Dave Clarke's Kewanee History from the Star Courier Files

15 years ago
Friday, July 13, 2007

• Community State Bank will hold a grand opening of its new branch at 300 N, Main St., in downtown Kewanee, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 18.

• Jerry Weir, of J. Weir Painting, Kenny Ryan, of Jo Jo’s Convenient Store, and many other local sponsors, will hold a free community cookout from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, at the Windmont Park shelter house. Music will be provided by EJ’s Karaoke and DJ Service. Everyone is welcome!

25 years ago
Saturday, July 12, 1997

• Attention kids in Cambridge and Galva! Are you tired of having nothing to do this summer? Are you getting tired of your parents telling you to DO SOMETHING? Well, I have a great idea for you. Earn up to $100 per month delivering a Star Courier paper route in your community. You can get outdoors, enjoy the fresh air, learn business and people skills, and, most importantly, you can get your parents off your back! Call me, Brian Murphy, at the Star Courier Circulation Department, and let’s talk!

• The Bureau County Homestead Festival is getting into the Beanie Baby craze currently sweeping the nation. Several area businesses will be selling chances to win 100 Beanie Babies in a raffle to benefit the annual festival. Second prize will be a complete set of McDonald’s “Teenie Babies.” (One of the most famous Beanie Babies is Princess the Bear, the special edition purple bear with a white rose on her chest that was released in the wake of Princess Diana's tragic death later that summer, on Aug. 31, 1997. — D.C.)

50 years ago
Thursday, July 13, 1972

• Veteran Kewanee stock car driver Lloyd Ewing piloted his sporty 1966 Ford convertible to a first place finish in Sunday’s late model modified feature race at the Quad-City Raceway in East Moline.

• Visitation blanked the Fairview Methodists from Annawan 10-0 Wednesday during YMCA slow pitch softball action. Winning pitcher Mike Duytschaver got scoring support in the form of a three-run homer by Pat Miler.

75 years ago
Saturday, July 12, 1947

• Announcing the first of a weekly series of summer garden dances Saturday, July 12, from 9 p.m. to midnight at the Hotel Kewanee. Soft lights in the Garden Court and the new, beautiful Hotel Kewanee ballroom — the perfect setting for an enjoyable, informal evening of dancing to the smooth music of Julian Heene’s orchestra. $1.50 per couple. No stags. Cocktails served in the Kewanee Room in the hotel, and the Garden Lounge, overlooking the courtyard. (On April 27, 1946, what had been called the Parkside Hotel closed 30 years after it was built. After months of renovations, including installation of an elevator, the four-story building reopened under new ownership as Hotel Kewanee on Dec. 18, 1946. Today, the building has taken back the Parkside name after being renovated by the Housing Authority of Henry County for senior apartments. — D.C.)

• County liquor licenses have been renewed by only two taverns in rural Stark County, according to County Clerk D. K. Shearer. These were the Castle Inn, in Castleton, operated by Verschage and Verschage, and Catalpa Grove, east of Toulon, operated by Hill and Olson. Licenses in the towns throughout the county are issued by local officials. (The Castle Inn is long gone, but Catalpa Grove, east of Toulon on Route 17, is still going strong and is a popular eating and drinking establishment. The co-owner in 1947 was Al Hill, who later owned a grocery store and then a pizza parlor in Kewanee, He was also elected mayor of Kewanee. He later moved to Toulon and was elected mayor there making him the only person ever to be elected mayor of both towns, not at the same time, of course. Al once told me that one of his best customers at the Catalpa Grove in the old days was my grandfather, Jim, or “Jimmie” as he called him, Clarke, who farmed east of Lafayette. Like any good native of the Isle of Man, Grandpa liked to tip back a few from time to time. — D.C.)

100 years ago
Thursday, July 13, 1922

• Undertakers, relatives and friends to the number of fifty-three met in Kewanee last evening, the occasion being the district meeting of the Stark-Henry County Undertakers Association. A fine dinner was served in the open-air dining room of the Parkside Hotel. In connection with the feast an interesting musical and literary program was presented. Following the banquet, the men adjourned to the Carpenter & Cavanagh undertaking rooms for the business session, while the ladies of the party went to the Peerless Theater to see movie and later enjoyed refreshments at an ice cream parlor.

• Yesterday afternoon a special interurban car carried the employees of the office force that work at the Hayes Pump & Planter Company, in Galva, to Kewanee to attend the afternoon performance of the Al G. Barnes 4-Ring Circus and Wild Animal Show at the fairgrounds. The total number that were the guests of the Hayes company was about 90 persons. Reserved seats were furnished at ringside for the employees. The Galvans had a fine time. The show was pronounced as being the best of its kind on the road.

This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Dave Clarke's Kewanee History from the Star Courier Files