Savanna will say farewell to its high school
Craftsman is happy in his neck of the woods
Books, drinks & flowers — what a Novel idea Chadwick restaurant gets a 2nd chance
“It’s a fun business.”
LEN ANDERSON Owner, with wife Linda, (“The Mad Hatter,” at right) STORY | PAGE 4
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4 Full of wonder
After years in their careers, a couple decided it was time to wear different hats, as owners of an antique shop in Mount Carroll, where they’ve been glad to be Mad for over 25 years.
10
High ... and bye
The Class of 2025 will be the last class to march into the future in Savanna, as the city prepares to say farewell to its high school.
18
Keeping busy
A craftsman is happy when he’s in his own neck of the woods, having the run of his Mill and creating hand-crafted pieces.
26 Restaurant gets a 2nd chance
When Chadwick lost its only diner, the community didn’t have to go far to find someone to pick up the spatula.
32 A Novel idea
The owner of a flower shop transformed her business into a place where you can buy a book, enjoy a drink and a bite to eat — and still get flowers.
After years in their careers, a husband and wife decided it was time to wear different hats, as owners of an antique shop in Mount Carroll, where they’ve been glad to be Mad for over 25 years
uthor Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” has been a part of literature lore for more than 150 years, a fanciful fantasy about a young girl’s journey down a rabbit hole into a world of whimsy and wonder — curiouser and curiouser it was.
But how about a trip to a place of curios and curiosities? Where would you go to find a world like that? Not far — and not down a rabbit hole, but rather downtown Mount Carroll, where an antique shop has created a wonderland all its own. Just look for a lady in a red hat welcoming you to her world.
That lady is Mount Carroll’s own “Linda in Wonderland,” a staple in town for 25 years, and that Linda is Linda Anderson — but she’s no “Alice.” She’s another character in Carroll’s novel, “The Mad Hatter,” a persona she enjoys embracing at The Mad Hatter’s Ideas and Designs, the delightfully different antique shop she and her husband Len own.
CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM
WONDER cont’d from page 4
The Andersons have spent decades collecting and selling a wide variety of antiques and collectibles at their business, and have expanded upon the concept of an antique shop to make it more than just a store, but a destination. Just like in the novel, there’s a place at the store to sit down and have a cup of tea or coffee, and the Andersons enjoy getting to know their customers and their interests.
“With how the world has been changing, there aren’t places for people to talk to people,” Linda said. “I’m finding that some people that have come in I’ve helped by talking to them. Sometimes someone saying ‘Hello’ to someone is huge, and smiling at someone.”
Decked out in her signature red hat, Linda gives customers an introductory speech when they come in to let them know what’s in store, telling them about the selection of decor from
Linda and Len Anderson love what they do at The Mad Hatter’s Ideas and Designs in downtown Mount Carroll: running an antique store that welcomes customers to stop by and shop the fun and fascinating finds, or just drop by for a chat.
CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@ SHAWMEDIA.COM
decades ago, vintage clothing great for costume parties, toys, furniture, collectibles, a library of books in a Victorian-style room, and eye-popping wholesale designer fabrics. It’s a variety that spices up the shop, as the Andersons strive to stock the store with pieces that have a character and flair all their own.
Linda wants Mad Hatter’s to stand out from other antique stores, whether it’s with a bit of whimsy or a dash of panache. It’s all about catching people’s eyes and grabbing their attention. She likes to keep things fresh — rearranging rooms, showcasing different pieces in the front window, having fun with displays.
“When people look at our collection, a lot of times they’ll ask, ‘How did you do this?’” Linda said. “When you love doing what you’re doing, it seems to find you. With the passion, you’re just able to make it happen.”
