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OHS Newsletter Volume 3, Issue 1, January 1999
In this issue: Officers and Directors, 1998-1999
Newsletter Editorial Staff
President's Message MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you. You are all invited to attend our meetings on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Museum. Come and bring a friend. If you have any items or antiques that would be of interest to the people of O'Fallon, please remember us. We are always looking for new items to display. We can always use more help - sitting at the Museum, setting up displays, cleaning, or serving on a committee. I want to thank everyone who has helped in any way this past year. I urge your continued support and ask you to make an effort to recruit new members for our O'Fallon Historical Society. Bill Peach, President Special Thanks Special thanks to Mary (Distler) Hildreth for giving us Clarence Distler's two scrap books containing pictures and information about the 1954 Centennial. Special thanks to Jan L. Wouters for giving us the book The Posthumous Pieces of Rev. John William Dela Flechere and the two indenture papers about the Ogle Family. A big "thank you" to all our members and friends who have donated their historical "treasures" to us. Keep up the good work. A big "thank you" to everyone who has provided programs for our meetings. You help keep our history alive! Items of Interest The obituary cards are up to date at the O'Fallon Public Library. If you are interested in researching your family history, check the obituary card file at the Library. You will find the date of the O'Fallon Progress, the page and the column on which the obituary appears. The microfilm and reader are in the Computer Room, and the Librarians are very helpful. What better gift can you give your family than their family "roots"? If you don't know how to start, contact Doris Johnson at 632-4624. I'll be glad to help to get you started. Ralph Keller gave children from Dist. 90 classes a tour of the O'Fallon Cemetery on October 23. On November 2, he gave a talk about the O'Fallon Cemetery to some Girl Scouts. We still have Jack Canterbury's wood carvings on display. We hope that you came to see our Veterans Display in November. Brian Keller did a good job! Exhibit Committee The last half of 1998 has seen a large influx of new historical items for our collections. Thanks to the City of O'Fallon we acquired a wide assortment of artifacts from the recently razed train depot, including an 1899 conductor's train book and numerous pieces of the depot itself. Other items donated included Clarence Distler's O'Fallon Centennial pictures and notes, old papers from the Central School PTA, the NASA memorabilia of Joe Schmidtt, 1926 O'Fallon Lumber book of estimates, a gavel (our second) used by Mayor Henry Hesse, a First State Bank coin bank, 1794 book owned and signed by Capt. Joseph Ogle and indenture papers from the Ogle family, numerous pieces of late 19th Century clothing, artifacts belonging to the Henry E. Tiedemann family, numerous old glass bottles (O'Fallon Quality Dairy, Marcel Friederich, B. Bischoff, and others), wooden bench and bowling pins from Hartman's Bowling Alley, an iron window decoration from what is now the Mansion Restaurant, and much more. Also donated were 3 portable cube display islands. We were open Homecoming weekend again this year, as well as for Halloween, when we participated in Main Street's downtown trick or treating. We gave candy to over 100 children who visited the Museum. Our Veterans Day display featured numerous military artifacts from the Civil War through the Vietman War. We currently are displaying, as a special side exhibit, a large collection of old cameras on loan from Deb Faber. December features our annual Christmas display. Be sure to stop by and see it. We're diligently working on exhibits on the second floor. We hope to have them ready soon. For the year, we had over 400 sign our guest register. Adding in school groups and the many who do not sign, we had an estimated attendance of well over 1,000.
Many thanks to all who have donated and loaned items to the Museum and visited our exhibits. A special thank you to our Museum volunteers and supporters - we couldn't do it without you. Ways and Means Committee The monthly 50/50 drawings came to $117.50. The quilt raffle was a success, thanks to all who returned their tickets. The lucky winner was Norma Keller, wife of Ralph Keller and mother of Brian Keller. We took in $806. The expenses were $102, leaving a profit of $704. Pretty good! A special thanks to Lynn Lybolt who donated the quilt top. It was quilted by the O'Fallon Nutrition senior quilters. Mary Wiechert finished the edges. We thank them all for their endeavors. A special thanks to Dolly Hesse and Carol Souza for their help. Thank you to Richard and Dorcas Cecil and Rick and Kristi (Vetri) Buckley for their generous donations.Charles and Mary Helen Bevirt. Membership Committee At the end of 1998, we have 113 members. Martha Bode, a Past President, Secretary, and faithful member, died this year. William Titter, a faithful member, also died. Our membership is as follows: Family 30, Individual 45, Life 22, Life Family 6, Life Honorary 3, Life Individual 4, Life Organization 3. Remember dues are due by January 31, 1999.
