OST_The Times 175th Anniversary_111419

The Times building is made of masonry and glass.

The newspaper is made of paper and ink.

The news is made of people and their stories.

It takes a community to have a newspaper.

2019 marks 175 years of newspaper history in Ottawa.

The photo illustration above shows The Times building in downtown Ottawa, superimposed with the faces of more than 300 readers and area residents whose faces have appeared in the paper. Just as the building is made of masonry, local news is made of people and their stories. This section celebrates both the people who produce the daily paper and the people who consume it, as well as its impact on the community.

Here’s to 175 years of local news, and to another 175 more.

Inside This Section Newspapers continue changing with the times .............................. Page 2 Reflections of a former teen columnist ............................................... Page 2 From the blank page to your doorstep: How the newspaper comes together each day ............................... Page 3 Why longtime subscribers stick with The Times .............................. Page 4 Meet Rhonda, The Times longest employee ..................................... Page 4 Sports have changed, and so have their coverage ......................... Page 5 How technology has changed the way newspapers look ........... Page 6

Images of The Times in days gone by .................................................. Page 8 Looking back: Ottawa’s long newspaper history ............................ Page 9 Looking forward: What lies in store for newspapers ................... Page 9 Family has tradition of delivering The Times .................................. Page 10 What you won’t find in newspapers anymore ............................... Page 10 Access community history through microfilm ............................... Page 10 Tales from the lives along the paper route ...................................... Page 11 The many ways The Times weaves into a person’s life ................ Page 12

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175th Anniversary

Thursday, November 14, 2019

How The Times set a career trajectory for a former teen columnist J.P. ANDERSON I’ve been a voracious reader from the time I was in Joanne Landers’ firstgrade class at St. Columba (why yes, I do remember the Spartan fight song).

Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, Judy Blume — I was that pipsqueak checking out a dozen books from Reddick Library. What I read most passionately, though, was The Daily Times.

I’m serious. This was pre-Internet, people. The Times was my sole source of local info, and I devoured it. I waited for it to hit the porch every day. I scoured the arts page for movie times at the Roxy.

Counted down to Christmas with the J.P. Anderson front page baby-of-theday pic. Looked for my name on the honor roll lists. But mostly: sports.

As a die-hard MHS fan, I pored over every word written by Dan Eilts and Mike Cunniff about our beloved Crusaders. I still have scrapbooks from those days filled with MHS fanboy history: Class 3A football state finals in ’84.

Beating then-top-ranked St. Mel in the basketball super-sectional in ’87. I already knew the scores, but I loved reading it in their words.

So you can imagine how excited I was when the Times started a weekly teen column in ’90 and I was asked to be among the first trio. (In my mind, then-managing editor Lonny Cain doggedly recruited me; in reality I probably stalked him until he gave me a shot. Memories are foggy.). Bless his heart, Lonny set the three of us loose and exercised an admirably light touch with his edits, resulting in classics like “Thanksgiving is Important!” and “Are You Pitching in the Recycling Bin?” (some of my best work). I rhapsodized about summer; made cheeky fun of a Phil Collins impersonator who performed at the now-defunct Silverfross Drive-In; and waxed nostalgic as my high school career came to an end.

The experience taught me a ton: How to write for an audience. Hit deadlines.

Come up with compelling topics. Even generate a little controversy, as when a local pastor chastised me in a handwritten letter for writing about Washington Park’s inflatable snowman in my holiday column instead of celebrating the Lord’s birth. (Thank god there was no social media at that time, or I would have been #canceled). I didn’t always knock it out of the park, but I gave

‘The Times was my sole source of local info, and I devoured it. I waited for it to hit the porch every day.’ every single one of those columns my all. And the rush of seeing the finished product in print with my name next to it? Indescribable. It’s why I’m still doing this stuff 30 years later.

Thinking back on it now, I wonder: What would I write about in a Daily Times column today? I’ve certainly seen more of the world at this point.

After decades away from Ottawa—though Mom still lives in the family home over by OTHS, and I get back for my Bianchi’s fix at least monthly—I’ve gained a fresh perspective and a new appreciation for my hometown. Some observations I’d make as a now-outsider: I’m a fan of Jordan Block Park on Main Street, but man, do I miss the Taco Bell and the old Jordan Hardware. The tennis courts at OTHS are better than anything you’ll see in the city of Chicago.

Bianchi’s pizza is still the best I’ve ever had (and did I mention I live in Chicago?). The car wash attendants at the Dolphin car wash are some of the most hard-working kids I’ve ever met and deserve your generous tips. Farm & Fleet is a wonderland. I love that there’s already a sign on 71 coming into town announcing Marquette as the 2019 IHSA Class 1A State Baseball Champions. No matter where in the world I go, if I tell someone I’m from Ottawa they will say they have been to Rip’s Tavern.

And—here I go being controversial—I firmly believe that Starved Rock should charge for parking like countless other state parks I’ve been to across the US do ($5 for a single visit, $10 for a season pass—problem solved, folks!).

Ottawa is no longer home, but it will always be my hometown, and the Daily Times will always be my hometown paper. In the publishing world, 175 years is an eternity. So it’s thrilling for the Daily Times to still be going strong after all these years. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to its pages as a teen, and I’m honored to salute this fine institution as it celebrates an incredible milestone.

Happy 175th!

J.P. ANDERSON is the editor-in-chief of Chicago lifestyle magazines CS and Michigan Avenue and the editorial director of Modern Luxury.

The Times - Delivering Your Community

Changing with the times TAMMIE SLOUP tsloup@shawmedia.com 815-431-4048 When I was a journalism student at Eastern Illinois University in the late 1990s, a new building was constructed for the journalism and communication departments.

The project spanned about a year — at least to the best of my memory. In the interim, the student newspaper was housed in the basement of the student union – underneath the bowling alley.

Good times.

Our sparkling new facility (Buzzard Hall) was a palace compared to our former quarters.

But we were already behind the times. Building plans included a darkroom for our staff photographers, and in that one- to two-year project span, we had made the switch to digital.

The darkroom sat mostly empty.

That was the start of my 20-year journalism career, and perhaps was a sign of the swift and sweeping industry changes to come. As I walked off the stage with my journalism degree, I had no idea just how Tammie technology Sloup would affect Managing the financial stability of editor newspapers as well as the day-to-day operations in the next couple decades.

As I page through The Times’ 150th anniversary section from 1994, I smile at the bylines of former colleagues, photos of the pressmen, and the reprinted front pages from historic events.

I feel a connection with the community. These are our stories, our history.

I’m also jealous.

Jealous of a time when editors and reporters didn’t have to check social media and email every 15 minutes to make sure we’re not missing anything. Jealous the editor could actually yell, “Stop the press!” because the printing press was located a few steps from the newsroom. And jealous of a time before “fake news” was a well-known phrase.

Until recent years, many newsrooms operated with a print-first focus. Ah, the luxury of having the same deadline every day.

The goal was to protect the print edition: “Don’t put that on the web yet! It hasn’t been in the paper!” “Why will people buy the paper if everything’s already online?”

For far too long, newsrooms treated their websites like dumping sites — lay out the paper and then load up the website with all the content.

Social media and video changed this. Readers want ... and expect ... immediacy.

They want to see photos of a fire as it’s happening. They want real-time updates from important council meetings and court hearings. They

Serving Ottawa for

45 YEARS...

the office to pay for her subscription. I took the opportunity to ask why she takes the paper.

“It’s the little things, like where I can recycle my TV and when they’re having the leaf pick-up.” said the reader, who also delivered papers for several years for The Times. “I’m not gonna lie, I like seeing who’s in the police blotter and who passed away.”

Readers want to know how to save money, who’s raising taxes, what their city council is approving. The Times has been delivering this local content for 175 years.

