Cousins build on their success at downtown Sterling store.
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Publisher/Ad Director Jennifer Heintzelman Magazine editor & Page design Rusty Schrader Published by Sauk Valley Media 113 S. Peoria Ave. | Dixon, IL 61021 815-284-2222 Have a story idea for Sterling-Rock Falls Living? Let us know ... Call 815-632-2531 or e-mail news@saukvalley.com Articles and advertisements are the property of Sauk Valley Media. No portion of Sterling-Rock Falls Living may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Ad content is not the responsibility of Sauk Valley Media. The information in this magazine is believed to be accurate; however, Sauk Valley Media cannot and does not guarantee its accuracy. Sauk Valley Media cannot and will not be held liable for the quality or performance of goods and services provided by advertisers listed in any portion of this magazine.
inside Building on their success
A pair of cousins in life became Cousins in business at a downtown Sterling shop, where they take pride in offering an inspired inventory that’s like a gift that keeps on giving, and that in a short time has become bigger, better ... and cuddlier.
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Last stop for the Sterling & Dixon railway Did you know that Sterling and Dixon used to have a pretty impressive track record, thanks to an interurban rail system — that is, progress and profit loss derailed it.
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A lifetime of teachable moments
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In tune with his clients
From educating the public as a firefighter, to his time as a teacher, to a leading role in regional education, Bob Sondgeroth has taught a lot. Now, he’s learning to enjoy his retirement.
A Sterling DJ knows music can make or break a special event. That’s why he takes the time to make sure that when he presses the ‘play’ button, he doesn’t hit any sour notes.
Plus ...
Where Is It? Rock Falls Page 27
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Sterling-Rock Falls Living | Summer 2021
The Sterling est trolley, looking w m fro on Third Street 19 a 15. Locust Street , circ STERLING, SOURCE : “THE STERN EA D DIXON AN AY,” ILW RA IC TR ELEC R TE PHILLIP KEIS ) (1963
Editor’s note: This article was written by Dixon resident Tom Wadsworth, a writer, speaker, and a sixth-generation Dixonite. His background includes careers in ministry, broadcasting, corporate communications, and 20 years as the editor of a national trade magazine. He is currently completing a PhD in New Testament.
Virtually no one is alive today who remembers the famous interurban trolley line that ran between Dixon and Sterling from 1904 to 1925. Indeed, were it not for documentary evidence, you would be hard pressed to find any physical evidence of the line today. When the seeds of the line were planted in 1903, public “electrification” was relatively new in the area, and automobiles were virtually nonexistent. So, the citizenry gladly welcomed the promise of fast and affordable transportation around town and to the neighboring city. Service was relatively reliable and safe; but in its 21 years, the trolley would also bring at least two grisly deaths.
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Sterling-Rock Falls Living | Summer 2021 Sterling-Rock Falls Living | Summer 2021
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LAST STOP cont’d from page 5 It was sometimes called “the interurban” or “the streetcar,” but its proper name was the Sterling, Dixon, and Eastern Electric Railway, which we will abbreviate as the SD&E. In May 1903, work began on the SD&E, a privately run enterprise that sought to serve the Dixon and Sterling population, which was about 7,000 to 8,000 in each city. Preparation work involved laying the tracks and stringing the electric trolley wires all the way from downtown Sterling to downtown Dixon, along with special spur lines to popular sites and entertainment venues. Conductor “Boody” Anderson poses by Car No. 28, circa 1910. On the car, the letters, “S. D. & E. E. Ry. Co.” stand for “Sterling Dixon and Eastern Electric Railway Company.” SOURCE: “THE STERLING, DIXON AND EASTERN ELECTRIC RAILWAY,” PHILLIP KEISTER (1963)
“Undoubtedly the best” The Dixon-Sterling line was just one of hundreds sprouting up throughout America at the time. In the early 1900s, as many as 50 Illinois cities were launching or operating electric railways. Most of these cities were larger than Sterling or Dixon, but other, smaller towns had electric trolley service, including Amboy-Lee Center, Princeton, Ottawa, and Mount Vernon.
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SOURCE: “THE STERLING, DIXON AND EASTERN ELECTRIC RAILWAY,” PHILLIP KEISTER (1963)
The trolley tracks on the Galena Avenue Bridge in Dixon, looking south, as seen in 1913. Note that the rails split into two lines so that two trolleys could run on the bridge at the same time.
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LAST STOP cont’d from page 6 In its inaugural year of 1904, the local crowds using the interurban were reported as “very large,” and everyone was expecting a long and successful history. Sterling gave the SD&E a 50-year franchise, while Dixon’s franchise was eventually extended to 1960. In 1904, the Telegraph gushed, “This service will undoubtedly be the best of any two cities in the country for their size.” The Sterling Gazette bragged that the SD&E cars were “undoubtedly the most magnificently and luxuriously equipped cars of any interurban railway with the exception of an Ohio line.” In March 1906, a Telegraph story noted the rapid growth of interurbans nationwide, saying, “The interurban road has come to stay. There can be no doubt about this … (because they are) of incalculable value in bringing into closer touch sections which hitherto have been isolated.”
