LOOKING BACK

1923 – 100 YEARS AGO

Committeemen in charge and the general membership of the American Legion today ask that people of the city not forget Memorial Day, that day in which all homage should be paid to the soldier dead. Legionnaires believe that the one day set aside for the paying respect to the soldier dead of all world wars should not be desecrated, but insofar as possible, appropriately observed.

Manager Robert Murphy has his large Rockaway Park all set and will be ready for the opening day on next Sunday. The attraction will be a fast baseball game between the Sycamore club and Hampshire. This promises to be a scrappy game and fans are enthused about it. The new pavilion which has just been erected at a cost running into thousands will be thrown open for the first time to the dancers.

Every lady customer in our store, Saturday, May 5th will receive one Betty Taplin Egg Beater (1 egg size) free. No matter how small the purchase from 1 cent up, every lady customer will receive one free. B. C. Knodle.

Contractor Bert Nelson has a force of workmen on the Methodist church addition job, having the foundation and getting a good start on the actual construction. Several people visit the place daily to see the extent of work done. By the rate they are going now, it is thought the corner stone will be able to be laid in about a month. No date has been set when the building will be completed but it is thought sometime late in the summer.

Elks of this city passed a motion which will give freedom of the club to all veterans of the civil war, for them to use the club rooms whenever they wish and also to attend all dinners or like functions sponsored by the club. This means that veterans of the civil war may come and visit at the club any time they may wish, and also to attend dinners there, such as were given all during the winter by the various groups. This invitation holds good to any veteran living in the jurisdiction of the Sycamore lodge.

1948 – 75 YEARS AGO

Kenneth Penny, the inventor of the scotchlite process which will be installed on all bicycles in the city of DeKalb in the near future as a safety measure spon- sored by the DeKalb Police Department and The Chronicle was a former DeKalb resident. At the time Mr. and Mrs. Penny lived in DeKalb he was with the Photographing Department of the DeKalb Agricultural Association. The Pennys lived in DeKalb for a period of about five years before they moved to Minnesota to make their home. Mr. and Mrs. Penny have one son, seven years of age, and with whom his father experimented and worked out the safety process for children’s bikes, so that the lights of oncoming cars would reflect a brilliant glow, warning the driver of the presence of a bicycle ahead.

DeKalb turns back the pages of history for 95 years for a brief time next Monday to help the Chicago and North Western Railway celebrate its centennial. The railway is 100 years old this year, but it’s only 95 years since the rails were laid across the prairies from the east and the boisterous construction crews called

DeKalb the end of the line and threw down their tools temporarily. Many a speculative eye will scan the little old locomotive riding high on a flat car in the railway’s museum exhibit and wonder if this was the first steam locomotive every to appear in DeKalb. The Pioneer was the North Western’s first locomotive. It was purchased third-hand in October 1848, and for nine months was the only motive power owned by the railroad, then known as the Galena and Chicago Union. The two roads, the Galena and Chicago Union and the Chicago and North Western, did not unite into a single company until June 10, 1864.

1973 – 50 YEARS AGO

John Twobirds Arbuckle and Sy Blackcrow are on the NIU campus this week to discuss the American Indian Movement and the meaning of Wounded Knee. DeKalb persons attempting to persuade a large Wisconsin industry to build a factory south of the city asked the DeKalb Planning Commission for rezoning and annexation of about 200 acres of land in a public hearing Tuesday night. The land, currently zoned county agricultural, would have to be rezoned heavy industry and then annexed to DeKalb. The A. O. Smith Company of Milwaukee, Wis., is interested in the land, but would need only 75 acres to build a factory to construct its Harvestore storage bins. It is believed A. O. Smith might employ as many as 200 persons.

The discussion touched on everything from premarital sex and drugs to homosexuality when Ann Landers, syndicate advice columnist, addressed NIU students last night. Carl Sandburg Hall, which has a capacity of 999, was packed with students, who Miss Landers guessed were curious to “see what the old battle-ax looks like” and to see if she was “for real.”

1998 – 25 YEARS AGO

A tough new initiative to keep drunken drivers off the road during graduation and prom season should have state troopers busy for the next few months. The initiative is through a grant called the Alcohol Countermeasure Enforcement patrol, which will help pay to keep more state troopers on the road through June. The initiative is meant to deter drivers from drinking during what is a notoriously bad season for DUIs.

Even though its corporation is going through a major restructuring, Vencor Hospital Sycamore should not be affected by the changes. Vencor Inc., which is based in Louisville, Ky., operates a long-term acute care hospital on Edward Street in Sycamore. Patients who are admitted to the hospital have chronic illnesses or need long-term admittance to a health care facility. Vencor Inc. split into two companies on Friday, Vencor Inc. and Ventas Inc. Both companies will be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Workers dig through the remains of a home on Perry Road last August. The couple who lived there gave a speech on living through a tornado Friday at Northern Illinois University. The couple said the accident was hard to get through after losing everything, but strong community support helped immensely.

–CompiledbySueBreese