Which brings me to this 175th anniversary edition of The Times. Much of this section highlights print journalism. It’s nostalgic, it’s fun, it’s how we were built and how we got to where we are today. During these 175 years, this newspaper and The Times | file its ancestors has published Reporters’ typewriters sit on the steps of The Times building millions of names and faces, at 110 W. Jefferson St., Ottawa, in the 1930s. The tools of the which oftentimes end up as clippings on a refrigerator trade have drastically changed as technology has evolved to door or in a scrapbook. offer computers, digital cameras, the internet, social media We’ve seen changes in and more. Newsrooms have adopted and adapted to new ownership — most recently technology over the years, changing both the way news is with Shaw Media’s purchase collected and distributed. of The Times in April 2018 from the Small Newspaper don’t want to wait until it’s Group, which purchased the in print the next day or day Ottawa Republican Times after. in 1955, and Streator TimesThe news cycle has Press in 1980. Shaw Media changed, and so has the job. added The Times to its At my first job at The Star network of daily and weekly in Tinley Park, we shared newspapers and specialty one computer in the newspublications covering 15 room to access the internet. counties across northern Our newspaper articles Illinois, as well as part of were clipped and saved in Iowa. a library in a file room. We On top of producing a could only check our work five-day-a-week newspaper email from work. We lived and keeping our website by the print deadline. fresh every day, The Times Technology coupled with newsroom also puts together new expectations dramatspecial sections, such as this ically changed the way one. To plan this section, a newsrooms operate. While group including staffers and technology has changed the freelancers met to brainway we deliver the news, it storm what we wanted our hasn’t changed our mission anniversary edition to look — connecting the communilike, and what we hoped ty. We can get information readers would take away out faster, and we receive from it. immediate feedback. But We wanted to pack this boots-on-the-ground journalsection with not only the ism has remained a priority. history of this newspaper, As the industry grapples but also how we put together with how to fix a broken this daily product and how revenue stream largely that’s changed since our last due to advertising dollars milestone anniversary. shifting to other digital We want you to see the website, etc. It guides us toplatforms such as Facebook ward producing content that power of a local newspaper. and Google, a positive point And, most importantly, people want to read. is more people are reading You know what else helps? how the community has our work than ever before. helped map the route and And that’s because we’re not Asking readers what they our daily destination. like about the paper. limited to our print circulaTechnology will never As I was writing this tion borders. change that.

Technology such as email, column, a reader stopped in social media, and even texting didn’t exist, or at least was limited, when I was Congratulations on starting out in the industry. If I wanted a comment from someone, I picked up the phone or knocked on a door. News releases were faxed and retyped (surprisingly, we still get quite a few faxes).

Thank You for Keeping I had no idea what “page view” or “click” meant in Our Community Informed. terms of measuring readership, nor did I know how important analytics would be in years to come.

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‘Much of this section highlights print journalism. It’s nostalgic, it’s fun, it’s how we were built and how we got to where we are today.

During these 175 years, this newspaper and its ancestors has published millions of names and faces, which oftentimes end up as clippings on a refrigerator door or in a scrapbook.’

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175th Anniversary

The Times - Delivering Your Community

Thursday, November 14, 2019

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From the blank page to your doorstep A look inside the collaborative work of putting out a daily newspaper

of homes in Ottawa, which makes it easier to encourage some to buy some of that real estate in the paper.

Romanelli said advertising reps often work together with business owners to identify a branding plan as well as offer suggestions as to what sort of advertisements work successfully for different businesses.

“We absolutely feel we are consultants to their business and that’s what we can bring to the table when we discuss an ad campaign,” Romanelli said.

Romanelli said the job is done when the information from the retailers is translated into an advertisement that pleases them and is then included on a “proof sheet” sent to the newsroom’s designers.

BRENT BADER bbader@shawmedia.com 815-431-4045

What happened? What can I do to help? How do I get more information on this?”

The newsroom meets toEvery newspaper starts gether once a week to plan out with a blank page. their week ahead and ensure And each blank page usual- there’s a main “centerpiece ly fills up with an idea, or two package” every day that creor three. ates an attractive front page.

While the internet has Ideas flow between reportchanged the way newspapers ers and editors but some of deliver news, The Times the best stories come from continues to print a newspareaders either through tips per five days a week. From the or what staffers pick up from idea stage to delivery, Times conversations in the public. staffers work collaboratively Each front page story usuto create this product online ally touches the hands of at and in print. least two staffers before sources are called and around five Editorial reporters/photographers/ For the newsroom, it starts editors before it hits print. with checking emails at the Still, mistakes can haptop of the day and getting a pen and Barichello said it’s feel for what the community important readers notify the is talking about. paper if a mistake was missed “In the digital age we are so it can be corrected quickly. really tied to email now,” said Sloup said one of the most Managing Editor Tammie important things a newspaper Sloup. “Because if something can do for a community is is breaking or something create a connection. really important comes across Barichello added it’s also we need to get it up on the about sharing information, website and possibly social particularly when it may be media right away.” hard to come by in emergency “That’s the reality and situations. that’s also the expectation “You know the community from people,” she added. depends and leans on you the News Editor Derek Barmost in the situations where ichello works with her disaster strikes a community. through the week to deThis is when we know we’re termine which stories the there to help them the most newsroom should focus on as because they’re turning to well as what news events pop us and they want answers,” up throughout the day.

Barichello said.

Sloup said the goal is to be “Where can I get shelter? the main source of informaWhere can I go to get water tion for readers and Barichel- supplies? How can I help the lo added it is a fine line of people that need help? When including stories that interest you’re able to answer those readers as well as educate. questions and provide them “You try to think about the in a thorough manner, it does front page from a reader’s feel good because you’re playperspective,” Barichello said. ing your role in the communi“What are they talking about ty,” he added. and what do they want to see, Sloup added local news also but also what is important to ensures continuous coverage tell them and educate them?” on those issues that larger “We think in questions a media will neglect when in lot,” he added. “What’s next? the region for a breaking sto-

Design Night editor and designer Julie Barichello oversees the final design of the paper after the advertisements have been added.

She’ll come in around 3 The Times | Julie Barichello Dozens of employees and hours go into producing and delivering a newspaper each day. Take a p.m. to start placing stories on pages, working off story look behind the scenes at various departments and players of The Times that come together to budgets compiled by the news create and deliver the paper. and sports staffs. At 5 p.m. she is joined by fellow designer ry and Barichello agreed. it on a computer. my vision. To see the event Angie Barry. Certain pages “Three months from now “So I can go through (my through my eyes,” MacLeod come together quickly for when (the City Council) is camera) and say ‘OK, I’ve got said. “And you want to have the design duo if the content talking about tornado pickthe frame, I’ve got eyes open’ people go, ‘Oh wow, that’s a is prepared in advance, but up, we’re still reporting,” he and then I get it over here and really great capture.’ “ others come together later. said. “We’re still there.” sometimes it’s a just a smidAdvertising At times, a front page can gen out of focus and I’m like Photography Subscriptions are a portion be fully completed but an ‘No!’ “ she said with a laugh.

Telling the story visually of The Times’ revenue but it’s important news story arises It’s not as simple as “point and has to be added at the is just as important as the also supported by the many and click,” and MacLeod is last second before the final writing. A good photo is likely always adjusting the camera’s advertisers within its pages. deadline at 1:15 a.m. the first item readers notice Advertising Manager Lou settings to get the image to “That’s when the door on the front page.

Romanelli said he meets with look just right while taking slams shut and we have to Photo Editor Tracey his staff every morning for a into account natural light in send what we have to press,” MacLeod keeps a detailed cal- the environment and other rundown of what businesses Barichello said. “If there’s reendar of photo opportunities fit which upcoming promofactors. ally late-breaking news, that for sporting events and news tions they’re working on.

A photo for the news destories throughout the month. partment usually takes fewer They’ve seen new business- can make things a scramble.”

“It’s a little bit of prioritizShe tries to hit as many of es coming to them looking attempts but for sporting ing and playing Tetris with them as possible but when events, she may take as many for extra exposure and are time becomes a factor she’s as 600 due to the quick nature encouraged to build relations ‘What can we trim?’ ‘What can we move?’ ‘What can we able to call on The Times’ that support their businesses of the event. Of those, three hold for another day?’ ” she roster of freelance photografor years. to 10 are handed off to the added. phers to lend a hand.

