130 Years Ago
March 9, 1895
Will Braun has accepted a position in the drug store of N. Hurt at Forrest. Will is a fine boy and no doubt will do well.
The school board has called a special election to be held next Wednesday at which time the voters may vote for or against the proposition to build a new school house on the site of the present school building on the north side.
H. H. Dexter & Co. have opened a new meat market in the rooms formerly occupied by the office and dining room of the Sherman House.
Married at the residence of the bride's mother in Forrest Township, Wednesday, March 6, Jesse Crouch to Miss Eva Burt. Rev. W. L. Riley performed the ceremony.
120 Years Ago
March 10, 1905
This week has witnessed a change in the ownership of the Fairbury Bank, G. Y. McDowell and his wife retiring, succeeded by Herbert Powell and his wife. The stockholders of the bank now are Mrs. L. B. Dominy, W. R. Bane, Mrs. W. R. Bane, Herbert Powell and Mrs. Herbert Powell. Mr. McDowell, who retires from active business, has been connected with the bank the past six years, and has labored industriously for the welfare of the institution. Mr. Powell needs no introduction to the people of this vicinity. He has been actively engaged in business in Fairbury since 1889.
The Library Board of the Dominy Memorial Library held their regular meeting Tuesday evening and engaged Miss Goldana Cook for librarian. The board also adopted rules to govern the use of the library and the free distribution of books. The work on the interior is being rapidly pushed to completion. The work has progressed far enough so one can get an idea of how it will look when finished. It is going to be an interior of surpassing beauty, possessing all the improvements and conveniences to be found in modern libraries. Books have been purchased and there are now over 1,500 volumes, which with books already contributed will make over 2,500 volumes.
Cropsey — H. L. Barnes has rewooded the scales at his elevator and will make other repairs about the office and elevator. Daniel Humphrey has left his old homestead this week and moved into Cropsey and his son-in-law Paul Lange has taken charge of the farm. Ira C. Pratt as bought him a nice little home in Crescent City, Fla., where they expect to spend their winters hereafter.
110 Years Ago
March 12, 1915
Miss Bertha Ranft will be at the head of the millinery department of the B. & V. Store the coming season.
Miss Myrtle Mae Quantock, of Pleasant Ridge Township, and Albert W. Faragher, of Chatsworth, were married Tuesday at the home of the bride's mother in Pleasant Ridge, Rev. W. D. Benjamin, of Forrest, performing the ceremony.
Ben Fleming has sold his residence property in the northwest part of town to Joe Dennewitz.
Reuben King is among those who will graduate from Wesleyan University in the spring.
100 Years Ago
March 13, 1925
D. H. B. Bull returned yesterday from Vero, Fla., where he had spent the past six weeks visiting his sisters. He also spent a day with Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Claudon at Palm Beach. Dr. Bull brought back a full coat of tan, together with a report of a most enjoyable visit.
About fifty of the friends of Miss Jessie Waters gave her a very delightful surprise at her home on Monday evening and celebrated with her in games, music and dancing, her nineteenth birthday, and also brought her a pretty gift. A delicious luncheon added to the evening's enjoyment.
Thursday morning of this week the physicians and dentists of Fairbury, assisted by Miss Dack, county nurse, began examining teeth, throat, etc., of all the children in the Fairbury public schools. Where noticeable defects are noted, parents will be informed and advised to take their children to the family physician or to the family dentist or to some optometrist or optician for correction of eye defects. Many pupils would do better work in school if some easily remedied defects were looked after. Parents are usually glad to learn of these.
90 Years Ago
March 8, 1935
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Cooper have leased the lunch room at the Streib Service Station at the west end of this city on Route 24 and will be ready to open for business on Thursday, March 14. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper are well known, have a host of friends here and also in the adjacent farming community and will undoubtedly conduct this popular lunch room in a manner that will meet with the approval of their patrons, and we predict for them a full share of the business.
"A Trip Around the World" is the title of an entertainment feature that has been secured for the Rotary Club next Tuesday evening. This world tour is to be conducted by Merle Burke, teacher of English and history in the Ottawa High School. Mr. Burke made a trip around the world some time ago and he tells stories of his travels in a most entertaining way and illustrates them with about 200 lantern slides. Ralph Moore, of the local high school faculty, was instrumental in bringing Mr. Burke here for this event.
Sam Gorbet, well known horseman, was here the first of the week with five head of race horses, which will be trained on the local track in preparation for the coming racing season. Mr. Gorbet was in Hot Springs last week where his first division string of horses are in the races at the Oaklawn Track. While in Hot Springs he met F. J. Moran, of this city, who is taking treatment there, and found Mr. Moran improved.
