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Waterman
Area Heritage Society
NEWS LETTER - January 2005
An 11 year old neighbor girl and I went on our decorated house tour the other night. The town is just beautiful and especially appreciated by someone who is lucky to get a tree on the front porch with the lights on. Displays vary from Nativity themes, lights strung from building to building, etc. with no accidents reported in the newspaper. The Loudermilks (Linda Meredith) family took me on a tour of the new housing developments near the Aurora airport where every house had a display. It was beautiful on the ground level and I was jealous of the people who got to see it from the air.
But the people in the air don’t get the opportunity to ride Pete Robinson’s little train in our park. It was a very busy place every night during the “season” because people come from all over the county to ride. The deer and sleighs and trees and bushes and all are lit, hot chocolate is available in the shelter house, and everything is free! Herb Leifheit’s sleigh-pulling cows are even there, cavorting.
Thank you, Pete, for bringing happiness to so many people. Thanks, also, to your helpers and the lady that is Mrs. Pete, who made the hot chocolate.
A good time was had by all, and for many of us, the church services were the final touch to remind us of the reason for it all.
We rarely see or hear carolers outside our windows, anymore, but I don’t blame them. Cold is not one of the things I enjoy.
THE DEAN PROPERTY
Us old guys remember it as the “slaughter house”. Younger people don’t even know there was such a thing as a slaughter house. But, the property on the east end of town between the railroad track and the highway was (in our day) where the Dean Meat Market prepared its meat for the market down town. Mr. Dean did his own butchering, made his own recipe for bologna from the best meat, and had a fine reputation. The trains that had reason to stop in Waterman were engineered by men who KNEW about the bologna. If they didn’t have reason to stop, they made one up on the days when bologna was fresh. Us “old timers” would give almost anything for a ring of it right now.
For years the property has been used by the state as a parking lot for road trucks and machinery. Now it has been signed back to the Dean heirs and been sold. You might find a picture of it in the Green Centennial Book.
In memory of Mr. Dean, his grandson Preston Dean Woods, has made a contribution to the Heritage Society. We are most grateful to him and will use it carefully.
THE BARBER
As this letter is about to be mailed, we are saddened by the death of Kenny Quarnstrom, known as “The Barber”. He’d had a tough few years, but met them with a smile and a smart remark. The barbershops were THE places to go on a Saturday night when the farmers brought eggs and produce in, got their hair cut, or just sat and argued about the baseball / basketball games. Some came in on a band concert night in the summer whether they needed a haircut or not. The best thing is that the two barbers were friends. Kenny often spoke of going to John for advice or to swap supplies. Both barbershops were full (haircuts or not).
I remember when Kenny came to town as a young single man. The airport was in full swing at that time and there were dances with a live band on Saturday nights. Sometimes with a name bands (Orrin Tucker was one, I think). The Palmer boys were young, but already playing dance jobs. (To help identify the time, Alice was 12, Mavis 11, Johnny was 10, and I was 8 - we sold popcorn and pop at the dance.) Dr. Neubauer who owned the airport, wanted the dance over about 9 or 10 o’clock so the men could get the planes inside the hangar.
The hangar was a perfect place for the “barber” to meet some girls. His competition included Harold Boekenhauer and Bill Watson, to name a few. Then, along came Marie and a good life with family, business, and friends. Time just goes too fast.
HAM & TURKEY DINNER
You will find ticket information elsewhere in the letter, but you might be interested to know that some families use the dinner as a family gathering. Clara Schnorr reserved a table for all her “kin” the day they moved her to DeKalb. No one had to cook or do dishes and they had a good meal. They were not rushed to make room for another setting.
I reserve a table for my family to have a gathering on that day, even though’ it is scary to have that many Eakle’s together at once.
We will be happy to see you whether you are 1 person or 20. Look for the advertisement in another location in the paper.
