Pigeons Coming to DeKalb County in 1920

From the April 22, 2020, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1920, 100 Years Ago.

"If everything goes as has been planned, the Chicago Concourse Club will send out about 5000 homing pigeons to be released from here Sunday morning.

"During the war, this type of pigeon won great fame for themselves by carrying messages while under fire.  A man will also be sent along with the birds to see that they are liberated in the right way."

--Cooter

Boys Stealing Rides on the Street Cars in 1920

From the April 2, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1920, 100 Years Ago.

"The DeKalb-Sycamore Traction Company  is complaining about small boys stealing rides on the back end of the street car.    It isn't that the company is afraid that it will lose a few 'shekels' but that the boys may be injured.

"The police are watching for them and if caught the boys are apt to get in trouble."

--Cooter

DeKalb High School Cadets Get Guns in 1920

From the April 22, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1920, 100 Years Ago.

"The High School Cadets are not marking time since they received the new equipment of guns and rifles  from the government.

"Wednesday two squads  of the company were out for target practice and used the bank of the Kishwaukee River as a backstop.  The boys used the regular ball ammunition and some of them made very good scores."

Students with guns?  Well, it was a different time, wasn't it?

These students were probably the forerunner of today's JROTC at DeKalb High School.

Target Shooting.  --Cooter

USS Oregon (BB-3)-- Part 1: Fought in Spanish-American War, Served in Two World Wars

I came across an article in the Naval History blog  "Whatever happened to the USS Oregon" and there was also an article in the National Interest site "How the US Navy battleship Oregon traveled 12,00 miles to win a war" so decided this would be an interesting ship to write about.

From Wikipedia.

USS OREGON (BB-3)

The third and final member of the Indiana class of battleships (also the USS Massachusetts BB-3).  All three of these ships fought in the Spanish-American War.    Commissioned 1896, decommissioned 1906.  Recommissioned in 1911, decommissioned 1919.  Stricken from Navy list  1941.

Besides the Spanish-American War, the ship also saw service in WW I and WW II.

351.2 feet length, 69.3 foot beam.

15 knot speed, 473 crew

ARMAMENT

four 13-inch

eight 8-inch

four 6-inch

twelve 3-inch

twenty 6-pounder

six 1-pounder

five torpedo tubes

Am Interesting and Heavily-Armed Warship.  --Cooter

DeKalb's Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Clock

From the March 4, 2020, MidWeek  (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1995, 25 Years Ago.

"The restoration of the DeKalb Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Clock, located on the north side of Lincoln Highway near Third Street, has been a project of the DeKalb Landmark Commission, the Downtown DeKalb Association and the DeKalb Memorial Clock Committee for about two years.

"The clock was originally erected with donated funds in 1921 and was located at the northeast corner of Third and Lincoln."

--Cooter

Wondering What the Police Did in 1945? Did You have a 'Double-D' Charge?

From the May 6, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"Police department report for the month of April, as prepared by Chief of Police Horace Fothergill shows thirteen arrested during the thirty day period.  The arrests included ten on the "double-D" charge, drunk and disorderly, three on disorderly  conduct, and one person was arrested for not having a drivers license.

"Other activities of the department during the month included six autos stopped for defective lights, eleven complaints answered, two attempted burglaries, three stolen bicycles recovered, three minor auto mishaps, nine funeral and three bank escorts, five fires attended and five dogs disposed of  on the order of the department by the veterinarian."

"Defund the Police?"   Yea, Right.   Idiots.   --Cooter

Electric Park to Open in Sycamore in 1920

From the May 6, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1920, 100 Years Ago.

"On May 9, Electric Park will again open its doors to the dancers and those who who care for amusement on Sunday, which the ordinance of this city does not allow.

"Robert Murphy is the man that has charge of the park and intends to have a place that will suit the most particular.  He is trying to get a colored jazz orchestra and if he does he will promise the dancers plenty of pep to keep time to."

Electric Park was on Ill. Highway 23 (DeKalb-Sycamore Road) about where the Burger King is located today. Must have been quite the sight back then.  An early Six Flags.

--Cooter

Polio Scare at the Fair in 1920

 From the September 9, 2020, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"Officials of the Sandwich Fair have announced that children are welcome to attend the fair, which opened today, and that there is no truth to the rumors that children are not being allowed on the grounds.

