USA > Illinois > Champaign County > Gifford > The Centennial book, Gifford, Illinois : 1875-1975 > Part 6
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THE DEPOT, LOOKING WEST FROM MAIN STREET The small white building at the left is believed to be the first depot for the narrow-guage railroad.
Courtesy of GORDON'S DIES Gifford, Illinois Steel Rule Dies
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The DEPOT when one of John Jeakins' sons went to war in 1917
looked to the depot for its arrival. The mail arrived daily at the depot, and telegrams were received there. So here are three pictures of "the depot"- one of which especially reflects the importance of the depot and the spirit of the community on the day when John Jeakins' boy Earl went off to war in 1917.
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The DEPOT, looking east toward the elevator and lumber yard - about 1915
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Vetter Veller Fairing Company Rantoul Illinois 61866 telephone 217.893.9300
THE JOHN DEERE BUILDING - 1975
The "John Deere Building"-The present building just south of the railroad was built for use by a dealer in John Deere farm equipment, and it was so used in the late 1940's and early 50's. Since that time it has had intermittent use as a warehouse and truck repair garage-and as the site of an occasional Lions Club Supper, Rummage Sale, and the like. The site was formerly occupied by two buildings
which extended out to the sidewalk like other down- town buildings. The north unit was once used by "J. M. Morse" as a bank-or as a drugstore-we are not sure. The south unit was used as a restaurant by at least four men-Alverson, Hickman, Lytle and Barnes. At other times it was used as a barber shop, general store, and hardware.
J. M. MORSE
The first bank? We are not sure. J. M. Morse estab- lished the first bank, but he also had to do with the first drugstore, and there is no way to be sure which
this was. These two buildings stood where the pres- ent "John Deere" building is, but extended out to the sidewalk and street.
Courtesy of THE GIFFORD COIN WASH Gifford I Illinois
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Hesterberg Electric-This very nice looking building was constructed in 1973 to house Robert Hester- berg's electrical contracting business. It replaced an old frame building which originally extended to the sidewalk but was cut back in the early 1920's to make room for a Standard Oil service station. Robert Behr, Leon Reynolds and David Gilkison- among others-operated the garage portion of it. Perry Stewart, Charles Stewart and Hap Parker ran the service station at various times.
Perry Stewart's Service Station and the old garage building in back of it. L to R: Junior Hoch, Loren Walston, Donald Wise, Perry Stewart and Ora Stewart
The Pool Hall-The original part of this building was constructed about 1922 by Dr. E. S. Axtell for use as his office, and it was so used until he moved to Rantoul about 1938. It has been operated in essen- tially its present form for a long time, by Alberta Carley, Harry Minniear, Leroy Carpenter and others. The former uses of this site are unknown.
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Mr. and Mrs. Perry Stewart in their new restaurant - 1929. Mrs. Stewart's description written on the back of the picture and addressed to members of her family reads, "This is a very good picture of our place of busi- ness. Our dining room is under the sky light. My table seats ten comfortably and we also serve short orders and lunches at counter. At front is a soda fountain but there was not much of it got in the picture. There is candy in show case on south side and cigars and tobac- co in front of that. The lady that is with us used to live here. She lives in Chicago now and was down here and just dropped in to talk a few minutes. 9/23/29. Write to us, all of you. This is to go to Mother and Dad after you have all saw it so keep mailing it along."
. Ora
North portion of THE WEST SIDE OF MAIN STREET - 1975 Left to right: Dr. Bruns' office; Atty. Hirschfeld's office; The Cabin; J & S Chapparel; The Pool Hall, and the Hesterberg Building.
Courtesy of Hesterberg Electric, Gifford, Illinois Your Total Electrical Needs Farm - Home - Commercial - 568 2700
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J & S Chapparel-This building has almost always been a restaurant, so far as is known. Bob Chum- bley had a restaurant there back in the teens. The Rufus Means had a restaurant there in the early twenties. Mrs. Ora Stewart ran the restaurant busi- ness there from 1929 unti 1951 and restaurants were later run there by Mr. and Mrs. Joe Johnson and by Marie Minniear. Mrs. Jan Severins started a ceramics shop in 1973 and she and Sandy Hilde- brand added a stock of clothing in 1974.