80 Years Ago
March 9, 1945
George Marshall, genial owner of the Hotel Fairbury, had a breath-taking experience on Tuesday morning about three miles north of Weston on the blacktop road. The road was slippery from the snow and at the point above mentioned, the car left the road and going into the ditch turned over on its side, the ditch being quite deep at that place. Mr. Marshall was unable to get out of the car. A Mr. Stone from Pontiac came along in a truck and was attracted by a hat being waved out of the window of the overturned car. Going back he found Mr. Marshall unhurt, and after a little maneuvering, got Mr. Marshall out.
The attention of a number of our citizens was attracted Sunday afternoon by a plane high in the air that was streaking across the sky, from west to east. In its wake it left a whitish looking, cloud-like streak, very distinct and separate from other cloud formations, that remained intact for quite awhile after the plane had disappeared.
Monday marked the 60th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. John T. Wilson, of Fairbury. Friends called to congratulate them and the members of the First Baptist Church remembered them with flowers. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are the parents of three children, Mrs. John Boswell, of Fairbury; Arch Wilson, who lives in Arkansas; and Mrs. H. E. Andereck, of Memphis, Tenn., whom they recently visited. They have three grandsons in the Amed Forces: Lt. Bruce Boswell, Wilson Andereck and George Bowden.
70 Years Ago
March 17, 1955
Anne Aupperle and Roger Slagel won the mixed doubles championship in the finals in the 1955 state bowling tournament last week.
The Fairbury Grade School heavyweight basketball team advanced, to the quarter-finals of the state tournament this week before losing to Canton, 49-43.
Mr. and Mrs. Shelby Wharton entertained 35 guests at a 6:30 dinner at the Honegger House Cafe Saturday evening in celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary which was March 14.
Ronnie Thomas, who broke all Fairbury High School scoring records this year and who also led the midstate conference in scoring, received still another honor this week when he was named to the conference all-star team. Dick Stevens received honorable mention.
60 Years Ago
March 11, 1965
"The President, in his infinite wisdom, has led us to believe that his Medicare bill will take care of all the ills of everyone," said Dr. Don Ervin, of Fairbury, president of the Livingston County Medical Society, when he spoke Tuesday night to members of the Rotary Club of Fairbury. "Most of us, who don't need it, will get it, whether we want it or not, but those who really need it will get little in the way of benefits," he predicted. "But it will affect the pocket books of everyone, and have an unpredictable effect on the insurance companies of the U. S." Ervin expressed his belief that the so-called Medicare bill would be enacted into law in a very few short weeks, despite opposition of 200,000 doctors and the American Hospital Association.
Ground was broken this week for the half-million-dollar Helen Lewis Smith wing of Fairbury Hospital when Duane Kafer Ditching employees dug the first of many sewer lines. Footings have been surveyed and staked for two weeks to provide the earliest possible start by the general contractor, Melvin Zimmerman of Fairbury. The new wing will provide 23 additional beds to the 92-patient hospital, with the new wing designed principally for convalescent and chronically ill patients, and also for physical therapy work. Funds for the construction were provided by the will of the late Mrs. Smith, who died three years ago in Los Angeles. A native of Fairbury, she chose this method of contributing to the welfare of her hometown.
50 Years Ago
March 13, 1975
There was no recession visible Saturday on Fairbury's Locust Street as the biggest throng ever for the event entered spirited bids for the record-breaking consignments at the 24th annual Community Sale. For the first time in the nearly quarter-century history of the sale, two rows of consigned articles were lined up in Sunken Park after the allotted First to Fifth street length of Locust, plus a block each on Third and Fourth street, had all been filled, each with three lines of merchandise.
Fairbury firemen Tuesday morning made perhaps their shortest run in history when they pulled their trucks out of their barn on West Locust Street and stopped, all ready to fight a blaze across the street in the offices of Stoller and Maurer, general contractors. A fire was discovered at 8 a.m., in an interior wall, apparently from faulty wiring, in the east end of the structure, between the main offices and a storage garage. The building, remodeled when the firm occupied it several years ago, is one of the oldest in Fairbury; a remnant of the era when the town had a west and east business district and occupied itself with attempts to burn each other out.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Roberts, of Fairbury, will join a group of newspaper executives from across the nation who will be guests of President Gerald R. Ford at a reception in the White House this afternoon in Washington, D.C. Many of the president's top advisors were expected to be present during the affair, part of a three-day program in the 14th annual Government Affairs Conference, sponsored by the National Newspaper Association, of which Roberts is the Illinois state chairman.
40 Years Ago
March 7, 1985
Fairburian James Paternoster was elected by his peers on the new Prairie Central School District Board of Education to serve as the board's first president. Paternoster took the gavel last Monday night as the board organized and began to make decisions which will take effect when the new district officially begins operations on July 1. Art Lehmann, a current member of the Forrest-Strawn-Wing board, will serve as president pro tem of the board, while Keith Henrichs from Chatsworth will be the board's secretary.