A fleet of street cars In 1903, the SD&E purchased nine cars, four for in-city use (two each in Sterling and Dixon) and five for interurban use between Sterling and Dixon. A typical interurban car cost $8,000, measured 60 feet x 9 feet, weighed 10 tons, and carried 60 passengers. Initially, the four in-city cars carried 30 passengers each. Later models varied in dimensions and capacity. Some of the cars had oak interiors, and featured a toilet, and a smoking section. Cars were also equipped with a “St. Louis
life-saver” fender that made it “utterly impossible for an individual to fall under the wheels of the car at the front end.” (See “Double Fatality” below.) One car was a baggage car that would also deliver milk to Dixon’s Borden Condensed Milk factory on Palmyra Avenue. Each morning, local dairy farmers would bring their milk to the interurban, which then hauled it to the Borden factory northwest of Dixon.
Creating local jobs At first, the company expected to hire 12 conductors and 12 motormen, but the total was later increased to 36. SD&E wages started at 17 cents an hour but by the 1920s had increased to 35 to 40 cents an hour. The SD&E initially ran with two men on each car (a motorman and a conductor), but that was later reduced to one person per car. Instead of a conductor picking up fares, passengers would drop their nickels in a box at the front of the car. SD&E management instructed its conductors to look each passenger in the face when collecting fares and to “not easily be bluffed.” Conductors were required to be gentlemanly and to keep their uniforms and cars clean, “but freshness of the part of the conductors will not be tolerated.” SD&E employees were prohibited from entering any saloon at any time.
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Passengers board a rail car along the SD&E rail system near Prairieville, between Sterling and Dixon. This photo is part of the Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society collection. Go to https://srfhs.com/ for more information on the group. The collection can be viewed at idaillinois.org/digital/collection/stpl/search.
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Sterling-Rock Falls Living | Summer 2021
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The infrastructure Electricity to the trolleys was conveyed via wire suspended 18 to 23 feet above the street. The Galena Avenue bridge required additional steel girders and replanking to handle the weight of the cars. Electric power came from the power station at the Dixon dam and from a Sterling power station. The total length of the track was about 19 miles, which included about 14 miles of track from the Dixon post office to the Sterling post office. Between the city limits of the two cities, the interurban line maintained a 40-foot-wide right-of-way.
The in-city routes SD&E headquarters were originally in Sterling, but in 1907, the home office moved to Dixon. The main Sterling station was at Avenue B and West Third Street, where County Market’s fuel pumps are today. The main Dixon station, which had an office, a waiting room, and a car barn, was located at West First and Madison, next to where Kitzman’s Lumber stands today. That car barn building later became the home of Northern Illinois Gas.
With the average rail car weighing 10 tons, and the biggest one clocking in at 24 tons, it took a lot of power to keep them moving. The powerhouse in Sterling, seen here in a 1923 photo, sat on the 100 block of 15th Avenue. In Dixon, power came from a station at the Dixon dam. This photo, taken by the Marfleet and Hart Photo Studio in Sterling, is part of the Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society collection. Go to https://srfhs. com/ for more information on the group. The collection can be viewed at idaillinois.org/ digital/collection/stpl/search.
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LAST STOP cont’d from page 9 Inside Dixon, the route ran from West First Street to Galena, then across the bridge to Fellows Street. From that point, the track went both east and west. To the east, additional track ran from Galena Avenue down East Fellows to the popular dome at Assembly Park. To the west, the track ran down Lincoln Way to Palmyra Avenue, in front of the Borden factory, then on to Sterling. On the south side, an additional stretch of track was laid from West First Street to College Avenue to Sixth Street to Depot Avenue and then to the Chicago and Northwestern railroad depot station. In 1915, when Dixon landed the “Epileptic Colony” (a state school), an additional line was added on the north side, running from Fellows Street up Crawford Avenue (Brinton Avenue) to the colony, two miles to the north. In Sterling, the route ran down East Fourth Street to Broadway, where it curved slightly south TOP: onto East Third The InterurStreet toward downtown. The ban’s Dixon schedule, route weaved back onto Fourth as published in the Dixon Street at Avenue B on Sterling’s Evening Telegraph, April 7, west side and went west to its 1911. BOTTOM: An employterminus just past Avenue L, ee’s trip ticket for the Sterpassing the old Sterling hospital ling, Dixon & Eastern at Avenue I along the way. Electric Railway The powerhouse in Sterling sat Co. on the 100 block of 15th Avenue, a three-block spur ran there from the main line; this is now the site of Redfield Park. Another spur route went to Mineral Springs just off of Woodlawn Road; once the site of the resort and fair, but now is a quiet, wooded subdivision.
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Rock Falls goes off the rails
Sterling had been an established city by the 1880s, while Rock Falls still was in its infancy a couple of decades after its founding. As the two were close, but different in size, the idea of merging the two communities was often brought up around the turn of the 20th century – mostly from Sterling folks. One development that would have brought the two cities closer to one community was the ill-fated Union Street Railway of Sterling and Rock Falls. Established by the Sterling Gas and Electric Company in 1889, the line would have connected the downtown areas of both cities via the First Avenue Bridge, with a powerhouse located north of Riverside Cemetery in Sterling. The Rock Falls Electric Company was in charge of building the lines in its town, which ran along West Second Street (the street is seen today in the photo above). P.T. Van Horne was in charge of drawing up designs for the line’s buildings along the route; including a large hexagonal depot building near the corner of Locust and Third streets in Sterling, but that, along with the line itself, never came to fruition. The line was supposed to have nine cars, each made at the Pullman Company in Chicago. However, the company could not afford a means to physically transfer the cars from the Chicago and North Western rail line in town to the powerhouse. Upon realization of this, the Union Street Railway ceased to exist. The rails remained, and Sterling businessman John Charter once tested an experimental steam vehicle of his on the Rock Falls side of the line in 1890. Nothing came of that, however. After 4 years of non-use, the rails were removed. The removal was prompted by a buggy accident where it got stuck along the track and was hit by a runaway horse, injuring driver Maggie Wells – who successfully sued the City of Rock Falls and was awarded $2,100 in damages. – Cody Cutter
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Car No. 23 makes its way down West First Street in Dixon, heading to/from the Chicago and Northwestern railway depot station in Dement Town, as seen here in this circa 1910 postcard.
