Kewanee history from the Star Courier archives
15 years agoFriday, Oct. 12, 2007
Smokey, the female Dalmatian who was the Kewanee Fire Department’s mascot for the past 14 years, died Thursday, Fire Chief Tom Weston announced. Smokey was born in February of 1993 in St. Augustine, Ill., and joined the fire service in Kewanee as a puppy that spring. Weston said “Smokey did go on a few fire calls but was mostly content to stay back at the firehouse.” Her duties consisted of public relations — greeting visitors, and education — visiting local schools to promote fire safety. The city council approved burying Smokey’s remains and placing a marker on property near the fire station.
The second Dr. Bob Breedlove Memorial Ride will take place Saturday beginning at Bike World West in West Des Moines, Ia. The ride is in memory of the late Dr. Bob Breedlove, a Kewanee native, who was killed in a car-bicycle accident during a cross country bicycle race. (According to the newspaper account, Breedlove, 53, was killed June 23, 2005, when his bicycle collided with a pickup truck during a Race Across America bicycle race. The accident occurred near Trinidad, Colo. Breedlove was an orthopedic surgeon in Des Moines and well known in the cycling world. — D.C.)
25 years agoSaturday, Oct.11, 1997
Packee’s Midwest Auto Parts, R. R. #1, south of Osceola, the home of late model auto and truck salvage with computerized inventory and satellite locating system for the hard-to-get part.
The Kewanee Hospital Auxiliary has announced plans for a “Holiday Fantasy Ball” on Sunday, Nov. 16 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Flemish-American Club. The date coincides with the Chamber of Commerce’s downtown Christmas open house. Jim Blucker’s orchestra, Ivory Plus, will play for the fund-raising event. The proceeds will be used to purchase a transvenous pacemaker for the hospital’s critical care unit.
50 years agoThursday, Oct. 12, 1972
A delegation from the newly-formed Bradford Park District board presented a framed copy of the first resolution passed by the body, Resolution No. 1, to Vernon “Butch” Verstraete, director of parks and recreation, at last night’s meeting of the Kewanee Park Board. The resolution honors Verstraete for “providing leadership and guidance to bring about creation of the Bradford Park District.”
A load of concrete girders slipped from a Lincoln-Dixie Freight Lines truck yesterday as it made the turn from Third onto East streets on its way to the site of the new American Legion building on Railroad Avenue. (Ground was broken on Sunday, June 12, 1972 to begin construction of the new American Legion building, a 5,000-square-foot, two-story masonry building at the corner of See Street and Railroad Avenue. Maurice Brady and Emil Van Overbeck, both of Kewanee, and the only two living members of 19 charter members of American Legion Post 31, attended the ceremony. — D.C.)
75 years agoSaturday, Oct. 11, 1947
Kewanee’s automatic dial telephone service went into operation at five minutes before midnight Friday when Mayor Fred J. Brown pulled the switch in the old telephone office which cut the previous service and signaled the start of the changeover from manual operated switchboards to the rotary dial system. Some patrons have been a bit confused about the method of dialing to make a telephone call. Others attempted to dial numbers listed in the old directory and, of course, failed to get their party. Four false alarms were called in at the central fire station this morning by people who had dialed the wrong number. When reporting a fire, the new number to dial is 2114. (Later, the “852” prefix was added to 2114 for emergencies and a number for routine calls, 852-2115, was added for those wishing to contact the department with non-emergency calls. The 2114 line was eventually replaced by 9-1-1, but, according to the latest telephone directory, 852-2115 is still listed for non-emergency calls to the fire department. Rotary dial telephones are, of course, long gone. — D.C.)
Members of the Kewanee Trades and Labor Assembly will operate their own grocery and produce store in an effort to combat current high prices. This decision was made at a meeting in the Labor Temple this week. The assembly Is now negotiating for a suitable downtown location for the store. Representatives of the assembly will go to Chicago next week tomato connections with wholesale grocery houses. (What were the “current high prices” being experienced by Kewanee shoppers in October of 1947? A spot check of ads in the Star Courier showed a 2 lb. bag of coffee at A&P was .77, fresh ground hamburger at Kroger was .45/lb., sirloin steak at Al Rashid’s Grocery at Hollis and Division was .59/lb., and 2 cans of pork and beans at L’Ecluse’s at 300 Tenney St., cost .35. — D.C.)
100 years agoThursday, Oct. 12, 1922
In a report of the fire drills conducted at the public schools of this city in Tuesday’s issue of the Star Courier, the attendance of the Irving School should have been stated as 395 instead of 250. The Irving building was emptied in a record time of 58 seconds, which is considered remarkably good time.
A company of Gypsies all decked out in fantastic garb of many hues, took possession of Kewanee yesterday afternoon. What the ladies lacked in cleanliness they made up for in nerve, and timid men were their special prey. They went into business houses where they tackled old and young offering to tell “good fortunes” for certain specific sums. One well-known Kewanee man was the recipient of many compliments and when the Gypsies took their departure, the citizen discovered that they had also taken “two bits” from him. He doesn’t know just how it happened, but in some manner he was “hornswoggled” out of the quarter. (According to Dictionary.com, two bits is an old slang term for 25 cents. It's based on the sense of the word "bit" that refers to one eighth of a U.S. dollar, or 12 ½ cents. However, monetary amounts counted in bits were only ever given in multiples of two, as in two bits and six bits. — D.C.)
This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Kewanee history from the Star Courier archives