Jim and Barbara Story are the new owners of Nylander's Flower and Gifts Shop, Fairbury. They purchased the shop March 1 from Barbara's parents, Wendell and Mary Ellen Nylander. Barbara has worked at the shop as assistant manager for six years and as manager for the last two years. She and husband Jim will continue to manage the shop. Wendell and Mary Ellen will continue to work at the shop on a part-time basis.
Mrs. Jane Ellen Casson of rural Chenoa will compete Saturday and Sunday in the Mrs. Illinois-America contest at the Hemmens Theater of Performing Arts in Elgin. The pageant is a preliminary to the Mrs. America contest. Jane was nominated by her sister-in-law, Jorj Ann Higgins, of Chenoa, who sent in a photo and an entry blank. Jane and her husband Terry live in rural Chenoa with sons, Curt 7, and Kent 2.
30 Years Ago
March 8, 1995
Kindergartners at Chatsworth Elementary donned pig costumes, including kinky tails in honor of Kiss A Pig Day last Wednesday afternoon. They waited anxiously for principal Blaise DeMuth to kiss the squealing pig, then laughed and applauded. They also participated, along with the rest of the student body, in singing a Kiss the Pig rap song written and led by several sixth grade students.
Three of Prairie Central's boys' basketball team were recently chosen to the Corn Belt All-Conference teams. Corn Belt coaches selected Tony Zook, 6'4" senior, for first team honors; 6'4" senior Matt Trowitch for second-team honors; and 5'7" junior Chad Hammond to the Honorable Mention team. Zook and Trowitch will play in the conference All-Star game March 23 at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Tim Sanderson of Fairbury has recently joined Bluestem Financial Services, Inc. as a financial planner. Sanderson, a native of the Fairbury area, and a 1984 graduate of Fairbury-Cropsey High School, has completed extensive study with Dearborn Financial Institute with emphasis on investment and insurance planning.
20 Years Ago
March 9, 2005
Prairie Central Junior High Principal Dan Vaughan recently selected Kelcey Shafer as PCJH's nominee for the IESA Scholar Attitude Award. The award honors eighth grade students who have excelled in the classroom and in IESA activities. In addition to completing the required forms, Kelcey also had to compose an essay entitled, "The Value of Sportsmanship." Kelcey is the daughter of Tim and Becky Shafer of Fairbury.
There was discussion at Fairbury's City Council meeting Wednesday night about the old city hall clock. Superintendent Leroy McPherson told the council that the Rotary Club and Fairbury Association of Commerce, along with private donations are going to get the clock repaired. It will cost about $10,000, $3,700 for the clock repair and the rest for the tower, the roof, louvers, new glass for the clock face and the hands.
Fourteen-year-old Dillon Hall, son of Steve and Wendy Hall of Fairbury, was recently named overall Mini Rider Champion, 85 Sr. Champion and Mini I Class Champion during the recent racing season at the Taylorville Track. Hall was also a double class champion at Casey and is the Illinois State Champion of District 17 in the 85 Sr. Division. He was also the state champion of that class last year.
10 Years Ago
March 11, 2015
Wednesday's meeting of the Fairbury City Council served as a time for reflection and the start of a new chapter. State Representative Dan Brady presented a death resolution to the family of the late Alderman Doug Hibsch who passed away in December. The Illinois House officially adopted the resolution on Jan. 28. Hibsch's wife, Nancy Gerdes-Hibsch, was named as his replacement on the city council. According to Mayor Lynn Dameron, she served as treasurer for Chatsworth and has a working knowledge of city finance along with a banking background. “All os these qualifications make her an excellent addition,” said Dameron.
An early morning fire at Haab Forest Products, Inc. in rural Forrest on Friday, Feb. 27, resulted in the loss of most of the business. Firemen were called to the scene in sub-zero temperatures about 4:20 a.m., and found the building fully engulfed upon arrival. Many fire departments fought the blaze, including Forrest, Fairbury, Chatsworth, Saunemin, Cullom, Gibson City, Roberts/Melvin, Pontiac, Sibley, Cropsey, Emington/Campus and Piper City. SELCAS was also at the scene. The owners, Rob and Kathy Haab, plan to rebuild the business.
Prairie Central senior Sam Schuler finished his high school individual wrestling career with a win and third place in the 78th IHSA wrestling tournament in 1A. Schuler (35-7) defeated Naulon Simms (38-3) of Tremont for the third place medal.
Jody and Tina Tjarks of Strawn are announcing the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, Brittiany Marye, to Isaac Steidinger, son of James and Marlene Steidinger of Fairbury. The bride-to-be is a future graduate of Columbia College, Missouri, majoring in Accounting and Finance. The future bridegroom is a graduate of Illinois State University, majoring in Physical Education. The couple is planning an outdoor wedding in Strawn with a reception to follow on Aug. 1, 2015.
(Looking Back from Kari Kamrath is sponsored each week by Duffy-Pils Memorial Home)
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