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The between-city route Between Sterling and Dixon, the track ran mostly along the south side of Palmyra Road, not along Route 2. The Palmyra route was one mile longer than a route that would have paralleled the river, but the northern route had the advantage of serving customers at Gap Grove (Palmyra) and Prairieville. The process of laying the rails between Dixon and Sterling took only three months, as the last spike was driven near Prairieville on Nov. 4, 1903. The grand opening in May 1904 featured a band concert between the two cities at Oak Park at Gap Grove (probably near the intersection of Lenox and Palmyra roads). The gravel pit by Gap Grove (now known as Palmyra Quarry) supplied much of the needed gravel for the ballast foundation beneath the ties and rails.
Keeping on schedule The interurban cars could reach speeds of 50 MPH on rural straightaways. Initially, the interurban cars were to leave Sterling for Dixon every hour on the hour. At one time, pay stations were located at downtown Dixon, Swissville (at the Borden milk factory), Gap Grove, Prairieville, Mineral Springs, and downtown Sterling. The in-city cars were expected to run every 15 minutes, while the Dixon-Sterling trip generally took 45 minutes to an hour. Cars generally operated on a specific schedule from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The fare from Dixon to Sterling was initially 25 cents but increased to 30 cents in 1910. For in-city rides, the fare was
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a nickel but was increased to 8 cents in 1920. Children under 10 paid half fare, while “children in arms” could ride free, unless occupying their own seat.
Delayed by dresses? To keep the cars running on time, passengers were asked to get on and off quickly. If a man was traveling with a woman, the man was urged to get off the car first so that he could assist the woman to the street. “If the women get off first,” reported the Telegraph in 1904, “there is always some confusion, and the cars are invariably delayed.”
Imbibing and the Interurban In the early 1900s, when the (anti-alcohol) temperance movement was raging, the voters of Sterling and Dixon vacillated between making their cities “wet” or “dry.” But when Dixon was dry and Sterling was wet, the interurban became even more popular. Dixonites could hop on the SD&E to Sterling for an evening of imbibing and then return safely to Dixon as the streetcar did the driving.
First accident In December 1904, the SD&E’s first major accident took place when a city car and an interurban car smashed into each other at the north end of the Galena Avenue bridge. As was required, the city car was supposed to yield to the interurban car, but the city car’s brake was not working.
Sterling-Rock Falls Living | Summer 2021
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As cars became more commonplace during the 1920s, they competed for space on city streets with SD&E’s rail cars, and accidents like this one – at the corner of Locust and Third streets in Sterling – would become inevitable. Other, more serious, accidents would also occur, including a double fatality in Sterling in 1923. This photo is part of the Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society collection. Go to https://srfhs.com/ for more information on the group. The collection can be viewed at idaillinois. org/digital/collection/stpl/search.
LAST STOP cont’d from page 12 Both cars were damaged in the crash, with glass flying in every direction, but the only injury was to the motorman, Ned Stroup, whose shoulder was badly bruised. The other motorman was thrown into overturned cans of buttermilk on board. Both motormen were expected to be suspended for carelessness.
A double fatality In May of 1923, a Sterling man and wife were killed in a horrific collision with the interurban. Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Thompson, ages 47 and 45, were in the process of moving their belongings to a residence two miles east of Sterling, near the interurban tracks. It was there where they had both just entered their
“Dodge machine” to return to Sterling for another load. With their view of the tracks partially obscured by a tree, and their hearing probably dampened by the noise of their own car, they pulled out directly in the path of the interurban car, which was going about 25 MPH. The 24-ton rail car, the largest interurban in the fleet, smashed into the couples’ car, crushing the Thompsons and their vehicle. The newspaper bluntly reported that Mrs. Thompson’s head was “cruelly crushed and mangled and one foot severed.” Mr. Thompson, also crushed under the rail car, suffered “terrible internal injuries and with his back broken.” Within two hours, he was also dead.
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Another fatality More bad news hit the interurban in February 1925, when two interurban cars on the Rockford-Freeport line collided and burst into flames at 45 MPH in foggy conditions. Two died and 11 were seriously injured. The motorman of one car was found crushed and it was reported that his “charred bits of flesh and clothing (were) frantically dragged from the burning car.”
Weather delays The cars continued to run in winter, but heavy snow sometimes delayed service. After one heavy snowstorm in January 1910, it was reported that “a gang of twenty men” worked all day to shovel snow off the tracks nearly all the way from Dixon to Sterling. In January 1918, “monster snow drifts” were said to be as high as the cars. In 1923, blizzards paralyzed service for three full days, as blowing snow covered the tracks as quickly as shovelers could remove it. In March 1919, heavy rains also affected interurban service. The water-soaked ties and spongy ground allowed the rails to spread easily, causing two cars to run off the tracks.