WONDER cont’d to page 7
WONDER cont’d from page 6
Linda and Len originally hail from Minnesota and have been married for 51 years. They came to Mount Carroll in 1999 from the Chicago area on a quest to restore a Victorian house they were interested in. Even though that didn’t pan out as they hoped, they continued to enjoy the charm of the town. It was Linda’s idea to have an antique store, and after 40 years of Len’s previous profession as retail store planner supporting their family, they decided it was Linda’s turn to chart a course for the next part of their journey together.
“At different times when we were walking around Courthouse Square, something came over me with a feeling that we were supposed to be here,” Linda said. “We realized that we should keep looking around here, and then we came down [Market] Street and this building was for sale. Len worked 40 years in corporate and had taken an early retirement, and I was an interior designer and stay-at-home mom. He looked at me and said, ‘It’s your turn now” — so she decided to turn back time and open an antique shop. The Market Street building proved to be just the right spot, with space on the first floor for the shop, and a place for the couple to live on the second floor.
Among the Mad Hatter’s merchandise are some things you don’t always find in antique stores: a selection of designer fabrics — a carry-over from Linda’s days doing design work. Some of the fancy fabrics commanded impressive prices when they first hit the market decades ago, as much as $400 a yard. Though the prices have come down since then, their beauty remains, and she has rolls of silks, tapestries and laces, for both clothing and crafts. Some customers buy pieces to turn into fashionable book covers, which has been popular with young adults over the years, she said.
Some of the Andersons’ own interests make their way into their shop, like Linda’s fondness for vintage fabrics and Len’s passion for classic cars.
WONDER cont’d from page 8
“Back then, fabric was so expensive and people who couldn’t afford it went with just a cream,” Linda said. “I thought that if I ever could, I would find a way to give them all these wonderful fabrics where they can be creative. They come in and tell me what they need, and I can sell them all these beautiful fabrics and give them ideas about putting some together. They’re $14 a yard, and some had been $200 or $300 a yard.”
Len’s interests in all things automobiles and local history have found a place in the store as well. His interest in antique cars that began as a child is represented by a selection of collector die-cast pieces and advertising toys on wheels, as well as old license plates and other auto memorabilia. Len’s also got some bigger “toys” too — some vintage cars that he takes to local cars shows and Mount Carroll’s annual Cruise Night, an event he started nearly 20 years ago. One of them is a restored 1925 Ford Model T that he displays at the store and which has become a favorite photo op for people. Kids can even can sit in it and have a crack at some of the controls, letting their imaginations roam free.
“They’ll blow the horn and they can take pictures with it,” Len said. “I’m the type of car guy who feels that kids should be able to play in a collector’s car. They aren’t going to hurt it. Let them open the door, and let them have fun with it. Some places have signs of ‘Do not touch,’ but how is that going to help kids get interested into the hobby? They’re respectful.”
People can also check out the Victorian-style library at the back of the shop, complete with a restored 1800s fireplace and a framed 1869 map of Carroll County, along with more antiques, vintage books of all sorts — many in their original binding and jackets — on shelving made from wood from local trees.
“It’s everyone’s favorite room. They feel so relaxed when they walk through the door,” Linda said, and they don’t mind if customer gets lost in a book.
“We always encourage people that if you want to read a book, you don’t have to buy it, you can come here and have a cup of coffee with it,” Len said. “It’s not always about the sales, but about giving people a good experience.”
The store’s stock comes from their own antiquing trips, pieces they have others find for them, and items that customers bring in to sell.
Their inventory is guided not only by their own instincts, but conversations with customers, which helps them gauge what’s trending and what people are looking for.
Like many collectors say: It’s all about condition, and the couple gives items and the once-, and twice-, over before buying them.
“It’s a fun business,” Len said. “There’s a lot of people who do eBay or this and that, but when people come in here and want to buy something for any reason, I want us to look it over and make sure there’s no chips or dents. I want them to leave knowing they made a good choice.”
If you plan on stopping by, Mad Hatter’s is paper, not plastic: cash or check only.
As the store enters its 25th year, the Andersons look at their time in business with great pride, not only in what they’ve accomplished, but in being part of the community.
shops, and let them know that a small town is an important place to keep growing.”
