130 Years Ago
December 1, 1894
The Odd Fellows are pushing the foundation for their new temple with much energy. The building committee consists of W. W. Wonser, chairman; Thomas George, T. G. Henderson, E. G. Funk and T. A. McKenzie.
The hard pine walk being put down in front of the business houses on the north side of main street is a much needed improvement. Good walks do much to give a town a good name.
The electric light plant will run all night after the first of December. This is a good move and should be encouraged. The city should take lights as soon as possible.
We, the undersigned proprietors of barber shops, have come to the conclusion that the citizens of Fairbury and surrounding country are in favor of keeping the Sabbath for what it was first intended – a day of rest. Hence our places will be closed on Sunday. —C. W. Keck, M. G. Sterling, F. M. Stoller, C. A. Seelman.
120 Years Ago
December 2, 1904
The Wagner Rodless Endgate Company seems to be "rodless" with a vengeance, and the stockholders wear a worried look these days.
Commencing on December 15, every farmer in Livingston County, will, if he so desires, receive his mail by rural free delivery. When the system is completed, there will be six routes out of Fairbury.
Strawn — Tuesday night about 9:30 fire was discovered between the buildings used by W. P. Harlan as storage room and E. H. Davis Grocery Store. The buildings were frame and fanned by high winds, the flames made rapid progress, and in an hour both buildings were a mass of flames. Harlan's brick hardware store was saved by hard work by volunteer firemen. The ice house belonging to E. N. Gullberg was also destroyed.
The famous Haskell Indian Band will play at the Central Opera House Monday evening, December 5.
110 Years Ago
December 4, 1914
The new mausoleum at the Fairbury cemetery is nearing completion and, in fact, the building was far enough along so that the remains of John Zimmerman, who passed away Sunday morning were laid to rest therein.
Last Saturday evening, at their apartment, the Tri-Gamma Fraternity enjoyed their annual Thanksgiving banquet. Leland Presler and Harry Foster were taken into the fraternity at this meeting.
William Walker & Son have purchased the coal chutes of the S. R. Cornish Lumber Company, and are now conducting the business formerly handled by this firm. They have built more chutes so that they are able to handle both hard and soft coal.
Wednesday morning at the Baptist parsonage Miss Kathryn B. Kuenzi and Andrew Zimmerman were united in marriage, Rev. C. D. Rasp performing the ceremony.
100 Years Ago
December 5, 1924
Walter Sterchi, who husked corn for Fred Troehler the past season, hung up a record that will be hard to beat. For 22 days he husked an average of 152 bushels per day. His largest day's work was 184 bushels and 690 pounds. Mr. Sterchi put in just an average day's work and husked very clean.
At the regular meeting of the city council on Wednesday evening Mayor Gerber made his appointment of the zoning commission and the appointments were confirmed by the council. The commission is composed of the following: W. H. Martin, chairman; C. R. Voris, C. F. Heins, Mrs. Robert Henning, Mrs. Bessie Mosiman.
The Fairbury Township High School band is making plans to change its practice day from Thursday evening to either Monday or Wednesday. The organization consists of about twenty members and under the direction of Sgt. Marskey is rapidly developing into a first-class musical club.
Mrs. C. J. Merit had the misfortune to trip on a small block of wood as she was going down into the basement yesterday, causing her to fall to the bottom of the stairs. her left arm was broken near the wrist joint and she was pretty badly bruised.
90 Years Ago
November 30, 1934
The Fairbury Garment Factory, which has been in operation here since March 20 last, but which has been closed for the past couple of weeks, will remain closed, word to that effect having been received by the local committee this week from Charles Kochman, who started the factory here. Mr. Kochman has been in Chicago for the past two weeks. When the factory first started it gave regular employment to some 20 or more people. For the past few months it has operated only at irregular intervals.
