Month: September 2026

Dayton Society Doings

Candace W Leave a comment

 

DAYTON WOMAN’S CLUB HAS ENJOYABLE MEETING

Mrs. E. C. McClary and Miss Jennie Barnes were hostesses Wednesday afternoon to twenty-five ladies at the regular meeting of the Dayton Woman’s club. A business session was held at which various topics for the annual bazaar to be held on Oct. 24, were discussed. Six tables were placed and the guests indulged in playing bunco. Mrs. W. B. Fleming won high score while Mrs. Zeta Bogard won the consolation prize.
At 4:30, a delicious lunch was served by the hostesses. The hall was prettily decorated with fall flowers and autumn leaves. The guests adjourned at five o’clock.

Card Party Held

The Dayton Woman’s club entertained Friday evening with a card party. Seven tables were occupied at euchre and six at bunco. the game started at eight o’clock and continued until ten. A lunch was served by the committee in charge, after which dancing took place. Mrs. Samuel Nash and Mrs. Mary Buckley high in bunco.

Move to Ottawa

Mr. and Mrs. Roy McAlpine and son have removed to Ottawa, where they will reside the coming winter. Harry McKibbin and family of Wedron, will occupy the house made vacant by the former.

To Entertain Club

Miss Maude Green and Mrs. Nettie Masters will entertain the members of the Dayton Women’s club at the regular meeting to be held on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 17 in the clubhouse.

Dayton Briefs

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Nash motored to Hennepin, Ill., Sunday to visit with relatives and friends.

Mrs. Addie Thompson spent the week-end in Ottawa with friends.

Mr. and Mrs. Van Etten of Mendota were business callers in Dayton Sunday.

Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Roth and son and Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Hypes of Ottawa spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. M. Keenan and family.

Miss Jennie Fraine who teaches school in Marseilles spent the weekend at her home here.

Passengers to Ottawa Saturday by train were Mrs. John Garcia, Mrs. Wm. Ryan and two children, Misses Emma and Jennie Fraine, Muriel Brown and Andrew Tepfer.

The Dayton Woman’s club have planned to hold another card party in their hall Friday evening.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Keenan attended the Majestic theatre in La Salle Sunday evening. They were accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Roth and son William of Ottawa.

Samuel Nash has a car load of Red River Early Ohio potatoes on C. B. & Q. track, back of the store.

Mrs. Bryan Sexton and family spent Tuesday in Ottawa with the former’s mother, Mrs. Jensen. She was accompanied by Miss Edith Reynolds.

James MacGrogan left Thursday morning for Davenport, Iowa, where he will visit relatives.

A new fire escape has been erected on the west side of the Dayton school.

Mrs. Gladys Lattimore and children are spending a couple of weeks at one of the camps here.

Mr. and Mrs. George Bennett called on friends in Wallace township Tuesday evening.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kleiber, Jr., and two children spent Monday evening with Mr. and Mrs. Keenan and family.

Mrs. Paul Schmidt, Mrs. Zeta Bogard, west of Dayton, Mrs. S. Canfield, Rutland, Mrs. Baldridge, Marseilles, Mrs. Rush Green and Mrs. Anna Lormis of Dayton were guests at the meeting of the Woman’s club Wednesday.

Harry Tanner called in Streator Friday on business.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Tepfer are spending a couple of weeks in Burlington, Iowa.

Columbus day was observed by the Dayton school, the children enjoyed a day’s vacation. The teachers, Miss Emma Fraine and Mr. Stangeland attended a teacher’s meeting in Ottawa.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cummings of Ottawa called in Dayton Sunday.
Frank Brown is spending a few days assisting his brother, Wells, in Ottawa.
Mrs. Mary Buttolph of Ottawa spent Friday at home.
Mrs. William Ryan spent Friday in Grand Ridge with Mrs. F. H. Lehr.1
  1. Ottawa Daily Republican Times, October 15, 1928, p. 10. cols. 4-7.

Wheels Turn at New Power Plant in Dayton

Candace W Leave a comment

The new dam at Dayton, four miles north of Ottawa, and the big hydro electric plant with its turbines literally grinding out electric power represent the culmination of a dream of Ralph Green and Tom Bellrose of Ottawa, who in their minds pictured just such a scene a dozen or more years ago.

