100 years ago: Fire department rings in New Year with well-attended masked ball
100 years ago, Jan. 7, 1926
An unusually large crowd attended the twenty-first annual New Year’s Eve mask ball of the fire department at Moonlight Hall last Thursday night. Ideal weather prevailed and many visitors from nearby cities were in attendance and renewed old acquaintances.
Quite a number of maskers were on the floor and entertained the spectators on the sidelines. Masks were removed at 10 o’clock and awards were made to Willa Holliday, Lorine Reaka, Thelma and Cleola, for best group; Glen Finn, best gent character; Alice Murphy, best comic lady and Kelso Cartwright, of East St. Louis, best comic gent.
The floor was then cleared and dancing, which was enjoyed by young as well as old, was enjoyed until the wee hours of the New Year.
The ball was on the second floor of what is now the Peel Pizza building at First and Cherry in Downtown O’Fallon.
75 years ago, Jan. 4, 1951
Loss of property in the City of O’Fallon for 1950 dropped to $1,245, according to a year-end report issued today by Fire Chief Elton Dressel.
The loss in the rural area served by the O’Fallon-Shiloh Valley-Caseyville Township district, was $20,350. The loss in each district shows a substantial reduction from that of 1949.
In 1949 the O’Fallon city loss was $2,430 while the rural loss was $112,060. The high O’Fallon-Shiloh Valley-Caseyville Township loss resulted from a big fire during 1949 at the St. Ellen mine.
Dressel’s 1950 report showed 14 runs in the city. Three of them were automobile fires, one a power mower, two resulted from sparks and two were rubbish fires. Of significance was the absence of weed fires, usually a real danger during the fall season. Three things were believed responsible for the lack of weed fires: a damp fall, public education to their danger, and the fact that many of the vacant lots in town have been built on in recent years.
In 1950 building loss by fire amounted to $1,100 and contents, $145. In rural fires, building losses amounted to $12,050 and contents, $8,300. Sixteen runs were made in the rural district, including one arson case, four automobiles, and one each of the following: weed, rubbish, tractor, overheated motor, defective flue, overheated stove, a tree fire and unknown. Two fires were started by lightning. Two barn fires accounted for $16,500 of the total loss. These were at the Clarence Boedecker and Lester Kuhlmann farms.
The year saw the addition of two new modern pieces of fire fighting equipment. Both the city and the outlying fire districts received delivery on new pumpers to replace old and obsolete machines. In addition, the disaster unit was equipped with a portable light plant.
50 years ago, Jan. 8, 1976
The new O’Fallon sanitary sewer plant located east of the city will begin operation early next week, according to City Engineer Dave Davis. Davis told the council Monday night that the plant would be put into operation either next Monday or Tuesday.
One tank will be started up next week. The tank has a capacity of treating 1.5 million gallons of waste. The second tank will be put into operation soon afterwards. When the tanks are started next week, it will bring to a close approximately two years of construction of the new plant.
In March, 1973, the city approved a bond issue for the issuance of $600,000 in revenue bonds to go along with a $1,733,150 federal government grant for the construction of the plant. A 60-acre site east of the city was used for the construction of the plant.
Construction of the plant and installation of the lines began in 1974. The size of the lines leading to the plant include 18-, 21-, 24-, 27-, and 30-inch lines.
The council also approved at Monday night’s meeting the purchase of a security fence for the new plant to enclose it for vandals. Cost of the fence was listed at approximately $8,000.