The inevitable emise In 1903, when the massive SD&E project was under construction, little note was made of a man named Henry Ford, who started the Ford Motor Company in Detroit that year — but
within a few years, he was producing hundreds of thousands of his Model T automobiles. Annual production hit one million cars in 1921, and production continued to soar through the Roaring Twenties. By 1924, Ford’s mass production efficiencies brought the price of a Model T down to $290, well within reach for the average American. All this spelled defeat for the electric railway. By 1917, cars started to jam the streets, crowding out trolleys. After a paved highway (Alt. U.S. 30, the Lincoln Highway) was completed in 1920 along the same Palmyra Road route between Sterling and Dixon, interurban revenues began to plummet as more people bought cars.
Financial failure At its peak of popularity, the SD&E carried 891,000 passengers in 1911. By 1924, that number plummeted to 239,000. Over its 21 years of service, the SD&E operated at a deficit in 12 of those years, and the deficits only got worse after 1917. In 1924, for example, the SD&E took in $47,000, but expenses were $91,000. In addition to the loss of revenue, maintenance expenses continued to mount. About 6,500 ties had to be replaced in 1921, with 24,000 more in the next 2 to 3 years. Because of the struggles, the SD&E considered abandoning the service in 1921 and was urging Dixonites to “patronize the lines a little more liberally.” But the fate of the streetcar had already been sealed by the automobile.
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Wall-to-wall history
Among the several murals that take drivers and passersby in Sterling on a tour of the town’s history are two that feature the SD&E, one of which is dedicated entirely to the interurban rail system. “The Sterling, Dixon and Eastern Railway” mural (top) was painted by Dan and Peter Sawatzky in 1995 and can be found at First Avenue and East Third Street. According to the “The Murals of Sterling” brochure, the SD&E rail company obtained its ballast (the gravel that formed the trackbed for the railroad ties) from a gravel pit near Prairieville. As cars became more common and better roads were needed, the company would sell its gravel to road contractors, thereby helping to hasten its demise, as cars replaced the need for rail transport. The second mural to feature a railcar is “Old Downtown” (bottom), also complete by the Sawatskys in 1995. A portion of the mural at First Avenue and East Third Street shows a car traveling along East Third Street during the early 1900s
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The end of the line In July 1925, the SD&E filed an application with the Illinois Commerce Commission to discontinue service. The application was quickly approved, and the glorious era of the Dixon-Sterling electric railway came to an end in October. In memoriam, the Ashton Gazette aptly said that, when the service started, it “was hailed as the beginning of a new era, but the automobile has produced another new era.”
Lost memories Memories of riding the SD&E now reside only with our deceased ancestors. If you were five years old and rode the interurban during its last year of operation, you would be 101 years old in 2021. If you want to see where the SD&E route ran, drive out Palmyra Road through Gap Grove and Prairieville. Look for the electric power lines. For the most part, the interurban ran where those power lines now run. To my knowledge, the only other physical evidence of the line is in the main hangar at Walgreen Field. When you walk in the hangar, look up. In 1934, the hangar’s roof rafters were built with discarded steel rails from the SD&E. Author’s note: The sources for this story are dozens of articles in local newspapers from 1903 to 1935 as well as Phillip L. Keister’s 28-page booklet, “The Sterling, Dixon, and Eastern Electric Railway” (seen at right) published by the Electric Railway Historical Society in 1963. For more info, see the files at the Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society at 113 S. Hennepin in Dixon.
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By Cody Cutter | Sauk Valley Media
ome businesses start with an idea, others with an inspiration. Some start when an enterprising entrepreneur sees a demand and decides to fill it. Brenda Roe and Heather Dunkel’s business started with the bear necessities. Today, the cousins have transformed Vintage Cousins, at 318 First Ave. in Sterling, into a business for the ages — all ages, from grammas wanting to stroll down memory lane, to moms looking for the latest in decor, to kids who want a homemade pet with the right stuff. The idea for Vintage Cousins was planted more than 30 years ago. Simply playing with teddy bears wasn’t enough to keep Roe’s children and cousins occupied for long when they were together on play dates growing up. They needed a way to make their make-believe something special something all their own. Why not find a way to let them personalize their playtime, Roe thought.
Brenda Roe (left) and Heather Dunkel share an interest in putting a unique spin on furnishings, fun, and more, and it’s on display at Vintage Cousins, an emporium, vendor co-op and Build-a-Pet business. CODY CUTTER/ CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM
VINTAGE cont’d to page 22
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ABOVE: Repurposed, recycled, rejuvenated ... If you’re looking for something old that’s been turned into something new, or something new that’s made to look like something old, Vintage Cousins is the place to go. RIGHT: Looking for merchandise with a message? You can find it at Vintage Cousins – some inspires, some makes you smile, some reminds you to support local businesses. CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM
Dunkel, one of Roe’s younger cousins, cherished the experience of personalizing her own teddy bear at Roe’s place. “We used to take the lace to make the outfit, and it had pearl earrings,” Dunkel said. “It had a little hat on it, too.” Those cherished memories were enough to forge a bond between the Dunkel and Roe, who are about a generation apart in age, and eventually lead to the cousins becoming Vintage Cousins, in downtown Sterling. Roe would baby-sit Dunkel, and Dunkel would later return the favor with Roe’s children. Soon enough, their penchant for personalizing things would lead the two to put their own twists on events such as birthday parties, right down to the invitations – no Hallmarks needed here. “We always made our own invitations, and in all of our parties we did the decor,” Roe said. “We’ve always kind of worked on that together.” Their talent for turning something ordinary into something special would eventually lead them from selling their wares online to looking for a space they could call their own. The cousins found it at a downtown mini-mall in April 2019, complete with a storefront window looking out on First Avenue and its downtown shops. When it opened, the store and Build-a-Pet only took up a couple of rooms – but not for long. The business did well, and when one of the downtown’s biggest supporters, Sterling Main Street, moved to its own office about a block away this past March, the cousins took over its space on the other side of the building. The move tripled their space, giving them more room to display their merchandise and about as much room as a large kindergarten classroom for the Build-a-Pet area.
