Our Town: We really did have significant snow for the Christmas season, albeit decades ago

The arrival of the new year 1921 was a bleak one for the City of O’Fallon. Municipal finances were in shambles and cash on hand meager.

On Jan. 13 of that year, the Progress presented a grim report.

“The city council is facing a serious problem at the present time and unless the unexpected turns up the city will be up against a real proposition financially.

“To conserve on the present meager income the council has already confined their meetings to one a month instead of two and in other ways conceived plans to cut down expenses.

“In spite of all this the city treasury continues on the decline with the result that it has a balance of about $150 at the present time to meet current expenses. With the city’s indebtedness of $7,000 and with last year’s taxes wiped out to meet current expenses the council has some tough sledding, and is at a loss to devise means to continue the city’s affairs in a satisfactory manner.

“One of the aldermen advises the Progress that these conditions would be far better if the licenses as imposed on various business houses would be forthcoming in a more satisfactory manner, some of the merchants refusing to pay on technical grounds, he said.

“This alderman informs us that unless conditions become improved shortly it will only be a matter of time when the street lighting may have to be dispensed with, much to the dislike of the council members.

“At the last meeting of the council the office of city marshal was discontinued until funds are available to pay the officer’s salary. These are the conditions the council faces and if there is some mathematician let him come forward.

“The council has practically done all in their power to keep above board, but without available funds their hands are tied.”

Things did eventually get better, but the city certainly traveled a rough road for a while over a century ago.

75 years ago, Dec. 30, 1948

It was truly a white Christmas for O’Fallon and this section of the state under a covering of nearly five inches of snow.

Despite snow and resulting ice-covered streets, under a four-above zero temperature, it failed to dampen the yuletide spirit locally although travel was impeded by the hazardous condition of highways.

Despite uncertain predictions, snow began falling about 2 o’clock Friday afternoon and before evening reached blizzard proportions.

Travel on highways was extremely dangerous, the white flakes packing solidly and with a freezing temperature became a solid ice mass. The mercury began to drop rapidly with intermittent snow flurries and by Christmas morning the temperature was down to 4 above zero, the coldest of the present season.

The snowfall was the heaviest Christmas snow cover in this area since 1915 when there was an eight-inch fall, according to the St. Louis weather bureau.

It was the first white Christmas since 1945.

Occasional snow flurries sprinkled carolers and midnight mass worshipers at St. Clare’s Catholic church. Despite the unfavorable weather the church was crowded to capacity.

Similarly, the morning services at the Evangelical and Reformed church were largely attended as well as the Christmas program in the evening. Other Protestant churches had their yuletide services the previous Sunday.

Due to the heavy freeze on Christmas day, travel remained hazardous on the highways and streets over Sunday, resulting in many automobiles skidding and running into ditches, although no serious accidents locally were reported.

With a bright sunshine and a more moderate temperature traffic began to return to normal, Monday. Tuesday there was an all-day rain and with an above-freezing temperature the snow and ice disappeared, followed by strong winds and colder weather yesterday.

50 years ago, Dec. 27, 1973

With the pre-Christmas snow storm of 14-inches barely melted away, another snowfall began early Wednesday afternoon.

The new snow is expected to accumulate anywhere from one to three inches in depth and may become another traffic congestion-maker.

It all started harmlessly last Wednesday morning with a rain shower shortly before 6 a.m.

After the 6 a.m. mark, the rain became white stuff and the entire area was blanketed with an early white Christmas.

Two and one-half inches of snow fell in an hour’s time and the fall continued through the night and into Thursday.

People were either late to work Wednesday and Thursday or didn’t dare try for fear of getting stuck. And once stuck, the task of getting out was a difficult one. Local towing services were flooded with calls all day Wednesday and Thursday.

Waiting lists, according to the towing firms, ran into the hundreds, with many stranded drivers being advised to call another service if one was too busy.

Many drivers had to wait up to four hours after calling for a truck to see one eventually arrive. Fred Medler, owner of Fred’s Standard, said he sold out of snow tires during the two-day period. He was also quite busy getting people unstuck.

“We just couldn’t keep up with the towing. There were at least a hundred calls that we couldn’t answer—all asking to be towed. I’m really sorry we couldn’t get to them,” Medler said.

Medler added that he had five men working through the night Wednesday to install snow tires and answer towing calls.

A spokesman for Huller Ford reported the same kind of action during the two-day storm. The establishment having sold out of snow tires, was very busy changing tires and towing stuck cars.

Highways in the area were clogged for a couple of days. Hardest hit were Illinois route 4 north of Lebanon and U. S. 50 east of O’Fallon and east of Lebanon. Both highways were closed off and on during the two-day storm due to jack-knifed trucks and stranded cars.

Trucks and cars left abandoned were sitting along the highways and made passage difficult.

Local street and highway departments found it difficult to keep up with the deluge of snow but good work was done by the city and township street and road departments in the O’Fallon area.

Workers said that the amount of traffic on the roads during the storm and the cold temperatures made it difficult for quick plowing to be done. The cold temperatures hampered the melting process of the chemicals put on the roads.

The O’Fallon street department reported using 30 tons of salt on local thoroughfares. All the streets in the city, according to the department, were plowed at least once with local trucks.

The state highway department reported using 2,000 tons of salt and chemicals on the highways Friday. A spokesman for the department said cold temperatures and heavy traffic made it difficult for some highways to clear off as well as others.