Time Travel Back to This Week in 1953

We have many past issues of local newspapers and it is always fun to look back at what was happening.  I always like looking at the ads but also wish the prices were the same today!  I thought it would be fun to share the Princeville Telephone of February 26, 1953.   What was happening 60 years ago?  Here are some of the highlights:

Duncan Community Consolidated School District planned to begin construction of a new school in March. Akron and Princeville Townships held their caucuses and parties made their nominations. 

The Princeville Township Republicans nominated:
T.E. Murphy for supervisor, Harry Best for Town Clerk, William German for Assessor, Fern Moffitt for Collector, Stewart Campbell for Justice of the Peace and Joe Theobald for Constable

The Princeville TownshipDemocrats nominated:
Gilbert Adams for Town Clerk, Guy Sibley for Assessor, Francis Camp for Collector, Fred Jackson for Justice of the Peace and Pearl Mitchell for Constable

The Akron Township Republicans nominated:
Eddie Woertz as Town Clerk, LeRoy Gruner as Assessor, Lucille Camp as Tax Collector, Jess Camp and Charles Frye as Justice of the Peace.

The second page had quite a list of local happenings keeping track of the comings and goings of local residens.  You can get great gas mileage with a Chevrolet purchased at Graves.  Do you remember what was playing at the local movie theater in 1953?  Well, Ronald Reagan was the star in Tropic Zone.  Cattle Town, Hiawatha and Meet Me at the Fair were also advertised.

The next page has some more local news.  Elma Crady and John Knell were married.  Their attendants were her sister and brother and law, Mr. and Mrs. Keith Gibson.  The ushers were Ralph Miller, George Lanier, Clayton Larson and Floyd Mummert.  Carmelitta Chapin of Edelstein was engaged to Lynville Eberle of Princeville.  CILCO (predecessor of Ameren) was advertising a "water hotter". 

The Radnor Grange served over 200 people at the Oyster Supper sponsored by their Home Economics Committee.  The committee consisted of Frances Felton, Irene Maddox and Inez DePue.  The is also news from LaPrairie and Laura.  If you needed to get to Dunlap, you could ride the Greyhound bus for 20 cents!!

I hope you enjoyed your time travel back to 1953.  I realize that you may not be able to read the fine print.  But, the newspaper itself can be viewed at the museum.  If you would like to view the newspaper, just stop in and ask us!

Princeville High School Senior Class Trip - 1953

The other day, while cataloging a donation from the estate of Damon Griswold, I found this photo tucked in the stack of yearbooks.  I thought this was a great photo to share on the blog.  Many of these seniors and their families still live in the Princeville area and will be celebrating their 60th high school reunion this year.  I big thank you to Audrey Whittaker who identified all these students. 

The students of Princeville High School Class of 1953 who went to Palmer House in Chicago for their senior class trip were:

Front Row (left to right):  Mary Lou Kuntz, Doris Martin, Dorothy Miller, Marilyn Stahl, Shirley Rench, Helen Johnston, Mary Springer and Louise Grundler (faculty member)

Second Row:  Roy Goins, Connie Smith, Sharon Burk, Sharon Sniff, Sherman Hawley, Terry Sutherland, Ruth Kraft and Bette Nuss

Third Row:  Orlyn (Richard) Routh, Charles Richoz, Jerry Pullen, Margaret Moody, Charlene Chapin, Jean Fairfield, Phyllis Larson, Harold Herrmann
Fourth Row:  Ray Morrissey, John Leuthold, Arden Smith, Ray Crooks, Alvin (Clifford) Lawrence, Norman Streitmatter, Arden Pullen, Don Slane.
Back Row:  William Cordis (superintendant), Sherm Cornish (Bus Driver), Damon Griswold (faculty)

Princeville Boy Scouts

The first official Boy Scout troop in Princeville was in 1926, sponsored by the PTA.  Scouting has always been strong in Princeville.  Twenty-six men have served as Scoutmasters in the 80+ years that scouting has been in Princeville.  To honor this history, the museum has a display of scouting memorabilia including badges, photos, books and equipment.  Stop in to see our collection.

I wanted to share with you two of the troop photos that we have in our archives.  The first photo was taken in the 1940s.  We do know all of the names in the photo and could use your help.  If you know any of the unnamed boys or the ones we aren't sure about, please email phmarchives@frontier.com.

Back row: (left to right) George McManus, Jr., Frank Kraft, Earl Hietter, ________, ________, Dan Hyde, Dwane Camp, Wayne Miller and Penny Williams.
Front row: (left to right) Jim Montgomery, Mike McManus, Jim Weaver (?), Harold Friedman, Marv Graves (?), Francis Owens, ____________, ____________, __________.