The new dam also represents the materialization of a dream of Fred Breit of Chicago, the man who organized the North Counties Hydro Electric Company, the operators of the power property. Work on the big dam was started last summer. The first power was carried over wires to Ottawa one day last week.

Away back in 1830 John Green, grandfather of Ralph Green, came to Illinois from Ohio seeking a suitable place to use water power, and he decided Dayton was an ideal spot. He started the first dam there. About ten years later the state took over the project from Mr. Green and built the old state dam, used to feed water to the I and M Canal, delivering water until 1904, at which time the dam washed out.

During the early days of the old dam, a woolen mill was operated at Dayton, deriving its power from the water there. This woolen mill was discontinued about 1855,1 and from that time until the old state dam washed out the power was used to operate brick and tile works.

About 1909 Tom Bellrose and Ralph Green and Robert Rowe of Sheridan began making plans for securing riparian rights along the Fox river from Dayton to Sheridan, believing that this part of the river was ideal for the development of water power which might be used in the making of electricity. It so happened that Fred Breit of Chicago came to Dayton to fish, and he, too, was impressed with the possibilities of water power there. The result was that he got together with the other men and today the new Dayton dam of the North Counties Hydro Electric company is an established fact. Fred Breit is one of the principal owners of the North Counties Hydro Electric company.

power plant and dam at Dayton

A 30-foot dam has been built across the river, developing a 29 foot head of water, which backs up the river a distance of about three and one half miles. A mill race has been put in and an electric power plant built. This plant has machinery of 5,500 horse power, there being two turbines developing 1,259 kilowatt each, and one developing 2,100 kilowatt.

The Illinois Light and Power corporation has contracted for the power, and high power lines have been strung from Dayton to that company’s Ottawa plant, the lines being 33,000 voltage. Power developed at the new Dayton plant is already coming to Ottawa.

The plant at Dayton is equipped with the latest machinery and when running at full capacity will develop about 5,000 kilowatts of electricity. About 1000 kilowatts are now being sent to Ottawa. Additional machinery has been put up at the Ottawa plant to handle the current coming in from Dayton, and Charles Hahn, superintendent of light and power, says that with this additional current and the manner of handling it, any protracted interference or interruption of power from his plant should now be eliminated.2

  1. Actually, it wasn’t until 1873, but I’ll make allowances.
  2. Daily Republican Times, March 24, 1925, p. 10.

Fire on Bogart’s Farm, 1874

Candace W Leave a comment

1

In August 1874, the Chicago Tribune reported a fire on the farm of Mr. Bogart, about half a mile west of Dayton. He was having his grain threshed with a portable steam engine. The operators usually burned coal, but there was none on hand and corncobs were used instead. About an hour later, sparks from the smoke‑stack ignited the straw stack, and the fire spread quickly, destroying the stack, a small barn, and a hog pen with twenty‑three hogs. The loss was estimated at about $500.

Threshing with steam power was still relatively new in the 1870s, and farmers often improvised with whatever fuel they had. Corncobs were a perfectly ordinary choice for many machines, but on this day the combination proved unlucky.

Pieter Boogerd and his wife, Stoffelina Van den Houghten, had arrived from the Netherlands only two years earlier, in 1872. Their first son was born just five months before the fire, in March 1874. Two more sons followed in 1876 and 1878. The family rebuilt after the fire, but their time together was short: Mr. Bogerd died in April 1879, leaving his wife with three young boys. Additional details about the family are available here.

The clipping captures only a single moment, but it sits inside a much larger story — one of immigration, hard work, misfortune, and resilience on the west side of Dayton.

  1. Chicago Tribune, August 20, 1874, p. 8.

Dayton Comings and Goings

Candace W Leave a comment

 

miss-fraine-among-passengers

Miss Fraine was a frequent passenger to Ottawa.

Miss Olive Draper of Wallace was the guest of Miss Edith Reynolds Friday.

Mr. and Mrs. E. C. McClary left Tuesday afternoon for an auto trip through the east.

Mrs. J. Damman of Ottawa called on Mrs. M. Keenan Friday afternoon.

Curtis Jerde is spending a couple of weeks with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Perry Starr in Bureau.

