Tracing St. Charles' Belgian roots
Cynthia Foster took parts of her past college studies and media experiences to deliver an educational program that drew a full house to the St. Charles History Museum last week.
For the better part of the last three years, Foster, a former president and member of the history museum board, put together a history of the Belgian community in St. Charles.
And nearly 60 people of Belgian descent, or those just interested in the town's history, came to the museum to absorb that story and share their own memories.
It was the biggest turnout for any type of educational session the museum has staged, Alison Costanzo, executive director of the museum, told audience members.
Foster did much of the research and wrote the script for the program, while she recruited Jon Morgan, her former colleague at local radio stations WSGB and WFXW, to serve as narrator.
"I was a history minor in college, and a radio and TV production major, and I'm just a curious person," Foster said of her mission to take a deeper dive into one of the most prominent bloodlines in the city.
"All of the people at St. Patrick's church seemed to be from Belgium Town (the area along Dean Street), and when I became president of the history museum I just thought there should be a plaque up where the Moline Malleable factory used to be," Foster said.
That idea ultimately resulted in the Belgium Town Park on Ninth Street, an accomplishment through the park district that Foster called "a good thing."
As for the history presentation, Foster pitched the idea to the museum's education committee and then began her research. She's lived in St. Charles since 1980, and got on the history board in 2001, but she still had to venture out and meet a lot of new people.
Because of that process, names like Van Thournout, DeWitte, VerVynck, Spriet and Van Glabek came up as prominent parts of the story. Jeff Orland, a barber at Avenue Two for 58 years now, grew up in Belgium Town and also provided plenty of stories and insights.
Bernie Duetsch shared one of our favorite stories regarding how the late Garney Mabrey, a good friend of our family, went to Aurora to enlist in World War II - and was sent back home.
His job at Moline Malleable, where most of the Belgians worked, was deemed too important to the war cause.
The presentation also featured Belgian flags, maps of the Belgium Town area and family tree outlines. Some parts of the Rolle Bolle lawn game that Belgians brought to Ray's Evergreen Tavern were on display, as well as old pigeon racing items. Pigeon racing was the sport of choice for so many fellows in Belgium Town.
"This was like going back into my old time in college in doing this project," Foster said. "And you never know, this could be my last one."
Not if the history museum has any say in that matter. Costanzo said the presentation was so popular, the museum board is considering a second chapter at some point.
A friend to everyone:
Betty Weisman was probably one of the nicest people I've met since coming to the Tri-Cities area more than 40 years ago - and there are a lot of nice people around here.
In her time as an employee with the city of Geneva, she got to know a lot of people. They all would likely agree with me that Betty was always positive and caring.
We were sad to hear of her recent passing in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she had moved with husband Wade nearly four years ago to be closer to the rest of their family.
The Weismans were great friends to our family, especially in helping my widowed mother-in-law in their St. Charles neighborhood for so many years before her passing.
Honest Abe photo:
The Kane County Courthouse on Third Street in Geneva is one of four courthouses in the state that will have a reproduction of a famous Abraham Lincoln photograph installed Monday, Nov. 19.
The unveiling ceremony for the photo, taken by Alexander Hesler on June 3, 1860, during Lincoln's presidential campaign, takes place at 11:30 a.m.
Donations from the Illinois Judges Association, the state bar association and their respective foundations made the permanent installations possible.
It's printed on canvas with a stained wood frame to hold the 30- by 40-inch photo that showcases a beardless Lincoln.
Portraits are also being unveiled at courthouses in Bureau, Grundy and LaSalle counties. The organizations hope to have a framed copy in each of the state's 102 counties by the end of this year.
She would win:
I didn't want to get involved in a tit-for-tat over the election in this column, so I have kept this note to myself since the Swedish Days parade last summer in Geneva.
But I knew Lauren Underwood was going to topple Randy Hultgren for the District 14 congressional seat. How?
When Underwood and her supporters marched by during the parade, people started chanting her name. I don't know if I have ever seen that before.
When Hultgren's supporters came by, it was somewhat subdued.
In this day and age of crazy political ads, name-calling and information on social media that has to be taken with a major grain of salt, it's very possible that a "parade response" has become a key indicator.
At the very least, it gave me a notion of what was about to unfold.
Consignment's holiday:
Acosta Home Consignment is hosting its first Holiday Market and Open House at its stores in Batavia, South Elgin and Wheaton from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17.
The furniture shops have become popular spots in the region, so tossing in a little holiday joy on the side feels like a good fit.
dheun@sbcglobal.net