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Did Newman WHAT’S NEW IN PLANS get past Princeton? FOR RIVERFRONT?
PREP FOOTBALL SECTION INSIDE
STERLING, A4
SILVER LININGS | A WALLACE STREET RETROSPECTIVE
DIXON
‘Our focus is Dixon history’
THE MAN OF STEEL
Loveland Community House turns 75 BY KAYLA HEIMERMAN Special to SV Weekend
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
A bronze statue of P.W. Dillon (pictured above) points toward the railroad tracks the longtime Northwestern Steel and Wire Co. overseer so deeply loved from the courtyard at the Dillon Home in Sterling. Dillon worked at the mill for 82 of the 96 years of his life.
P.W. Dillon innovated industry, paved path for Sterling BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5523 @CHeimerman_SVM
STERLING – Steam. Such an archaic method of powering locomotives, by today’s standards. Funny to think that the innovator who put Northwestern Steel and Wire Co., and in turn Sterling, ahead of the curve had such a love affair with steam. “He loved steam,” Peter Dillon said of his grandfather, P.W. Dillon, recently at the Dillon Foundation in Sterling. “People came from around the world to Sterling – because we were the last steam operation in the country.” They came to document the engine, but they likely knew a lot about the people its former railcars carried to a better life. P.W. Dillon worked at the mill for 82 of his 96 years on this planet. He was born in 1883 at the exquisitely maintained two-story Sterling home at 1005 E. Third St., and he died in that very home Feb. 28, 1980, about 2 weeks after his last supervision at the mill. “Otherwise, he would’ve died with his boots on,” Peter Dillon said. “You knew he was going to have to check in sometime. You just never thought it would come.”
Inside
Dillon shared opportunities, spoils, love with employees, A10 Dillons’ story one everyone should know, writes Christopher Heimerman, A9 P.W.’s obsession with steam is ironic when juxtaposed against his cutting-edge thinking. A few months ago, U.S. Steel announced construction of an electric arc furnace – the very technology P.W. Dillon was using in the first half of the 20th century to melt scrap to use in making steel. Peter Dillon describes his late grandfather as a “tiger” – a dynamic person who could be cantankerous at times. He didn’t want word of what the mill was doing to get out. And those who heard that P.W. Dillon was making steel from scrap thought he was crazy. Suffice to say, when Northwestern Steel and Wire Co. showed up on the New York Stock Exchange in 1960, the competition was floored.
Extracurricular activity Around the time P.W. Dillon came home from Shattuck Military Academy in Fairbault, Minnesota, for Christmas his sophomore year, his father’s partner died.
Mostly sunny
VOLUME 8 ISSUE 5 52 Pages
Today: 64/43 For the forecast, see Page A11
DILLON CONTINUED ON A9
This aerial photo of the Sterling riverfront and the mill was taken during its centennial celebration in 1979.
About Silver Linings
Sterling’s Hispanic roots sprung from the Wallace Street neighborhood of the early 20th century. The arrival of the Silver City boxcar settlement in the late 1940s made it a melting pot. Northwestern Steel and Wire Co. was the lifeblood of the neighborhood, providing jobs and the means to a better life, as well as a common thread found in the fabric of the modern-day Sauk Valley. This is the fourth of a 4-week series from SVM Night News Editor Christopher Heimerman about Wallace Street and Silver City that has been published in SV Weekend editions. To read all of the Silver Linings stories that have been published, go to saukvalley.com.
Business
Where do all the lottery tickets come from? A Michigan printer knows. See Page C1
Community Homecoming mania hit area high schools, with royalty crowned, classes vying for supremacy, and selfies galore, as SVM’s photo essay illustrates. See Page C12
DIXON – One of the gems in Dixon’s crown will celebrate its platinum anniversary next week. Loveland Community House is turning 75. All are invited to the daylong Inside celebration on Info about Oct. 10. T h e C o t s - the 75th w o l d - s t y l e anniversary brick building gala at Loveon the city’s land House near west side and Museum, was born out A5 of the goodOnline will – and the See our last will and photo galary testament – of from inside George Love- Loveland at land, whose saukvalley. g r a n d f a t h e r, com. Otis Loveland, came to Dixon with his wife and five children in 1837. The community house, which was built in 1939 and opened a year later, was intended as “a meeting place,” according to Loveland’s handwritten will, which is on display near the office on the first floor. The building was “to be used for the comfort and pleasure of our home people … a gathering place for country people as well as city,” it says. It also was meant to perpetuate the family name. Loveland was born in 1847. He fought in the Civil War, then became a real estate dealer. He developed a subdivision on the northwest side of Dixon, across Fourth Avenue from the neighborhood known as Swissville. He also donated a lot at the top of the hill for a school, around where present-day Martin, Carroll and Center streets meet. LOVELAND CONTINUED ON A5
ONLINE EXTRA
Grub Hub takes a trip to The Factory
SVM reporter Jermaine Pigee pays a visit to The Factory PubN-Grub in Sterling. Go to saukvalley.com
Index Births................ C5
Lottery .............. A2
Business........... C1
Markets .......... A11
Classified .......... B6
Obituaries ......... A4
Comics ............. A8
Opinion............. A6
Community ..... C12
Scoreboard ...... B5
Crossword Saturday ......... B11
Scrapbook ....... C3
Crossword Sunday ............. C8
Support groups .. C5
Dave Ramsey ... C1
Weather.......... A11
Dear Abby ........ C6
Wheels ........... B12
Sports .............. B1 Travel .............. C10