January 5 Ford Motor Company, led by Henry Ford, raises wages from $2.40 for a nine-hour day to $5 for an eight-hour day in effort to keep the unions out and give workers money to buy Ford products. – 1914. U.S. president Richard Nixon signs a bill authorizing $5.5 million
December 29 Six months after the Congress of the Republic of Texas accepts U.S. annexation of the territory, Texas is admitted into the United States as the 28th state. – 1845. In the final chapter of America’s long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on
A name probably unfamiliar to you just as it was to me is that of Harriet Quimby who became the first licensed female pilot in the United States August 1, 1911 and April 16, 1912 she was the first woman to fly a plane across the English Channel. She pointed
Aurora used to be a major manufacturing hub of factories with sales items not only to the Nation, but to the world. The major employer was, of course, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, now the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which operated its famous round house repair shops on North
December 15 The Kansas National Guard is called out to subdue 2,000 to 6,000 protesting women who were going from mine to mine attacking non-striking miners in the Pittsburg coal fields. The women made headlines across the State and the Nation: They were christened the “Amazon Army” by The New
Even though conventional wisdom states, “If you remember the ‘60s, you weren’t really there,” I’m guessing a good number of you Baby Boomers reading this column do remember most of that coming-of-age decade anyway. I entered 1960 as fat, nerdy, eighth-grade kid and left 1969 as lean, mean, olive drab,
December 8 A fire at the Ring Theater in Vienna, Austria, kills between 620 and 850 individuals and injures hundreds more when a stagehand lighted a row of gas lights, but inadvertently ignited some prop clouds over the stage. The stage managers panicked and shut off the gas which turned
Do you remember the excitement of waking up Christmas morning to discover what treasures Santa left for you to enjoy? It will be possible to relive part of that excitement you, and generations of other Oswego area children have experienced when visiting the Little White School Museum’s “Toys from the
December 1 The Ford Motor Company introduces the continuous moving assembly line which could produce a complete car every two-and-a-half minutes. – 1913. African American Rosa Parks refuses to go to the back of a Montgomery, Ala. bus, to add fuel to the growing civil rights movement’s campaign to win
A Roman map of Londinium in the 16th Century shows only one bridge across the river. Only two copper plates of the original bridge remain, one of which is in the Museum of London. In the beginning of the 17th Century, Southwark was the center of things. Here were the
November 24 On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, is published in England. Darwin’s theory argued that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called natural selection. In natural selection, organisms with genetic variations that suit their environment
There is no certificate of the birth of Charlie Chaplin April 16, 1889 nor a record of a baptismal registry. The place of his birth is thought to be East Lane off the Walworth Road. It had a loud and vigorous Sunday morning street market with its costermongers, old-clothes sellers
November 17 The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. – 1869. November 18 At exactly noon on this day, American and Canadian railroads begin using four continental time zones to end the
Based on the fictional story, loosely based on the Chanel sisters of the time: It was an ordinary time in 1890. Well, at least for me it was. I was enjoying a lemon pastille as I walked down the boulevard rue Cambon in Paris. My journey had taken me from
It’s hard to believe that 59 years have passed since the shocking assassination of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. Yet, for the Nation, the November 22, 1963, murder of Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, was a watershed event. As a nine-year-old, I saw my mother’s and
Ansel Adams was 14 years old when he first visited the mountains. His solitude was just as important as visiting with friends. Rocks, snow, mountains, skies, and long views into remote valleys interested him. His first trip to the high Sierra was during a family vacation in 1916. In the
Oswego’s Little White School Museum invites all area residents to visit their annual “Remembering our Veterans” special exhibit at the museum, 72 Polk Street (Jackson at Polk), just two blocks from historic downtown Oswego. This is the 16th year the exhibit to honor area veterans has been hosted by the
November 3 The Soviet Union launches the first animal into space, a dog name Laika, aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. – 1957. The Lebanese magazine Ash Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling arms to Iran in an effort to secure the release of seven American hostages
Connie Kross of Sandwich, left, and Barbara Johnson, Yorkville, perform Norwegian American Women in Illinois.
By Al Benson Approximately 70 persons gathered Saturday, Oct. 22, to celebrate Ruth VanSickle Ford’s 125th birthday. Guests dined at the Aurora Country Club amid 50 oil and watercolor paintings loaned by patrons of the late Aurora artist, educator, and entrepreneur. Ford (1897-1989) owned and operated the Chicago Academy of