MRS. JAN SEVERINS with her stock of casual wear in the J & S Chapparel - 1975
The Cabin-Totally remodelled and equipped by Mr. and Mrs. Ted Turza, this old building in its modern guise as a tavern and restaurant draws customers from miles away. The building was used to house John Steiner's grocery store in the 1920's. Cyrus Hickman and his wife, the former Mrs. Sally Bur- dette, had a restaurant there for a time. The Charles Rays, the T. P. Jennings, W. J. Hylbert, Allie Wells, the Paul Schencks and Bud Mckeown operated grocery stores there. There were a few rooms be- hind the store and from time to time the families lived in the building.
Lawyer Hirschfeld's Office-For as long as this writer can remember, this building housed a tavern run by Lubbo Pannbacker, Lloyd Carley, Allie Wells and perhaps others. Beyond that, it is reported that Florence Strine had a hat shop there and that a man named Yarrington ran a meat market there- away back when.
Dr. Bruns' Office-Joseph W. McHenry had his furni- ture store and undertaking business in this building from the late 1890's well up into the 1930's. After the fire in 1938, Fay M. Wooldridge used half of it for his drugstore and Howard Varner took the other half for his barber shop. When Mr. Varner moved across the street, Mr. Wooldridge and later Mr. and Mrs. Ted Siddens occupied the whole building for their drugstore until about 1965.
(Editor's Note: Mr. McHenry used a big, black horse-drawn hearse in those days, and he and the driver sat on a high seat at the front, exposed to whatever the weather was. For a time Leonard Hylbert furnished the required four horses and drove the hearse. Mr. McHenry also did "fumigat- ing." When contagious diseases were more common it was the custom to fumigate the house after a sickness. The method was to burn sulphur in small containers throughout the house. It made a lot of smoke and a terrible odor, but supposedly it killed off the germs of typhoid, diphtheria, scarlet fever, influenza and the rest. Mr. McHenry came to fumi- gate our house one time. He and Mom were never what you'd call real pals, and in an attempt to be friendly he said "Before this is done, you'll think even less of me than you do now." Mom, whose tongue was pretty sharp sometimes, replied "Im- possible!")
Courtesy of THE CABIN Gifford, Illinois
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THE GIFFORD STATE BANK
The Gifford State Bank-As an institution, the bank was founded in 1885 by James M. Morse as the "Exchange Bank." It was run after his death two years later by his widow and two of his sons under at least two titles-"E. J. Morse and Son" and "Morse Brothers and Co." until 1912 when it was incorporated as The Morse State Bank. The bank was headed by Rollin Morse from 1887 to 1896, and by Jedediah ("Jed") Morse from 1896 until he was disabled by a stroke in the early 1940's. In its earlier
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THE BANK - 1913, Mr. "Jed" Morse left of the door
days the bank occupied other locations. The present building was constructed by the bank itself in 1961 just a half step, so to speak, south of the location it had occupied since the early 1900's.
The present building and the space for its driveway occupy space formerly occupied by the old bank building, the Jerome Hylbert building where Howard Varner first had his barber shop and the old Wooldridge Drugstore building. In 1950 the bank was renamed The Gifford State Bank and since the Morses left the scene it has been headed by Dale E. Goodwine, Arthur F. Busboom, and present- ly by Eugene Schmidt.
STATE
BANK
THE GIFFORD
THE BANK - 1960
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THE BANK - in the John Deere Building while the present building was under construction
Courtesy of THE GIFFORD STATE BANK Gifford, Illinois
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The South portion of the WEST SIDE OF MAIN STREET - 1975 Right to left this time, please: The Bank, the Homestead Tavern, Stan Kopman's Shop, the Longbranch (Opera House), and Glen Walston's House.
The Wooldridge Drugstore Building and the Varner Barber Shop building were small buildings, surely not more than 20 feet wide, each. The barber shop was a two-story affair and had several rooms in the rear portion where the Varners lived at the time of the fire in 1938.
