Day in history for October 3, 2003

1853 -- 150 years ago

Dark, ill-ventilated cells in the county jail are a disgrace. One man is entitled to pity. His only crime is that he is insane and is confined in one of those dark, loathsome felon cells and has been for more than a year. His friends ought to find some better place to confine him.

1878 -- 125 years ago

John Bengston has purchased the Charles Ritter property in the rear of his drugstore and will replace the frame building with a handsome business block.

1903 -- 100 years ago

Jessie Cherry, one of the four famous sisters, whose last local appearance was at the Watch Tower summer theater three seasons ago, is dead in Hot Springs, Ark.

1928 -- 75 years ago

E.C. Eberhart was reelected commander of the Rock Island American Legion Post.

1953 -- 50 years ago

Plenty of men available, girls. Strictly for dancing, however. About 20 persons showed up for the first social dancing class at Washington Junior High School, which is sponsored by the adult education program. Of the 20, 15 were men. Enrollments are still being accepted, preferably girls.

1978 -- 25 years ago

For 54 years, the city of Geneseo has been watched over by a fish. Perched high atop the city's 150-foot water tower is a sunfish weather vane. In 1904, two years after the construction of the water tower, the firm of Hannan, Kidney, and Ryan Hardware Store And Tin Shop hand-hammered the fish out of sheet metal.

Back: Available days in October 2003