1920: Prohibition had O’Fallon busted

In May 1920, the city of O’Fallon was effectively broke. It had already blown through the tax money it received for the current year and found itself in debt by $4,000 — a lot of money for a small town back then.

A big part of the problem was Prohibition, which shut down the local saloons and dried up the license revenue that went with them to the tune of $6,500 annually. To save money, the City Council even decided to start meeting once, instead of twice, a month.

It was going to be “tough sledding” for a while. A lot of things just didn’t get done, including keeping the streets and alleys presentable. Weeds grew high, gutters weren’t cleaned, and potholes weren’t filled. Finally, in September a distress call went out. Anyone with a day or two, or even a few hours, to spare was asked to sign up as a volunteer worker to help clean things up. And they did — no pay but the satisfaction of knowing they helped their town in a time of need.

75 years ago Sept. 24, 1942

The third year of O’Fallon’s Grade School Safety Patrol got off to a good start last week when a new group of Grade School boys wearing John Brown belts began patrolling intersections and crossings used by school children. O’Fallon was one of the first cities in this section to inaugurate the Safety Patrol, through the efforts of the Rotary Club and American Legion and Auxiliary. The boys chosen for the patrol are honor students, and are picked for their ability as leaders.

50 years ago Sept. 21, 1967

A safety check of cars at O’Fallon Township High School for issuance of parking permits showed 27 of 163 checked to have defects. The check was conducted Monday and Tuesday mornings by Don Holmes, driver training director, to comply with a school board order requiring a check to have a parking permit. Most of the defects were for such as signal lights, brake lights and head lights.

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 8:18 AM with the headline "1920: Prohibition had O’Fallon busted."