

November 2, 1895

Fairbury experienced a real live earthquake at about 5:11 Thursday morning. In regard to the details of the disturbance there is a conflict of testimony. Some declare that dishes rattled and some say the movement was gentle and not strong enough to rattle anything. The earthquake was general all over the central part of the Untied States.

George P. Westervelt has returned from his trip to Oklahoma and resumed his duties at the telegraph office.

John Hancock, a Pike Township farmer, has completed husking a field of corn, weighing it as it was gathered. It made 109 bushels to the acre.

Cropsey — W. E. Watkins, our barber, is remodeling his shop. Miss Lillian Hill has been engaged to teach the winter term of school at the Kuntz district. Dr. C. E. Howard has the addition to his residence furnished with radiators. Contractor McCullough did the work.

120 Years Ago

November 3, 1905

Joseph T. Jones, who was for many years a resident of this city, is now living at Milford, Ill. and has the unique distinction, at the age of 75, of becoming the fond papa of a bouncing baby boy. Mr. Jones' wife recently gave birth to a son that is the exact counterpart of the sire. The mother of the infant, is a young woman scarcely thirty. Jones went to Milford fifteen years ago with a show. The show "busted" and Jones stayed and kept guard over a half dozen animals the show possesses. Ever since, he has been known as Animal Jones.

John Fuell, living on the A. C. Bartlett farm, drilled in four acres this spring, the hills being nine inches apart. He has just husked out this corn and it weighed out 331 bushels, almost 84 bushels to the acre. At the price corn is now he would receive $33.10 per acre for this crop.

The Halloween party at F. L. Fitzgerald's Tuesday night was well attended and all had a good time. The white ghosts and jack-o-lanterns had it their own way for a time after which they had their fortunes told by a fortune-teller, which they had for this special occasion and all seemed well pleased with future predictions as given by her. Then the boys chose their partners for supper and then they unmasked and partook of the delicious refreshments. Following supper, games were played until a late hour.

110 Years Ago

November 5, 1915

J. W. Henderson, who resides about three miles southwest of Fairbury, suffered a heavy loss by fire Wednesday evening when his large barn, a double corn crib, an old house used as a machine shed and a straw shed went up in flames. The fire started in the haymow of the barn and was first noticed by the little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, who was playing in the yard. Thirty tons of timothy hay, 20 tons of clover hay and 30 tons of straw were in the barn. There was also in a bin in the barn about 4,000 bushels of oats. Last fall Mr. Henderson's house was burned.

Jesse Arthur was pretty badly injured at the Farmers elevator last Saturday while dumping a load of corn. When the rear end of the wagon went down as the load was being dumped, it went down so hard that Mr. Arthur was thrown backward out of the seat. His head was cut quite badly and he was otherwise crippled up.

Fairbury was well represented at the homecoming game at Champaign last Saturday and saw Illinois hold Minnesota to a 6-6 tie. Among those who made the trip from here by auto were: N. E. Fulton, J. C. Kessler, Scott McDowell, Walter Dailey, David McDonald, Miss Grace Anderson, Miss Bella Westwick, Mrs. E. B. Ramsey, Alda Foster, Miss Marie Foster, Miss Mildred Compton, John Fugate, Mr. and Mrs. James Patterson, Louie Kirks, Miss Helen Voorhees, Miss Hazel Wann, Perry Keck, Albert Wilson, Professors E. W. Powers, C. R. Voris and G. R. Green, and H. I. Reynolds.

100 Years Ago

November 6, 1925

Beginning on Monday, November 9, milk will be provided for each underweight child in the Fairbury elementary schools during the morning period. Those who are financially able to meet this expense will be charged the actual cost of the milk, which will be 18c per week; others will be supplied by outside agencies.

H. T. Jefferson, who recently sold his pool hall in El Paso, has purchased the pool hall of Roy Dickson in this city, taking possession Monday. Mr. Jefferson is not a stranger to Fairbury people, having owned and conducted the pool hall now owned by Emerson Mitchell before moving to El Paso.

