75 years ago: Pilot killed when Navy plane crashes at St. Clair County farm
Looking back at stories that appeared in the O’Fallon Progress 100, 75, and 50 years ago:
100 years ago, May 21, 1925
Despite the unpleasant weather a large crowd from this city and neighboring towns attended the formal dedication services of the Evangelical church Sunday.
The morning service was opened with a prelude by Mrs. F. J. Langhorst followed by a few brief remarks by Rev. F. J. Langhorst. Other numbers were a hymn by the choir; dedicatory prayer, pastor; solo, Miss Ernestine Tiedemann; scripture reading, Rev. C. R. Hempel; creed; song by choir; sermon by Rev. H. Niedernhoefer; song by choir; prayer and benediction; doxology.
The afternoon service which was conducted at 2:30 o’clock was as follows: prelude, Miss Edna Widicus; opening sentence; hymn; prayer; song by choir; scripture reading; solo, Miss Anita Meyer; song by quartette of Christ church, Belleville; sermon, Rev. R. Kofer; violin solo, Marie Schaefer; remarks by visiting pastors; hymn; benediction and prayer; doxology.
In the evening services were opened at 7:30 o’clock with a prelude by Russel Joseph; opening sentence; hymn; prayer; song by choir; scripture reading; solo, Miss Frieda Brockhahn; violin solo, Rev. R. Hohman; hymn; sermon, Rev. John Kreuzer; song by choir; prayer and benediction; doxology.
(The dedication marked the completion of the congregation’s renovation project, which included “the raising of the old structure and building a basement, erection of a new tower, and adding an entrance lobby and a restroom.”)
75 years ago, May 18, 1950
First Lieut. B. C. Allison, 28, of the U. S. Marine Base, El Toro, Calif., was killed when a Navy single seat jet fighter plane he was piloting crashed into a field and burned on the Mrs. Anna Gustemann farm, one and one-half miles south of Lebanon near Illinois Highway 43 at 2 o’clock last Thursday afternoon.
When the plane crashed it exploded, tearing a crater 20 feet deep, 20 feet long and 15 feet wide. Wreckage of the jet, which is said was in the 500-mile-an-hour speed class, was scattered over an area of several hundred yards. The mangled body of the pilot was taken to Scott Air Force Base and later removed to St. Louis.
The Scott crash crew, medical authorities and firemen rushed to the scene. Authorities of the Naval Air Station at Lambert Field, St. Louis also went to the scene as soon as it was learned that it was a Navy plane and identified the victim.
The dead pilot and his leader, Marine First Lieut. J. T. Murphy, were ferrying jet planes from Cherry Point, N. C., to El Toro when Alison became lost in the overcase in the vicinity of Lebanon. Murphy landed safely at Lambert Field about the same time the base received a report of the crash. Alison is survived by a wife and three children who live on the El Toro Base.
It was the second military plane crash in the Lebanon area in ten days, an army bomber, of Perrin Air Force Base, Texas, crashing April 30 in the city of Lebanon, resulting in the death of six men in the crew, wrecking a home and damaging another.
50 years ago, May 22, 1975
Home gardening is as popular as ever today, as evidenced by the success of Norbert Rapp’s rent-a-garden program. Rapp, R. R. 1, of O’Fallon, started his rent-a-garden business last year on four acres of ground he owned at the intersection of Illinois 158 and Shiloh-Wherry Rd. Rapp’s business was featured in the Progress last summer.
Last year, Rapp rented every plot to those who had no room for a garden on their own property. This year the results have gone beyond his greatest expectations. By January of this year, practically every plot on his property was rented and now every inch of ground is taken up by avid gardeners.
“People really enjoy gardening and many of the same people I rented to last year have returned to try again,” Rapp said.
Rapp said there were a couple of openings for gardens since some of the people renting were transferred to different military bases. Rapp, who works at McKendree College, said the harvest of crops last year was good. “With the dry season we had last year, things turned out rather well,” Rapp said.