“It’s really interesting to sports editor and around two She also often acts as the Digital photography has grow a business and we’ve to three will make the paper. final editor to see a page and made her job a little easier seen it happen, Romanelli MacLeod said the goal is reads the story, including as she can see what a photo said. always to recreate the envitriple-checking the headlines. is going to look like, but she Romanelli said The Times ronment as accurately as she never truly knows until she’s has a strong readership, insaw it at the moment.

See DOORSTEP, page D4 back at the office and looks at “The goal is for them to see cluding penetration into 48%

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175th Anniversary

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Times - Delivering Your Community

34 years and still going for Rhonda Longtime subscribers still MIKE MURPHY For The Times

For Rhonda Dillon, The Times is the only place she ever has worked.

As The Times observes its 175th anniversary, The Times’ longest employee looks back on her career at 110 W. Jefferson St. in Ottawa.

RHONDA DILLON An Ottawa native and Ottawa High School graduate, Dillon began working at The Daily Times Oct. 7, 1985, but her family’s experience at the paper goes back further.

As a 16-year-old OHS junior, she learned there was an opening at The Daily Times.

Looking to earn some extra money, she applied for the job and was interviewed by Jim Malley, the paper’s general manager.

Years earlier, Rhonda’s dad, Bert Green, worked in The Times circulation department when Malley was a pressman.

“I think Dad called (Malley) and asked him to give me a chance,” Dillon recalled.

“The next day, or a couple of days later, Jim called me and offered me the job. I was 16 and started inputting (adver-

tising) copy after school.”

Dillon has been a full-time employee since Sept. 28, 1987, and now serves as advertising support manager. She inputs orders for Times advertising representatives and uploads artwork and copy for display ads, which is then given to an ad design team.

“When people ask me how long I’ve been here (34 years), it kind of shocks Dillon them,” said Dillon, who added she hasn’t thought much about working elsewhere. “I have hard days but I get through them.”

She was guided by Allen Stone, advertising composing foreman who still lives in Ottawa. Stone taught Dillon all about the job until his retirement.

“He’s been a mentor and friend ever since my dad died,” Dillon said.

In her early years, Dillon learned to make up ads, then put a layer of wax on each ad and place them on newspaper proof sheets, where they were

shot by a large camera and printed on presses inside The Times building.

Today, ads are designed and created digitally, as are Times news copy and photos. Papers are printed overnight at a Paddock Publications press in Schaumberg, a suburb west of Chicago.

It’s a long way from days of hot wax, X-Acto knives, light tables and pasteup in The Daily Times composing room.

“It was a big process. Computers make it much easier,” Dillon said. “I like working on computers. I liked typing in high school. Then as I grew and stayed longer, Al taught me about computers.”

Dillon said she always adjusts to changes at The Times, and has enjoyed everyone with whom she has worked.

She lives north of Ottawa with her husband, Eric, and sons Ryan, 22, and Aaron, 18, who work locally.

The Times has been part of Dillon’s life longer than any other employee at the paper.

“It gives information on what goes on in town. There’s a lot going on. I feel our sports department gives good coverage. Parents and grandparents like that,” she said.

The Times | Tracey MacLeod

Julie Barichello begins designing a front page in The Times newsroom. The blank page begins to take form once editorial, advertising and photography departments funnel their content to the page design team of Barichello and Angie Barry.

Doorstep From page D3 The pages are then sent to Paddock Publications in Schaumburg, where the paper is printed.

Despite being late in the evening, or early morning in some cases, the newsroom remains busy with constant communication between sports staff and designers for late-night updates.

“We do not stand up and walk across the room to talk to each other, so conversations are not in indoor voices,” Barichello said with a smile. “So there’s a lot of shouting (the closer you get to deadline), there’s a lot of hurrying to the printer and grabbing pages off it and it gets rustley,” she added.

Circulation And all that work would be wasted if not for the work of the circulation department ensuring that the final product gets to readers.

John Hicks, one of The

Times’ district managers, started with the company as a driver and said there were days he’d be up early and preparing for his route by 5 a.m.

Each carrier could move 400 to 600 papers in a day.

“You think of a paperboy and you think of the kid walking with a bag around the shoulder but nowadays it’s moreso the motor routes and there’s less and less kids,” Hicks said.

But they still try to be as personable as the usual kid next door when they meet readers.

“Some are just a friendly wave, some are a small conversation, and others will talk your ear off for a bit,” Hicks said.

Drivers are either given a list of addresses or a more specific turn-by-turn sheet written by the district manager or the driver himself.

Eventually, carriers tend to understand the route better than anyone and can make their own changes.

It can be a long day, but

manageable unless the weather gets in the way. A 2 1/2 hour route can triple in length or become impossible with snow blowing over rural roads or obscuring signs.

Circulation Manager Charles Locke knows better than most how best-laid plans can be undone with a winter storm.

“We depend on our carrier and drivers more than anything else so when the weather turns it becomes difficult for vehicle issues, for hitting deadlines, and we have to work with every one of these carriers and drivers individually,” Locke said.

The sprawling circulation web of The Times consists of 283 individual routes spread across 71 carriers and drivers.

“There are some issues that pop up all the time, but we can’t say enough how much we appreciate the ones who are willing to stick with it every single day and have been doing it for years,” Locke said.

use The Times to keep up News focuses on what’s important to local readers

39,000 people follow The Times Newspaper page on Facebook, where a number of the day’s headlines are posted to engage readers.

Another way the newspaper connects with people is through The Times Morning Minute Newsletter.

MICHAEL URBANEC Linda Hermann couldn’t murbanec@shawmedia.com remember when she and 815-431-4041 her late husband, Wes, started subscribing to the Ottawa resident Gladys Daily Times — it’s been Stecher said she regularly more than 30 years, accordcuts out articles from The ing to records, but it’s been Times newspaper to send a part of her day ever since to her son, who moved to she can remember.

California.

“It’s just nice to sit It’s one way she keeps down and see local news him connected to Ottawa. and know what’s going on “We’re very strong Catholics, and there was an where it matters,” Hermann said. article about (Msgr. Philip The Times prints daily Halfacre) who’s going to be Vicar General of the Peoria obituaries, covers city council meetings, business Diocese but he’s also still openings and closings, serving in Streator and Leonore churches,” Gladys among other items, while also allowing clubs and said, sharing an example schools to share their of one of the articles that news. got her attention. “That’s Staying informed on the the kind of thing that’s local goings-on is a shared important to me.” sentiment among Gladys, who has subreaders. scribed to the paper for Harry more than two decades, is Adrian just one among thousands first subof subscribers to The scribed to Times, which publishes five times a week, through- the Daily Times 54 out most of La Salle years ago County. and he, and Catching up with the lohis wife Carcal news is a daily routine ol’s children, for many readers. all worked The Times still puts its focus on local news centered around the hubs of Ottawa and Streator. The front page almost always features a local story and lead photo.

Unlike decades ago when Gladys first subscribed, readers can connect to the newspaper in several more ways. More than

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95

CELEBRATING

175 YEARS

as paper carriers as kids working their first job.

Adrian talked about the ties The Times has to important events in the city’s history, like the flood in 2013 that took out the old Central School.

“I remember when they closed the school,” Harry said. “They had to get rid of everything because of the contamination.”

Over the course of 175 years, The Times has covered the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Radium Dial contamination, the Starved Rock murders, the Jordan block fire and tornadoes in Utica, Streator and Ottawa/Naplate, among other big local stories.

Just as much as informing readers about the day’s news, The Times has become part of a routine for some folks.

Frank Corrigan farms all day so he doesn’t get the opportunity to check the paper until after dinner each day to see what he missed.

“I’ve been doing that for about 50 years,” Frank said. “It’s all just fine the way it is.”

The Times has been providing local news coverage in Ottawa for the last 175 years, and between The Times and The Times-Press, they’ve been covering Streator since 1873.

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175th Anniversary

The Times - Delivering Your Community

Thursday, November 14, 2019

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Sports have changed, and as a result so have we From society page to full section: The evolution of local sports coverage in the past 175 years J.T. PEDELTY jtpedelty@shawmedia.com 815-431-4043 Change is inevitable in life ... and since local newspapers are shaped by the lives of their readers, over the course of 175 years your local newspaper has changed drastically as well.

