Pickings from Pike’s Past: 100 YEARS AGO: WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN TO SPEAK AT BARRY CHAUTAUQUA

By Editor | August 9, 2022 |

125 Years Ago
Aug. 17, 1897
Last week was seven days of beautiful, lovely weather, just such as the clerk of the weather can get up only in Illinois. Corn is booming and there is going to be a large wheat crop sown this fall.
The Democrat would like to write up the doings in Pittsfield and at Nebo during the past few days, but it would not do. They were too naughty and wouldn’t look well in print.
There was the largest crowd ever at the G. A. R. reunion Friday, held at the Reunion Grounds between Nebo and Pleasant Hill. It passed off very peaceably, there being only a few scraps, but, oh my, gambling of every kind, almost.
The Chicago and Alton Railroad is raising its track across North Fork, between Pleasant Hill and Nebo about five feet. A portion of the work was done with teams and the remainder with train.

Aug. 20, 1897
The committee on public grounds and buildings has had a telephone put in a closet in the circuit clerk’s office in the court house, and the other officers will be connected by call bells.
Our feather renovators in El Dara are doing a land-office business just now, judging by the number of feather beds they are hauling back and forth.
The engine has been repaired at the Pittsfield city waterworks, and the water and lights are all right again.
Hull is coming to the front. It now has a lively local paper and a race track near the town.
The Goodin’s spring, where the picnics are held, is in section four, Martinsburg Township, almost exactly due west from Milton and Time.

100 Years Ago
Aug. 16, 1922
The 12th annual Chautauqua will be held Aug. 17-22 at Barry. William Jennings Bryan will speak on “The World’s Greatest Need” at the opening session.
When you go on a long distance auto tour in the future, you will have no need of camping equipment. From the Pacific coast comes word that plans are being developed for the erection of motor hotels that would furnish every comfort and service to the tourist.
The best way to cure strikers would be for everyone to go on strike at the same time. The prospects of peace in the present railroad strike depend on “seniority rights.”
The big four-day Home Coming began at Nebo today and will last over Saturday. There will be many interesting features and reunions of old settlers and wanderers from the old home town. Many Pittsfield folks will visit the metropolis of South Pike during the Home Coming.
If you live in Illinois the chances are, if you are a man, that you will live to be 55.1 years old, and if you are a woman, that you will live to be 57.6 years old.
In the Milton and Nebo game last Sunday, with the score tied 4-4 in the 6th inning, a dispute arose over the decision of umpire Herbert Brown of Milton at the plate. There was a lot of wrangling and a near fight, and Brown finally declared the game forfeited to Milton, 9-0.
“Soy beans are getting a firm foothold as a commercial crop in Pike County,” says Assistant Farm Advisor Frank Barret.
A child under the age of 15 years is not permitted, under the Illinois law, to drive an automobile unless accompanied by a licensed chauffeur or the owner of the car.

75 Years Ago
Aug. 13, 1947
There has been no rain of consequence for 50 days, and the temperatures have been in the 95-105 degree range.
The head driller for the deep oil and gas test northwest of Pittsfield says he believes that progress will be resumed.
A deadly blight has killed one of the large elm trees in the courtyard, and another large elm is now affected.
James A. Miles of Pittsfield and Miss Marie Thiel of Indianapolis were united in marriage in a very pretty ceremony Sunday afternoon at North Methodist Church in Indianapolis. The bride is a graduate of MacMurray College, Jacksonville, were she majored in Home Economics. She served as a practice teacher at Pittsfield High School last winter, and has been employed as Home Economics teacher in Griggsville High School next year. The groom has been associated with his father and brother Dick in the operation of Miles Drug Store.
The first Pleasant Hill-Pike County Fair was a big success last week. Crowds estimated at 4000 people attended the fair each of the first three nights, and the final night was estimated at 5000 people. Miss Hazel Jean Gill, who will be a senior at Pleasant Hill Community High School, was elected queen out of nine contenders for the honor.
Mr. F. J. Adamson has been in business longer than all the merchants on the Milton square—48 or 49 years, and still going strong, waiting on his customers.
A perfect fit is guaranteed at Kientzle shoe store in Pittsfield with the new Primex X-ray shoe fitters, which shows both the flesh and the bone so that it is absolutely impossible to fit shoes too short.
W. J. Thorton tells us that the Nebo Homecoming will be Friday and Saturday, August 29-30, sponsored by the Nebo Boosters’ Club (Nebo business men).

50 Years Ago
Aug. 16, 1972
H. Don Foreman of 902 West Perry is the new alderman of the Second Ward in Pittsfield. He was appointed by Mayor Frank Penstone, and approved by the aldermen. No newcomer to municipal affairs, Foreman once served as mayor of Milton.
Monday the King Park lagoon was drained of its brackish water and carpet of algae, exposing various items of junk and muck. The plan is to remove the junk, dredge the lagoon out, and cut the bottom back to the banks, then fill it with the drained swimming pool water when the pool is drained for the season.
Eleven women attended the Monday night meeting of the Nebo TOPS, which was called to order by president, Peggy Hill, and recorded by secretary, Bev Riddle. Other members included Billie Sidwell and Corda Lee Hagen.

25 Years Ago
Aug. 13, 1997
The former Brown Shoe factory building may come down as early as next year. The building is used for storing city equipment and has been in bad shape for years. Pittsfield Mayor Larry Snyder said, “We can’t afford the cost of tearing it down all at once.” According to Snyder, at $8.50 a cubic yard, the cost of dumping building debris into the landfill would be astronomical. A Brown Shoe Company spokesman reported that the Pittsfield building was closed for good in April, 1984, after reopening in 1979.
Navy Chief Petty Officer Marty L. Smith, son of Billy E. and Sandra L. Smith of Route 1, Nebo, recently took part in “Operation Sail 200,” the bicentennial celebration for the U.S.S. Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat. The 1983 graduate of Pittsfield High School joined the Navy in 1985. His wife, Susan, is the daughter of E. Earl and Mary E. Benson of Pittsfield.
Lieutenant Kenny Yelliott is now the commander of Illinois State Police District 20 headquarters in Pittsfield. His career in law enforcement began in 1979 as a deputy in the Pike County Sheriff’s Department. He joined the State Police in 1984.
Evelyn Ransom, 91, of Pittsfield, died Aug. 10 at Illini Community Hospital. She was born in Hardin Township in 1906, and taught music for 41 years, including 12 years in Texas and 29 years in Pittsfield elementary schools. She was the first woman inducted into the Pittsfield Rotary Club.
Special services were held at the United Brethren Church in Fish Hook as they celebrated 90 years of service. The church was dedicated Aug. 11, 1907 and the original building still stands. In 1967 there was extensive remodeling and a fellowship room with classrooms was added in 1987.
Ryan S. Lowe of Pleasant Hill enrolled at MacMurray College in Jacksonville this summer. The son of Steven T. and Ellen B. Lowe of Pleasant Hill, Lowe is a 1997 graduate of Pittsfield High School.

10 Years Ago
Aug. 15, 2012
There will be 13 candidates for Pike County Board in November. The nine Republicans are Andy Borrowman, Cleve Curry, Jim Sheppard, Michael Boren, Justin Noble, Fred Bradshaw, Wesley McConnell, Tami Webel and Dan Mefford. The Democrats are John Ionson, Lillian Bowen, Donald Sapp and Harry Wright.
Chuck Seybold of Pittsfield is hooked on his Segway, a two-wheeled, self-balancing, battery-powered electric vehicle. He became a fan of the device while wintering in Florida.

■ Compiled by Michael Boren