The 1974 First Presbyterian Church directory had this photo of the Boy Scout Troop.

Front Row: (left to right) Robbie Fay, Ronald Goffrier, Jeff German, Eric Blank, Kyle Ness, David German.

Back Row: (left to right) Ted Goffrier, Tom Sheets, Pat Rogers, Gary Burns, Joe Hyde, Doug Swiger, Scout Master Ted Goffrier.

New Display Cases Donated from Hoppler's Jewlery Store

The museum recently received a donation of display cases from Hoppler's Jewelry Store in Chillicothe.  The display cases will be used in the new toy display area.  We recently added a larger meeting room on the west side of building one and will be using the current meeting room space as an area devoted to the display of children's toys and games. 

Here is a link to a recent article in the Peoria Journal Star which tells the story of how we received this generous donation.  A big thank you to our volunteer Roy Maguire and his family for all their hard work!

Click Here for Link to PJ Star Article

Join us on Wednesday, January 14 for the official ribbon cutting of the new museum meeting room.  We will be hosting a community coffee that day from 8:00 am to 10:30 am with the ribbon cutting at 8:00 am.  The new display cases will be set up in the new toy display area.  All are welcome to the community coffee!!

Princeville Holiday Tournament - 1930

This year is the 85th year for Princeville High School Holiday Tournament.  We believe it is the oldest annual holiday tournament in the State of Illinois.  The tournament has been the week following Christmas.  In the past few years, the PHS girls basketball team has also hosted a tournament on the same days as the boys tournament.  This year, the tournament started yesterday and runs through December 28. 

To coincide with the Holiday Tournament, we thought it would be fun to share a program from the 1930 - 1931 Holiday Tournament.  The tournament ran from December 31, 1930 to January 3, 1931.  This would have been the 3rd year the tournament was in existence.   In 1931, Princeville placed second in the tournament, losing to East Peoria.  Teams in the tournament included East Peoria, Chillicothe, Elmwood, Toulon, Glasford, Princeville, Dunlap and Brimfield.
Do you remember any of the businesses at the bottom of the program?  Miller's Cafe which also advertises it sells candy and cigars.  German's Billiards Parlor also had a full-service fountain.  The Telephone was the weekly newspaper that brought all the important local news.  Murphy's Cafe was located on the north side of the 100 block of East Main Street.

The program is from the collection of Dorothy Harrison Westefer. It was donated to the museum by her daughter, Nancy Westefer. 

Princeville Girl Scouts Mid 1920s

A recent genealogy request led us to dig up this photo.  This is a photo of the Princeville Girls Scouts circa 1920s.  What a great group of girls!  As with many of our old photos, you will recognize many of the well known family surnames of former and current Princeville families.  Handwritten on the  back of the photo the girls are identified as follows:

Front Row: Ruth Henry, Vivian Vogel, Thelma Fredell, Eleanor Matthews, Virginia Henson, Gladys Muller, Elizabeth Gray.

Second Row:  Eleanor Streitmatter, Glyda Swisher, Mary Auten, Margaret Friedman, Berna Best, Jane Auten, Helen Weaver, Grace (last name illegible), Earlene Weaver.  Please note that there are more girls in this row than names.

Third Row:  Helen Callery, Ina Kelly, Zoe Best, Clara Campbell, Elva Hines, Mrs. Haley, Virginia Rice, Eloise Bliss, Franchon Hammer, Eileen Aten, Miss Driscoll, Fern Arnold, Helen Walliker, Doris McWhorter.

Fourth Row:  Helen Potter, Shirley Stumpf, Vivian Stowell, Ethelyn Walliker, Gwendolyn Henson, Frances Simmons, Mary Campbell, Josephine Slane, Veneta Gruner, Nola Arnold.

The photo is from the Eleanor Matthews collection.

Princeville High School Class of 1935

We recently had a genealogy inquiry which involved digging up this photo.  Since I had the photo out, I thought I would share it with the blog world.  This is the Princeville Community High School Class of 1935.  There were 19 graduates that year under W.R. Cordis, Superintendent.  Many of these individuals continued to work and live in the Princeville area after graduation.  The graduates included James Potter, Edwin Schaad, Eleanor Matthews, Ruth Ricketts, Earl Oertley, Glenn Giffin, Lucille Roach, Robert DeBord, Edith Streitmatter, Leona Zaverl, George Black, Josephine Slane, Ferdie Williams, Russell Stumpf, Robert Ward, Helen Bouton, Donald Carter, Helen Turner and Edwin Burns. 

We have volunteers who assist with genealogy inquiries. The museum does have a lot of old photos, yearbooks, newspapers, obituaries and scrapbooks which have invaluable amount of information about local people, places and businesses.