Wabash September losses in lost and damaged freight claim payments amounted to $41,239 or almost $1,500 a day according to a bulletin just issued to train and enginemen. $21,455, or more than half the total, was due to rough handling. Temperature failure on perishable shipments cost $3,117, errors of employees cost $2,999 and delays $1,063.
Carl Bach and Mose Mowry, who had spent the past year in the state of Washington and other points in the west, returned home last Saturday. They had some luck in getting a ride home. They were picked up about 25 miles out of Portland, Ore., and rode all the way in the same car, being dumped out at Van's Service Station in this city.
The injustice of it — All through dinner Percy sat so silent that his parents at last began to wonder what was troubling him. "Pa," he said at last, "do school teachers get paid?" "Of course they do, sonny," replied father. "Then it's not fair," burst out the small boy indignantly. "Why should the teachers get paid when us kids do all the work?"
80 Years Ago
December 1, 1944
Cut-N-Curl is a new beauty shop opened today at Hotel Fairbury, by Mrs. Margaret James. Mrs. James is an experienced operator, having conducted a beauty parlor at Olney for several years before coming to Fairbury to make her home with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. V. H. Shoemaker.
Lt. (j.g.) Robert Skinner, Jr., who had spent the past 18 months in the Marshall and Hawaiian islands, arrived home last Saturday and is visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Skinner, Sr., and family, at Strawn. Lt. Skinner's son, Stevie, of Bloomington, is also spending 30 days at the Skinner home at Strawn, while his father is there. Lt. Skinner, after entering the service, graduated at Pensacola, Florida, with the rank of ensign. Before entering the service he was coach and instructor at the Forrest Township High School.
Harry Bach received a cut on his right hand last Saturday that required several stitches to close. He was repairing a glass in the door at Steidinger's Service Station, which the burglars broke last Friday night, when he cut his hand on the broken glass.
70 Years Ago
December 9, 1954
Probably just about everyone in Fairbury looks at the town clock perched atop the city hall at least once a week, but few realize that the timepiece is numbered among a diminishing class of such instruments. Wallace JaKa, owner of the Tower Clock Co., of Ottawa, had a number of interesting things to say about tower clocks in general, and the Fairbury clock in particular the past week. Mr. JaKa and his son, Ralph, were here to recondition the working parts of the town clock, and refurbish the dial. His company is the only one in the world which at the present time stocks parts for tower clocks, and he and his son the only persons in the world who make a full time job of servicing such clocks. The Fairbury clock was made by Mr. JaKa's grandfather, and installed by his father in 1912, Dec. 20 of that year being the first day that the local clock tolled out the hours.
John Wade was elected president of the Fairbury Fair Board Tuesday night following the resignation of Joe U. Slagel. Slagel, who has served as president of the fair for the past seven years, told the board, "I believe I've served my time." All other board officers were re-elected to another term. They were Jim Peters, vice president; Bill Frisby, secretary of the board; Elmer Hallock, treasurer; and Robert Maurer, secretary of the fair.
Shop windows have been decorated in keeping with the season, the inside of local stores are replete with large stocks of merchandise in attractive displays, main street has blossomed forth with strings of colored lights and lighted trees on every lamp post, and Santa's house has been set up in Central Park, awaiting his visit here December 18.
60 Years Ago
December 3, 1964
Marsha L. Purdum, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Purdum of Fairbury, is one of ten students at Southern Illinois University who has been tapped for Sphinx Club. Sphinx Club is Southern's answer to Who's Who on the SIU campus. Members of Sphinx Club comprise a representation of the top student leaders. Sphinx Club is the highest non-academic honor a student at SIU can receive. A senior majoring in magazine journalism, Miss Purdum was a New Student Week Leader for fall orientation of freshmen and Publicity Chairman for the Inter-Fraternity Blood Bank. She has been a member of the Blade's staff for two summers, and it was after the first season that she changed her major to journalism.