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We invite you to stop by and enjoy a multi-level shopping experience
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VINTAGE cont’d from page 22 Vintage Cousins is comprised of three different areas: the Emporium, where the cousins sell re-purposed, replica and collectible vintage and antique items; the vendor co-op, where they rent space to others who want to sell their vintage goods and creations; and, perhaps their more popular endeavor, the Emporium Build-a-Pet. As for the space where they got their start, the allure of the front window was too good to let go. The cousins transformed that area into their vendor co-op. The rental arrangement gives those who want a physical space to sell their items somewhere to do so. The cousins provide the security, checkout and marketing; and they also pass along knowledge gained from their earliers experience of selling things without an established business. By June, the co-op had more than 10 different vendors, and it can house up to 15. “We thought: Here’s a way of keeping [the space] and giving back to the community that helped us grow, and let them grow,” Dunkel said. “We like the concept, and they all seem to like it, and we’re excited about it.” When it comes to the pet-building part of their business, that’s become something really special, and not just for the family who runs it, but the families who shop their, too.
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CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM
Whether it’s a hutch for your knick-knacks or a record player that used to crank out the tunes, the cousins’ shop can help you add a vintage touch to your home furnishings.
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Brenda Roe and Heather Dunkel’s secret to success for their Emporium Build-APet business is simple: If you let them build it, they will come. Whether you’re looking for a fun, hands-on activity for the kids, or you’re an adult who wants to create a special gift, the business can help by letting you make your own stuffed animal. After they build a buddy, kids can have fun with it in the store’s vintage-themed play areas for the pets, including a teeter-totter, swinging zip line, and an old TV set that’s been emptied out so kids can act out their own show. Party packages are also available. “The Build-A-Pet is really growing,” Dunkel said. PHOTOS: CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM
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VINTAGE cont’d from page 23 The secret to success is simple: If you let them build it, they will come. The cousins share their experiences making memories by making something special. At Build-a-Pet, kids can, well, build a pet, large or small — pick out its fur, plump it up with some stuffing, and dress it up to their liking. They can even add a voice box, which can be customized with recordings of their own voices, yet another way to personalize a project. One child came in with the idea of sending her cousin in Norway a stuffed bear for Christmas, and recorded a personal holiday greeting for her. But customers don’t have to be a young to enjoy the experience of creating their own stuffed animal. One high school student made his own stuffed bear to use as a prop to help him land a homecoming date. A grandfather sat down one day with five bears – four for his grandchildren and one for a grandson on the way — and added special voice message for his grandchildren to listen to after he was gone.
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CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM
Some people just want to earn a little extra money, some may want to take their first few steps toward earning a living by selling their wares before taking the big leap of opening their own business. Either way, Vintage Cousins’ vendor space can help. People can rent space where they can sell a little bit of this, that and the other.
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VINTAGE cont’d from page 25 “The Build-A-Pet is really growing,” Dunkel said, “and we’ve been able to do a lot of events with that to help get the word out.” After bringing their stuffed animal to life, children can expand their imaginary horizons in vintage-themed play areas, such as a hot air balloon, teeter-totter, swinging zip line, pet spa, veterinary clinic, kitchen, a Volkswagen bus tent, and a old TV set that’s been emptied out so kids can act out their own TV show. Party packages are available, and they can come with a visit from Vintage Cousins’ walking, talking mascot, Brooks the Bear. “I like things to be different,” Dunkel said. “I don’t want it to be the same thing as every other party, or every other item. We try to tweak it to make it our own.” If the adults want to step away for a bit, they can do some shopping or browse the country-themed and Americana creations and antiques at either the Emporium or the vendor co-op area, which are separated by a hallway through the middle of the building. “We wanted to do something that was for the kids,” Roe said. “Moms and children are usually together, and this gives both of them an opportunity to do something that they both look forward to doing: The kids get to play, and Mom gets to shop.” Vintage Cousins has grown to the point where Dunkel quit her part-time job to dedicate her time to running it. Roe, who works full-time at KSB Hospital in Dixon, comes by when she’s not working to help run the place. They’ve survived the rigors of initial business ownership, a brief building closure due to faulty water pipe, and the COVID-19 pandemic. “Balancing it all has been rewarding, but challenging,” Dunkel said, “but nothing is rewarding if it isn’t challenging.”
MORE INFO
Vintage Cousins 318 First Ave., Sterling 815-632-3186 Open 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Online: vintagecousinsemporium. square.site and on Facebook
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An occasional feature of Sterling-Rock Falls Living highlighting local landmarks and locations off the beaten path. We’ll feature a photo and it’s up to you to guess where it was taken.
Casting the first stone
This stone commemorates the location of the first Catholic church in Rock Falls, St. Andrew, which opened its doors in 1950. Where is it? Answer on page 39. CODY CUTTER/ CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM
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PHOTO: ALEX T. PASCHAL/APASCHAL@SHAWMEDIA.COM
Bob So ndg erot h
By Cody Cutter | Sauk Valley Media
here there’s a Sondgeroth, there’s likely a dedicated educator, too. That’s because Bob Sondgeroth’s family tree is firmly rooted in the field of education, filled with names of people who’ve branched out into various jobs – from oneroom schoolhouses to computer tech wizards in a digital age. None, though, have reached the rank of regional superintendent of schools, like Bob did. The career-capping move began on an educational road that reaches all the way back to East Coloma School in Rock Falls, where he started as a teacher, and which lead him to Regional Office of Education No. 47, where he retired from July 1 as its top administrator. It’s a road that others in his family have travelled, too.
