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1919 – 100 YEARS AGO
Those who find it inconvenient to shop during the day will now have the opportunity of doing the remainder of their buying in the evenings. Beginning yesterday, the stores of the city are open during the early evening hours and folks who are busy during the day will now have an opportunity to make Christmas purchases.
The first serious accident due to snowballing occurred yesterday when Dale Chapman, ten-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. H. R. Chapman was quite badly injured. The Chapman boy in company with several others was returning home from school when the crowd engaged in a snowball fight. The young fellows were packing them pretty hard and one ball hit master Dale when he stood near the thrower. Though it is thought the Chapman boy will recover with proper treatment, the young folks are cautioned about the danger of snowballing.
FOR SALE – No dealer in town has a better quality of Full Cream Cheese than I am selling for forty cents per lb. North Side Market, 10th and Shipman Place.
The trial of the four “auto bandits” from Chicago charged with robbing a garage at Somonauk of automobile tires and putting up a desperate gun fight against their pursuers at Kaneville, is now well into its second week before Judge Slusser in circuit court in Sycamore.
Sighs of relief were heard all up and down Lincoln Highway yesterday and last evening. The coal lid had been lifted and stores were running on regular schedule, lights were on, and shoppers could shop as early as they wanted to. Merchants abided by the coal restrictions last week, although the shortened hours hindered Christmas trade and caused confusion and congestion during the few hours stores were allowed to be open, but were grateful for the order which came Saturday announcing that all restrictions were to be lifted Monday.
DeKalb County now has the distinction of having a woman attorney and this distinction belongs to Miss Mary Hamsmith of Sycamore, for several years a clerk in the Cliffe offices in Sycamore. Particularly brilliant and industrious, Miss Hamsmith after three years of hard study was admitted to the bar following a rigid examination held in Chicago a week or so ago. Women are daily being admitted to various vocations, hitherto unheard of, and the occupations which women will not eventually be found in will be few. DeKalb County’s newest member of the bar has our congratulations.
1944 – 75 YEARS AGO
Chief of Police B. F. Peck today asked that the Secret Service department remind the merchants that check thieves and check forgers do their Christmas shopping with stolen and forged checks if merchants and housewives are not particularly careful. Chief Peck stated that the government mails out nearly one million checks each day and that check thieves steal as many as they can from mail boxes.
Members of the Sportsmen’s Club who planned to go on a fox hunt yesterday, failed to materialize, and there were but a few of the members who were able to go out during the morning hours. These men, it is reported today, did not stay out long, and came back to town without a pelt. Some of the boys say that if more had been on the hunt they would have been able to round up one or two, at least.
One of the most successful sales so far this year, and one that will have a good chance of setting a record of attendance was the Warren Gresh sale south of Malta last week. It is agreed by many who were there that a conservative estimate would be that between 3,000 and 4,000 farmers attended the Gresh sale during the day. The ladies of the Etna Grange reported: “We used more than 100 pies, 100 dozen buns, eight dozen doughnuts, 12 loaves of bread, 20 pounds of coffee, two hams and a half a beef.”
Motorists who have acquired the habit of parking the autos double, and leaving them without a driver, have invoked the ill will of the city saloons and the police department, as well. Chief of Police Horace Fothergill stated yesterday that from now on, autoists must not double park and leave their machines without a driver.
Santa Claus arrived in DeKalb yesterday afternoon to make his headquarters at the city rest room on North Third Street where he will be until the Saturday before Christmas. The rest room has been appropriately decorated and the large beautifully decorated Christmas tree adds considerably to the holiday spirit.
1969 – 50 YEARS AGO
Two more incidents involving members of the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) have occurred, according to a report in the Northern Star campus newspaper. One of the six victims who were assaulted last Saturday night by about 10 hooded persons, said that he found glass in his bed under the sheets upon returning to his dormitory room Monday night.
Two Chronicle employees this week participated in a mock drill to demonstrate the seriousness of shoplifting. Vicki Slack and Jean Lambersie went on a shoplifting spree in a DeKalb store and wound up in jail. Although it was a dry run, the girls admitted to feeling “humiliated, scared, and determined to never try the real thing.”
With sub-freezing weather here to stay and the College Lagoon with a starting sheet of ice on it, DeKalb youngsters are reminded that the DeKalb Elks Youth Activity Committee is busy making plans for the 13th annual Elks Ice Derby.
Appearing before the Sycamore City Council to protest the cruelty of animals, Esther Mae Nesbitt, who urged that the city make some provision for a humane officer, was subsequently appointed to the post. City Attorney William H. Edwards Jr. was instructed to draft an appropriate ordinance empowering Miss Nesbitt with the authority to carry out the duties of the post.
1994 – 25 YEARS AGO
The city of Sycamore has donated $100,000 to the library building expansion fund. Sycamore Library Director Jane Eklund said people who donate receive a commemorative pewter Christmas ornament.
As the City of DeKalb plans to grow southeast, a completed Peace Road interchange on Interstate 88 has become a high priority. The city council Monday night approved an agreement with the Illinois Toll Highway Authority specifying the terms under which the interchange will be financed and constructed. Currently, I-88 traffic can only exit going westbound, and Peace Road traffic can only enter the tollway eastbound.
No one knows who wrote the words and music for “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen,” but year after year it remains as one of the most popular Christmas carols in the English language. Carol researcher William Studwell said he believes the familiar song may have been part of Yule traditions for about 400 years, and he has selected it as his “Carol of the Year” for 1994. A professor and principal cataloger at NIU’s Founders Memorial Library, Studwell has been studying and writing about Christmas carols since 1976, singling out one for special attention each year.
• Compiled by the Joiner History Room, DeKalb County Archives.