Looking Back: 7-1-26

130 Years Ago

June 27, 1896

Work was commenced this week on the Masonic Hall property preparatory to remodeling the interior. Messrs. Carrithers, Gregg and Conerus have charge of the work.

A cement walk is to be laid on the north side of Maple Street between First and Third Streets.

I will be in my ice house all day the Fourth to serve the people with ice. —C. L. Mowery

Married at the residence of the bride's mother in Fairbury, Wednesday afternoon, Miss Goldie Spence to Moses B. Meeker, of Cropsey, Rev. J. F. Foreman, of Saunemin, officiating.

120 Years Ago

June 29, 1906

The prohibitionists of Fairbury have arranged for a great tent meeting at Fairbury, Tuesday to Sunday, Aug. 7^th to 12^th inclusive, which promises to be a treat for the people of Fairbury and vicinity as an educational and evangelistic influence along temperance lines and also by providing a series of popular entertainments and instructive lectures at a reasonable price. The talent engaged includes Col. John Sobieski, of California, the heir to the throne of Poland; Eugene W. Chafin L. L. B., of Chicago, historian lawyer and orator; Hon. Frank S. Regan, cartoonist and art lecturer; the Meneley Quartette and Chester L. Ricketts, reader and impersonator.

A western genius has invented an iceless refrigerator. All you do is to pour cold water in it and then go out on the front porch and make faces at the iceman as he goes by. While strolling through the national capital this spring we noticed a vacant niche in the statuary hall just between the statues of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. If that niche is ever to be filled this is the man to perpetuate in marble. —Peoria Star

Everything is in readiness for the big celebration in this city July fourth. The committee have completed all arrangements and the town is preparing for the biggest crowd and the best time in the history of the city. Upwards of $500 will be expended for the amusement of the people and undoubtedly people who come here will have a fine time.

110 Years Ago

June 30, 1916

The band concerts given here each Wednesday evening are attracting large crowds, but one thing is lacking and that is a place for the people to sit down after they arrive. To have to stand through the two hours which it takes to give the concert takes away a whole lot of the pleasure for the people, especially the older ones. A number have spoken about this matter and it looks like it could be easily remedied with a few tile and some planks.

The Fairbury Fair will be held so early this year (August 21 to 25) that the 1916 corn crop will not be fit for exhibition. The committee on revision of premiums have decided to let the present premiums stand and the fair will pay them for exhibits of the 1915 corn crop. There will be a number of changes in the premium list and there will be some big prizes offered for native draft horses.

On Wednesday, July 19, in this city, two of the best semi-pro baseball teams in the state will be the attraction at the Stars' field. They are the Henry Greys and the Cuban All-Stars, both organizations being known all over the state for the high class exhibition they give of the national past-time.

100 Years Ago

July 2, 1926

Within the past few weeks chicken thieves have stolen close to a thousand chickens from two farms three miles east of town, and left no clue as to who they are. Herbert Rudd was the big loser, the thieves taking around 800 broilers from his flock. Jo Steidinger, who lives just across the road west and a little south of Mr. Rudd, is also short something over a hundred chickens. Mr. Rudd believes that his chickens were stolen probably a hundred or two at a time. He is a large raiser of chickens, having raised 4,000 this spring, so that the taking of a hundred or two at a time would hardly be noticeable in the appearance of the flock. Within the past ten days he had occasion to think that his flock was not as large as it should have been, and counting them, discovered the shortage.

Over forty cars gaily decorated and completely filled with Fairbury boosters, the Woodman Band, the Legion Drum Corps and the Fairbury Quartette demonstrated conclusively to the towns within a 40-mile radius that Fairbury was a town of live wires. Band, music, songs, the tooting of car horns, the decorations were eloquent in telling the world to come to Fairbury for the Third celebration and while here to become acquainted with the excellent merchandising facilities offered. Two delegations were formed, one taking a south route and one a north. The Legion Drum Corps and the Fairbury Quartette accompanied the delegation visiting Chenoa, Lexington, Normal, Bloomington, Saybrook, Arrowsmith, Gibson City, Sibley and Strawn, and reports are that they “put it on right.” The Woodman Band carried the day for the north delegation in wonderful shape. Concerts were played at Forrest, Chatsworth, Cullom, Saunemin, Dwight, Odell, Pontiac, Flanagan and Gridley.

90 Years Ago

June 26, 1936

Billy Leonard, son of Dr. and Mrs. H. N. Leonard, took his last Saturday's bath a bit prematurely. He was coasting down a hill on the Indian Creek Golf Course on his tricycle when he lost control of it and the tricycle and its rider went over the bank into the creek. Outside of a wetting and a little scare Billy was not hurt. Louie Downing pulled the tricycle out of the creek and it was all right, too.

