EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE/EVENTS

OLMSTED GRANTED PATENT- (Friday, April 26, 1907, The LaSalle Daily Tribune)Dr. Lewis George OLMSTED of Peru was granted a Trademark for exclusive use of his manufactured dentrifice by the United States Patent Office. The device treats teeth, gums & mouth. The trademark consists of the words, "Tooth Saporis, a Tooth Cleaner", in 2 lines of black Roman capitals, divided by a cut of the tooth. The application was filed March 16th and recieved the first legal publication on April 16th.

CITY, TOWNSHIP & COUNTY EVENTS

DEER PARK IS PIONEER TOWNSHIP- (November 1890, Tonica News)One of the pioneer townships to improve their roads with gravel is Deer Park Township. A gravel road was completed at the cost of $500 from the Lowell Bridge to the Vermillionville post office.

NEW RURAL POSTAL ROUTE PLAN OF ACTION- (July 1901) A representative of the post office met with George S. WAITE in Tonica laying out a route to cover the territory west of tonica to Mt. Palatine and part of the territory north of Tonica.

LOWELL POST OFFICE CLOSES- (February 1903, Tonica News) At the end of the business day on Valentine's Day, the Lowell Post Office discontinued it's services after over 50 years in business.

CHURCH EVENTS

TONICA METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH VOTES- (November 1890, Tonica News) All United States Methodist Episcopal Churches voted whether or not to admit women as lay delegates to the general confrence. It was in favor in Tonica, with a vote of 27 to 4. Large majorities around the nation agreed to giving women equal rights with men in this matter.

DIVINE SERVICES HELD BY ELDER- (May 3, 1901, Tonica News) Last Sunday services were held at the home of Sim HILTABRAND, conducted by Elder John DOWNEY of Wenona. The Old School Baptists will hold their annual May meeting at their church on the Sim HILTABRAND place.

SOCIAL EVENTS

HORSE & BUGGY TRIP- (July 1881, Tonica News) A trip to Marsaltown, Iowa was made by N. RICHEY, Henry HULLINGER & Mrs. HULLINGER. The trip by horse & buggy including the visit, lasted three weeks. Mrs. RICHEY returned home with them. They reported the trip included some very rough & muddy roads.

CHARLES MILLER'S BIG HORSE FARM - (July 1881, Tonica News)Charles MILLER added a team of mares to his stock of horses, making 50 head of imported Clydesdale horses on his farm just west of Tonica.

BARRASS BUYS FUNK HOUSE- (November 1890, Tonica News)O. H. BARRASS bought the upright part of the old George FUNK house & moved it to his property by the slaughter house. George FUNK, in turn, moved into their newly completed farm home.

REV. WILLIAM WILSON RETURNS- (November 1890, Tonica News)Rev. William WILSON returned from Wyoming to be with his family.

EATON'S MOVE- (November 1890, Tonica News)W. H. (Ris) EATON & family moved to Colorado.

FAREWELL SUPPER FOR SMITH FAMILY- (November 1890, Tonica News)A farewell supper & party was held by the G. A. R., W. R. C. & S. of V. for the E. O. SMITH family before they left for their new home in Iowa.

A VISIT WITH DAUGHTER IN ROCK FALLS- (May 3,1901, Tonica News) Mrs. Cora REYNOLDS in Rock Falls, Illinois recieved a visit from her mother on Friday, Mrs. BARNES.

A GUEST AT THE EGBERT'S- (May 3,1901, Tonica News) For the past week Miss Agnes WARNER of Lowell has been a guest at the home of Mrs. EGBERT.

A NEW HOME FOR HETRICK- (July 1901, Tonica News) Byrd HETRICK began construction on a new home on Pontiac Street, Tonica, LaSalle County, Il.

HILTABRAND BEGINS NEW HOME- (July 1901, Tonica News) G. D. HILDABRAND began digging a basement for his new home in the new addition of Tonica, LaSalle County, Il.

KREIDER BUSY BUILDING- (July 1901, Tonica News) In addition to staking out a place for another home just west of G. D. HILDABRAND's home in Tonica, LaSalle County, Il, W. E. KREIDER is also building a vast addition to his elevator.

