The Big Four

 

Billing themselves as '800 pounds of harmony,' Chillicothe, Illinois' Big Four became Sweet Adelines Quartette Champs in 1953. Fine singers and entertainers, they appeared on tv with Jack Paar, Steve Allen, Arthur Godfrey and Dave Garraway of the 'Today Show' to name just a few. The Big Four are Bertha Bradley, bass, Sarah LeMaster, baritone, Inez 'Junior' Thompson, lead, and Lucille Miller and Mary Waters sharing the tenor duties.   By the pound or by any other measure, this is Entertainment!

What fun these four ladies must have had traveling and singing!

Sarah, the lady standing in the middle of the picture, was the mother of a boy in my class in high school.  Dick LeMaster was a very talented fellow and made a name for himself in the world of carving duck decoys.  He wrote at least one book that I know of.  Dick drew illustrations for our high school newspaper and it was fascinating to watch him draw.  I had a cute little furry skunk pin that I wore on my coat.  He drew that on my notebook cover and named it Stinky - and thereafter his family called me Stinky anytime they saw me.  Silly little story, but the kind of thing that sticks in your memory over the years.

 
  

Track Inn

I was reading the Chillicothe weekly newspaper on line the other day and came across an article about this restaurant that was out at the end of Santa Fe street.  When we moved back to Chilli in 1982,  we would sometimes have dinner at this little place that was kind of like a little hole in the wall but the food wasreasonably priced and it was good.  You could have a nice meal for not much money and lots of people ate at the Track Inn.  There were two or three tables right by the windows in front and then a counter with stools all the way back on the left side.  On the right side were booths - or tables - all the way back.  What used to strike me as being funny was that everytime someone came in the door, everyone with their back in that direction turned around and everyone at the counter glanced left to see who was arriving.  Most of the time, you knew who it was.  Looks from the picture like things have been spiffied up since the eighties.  My, they had good pies!!  Following is part of the article from the paper.

Track Inn building originated in 1900s.  The building Di’s Track Inn occupies originally was Marburger’s tavern, opened by John Marburger in 1907, which was split between the tavern and a barbershop, according to local historian Gary Fyke. The tavern changed hands a few times, and then became different restaurants, including the Northtown Café, New Apollo and Michael’s, until Donna Gondek’s parents, Sam and Mary Ann King, bought the businesOpening in May 1977, Track Inn’s business mostly came from the railroad. Gondek recalled long days and busy times at the restaurant during the initial years. She and her mother were thrilled to make $300 the first day the restaurant opened, Gondek said. The business was her mother’s idea, and she kept the food cooking while Gondek was out front with the customers.  As years went by, Gondek ran the business by herself and found she enjoyed the making of the food.


Picking up skills from her mother on cooking, she also learned how to make pies and other goods from her night cook. She began baking up a storm, winning her 42 awards in a five-year period at the Heart of Illinois Fair. They made her stop entering, Gondek said.  “I really had dedicated pretty much my life to it,” said Gondek of the business.

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Back to 1936

Some more pictures from the little book published in 1936 with pictures of the businesses and residences in the little town of Chillicothe, Illinois.  Since I lived in Rome and not Chillicothe as a child,  my mom never shopped at this little neighborhood grocery.  I believe there were at least two other ones in town.  Mom would shop at Kroger or the A & P when we made the three mile trip to Chilli for groceries.  Back then, it seemed like a long way.  Rome had it's own little store and you can check out a post I did on that earlier by clicking on  Lawson's  

One of the two drug stores on the main street in Chillicothe.   Carlisle's was there forever, but Moffitt's was the one the kids liked since it had a soda fountain.  What a treat it was to have some chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and pineapple.  Yummy!  Cherry cokes were also a tasty treat.  Chillicothe's main business district was two blocks long on Second Street.  It was a thriving little place for a lot of years but then went the way of most of the businesses in small towns when people started to travel further to shop in big malls in larger cities.  In this case, it was Peoria that lured the shoppers to come spend their money outside of town.   