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS. Catalog Committee We are sorry to say that we have not had a catalog committee for the past six months. We hope to have one soon. Program Committee We had some very interesting programs the past few months. July 21 - Timi Schopp talked to us about "Main Street." August 18 - Brian Keller showed us slides of the Schwarz Furniture Store and Annex. September 22 - Don Joseph showed us slides and gave a very interesting talk about O'Fallon as it was when we were young and about the Boy Scouts when he was growing up. October 19 - Dolly Hesse showed us film taken at the Central Hotel and Allen Store fire on May 23, 1953. Doris Johnson read the accounts of the fire that appeared in the O'Fallon Progress. Our November 17 program was canceled because William Jenner wasn't able to come. He will present his program at a later time. We will have our Christmas party at the December meeting.Cemetery Committee We received our Certificate from the Midwest Living Magazine and also the notebook that Mary Dodd had sent to their "Hometown Pride" Contest. We hope that you will look at the notebook when you are at the Museum. We contracted with Tom Brennan to mow the grass at the Rock Spring Cemetery and he did an excellent job! Thanks Tom!
Tom Brennan and I will put poinsettias on the children's graves again this December. We also fixed several broken stones and straightened several other stones at the O'Fallon City Cemetery in November. Library Committee
I finished the obituary cards at the Library, 1990 through the present time, and have filed them. I did research for quite a few people this past year. I have started collecting information about some of the older houses in O'Fallon for the O'Fallon Preservation Committee. If you have any information about when some of the older houses in O'Fallon were built, please get in touch with me. Memorials We lost 2 of our members through death this past year. William Titter, husband of Member, Leola Titter, and father of Karen Titter, died March 29, 1998. Martha Bode, wife of Robert Bode and mother of John and Bob Bode, died July 23, 1998. Martha had served as President and Secretary of our Historical Society. The Bode family donated a beautiful picture of Martha and also gave a monetary gift. Our sincere sympathy goes out to both of these families. Other memorial gifts this past year were in memory of LOUISE WIECHERT, LaDORRIS GLENN, HENRY CORBIER, DeWAYNE LILLIE, MILDRED SCHRAMECK, WILLIAM TITTER, and MARTHA BODE. Looking Back OHLENDORF and THOMAS were dealers in implements. In 1907, they erected a modern business building at the site of an old livery stable. They had a grand opening in their new quarters in April, 1908. In November, 1914, a fire started in DIEFENBACH's cook house flue, and the store was damaged by fire. The store was rebuilt. The partnership was dissolved in 1923 (from the 1954 Centennial book). John A. Thomas (the father of our member Gene Thomas), entered the heating and plumbing business, which he conducted until his death in 1935. Mr. Ohlendorf continued the business until 1926, when he sold the business to Walter Thomas. Walter Thomas had started a hardware business in 1922 in a part of the building occupied by the McGeehon Store. In August, 1926, he had a sale and moved into the Ohlendorf Building at 113 E. First Street, which he had purchased from Adolph Ohlendorf. Mr. Ohlendorf moved his equipment to his building at 107 East Second Street. On May 1, 1928, a fire totally destroyed the two-story Thomas Building. The building was demolished in July, 1928, and work was started on a new building. It was "to be of brick and steel construction, 50 feet wide and 100 feet deep. The front part was to be 2 stories high while the rear portion will be one story. Its floors will be of hardwood construction and a modern plant will be installed for heating." Several months were required for construction. The formal opening was held in December, 1928. The store was remodeled in 1938. Walter Thomas died on August 1, 1976. His son, Jack, managed the store until he retired in 1991. He died May 11, 1993, and his daughter, Beth Reidelberger, managed the store until Charles and Bob Domyan took over the management in 1993. The store will close the end of 1998. We will all be sad to see the end of Thomas Hardware Store that has served us so faithfully for so many years. Please check out the bulletin board at the Museum. It has a very nice article about our member Ruth Grandcolas that appeared in the Belleville News Democrat. There is also the item from the O'Fallon Progress about Norma Keller winning the quilt that we raffled. Please stop in to visit the Museum. We have a lot of new articles on display. Invite your friends and relatives to come with you. We are open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 1-4 p.m. Our meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Museum. We try to have a program each month. 1999 dues are due by January 31, 1999. We are enclosing an application for membership. Please fill it out and return it to Membership Chairman, Carol Souza, or Treasurer, Brian Keller, with your check. If you are a life member and don't need the application, please pass it on to someone who might be interested in joining the Society. There are always applications at the Museum. |
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