From the perspective of the sports pages (the perspective of Your Friendly Neighborhood Sports Editor, obviously), that’s definitely the case.

To take a look at that, I began searchJ.T. Pedelty ing microfilm Sports editor of Ottawa’s newspaper past, centering on the months of October and November and beginning in the year 1894, the year of the first Ottawa-Streator high school football game when truly local sports reporting in our area began to take shape ... sort of. (You’ll see what I mean.)

Here, decade by decade, is what I found:

1994 Names of reporters (Mike Cunniff, Ben Holtam, Brent Robinson, Jeff Glade) and features (“Fairway Divots” and “Outdoors with Jerry Wheeler”) still familiar to longtime readers appear, as do more exhaustive but slightly-less-detailed roundups of area prep sports.

It’s also obvious more of the newspaper’s resources are being expended to have paid reporters on hand at local sporting events — three, four, five per night — giving readers full reports on as much action as possible.

rundown of local results which appeared to be mostly baseball — including indoor.

1914 I didn’t come across much other than scores and scant highlights of local prep sports in the issues I looked at, and even those seemed to run infrequently in the Republican-Times. Major League Baseball, however, found its way to print a lot.

1924 This is the first decade where I got the impression local sports copy was given some special thought and attention, if not its own space, in the Republican-Times.

La Salle County Bowling League results, local golf tournaments, semipro football (Ottawa’s Company C was a contender against such foes as the Spring Valley Navajos), an outdoors column named “The Call of the Outdoors by Will H. Dilg” and bonafide game stories of Ottawa High School football ... albeit without quotes, statistics or much in the way of analysis, just play-by-play. Still, a big step forward.

1894

1934

Organized sports are beginning to creep into the lives of our readers, and so they also begin creeping into the pages of our local newspapers.

There are not “Sports” sections or even dedicated “Sports” pages — that wouldn’t come about in this area’s newsprint for a handful of decades — but the occasional story about the rapidly growing game of baseball, the equipment footballers are developing and even the emergence of local sports leagues and high school teams can be read now and again.

A true treat I found in an 1894 edition of the Streator Daily Free Press: A recap of what I believe, with the information I have access to at the moment, to be the first Ottawa vs. Streator varsity high school football meeting — in 1894, not 1895 as previously believed — written not by a sports reporter (they didn’t have those yet), but by the “society editor” who has never seen a football game before and laments at the end of her article that “when the game was over I was somewhat disappointed, as there wasn’t a man killed on either side.”

Yes, really.

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Still no sports pages, but byline sports coverage appears (including Pat Patterson writing about Ottawa’s 0-0 tie with Dwight), meaning paid reporters were getting sent out to watch local games with their own eyes and write about them for readers. Still no quotations from coaches or players, detailed statistics or pictures, but we’re getting there, with non-bylined briefs on high school football games in Streator, Spring Valley, La Salle-Peru and Dayton.

Also coverage of things such as Marseilles softball leagues (with half the league forfeiting one night to go to the Chicago World’s Fair), the Cardinals-Tigers World Series, Grand Ridge Merchants baseball and a regular sports feature by Art Sapp named “Sport Stuff.”

1904

1954

Still no sports pages or on-site local sports coverage, but we’re getting there.

In between articles on the organization of a Rough Riders’ Roosevelt Club in Fall River Township and a piece on gardening in the Ottawa Republican-Times, readers could find “The Sporting World,” a small, one-column

There still aren’t sports sections in the Ottawa newspaper in 1954, but there is often an entire page dedicated to the sporting world.

The early-fall editions included high school cross country coverage (with a team photo!), prep scores, WCMY advertisements for Illini football, real statistics

2004 “Scores & More” fills the left column of the front The Times | file Sports page, and a “Score“Time Out” was a daily feature board” agate feature is now in the Republican Times a constant, replacing the throughout the 1940s and “Sports Scorecard.” Cov1950s. erage is still game-story intense, and names you can still find in today’s Ottawa added to long, all-local footnewspaper — Tom Sistak, ball stories on Ottawa (covCharlie Ellerbrock, Fred ered by Harry Quilter) and Hoffman, Kyle Nevins — Marquette (by Ralph Bedbegin to appear. nar) high schools which are The merger of sister still more play-by-play than papers, the Ottawa Daily anything else, still the “Time The Times | file Times and Streator TimesOut” comic and a feature Press, less than a year later named “Me and Eddie” that This 1924 edition of Ottawa’s Daily Republican Times included would balloon the coverage is more confusing and frusa page devoted to sports coverage, aside from the pipe trating to the modern reader tobacco advertisement, that is. La Salle County Bowling League area. The first combined than informative, filled with results, Ottawa Country Club golf champions, semipro football publishing effort of the newly-named The Times was our talk about local sports in summaries and an outdoors column were among the local annual prep football preview what I have to assume was items featured. section, which added Streintentionally bad grammar ator and three other high for comedic effect. schools.

An example (that will — are finally here, as are the 1974 make me “sic” a lot): “Once addition of now-standard Ottawa’s sports pages are 2014 again we want to warn adult sports section staples such beginning to take on a form fans to lay off betting on the as regular local photograAside from some slight a modern reader would annual Ottawa-Marquette phy, player interviews and cosmetic changes and addifind familiar. There is some tussle. If sumbuddy cums more coaches’ quotes adding tional content since made awesome photographic work color to stories, the use of long and sez I’ll take 25 available by the 2018 purfrom local football games by standalone photos (such as on Ottawa, or I’ll lay 50 on chase by Shaw Media, The a Jay Mills and a big overall Marquette, just tell ‘em to the “US Amateur Tug of Times Sports section of 2014 step up in local photography War Championships” held at looks largely like today’s go where its warm (compliments of Miami Chamber of and writing, with quotations OHS’s King Field, 9-year-old with an emphasis on on(from coaches, not players Commerce).” me would’ve loved to have site coverage of local teams ... yet) finding their ways to The 1950s were weird, been there!) and lots of local covering a large and diverse add flavor to stories and the daddy-o. roundup items on sports area. relentless “this happened such as swimming, cross More interviews with the then this happened then 1964 country, soccer and tennis student-athletes themselves this happened” writing style to cover events reporters Professional sports are and regular, locally produced beginning to be phased out. much more prominent and couldn’t make it to, plenty columns on sports both Since it’s fall I’m looking regular, though the local on the amazing 1984 Chicago close to and far from home at, local coverage in the football coverage has been Cubs, the popular “Through became staples by 2014, as Daily Times is dominated reinforced too with local acEilts’ Eyes” column by Otta- did bylines from the likes of by huge Ottawa and Martion photos and even-morewa legend Dan Eilts ... and, current staff members Bill quette stories with smaller detailed statboxes close to finally, real coverage of girls Lidinsky, Brian Hoxsey and roundups of football games what we run today. sports! yours truly. featuring teams such as A more serious comic named “Joe Palooka” replac- L-P, Earlville, Streator and Seneca. es “Time Out,” which had Serving the Illinois Valley Since 1848 a good run (and was often quite funny), and Ottawa has 1984 True sports pages — even its own regular column as labeled “SPORTS” at the top well with “Quilter’s Quips.”

1944

Each Office Independently Owned & Operated

Local bowling scores are becoming a regular fixture, as are high school schedules and results, still-limited bylined coverage of the area’s teams and a daily sports cartoon by Chet Smith named “Time Out” in the half-page or so of sports content printed daily.

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The changing face of newspapers over centuries Pop quiz time: What is the leading factor that determines the look of a newspaper?

Sorry, no multiple choice.

I’ll give you a moment to think.

Are you ready for the answer?

From the time of their first appearance in the United States in the 1700s (and earlier than that in Europe), newspaper design has been dictated by the available printing and layout technology. With the evolution of technology, news design has evolved as well.

A classic look Lining up decades of newspaper front pages will illustrate the passage of time

and the expansion of available design tools and technology.

The lineup of newspapers is a gradient that shows a shift from “gray” pages full of text, to the 1830s inclusion of illustrations, to the 1919 appearance of the first photographs, to the 1970s and ‘80s when color became more popular on front Julie pages.