An added note - this weekend was the Alumni Banquet in Chillicothe.  This is the 65th anniversary of my graduation from high school with a class of 45 - 30 girls and 15 boys.  Our class has had a reunion every five years in connection with the banquet which meant that you not only saw your class members, but many of the people who were in school at the same time with you.  This is the first one I have missed - makes me a bit sad as I think you feel more like siblings than classmates when the class is so small.  Five years ago my daughter drove me there and that was a lot of fun.   Maybe I will get there for my 70th!!  If my sis were still living, I would have been there for sure.  Life continues to change and we just have to continue to embrace the changes!  I hope they had fun and I am sure they missed me!   (Click to enlarge)

This picture was taken long before we lived in the area, moving there in 1936, but I think it is such a wonderful old photo and is another from the old book of Chillicothe businesses and homes.  When do we ever see bushel baskets anymore?  They were free and wonderful for so many things.  You could buy oilcloth liners and put your dampened ironing in them so it would not dry out before you finished your chore.  Believe me, it was a chore!  I did a post on the rigors of washday some time ago and if you wish you can read it here.  We lived in Rome, a little town about three miles south of Chilli, and back then it seemed so very far away.  My mother didn't drive, so we would all pile into the car and head north to Chillicothe to go grocery shopping or whatever other shopping that needed to be done.  Dad always parked on the side street right beside Kroger which you can glimpse in the picture.  Sometimes mom would take one or two of us into the store with her - that was fun - but lots of times we waited in the car with dad.  How I wished that he would have parked on the main street so we could see what was going on.  Funny how little things stand out in your mind from over the years?  (Click to enlarge)

The Old Book of Chillicothe Buildings

One of four houses in the old book published in 1936 of  the residences, businesses, churches, etc., in Chillicothe, Illinois, my old stomping grounds, that look like the house we lived in when Bill was born. 

And another one -

 A third...........

They certainly look alike, especially since I scanned the first three from the book before I got up and found the only one I could remember that showed the exterior of the house.  The first one is definitely ruled out because of the columns.  The other two the doors are wider in the other two pictures. Going back through the book I found the fourth one above - I think it is a match to the picture I found in an old album where Sherry is sitting on the front steps when she was about three years old.

That was kind of a neat old house - there was a built in china cupboard in the dining room and a clawfoot bathtub and corner sink in the bathroom.  It also had a little back porch.  It certainly has been some time ago!  (Click to enlarge)

Old Chillicothe

I was able to find this picture on the internet of a beautiful, old home on the highway that went through Chillicothe, Illinois.  This is the Mead home.  I don't remember what the first name of the man was that was the head of this household, but I do know he was one of the mainstays of  the city of Chillicothe.  How I would love to have been able to go through this wonderful old place.  It was such fun to drive by when we went "uptown" for groceries.  This was torn down a long time ago and replaced with a gas station, I think.  So sad.  In my next life, I would love to buy a really old home and have it all fixed up - that would be wonderful.

Here is the Methodist Church in Chilli.  This is actually where my husband and I were married.  His family had been Methodist forever, and mine was a potpourri.  I wonder what the little arrows on the left of the pictures point to - probably someone was indicating where they lived.  Should have saved this for PFF, but have some others for that.  (Click to enlarge)

My Very First Job

A part of my life when I was in high school was spent at the hardware counter at Ben Franklin's during the summer between my sophomore and junior year in high school and also on Saturdays during the school year.  My pay for a Saturday's work was $2.38 - now how do I remember things like that?   This picture of Ben's was taken in about 1936 and it would have been 8 years or so later when I was there so it would not have changed that much.  The ownership changed while I was working there and the Smiths sold the store to John and Bernice Lee. 

Here is the staff of Ben Franklins during the mid 1940's.  Darlene, Anna Mae and Mrs. Lee are standing and Goldie, little Alice Lee and I sit in front of them.  Mr. Lee and Wilma  stand behind the cosmetics counter.  You can see the candy counter on the right and the cards on the left.  The hardware counter, my section, was all the way to the back on the same side of the store.  How about my clean white shoes?  I probably was 16 years old.  Many, many moons ago!  This picture is further back in the blog but  it needs to be here with the exterior photo of my old stomping ground.  (Click to enlarge - this is a fun one to look at and see all the little "dime store" things)

Old Chillicothe

From 1936, this old book shows all the houses and businesses in Chillicothe, Illinois,  a town only three miles north of the little town of Rome where I grew up.  I went to high school and later lived in Chillicothe when I was first married.  We were transferred to Iowa from there in 1956, but returned in 1984 after my husband retired and lived there another 8 years.  So Chillicothe is dear to my heart and this old book is fun for me to look through.  I thought I might do posts weekly with some of the pictures that are there. 

This old building is still there and is right on the corner across from the city park. 

The city hall at the end of one of the two blocks that made up the main street where the businesses were located.  The police station, fire trucks and jail were all in this building.  Note the old cars.  We  moved to the area when I was seven years old so had been there about a year when this was published.  

Here is the city  council - Ilion Wait, the City Clerk,  served for decades.  Ed Pennington, Mayor, was the town barber as I remember.  Stay turned for more pictures of this little town just north of Peoria in the heart of Illinois.  Actually, a great place to live and to grow up.  (Click to enlarge)