MEEHAN BUILDS FARMHOUSE FOR SHUTE- (July 1901, Tonica News) Mr. Mike MEEHAN has been busy building a farmhouse for Mr. Jack SHUTE in Deer Park Twp.

GEORGE COFOID MOVES- (February 1903, Tonica News) Mr. George COFOID moved to Kansas.

T. W. LEEDER MOVES- (February 1903, Tonica News) Mr. T. W. LEEDER moved to Kansas.

LEININGER MOVES- (February 1903, Tonica News) Mr. J. W. LEININGER moved to Iowa.

WILLIAMS MOVES- (February 1903, Tonica News) Mr. Dan WILLIAMS moved to Iowa.

BENSON MOVES- (February 1903, Tonica News) Mr. Peter BENSON moved to Iowa.

AMSLER MOVES- (February 1903, Tonica News) Mr. C. E. AMSLER moved to California.

VANLANINGHAM MOVES- (February 1903, Tonica News) Mr. D. B. VANLANINGHAM moved to Indiana.

MAULFAIR MOVES- (February 1903, Tonica News) Early MAULFAIR moved to Texas.

THREE FROM AREA MOVE- (February 1903, Tonica News) James GARDNER, Abbie TUCKER & Ray BEERS moved to Missouri.

AREA MAN MOVES TO ANOTHER CITY- (February 1903, Tonica News) Mr. Bert TOMASSON moved to Freeport, Illinois.

MILLER ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION HELD- (July 1931, Tonica News)The Adam MILLER, Sr. decendants held their annual family gathering at the home of Fred SHAWBACKS.

EIGHTEEN HOFFMAN FAMILIES REUNITE- (July 1931, Tonica News)The John BIRD home near Peru was the meeting place for eighteen families of the late George HOFFMAN.

AN OUT OF STATE VISITOR- (Monday, April 29,1907, The LaSalle Daily Tribune) Miss Bessie HARKINS of Beatrice, Nebraska visited the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. LOCKE at 540 Fifth St., LaSalle.

BUSINESS EVENTS

ROBBER BREAKS IN J. N. POWELL'S BARBER SHOP- (November 1880, Tonica News) $50 worth of razors, cigars and more were taken from J. N. POWELL's barber shop in Tonica, Illinois when his place of business was broken into. After the burglar was caught with the goods in Morris, he was brought back to Tonica and faced the grand jury. Mr. POWELL recovered the majority of his losses.

"TONICA HOUSE" HOTEL OWNER, WALTER H. BARTON QUITS- (November 1890, Tonica News) Walter H. BARTON of Lostant gave up the "Tonica House" located directly west of the Illinois Central depot. Mrs. James KANE took over ownership & renamed the hotel, "Central House".

NEW HARDWARE STORE OWNER- (July 1901, Tonica News) George W. KREIDER of Quincy took ownership of the G. P. SCHMEHR's hardware store and moved his family to Tonica to run it. In turn, Mr. SCHMEHR purchased a hardware store in Flanagan and moved his family to that location.

GUNN RESIGNS- (July 1901, Tonica News) Bert GUNN resigned as Deputy Recorder in Ottawa, returning to Tonica and reopening his law office here.

EDUCATIONAL/ACHIEVEMENT EVENTS

HERBERT S. JENNINGS- (November 1890, Tonica News)Herbert S. JENNINGS entered Michigan University.

Annis BARRASS- (November 1890, Tonica News)Attending Wesleyan for Advanced Piano was Annis BARRASS.

Catherin MEDLEY- (July 1931, Tonica News)A new instructor of music was employed by Tonica High School, Miss Catherin MEDLEY of Flora.

ILLNESSES/ACCIDENTS

MEASLES CAUSE SEVERE SICKNESS FOR 3 YEAR OLD- (May 3,1901, Tonica News) The 3 year old boy of Charles MUDGE is doing better after a serious illness brought on by the measles.

PHYSICIAN CALLED FOR MEASLES- (May 3,1901, Tonica News) The attention of a doctor was called when one of Frank HARTENBOWER's children fell sick with the measles.