The Wooldridge Drugstore-The first drugstore in town was opened in March of 1876 by H. D. Corlies and was taken over in the next year by J. M. Morse and his son-in-law, W. A. Wooldridge. In view of his growing interest in banking, it is understandable that Mr. Morse shortly left the operation of the drug- store to Mr. Wooldridge. Mrs. Wooldridge followed her husband as operator of the store, and their son, Fay, followed her in 1924. It was not a drugstore in the modern sense of a pharmacy. Mr. Wooldridge kept and sold patent medicines-and glass and paint and jewelry and small gifts-and school supplies. He ordered and sold the text books used by the school, along with pencils, tablets, crayons, rulers, etc.
Referring to a number of unpaid accounts, Mr. Wooldridge (a bachelor) used to point out that he had educated a lot of kids. Upon the death of Fay Wooldridge in 1953, the business was sold to Mr. Ted Siddens who had worked for him for years any- way. Ted and his wife, Meta, carried on the business until about 1963, when lie liquidated it and went into accounting and tax preparation on a full-time basis.
The Homestead-It is reported that this site was once occupied by Condit's Hardware Store, by a barber shop, and at different times by two men run- ning meat markets-a Mr. Simmons, and a Jasper Huls. Beyond that there is no background on this site except that it was run as Barney Bartell's Tavern from the 1920's on. The old building burned in 1938 but was immediately replaced. When Mr. Bartell's health failed and he gave up active opera- tion of the business, it was leased to Mrs. Ersie Cooper who operates it as "The Homestead."
Hamns
Mrs. Ersie Cooper and "The Homestead" - 1975
Courtesy of THE HOMESTEAD Ersie Cooper, Owner Gifford, Illinois
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Stan Kopman's Barber Shop-This is a new building, constructed by Kopman in 1970 and used by him as a barber shop for two years. The site was formerly occupied by Joseph Sheuring's harness and shoe repair shop from about 1900 until the building burned in 1938. Mr. Sheuring then moved his business to the north half of the George Parks build- ing just south of the present elevator office, then later to the present Pool Hall building, and finally to a small block building in the corner of his own yard at home. There was at one time a little, one- room shop between Sheuring's and the present Longbranch and it was Lloyd Brown's barber shop.
The Longbranch-This building was the original Methodist Church in Gifford. When the Methodists decided to build a new church in 1905, they sold their old building to the "Opera House Company"- W. A. Wooldridge, Rollin Morse and John Wood.
The building was moved to this site, remodelled and equipped with stage, curtains, dressing rooms, etc., and used as a center for community entertainment until the late teens. Shows were presented by travel- ing professional musical and theatrical groups and by local, home-talent groups. There were years when movies were shown regularly. Cyrus Hickman bought the building and continued with it as a movie the- ater. There were years when it was regularly used for roller skating, but it continued to be available for almost any kind of public function. Banquets and public functions were held there, including this writer's own Eighth Grade graduation exercises in 1928. When the Gifford School had no gymnasium, the basketball teams practiced in "the old Opera House." Along about the early 1930's Dr. F. L. Edenburn took over the building and used it as his veterinary office and occasional small animal hospi- tal. He rented a small office to James S. Barnes who was still active in the real estate and insurance busi-
A BANQUET SET-UP IN THE OPERA HOUSE - about 1915
"The History of Champaign County, Illinois," pub- lished by the Lewis Publishing Company in 1918, con- tains the following item-
"On May 23, 1903, Mr. and Mrs. John Clark cele-
brated their golden wedding anniversary. Ten years later, in 1913, their sixtieth anniversary was celebrated. This was a notable occasion and 187 guests sat at the banquet which was served in the Opera House."
Courtesy of THE LONGBRANCH Gifford, Illinois
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ness. In the worst of the depression days, when Fin- ley Morse was publishing a little, mimeographed advertising newspaper called "The Observer," he published it in the balcony of the Opera House. A whole second floor was built in at some point, with apartments for rent. Then Mr. and Mrs. Richard Marikos acquired the place and have used it as a supper-club tavern since 1968.
