125 YEARS AGO
February 1, 1888
The Chicago & Northwestern has purchased the property located north of Mrs. Nichols’ place on Sacramento Street in Sycamore and will remove their stockyards to that property. The people in the neighborhood are not at all favorable to the idea.
The roads have been badly drifted, large banks of snow making it necessary in some places to take down fences and drive through fields.
A hot air furnace has been put into Dr. O.H. Smith’s residence. D.J. Carnes, John Black and Chas. Buell also have their houses warmed with these comfortable heaters.
The matter is being agitated of removing the county seat of Ogle County from Oregon to Rochelle.
Illinois prohibitionists are as active as Illinois brewers.
Only 12 Indians are left of the tribe of 1,000 who inhabited the Yosemite Valley a few years ago.
100 YEARS AGO
February 1, 1913
Diphtheria and scarlet fever still prevail in DeKalb.
Easter in 1913 will come earlier than it has in 85 years, and it will not come as early again for another 87 years. The next Easter falls on March 23. Not since 1818 has it been so early; it came on March 22 that year. It will not come as early again until the year 2000.
The Socialists polled nearly 500 votes in DeKalb at the last election, and they expect to put up a full ticket at the next city election.
The plunder from two places recently robbed at DeKalb was returned a few nights ago. Silver spoons, a watch, jewelry and other property was left at the Evans home on East Main Street, and all the property stolen from the Peterson store, except a revolver, was left near the entrance where the proprietor would find it.
The Rev. Dr. D.R. Schiller was saved from a crowd of about 200 persons in Jerseyville Wednesday when the sheriff arrested Schiller on a charge of obtaining money under false pretenses. ...Spectators tell how he cured a cripple and a deaf woman by talking in a friendly fashion and placing his hand on the head of the patient. The demonstration from the crowd came when he refused to heal several “patients” lacking ready money.
A device has been patented by a Maryland man. It is a cabinet with several slanting racks under a spraying apparatus. The dishes are lined up along these racks and the spigot turned on above. The water sprays all over the dishes and drains off through the bottom of the cabinet into the sink.
75 YEARS AGO
February 2, 1938
Lack of water handicapped Sycamore firemen fighting a fire that destroyed a two-story residence at Richardson Monday night. The pumps were first attached to the cistern, which contained three feet of water. A truck then carried water in milk cans from a farm residence.
Another Sycamore landmark is to be missing. George Waldo is tearing down the frame building on the property of the Charles Harbaugh Lumber Co. that has served for years as the voting place for the 3rd Ward and as the home of at least three carpenter shops.
Dr. Clark Copp gave a lecture on the “European Situation” Tuesday to the Sycamore Woman’s Club. Dr. Copp said it is obvious the European people are not so disturbed about the possibility of a new world war as the Americans. They do not believe it will happen.
Danger to either the suspension bridge or the new concrete bridge on Route 64 over the Kishwaukee River passed when two blasts of dynamite were used to break up an ice jam on the river.
“There will be no new moon in February,” the guardians of the Hayden Planetarium in New York announced. “There is nothing that can be done about it.” There will be two new moons in March.
50 YEARS AGO
February 1, 1963
Legally, authorities emphasize, the only situation in which a motorist is required to yield right of way to a pedestrian is at a marked crosswalk at an intersection downtown. Motorists are not required to pause, stop or slow down for a pedestrian crossing a street in any area but a crosswalk.
Any young men planning a stunt involving vandalism should first contemplate Tuesday’s DeKalb County court session. Judge R.E. Millet rapped two young men with a sentence of 45 days in the county jail after they pleaded guilty to breaking into and doing damage to DeKalb Township High School.
The open season for rabbit hunting ended at sunset yesterday. If foxes could read the sports pages they would now go into complete hiding for a long time; they are the only upland game open to hunters until next fall.
A proposed east-west tollway now under study would range south of Cortland Corners, DeKalb and Rochelle but north of Dixon, Sterling and Morrison. Possibility of a cloverleaf at Route 23 south of DeKalb is high right now. The method of crossing Somonauk Road blacktop and Route 23 has not been mentioned yet.
The Sycamore mill of the Anaconda Wire and Cable Company has been awarded a government contract by the U.S. Army Engineers.
The San Francisco Giants will begin spring training in Arizona soon. Jerry Thomas of Sycamore, star farm hurler of that club, will again be given a try to make the big time.
Girls are advised to wear slacks and boots when facing zero temperatures. Last week, with official temperatures ranging from 23 to 17 degrees below zero, several cases of frostbite were reported among Sycamore school children.
– Sycamore True Republican
25 YEARS AGO
February 3, 1988
DeKalb Park District Board members voted unanimously Jan. 28 to issue $428,000 in general obligation bonds to finance construction of a community center addition to the Hopkins Park office.
– The MidWeek