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SONDGEROTH cont’d from page 29 Among the items Sondgeroth, 64, took home with him from his office when retired are framed teaching certificates that his grandmother, Teresa Sondgeroth, and aunt, Fay Faivre, earned, dating back from the early 1900s. They were issued by the Lee County Superintendent of Schools, whose office Bob would become in charge of, albeit under a slightly different name. The significance of those pieces of family history doesn’t escape him. “It’s pretty cool to have that memento from the county superintendent to my grandma back in the early 1900s, and now that’s what I do,” he said. Working in the educational field didn’t stop with Sondgeroth’s grandmother and aunt. His mother was the secretary at St. Mary School. Other mementos of what helped lead Sondgeroth to the regional superintendent’s job were scattered throughout his office, one of which was a letter from 1986, a simple notice about upcoming school inspections, sent to Sondgeroth from then-Assistant Regional Superintendent Gary Steinert — only Sondgeroth wasn’t in the education field at that time: He was a firefighter with the Sterling Fire Department, responsible for building inspections. He is blessed, he said, to have grown up with young friends within four blocks from home in the heart of Sterling who, in adulthood, would become doctors, lawyers, and other professionals; in fact, one of them who Sondgeroth has known since kindergarten is his dentist. Some of his friends went to Sterling High
School, and some went to Newman along with Sondgeroth, who continued his studies at Sauk Valley Community College and then Illinois State University for a teaching degree. “It’s kinda in my blood,” Sondgeroth said. “I grew up with it. It was just kind of natural.” “I think one of the best things for our family was that we knew from the beginning that we were going to go to college, all five of us, and we knew that we were going to go to Sauk. Because that’s what my dad said. The college was right there.” It wasn’t until nearly 15 years out of college before Sondgeroth had his first classroom. You never know which way the winds of change will blow in life, he said. “I tell kids that life takes you in all different directions,” he said. “You have to live with it. You have to go with the flow. There’s no sense moping about out. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go to the next thing.” For Sondgeroth, the next thing after higher education was something else that took him higher: a fire department’s ladder truck.
Hooked on a ladder
In 1978, not long after graduating college, Sondgeroth got a call from a friend who worked at the Sterling Fire Department: Greg Nichol, son of then-fire chief Richard Nichol. The department was looking for more men, and Nichol persuaded Sondgeroth to join. The agility tests were a breeze and he found a career helping to keep his hometown safe.
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SONDGEROTH cont’d from page 30 “So I did it, and I loved it,” Sondgeroth said. “The very first training that we had, they needed a volunteer to climb the 100-foot aerial ladder. I said, ‘I’ll do it!’ Then I was hooked.” While his teaching aspirations were on hold, it didn’t mean Sondgeroth was far from school. After his probationary year, the department made him one of the staff’s three fire inspectors and public education officer, which brought him back into the schools once again. It was around this time that he would meet the woman who would become his wife, Cindy. The two married in April 1979. After 8 years fighting fires and checking every nook and cranny of buildings, Sondgeroth’s life changed while fighting a house fire. He fractured his knee badly enough to sideline his career as a firefighter. “That would have been my career for life if I hadn’t fractured my knee,” Sondgeroth said. “I had two surgeries over 2 years, and they told me I could have a third surgery, but it wouldn’t get me back on the fire department. It would have just relieved some of the pain.” That got him to thinking: Perhaps he could use his teaching degree to resurrect his initial
career choice. He found a home at East Coloma School, where his children, Ben and Jennie, went. He taught the lower grades, coached sports and was the athletic director for a time. Even after all these years, Sondgeroth can still be found in the school’s hallways. Through his association with the Rock Falls Rotary, he often returns to East Coloma to read stories to students.
From classroom to office
Just a few years into teaching, his life took another turn. Jeff Hardy, principal at Merrill School and father of a friend of Ben’s, talked with Sondgeroth about going into school administration. “Jeff’s son, Brock, went to East Coloma with Ben and grew up with him, and so Jeff and I would talk,” Sondgeroth said. “One day at a baseball game he said, ‘You know, you really ought to think about going into administration.’ So I really do credit Jeff for getting me to go into administration, and Carl Sartwell, my superintendent at East Coloma, he really encouraged me.”
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Bob Sondgeroth’s career as a Sterling firefighter was derailed after a knee injury sidelined him — but he got back up on his feet and kept moving forward, putting the setback behind him so he could the see the future ahead of him in education — and it ended up working out pretty well. “I tell kids that life takes you in all different directions,” he said. “You have to live with it. You have to go with the flow. There’s no sense moping about out. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go to the next thing.” Sondgeroth is seen above in a department photo during his time with the SFD (top row, fourth from left). Below: Sondgeroth still has his helmet.
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Before long, Steinert, who had become regional superintendent by this point, had an opening at the regional office in Sterling. Steinert needed a deputy who, among other things, could inspect schools. “He said, ‘Do you think you can do that?’ I said, ‘I think I can,” Sondgeroth said. Sondgeroth was appointed assistant regional superintendent on June 22, 2003. The assistant’s job also included oversight of alternative, truancy and other second-chance educational programs, which presented specific case-by-case challenges that he enjoyed solving. He was at the regional office up until June of this year, becoming one of the longest tenured regional administrators in Illinois at the time of this retirement.