If You Can't LAUGH Don't Read This!
"HIS UNCLE'S NIECE'
A Rollicking Farce in Three Acts Written by Raymond W. Sargent
Presented by the Young People of the GIFFORD COMMUNITY SUNDAY SCHOOL
at the
GIFFORD OPERA HOUSE Saturday evening APRIL 10th, 1926
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CAST OF CHARACTERS
Richard Lale Esq. (A rising young lawyer. Ralph W. Johnson Francis Felton (the cause of all the trouble . . E. A. Harris Dora Hale (very much attached to the "cause) .. Zora B. Adams Alice Malcolm (a close chum of Dora's) ..... Lela Carley Mrs. Sarah Ann Mullen (a woman of few words, from Happy Valley) Avelyn Waespe
Simon F. Felton (Frank's uncle, who never makes a mistake) . . Theodore Siddens Philander Filmore ("humble but wise") . William J. Aldrich Timothy Haye (gardener at Happy Valley Junc- tion) . .Loraine Armstrong Silas Sickelmore (the constable at Happy Valley) Garneth Waespe
Glen Walston's Building-This has been used as the private residence of the Glen Walston family since 1929, but further back it had been one of the busi- ness buildings. It once housed Florence Strine's Hat Shop, and the telephone switchboard was on the second floor, not necessarily at the same time. Dr. Walker also once used the second floor as his office.
The Ralph Busboom Lot-This lot, now vacant, was the site of the Post Office for a long time in the days of Ed Breithaupt. The Post Office was in a small wood building in the northeast corner of the lot. Mr. Breithaupt kept a stock of candies and notions and he did business as a photographer, besides being postmaster. The lot flooded periodically, then, as it
STUDIO
The Gifford Post Office - late 20's and early 30's Left to right: Loren Wilson, Roy S. Barnes (both rural mail carriers), Ed Breithaupt (Postmaster) and Merle Morrison. One wall of the "town tank" can be seen in the foreground.
does now, and so did the Post Office. Directly in front of the Post Office was the "Town Well," a regular deep well with a windmill to operate it. And there was a big concrete water tank beside the well for the watering of horses and in later years for the washing of cars! I remember that Edyth Sheuring fell into that old tank one time, and then ran home- dribbling water all the way.
Courtesy of Robert G. Baker - FS Petroleum Products Gifford, Illinois
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Sohimco
migra
THE SOHIGRO PLANT - 1975
There. ! ! We made it. That is all for the "down town" business section of Gifford, but there are a few businesses in the "suburbs" which should be mentioned. The Sohigro Fertilizer plant has been over on Park Street since 1967, and it was preceded by the Remole Soil Service. That spot is where the Wood Brothers/Jacob Johnson Grain Elevator stood. Heiko Kuhlman had a little service station out at the north corner away back in the days of the hand operated, glass topped gas pumps. It was enlarged and modernized as the years went by, and has since been operated by Leroy (Cotton) Carpenter, Harold Frazier, Ernest Crozier, Charlie Miles and probably others. It is now run by Terry Green. The FS Sta- tion is also at the north corner and it dates back into the thirties. Wesley Alcorn ran the FS station in the early days and it was while he was there that the present concrete block building was erected.
THE HEIKO KUHLMAN STATION - 1926
Mobil Service
THE MOBIL STATION on the Kuhlman Station Site - 1975
REMISE COUNTY F.S INC.
THE FS STATION - 1975
From the bulk tanks at the FS Station-and from his home-Bob Baker is busy as distributor for FS petroleum products, as was his father, Walter Baker, before him.