The big Wurlitzer pipe organ for the Central Theatre arrived the first of the week. An idea of its size may be gained from the fact that it filled one boxcar completely and weighs 10,000 pounds. There will be seven rows of pipes on either side of the front walls ranging in length from five to thirteen feet. These pipes will be concealed behind hanging drapes patterned after an effect used by the new Ambassador Theatre of Chicago. The console will be placed at the left front of the theatre. The opening date of the theatre will be announced next week.

90 Years Ago

November 1, 1935

If you want to turn detective for a day or two you might be able to catch the fellow who visited several Fairbury homes Wednesday night for it is almost certain that he carries some marks of his night's "outing." We come to this conclusion from the fact that he fell downstairs at one of the homes. The homes that we have heard the burglar visited were those of Mrs. Gottlieb Steidinger, V. L. Daily, Philip Yost and C. F. Heins.

While helping to assemble a corn picker last Thursday, Sam Kaisner got a piece of steel in his eye that required the services of a physician to remove.

The Wisthuff Hatcheries in this city and Chatsworth, have disposed of their present hatching machines and incubators and in the spring will install equipment that is more modern and of larger capacity. The hatching machines, one of which will be installed here and at Chatsworth respectively, will have a capacity of 15,000 eggs each. Two incubators will be installed at Chatsworth and two in the local plant. The new equipment is all electrically operated.

80 Years Ago

November 2, 1945

Monday night when Louis Shulman returned home from Chicago he noticed a car backed up in front of his place of business, his attention being called to the car by the fact that the lights were turned on. He got in touch with Chief of Police Walker, who in turn called the state police. Looking the car over – a 1941 Ford DeLuxe – Officer Newman learned that such a car had been stolen in Chicago on Monday afternoon about three o'clock and belonged to F. J. Shiepowicz, of that city.

The Rev. G. A. McCauley, a student at Wheaton College, has accepted a call to the Fairbury Baptist Church and has taken up his duties as such. Rev. McCauley, who is married and has two children, will continue his studies at Wheaton College, being here over the weekends.

Donald, 13-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Tim Bryant, residing four miles east and three miles south of Fairbury on the Joe Nussbaum farm, is in the Fairbury Hospital suffering from bad burns received last Saturday afternoon at about two o'clock, when the barn on the Nussbaum farm was destroyed by fire. Donald was one of several watching a post hole digger, mechanically operated, at work near his home last Saturday afternoon when someone looked up and saw smoke coming from the barn. Donald, with others, ran to the barn. Donald climbed into the haymow and while he was there an explosion occurred and fire sprang up all around him. He jumped out a window to the ground, but he was badly burned on both arms, his legs, shoulders and face.

70 Years Ago

November 3, 1955

Fairbury's new grade school building will be "staked out" the early part of next week. Jay Carter is local building superintendent, Eugene Zimmerman has been named mason foreman and Melvin Zimmerman is carpenter foreman.

Chuck Veatch, Charlie Veatch, John Huette and P. M Hotaling took Henry Phillips to Chicago Wednesday where he enplaned for California.

Reports from Fairbury Hospital reveal that Henry Steffen, 15, has received skin grafting treatments and is in "satisfactory" condition. He was severely burned in an explosion Sept. 13, on his parents' farm near Cropsey.

The city council last Wednesday night accepted a petition from Joe Kuenzi and Aaron and Arlene Steidinger for admittance into the city of eight lots at the north edge of the present city limits.

Decker's Cafe — noon plate lunches, 85c; three-course dinners from $1.25 to $1.40.

60 Years Ago

November 4, 1965

A search is under way in Fairbury for a dog which bit nine-year-old Margo Runyon Saturday afternoon. The bite was described as "not serious in itself, but the skin was broken." If the dog is not located, and its health determined, by Monday, Nov. 8, it will be necessary for Margo to have rabies shots, her family doctor says. Margo was bitten while riding her bicycle in the 200 block of West Hickory about 3:30 p.m. Saturday. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Runyon.