The local fair grounds was a busy place Monday. All day long some 30 or 35 members of John Joda Post were busy building new fences, cleaning up the debris caused by the recent fire and otherwise cleaning up the grounds, getting them ready for the Fourth of July celebration.

The Doberman Pincer dog belonging to A. B. Foster attacked Vincent Franger, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Franger, last Thursday afternoon and left numerous places on his arm and body where his teeth had cut the flesh. The cuts were not deep and Vincent is getting along all right. He and John Fugate Jr. were playing croquet in the Foster yard, when John had occasion to go into the Foster house. As John went in the dog came out and immediately made for young Franger. John came to the aid of his young playmate and was using a croquet mallet in trying to beat the dog off when Mrs. James Broadwell, a neighbor, came over and pulled the dog away.

80 Years Ago

June 28, 1946

Fairbury people know that P. M. Hotaling is a seed corn salesman deluxe, but what many do not know is that he is a champion horseshoe pitcher. He pitched horseshoes over at Pontiac Monday and about covered the stakes with ringers, piling them up in much the same manner as you would doughnuts on a stick. The occasion was a district meeting of DeKalb seed corn salesmen, and the horseshoe tournament was a part of the afternoon's diversion. For his efforts and skill Mr. Hotaling received a gold horseshoe. His partner, a Mr. Bishopp, received a silver horseshoe, Mr. Hotaling receiving the gold one because he scored more points than his partner. Mr. Hotaling will probably wear the horseshoe around his neck as a good luck charm when he goes out to sell seed corn.

The Wing school has consolidated with four other schools under the name of Pleasant Ridge Community Schools. A new bus has been purchased to pick up the pupils. The bus will be driven by Francis Huette. The teachers who are hired for the coming term are Mrs. Jesse Hoke and Mrs. Maude Coleman. A number of fifty students or more will attend.

The Boy Scout troopers returned last Friday evening from Lake Shafer, Ind., where they had spent the week. The weather was not exactly suited to fishing or outdoor sports, but in spite of weather handicaps, they made a record in gastronomical feats according to the cook, a woman of wide experience in this line, who said she had cooked for threshers for many years, but never had she cooked for any group with the capacity of the Scouts.

70 Years Ago

June 28, 1956

Thuro Bilt officials began celebrating their fifth anniversary observance this week by entertaining a group of area businessmen, bankers and Chamber of Commerce officials at a dinner and tour Monday night. The actual celebration will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday with tours starting from the Fairbury plant. Dean Koehl, sales manager, presided at the meeting, and President Edmund Kloter and Chris Huette Jr., vice-president in charge of sales made some remarks. The 5-year history of the concern was traced, from a volume of $450,000 the first year, consisting mostly of sales of poultry houses to a present volume of $1,250,000. Thuro Bilt now has its own sales organization. Previously, Honeggers and company handled the sales.

With a little push from a hard core of enterprising citizens and a lot of help from other residents, the city of Forrest is in the midst of getting itself a public park. Back in January a group of people got together to form the Forrest Park Association. W. G. Follmer, Dr. Lloyd Shaddle, Guy Gee, Frank Honegger and Phil Rieger were chosen as directors. The association purchased a 20-acre tract of land covered with all sorts of unsightly vegetation on the south edge of town, directly adjacent to a new housing project and Forrest Creek. Brush was cleared away, and an old rubbish heap vanished from view. A bulldozer moved in and exploratory digging done in a low area near the creek to determine where, and if, an artificial lake might be placed.

Everett Sutter, a Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad “Man of the Year” from Fairbury, will be saluted on the railroad's “Singing Rails” program Sunday, July 1 at 12:30 p.m. over Radio Station WMBD, Peoria. Mr. Sutter was chosen to receive a “Willie Award” for promotion of community advancement. Louis Shulman, also named “Man of the Year” from Fairbury, will be similarly honored on July 8. Mr. Shulman received his “Willie” for outstanding youth leadership.

60 Years Ago

June 23, 1966

Assignment of a Columbian youth, Hugo Fabio Rodriguez Sierra as the American Field Service student at Fairbury-Cropsey High School, was announced this week by John Roth, retiring president of the local chapter. Host family for Hugo's year-long visit will be Mr. and Mrs. Herschell Leffingwell of South Fourth Street in Fairbury. Hugo will be the fourth AFS student to come to the Fairbury community during the past five years, and he evens the count out at two boys and two girls. The first two were girls, Gurid Bjornstaad from Norway in 1962-63; and Janet Ferguson from England in 1964-65. The current year's student, who will leave next week, is Abel Ribeiro de Jesus from Brazil. Hugo is expected to arrive here about the middle of August and will be enrolled as a senior at Fairbury-Cropsey High School.