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Work has begun on the housing development on the “Rice” farm. Craig has moved from the farm he lived on his whole life, to the house at the corner of RT. 23 and Duffy. At the site, some digging and grading has taken place, a temporary office has been set up, and buildings will soon appear.
Those of us who are history minded are sorry to see the Greeley land go into houses when it was the last piece of land still inhabited by blood from the original pioneers. And, of course, the airport comes into mind, again. It was on the eastern half of that field. The rumor has been going around that there are crashed airplanes and trains buried in that field. Not so!
One train s was when my father (Paul Eakle) could tell by the sound that there was a broken rail on the track. He hunted, found it, marked it with a flare to stop the train, and was awarded a watch by the railroad company. The train was saved, not wrecked or buried on the airport property.
There weren’t any serious airplane crashes to bury. A young man from Aurora was killed when his glider crashed, but the glider wasn’t buried in that field.
There were more accidents at the intersection of the two highways (23 and 75,or whatever 30 was called at that time). Rt. 23 had stop signs but the E-W highway went straight through. People on 23 stopped if they felt like it - resulted in accidents that caused some very serious injuries and some deaths. None of the crashed cars were buried on the airport property. And, to quote Forest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that!”
FROM BERNICE
The property owned by E.P Dean (along the tracks - across from the mill) was once the location for the slaughter house for the meat market. It has now been sold and Preston Dean Woods and Sharon have given his inheritance to the museum in memory of E.P Dean. For years the property was used by the state, but not purchased by it.
Barry Schrader, who is a former Waterman lad, was a journalist in our area and Livermore, CA for many years, suggested the Chicago Tribune might give the Heritage Society a DVD on Clayton Kirkpatrick. He was a former editor of the paper. Clayton graduated from Waterman High School in 1933, and the University of Illinois 3 1/2 years later. Ray Gibson of the Tribune mailed the Society a copy of the DVD. We appreciate the 15 minute commentary and pictures of Clayton.
Mike Heiderscheidt took the DVD and made a video and pictures for the files.
PIE AUCTION The pie auction seems so long ago but since it is a fundraiser you need to know we, again, were successful in netting $1068.00. Scott Harding substituted as auctioneer. We thank him and all the ladies who baked pies and Chris McCord for her cakes made from award-winning recipes at the Sandwich Fair. (Her cakes were newly baked, of course.) We want to thank the bidders (Becky Espe right to the end) for helping us. Hope you enjoyed eating all those pies, Becky.
CAKES Chris McCord’s cakes
Recipes from her blue ribbon cakes at the Sandwich Fair
$30 white cake, special frosting
$20 marble cake/chocolate frosting
WATERMAN CENTENNIAL pictures would be appreciated. The Centennial was held in 1977. We are making a binder on the Centennial, people, parade, pageant, ball, etc.
YEAR BOOKS Don’t throw away any year books. We need them
HIGHWAY PROJECT
The road work is done. Be careful when coming through that you don’t miss the town because you don’t know where you are. (One clue is still the library.) What was once the park, is a parking lot. There are stop/go lights at the library corner that are “yea and boo”. The kids can cross the street safely, for which we are thankful. But sitting in the parking lot (formerly the Gletty residence) by the post office, I watched a single car stopped at the south-bound green light who couldn’t move because a train was going through and another car was in the southbound space between the highway and the track and couldn’t move. The east-west traffic couldn’t move because that light was red. All traffic was at a standstill.
The clock has a nice setting across from the post office. The triangle is gone and the road north of it is now a garden-like setting for the clock to greet people as they enter town from the east.
HAM AND TURKEY DINNER
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2005
11:00 AM TO 1:00 PM
$7.00 ADULTS
$3.00 CHILDREN 6-11
UNDER 5 FREE
HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE H & T DINNER
LOCATED AT THE COMMUNITY BUILDING
GOOD COMPANY
MUSEUM OPEN FOR VISITORS
FEB. 27, 2005
Waterman Area Heritage Society, 180 W. Lincoln Hwy, Waterman, IL. 60556, (815) 264-3461
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