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take my hat off to my predecessors, [former Lee-Ogle Regional Superintendent] Amy Jo During his time as regional superinClemens and Gary Steinert, they did a nice tendent, the Regional Office expanded its job of giving us a little bit of a surplus, so truancy department, regional safe school, that if we didn’t know we were going to get a education outreach program and alternative grant, we could still keep programs running.” education programs. Most of them are grantDuring his time in the office, he made it a funded. point to match the right people with the right In addition to making sure school buildjobs. ings are safe and compliant, the Regional In 2018, he hired former Fulton High Office also helps teachers become licensed School Principal Chris Tennyson as his assisand certified. They help teachers and admin- tant regional superintendent, and it didn’t istrators in each of the three counties, 24 distake too long for Sondgeroth to see what a tricts in all, get professional development. valuable asset he was. As he approached “We’re problem solvers here,” Sondretirement, Sondgeroth found somegeroth said. “The thing that I love the one to fill his shoes and follow in his most is how we can make an impact footsteps. on kids’ and teachers’ lives. When I “I hired Chris, and when I saw have someone coming in and they’re what he was doing with the alternathinking about going into education, tive school, and how he meshed with and then I see them go into education, our staff, his ideas were things that I help them get their license, and see thought were really going to take this Chris them thrive — it’s just so rewarding. office to the next level,” Sondgeroth Tennyson “It’s really cool when it all comes said. “When I thought of retirement, together and you see someone go into teachI wanted to make sure I had an assistant that ing and really do a good job.” was going to carry on what Gary Steinert and Amy Jo Clemens built before me, and what I Hired by the voters had built, and Chris is that person.” Steinert retired in 2011, and Sondgeroth Tennyson is looking forward to the new made the leap up to the regional superinchallenge. tendent office, an elected position. He was “Bob Sondgeroth has done an incredreelected in 2014, after the Whiteside Regionible job for the 18 years he’s been with the al Office merged with that of Lee-Ogle, and Regional Office of Education, and he’s kind reelected again in 2018. of been the name and face of the office,” Even as regional superintendent, his back- Tennyson said. “I’ve had the privilege to ground in public safety would still help out. work with Bob and get to him and work on On the state level, Sondgeroth was part of a projects with him. The fact that he has the task force that wrote Illinois’ School Safety confidence in me to step in his shoes means Drill Act, which consolidated oversight of the world to me, and I know I’ve got big the state’s emergency drills, and required shoes to fill.” each school to have a crisis plan for emerIn recent months, Sondgeroth’s son, Ben, gency situations. He was chairman of a state had an office just above him at the regional health, life, safety committee for more than office; Ben is northern Illinois’ education a decade. technology coordinator for the Illinois State Being in a regional education office meant Board of Education’s Learning Technology Sondgeroth could help usher the area into Center. His daughter, Jennie, is a preschool new learning approaches, most of which teacher at Riverdale School in Rock Falls. were technological, and through one of the Cindy recently retired as a preschool teachlargest crises in recent memory, COVID-19. er with the Coloma Township Park District. The last couple of years of his tenure were More educational branches on that family quite challenging, but Sondgeroth said helptree. ing local educators navigate through it is one Plenty of babysitting and traveling now of his proudest achievements. fill up Bob’s planner. “Did it keep me up at night sometimes? “Having grandchildren and my wife havYeah, it did,” Sondgeroth said. “It’s challenging retired, and knowing that when I leave ing to be grant-funded and not know that the office will be in good hands, made me you’re going to have the grant. I really have to decide that it was time,” Sondgeroth said.
Serving the region The Office of the Regional Superintendent of Schools is designed to serve all segments of the population of Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties — teachers, students, administrators, school board members, noncertified personnel and citizenry in general — in matters relating to education. In addition to the regulatory and administrative duties required by law, the office serves as a consultant and as a coordinator for all school personnel in a variety of areas from providing information on legal matters to developing in-service programs to meet special needs; from assisting in the development of co-operative activities between local schools, business, industry, labor, service and agricultural groups to helping secure resource personnel for specialized programs. The office works cooperatively with the Regional Board of School Trustees in all matters related to the responsibilities of the board with the regional superintendent serving as exofficio secretary of the Regional Board of School Trustees. The office also serves as the administrative agent for the multiple special education cooperatives, and the regional superintendent is a member of the co-ops’ boards of control. The office is a service agency dedicated to serving the people of Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties, and its organizational structure is based on its administrative and program structure. Chris Tennyson took over R.O.E. No. 47 on July 1 for the retiring Bob Sondgeroth. The regional superintendent is an elected position. Go to roe47.org or call 815625-1495 for more information.
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By Cody Cutter | Sauk Valley Media
W
hen DJ BigBoi wraps up a wedding, he likes to leave the couple with a smile on their face and a song in their heart – and not just because it’s good customer service For DJ BigBoi – aka Gustavo Medrano of Sterling – it’s about playing an important role in helping couples make memories that will last a lifetime. The music at a wedding reception, he says, is one of the most important parts of making the gathering of friends and family a success. “For months, you’re planning, you’re talking about that big day, and when it comes, you’re just watching it all come together,” Medrano said. “I’m a part of their day, and they’re going to remember that for the rest of their life. A lot of people aren’t going to remember the food, they’re not going to remember the centerpieces, but they are going to remember the DJ. “The DJ is what makes or breaks the wedding,” he said. That’s why he takes making that special time fun for everyone so seriously.