The four-city golf tournament held at Farmer City last Thursday was won for the fifth year in a row by Fairbury. Leroy placed second, followed by Farmer City. Tom Hetherington and Paul Eilers had low honors for the winners. The Sunday match between Onarga and Fairbury resulted in a 26-4 win for Fairbury. Ken Elliott held the low spot with a 61. Freeman Vaughan and Bill Jenkins tied for second place with 69's. Ed Bach won the handicap division with a 60.

Fairbury students and friends held a surprise farewell party for Abel Riberio de Jesus on Friday night. The evening began with a wiener roast at the swimming pool park. A dance at Avoca town hall with music furnished by the Bondsmen of Chenoa, climaxed the evening for the young people. Abel will leave his Fairbury family, the Bud Paternosters, on Thursday, June 30, when he will be going to Peoria for a two-day visit with a family there. On July 2, he arrives in Washington, D. C. to join 3,000 other AFS students in the United States. The group will be in the capital city for five days and from there they go to New York City for a five-day sightseeing trip. Abel will fly from New York City to Rio de Janeiro on July 22, where he will be met by his father for the return trip to his home in San Salvador.

50 Years Ago

July 1, 1976

Southeastern Livingston County got off relatively easy Tuesday afternoon as tornadoes accompanied by heavy rains, hail and damaging gusts of wind dotted Central Illinois. The excitement in Fairbury took place between 4 and 5 p.m. when the community was hit with .72 inches of rain in just 14 minutes, hail and swirling winds which blew from the southwest, south and southeast in a matter of minutes. There seems little doubt that Fairbury was missed by at least one funnel cloud. At 4:15 p.m., authorities noted “something picked up dirt” just west of Ziegenhorn Implement, between Fairbury and Weston. The “take cover” warning was sounded at approximately 4:30 and SELCAS Ambulance volunteers were called on active duty to stand by for emergency assistance. At 5:01, the “all clear” was sounded and Fairbury residents resumed their normal routines.

Former Fairbury-Cropsey basketball coach, Don Miller, has notified the district by telephone of his resignation. Miller told high school principal Bill Winn, he is accepting a position with the Lewistown, Mo. School System as basketball coach and social studies teacher. Miller had earlier been relieved of the basketball post and offered the baseball job in addition to teaching duties. Randy Lane, whose position was cut earlier as a budgetary move, has been contacted and has unofficially been retained in Miller's place for the coming year as social studies teacher and assistant basketball coach.

Rube Bradley of Fairbury, who operates a contract public address system and also offers a ventriloquist routine, had part of his equipment stolen Saturday night in Leroy. Bradley was providing the sound system for their Bicentennial celebration, over the weekend, and sometime Saturday night the three speakers were cut out of the trees in which they had been suspended.

40 Years Ago

June 26, 1986

Twenty-one children from a swimming class were examined at Fairbury Hospital Friday following a school bus accident southeast of Piper City. The Ford Central bus, driven by Esther Kietzman had stopped in Piper City to drop off several children who had attended swim lessons at CAPS in Chatsworth. With 21 children from the Thawville and Roberts communities still on board, the bus proceeded to Rt. 24 and east to the 1700 north-south blacktop which eventually intersects with the Thawville road. Kietzman stated she glanced in the rear view mirror to monitor a 'scuffle' going on among some of the children. The righthand wheels of the bus left the pavement, with the bus still going straight ahead for more than a hundred feet and then into the east ditch. Within an hour, the children had been removed to Fairbury, with parents going to the hospital to take their children home if the facility saw fit to release them.

Prairie Central High school JV and Varsity cheerleaders participated in the ISU Redbird cheerleading camp held in Normal June 11-14. Each evening after the day's learning experiences, competitions were held. Prairie Central squads received “Spirit Stick” awards nightly, and during the final competition, they were awarded the take home “Spirit Stick” award. The PC cheerleaders were also nominated for the “Spirit of Excellence” award. The 1986-87 junior varsity cheerleaders are Gina Austman, Denise Rieger, Suzanne Schieler, Natasha Secoquian, Tara Darr and Chris Riedel. Jennifer Bounds, Joan Cress, Kim Day, Lisa Gibson, Terri Ohman and Dawn Meiss form the varsity squad.

Becky Weber, 14, was reported in “fair condition” Wednesday morning at Fairbury Hospital after she fell off the back of a pickup truck which then ran over her Tuesday evening about 7 p.m. The accident happened on a township road a mile south of U. S. 24 and 1½ miles east of Fairbury. She reportedly suffered a dislocated shoulder plus cuts and bruises, but did not have any fractures. Becky was one of 16 youths in a bean walking crew being transported from one field to another in the truck driven by Carol Joiner, 36 of RR 1, Fairbury. Mrs. Joiner said the crew yelled that they had dropped a water jug and she was backing the truck to retrieve it when she felt a bump. Becky, who is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Weber of Fairbury, told the sheriff's deputy that she was sitting on the truck's tailgate and she slipped off while it was backing up.

