Looking back at stories that appeared in the O’Fallon Progress 100, 75, and 50 years ago.
100 years ago, Apr. 24, 1924. With favorable weather, graders on the Lincoln Trail (Highway 50) are making unusual progress and should the present stride continue it will not be many weeks before the work of laying the concrete slab will be a reality.
“The greater portion of the heavy grading west of O’Fallon has been completed and the smaller fills are rapidly being placed in shape. A large force of men and teams with graders are working every day to rush the work to completion. East of O’Fallon the same speed predominates.
“Practically the largest grading job is that from the Silver Creek to Wright’s hill where the road will swing south of the Suburban tracks (East St. Louis & Suburban Railway) instead of continuing north, running east to the road leading north into Lebanon at the square. This work is on in earnest and the fill between the creek bridge to the Suburban line is more than half completed, the available ground coming from the big hill just east of Wright’s crossing.
“The hill has been cut down considerable and with favorable weather the grading at this point will be completed within the next few weeks. Only slight grading will be necessary through the creek bottom proper as this stretch of road is of sufficient width and in excellent shape.
“The road from Bennett’s (Rieder Road) east was closed Monday on account of the grading and traffic is diverted north of Bennett’s to the College Hill road. Work was begun this week on the laying of an additional switch along the L. & N. (Louisville & Nashville Railroad) parallel with the Suburban tracks, west of O’Fallon.
“This switch will have a capacity of 18 cars, this being the quota of material and cement required in a day when the contractor gets under way. A large storage shed has been completed near the site of the switch and five carloads of cement have already been unloaded. Similar sheds for storage are located at Orchard siding on the Suburban and material is arriving nearly daily.
“The contractor intends to begin laying concrete starting at the Cross Roads (Old Collinsville Road) west of O’Fallon, working to the unfinished portion, 4.5 miles west of here. On completion of this stretch the start will be made at the Cross Roads and coming east through O’Fallon. This work is expected to be completed not later than September 1st, when work on the road between O’Fallon and Lebanon is to be started. We understand that part of this section will be sublet to another contractor in order to finish the work in as short a time as possible.”
75 years ago, Apr. 28, 1949. The O’Fallon Chapter of Sportsmen’s Clubs is making elaborate preparations for its first activity of the spring season by sponsoring a coon dog free entry field trial and general family get-together at the club grounds and lake east of this city (off of Quarry Road), Sunday.
“A large number of coon dogs from near and distant points have already been listed for entry and the local organization is looking forward to a big all day affair. The heat begins at 10 a.m. (C.S.T.) or 11 o’clock daylight saving time. Awards will be in cash, trophies and ribbons. All kinds of refreshments, including hot fish, will be available on the grounds throughout the day. The club is inviting the public to attend and spend a delightful day at the lake and grounds.
“Proceeds from the affair will go toward restocking the lake with fish and other recreational facilities.”
50 years ago, Apr. 25, 1974. O’Fallon Township High School has been blessed with some outstanding spring sports teams this year.
“Baseball, track, tennis and golf have all done an excellent job in competition this year.
“The track team, with a perfect 10-0 record, has scored a total of 914 points against its opponents’ 401 points. The closest score this year was with OTHS against Wood River. The Panthers beat the Oilers by a score of 95.5-73. A total of 22 points is the closest any team has been able to get against OTHS.
“The track team had a field day last week against the Highland and Bethalto track teams. Those who saw the meet saw eight old OTHS school records broken during the meet. The 440-yard and 880-yard relay teams, both made up of Gary Kombrink, Daryl Shores, Don Obernuefemann and Mike Grandcolas, set new records in both relays.
“Grandcolas is a special addition to the track team. He broke his elbow while on the OTHS baseball squad this year and instead of taking it easy he decided to run track. He runs in the relays even with his arm in a cast. The mile relay team was another record-breaker last week when they trimmed nine-tenths of a second off the old school record with a mile time of 3:35.
“The battle between Paul Kish and John Perez, both of OTHS, seems like it will continue on for quite a while. Kish, earlier this year, set a new school record for his run in the two mile distance. But last week, Perez broke the record set by Kish with a time of 10:20. Kish’s time was 10:20.7.
“Perez also broke the record in the mile run with a time of 4:38. The old record, which had been standing since 1956, was 4:38.8. Bob Cryder, a name which strikes fear in the hearts of many track participants, is on his way to possibly setting a new state record for the shot put and discus throwing. Cryder broke his own records last week with a put of 57-ft, ½ inch and a discus throw of 160-ft, 1-1/2 inches. The state record for the shot put is 60-ft.
“Two new events in track and field competition this year are the triple jump and the 330-yard low hurdle run. The new record was broken last week by Tom Massengill with a triple jump of 38-ft., 10 inches and Doug Mathews who ran the 330-yard hurdle competition in 41.2 seconds.
“The track team, under the direction of head Coach Gary Bridell and coaches Bob Nesbit and Dennis Grimmer, have put together a real state contender this year. The tennis team has a chance to blast its way into state prominence also this year under the direction of their coach Jerry Koehler. The varsity squad as a team has an 11-1 record along with an undefeated doubles team of Ed Ito and Jim Pennington.
“The other doubles team of Bill Connor and Derek Harmon has a record of 9-2. The singles players, those who have to go at it alone on the green court, have a combined record of 24-9. Don Sea, a senior at OTHS, has the best overall record with 10 wins and only one loss. Scott Perkins has an 8-3 record and Kip Adkins is in the competition with a 6-5 record.”
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