Kewanee history from the Star Courier archives

Compiled by Dave Clarke
·5 min read

15 years agoFriday, Nov. 2, 2007

  • A ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday officially opened Parkside Apartments, a modern residential facility for seniors at 125 N. Chestnut St. The Housing Authority of Henry County has spent the last couple of years, and $6 million dollars, remodeling the four-story former Hotel Kewanee, built in 1916, into 41 apartments providing affordable housing for seniors.

  • The Hog City Flyers are sponsoring a disc golf league every Saturday through Dec.1 at Chautauqua Park starting time is 9 a.m. The cost is $3 week per person to play 18 holes.

25 years agoSaturday, Nov. 1, 1997

  • Playing a nearly perfect second half, the Stark County Rebels advanced to the second round of the IHSA Class 1A football playoffs with a 30-8 thumping of Flanagan Friday night in Wyoming. The Rebel victory sets up a second round meeting with Carrollton, a 34-20 winner over Bushnell-Prairie City. (The Rebels returned to the playoffs in 2022 after a five-year hiatus with a 49-12 win over Princeville in Game 9 of the regular season. They missed the opportunity, however, to advance to Round 2 of the playoffs after a 28-14 loss to ROWVA-Williamsfield Friday night. Stark County made the playoffs 22 years in a row, a run which ended in 2017 — D.C.)

  • Winners in the costume contest in the annual Galva Mummer’s Parade Friday were Morgan Colgan, daughter of Angie Colgan and Terry Peterson, first place as “Cruella DeVille,” Nolan Internal, son of Ceasar and Tracy Internal, who took second with his “Donald Duck” outfit, and Bryce Hill, son of Pat and Jody Hill in third place as “Humpty Dumpty.”

50 years agoThursday, Nov. 2, 1972

  • Bernie Milnes, of Milnes Chrysler-Plymouth, recently presented the keys to a 1973 Plymouth station wagon to Nick Humphrey, president pf the Wethersfield FFA Chapter. Ralph “Chip” Moodie, agricultural occupations instructor, said the Milnes dealership has been donating a car to the WHS ag program for the past five years. The car is used to transport members to judging contests, leadership training and other FFA activities.

  • Buy a large Coke and a Royal Burger for 89 cents at Stop ’n Chat in Midland Plaza and receive an old-fashioned Coca-Cola fountain glass. (Remember Stop ’n Chat? I don’t, so I went looking. Searching the Star Courier archives I first found ads in June of 1972 announcing “Something new in town,” Stop ’n Chat, next to Pizza Hut on S. Tenney Street in Midland Plaza where you could get a 5-inch Royal Burger for 59 cents and soft serve “Dari Twist” ice cream or 25 cents. But when did it open and where, exactly was Stop ’n Chat? We had to go back to October of 1971, Midland Plaza’s first year in existence, and a story about the grand opening of the W.T. Grant department store, where it was also announced that two new franchise restaurants would be opening soon on Routes 34/78, east of the new Kroger store, the plaza’s first anchor. They were Pizza Hut, now New China restaurant, and Stop ’n Chat, which it said was scheduled to open the following spring. The Stop ’n Chat building, just north of Kewanee’s first Pizza Hut, still stands. Now vacant, it most recently was occupied by a pay day loan business. — D.C.)

75 years agoSaturday, Nov. 1, 1947

  • Eighteen Kewanee High School students in building trades class are learning their lessons in a practical way — constructing a house. Don Bystry, a former service man now employed by Walworth, needed a home so he and Galen Landis, head of the school’s building trades department, decided to get together. Don bought a lot in the 300 block of Payson Street and agreed to furnish all materials. The Cape Cod style house has five rooms on the first floor with space for two rooms upstairs and a 34 X 26 foot basement. The high school boys, who are on the job from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. before returning to class for the rest of the day are doing nearly all the work.

  • Order now! Your 1948 calendars and refill pads are now available at Wilkinson’s Office Supplies and Equipment, 218 N. Main St. Dial 8706.

100 years agoThursday, Nov. 2, 1922

  • Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ridings, their daughter Miss Winnifred Ridings, and Mrs. Ridings’ mother, Mrs. Alice Mort, left yesterday morning for New York and, from there they will sail tomorrow on the White Star line steamer Cedric for Liverpool, England, where they will make an extended visit.

  • Mrs. John Fischer delightfully entertained a large company of ladies at her beautiful home, corner of Chestnut and Prospect streets, yesterday afternoon. The event was to afford an opportunity for Kewanee ladies to meet Mrs. George Lyle Fischer, who has recently come to Kewanee as a bride. The home was beautifully decorated for the occasion and its appearance won complimentary references from all present. (The Fischer residence is now the Rux Funeral Home. According to an account in the Sept. 21 Star Courier, George Lyle Fischer married a Princeton socialite named Anne Clark in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Princeton on Sept. 20, 1922. Both 1921 college graduates, he from Harvard, she from Smith College. The young Mr.Fischer was a teller at the Savings Bank of Kewanee where his father, John Fischer, was president. Miss Clark had spent the previous summer “doing canteen work” at a Y.M.C.A. in Germany. The writeup on the “welcome to Kewanee”party for the bride said “She is a very attractive girl, her chief beauty being her wonderful color which, with her physical vigor and her charm of manner make her quite irresistible.” The account related that “The young couple will be at home after December first at 403 S. Chestnut St.,” that’s about a block north of his parent’s residence. Welcome to Kewanee! — D.C.)

This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Kewanee history from the Star Courier archives