O’Fallon Homecoming outdid itself in 1933 by adding a wedding to the festivities

Back in the early days of homecomings that once were an annual O’Fallon tradition, outdoing the previous year was part of the fun.

In 1933, the homecoming organizers hatched an interesting plan. It was announced as follows in the O’Fallon Progress:

“Who will be the lucky couple?

“This is a question that is being asked more frequently than any other at the present time. Some couple with marriage inclinations will have an opportunity that comes to few, providing they make up their mind to be married on Saturday, August 26th, the date of O’Fallon’s 12th annual Home-Coming.

“There are only two provisions—that either the groom-to-be or his fiancée are from O’Fallon or the immediate vicinity, and that they will be publicly united in marriage in Community Park during the Home-Coming festivities.

“The first bona-fide couple who will announce their intentions to William S. Hughes, chairman of the committee will be the lucky one. And what an opportunity it will be for them!

“Merchants and business firms will see to it that they will get off to a good start on the sea of matrimony, judging from the manner in which wedding gifts are coming in, according to Mr. Hughes.

“Just think! The lucky couple will be provided with the necessary marriage license without a penny of cost. Then there are such gifts as a wedding dress for the bride; an abundance of groceries to stock the larder for months to come; hardware; neatly printed wedding announcements; furnishings for the home and hundreds of equally useful gifts to give the newly-weds a good start on life’s pathway.

“The public ceremony will be performed in Community Park as one of the features of the 12th annual Home-Coming, August 26th.

“This is a bona-fide offer to any couple of marriageable age being sponsored by the Association with the assistance of local merchants. Remember, one of the participants must be a resident of O’Fallon and the community.

“The names will not be revealed until the time of the ceremony.”

Some of the other items on the wedding gift list were a wedding dinner for four for the bridal party; one quart of milk a day for a month; one cake each Saturday for a month; a loaf of bread daily for a month; one ton of coal, delivered; floor lamp; Swift premium ham; silk nightgown; electric toaster; electric curling iron; dishes; two-month subscription to a St. Louis newspaper; a magazine subscription for one year; Armour Melrose bacon; coffee pot; a one-year subscription to the O’Fallon Record (the competitor to the Progress); smoked ham; 24-lbs. flour; haircut and shave for the bridegroom and haircut for the bride; alarm clock; cut flowers; and 2 lbs. of coffee.

The wedding was to take place after the 3 p.m. Children’s Parade. One couple had already backed out, deciding not to get married on that day. But another stepped in to take their place, their identity kept secret until the ceremony.

At 3:45 p.m., the doors to the Community Hall (present-day Cavins Center) flung open. Rev. J. A. Adams of the First Methodist Church walked out first onto the porch, followed by the bride and groom—Grace Isabelle Bailey and Edward Diehl.

A crowd of 2,000 guests grew quiet as the ceremony began. Though not planned, at the moment Rev. Adams pronounced the couple married, an airplane was heard high above the park as if to acknowledge the occasion.

Grace “was attractively attired in a beautiful white silk gown, with illusion veil, forming an encircling cape with orange blossoms, the fullness of the veil sweeping into a train at the back.”

She wore a large picture hat and carried a bouquet of pink roses and baby breath. Her maid of honor, her sister Beulah Bailey, wore “a frock of delicate pale blue silk with large picture hat to match.”

Her bouquet consisted of pink gladiolas.

Both the groom and his best man, Henry Haerter, wore conventional black.

After the wedding, the newlyweds were ushered into the hall where they received the congratulations of the many guests. Afterward, they were driven to Grace’s home.

Edward was a son of Mrs. Elizabeth Diehl and Grace was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bailey. Edward worked in the enameling department at the Eureka Steel Range Company in east O’Fallon.

They announced that they would live, temporarily, at his mother’s home at 209 W. Washington.

75 years ago, Aug. 19, 1948

George R. Gust, 33, Eufaula, Oklahoma, an ex-convict who served a three-year sentence for larceny in Oklahoma, and James Beary Dodson, 28, an escaped mental patient from the Elgin State Hospital were taken into custody late Friday night by Police Officers William Morton and Herman Hemmen.

The two men were arrested after residents on East Jefferson Street had complained of prowlers in the neighborhood.

The officers, who were unable to locate the suspects immediately, enlisted the aid of several irate citizens who helped in the search. It was a group of these citizens who summoned the police when they saw two men fitting the description of the suspects entering the B. & O. labor camp west of this city.

The two men were lodged in the city jail overnight. As there were no charges preferred, state police were summoned to return Dodson to the state hospital at Elgin and Gust was ordered out of town.

50 years ago. Aug. 16, 1973

Friends of Mrs. Mabel Batty of 219 East First Street are seeking funds for her aid after a fire last Wednesday destroyed her home.

Firemen said the fire was started in the electrical system of her home and might have been started in the television set.

Friends of Mrs. Batty, a widow, said they would like to help her in her time of distress and both the First National Bank and Bank of O’Fallon have agreed to accept cash gifts to aid her.

Loss to the building was set at $6,000 and at $5,000 to the contents. The building had recently been covered with new siding.

The insurance carried is reported to cover only the cost of the siding and none of the contents.

Mrs. Batty was not home when the fire started. She had two dogs in the house. One of them died in the fire and the other suffered injury during the blaze. Firemen administered oxygen to the surviving dog, but he had to be put to death Friday to prevent further suffering.