Passengers to Ottawa by train Saturday were Mrs. Wm. Fleming, Mrs. Jule Fraine and sons, Mrs. John Garcia, Mrs. Anna Lormis, Mrs. M. Keenan and daughter, Gertrude, Miss Emma Fraine, Mr. Tepher and Mr. Brown.

The McGrath brothers and their families of Chicago picked out their usual spot (the Meagher woods) and enjoyed a week’s vacation, camping. They returned home the first part of last week.

Mrs. Hoyland came down from Chicago Friday to spend a few days at the N. Parr home. Her daughter, Eileen, who spent the summer here, returned home with her mother Sunday.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Keenan and two daughters were dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. C. Cummings in Ottawa Sunday.

James and Emmett Gleeson and Howard Tanner will attend the Ottawa high school this year.

Louis Carr and Mrs. Edna McCloud of Batavia, Ill., spent Sunday in Dayton visiting the former’s mother, Mrs. John Garcia.

Mr. and Mrs. Jule Pitts and family of Joliet spent from Wednesday to Monday here.

Mr. and Mrs. Michael O’Brien and family of Chicago spent Tuesday with Mrs. Addie Thompson.

Mr. and Mrs. Chester Tepfer and daughter of Chicago were guests at the Andrew Tepfer home Saturday evening.

Mrs. Wm. Ryan became seriously ill Wednesday evening. She was removed to the home of her sister, Mrs. F. H. Lehr, in Grand Ridge. She is suffering an attack of hay fever.

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Springstead of Wedron called at the Fraine home Friday evening.

Andrew Tepfer is spending two weeks in Chicago with his son, Chester.

Misses Mary and Minnie Buttolph and son, Joe, spent Thursday with Mrs. Jule Fraine in Ottawa.

Wm. Ryan went to Chicago Wednesday for a few days visit.

Charles Nash of Hennepin, Ill., spent Sunday with his son, Samuel Nash.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Keenan called on Mr. and Mrs. Frank Doyle of Streator Saturday afternoon.

Mr. and Mrs. Allen Fleming and son, Marshall, of Aurora, called on the former’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Fleming, Wednesday.1

  1. Daily Republican Times, September 1, 1928, p. 6.

Robbery at the Dayton Postoffice

Candace W Leave a comment
Dayton store

The Dayton post office was in a corner of this store.

ROBBERS BREAK INTO DAYTON POSTOFFICE
BLANK MONEY ORDERS, STAMPS AND MONEY TAKEN
LOOTERS LEAVE NO CLEW
Office in Dayton Seems to be a Favorite Haunt of Thieves—Postmaster Made Discovery

Thieves made a return visit to the Dayton postoffice sometime Friday night, and appropriated an amount of money, a pad of money order blanks and several sheets of stamps to themselves. The robbery was committed sometime between 8 o’clock Friday evening and 6 o’clock Saturday morning.

Postmaster Brown, who operates a general store in connection with the postoffice, went to the place yesterday morning, but soon discovered that it did not require much effort to open the building. Some one had been there before him and had pried the spring lock off the front door.

The postmaster has given up the use of a safe, following long years of experience with numerous burglars. He always left the safe open at night, and kept the valuables in a strong metal box, which he enclosed in a sheet iron mail box. Each box had a separate lock and in that way there was no need of a night prowler smashing a perfectly good steel safe.

Postmaster Brown, who is the father of Wells and Frank Brown, the founders of the Brown cafe in this city, keeps his stamps, money order blanks and money in the strong box, but the looters made their getaway with the miniature safe after prying open the mailbox.

Mr. Brown claims that twelve dollars in cash were stolen and two sheets of two-cent stamps and thrity [sic] 25-cent stamps were also taken. Besides these, the robbers took a pad of one hundred money order blanks.

A warning is issued to the public not to accept money orders from strangers, without carefully examining the numbers. The numbers of the orders stolen from the Dayton postoffice were 2,109 to 3,200, inclusive.

The Dayton postoffice has been burglarized several times in the past few years and the village is now considered a mecca for light-handed men. Sheriff Mischke was notified of the robbery immediately after its discovery by the postmaster, and, together with Deputies William Mishke and Joe Hitter, went to Dayton to investigate the matter. No clew was left by the burglars.1

  1. The Free Trader, September 4, 1914, p. 11, col. 1