Barichello Early newspapers are identifiable by their distinct appearance. When we see front pages filled with columns of text and small headlines constrained to a single column, we know it’s old.

But why did it look that way? Why were headlines crunched into a single column

instead of spanning the top of the front page?

The reason is due to the earliest printing presses not being built to set type over multiple columns. As presses were redesigned and became more advanced, more options became available to spread headlines across multiple columns. Woodblock carvings began to mass produce illustrations, and by the 1920s camera technology and printing press capabilities combined to publish photos.

Continued on page D7 AT RIGHT: The front page of the Jan. 2, 1875 edition of The Ottawa Free Trader is marked by all text and no art. By 1922, Page 3 of the Dec. 30 edition included photos through advacements in camera and press technology.

The Times wishes to thank all of our advertisers and readers for being a continued part of our success.

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Modern age of design Today’s newspapers have photos on almost every page, and about half of those pages — sometimes more — print in color. (By the way: Readers sometimes ask why some pages are color while others are black and white. Color pages are determined by press technology and how the press is set up.)

Art plays a more pivotal role on each page in modern news design. The buzzword “dominant art� is heard on a daily basis in newsrooms as editors, photographers and designers plan what photo or illustration will run most prominently on a front page.

The options for art have expanded beyond engraved wood blocks and darkroomdeveloped photos as technology has shifted. If a person can imagine an illustration or infographic, it can be created with computer-based programs such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.

Those programs have an

Thursday, November 14, 2019

A July 1958 edition of the Daily Republican-Times (left) was limited to black-and-white photos. A June 2017 edition of The Times (right) shows the shift toward large, dominant art and color photos.

Color printing became more common in the 1980s.

arsenal of tools for designers that were unimaginable two centuries ago.

For example, modern newspapers have thousands of typefaces available. And each of those typefaces has dozens of styles. The Times’ headline font, for example, is Myriad Pro. Within that font family are 40 styles, with varying combinations of bold, semibold, italic, condensed, extended and more.

That variety in typefaces was unheard of in the days when lead type locked printers into few styles.

One of the the most noticeable trends in newspaper design is a shift toward printing in the “tabloid� format, which is a compact newspaper size smaller than the standard broadsheet. Many media companies are shifting to the smaller, squareish newspaper format.

The Times has printed primarily on broadsheet in its 175-year history, although the tabloid format is used for some special sections.

Digital decades I stepped into a news design career in November 2009 — already a decade ago, but well into the digital age of design.

No one was hand-setting lead type letter by letter, or typing out reporters’ stories into a Linotype machine onto pieces of metal, or pasting together

and photographing pages to then be converted into press plates.

My design career has always been defined by desktop publishing programs. We operate in a digital world.

Reporters write their articles in word processing programs.

With the click of a button, designers can flow those

articles onto a news page in Adobe InDesign and change the number of columns, the text size, its position on the page and more with just a few more clicks.

Digital tools allow designers to quickly and easily layer multiple items into one news article. A single story’s design could include a headline, sub-

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headline, the article, photo, caption (known in the newsroom as a cutline), a “mug� or portrait of a prominent source in the article, a pull quote and an informational box of more information.

That’s eight elements for one article, and each one can be added to a page with one or two mouse clicks.

The available design technology makes room for more creativity, speed and opportunities. Not only do newspapers publish print editions similar to those published two centuries ago, but also now publish online e-editions. And the technology for designing those e-editions is rapidly expanding — live hyperlinks can be embedded so readers can click to visit websites.

Videos and interactive content can be included on a digital news page.

Newspaper design inevitably will evolve again in years to come. As technology continues its expansion, so too will newspapers adopt that technology and adapt.

The Times

wishes to thank all of our advertisers and readers for being a continued part of our success.

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The Times - Delivering Your Community

Scenes of The Times in days gone by

The newspaper once resided above a monuments dealer.

The Republican-Times office on Madison Street in the 1930s.

The Times’ Ottawa office, built in 1939, looks largely the same today.

Typewriters and film cameras used to be the tools of the trade for newsrooms.

Articles used to be cast in hot lead and locked up for the plate-making process for the press.

Jennie Capsel took news by telephone from a wire service before and during World War I.

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175th Anniversary

The Times - Delivering Your Community

The Times turns 175 this year Its history rooted in Whig and Republican parties

The Times is older than: 1845: The states of Texas and Florida 1848: The Illinois & Michigan Canal 1854: The Republican party 1863: The Emancipation Proclamation 1868: The city of Streator 1919: Women’s suffrage 1922: Betty White 1928: Sliced bread 1962: The Rolling Stones a year later, and co-owner William Cullen (who sold the paper in 1868 to Franklin Corwin and George Radcliffe, but bought it back) joined Frank Sapp in 1870.

Sapp and Cullen owned the paper for 17 years.

Frank Sapp’s son, Fred Sapp, joined in a partnership with his father and Charles Pettit in 1900.

“There will be no change in the conduct of the paper. It will be, as heretofore, strongly Republican in politics, zealous in upholding the interest of the city and the county, and wide awake in gathering and giving its readers the news of the day,” wrote Frank Sapp on Jan. 1, 1900.

Fred Sapp oversaw an expanding business with more employees, improving technology and increasing circulation. By 1910, 2,000 papers were sold daily.

By 1927, the last of the competition in Ottawa disappeared as The Republican-Times swallowed The Free-Trader Journal, two

years before the beginning of the Great Depression.

The day Sapp died in 1955, editors commemorated his character with comments about the Depression: “He never laid off a man, although he sacrificed his own salary in the process. Once an employee won the confidence of Mr. Sapp, tenure was for life, and each would try to outdo the other in loyalty.”

A few months after Sapp’s death, the Small family of Kankakee bought the Daily-Republican Times and changed the name to The Daily Times in 1967.

The Daily Times and Times-Press combine Streator’s Times-Press and its predecessors have been printing since the weekly Free Press was launched in 1873 by Irving Carrier.

J.H. Clark, who had been affiliated with a newspaper known as The Monitor, bought interest in the paper, then sold half interest in the Free Press to Walter Hoge, with Hoge assuming sole ownership.

In 1877, John Fornof, who had worked as a member of the Free Press staff, acquired a half interest in the paper.

The Hoge-Fornof partnership dissolved in 1879 when Fornof became the sole owner of the Free Press; it rekindled in 1881, then Fornof became sole owner again in 1884.

At the turn of the century, there was the Independent Times, the Free Press, and the Monitor circulating in

Streator.

John W. Fornof died in Aug. 15, 1921, and his son John R. became the publisher and editor of the Free Press Publishing Company, formed in 1905.

In 1927, a joint issue of The Independent Times and the Streator Free Press was printed and Streator Times-Press was born, selling at 4 cents a copy.

John R. Fornof died March 23, 1978, leaving his son, John H. Fornof, as publisher and his grandson, John G. Fornof, as general manager.

The Small Newspaper Group bought the Streator Times-Press in 1980.

On Sept. 1, 2005, The TimesPress merged with The Daily Times in Ottawa to make The Times, serving both Streator and Ottawa communities.

Shaw Media Company buys The Times The Smalls owned the newspaper until April 2018, when Shaw Media Company acquired the paper.

Founded in Dixon, Illinois, Shaw Media has been privately owned by the Shaw family since its founding by B.F. Shaw in 1851.

Shaw Media published its first newspaper in Dixon, with Benjamin Flower Shaw, 20, as owner and editor.

In 1856, B.F. Shaw, along with 11 other newspaper editors — and Abraham Lincoln — met in Decatur to form the Republican Party of Illinois in response to the growing concern over slavery.

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Foundations of past endure as Times embarks on future DEREK BARICHELLO dbarichello@shawmedia.com 815-431-4073

The Times Staff The Times is the ninth oldest newspaper in the state, celebrating its 175th anniversary.

Its history dates to 1844 when James Lowry and H.E. Gedney, fellow print tradesmen from Cincinnati, arrived in Ottawa to start the Constitutionalist.