30 Years Ago

June 26, 1996

Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Tyler of Fairbury will be observing their 65^th wedding anniversary on Thursday, June 27. Tyler and Edna Mae Morris were married at the bride's home in Fairbury on June 27, 1931. Tyler is a retired minister and Mrs. Tyler taught in rural schools until their marriage. They are the parents of Mrs. Shirley Gardner of Roseville, MN and Donald of Chillicothe. They have eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The Prairie Central Dairy Foods team were recognized recently at the 68^th annual Illinois FFA convention in the Prairie Capital Convention Center, Springfield. On the team that placed first were Craig Perkins, Doug Wahls, Jenny Ifft, Phil Fatka and Dustin Benway. They will represent  Illinois in the National FFA Career Development Event to be held in Kansas City, MO in November. The team Advisor is Kyle Miller.

During the past year, the Forrest Public Library has been involved with four other libraries in a juvenile non-fiction Multimedia Enhancement grant. The other libraries involved were Chatsworth Township Library, Danvers Public Library, Filger Library and White Oak Township Library. The Forrest library received $3,500 from this grant, which was provided by the Illinois State Library, using federal LSCA funding.With the $3,500, Forrest Library has purchased juvenile biographies, and juvenile books about rural life and the history of rural life. Part of the money was also designated for non-print materials in these areas, such as videos, books on tape and CD-ROM programs.

20 Years Ago

June 28, 2006

Ground has been broken and construction has begun in Fairbury for a new Casey's General Store, that is scheduled to open Aug. 10 at 109 E. Oak St. All Casey's stores offer self-service gasoline, groceries, health and beauty aids, automotive products and other merchandise. They also feature coffee, fountain drinks and sandwiches at a self-service snack center. Made from scratch pizza, homemade donuts and cookies are featured in most stores.

Cropsey residents are finally getting closer to a much needed new water system, according to Linda Stiles of the Cropsey Mutual Water Association. Stiles said that construction is scheduled to begin in July and should be completed in 270 days. The project will be constructed by Mid Illinois Mechanical Construction of Bloomington. The old system is running on borrowed time according to water association officials. The water project will include wells, a pressure tank and chlorinator. The approximate $689,000 project will be funded through a grant of $395,430 from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunities, an Illinois First grant of $22,500 and an approximate $200,000 loan from the USDA.

Brian and Sue Hatch of Fairbury are planning a family trip to celebrate their 25^th wedding anniversary. Hatch and the former Sue Babcock were married July 3, 1981 at St. Joan of Arc Church in Lisle. Fr. Jude officiated. They are the parents of Jenette and Elizabeth, both at home. He is a self-employed carpenter and she is a teacher at Pontiac Junior High School.

10 Years Ago

June 29, 2016

There were a handful of injuries following Wednesday night's tornado which tore through Pontiac's western edge, but things could have been a lot worse. Authorities were notified of a funnel cloud southwest of town around 10 p.m., which gave city crews about a 15-minute lead time with the storm sirens. Some business owners were forced to seek shelter, as the storm heavily damaged the BP and Shell Gas Stations and knocked out windows at the nearby Heller Motors Dealership. The tornado then traveled toward the Pontiac Rec-Plex, damaging fencing and a building before jumping to a residential area on Ray Street. Trees were uprooted and a metal roof was taken from a house. Then the storm impacted the Sterling Estates mobile home park where a trailer was overturned.

The 64^th annual Harms Reunion was held Sunday, June 12 at 1 p.m. at North Park in Fairbury. The oldest member present was Bev Harms (age 91). The youngest member at the reunion was Kenadee Casson (20 months), daughter of Kent and Rebecca Harms Casson. Traveling the farthest for the reunion was Josh Harms from Erie, Colo. Eunice Rich and Bev Harms both won for attending the most reunions (all 64 of them!). The longest married couple in attendance was Don Jr. and Patti Harms who celebrated their 46^th wedding anniversary on June 6. They also traveled from Erie, Colo. for the reunion.

Residents of McLean County's Yates Township are celebrating a new public hall. Officials from the township and USDA Rural Development joined local residents at an open house and dedication ceremony Thursday evening. Rural Development provided a $25,000 Community Facility grant for the purchase and renovation of the building. The township funded the remaining $30,775 to reach the total $55,575 that the project cost. Township Supervisor Clayton Rosenberger credits State Rep. Dan Brady with the referral to Rural Development and its programs designed to help rural communities.

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