Looking Back

130 Years Ago

September 3, 1892

The city well has reached a depth of 2,000 feet and a fine vein of water obtained.

Frank Duell this week sold a half interest in his livery stable to S. Coen.

W. J. Hillyer has purchased the barber shop and bath rooms of Howard DeHart.

The ladies of the Presbyterian church will serve lunches at the fair grounds next week.

Jasper Wells this week sold his residence property on East Elm street to Mr. Bolliger, of Chatsworth.

120 Years Ago

September 5, 1902

The fair opened yesterday with the finest display and the biggest crowd ever seen on the fairgrounds Tuesday. The receipts were larger than ever before on Tuesday and if yesterday is to be taken as a criterion, the fair of 1902 will be a hummer and no mistake. The floral hall is simply grand and the exhibitors have exceeded all previous efforts. The races yesterday consisted of a mule race. If you missed the mule race you missed something good. The riders made the mules do whatever they (the mules) wanted to. Most of them wanted to go out of the first gate they came to whether it was open or not. It was funny and the people who witnessed it enjoyed a hearty laugh.

Eight or ten years ago the average farmer had more or less leisure time on his hands this time of year. He raised corn and when the crop was laid by he could find a breathing spell. Now he tackles a patch of oats, and flax, corn and wheat, alfalfa, clover and a few other kinds of crops, all the while he milks about nineteen cows twice a day and three times on the Sabbath, and he don't have time to breathe. Then comes his prairie hay, his threshing, potato digging, corn cutting, his shredding, husking and stock feeding and he has just time to eat his Christmas dinner, fix up a few fences, scour up his old plow, spit on his hands and go at it again. And what he gets out of it is an opportunity to be as independent as a hog on ice.

Warning to the public — Women, boys and men who have been trespassing on my property, stealing apples and maliciously injuring stuff are hereby warned that they will here after be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. —Peter Laubenheimer.

110 Years Ago

September 6, 1912

The big state across the track at the fair grounds is the scene of three excellent acts. There is first the acrobats and slack wire artists, who do marvelous feats of strength and agility upon the slack wire, the trapeze and the mat. Then there is the bicycle act, which is a most wonderful act. The two artists handle the bicycle and the unicycle in a marvelous manner. Then last there is the big elephant act. These clumsy brutes are made to do all manner of clever tricks at the bidding of their mistress. Indeed the ease with which she handles these two ton animals is nothing short of miraculous.

C. J. Claudon has taken the agency for the 1913 line of Studebaker cars, Studebaker 30, 40 and 50. These cars are the original E. M. F. Flanders cars. They are completely equipped with electric self starter, electric lighting outfit, top cover, speedometer, glass front, etc. Prices as follows: Studebaker 30, $800; Studebaker 40, $1,250; Studebaker 50 $1,700.

The usual fair week epidemic of small thefts has broken out. A number of small losses have been reported to the police. A package of laundry and some small packages from the stores were stolen out of Will Spence's buggy Monday evening. Tuesday someone lifted a suit case from a buggy belonging to Jarvel White. Whips, parts of harness, robes and a multitude of other small articles have been reported as missing.

100 Years Ago

September 1, 1922

W. H. Bartlett received a telephone message last evening from I. D. Lane, the hard road contractor of Bloomington, that he (Lane) had been officially notified that he had been awarded the contract for the building of the hard road over this section of the Corn Belt Route. Mr. Lane said he would be in Fairbury today to get a line on the work and that he would have a force of men here the first of next week to start work on the bridge over Indian Creek and the grading. He further stated that just as soon as the cement could be secured the work of putting in the hard road would be started.

A farm of 160 acres and a house and lot, both belonging to the estate of the late Charles Hill, were sold at public auction by Special Master in Chancery Neil Kerr in this city last Saturday afternoon. The farm, which is located a mile and a half northwest of Strawn, was purchased by John Brucker, of near Cropsey, at his bid of $242. The house and lot, which are located on East Chestnut street were purchased by Mrs. Hill for $1,600. It is well worth the money.