The Constitutionalist was a supporter of the Whigs, who backed high tariffs to protect domestic business, a strong nationwide currency and federal control over banks.

In 1850, Gedney bought out his partner’s interest and owned the entire paper.

But within two years, schoolteacher Thaddeus Hampton took over; J.W. Kelley joined him.

Together, they named their publication Gedney The Ottawa Republican.

Hampton and Kelley took over not long before the Whig Party was splitting under disputes over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, pushed by U.S. Sen. Stephen Douglas. The bill created Kansas and Nebraska, and both could choose whether to permit slavery within their borders.

The Ottawa Republican was among the first newspapers in the state to follow future President Abraham Lincoln, and it printed reports of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate in Ottawa.

Hampton was a “valiant upholder” of Lincoln during the Civil War, not to mention the soldiers from La Salle County who fought the Confederates, according to “Ottawa: Old and New.” William Perkins, a preacher from Jacksonville, bought the paper in 1864, until reformer Joshua Pusey, an abolitionist before the Civil War and prohibitionist years later, in 1867.

Pusey left the paper about

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Retired Times reporter Steve Stout referred to the plaque on the newspaper’s office building in conversations about the future of journalism.

It says The Times is the ninth oldest newspaper in the state, beginning in 1844 as “The Constiutionalist.”

“The newspaper was here before me, and it’ll be here after me,” Stout said.

That perspective has stayed with me. It reminds me the community’s need for reliable journalism is constant.

For the better part of 175 years, journalism at The Times meant putting ink to paper, and delivering the news to someone’s doorstep.

For the last decade or so, the newspaper still comes to those doorsteps, and still sells from the shelves, but it also comes to readers on home computers Derek and phones Barichello seconds after News editor an editor reads the final word of an article.

In each case, the same foundation exists. Reliability.

Integrity. Relevance.

Those qualities will always be in demand when the community seeks its news — and maybe even more so as people begin to question the origin of online articles.

It is important to remember those qualities as papers evolve into media companies.

The way news reaches readers may adapt to lifestyles, but it doesn’t mean “the newspaper” is dying. It’s evolving and stronger.

The Times has more readers than ever. There are thousands of people who receive the traditional paper, thousands more visitors to the website and more than 39,000 who follow The Times

Facebook page — not to mention Twitter followers or those who receive the Morning Minute Newsletter in their email inbox.

News is instant and more accessible.

When a fire happens, for example, reporters head to the scene to share their observations and post photos or videos to Twitter immediately from their phone. Editors in the newsroom gather instant information from reporters and put it together in a post to The Times website, which is then shared on Facebook.

As more updates funnel in, “there are no injuries,” “the fire is extinguished,” editors and reporters continue to add information to the article in real time. Updates can be made around-the-clock, creating a 24/7 news cycle.

Readers go to the grocery store, the game, the tavern, and still get updates on their phone. News comes to them.

Readers also participate with comments online. They spread the word through shares, helping the paper quickly inform the community — and beyond. Nothing is bound to geography.

That explains why readership is higher. It’s more engaging.

As news evolves more to digital and readers begin to prefer it or grow more accustomed to it, media companies also must find ways to make money to keep operations rolling. Advertising is not parallel from print to the web. That’s why subscription models, such as one adopted

by The Times and several other papers, in which readers pay to read content are becoming popular. It’s no different than paying 75 cents at the store for the hard copy. It’s the content you want, after all.

The newspaper is unrivaled in its depth — and those three constants — Reliability. Integrity. Relevance.

That’s why I’ll repeat: “The newspaper was here before me, and it’ll be here after me.”

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Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Times - Delivering Your Community

For this family, delivering The Times is a tradition Ottawa mother, daughter enjoy being on the job MIKE MURPHY For The Times Sabrina Logsdon started delivering Times newspapers at age 5, helping her mother, Carol Sylvester six days a week.

Now 23, Logsdon still has her original route while Sylvester handles multiple foot and motor routes for two different newspapers.

“Three generations of our family have delivered,” Logsdon said.

Their work is noticed by longtime customers as well as employees of The Times, for whom they work as independent contractors.

“They know it really well and they’re two of our best carriers.

They’re very good at what they do,” said John Hicks, manager for The Times’ District 2000 route.

Logsdon is an Illinois Valley Community College student, and while she’s studying and attending class, her mother is well on her way to getting papers to customers.

Sylvester has two motor routes and nine foot routes and delivers about 100 free newspapers on Wednesdays. Once a month she delivers Home Finder magazine and real estate guide to businesses and real estate offices.

She also drops off bundles to foot carriers, who deliver them; and businesses, that sell single copies.

She also delivers papers in Ottawa, Marseilles (two foot routes), Seneca (eight foot routes), Kinsman and Ransom.

Once done with those duties, Sylvester picks up Logsdon, a foot carrier who delivers about 250 papers on eight routes (six on Ottawa’s South Side and two on the North Side), as well as 216 free papers on

to seven hours, then pick up Sabrina and start on Times routes,” she explains. Logsdon’s work usually goes noon to 3:30 p.m.

“She likes to drive and be on her own. It’s good to schedule our lives around it,” Logsdon said of Sylvester.

The family has held some of the routes so long that their customers have become friends. Some of Logsdon’s customers include residents on the Times route Ethel Sylvester first picked up.

“They’re my family. I see them every day,” Sylvester said. “I have the freedom of being outdoors and being with and meeting people.”

Sylvester is extra careful on early-morning routes to watch for deer and other animals crossing the road. At the same time, she remembers seeing a fox who liked hanging around her van, and even followed it the way a dog would.

“A lot of dogs know Mom’s van and get excited. They’re looking for Merlin (Sylvester’s dog),” Logsdon said.

Logsdon sometimes helps and does odd jobs for people on her route, which can take longer than usual if the customers are in talkative moods (“They like to talk to me about what color my hair is.”)

But the work isn’t always fun and For The Times | Tom Sistak games. Sylvester once saw a rural Driver Carol Sylvester (right) hands a paper to her daughter, Sabrina Logsdon, as they work on their paper route on Ottawa woman knocking on the door of a house on fire. Sylvester Ottawa’s South Side. Three generations of their family have delivered The Times. knew the names of the residents Wednesdays.

Totten, sisters of Ethel, also had Before her Times workday begins, inside and called in to help them es“We’re a tag team. I drive and she motor routes. Delivering The Times Sylvester is an independent contrac- cape the blaze. Ethel Sylvester once goes,” Sylvester said of Logsdon. just is something family members tor for another newspaper — the found an injured man in his yard Carol Sylvester often gets help do.

Chicago Tribune. and was able to call for help. from her mother, Ethel Sylvester, “It puts food on the table. My She wakes up at 1:30 a.m., takes Hicks praised Sylvester’s reliabiloriginator of the family’s carrier mom said paper routes were steady a shower and begins her Tribune ity (“Even in bad weather, she keeps connection. Ethel took a route in work,” Carol Sylvester said. route of 100 papers about 3 a.m. going”), and she in turn likes the 1978 and held it until 2010. She still Sabrina admires the work ethic She starts her Times work 5 to 5:30 people at The Times. helps deliver the route with Carol, of her mother: “She does a lot more a.m., when she counts and separate “I grew up there and remember all who has been helping deliver papers and does most of her routes herself. papers, then loads her van, which the people who stuffed papers. I was since age 8.

Then she comes back into town and can hold up to 210 bundles. raised in that building and so was Norma Gossett and Loretta “Red” we work together.”

“I go out and do my routes, for six my daughter,” Sylvester said.

What you will and won’t find in today’s newspapers versus decades-old papers STEPHANIE JAQUINS For The Times

For The Times | Charles Stanley

Laura Fultz Youngstrum, the adult services librarian at Reddick Public Library in Ottawa, with the cabinets of microfilmed newspapers and one of the library’s two microfilm reader machines.

Microfilmed newspapers preserve community history CHARLES STANLEY For The Times The notion newspapers are “the first rough draft of history” has been attributed to various journalists.

But in many cases, newspapers may be the only history of community events.

Newspapers “are the journals and diaries of the political, social and business events of the time,” said John Lee Webster, (18471929), a Nebraska attorney, politician and historian.

