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150 Years Ago
Jan. 13, 1876
The Mississippi River was on a terrible bender last week, and but for the levee would have overflowed the entire Sni bottom.
They have kept on plastering the third story of the Mansion House during the past pleasant weather, and it will soon be ready for use.
Joseph Turnbaugh of Martinsburg spent Jan. 3 and 4 putting in wheat, and says he never saw the ground in better order for seeding. There was a great deal of plowing done the last two weeks.
Strauss and Bro. last week bought of John Duran the two lower stories of the building and the lot where they have been doing business for several years past for $4000, and got it very cheap. They had it rented for two years yet at $700 and buying will give them cheaper rent. The Masons own the third floor.
125 Years Ago
Jan. 16, 1901
We visited Pleasant Hill last week and were comfortably quartered at the City Hotel run by Mrs. Harpole and her daughter, Miss Laura Smith. Elza Barton carries on a general store. W. A. Windmiller is the dry goods king of the village. George Galloway has a hardware and implement business. A. T. Brant is engaged in the livery business. H. S. Clare still carries on the drug business and also a general store on the side. Albert S. Thomas has a general store which is in charge of Frank Darrah.
The pride of Pleasant Hill is the Stocker mill, which runs day and night.
We also visited Nebo, where we were nicely cared for at the home of Marion Lewis. The town has not yet fully recovered from the fire of 1899, but many new brick buildings have gone up. I. L. Lemmon is buying corn and running the lumber yard. The Bush store seems to be doing a rushing business.
Turnbaugh and Son, Peter Martin, Pinkerton Bros., A. Wall, Franklin Bros., Harpole, Smith, the Bank, Lewis Hayden, Fuller, and perhaps others have new business houses on the west side of the street. Elmer Lewis is editor and proprietor of the Nebo Banner and is getting up a wide-awake-paper. Long may it wave.
The village board met recently and changed the hour of closing of businesses from 6 to 8 p.m. Two young men from Nebo, Harold Cromwell and Russell Wells are in St. Louis Medical College.
100 Years Ago
Jan. 13, 1926
Candidates for sheriff of Pike County are numerous, not less than a dozen having announced their intention to seek the office.
Western Union has announced plans to move its office from the Pittsfield House lobby on the north side of the square, where it has been located for 17 years, to the D. L. William garage building on the south side of the square. The move is made especially in view of the new business that is certain to come with tourist traffic over the hard road.
The Pittsfield Board of Education has employed a Champaign firm of architects to investigate the matter of providing more room for the high school.
The Niebur and Kientzle shoe stores are both having sales. Prices for sale shoes range from $1 to $5 a pair.
Miss Ethel Seybold, a former Perry girl, was a straight A student at Illinois College. There was only one other straight A student in the freshman class of 150.
One of the most thrilling basketball games ever on the local high school floor, was the game Saturday night, in which Pittsfield defeated Hull 19-17, after four three-minute periods overtime had been played. The four quarters having ended in a tie, 15-15.
The Quincy Herald and Whig-Journal have announced a coming consolidation.
75 Years Ago
Jan. 9, 1951
Pittsfield Mayor Charles A. Hooper reports that the recent rains raised the water level at the city lake about three inches and greatly relieved the threatened water famine. The mayor cautions that the water supply is still too low for the use of water beyond absolute necessity.
Jan. 10, 1951
Over 1200 people attended the open house held at the new Hull elementary building from 2-8 p.m. Sunday afternoon and evening. Built on an angle so that every room has sunshine at some time during the day, the school is ultra-modern in design and efficiency.
It was announced Monday that Illini Community Hospital has again been approved by the American College of Surgeons. Illini is one of 3,290 hospitals approved in the United States, Canada and a few other countries.
Jan. 11, 1951
The Pike County Farm Bureau has built a new building on the site of the old one, with many improvements, and 3600 square feet of floor space on each of the two floors. The entire building is heated by a four-unit gas furnace, and completely modern throughout.
W. J. Thorton, Nebo, Chairman of the Pike County Republican Central Committee, has been named local chairman of the Lincoln Day dinner to be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago Feb. 10, with U. S. Senator Robert A. Taft as principal speaker. Senator Everett M. Dirksen will head a long list of Republican leaders from all 102 counties.
Miss Sue Foote, who is employed in Quincy, spent the weekend with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Foote in Nebo.
50 Years Ago
January 14, 1976
A Barry native will be honored today (Wednesday) on the second floor of the state capitol rotunda in Springfield. At 2 p.m. Michael J. Howlett, Secretary of State, will unveil a statue of the late State Sen. Lottie Holman O’Neill. She was born in Barry on Nov. 7, 1878. She was the first woman legislator in Illinois history and is also the first woman to be represented in the rotunda. Mrs. O’Neill apparently left Barry at a young age. She married the late W. J. O’Neill in Downers Grove. She served 13 terms in the Illinois House of Representatives and three terms in the State Senate.
The old Pittsfield city jail, in the shadow of the water tower, has now become the new Pittsfield Senior Citizens Center. Mrs. Nettie Beard has been named director of the Pike County Senior Citizens Council.
The First National Bank of Pittsfield increased its assets by $4 million in 1975, the best year in the bank’s 110-year history. Directors of the bank are Floyd Evans, Dr. C. J. Voelker, C. A. Gamble, Orin Borrowman, Ray E. Peters, Michael W. Grebe and Thomas W. Hurd. Officers include Delbert L. Robertson, cashier, Gale Boren, assistant cashier and Dan Chamberlain, assistant cashier.
25 Years Ago
Jan. 10, 2001
Puffs of smoke were visible when the explosives were set off to remove a section of the old Mark Twain Bridge in Hannibal, Mo. Monday. Hundreds of spectators stood in the cold weather for two hours just to get a glimpse of the historical event that lasted seconds.
The Hires family has announced the opening of the new Skinner-Airsman-Hires facility in Griggsville. The new funeral chapel will hold its first service Thursday. Construction of the new facility began last May.
10 Years Ago
Jan 13, 2016
It was a sound all too familiar to the residents of Florence. “I knew what it was the minute I heard it,” Joe Gibson, a resident of the river town said. What Gibson heard was the sound of a barge hitting the Florence bridge carrying Route 106 across the Illinois River. The barge, heading downstream was apparently caught up in the swift current of the high water and the pilot was unable to keep it on its course.
For the first time in two years or longer, John Hayden, mayor of Pittsfield, feels like progress is being made on the clean-up of the former Higbee School site, following a meeting with an EPA attorney, an EPA official, owner Charles Dolbeare and city officials.
■ Compiled by Michael Boren