More info
Establishing a new life away from the Chicago area has proven a good choice, Len said, especially in getting to know new people.
The Mad Hatter’s Ideas and Designs, 116 W. Market St., Mount Carroll is open by appointment or chance from December to April, with regular hours to be announced starting in May. Go to facebook.com/ideasndesignsantiques or call 815-244-7875 to schedule a visit or for more information.
“It has been amazing,” Linda said. “I’m motivated to do displays at the windows and bring people in when they’re walking around to give them something to look at, and make this a destination when they go to Molly’s, or Charlie’s, or all these other
“It’s all about people, and we’re so blessed, he said. “We have wonderful customers. We have customers come from Chicago just to have tea with us — they may not buy anything, but just come to have tea. It’s getting away, as we did, from Chicago — the suburbs and stress — and coming here where life is a little simpler. When we lived there, you hardly had time to speak to your neighbors. Out here, it’s totally different: You have time to enjoy people.” And enjoy it they have — like they say, time flies when you’re having fun.
“I don’t know where the time has gone,” Linda said. “We’ve had so much fun and it’s been a good experience.” n
Shaw Media reporter Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
hen the seniors of West Carroll High School in Savanna fling their black graduation caps up in the air in May, it will mark the end of an era in the city’s history.
After a few years of trying to figure out how to cope with declining high school enrollment and an aging building, the West Carroll School District decided to restructure its facilities come next school year.
The plan calls for moving classes out of the high school in Savanna to the current middle school building in Mount Carroll, where the middle school classes will be
relocated to the district’s primary school in Savanna. It wasn’t an easy decision, as costs toward building repairs have been a hotly contested issue for the school district and taxpayers in recent years, but it came to a head when the West Carroll School Board decided to shuffle the configuration at a Dec. 14 meeting, by a 7-0 vote.
The relocation of high school education away from Savanna this summer will mark the first time since 1880 that there have no classes higher than eighth grade conducted in the city.
HIGH SCHOOL cont’d to page 12
The community won’t be alone feeling a sense of loss. The move to shutter the school in Savanna move is just the latest in a string of closures in Carroll County:
• Shannon lost its high school in 1986 with the formation of the Eastland School District, with its high school students moving to Lanark.
• Chadwick’s high school ceased in 1989 with its consolidation with Milledgeville.
• Mount Carroll and Thomson both lost their high schools when West Carroll formed in 2005, with their high school students attending school in Savanna — a consolidation that also meant the end of the former Savanna High School, its Indians nickname and school colors of red and white replaced by the West Carroll Thunder’s green and black.
Though high school education in Savanna will end, the impact its made through the years has left a legacy that’s far reaching — out of this world, in fact.
Among Savanna alumni are Helen Scott Hay (Class of 1886), who played a role in caring for wounded soldiers during World War I in Europe; Wayne King (Class of 1920), whose orchestra entertained music lovers; and Dale Gardner (Class of 1966), who launched his career as an astronaut with two space trips in the early 1980s. Their stories are just three among the thousands that were written in the halls of the high school in Savanna. Not a bad legacy for a school that started out as a few rooms in another building before graduating to a place of its own. On the following pages is a look back at some of the high school highlights through the years …
Some notable names have walked the halls of Savanna’s high schools through the years ...
Four score and 64 years ago, Lincoln makes room
Savanna, founded in 1828, established its first school in 1836 with Hannah Fuller as its teacher. More schools were established as the river town grew, including Lincoln School, at the southeast corner of Murray and Third streets, in 1869 on the site of a former public square.
Helen Scott Hay, a pioneer in the nursing profession
Built by local architect David Bowen, the building was described in an 1878 published history of Carroll County as being “a model of architectural beauty and convenience.” This Lincoln School building would serve the community until a new building replaced it on the same site in 1928 (which later became a junior high school and now sits empty).
