A look back at the news a century ago
"I heard someone famous is designing the new Wing Park golf course." "So, liquor sales were just as controversial years ago as they are today." "I can't believe the stories I'm hearing about some area couples."
These are just some of the comments people might have made after reading the Elgin newspapers of 100 years ago. Here's a look at those stories and others that made area headlines in March 1908.
• Tragedies have a way of making us revisit our safety plans, and the death of more than 150 school children in an Ohio school fire was no exception. Elgin's mayor ordered an inspection of all schools, factories and public buildings and a list of all violations was published in the newspapers.
And, were we prepared for the next fire? A fire drill at Elgin High School showed the 600 students exited the building in 1 minute and 45 seconds. "The school has conducted weekly drills since the beginning of the year and this shows the results were worth the effort," boasted the superintendent.
• Was there foul play or did the infant die of natural causes? That's what the city clerk wanted to know after the father of a 14-year-girl who had recently given birth appeared at city hall to apply for a burial permit for the child. "The infant was still-born," the man said -- an explanation the city official felt uncertain of. An inquiry by the chief of police and local physicians, however, revealed no evidence of foul play.
• Though the passage of new state legislation providing for local referendums to restrict liquor sales had many looking forward to a new era, one reporter used the opportunity to look at back the history of liquor laws in the city. The very first drink served in Elgin, he said, was in 1838 at Calverts Inn, located at Center and DuPage streets -- a site later occupied by the Elks Club. Following the city's incorporation in 1854, all liquor sales were halted -- a dry period that only lasted four months until new council members were elected. The years ahead would see new liquor ordinances passed, only to be rescinded at the next meeting.
Alcohol consumption gained some permanency in 1859 when the fledgling city of Elgin allowed 14 liquor licenses. Opposition gained momentum in the 1870s, however, as the growing temperance movement became more organized. Finally, in the 1890s, the council passed a law limiting the "saloons" to one for very 1,000 people. The cost of an annual license in 1908 -- when the battle between the "drys" and the "wets" was nearing its peak -- stood at a hefty $1,000.
• People longing for the "good old days" sometimes forget about the prevalence of certain contagious diseases. Five members of one eastside home were so ill from diphtheria that the mayor ordered a city-paid nurse for the family. To prevent future outbreaks, he also sent a staff member to Geneva to procure a supply of "antitoxin" from a county distribution site. Another 50 families were reportedly upset with school officials who excluded their children from school because other family members had the mumps. "People do not generally understand the mumps is contagious," explained one school administrator.
• Plans for a municipally operated golf course at Wing Park moved forward with the selection of Thomas Bendelow to design the new nine-hole course. The manager of a golf department of a major Chicago department store, Bendelow was "generally considered the best in the country" for the job. Reports added that his fee in Elgin would be less than usually charged.
• Finally, sometimes it is difficult to believe some things that happened years ago. Following their six-day marriage in Elgin, a young bride, who had met her husband at a music store in Chicago, was reportedly sold by the groom as a "white slave." Another area couple was sought by authorities after the remains of a deceased infant where found in a New Mexico post office, along with a note saying, "I didn't know what else to do." And, a woman who was prominent in local social circles said she was moving to a divorce colony in the West as a way of dealing with her failed marriage.