Members of John Joda Post 54, American Legion, voted Monday night to sell their building at 103 West Locust to the Blade Publishing Company. The two properties are adjoining, and the transaction had been discussed casually over a period of two or three years. A building committee will work out plans for enlarging facilities for a new post home adjoining the new Floral Hall on the Fairbury Fairgrounds, which the post also owns. Meanwhile The Blade's publisher, Jim Roberts, indicated that no formal plans have yet been developed for expansion of the printing operations into the Legion building.

Somebody said, "You'all come" and they did! There were 29 friends, neighbors and relatives at the Merle Kaisner farm Tuesday with 10 pickers. They husked about 10,000 bushels of corn. Farmer Kaisner hurt his back recently and is unable to work. Not only have they been picking corn, but they've also combined beans, plowed bean stubble, disced corn ground and now they are beginning to plow here too. Food, lunch and dinner help has been furnished by friends, neighbors and relatives.

50 Years Ago

November 6, 1975

A man armed with a 22 bolt-action rifle robbed Charles Costello, owner and operator of Costello's Town and Country Market, of his billfold about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, at the store, located on the west end of main street in Chatsworth. The billfold contained credit cards and $1 in cash. Costello struggled with the robber, who left the rifle behind. It was taken into possession by the Livingston County Sheriff's Department.

Girls' athletics are here to stay. That was the message Monday night passed along to the seven men on the Fairbury-Cropsey Board of Education. Girls' sports in Unit 3 dominated the agenda as the board members listened to reports on the women's interscholastic program in grades seven through 12.

The 190-piece marching band from Illinois State University at Normal chose Fairbury-Cropsey High school as the site of its first-ever appearance at a high school football game Friday night. The Redbird band watched the hosts, the 125-member Marching Tartars, do the pre-game show before a wind-chilled crowd, and then the visitors did the half-time show. After the Tartar gridders had defeated visiting Argenta-Oreana, 28-6, both units combined to do four numbers and the dedicated crowd, despite the wind, stayed on to hail the massed band of nearly 300 members.

40 Years Ago

October 31, 1985

They didn't walk away, but neither were they killed! The motor in their car was hurled 60 yards when it hit a semi-truck after running a stop sign south of Strawn Wednesday afternoon, but the four men in the car, employed by a communications tower company, lived to talk about it. State police said the car was westbound on a county road, crossed the Norfolk and Western Railroad tracks, slid through the stop sign at Illinois 47, and hit the truck, which was driven by Ricky Hastings, 30, of Clinton, Ind., who was not injured. The car was driven by Kenneth Horvath, 24, of Channahon, who was charged with disobeying a stop sign. He was treated and released at Fairbury Hospital, where his three passengers were admitted.

Lyle Brucker has retired from the Fairbury Post Office as of Sept. 1985. He was a mail carrier for 24 years, carrying a rural route from Fairbury when there were three routes. When the post office consolidated to two routes he carried RR 2 north of Fairbury until Buck Morris retired, when he was transferred to RR 1, south of town. Brucker covered the 95 miles and 256 mailboxes on that route until his retirement.

John Friedman is reported by his family to be doing better Wednesday following an accident Friday afternoon. Friedman was moving an auger, with two of his boys watching electrical wires hanging near the top of the auger. One of the boys called a warning that the auger was coming close to the wires, but before Friedman could stop, the auger made contact with the wire. A reported 7,000 volts went down the auger, but a portion of the blast passed through the tires, blowing one tire out at once and burning the other. Friedman was left standing paralyzed for several seconds before the weight of the auger separated the metal from the wire. Friedman was conscious and joking with onlookers before he was removed to the hospital. He was later transferred to Memorial Hospital in Springfield, where he began skin grafting Tuesday to patches on his hands and feet.

30 Years Ago

November 1, 1995

Walton's of Fairbury was full with shoppers Thursday, as this was the first day of their going out of business sale. The store will close the first part of the year, and reopen under new ownership and name, The Stage.