Thursday was the thirty-fifth anniversary of the great Chatsworth wreck in which 81 people were killed outright and 372 injured. The wreck occurred about midnight on August 19, 1887, when a Niagara Falls excursion train of sixteen coaches and drawn by two engines was wrecked. The wreck was caused by the burning about three miles east of Chatsworth of a culvert about 22 feet long and not over nine feet high, which permitted the train to pile up in a mass of wreckage.

90 Years Ago

September 2, 1932

Summer gave us what we hope is a parting shot the first four days of this week, during which time the average individual perspired and longed for a frost, even though it might kill the vegetation. The relief came Wednesday afternoon in the form of a soaking rain, followed by a drop in temperature, but there was no frost.

Tuesday morning as Lester Wessels was driving west on Oak street his wagon was bumped into by a car driven by Louis Thomas, of Detroit, Mich., the accident occurring near the Texaco oil station. When the car hit the wagon, which had on a top box, the horses started to run and Mr. Wessels was thrown from the wagon, lighting on the pavement. He was dragged a short distance, receiving several bruises and his back was slightly injured.

Two fine Duroc-Jersey hogs belonging to A. F. Funkhouser were stolen from the pens at the state fair at Springfield Saturday night. Mr. Funkhouser had a suspicion that he might find the hogs up in Wisconsin at the Milwaukee Fair and following his hunch went up there Tuesday and found the two members of his herd. Mr. Funkhouser arrived home with the hogs yesterday.

80 Years Ago

September 4, 1942

Two Fairbury boys each received a broken arm Tuesday after school. Both had been playing on a trapeze, but only one resulted directly from falling from it. Ronald, eight-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Zimmerman, was swinging from a trapeze in the Willis Harris yard and fell when he went to catch a limb. He missed the limb and in falling broke his right arm at the elbow. Robert Hurt was playing in the yard at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hurt. He had got down off the trapeze and fell when he started to run. his arm was broken above the wrist.

At a meeting of the Graceland Cemetery Association on Tuesday evening called by the president, K. V. Keck, a movement was put under way for the erection of a cemetery house for the storing of necessary tools used by the sexton. The building will be about 22 x 25, of frame construction, and will include a small office. Work on the same will begin within the month. The location selected for the new building is at the foot of the main drive south from the mausoleum.

Three ladies' wrist watches, each in a case, all wrapped in one package, disappeared from the safe in Dr. W. A. Roth's office during the noon hour Tuesday of last week. Dr. Roth had taken several watches home Monday for Mrs. Roth to make a selection for her birthday present, and Tuesday morning brought back the three watches to his office to return to the jeweler but had not had time until nearly noon, then he found the jewelry store closed, and returned to his office and placed them in an inner compartment in his safe, and supposed he turned the dial, but is not sure. He did lock the inner office door and found it locked when he returned and the safe door closed but the watches were gone. Sheriff Harold Davis was called, and is working on the case.

70 Years Ago

September 4, 1952

With the November elections only two months away, citizens should make sure they are registered to vote. Even if one believes himself to be registered, a change of address, or marriage can make him ineligible. Special consideration is given to men and women in military service, according to County Clerk Ira L. Boyer. Although servicemen must be 21 years old, and legal residents of the state for a year, the county for 90 days, and the precinct for 30 days, they do not have to register, as a civilian must.

Labor Day is usually thought of as the ending of the summer season, but the division this year was more than a number on a calendar. August went out hot, and September came in cold. The final three days of August had average temperatures of 79, 78 and 80 degrees, with the highs touching the 90's each day. But on the first two days of September – Monday and Tuesday – the daily temperature average dropped like a brickbat through a skylight to 63 and 59 degrees.

The hearing on the Budget for Community Unit District No. 3 was held at the high school Tuesday evening, September 2. The tentative budget was changed to include the purchase of another school bus this year. The educational levy was set at two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. The educational levy represents an increase of five thousand dollars over the figure the Board had previously considered satisfactory.

60 Years Ago

September 6, 1962

T. J. Patterson brought a relic of the Chatsworth Wreck into the Blade office last week as a keepsake of the historic 1887 train wreck. The relic was a brass disc about two inches in diameter, which he took off the No. 2 engine when the guards weren't watching him. Mr. Patterson, now 94 years old, rode to the scene of the wreck on a pony. The oldest engineer, Ed McClintock, was killed on the number two engine, after serving for over 50 years.