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Courtesy of SOHIGRO SERVICE Gifford, Illinois - 568 3075
Terry Ellis, in partnership with his father, John, and brother Tony from Penfield, keeps busy with a gravel, excavating and construction business. Leland F. Albers is a contractor mainly in the field of home construction. Arthur F. Busboom maintains an in- surance agency in addition to his banking responsi- bilities in both Rantoul and Gifford. Bill Bull runs an upholstery shop. Jim Head has a repair service for household appliances. Elmer Ehmen now runs the welding and farm machine repair service which Altje Saathoff operated from 1945 until 1967. Harry Ellis has a lawn mower sales and service busi- ness. Robert Chapman has a greenhouse, does tree
work and produces honey. Emma and Rhonda Weinke, Norma Emkes, and Carmen Bull have beauty shops in their homes.
The Gifford Locker Plant was established as a cooperative in 1948 to process and store frozen goods. It was for a time managed and later owned by Werner Roessler, and for a time he also did butchering in a plant at the south edge of town. Since Mr. Roessler's death, both the Locker Plant and the butchering have been taken over by Robert Glazik and his family.
GIFFORD FROZEN FOOD LOCKERS
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THE GIFFORD LOCKER PLANT - 1975
Left to night: Jeannie Gardner, Joe Glazik, Lena Duitsman, Regina Glazik, Robert Glazik and Audry Chapman
Courtesy of The Gifford Locker and Slaughter House Robert Glazik and Sons and Regina Gifford, Illinois
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THE COUNTRY HEALTH, INC., NURSING CARE CENTER - 1975
The Country Health Nursing Care Center may or may not belong in this section of our book, but in one sense it is a business. The Center was con- ceived in 1967 and received its first two patients in January, 1970. It has a capacity of 97 residents and is licensed by the State as a "skilled care" facility- the highest rating awarded by the State. It is oper- ated as a not-for-profit humanitarian agency, and it is a unique institution for a town the size of Gifford.
The Hicksgas Fertilizer Plant has been on the north corner since 1963 and they were preceded by Paul Cler's gas and fertilizer business. It was Paul Cler who ran a system of pipes through the town and provided LP gas for the heating of homes and
businesses. This distribution system was taken over by the Northern Illinois Gas Company in 1966 and converted to natural gas which comes by pipe line from the oil fields of Texas.
To venture only a mile or so from town, Carl and Frieda Mennenga are both in business, in addi- tion to their farming. He is a distributor for DeKalb Seed Corn and she is the representative for Stanley Home Products. Mr. and Mrs. Chris Rocker operate a modern egg farm with thousands of hens produc- ing eggs by the case.
Now, whom did 1 leave out . .. ? Who? Well, sorry about that! ! ! 1
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THE HICKSGAS BUILDING - 1975 Courtesy of HICKSGAS GIFFORD, Inc. Gifford, Illinois
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Service Agencies
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THE OLD "FIRE TRUCK" This is the kind of fire protection we had in the "good old days"-a chemical tank which held perhaps 50 gallons of water mounted on a two-wheeled hand cart. Left to right: Werner Roessler, Doyle Curtis and "Tex" Lewis Courtesy of THE BANK OF RANTOUL Rantoul, Illinois
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HISTORY OF GIFFORD FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT
The Gifford Fire Protection District was cre- ated by a special election held in late 1947. Wayne Stonestreet, Fred Mennenga and John H. Franzen were appointed by the County Judge to head that District.
The Department did not become operational until April 9, 1948, after the purchase and delivery of a high pressure pumper from the John Bean Cor- poration. Six men-Frank Fox, Doyle Curtis, Fred Mennenga, Jack Bouse, Wayne Stonestreet and Wer- ner Roessler-received factory training at Lansing, Michigan, with the new truck and became the nu- cleus of the new fire department. In addition to the above mentioned, twelve more men formed the eighteen-man fire department. They were Russell Burdette, Melvin Roessler, Ernest Hein, Eugene Hoch, William Johnson, Herman Ackerman, Lloyd
Filkin, Dr. M. W. Tempero, John Harper, Ira (Tex) Lewis, Arthur Busboom and Loren Walston.
Jack Bouse was selected by those firemen to serve as the first Fire Chief with Fred Mennenga as his Assistant Chief. Space was rented in the newly constructed Locker Plant to house the truck and to serve as a meeting room.