Until the late 1910s, it wasn’t uncommon for education to stop after the eighth grade, but Savanna residents decided they wanted to reach for higher education. At the time, separate high school buildings were a luxury usually only afforded larger towns, so Savanna’s first high school classes were offered during the 1881-82 school year at Lincoln School, where a only a couple rooms were set aside for high school classes.
Music royalty and SHS graduate Wayne King, “The Waltz King”
Astronaut Dale Gardner, above in a yearbook photo and at left, in a NASA photo
Among its first graduates was Helen Scott Hay, who graduated a few years after the first high school classes before embarking on a long and notable career in nursing, in which she would become one of the most honored and decorated American nurses in the world during the first half of the 20th century. An American Red Cross nurse and nursing educator, she worked in Kiev, Ukraine, and Sofia, Bulgaria, during World War I. Among her numerous honors, she was awarded the Flor ence Nightingale Medal by the International Red Cross Society for her contributions. Today, she’s come to be known as “Carroll County’s most famous daughter.”
A commemorative pin dish, featuring the former Savanna High School building.
In 1896, George Pulford represented the school at the annual University of Illinois high school state meet in Urbana (the predecessor to today’s Illinois High School Association state meet). Pulford won the 880-yard walk race — one which racers move at a pace slower than a run — in 3 minutes, 32 seconds. He became the first state champion athlete from Savanna, but he wouldn’t be the last.
A building of their own
As the city grew, so too did high school enrollment, along with the need for a separate building for high school classes. Savanna, like the rest of the nation, was coming to see the importance of a high school education. The city formed a commission in 1900, manned by school board members and superintendent W.S. Wallace, to look into building the city’s first high school, which led a few years later to one being built at the T-intersection of Main and Fifth streets.
After a brief construction delay of about a month, Savanna’s high school held its first classes Nov. 17, 1902, with 125 students.
Wallace would later recall those first day in the 1912 school yearbook: “Can any of those who were present that first morning ever forget it? How roomy it seemed after the old cramped quarters. How the empty rooms resounded to spoken word and the floors were veritable sounding boards. We felt lost, as in a strange city and at first it seemed good to get outdoors and see familiar objects to assure us that we were really in Savanna.”
Savanna High School yearbooks from the early 1920s to its final school year in 2004-05 are available for viewing at the Savanna Public Library, 326 Third St. The library is open 1-6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday and Sunday, and 1-5 p.m. Friday. Call 815-2733714 for more information.
CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM State championship signs for West Carroll High School FFA and music accomplishments hang outside the school.
HIGH SCHOOL cont’d from page 14
Having an established high school also allowed its students to take part in team sports with other high schools: the school’s first boys basketball team took the court for the 1902-03 season under coach V.C. Keys; despite losing in three of its four games that season, the program would go 23-7 over the following three years.
Wayne King graduated from Savanna High in 1920 after his family had moved back and forth between Savanna and Texas in years prior. King would later be given the nickname “The Waltz King,” for his style of orchestra music: His band’s signature song was “The Waltz You Saved For Me,” first performed in 1930. He performed regularly into the 1980s.
HIGH SCHOOL cont’d to page 16
PHOTOS: CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM
A sign at Old Mill Park in Savanna honors the many Savanna High School wrestling accomplishments over the years.
West Carroll High School in Savanna will relocate to Mount Carroll beginning with the 2025-26 school year. West Carroll Thunder football games, previously played at W.F. Massey Field in Savanna, will now be played in Mount Carroll.
The school’s first yearbook was published in 1912, and given the name “Annavas,” which is Savanna spelled backwards. Even though early educators “felt lost” in the new school, it wasn’t long before they needed more space. By the 1920s, the high school was getting overcrowded, which led to the construction of an addition to the west of the school in 1923.