“In social science research the investigator goes to the newspapers to find the manner in which the people lived, their habits of life, the equipment of the social household, the schools of instruction, the growth of villages and towns, the advancement in local municipal government.” he said. “They contain substantially the only record we have of the lives and hardships, the bravery, daring and adventures of the early pioneers.”

Bound newspapers, Webster said in 1912, “will be all the more valuable a hundred years from now.”

Over the years, binding gave way to microfilming — and more recently to digitization.

The Reddick Public Library in Ottawa has a nearly complete collection The Times starting with its earliest incarnations before the Civil War and ending a few years ago.

Other Ottawa newspapers are included in the microfilm collection.

The microfilm collection is housed in the library’s Illinois Room along with other local history materials including books, maps, photos, directories and correspondence.

There are two microfilm readers. Both are vintage models.

“But we take loving care of them,” said Laura Fultz Youngstrum, the adult service librarian.

Streator Public Library also has newspapers going back to the turn of the century that patrons can read using the facility’s microfilm machine.

Sometimes Youngstrum will draw on her own knowledge of Ottawa to help patrons. “i have a very personal interest in local history myself,” she said.

Typically, a microfilm reader is available to patrons who sign in to visit the Illinois Room.

“Other times they both

are in use at the same time and people are waiting,” Youngstrum said.

A “family tree” of Ottawa newspapers is posted on top of the microfilm cabinets.

Also there are alphabetical guides to obituaries, one of the most common types of information sought by visitors.

For first-time users the microfilm machines can be a little intimidating, Youngstrum said. “ But we’re happy to provide assistance in getting them set up — like putting in the microfilm reels,” she said.

When copies are desired they can be printed out on the printer the microfilm readers share. The cost is 25 cents per page.

Another alternative is to take a photo of the screen image with a tablet or cellphone.

“That’s fine,” Youngstrum said.

Sometimes there is glare that shows up when the photos are taken. The workaround for that is to briefly turn off the room’s overhead lights.

“But,” Youngstrum said, “first you have to ask at the front desk — so we know we don’t need to head for the fusebox.”

When Julie Anne Olle married Dennis Leamy in 1977, she wore a bridal gown she made herself.

The gown was floor length and designed of white Qiana.

It was styled with a square neckline, long-fitted sleeves and gathered bodice trimmed in lace.

These details and many more were included in the wedding announcement published in The Daily Times in November 1977.

There was no picture of the newlyweds or pictures included in other wedding announcements then.

The headline read “Julie Anne Olle bride of Dennis Leamy” and the headline below it said “Mary Grommes, Ronald Keegan married.” If you go back to the wedding announcements in the 1960s, there is more attention given to the bride. In the engagement announcements, there is a picture, but only of the bride. The headline also only highlights the bride, such as this 1964 headline “Miss Pfeiffer Married.”

Today’s marriage and engagement announcements are more slimmed down, most notably lacking a description of the bride’s and bridesmaids’ dresses. They do, however, give equal attention to both the bride and the groom with

The Times | file

Beer and cigarette ads used to be common in The Daily Times — but not anymore.

a picture of the couple and information about both people.

The social pages in past decades were full of details about not only weddings, but also kids’ birthday parties and bridal showers.

Lonny Cain, who was The Times managing editor for 30 years until his retirement in 2014, said over the years there was a stronger focus on providing content more relevant and useful to readers — more news to use.

Detailed social news items aren’t the only news items you’ll find missing from today’s Times.

Back then you could also find Hospital Notes, which was a list of patients admitted and discharged from Community Hospital of Ottawa.

Hospital Notes did not give a reason for the visit, but it did list the patient’s town or full address and the hospital’s visiting hours.

Today, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which restricts access to private medical information, prohibits such information from being released to the press.

If you look at old ads, you’ll also see a shift from today’s ads. There were many national ads, including liquor and cigarette ads.

The Times | file While the 1970 In 1977, a Ford Pinto cost $2,995, and Public Health The Daily Times cost 15 cents.

Cigarette Smoking

Act banned cigarette ads from airing on TV and radio, print newspaper ads were never banned.

Still, they disappeared from the pages of The Times perhaps due to changes in society.

I used to put together a feature called Flashback Friday. I would go through the newspaper’s microfilm and find a photo or article to share on the The Times Facebook page.

Ads about the latest technology always got a chuckle, such as a 1989 Radio Shack ad with a handheld cellular phone and a dual cassette player.

Or an ad from the 1960s to reach the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Ottawa by dialing HE 3-2542.

(To be honest, I wouldn’t know how to dial that. What does HE mean?)

In 1977, according to a Bob Morse Ford-Lincoln Mercury ad, you could buy a 1978 Ford Pinto for $2,995. The cost of The Daily Times was 15 cents.

Newspapers serve as great time capsules telling us not only what was going on locally and around the world, but also how we lived — what we were buying, the movies we were watching and what we cared about.

The Times - Delivering Your Community

175th Anniversary

Thursday, November 14, 2019

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For The Times | Annette Barr

The Times invited current and former carriers to a special photo taken Oct. 27 for our 175th anniversary edition. These are the folks that bring the news to you, and we thank them all for their work.

Lives along the paper route

Carriers fondly recall delivering newspapers ANNETTE BARR For The Times

Jenny Rodriguez It’s been nearly 30 years since former paper girl Jenny Rodriguez was named “Carrier of the Month” by The Daily Times, although her distinctive bag looks as new as the day she received the honor.

“I never used it. I didn’t want it to get dirty,” Rodriguez said while standing in fallen leaves on the sidewalk along her former route on McKinley Road on Ottawa’s South Side.

In fact Rodriguez was surprised to find the pristine bag after having rented a dumpster and cleaning out years of items accumulated in her basement. Somehow the bag survived, even though she swore she tossed it.

Rodriguez had her route in the early ‘90s while she was attending Shepherd Junior High School, just down the road. Being a cheerleader, her dad would deliver the papers on her route for her when she cheered at away games. And during bad weather the two would work together.

“Everybody was nice.

There was one lady at the end of the block, I called her “The Pop Lady.” She always had a fully-stocked fridge and would say, ‘Stop and have a drink!’,” Rodriguez remembered fondly. In fact, many customers on her route earned nicknames, including “The Dime Lady” who routinely tipped a dime during the weekly collection.

The money earned on her route went towards shoes and purses.

As high school approached,

Rodriguez gave up her route for a job in the mailroom stuffing circulars after school and on Saturdays. Her mother worked in the mailroom as well. During high school she began working with the late Joe Briel in the composing department until her senior year.

“I loved it there! And that’s where I met Chico because he was a a pressman. If I didn’t have my paper route, I wouldn’t have met my Prince Charming,” said Rodriguez with a smile, referring to her husband. “The Daily Times has always meant a lot to our family, and my mom is still close with a lot of those ladies (who worked there.).”

Brian Neumann In 1978 Brian Neumann was a 12-year-old junior high kid with a paper route on the West Side. And one of those stops on West Lafayette Street included the WCMY radio station, a place that would prove influential for the budding musician.

“I had long hair. They knew I was a rocker kid.

I looked like a little Kurt Cobain with blond hair down to here,” Neumann said as he gestured to his shoulder.

“I was always into music, so I would just go in there.

And I was fascinated because they would be on air and they would sometimes let me come in and sit in (the studio). It was just amazing.”

At the time the musician was just taking an interest in what would become his career. As he got to know the disc jockeys while delivering the daily newspaper, he began to take home records that were pulled from rotation due to the risk of being

scratched.

“I remember on Christmas one time, my Christmas bonus was a big stack of records. It was like 20 or 30 records. There’s probably over 100,” he said of his collection from WCMY. Some of his favorites include “Street Survivors”

by Lynyrd Skynyrd; Toto’s self-titled debut album; “Bat Out of Hell” by Meat Loaf; “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” by the Byrds as well as several albums by The Doobie Brothers.

“The Santana ones (“Amigos” and “Abraxas”) were the most special ones to me because I wasn’t listening to instrumental music and these were almost completely instrumental. I just felt like a brainiac listening to these,” Neumann said of his formative music years as he shuffled through a handful of albums while standing across from the WCMY building.