Larry G. Pratt, 11, son of Mr. and Mrs. Perry Pratt of Cropsey, had the reserve champion ram in Southdown breeding sheep competition at the International Livestock Exposition. Larry, a student in the Forrest-Strawn-Wing schools, won honors last summer at the Illinois State Fair with his prize-winning ram.
More than 700 Fairbury area youngsters were in line to visit with Santa Claus when he arrived at his house in Central Park Saturday afternoon. Visiting with each of the youngsters, who formed a line nearly a block long, and distributing 700 sacks of candy, required exactly three hours of the genial gentleman's time.
50 Years Ago
December 5, 1974
Vandals kicked in the door to gain entrance to the men's public restroom in Fairbury City Hall sometime between Wednesday evening and Friday morning. The restrooms have recently been kept locked during periods when local stores are closed, by order of the city council. The council edict came last month in the wake of vandalism in the women's restroom when all the walls were defaced with a series of obscenities applied with a can of spray paint. After the restrooms were repainted, the council ordered them locked at night to prevent further attacks.
Fairbury alderman Dean Williams is a patient in Fairbury Hospital, reportedly with three broken ribs. Williams, who is chairman of the city's Streets and Alleys Committee, slipped on the ice and fell about 11 p.m. Monday night while supervising snow removal work at the corner of Locust and Third Streets in the business district.
Sunday morning, the second heavy snowfall of the season greeted rising Fairburians with a 12" cover, and practically all area churches found their congregations decimated, some of them even canceling services. While mankind couldn't move far from the yard, the landscape by Sunday afternoon was alive with giants...giant snowmen carved by eager youngsters, and in some cases aided by elders, who helped muscle the heavy snowballs into place. In perhaps the day's most unique construction project, Terri Loney found herself the owner of a nine-foot snowman erected in her yard with the aid of an end-loader tractor!
40 Years Ago
November 29. 1984
John and Ella Bellot this week are holding a grand opening sale in their remodeled and expanded drug store on Fairbury's Locust Street. The store, on the ground floor of the Masonic Temple building, has doubled in size, to 6,000 square feet, by cutting the wall to gain access to the space formerly occupied by Barth's Variety store. The Bellots bought the store in 1982 from her parents, the late Dale Bricker, and Mrs. Bricker, who had operated it as the Bricker Drug Store.
The current public attention surrounding the sale of the 50 billionth hamburger by worldwide McDonald's fast food chain, famous for its golden arches, has local significance. While the attention today is focused on McDonald's chain, 14 years ago McDonald Corporation had its sights on a Fairbury eating establishment with the same name. McDonald's Restaurant in Fairbury originated in 1957 when the late Earl McDonald, and his wife Dorothy, leased a building owned by Ed and Ethel Rapp, known previously as the E. and E. Cafe, just west of where the restaurant now stands. Later, in 1965, a new building was erected by Charlie Hicks, from whom Earl's son Ron, and his wife, now lease the building for McDonald's restaurant. The Fairbury McDonald's has long been confused with the chain. This confusion may have been the reason McDonald's corporation sent a letter to the McDonald family in 1970 advising them against using the corporation's trademarks, the words McDonald and McDonald's burger.
Lincoln Roth, who was deer hunting south of Fairbury this past week, claimed an eight point buck, which weighed 230 pounds after field dressing. His weapon was a black powder muzzle loader.
30 Years Ago
November 30, 1994
What has been known as the National Bank of Fairbury since 1959, will now be known as Bluestem National Bank, effective Dec. 3, 1994. Announcement of the name change was recently made by the bank's president John W. (Bud) Gerber Jr., who emphasized the Bluestem National Bank will continue to be locally owned and managed and that there has been no change in ownership.
Forrest's volunteer fire department put their new fire truck on public display a week ago Sunday. The 6-passenger custom-made Suburban has a 1,250 gallon water tank and holds 4 Scott Air Packs, according to fire chief Harold Hinds. A 6,000 watt generator runs two 150-watt lights. Three 4,500 pound air bottles are also built in to supply the air packs of the firefighters.