The officials state that there is no polio in the area and that the rumors that children were being barred from the grounds because of the polio scare are not true."

Something to think of in these coronavirus days.

--Cooter

Not That DeKalb County Was Rural and Agricultural in 1920, But....

From the March 4, 2020, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1920, 100 Years Ago.

""Frank Furr will move from the Kelley farm to the Marshal farm which he bought.

"D. Werden will move from the Hines farm to the Kelley farm.

"Sam McCormick will move from his own farm to Wisconsin.

"Carl Modeen will move into the McCormick farm.

"Henry Lankton has sold his farm to Cooper and Leonard and will move to Genoa.

"Fred Anderson will move from the Waite farm to a farm north of Kirkland."

And Cooter Will Figure Out How to Milk a Cow.  --Cooter

Criminals Active Even During War Time in 1944

From the December 18, 2019, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

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 aren't 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 mailboxes."

Bah!!  Humbug!!!  Where's the Christmas Spirit.  --Cooter

Coal Restrictions (Because of the Coal Strike) Lifted in 1919, Just in Time for Christmas Shopping

From the December 18, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"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."

There was a coal strike going on in the United States.  No wonder the stores were staying open a bit longer as mentioned in the post yesterday.

--CooterCoal

Top Prices Paid for Skins, Hides and Junk in DeKalb in 1919

From the Nov.  27, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

Advertisement in local newspaper.

"WANTED FURS--  Skunks, $2 and $6;  Muskrats, 75c to $3;  Mink, $3 to $7;  also horse hide, beef hides, sheep hides.  And also pay the highest prices for junk.

"Call 1026, Ike Gordon, 232 South 5th, DeKalb, Ill."

Got Junk?  Got Hides?  --CootSkunk

Moratorium Problems at DeKalb High in 1969

From the Nov. 20, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1969, 50 Years Ago.

"A couple of NIU students were reported to have been physically ejected from DeKalb High School by high school students yesterday, following the passing out of moratorium day literature.

"George Walters, principal, stated that the university students  were in the high school building without permission."

*********************************

"Effective September 1970, DeKalb Senior High School will change from a three year  high school, grades 10 through 12, to a four-year high school, grades 9 through 12.

During the Vietnam War Era Protests.  --Cooter

Norfolk Naval Shipyard Turns 250

From the October 2, 2017, Virginia-Pilot (Norfolk)  "Ironclad Legacy:  Norfolk Naval Shipyard older than the nation and the Navy, turns 250."  Robert  McCabe.

You can see the famed Hammerhead Crane from 1940.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, is the Navy's oldest and largest shipyard turns 250 on October 15.

Today, it services highly-secured nuclear powered submarines and aircraft carriers by 10,500 civilians and 750 military personnel.

The carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and submarine USS Rhode Island are there right now.

Naval Station Norfolk is the world's largest Navy base and that turns 100 this year.

--Cooter

The Tulsa Race Massacre, 1921-- Part 6: What Could Have Been

 At Tulsa's Greenwood Leadership Academy school, classrooms are named after teh Dreamland movie theater and other black businesses that white Tulsans burned down, said Kristi Williams, operations manager at the school.  Her great aunt fled with her date from one theater when armed whites came to destroy the black part of town in 1921.

Williams, whose family descended from Blacks enslaved by the Oklahoma-based Muscogee (Creek) Indian nation, emphasizes to her students the joint power and financial resources that communities like Tulsa's Black Wall Street once embodied.

"I just always imagine -- what would Greenwood look like if the massacre never happened?  We had an economy within an economy," says Williams.  "What could have happened?  What could we be."

Never Forget Or Overlook the Past.  

The Tulsa Race Massacre, 1921-- Part 5: Educating the Young About It

 After generations of determined public silence on the massacre -- long dismissed by white Tulsans dismissively as a race "riot" -- black and white  Tulsans are increasingly trying to tell the story of Black Wall Street, including its fiery and deadly ending.

Teaching about the massacre is being added by state and city school standards, so that this fall third graders will learn about it. (I think third grade is a bit young, though.)  Even preschoolers in some districts are being told about -- not about how it ended, but what it was, said Danielle Neves, deputy chief of academics for Tulsa public schools.

"Four-year-olds can understand that people like them once owned movie theaters and hotels and had a thriving community," Neves said.