The region’s roots in agriculture took hold in 1936 when the school’s Future Farmers of America chapter (later FFA) was established, with Russell Lamoreux as its first faculty sponsor. Athletic fields opened on Chicago Avenue in 1939, and two significant extra-curricular accomplishments happened during the early 1940s. Alec MacKenzie took first place in IHSA state competitions in original oratory and extemporaneous speaking in 1941, and the high school football team put together back-toback undefeated eight-win seasons in 1941 and 1942.
Time for a new high school, again
By 1950, Savanna’s population had grown to just over 5,000, and by the mid-50s, overcrowding at the high school was becoming an issue again — but this time, the city was faced with a high school that was more than 50 years old. Would expanding a building that old be feasible, or advisable? The city’s answer was no.
In 1955, voters approved a new building to be constructed at Longmoor Avenue and Cragmoor Street on the northeast side of town. Construction began in the spring of 1956 with completion planned for the middle of the 1957-58 school year. That was the plan, anyway, but a disaster had different ideas.
On April 26, 1957, a fire on the second floor of the old high school put an end to classes in the building and it was torn down shortly thereafter. With the new campus still under construction, classes were moved to local churches, the library and even back at Lincoln School for the final month of the school year. This expedited construction on the new building, and it opened on Sept. 3, 1957, with 332 students attending. The new building was dedicated during an open house Jan. 26, 1958.
The new campus also had a football field in the rear of the school, which was later named W.F. Massey Field, in honor of a Savanna High School teacher and coach.
With Russia’s Sputnik giving Americans the jitters, and the space race speeding up, it was in the new school’s science and math classrooms where a future astronaut would learn some of the engineering skills that would help lead him to a career in the Navy and NASA. Dale Gardner served as flight engineer on the Challenger STS-8 research mission in 1983 and mission specialist on the Discovery STS-51-A satellite deployment-and-retrieval mission in 1984. Though his stay in Savanna was brief — he was born in Minnesota and his family moved to Savanna in 1961, before moving to Clinton, Iowa, shortly after Dale graduated high school in 1966 as valedictorian — his name lives on in the town he called home. The bridge across the Mississippi River linking Savanna to Sabula was named after him in 2018. HIGH SCHOOL cont’d from page 15
The 1966-67 school year saw the school’s second state champion speaker, when Stephen Baldridge won first place in prose reading. In 1975, the Savanna Park District opened an indoor pool attached to the school building.
Of all of the sports at Savanna High, it was in wrestling where the Indians achieved the most success. In all, 19 state championships were won by 16 wrestlers, and 36 additional wrestlers earned state medals from 1959 to 2003. Under coach Charles Anderson, state championships were won six times, in 1974-75, 1977-79 and 1982, all under a system where results from the state’s individual finals determined the state champion.
As the city moved ahead into the ’80s and ’90s, the economy had a hard time keeping up. The community’s bottom line took a hit with the closure of the Milwaukee Road rail yard in the early 1980s and that of the Savanna Army Depot in the late 1990s. People were leaving the city and taking students with them.
Savanna wasn’t the only place in Carroll County feeling a pinch: Mount Carroll and Thomson also saw declining enrollment as the 20th century drew to a close.
New district, same high school
success in extracurricular activities over the next two decades. Among the most notable:
• The boys basketball and softball teams qualified for the IHSA state finals in 2007 and 2009, respectively.
• The FFA chapter saw a handful of its students win state championships in leadership events, with a group win in novice parliamentary procedure in 2014.
• The Thunder had 14 top-three state placings by the school’s musicians in the IHSA sweepstakes competition, including state championships from 2010-13 in Class B and 2017 in Class C.
• Most recently, Emma Randecker became the first state track champion to hail from Savanna schools in 126 years, when the West Carroll junior sprinter won first place in the Class 1A 100-meter dash in 2024.