Over the years more trucks and equipment were acquired, making it necessary to find larger quarters, so the present building was constructed in 1957 and 1958 and dedicated formally with an open house on July 27, 1958. Jack Bouse was suc- ceeded by Werner Roessler as Chief and later on by the present Chief, Joe Curtis. The department now has four trucks-two pumpers and two water tankers manned by twenty-nine firemen.
Of the original eighteen firemen only Loren Walston, Jack Bouse and John Harper are still mem- bers of the department, Loren and John as assistant chiefs and Jack as a trustee.
GIFFORD FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT
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THE FIRST FIRE TRUCK AND VOLUNTEERS
Front row, left to right: Lloyd Filkin, Herman Acker- man, Loren Walston, Ernest Hein, Bill Johnson, Frank Fox
Back row: Arthur Busboom, Werner Roessler, Melvin Roessler, Eugene Hoch, John Harper, "Tex" Lewis, Doyle Curtis, Fred Mennenga, and Wayne Stonestreet
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ES
ILLINI FSIc farm-home coster
Courtesy of ILLINI FS, Inc. - Champaign and Douglas Counties 1509 East University, Urbana, Illinois
Present Fire Department Roster
Trustees: Ernest J. Huls, Glen Reynolds, Jack Bouse Fire Chief: Joe Curtis Assistant Chiefs: Loren Walston, John Harper
Firemen
Lee Albers
Marshall Huls
Robert Baker
Charles Huls
Robert Buenting
Al Hoveln
Ron Duden
John Emkes
Stan Kopmann
John Wicnke
Eldon Hesterberg
Melvin Wilken
Karl Hesterberg
Lowell (Pete) Watson
Robert Hesterberg Dan Hoch
Norman Rademacher
Jon Bouse
Glen Yeazel
Charles Gehrt
Eugene Vermillion
Paul Severins
James Martin
Glen Roberson
Ray Busboom
James Peck
ELECTRIC SERVICE
The Central Illinois Public Service Company brought its lines into Gifford in 1928 and 1929. Before that kerosene lamps were the standard source of light. Some buildings (1 recall the Methodist Church in particular) had carbide lights, and some families had gasoline mantle lamps.
A few families "up on the hill"-the Morses, the Hamiltons, the Axtells and perhaps others-had a private system of electric lights. It consisted of a gasoline-powered generator with a whole room full of batteries. They'd charge up the batteries every day and enjoy the luxury of electric lights every night. They were really livin'.
TELEPHONE SERVICE
So far as is known, telephone service has always been provided by companies outside of Gifford, generally headquartered in Rantoul. At present it is provided by the Eastern Illinois Telephone Com- pany with an automatic, essentially impersonal dial- ing system. Memory reverts to the "good old days" of party lines and real, live, human operators.
"Central" would answer when you turned the crank on your wall phone. Like as not she'd com- ment on the weather, or visit for a moment, then she'd "plug you in" and ring your party-two longs and a short, or whatever.
Party lines had their disadvantages, of course; but they were personal, friendly, kind of intimate things, and good in many ways. If I heard your
"ring" on my phone and if I knew you were not at home, I could pick up my receiver and tell the caller where to reach you, perhaps.
So far as can be recalled, the following women have been operators at Gifford: Fern Davis, Lottie Siddens, Ora Stewart, Maudie Alcorn, Mina Mc- Donald, Opal Funkhouser Schrader, Maggie Swan, and Nellie Harper.
WATER PLANT AT GIFFORD IS APPROVED "Courier" - July 29, 1961
Voters gave the go-ahead for constructing a water works and water distribution system for Gif- ford. They overwhelmingly approved a $60,000 general obligation bond issue to help finance the project.
Of the 247 persons who went to the polls, 220 voted for issuing the bonds and 19 voted against. There were eight spoiled ballots.
Total cost of the project has been estimated at $154,340. It is planned to issue $94,340 in revenue bonds to make up the difference, with revenue from the system going to pay off these bonds.
The proposition that was approved provided that the general obligation bonds may not be sold at a greater maximum interest rate than four and seven-eighths per cent per annum.
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