“Santana, I never would have thought to buy at the store at the time. It wasn’t something even on my radar.

Yeah, for sure it opened my mind up to different music.

They gave me jazz records like Weather Report with a bass player named Jaco Pastorius who’s the greatest bass player that ever lived.”

Although Neumann began drum lessons about the same time as he was a paper boy, he quickly picked up the bass when his friends needed a bass player for their band.

And while WCMY was the high point of his route, it wasn’t all easy listening.

“One kid that lived down the street here (he) used to bully me really bad and I hated his guts. I was terrified to deliver to his house. And,

For The Times | Annette Barr

Jenny Rodriguez poses near her childhood home with her honorary “Carrier of the Month” bag from when she was a paper girl in the early 1990s. we became best friends later on when we got older,” Neumann said. “He would just terrorize me. Throw stuff at me. Shoot me with plastic pellet guns and stuff. He was a year older, but a year is a lot when you’re 12 and there’s a 13-year-old kid shooting at you with a pellet gun. That’s scary.”

Now Neumann can look back at that time fondly. He currently plays music five nights a week, mainly guitar, and bass in two different bands.

“I just remember that they were all really cool to me,” Neumann said of the guys at the radio station. “I think they just thought I was a cool little rock and roll kid, you know?”

Neumann hosts open mics at Tilly’s in Ottawa on Sundays 3 to 6 p.m., Jake’s Pour House in La Salle Mondays 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. and Spike’s in Peru Tuesdays 9 p.m. to midnight.

Bob Stoudt, Griffin Walker and Ben Walker Bob Stoudt is known to ask his grandsons if they “pedaled their papers.”

In 1960 when Stoudt was 12, he and his brother Tony Stoudt delivered 89 papers on Michigan and Marquette streets, just east of Columbus Street.

“I used to pick them up at Jensen Rutledge and Cassidy Gas Station. My brother was with me,” Stoudt said. “We used to ride the bikes and throw ‘em on the front porch.

The faster you pedaled, the quicker you got done. And then you could go to the canal For The Times | Annette Barr to play baseball.”

Brian Neumann holds a collection of records he received as a tip from WCMY when he delivered Stoudt said he remembers collecting from his customThe Daily Times to the radio station in the late ‘70s.

For The Times | Annette Barr

Bob Stoudt stands with his grandsons Ben Walker, on his bike, and Griffin Walker on Ottawa Avenue. All three have been paper boys. ers, at that time 40 cents per week for the paper. Now his grandson, Ben Walker, 10, doesn’t have to collect money on his route. The Times bills customers directly. Gone are the little books with stamps each carrier had to keep track of collections.

Ben picked up the route on Ottawa Avenue from his older brother Griffin Walker, 14, earlier this year. And compared to the 89 papers his grandfather and great-uncle delivered, Ben has just 19.

Although he does pedal his papers, delivering on his bicycle, he carries the newspapers in a backpack as bags are no longer provided.

When asked if anything memorable has happened on his route, Ben recounts the time a woman lost control of her leashed dog and the dog bit him on the arm, leaving a small scar. And when asked what he likes about having a paper route, he looked up with a grin and replied, “Well, I get money.”

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175th Anniversary

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Times - Delivering Your Community

The role The Times plays in a person’s life from birth to death Birth

Bee-ing among the best

New degrees

Ad-ded bonus

Parents are proud to announce the birth of their child, Sammy Somebody, in the newspaper’s birth announcements. Within days of being born, Sammy’s name appears in newsprint for the first time.

Sammy won the junior high spelling bee at school and will advance to the La Salle, Marshall, & Putnam Counties Spelling Bee at Ottawa High School. Sammy is listed in a preview article about the bee and talks to a reporter after being the county runner up.

In the Classroom lists include Sammy’s name upon graduating IVCC with an associate degree and then graduating from a university with a bachelor’s degree.

Sammy buys display advertisements to announce sales events at the downtown shop.

Engaged

The coupons in the weekend edition are helpful to a family of four on a budget. Woohoo! Buy one get one free on deodorant!

Happy birthday!

The Times publishes social news items in addition to news, features and sports. One of the social items is the Birthday Club.

Sammy’s birthday is celebrated from age 1 to 10 years old with a photo in the Birthday Club.

Just for kicks Sammy scores a goal for the team and wins the city’s firstgrade soccer championship. The team photo runs in the sports section.

Sammy sighting A Times photographer takes photos of children gathering candy during the city’s holiday parade. Sammy is among the children in the front-page photo, and Grandma clips it out to hang on her refrigerator.

First job Sammy is 12 years old and asks Mom and Dad for extra spending money. Dad suggests signing up for a paper route. Sammy starts delivering newspapers before school.

Quite an honor A+ First-quarter grades are in for the school year — Sammy got A’s and B’s. The school submits an honor roll each quarter, and Sammy’s name is listed each time. (That’s 32 times from fifth through 12th grade.)

County 4-H fair Sammy is a member of a local 4-H Club and raises rabbits.

Sammy’s mini Rex buck wins Best in Show.

Hoopster The high school basketball preview includes Sammy on the roster. After each good game, the Area Roundup in the sports section includes Sammy’s highlights.

Sammy met Pat and fell in love. Now they’ve set a date to get married! Sammy cut out the couple’s engagement announcement in the paper, and now it’s being used as a bookmark.

Bargain hunting

Spring cleaning

Sammy and Pat box up all of the household odds and ends they don’t need anymore — baby In business clothes, four of their five coffeemakers, furniture, a etc. — and As a young entrepreneur, host a garage sale. They list their Sammy opens a new business downtown. The Times publishes a sale in the classifieds garage sale calendar to attract out-of-towners. feature about the new store.

Just married

Easing disaster

Sammy and Pat are officially married.

Their wedding photo Sammy’s parents didn’t want to buy a brand new car for a teen- and a short wedding announceager. That $1,200 car listed in the ment are published on the weekend Times of Our Lives page. classified section, on the other hand, was the perfect fit.

The Somebodys’ house had a kitchen fire. A reporter joined firefighters on the scene and published a report the next day.

Support began to pour in from neighbors and acquaintances who saw the news.

Graduation keepsake

Letter to the editor

Making the front page

It’s election season, and Sammy wants two specific candidates to win City Council seats. Sammy voices support on the opinion page in a letter to the editor.

Each month the front page has a theme for reader-submitted photos.

This month’s theme is Greatest Grandparents, and Sammy gets the pleasant surprise of discovering the grandkids submitted a photo of themselves with Pat and Sammy.

First car

Each year, The Times publishes a special section with all of the area’s high school graduates. Mom saves the copy with senior portraits of Sammy and classmates.

Dean’s List Sammy makes the fall Dean’s List at Illinois Valley Community College. Higher education institutions can submit student achievements to be published as an In the Classroom item in The Times.

Uh oh At 19 years old, Sammy gets pulled over for driving 81 mph in a 55 mph zone. The police blotter reports it in the next day’s paper.

Sammy slows down in the future.

Volunteerism

It’s time for United Way’s annual Labor of Love, and Sammy spearheads a team to help improve a home of a family in need.

Looking close at the front-page photo, readers can spot Sammy in the background painting the fence.

Local views New legislation moving through Springfield will affect small business owners. The Times seeks local perspectives on the issue. Sammy is among downtown business owners to share their views.

Births announced Sammy and Pat welcome twins Jack and Jill into the family. They buy a birth announcement to share the news.

Closing shop Sammy is retiring and closing the downtown storefront. The Times publishes an article about the business’s 50 years and mentions Sammy’s upcoming retirement party.

In the club Retirement gives Sammy more time to participate in local clubs. Sammy is listed among the garden club members who volunteered to clean up the park in Club Notes.

Stuffing the stocking A list of Red Stocking donations published during the Christmas season includes a listing of Sammy’s donation in memory of Mom and Dad.

A tribute to life Sammy has lived the average American lifespan and passes away at 80 years old. An obituary is published sharing the highlights and accomplishments of Sammy’s life.

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