Go to illinoishighschoolglorydays.com to learn more about the following Carroll County high schools no longer in existence:
• Chadwick High School “Silver Streaks”
• Lanark High School “Beavers”
• Mount Carroll High School “Hawks”
• Savanna High School “Indians”
• Shannon High School “Eagles”
• Thomson (York Township) High School “Trojans”
The seeds of West Carroll High School began with the West Carroll Thunder football cooperative of Savanna, Mount Carroll and Thomson high schools in 2003. At the time, Savanna’s football team had been in a long losing streak of more than 60 games going back to 1995, but broke that streak in Week 2 of the 2003 season with a 49-14 win over Warren/River Ridge.
The West Carroll name would be applied to a new school district formed when Savanna, Mount Carroll and Thomson consolidated in 2005, with the high school classes remaining in Savanna. The Savanna Indians, Mount Carroll Hawks, and Thomson Trojans took their place in the history books, and a new name roared in: the West Carroll Thunder.
Mount Carroll and Thomson’s losses would be Savanna’s gain. With the consolidation of high-schoolers from three towns came
Nearly 470 students attended West Carroll High School when it was formed in 2005, but as enrollment and population declines continued throughout the western half of the county, that number dropped to about 260 today, the final year of classes at the Savanna High School building, just a few years shy of its 70th birthday.
With high school classes moving to Mount Carroll next school year, things will switch from 2005: Now, Savanna’s loss will become Mount Carroll’s gain, with the city becoming home to high school classes again for the first time in 20 years. Meanwhile the high school building in Savanna awaits its future plans — whatever they may be — marking an end to 143 years of high school education in Savanna.
But maybe, if you listen closely, you can still hear the echoes of those empty rooms of the past resounding with the sound of students reaching for a higher education — a nurse who earned her wings and reached new heights as an angel of mercy, a King who reached into people’s soles and got them to dance, and a traveler who reached for the stars. They, and countless others who roamed the halls and filled the classrooms, helped write the history book of Savanna’s high schools. n
Shaw Media reporter Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
A Mount Carroll craftsman is happy when he’s in his own neck of the woods, having the run of his Mill and creating hand-crafted pieces made with tools that have some history behind them and more work ahead of them
Dave Smith doesn’t like to sit still for long. The retired construction worker and teacher can found spending hours in his shop, crafting custom pieces that he sells through his business, Old Mill Workshop.
ALEX T. PASCHAL/APASCHAL@SHAWMEDIA.COM
ou won’t find Dave Smith using the latest and greatest gadgets in his woodworking shop. Neither will his hands be pecking away at a keyboard shopping online for state-of-the-art tools and machines.
The longtime Mount Carroll native likes to stick with what he knows: the ol’ reliables. Hand tools with some history in them, machines made to last — the kind of equipment that’s passed the test of time. Look around his shop and you’ll find tools forged in factories from iron and sweat, like his Yates American lathe. It’s a nearly century-old cast iron classic that turns wood and turns back the clock — caked with sawdust, its paint chipped, a light switch rigged to run it, but it’s still going strong.
“I don’t have any high-tech stuff,” Smith said. “Everything is done by hand. They’re not perfect, but that’s the way you know they’re done by hand. I’m old, my tools are old, but we still make it work.”
After a long career in the construction business, Smith retired a few years ago, but the work just won’t quit. He owns Dave Smith’s Old Mill Workshop, named for a former grist mill located near his home, spending as much as six to eight hours a day at his garage shop when he can, crafting custom pieces. He picks up from where nature left off. Trees give him the wood to work and Smith gives the lumber a new life. Among his handcrafted creations: charcuterie boards, chess boards and pieces, natureand animal-themed decor, jewelry boxes, beautiful pieces made from burls, canes, and home and office accessories. They’re made with the same care, but no two pieces are alike. Waves of red in the grain of box elder boards, crimson creations from cherry wood, the stately look of black walnut — each piece has a distinctive look all its own. Some pieces are built from different kinds of wood, like a slice of the forest pieced together for people’s pleasure.
SMITH cont’d to page 22
Austin
