Forty Years Ago

Short item seen in the Sept. 22, 1966, Review: “Welborn Dimmit, former Superintendent of Schools here, recently attended a sales conference of Knowledge Books in Tarrytown, N.Y.” With a name like Welborn Dimmit he probably had to do a lot of traveling.

Old news to oldsters, maybe a lift of the eyebrows to others. Every October the Forest Park pool was emptied of people and stocked with fish-namely, trout. This resident-only affair gladdened the hearts of every fisher person here. Daily limit, two fish per angler. All fish caught were keepers. Fees: a buck a day for adults: 50 cents for grade schoolers.

From the Sept./Oct. 1966 issues of the Forest Park Review

Thirty Years Ago

Here we go again. Precious little hard news here from the mid-70s. What’s a re-capper of things past to do? Go for the soft news, or the non-news, or sing four bars of “I Got Those No News Blues”? So put on your crash helmet and buckle your seat belts.

We’re blasting back to the local headlines of October, 1976!

Plant Sale at Zoo? Clancy Wants Debate? League Will Discuss Desegregation? Post Office Closed Monday? Happenings at Altenheim Old People’s Home? Polka with Frankie Yankovic? Teen Club Paper Drive? Square Dance Set for Oct. 16? Roy Sansone’s Perfect Birthday Gift? East Homecoming is On? Marunde Office Open? Library to Close for Redecorating?

From the Sept./Oct. 1976 issues of the Forest Park Review

Twenty Years Ago

“Didn’t it rain, children?” Oh my, did it rain. You’re looking at the waters of Elgin Avenue that covered the sidewalks of Elgin Avenue and part of the front lawns after an October downpour in 1986. Cemeteries were flooded, too. As well as the swollen Des Plaines River which rose to within a couple inches of touching the underside of the Madison St. bridge. River, stay away from my door.

It was 10:30 on an unscheduled night out for residents of the 900 block of Harlem Avenue. A tank truck carrying 900 gallons of gasoline was side-swiped by a hit-and-run motorist at Lexington and came to a stop in front of the Go-Tane station at Harvard, leaking badly. It wasn’t long before several minor accidents resulted from the slick conditions.

Fire and police personnel sped to the scene, along with help from the Oak Park Fire Department. While some of the spill found its way into sewers, much of it remained on the roadway, requiring 50 gallons of foam to reduce the chance of fire. Residents were told to leave their homes. The Mohr Oil Co. helped locate and manually shut off the rig’s safety valve, stopping the flow, while a licensed EPA waste hauler drew the spillage from the sewers, and pronounced the area safe. By 2:30 a.m. all “evacuees” retired to their beds and firefighters got back to their station as dawn was breaking.

From the Oct. 1986 issues of the Forest Park Review

Ten Years Ago

Two weeks ago, we left you with a couple of local show biz glitches. Here’s a couple more. “Rose Tattoo” was the play, Circle Theater was the playhouse and David Bussey was the actor who got held up in traffic. The play got under way late and time came for Bussey’s character, a doctor, to appear. Director Tyson Perry came to the fore and announced to everyone in the theater that, “She lost the baby,” which had nothing to do with the story line. As soon as he walked off, Bussey arrived.

Rosana Dinsmore, playing pit piano during “Finian’s Rainbow,” tells of a touching dance between Og, the leprechaun, and Diana Giesler. During one of the lifts Diana’s tutu became ensnared in Og’s fly, and it was crotch to crotch for an embarrassingly long time. Dinsmore said it was like some crazy Lucille Ball sketch.

From the Sept./Oct. 1996 issues of the Forest Park Review