Fairbury's downtown DX service station will open its doors Saturday for the first time in the past 19 months. Chester McKinley of Weston and his son-in-law, Robert Trost, also of Weston, will operate the business. McKinley will continue to work for Howard Arnold, where he has been employed for the past eight years, but does plan to do some work at the station following supper hours. The pair will also do mower repair. A complete paint job has brightened up the building.

Glen O. Cooper, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Cooper of Chenoa, was one of 48 graduate students to receive the doctor of education degree during commencement exercises Aug. 16 at Colorado State College, Greeley, Colo. A native of the Fairbury-Chenoa area, he earned his B. S. degree from I. S. N. U. in 1948 and the M. A. degree in elementary supervision from Colorado State in 1952. He and his wife, Jeanne, have two daughters, Diana and Debra. The Fred Coopers attended the commencement exercises.

50 Years Ago

September 7, 1972

The premises of Isaac Walton school in Fairbury will be sold at public auction starting at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, under the auspices of the county board of school trustees. It will be the second time in less than a decade that a school property located in Fairbury has been sold, and the third piece of property in the Fairbury-Cropsey Community Unit District 3 to be sold at auction in that time. Six years ago, the district's Edison school was sold at auction, bringing $28,000 for the one-third block and its building. Walton school, built in 1895, at one time housed the Fairbury high school on the upper level, with a gymnasium featuring basketball hoops and gymnastic ladders and rings in the attic. Construction of Isaac Walton school, at that time unnamed, was authorized on March 13, 1895, when residents approved the project, "not to exceed $15,000," by a vote of 271 to 47.

A pair of 1,200-lb. 4-H steers, donated by the National Bank of Fairbury and Fairbury Federal Savings and Loan association, will be bar-b-qued and served as sandwiches in Fairbury's Central Park Saturday as the feature of the second annual Harvest Festival sponsored by the Association of Commerce. The steers' combined hoof weight of 2,400 lbs., has netted slightly more than 1,000 lbs. of prime beef, enough for an estimated 2,400 sandwiches. Chips and beverage will be included with each sandwich serving. George Weber, the project chairman for the sponsoring Retail Committee from the Fairbury Association of Commerce, said "We are happy to sponsor this Harvest Festival. This is our way of showing our appreciation for the progressive community in which we serve."

40 Years Ago

September 2, 1982

The Tournament of Roses is refusing to take "no" for an answer from the Fairbury-Cropsey Marching Tartars. And as a result of their ongoing efforts, Rose Bowl officials have persuaded band director Bruce Hammitt to place his band in nomination for either the 1984, '85 or '86 New Year's Day parade in Pasadena, Calif. Only a few weeks ago, Hammitt told Tournament of Roses organizers that he would not submit the application forms they had mailed to him. However, Art Holmes, chairman of the music committee for the Tournament of Roses, wrote back, asking that Hammitt reconsider and place the band in nomination.

Lorri Ellen Lee of Pontiac and Darryl W. Tinges of Fairbury were married on Aug. 28, 1982 at the First United Methodist Church in Pontiac at 12:30 p.m. Rev. Frank M. New and Rev. Richard Rierson officiated the single-ring ceremony in the presence of 350 guests. Parents of the couple are Mr. and Mrs. Eldon K. Lee of Pontiac and Mr. and Mrs. Ronald W. Tinges of Fairbury. A reception followed the ceremony at the Pontiac Elks Country Club with a buffet and dancing. Following a wedding trip to the Lake of the Ozarks, the couple will reside in Fairbury.

It's a traumatic shock, that first day of school. Tiny, bare feet that have enjoyed summertime sunshine and blistering cement are shoved into new leather shoes and laced down for another academic autumn. Despite the sudden change, Westview students sailed smoothly into their first day of classes this year on Aug. 26. Sesame Street characters helped bus riders find their spots among the hustle bustle of opening routines. Designed by Jane Goodwin, a part-time teacher at The Tree Top Child Development Center in Fairbury, cartoon characters painted on the side of each bus matched tokens that bus-riding students wore on their wrists.

