25 years ago
September 25, 1996
On April 12, 1966, the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners held a special meeting to form the Calhoun County Health Department and appoint a board of health.
Since the agency had no funds, the county provided a loan of $3,600, which was matched by the Illinois Department of Public Health through Local Health Services. These monies were used to support the department until it was self-supporting.
The doors opened for business on June 1, 1966, with Marge Hillen, RN, and Mildred Bailey as secretary.
During that first year, the department served 82 people and a total of 2,062 home visits had been made.
During the next five years, the health department services expanded to include: physical therapy, home health aide, family-centered nursing and maternal and child health visits.
Hillen had been promoted to Acting Administrator and plans were in full swing to get a referendum passed.
The referendum was passed in November 1971 by a 2-1 vote.
In 1976, the health department celebrated its tenth anniversary and employed nine people.
In 1986, the twentieth year, the agency served 1,352 clients.
The home health program then included: skilled nursing, home health aide, physical therapy and speech therapy visits.
A total of 3,258 skilled nursing visits, 475 home health aide visits and 95 physical therapy visits were made that year.
The public health programs had expanded to include chore housekeeping/homemaker services, communicable disease investigation, baby buckle-up, vision and hearing screenings, women, infant and children (WIC) program, prenatal classes, Lamaze classes, hypertension screenings and immunization clinics.
In 1996, 30 years later, the health department provides home health services to 250 people including 5,701 skilled nursing, 4,260 home health aide, 390 physical therapy and 119 speech therapy visits.
50 years ago
September 23, 1971
A regional jail has been suggested as the solution to the rundown facilities in this area.
The Greene County Board of Supervisors, who are faced with a jail problem, similar to Calhoun’s, approved last week a proposal which would include their own county, Greene, and adjoining counties.
John Henke, director of the West Central Illinois Law Enforcement Committee, was presiding at the Greene Board meeting, and told them that federal funds to cover 75 percent of the construction costs of a regional jail system are available.
The Greene County Board directed Henke to present his jail proposals to adjoining counties in an effort to get the project moving.
A feasibility study for the concept would be paid for entirely by the state, Henke told the board.
The Greene County Jail was closed by Circuit Judge L.A. Mehrhoff last November after officials of the Illinois Department of Corrections called it a “filthy firetrap.”
Since June, the state has relented and allowed Greene County to use its jail on a part-time basis.
They have been allowed to use four cells on the building’s first floor.
No women can be housed in the jail, and adults can be held no longer than 72 hours. Juveniles can be held there for no more than 24 hours and any adults in the jail must then be taken to the Jersey County Jail.
The Greene County Board authorized a feasibility study by the Department of Corrections, contingent on other counties joining in the project.
Calhoun’s jail has been condemned several times, but two years ago they completed a renovating program which was to have been acceptable to the state.
Since that time, the state has again said it cannot be used except for temporary holdover cases.
The Calhoun County Commissioners are expected to begin considering a regional facility plan with Greene or adjoining counties.
75 years ago
September 19, 1946
An article in last week’s Elsberry, Mo. Democrat reports that Harry W. Ringhausen of that place is now harvesting a bumper apple crop from his 4,000-tree apple orchard there.
Mr. Ringhausen, known here for many years as the Apple King of Calhoun County, has been packing 800 bushels per day out of his Jonathan crop.
He has 20 employed in his modern packing shed and 30 pickers in the orchards. Mr. Ringhausen moved from Calhoun to Elsberry in 1920.
100 years ago
September 22, 1921
The funeral of Francis Pohlman, 24 years old, who was killed in action in France, October 9, 1918, was held last Thursday morning from the Catholic church in Brussels.
A solemn requiem Mass was celebrated and the sermon was delivered by Rev. Stengrl of Litchfield, a former pastor of St. Mary’s Church of Brussels, where the young hero held his membership.
Pohlman was a member of Company E. One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Infantry, and was the only soldier from Calhoun County who was killed on the battlefield.
His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Barney Pohlman of Brussels.
The Grafton Post of the American Legion had charge of the service, and the Worthy Post American Legion band of Jerseyville played.
All the legion posts in Calhoun County and several posts from Jersey County had representatives at the funeral, over 100 ex-servicemen being present.
The funeral was considered the largest ever held in Calhoun County, and if the weather had not been threatening, the crowd would have been just twice as large.