CONFREY SEVERELY HURT- (Monday, April 29,1907, The LaSalle Daily Tribune) A LaSalle man, Frank CONFREY, was in dire pain at the RYBURN Hospital in Ottawa following an accident on Saturday night. At the time of this article, he still could not explain exactly what happened as he was still dazed from a great loss of blood. The scene of the accident was at the gravel pit west of Ottawa at about 6 o'clock on Saturday night. CONFREY's job there is to work on the Express Car, which sidetracked at the gravel pit. When CONFREY went into the company building to call the train dispatcher about the whereabouts of the regular passenger car, the accident occured. To the best of his knowledge, he said he asked the dispatcher and was told to wait while they looked a minute. The telephone sat on an old desk filled with odds and ends such as nuts & bolts. CONFREY lifted up the lid of the desk and began to idly move about the odd junk with his fingers when there was a loud explosion. When fellow workers rushed in, they found CONFREY bleeding from wounds about his arms and unable to explain what happened. Just then, the regular train from the west to Ottawa arrived at 6:15 p.m. CONFREY was taken aboard & sent to RYBURN Hospital. His injuries were dressed by Dr. E. P. HATHEWAY. While painful, his injuries should not cause any permanent damage. The back of his left hand was powder burned & the loss of blood was caused by a cut artery due to a puncture on his right forearm. He was expected to be hospitalized at the very least, a week.

AUSTRIAN BOY STRUCK BY AUTO- (Monday, April 29,1907, The LaSalle Daily Tribune) V. A. MATTESON's automobile struck a 12 year old Austrian boy on Saturday about 3 p.m. The boy was only slightly hurt.

BUGGY ACCIDENT- (Monday, April 29,1907, The LaSalle Daily Tribune) Mr. and Mrs. CHAPIN of Waltham recieved painful injuries after being thrown from their buggy.

WEATHER EVENTS

TWELVE INCH THICK ICE ON THE VERMILLION- (November 1880, Tonica News) The Vermillion River millpond at Lowell accumulated 12" thick ice as thermometers registered as low as zero.

HOTTEST DAY BREAKS RECORD- (July 1901, Tonica News) Sunday, 21 July 1901 was deemed the hottest day to that date with tempatures reaching 115 degrees f. in the shade in the local LaSalle County, IL area.

ECONOMIC EVENTS

O. H. BARRASS AD (November 1890, Tonica News) In an ad placed by O. H. BARRASS, beef was 4 cent/lb. per 1/4, boiled meat was 5 cents/lb., roast was 7 cents/lb. & porterhouse steak was 8 cents retail.

FARMERS ARE HAPPY- (November 1890, Tonica News) Corn averaged about 40 bushels per acre & the local market was 50 cents. Oats were 42 cents.

MISC. EVENTS

OVER 1000 FOREIGNERS ARRIVE IN STREATOR- (November 1880, Tonica News) During 1880, over 1000 tickets were sold to residents of Streator to be able to send their relatives in Europe for their passage to America.

FOURTH OF JULY SPARKS FIRE- (July 1881, Tonica News) A small frame building just north of RICHEY's Store caught fire on the 4th due to a firecracker. A few buckets of water put out the blaze.

CHARLES MILLER BUYS LAND IN IOWA- (November 1890, Tonica News)Charles MILLER is starting a vast holding in an Iowa section with his purchase of 960 acres of land in Hancock County, Iowa.

RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVES CAUSE OF FIRES- (July 1901, Tonica News) Quick response avoided small fires from turning into large ones. Sparks from railway locomotives are being said as the cause of the fire on Platt FORD's 10 acres of pasture, three barns along the Illinois Central & 40 rods of board fencing.

FRANK ALLEN LOSES HOME TO FIRE- (July 1931, Tonica News) A farm home near Sparland and almost half of it's goods were destroyed by fire on July 22nd, 1931. The home belonged to Mr. Frank ALLEN who had just lost his wife a few weeks earlier. A. C. WOODKE was there to help remove some of the belongings from the house.

NEW CORN CRIBS- (July 1931, Tonica News) On his Edentown farm, Charles THEISINGER built a double corn crib & in his Vermilliontown farm, Roy SWIFT erected a big concrete stave corn crib.

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