30 Years Ago

September 3, 1992

Despite a very warm, muggy opening day of the 116th Fairbury Fair that saw rain taking a bow right after the talent show on Wednesday and a chilly, wet Thursday with so much rain that both the afternoon horse races and evening stock car races were cancelled, you have to go back to 1986 to find a better figure for Fair attendance! Total admissions at the gate were 12,369, according to Don Gray, in his first year as treasurer. That figure is for single admission tickets and does not include season passes, workers' passes and exhibitor's tickets. Grey said season passes total about 2,000, a large number of which are on the grounds almost every day.

Dan Rutherford, Republican candidate for state representative, announced last Friday, during the 116th Fairbury Fair, that Don Wall, Livingston County Sheriff will serve as his county campaign chairman. Serving with Wall as southeast Livingston County coordinators for the Rutherford campaign will be Carl and Georgann Borngasser, Todd Young, Gordon and Debbie Kinate, all of Fairbury, and Tom Mabrey of Strawn.

Winners of the Fairbury Fair Talent contest who will represent the county at the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs annual meeting, to be held in Springfield in January, are Scott Natzke, senior division winner and Jon Huston, top scorer of the combined junior divisions. Natzke, 16, is the son of Rev. and Mrs. David and Nila Natzke, Fairbury. His selection for Wednesday's contest was "Improvisations on F Blues," a trumpet solo with taped backup. Huston, 11, son of Gary and Connie Huston, Fairbury, performed a gymnastics routine.

20 Years Ago

September 4, 2002

Junior and Beverly Fosdick of Forrest will observe their 50th wedding anniversary with an open house from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 15. The couple was married on Oct. 17, 1952 at Calvary Baptist Church in Chatsworth. Their attendants were Donna (Fosdick) Gray, Melva (Fritts) Kohler, Glen Ray and Franklin Fosdick. The couple has five children, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

School annexation is the "hot topic" for this fall's election – at least to Prairie Central voters. On June 17 and 18, a hearing was held before the DeWitt-McLean-Livingston Regional Board of School Trustees. At the hearing, conducted much like a trial, the Regional Board was presented with a joint petition by the Prairie Central and Chenoa Boards of Education to allow the matter of Chenoa's annexation into Prairie Central to be decided upon by voters in both districts on Nov. 5, 2002. The Regional Board voted unanimously to place the issue on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Chuck and Lori Vaughan of Fairbury are parents of their second child, a boy, born at 11:04 a.m. on Aug. 15, 2002 at BroMenn Regional Medical Center, Normal. Rylie Stephen, who was middle-named after his maternal grandfather, weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 inches long at birth. He has an older brother, Hayden, age 3 years.

10 Years Ago

September 5, 2012

the Fairbury Cropsey Community Bank (a division of The Morton Community Bank) has made a combined donation totaling $10,000 to various local organizations, as part of the bank's commitment to the local communities it serves. The organizations chosen are: SECLAS, Fairbury Food Pantry, Cropsey Women's Club, Brian J. Munz Public Safety Complex, Fairbury Echoes Museum and Prairie Central FFA. The monies were distributed at a luncheon in honor of the recipients at Marchelloni's Pizza in Fairbury on Monday, Aug. 20.

“Golden Delights,” a cookbook commemorating Fairview Haven's 50^th anniversary is now available at Fairview Haven, The Sewing Service, Meyer's Gifts and Services or online at melttheheart.com. The cookbook includes all new recipes from residents, family, volunteers, supporters and team members of Fairview Haven, both past and present.

Becky Barker and Lisa Kemnetz, both of rural Chatsworth, will have a joint art show at the Iroquois County Historical Society in Watseka during the months of September and October. Barker has area barns in a water color series as well as her Colorado series in water color. She also has oil portraits and acrylic rocks. Kemnetz has landscapes, wildlife and florals in various mediums. She is also the elementary school art teacher at Crescent City.

Kari Kamrath

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Looking Back at Fairbury history through The Blade