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Gustavo Medrano, aka DJ Big Boi.
DJ cont’d from page 35 Playing the music is one thing, but finding the right rhythm for a special event, that’s a whole other affair. There’s a lot, for example, that goes into setting the tone for the receptions. Music not only hath charms, but it can set the mood. It can provide a backdrop for the reception, bring a few tears of joy when that special song plays, get the newlyweds together for a slow dance, or speed things up to get everyone on the dance floor. Medrano said that knowing what songs to play and when to play them provides a transition from one tune to the next and can set the mood for the whole event. But playing music isn’t his only job. He interacts with guests and keeps things moving along. His job starts well before the wedding. He works with couples to come up with a playlist, make suggestions, and help guide them through the process. “You figure when you got a whole wedding and 200-plus guests, the music genres are going to be everywhere and diverse,” Medrano said. Most clients have an idea of what kinds of music they want to have played at their event, but Medrano can fine tune a lineup to incorporate genre specifics or perhaps even offer some suggestions based on his wealth of musical knowledge — the 35-year-old is familiar with everything from big bands to Little Richard and from the Beatles to BTS. DJ cont’d on page 37
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DJ cont’d to page 36 When they kissed, they could feel the sparks fly. DJ Gustavo Medrano recently added sparking fountains to Sauk Valley DJ’s repertoire. The fountains have fast become a favorite of clients and their wedding photographers. PHOTO COURTESY OF PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMI PHOTOGRAPHYBYJAMI.COM/
But he almost got hooked on heavy metal – a career, that is, in welding. After graduating from Sauk Valley Community College in 2011 with a degree in welding, he worked with his sister, Irma Quinonez, to throw a graduation party at the Latin American Social Club in Sterling. The equipment, which Quinonez owned at that time, was left there afterward, and it gave the folks at the club an idea to see if Medrano could utilize the gear to help out at an upcoming party there. “I didn’t really know a whole lot about it. It’s just something that came up all of a sudden, and they were wanting to pay so much dollars for me to come in. I figured, why not?” When Medrano saw the Facebook posts from that party, and the compliments that came with it, he knew he had something good going for him. “It’s been a journey from there,” he said. Then the calls started to come in. El Paraiso, a neighborhood bar on Wallace Street in Sterling – the old Latin American Social Club – wanted his services on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. While that experience was a fun one for him, he often drove by larger crowds that gathered at the bars downtown. He started thinking about playing to bigger audiences, so he started making the social rounds at bars and started hanging around other DJs.
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event. He can add quite the sights to the sounds. Always trying to incorporate something new, he recently added sparkling – and One of the those DJs was DJ Hollywood, who often worked non-flammable – fountains that can shoot sparks 16 feet in the air. the Bullseye in Sterling – where The Factory is today. Medrano He tried it out for the first time last January, and was surprised approached him about what it would take to make it big as a DJ at just how effective it would be in a large crowd. and was told to talk to bar owners. After a few solo gigs at Bulls“I just gave it a go, and I’m still wowed by eye, Medrano eventually got to work side-bythat. Even a year later, I could still hear it, I side with DJ Hollywood, nights which became could still see it. They now love it. Photogravery influential to him. phers love it. It’s something new.” “They put me in on a Tuesday or Wednesday In addition to weddings, Medrano can DJ prinight just to try me out; and when I first startvate parties, dances, karaoke, clubs, corporate ed, I didn’t know much about music,” Medrano events, birthday parties, just about any event, said. “I didn’t know much about country. I didn’t indoors or outdoors. He’s done more than 500 know much about classic rock and stuff like weddings, including some in Chicago, Wisthat. Hollywood was real helpful in getting me consin and Iowa – a state that has been the big to know all of the popular songs, especially the go-to for him with the coronavirus pandemic ones that were played there.” Find Sauk Valley DJ’s slowing business down in Illinois. But even with The calls kept coming, and before long DJ on Facebook or call business from across the border, 2020 was still BigBoi was in business. His first wedding recep779-348-4530 to a struggle for Medrano, with cancellations and tion came in 2012 at the Wagon Wheel in Sterreserve a DJ or for reschedules. ling. With a lineup of mostly ’80s music on the more information. As the pandemic eases, bookings are startdocket, the wedding experience involved more ing to trickle in a little more these days, giving control over the atmosphere, and that meant Medrano a renewed reason to party again. more time on the mic, talking to the audience. “We’re all unique in our own ways,” Medrano said. “As far as After shaking off some initial jitters, it turned out to be an being a DJ, I want to say that I have a really good character and a amazing experience, he said. good personality. Not anybody can just book a wedding, or multi“Now at weddings, you won’t get me to be quiet,” he joked. ple weddings. I like to give the bride and groom exactly what they Music isn’t the only things that Medrano can bring to an want.”
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The first St. Andrew Catholic Church was on the obtuse corner of First and Fourth avenues. The church originally was supposed to be on the northwest corner of First Avenue and 10th Street after businessman Leo Wahl bought the property in 1950 to establish one. However, the priest at the time, the Rev. Joseph Tully, wanted to get services started immediately, rather than wait for a church to be built, so Wahl exchanged property with the homeowner on this lot, where services were held for only 2 years before the church moved to its current location, at 708 10th Ave. The General Distributing auto parts store soon moved in to the former church site, and was there more than 50 years before being razed. A Sauk Valley Bank branch now occupies the spot at 904 First Ave.
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