DeKalb County and the Spanish Flu and Polio

I get a lot of history items from the group that meets in the Joiner History Room at the Sycamore, Illinois, Library who go through DeKalb County newspapers 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago and cull stories to be used in their "Looking Back" column in the MidWeek newspaper.

It gives an interesting pulse as to events back then.

I don't know if they included every bit of news about the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 or not.  But the ones they did print seem to point out that the epidemic hit the county hardest in the fall of 1918, causing school and public event/place closings to prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease.

By January the worst would seem to be over.  I have been unable to find out how many people had the disease or died from it in the county, however.

It would appear there was also a problem, seemingly as bad as the flu in regards to polio (infantile paralysis) and scarlet fever.

--DaCoot