Gray’s Mill, 211 N River Street in Montgomery, will be host to a lecture on “The Early History of Montgomery and the Story of Daniel Gray” at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 6. The speaker will be Montgomery resident Debbie Buchanan. Debbie currently serves as Village Clerk and is active on...
By Ricky Rieckert Part 2 of 3 Dear readers, As we return this week with part 2, I hope everyone enjoyed the article last week and the newspaper. There were a lot of good stories and pictures throughout the paper. Let’s start. In part 1, the Luxembourg Club, on High...
March 27 The University of Oregon defeats The Ohio State University, 46-33, in the championship game of the first NCAA men’s basketball tournament at Northwestern University in Evanston. The tournament, which started with eight teams, since has grown to 68 teams and has grown exponentially in popularity since 1939. –...
By Penny Panayiota Deligiannis In June 1964, several Aurora Hellenes met with Bishop Meletios of Chicago representing the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America to consider the facts. The requirements to establish the first Greek Orthodox Church in Aurora were met and approved by the Bishop, Illinois Secretary...
By Ricky Rieckert(Part 1 of 3) Dear readers, This week, on Aurora’s Buildings, Businesses, and Streets, we’re heading to the Luxembourg Club (Luxie’s), 416 High Street. We’re parking the History of Aurora Tour Bus, up front in the north lot, off of Front Street, used by Art’s Body Shop during...
By Woodrow Carroll It’s a week that sports fans especially relish. And, we are talking about the first week of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. A total of 68 teams have earned a spot in this season’s men’s tournament. From the time the first men’s final took place in 1939,...
March 20 U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson notifies Alabama’s governor George Wallace that he will use federal authority to call up the Alabama National Guard in order to supervise a planned civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. – 1965. Several packages of deadly sarin gas are set off in...
By Ricky Rieckert Greetings, The Voice readers! This week, as we start another week of The History of Aurora: Buildings, businesses, and streets on the History of Aurora Tour Bus, we’re heading from the start of Jackson Street at E. Downer Place, (originally Fox Street), to the south. On the...
March 13 The German-born English astronomer William Hershel discovers Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. Herschel’s discovery of a new planet was the first in modern times, and the first by use of a telescope, which allowed Herschel to distinguish Uranus as a planet, not a star, as previous...
March 6 With the Great Depression under way, hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers demonstrate in 30 cities and towns; close to 100,000 filled Union Square in New York City and were attacked by mounted police. – 1930. March 7 Twenty-nine-year-old Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his revolutionary...
By Ricky Rieckert Dear faithful subscribers, readers, and all. This week, the Aurora History Tour Bus, is at the northwest corner of Benton Street and Stolp Avenue, (originally known as Island Avenue). This building, was home to the Aurora Elks Club. It was a beautiful two-story brick building. When I...
By Woodrow Carroll There are a number of high schools around the country that as soon as you mention the school’s name there is almost instant recognition. And, very often the recognition is based on the school’s athletic achievements. With that in mind let’s hone in on McClymonds High School...
February 27 A group of masked and costumed students dance through the streets of New Orleans, La. to mark the beginning of the city’s famous Mardi Gras celebrations. – 1827. The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provides for female suffrage, is unanimously declared constitutional by the eight members...
By Ricky Rieckert Dear subscribers, patrons and readers: Hope everyone had a special time, with their special someone, on Valentine’s Day. I didn’t let that opportunity slip away from me, this year, no way, no how. I went on a date with a blonde, female nurse with tattoos, who I...
The City of Aurora’s Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Military Museum, 23 East Downer Place, Aurora, will highlight the contributions, struggles, and lasting impact of African American service people in the 19th and 20th Century. The G.A.R. Museum is open Wednesday through Friday from noon to 7 p.m. and...
The Aurora Public Library District wears many different hats for our community. For those interested in local history, it’s a living archive that ensures the stories, struggles, and achievements of the community are not forgotten. These stories are held in our Community History Center, on the second floor of the...
When the private Lincoln Highway Association laid out the nation’s first improved coast-to-coast highway, its route from Plainfield to Aurora zigzagged through northeastern Kendall County’s Oswego Township on existing country roads. When plans to pave the highway in the 1920s were being made, Naperville made a strong case to run...
February 13 Italian philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, Galileo Galilei, arrives in Rome to face charges of heresy for advocating Copernican theory, which holds that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Galileo officially faced the Roman Inquisition in April of that same year and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for...
Aurora University’s Schingoethe Center Museum opened “Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories,” an exhibition to March 14, with a reception Tuesday, Jan. 28, including displays, flute music and reflections by a family member of survivors. The exhibition, in the Hill Welcome Center at 1315 Prairie Street in Aurora,...
A former Civil War slave turned abolitionist and women’s rights advocate came alive in Batavia Tuesday, Feb 4. With words, period costume, and acapella gospel music, North Aurora resident Pam Welcome portrayed Sojourner Truth at the Aurora Area Retired Teachers Association membership luncheon at Lincoln Inn Banquets in Batavia. Welcome...