We Spent the Next Week in Class Studying About 9-11 and Events As They Unfolded

I not only stopped my lesson plans for September 1, but continued doing so for the next week.  I told my students this was going to be their Pearl Harbor or JFK assassination.

We located Israel, the Arab countries of the Middle East as well as Washington, D.C., New York City and Pennsylvania, all major parts of 9-11.

I then started talking about world events that led up to what happened.

My seventh graders then began writing a 500-word essay on their own experience on 9-11.  You can't get any closer to history than when you write about something you have actually experienced.

I retired in 2006, but every one of my classes after 2001 had to write a 500-word essay on their experiences from that day.  They could also include what happened to the rest of their relatives on that day.

The Tulsa Race Massacre, 1921-- Part 4: Trump and Racism and Tulsa

 Today, opponents of President Trump say his statements and actions embolden white supremacist sentiment in the country.  That includes his opposition to renaming military bases named after Confederates and his emphasis on tough law and order responses to recent protests.

Trump denies any racism on his part and says his administration has been beneficial to black citizens.

Of course, the law and order does not apply to the demonstration, but rather to when they devolve into rioting and looting.  I completely agree with that.  Police should not just stand by and watch when it gets to that point.  They need to stop by whatever steps are necessary.

Tulsa's Republican mayor, G.T. Bynum, has formed a commission for marking the 100th anniversary of the massacre for next year.

The Tulsa Race Massacre, 1921-- Part 3: Part of a Surge of White Attacks on Blacks in the Country

 The Tulsa rampage was part of a surge of white attacks on black communities-- from Washington, D.C., to Chicago to the Pacific Northwest--  at the time, said Scott Ellsworth, a historian who has worked for decades to bring the Tulsa massacre to light.

The Ku Klux Klan was surging as well, putting many of its members in public office and other influential positions.

In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson gave a White House screening and praise to "The Birth of a Nation," a tremendously influential and viciously racist film on the South.

You sure don't read much about these sad happenings from history, but they should be better known so they don't happen again.  It is horrible that Whites could do something like that to Blacks.  And, for no reason apparently.

I need to temper my anger at black rioting and looting with remembrances of things like this.

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre-- Part 2: To Be Lynched for Stepping on a White Girl's Foot?

 Historians say that the trouble began after a Tulsa newspaper drummed up a furor over a black man who allegedly stepped on a white girl's foot.  When black Tulsans showed up to prevent his lynching, white Tulsans responded with overwhelming force.

A grand jury investigation at the time concluded, without evidence, that unidentified agitators had given Tulsa's Blacks firearms and what was described as their mistaken belief "in equal rights, social equality and their ability to demand the same."

Back in June of this year, President Trump was planning to hold a giant rally in Tulsa, which brought national interest back on this race riot.  That, and it was also originally planned for Juneteenth.

The black Greenwood District which was hit hard was once known as Tulsa's "Negro Wall Street."  Today, visitors from all over the country and of all races journey to the site.

Seriously?  To Be Lynched for Stepping on a White Girl's Foot?

In Case You're Wondering About the Submarine at the Top of This Blog

From Wikipedia.

This is the German submarine SM U-118, one of 329 submarines Germany had during World War I.

It was commissioned in May 1918.  During the war, it sank two Allied ships.  With the surrender of the German Imperial Navy later that year, the SM U-118 was transferred to Fraallience and was to be broken up.  As it was being towed through the English Channel to Scapa Flow a storm was encountered and the towing hawser broke and the ship ran aground at Hastings in Sussex, England.

Attempts to get her off or destroy her failed.  The ship then became a popular tourist attraction.  definitely something you don't see that often on a beach.  Tours were made of the interior.

It was broken up between October and December 1919.  Part of the keel may still be buried in the beach.

Anyone Have a Shovel?  --Cooter

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre-- Part 1: 'Black Wall Street'

From the June 18,2020, Chicago Tribune "Black Tulsans live with fiery legacy" by Ellen Knickmeyer, AP.

A once-thriving black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was destroyed nearly a century ago.  There were black-built and black-owned house, churches and businesses which covered dozens of blocks in an area known as the "Black Wall Street."   About all that remains now are burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement.

On May 31 and June 1, white residents burned and looted Tulsa's black Greenwood district to the ground and even used lanes to drop projectiles on them.

These attackers killed up to 300 black Tulsans and forced survivors for a time to live in internment camps overseen by the state National Guard.