A group of banks have formed a private corporation entitled the Livingston Area Community Development Corporation (CDC). This for-profit corporation will provide loans and investments to area businesses at below market rates of interest to encourage them to expand and create jobs. The CDC will serve businesses in the communities located in Livingston County. "By forming a local loan partnership, the CDC aims to create a more stable climate for local economic development in Livingston County," said CDC President, J. W. "Bud" Gerber Jr., President of Bluestem National Bank of Fairbury.

Dillon Hall, 5, started riding a 4-wheeler at age three. Wanting him to be the most protected as possible, his parents, Steve and Wendy Hall, of Fairbury, looked to organized motor cross racing for their son. Nearly every weekend this past summer, Dillon and his family packed up their motor home and traveled to one of his motor cross competitions. He has collected over 25 trophies in his first year of competition. Dillon competes in the Jr. Pee Wee division for four to six year olds. He finished eighth in the district for the regular season.

20 Years Ago

November 2, 2005

Prairie Central High School has announced that Bryan Stoller, O. D., from the graduating class of 1990, has been named as the 2005-06 Hall of Fame inductee. The Hall of Fame was created to recognize former PCHS students who have demonstrated "Pride In Excellence," the motto of Prairie Central. The Hall of Fame committee, with the assistance of members of the Stafford Scholarship committee, selected the winner from a field of impressive candidates. During his high school years, Stoller was a top participant in athletics as well as academics.

The Prairie Central Hawks football team charged onto the football field prior to Friday night's football game and things did not look too smooth. Some of the players tripped over the banner and the poles the cheerleaders were holding, so to say their entrance was graceful would be a severe understatement. However, once the Hawks had cleared that hurdle, they put the clamps on the Rantoul Eagles and cruised to a 40-6 victory in the first round of the 4A state playoffs.

Henry Handler, a Computer Science and Mathematics major at Northern Illinois University, and a resident of Fairbury, recently was a business technology intern with Discover Financial Services in Riverwoods, where he was the winner of the Internship/Co-op Student of the Month for the month of June. Handler was given the task of debugging and fixing issues related to data output and providing troubleshoot support for its database.

10 Years Ago

November 4, 2015

Local veteran Chuck Whately received the flight of a lifetime this year. The Korean War veteran from Fairbury participated in the Greater Peoria Honor Flight June 9. Whately and other veterans toured the World War II, Korean, Vietnam, Iwo Jima and Air Force memorials and also visited Arlington National Cemetery. The organization reserved hotel rooms for flight participants and even provided a dinner. Whately was joined by his son, Art, on the flight, while his daughter-in-law, Patsy, and grandson, Trevor, met them in Washington D. C. The trip was made possible by Pontiac Township High School graduate and honor student, Jordan Triplett, who helped raise money for the Honor Flight.

The Prairie Central cross country team had a great day of racing at the Kankakee Regional on Saturday, Oct. 24. Both the girls' and boys' teams advanced to race in the Lisle Sectional. The girls placed 4^th overall out of seven advancing teams. They were led by senior Caitlyn Ifft in 11^th place. She toured the 3-mile course in 20:31. Following Ifft in the race were Megan Ifft in 26^th (21:57), Emma Fogarty in 28^th (22:05), Daphne Matson in 33^rd (22:36), Abbie Bazzell in 45^th (23:38) Vivian Walter in 48^th (24:01) and Summer Huber in 49^th (24:03). The boys took a 2^nd place overall finish and were only 14 points away from regional champion Kankakee Bishop-McNamara. The Hawks were led by Jake Maquet in 5^th place earning a medal (16:35), Kyler Knapp 7^th (16:53), Nathan Somers 15^th (17:24), Carter Evans 33^rd (18:28), Tyler Porter 36^th (18:46), Liam Barnes 38^th (18:48) and Dawson Toller 41^st (18:51).

"Looking Back" from Kari Kamrath is sponsored by Duffy-Pils Memorial Home.