Mike and Cathi Coppinger of Fairbury are the new owners of Fairbury Glass and Windows, located east of Fairbury, just off U.S. 24. Their first day as business owners was Nov. 16. Former owners were Kathy Weber and her late husband, Denny Weber. Mike, a 1989 graduate of Prairie Central High School, was employed by White's Do-It Center for the past year and for four years prior, at H-W Systems, both Fairbury building material businesses. During his high school years, he was a photo technician for The Blade and worked in the pressroom. Cathi is also employed at KSI Soil Testing of Fairbury. Prior to her current employment, she was a hair dresser for eight years.
20 Years Ago
December 1, 2004
Jordin Leigh Greenwell and Timothy Eugene Hornickel, both of Fairbury, were united in marriage on Aug. 28, 2004 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Fairbury. Parents of the couple are Brian and Dina Bobbitt of Chenoa and Don and Cindy Hornickel of Fairbury. A reception at Indian Creek Country Club in Fairbury followed the ceremony. After a wedding trip to Chicago, the couple is at home in Fairbury.
The Prairie Central seventh grade girls' basketball team won the regional tournament last week at Pontiac. Members of the team are Molly Groce, Jamie McKeon, Abby Popejoy, Paige Heiser, Shelby Walter, Meghan Briscoe, Liz Kinate, Mandy Payne, Kinzey Bashford, Amber Brining, Mackenzie Walter, Kristin Trezise, Carlyn Seeman, Katie Fairley, Whitney Scurlock, Kathryn Bahler, Kaley Corban and Rebecca Nussbaum. The team is coached by Dave Buchanan and Coach Odum.
The Fairbury Knights of Columbus recently presented the special education department at Prairie Central High School a check in the amount of $502.35, one-half the amount raised from the annual Tootsie Roll sales fundraiser. John Reis presented the check to PCHS special education teacher Janet Waibel. The KC's also presented a check for $502.35 to Futures Unlimited.
10 Years Ago
December 3, 2014
Jerzee Martin, Miss Merry Christmas 2014, and Kaden Davis, Mr. Jack Frost 2014, will ride with Santa in the annual Fairbury Christmas parade on Saturday, Dec. 6. Jerzee is the daughter of Niki Martin and Jason Martin, and Kaden is the son of Matt and Emily Davis. Others in the 2014 Christmas Court include Lydia Kilgus, daughter of Dayton and Joni Kilgus; Mattie Burnett, daughter of Matt and Mandy Burnett; Faith Fields, daughter of Rachel Wessels and Casey Fields; Jacob Zapp, son of Mike and Kristin Zapp; Trey McWhorter, son of Corey and Kim McWhorter; and Preston Ifft, son of Mark and Brenda Ifft.
Adi Bachtold, 9-year-old granddaughter of Mike and Kellee McGuire of Forrest, passed her hunter safety course this past summer and took her first deer, a button buck, on Nov. 22, with a muzzleloader. She was in the stand with her “Paw Paw” and “Grammee” and thought the experience was “extremely awesome.” Her off-season target shooting paid off with a well placed 70 yard shot.
The Prairie Central girls' basketball team won twice on Saturday to complete a 5-0 run in winning their own Hawk Classic championship. Morris was second at 4-1 with Mahomet-Seymour taking third at 3-2. Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland finished fourth at 2-3 and El Paso Gridley was fifth with a 1-4 mark. Decatur-MacArthur came in sixth at 0-5. Prairie Central earned its title with a 46-27 win over Mahomet-Seymour in the final game of the tourney, holding the Bulldogs to just two points in the second half. Kiana Coomber had 18 points to lead the Hawks. Cassie Somers threw in 16 and Callie Williams had 5 points. Linnea Johnson scored 3 points with Tori Edelman and Kylie Vogel each netting 2 markers.
(Looking Back from Kari Kamrath is sponsored each week by Duffy-Pils Memorial Home)
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