Dave Clarke's Kewanee history from the Star Courier archives

Compiled by Dave Clarke
·5 min read

15 years agoFriday, Aug.10, 2007

  • Jewel Stuckey, 90, who owned and operated Jewel’s Barber Shop in Galva for 35 years, died Thursday at the Toulon Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.

  • The new Pool Hoggs Billiards Tournament has been aded to the Hog Days schedule this year. The 8-ball tournament will be held Sunday, Sept. 2, at the Moose Lodge, 1001 N. Main St. (The former Moose Lodge is now the home of the administrative offices of Kewanee CUSD 229. — D.C.)

25 years agoSaturday, Aug. 9, 1997

  • A project estimated to cost $8 to $9.5 million is beginning to take shape for Kewanee native Mark Petersen, owner of Petersen Health Care, based in Peoria. Plans for a new senior living community include a four-stage approach to fit the needs of different seniors to provide a continuity of care in retirement years and give seniors the ability to age in place. The senior living community will consist of a retirement home, an assisted living facility, and 30 homes for seniors over age 55. Phase I, an addition to the existing Kewanee Care Nursing Home on Junior Avenue, includes a new skilled nursing unit to assist residents with their later stage of life. (The project resulted in construction of what today are Courtyard Estates and Courtyard Village, both adjacent to Kewanee Care.— D.C.)

  • Hire the A&W Root Beer Bear to do your fund-raising. The A&W Restaurant at 425 Tenney St., together with the Star Courier, is inviting schools, churches, Scouts, civic organizations and other groups to raise funds by selling something that thousands of people go out of their way for every day — A&W root beer. Contact Ray Garza at the Kewanee A&W, or fill out the fund-raising form in the Star Courier. (According to the Star Courier archives, the former Sandy’s location at 425 Tenney St., which became Hardee’s South in 1973, after the merger of the two fast food chains, closed in the summer of 1993 after negotiations on a new lease between Hardee’s and landowner Wayne Maxwell were unsuccessful. In 1994, Hardee’s purchased the C. L. VanDeVoorde Distributing building half a block to the north, between Shop & Go and McDonald’s, and built a new Hardee’s South. In October of 1995, Garza, owner of an A&W in LaSalle, opened an A&W restaurant in the former Hardee’s/Sandy’s building. In 1999, Tony and Lisa Rashid opened LaGondola Spaghetti House at that location — D.C.)

50 years agoThursday, Aug. 10, 1972

  • The new, all-weather tennis courts at Northeast Park are expected to be finished Saturday and ready for use next week, according to Vernon “Butch” Verstraete, superintendent of Kewanee parks. The courts will be flooded and used for ice skating in the winter.

  • Gilbert Pollock, 80, of 111 W. 8th St., was pronounced dead on arrival at Kewanee Public Hospital at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday. He had been working on his car when it rolled off the jack causing crushing chest injuries, Mr. Poilock operated a coal mine near Sheffield for many years and also operated a rollerskating rink Kewanee, He retired in 1966. (Mr. Pollock operated a roller rink at the corner of W. 8th and N. Tremont St., present day location of Kewanee’s Northside fire station.— D.C.}

75 years agoSaturday, Aug. 9, 1947

  • The Ray Sisters (Al, Flo and Billie), formerly the Rashid Sisters (Alvey, Florence and Elizabeth), of Kewanee, top-notch radio singers with Station WMBD in Peoria, will be one of the high spots of the Labor Day program to be given at the Kewanee school stadium. The big, free program is sponsored each year by the trades and labor unions of Kewanee. WMBD’s Milton Budd will be master of ceremonies for the show which will feature 12 acts. (Before Hog Days consumed Kewanee on Labor Day weekend, local labor unions put on a big show at the high school stadium on Monday, Labor Day. — D.C.)

  • The mercury dropped to 55 Friday night to make another night’s rest a possibility, after nearly a week of blistering days and sultry, warm nights. Today’s noon reading was 85 but, according to the Associated Press, the heat will roll in again starting this afternoon to keep tonight’s low around 70 in preparation for a hot Sunday when an afternoon reading near the 100 mark can be expected.

100 years agoThursday, Aug. 10, 1922

  • Kewanee experienced the first railroad trouble today since the rail strike began when it was discovered that during the night some unknown party had cut the air hose from practically every freight car standing in the local Chicago, Burlington & Quincy yards. It is estimated that the hose on at least 300 cars was slashed which put them out of service.

  • The Board of Directors of the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce will receive sealed bids until 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16, for installation of a boulevard lighting system in the business district of Kewanee. Certified checks for $1,000 must accompany each bid. Plans and specifications may be seen at he Chamber office in the Parkside Hotel. (Kewanee had become known as one of the most poorly-lit cities along the Burlington rail route illuminated only by arc lights on posts at downtown intersections. After the Chamber’s fund-raising campaign for installation of a system of street lights, the switch was thrown on Kewanee’s “New White Way” on Dec. 16, 1922 flooding the business district with light like never before. — D.C.)

This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Dave Clarke's Kewanee history from the Star Courier archives