McHenry County News FRE
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Volume 7 Issue 17
APRIL 20, 2017
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La Petite Marche is closing this month in Crystal Lake By Anne Eickstadt REPORTER
Dawn GerthPsilos is the driving force behind La Petite Marche in Crystal Lake. Over 20 years in operation, it has become a family business with her husband Paul and son William working there as well. Paul is an expert on beers (and many other things) and William has been baking the bread for the last few years. “I started baking and selling my bread and products in 1994/95. I started in our own kitchen in Union and made everything by hand. We sold in Woodstock markets. People would arrive early to ensure that they were able to get ‘Dawn’s bread.’ “Then we put a kitchen in the basement of our house, state inspected” she says.“My first employee was Sue Thomfohrda of Belvidere. We stayed there until we bought the building, which became La Petite Marche at 19 N. Williams Street in Downtown Crystal Lake in 2004. Most of the kids who worked for us in Union came with us to Crystal Lake. “I had worked at Aglio’s in Woodstock by the theatre for a few years and learned about wine and cheese, so La Petite Marche was going to offer baked goods, wine, and cheese. Then people said, ‘Oh, you have to have lunch.’ That’s where the food came in. “Trying to keep up with the economy and changing tastes has changed us a lot. When the recession hit, we had to cut our wine ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO McHenry County News
La Petite Marche will be closing at the end of April. It has been a fixture in downtown Crystal lake for over 20 year.
See CLOSING, Page 8
Learn about military epicenter during first, second World Wars Abandoning a hands-off policy regarding political affairs in Europe did not come quickly or easily. President Woodrow Wilson immediately declared American neutrality when World War I began in 1914 and held firm despite growing public sentiment for involvement. He did not request a declaration of war from Congress until 1917 – arguing in an April 2 address: “The world must be made safe for democracy.” Within days they concurred. “When we entered the war on April 6, 1917, we hardly were anyone’s idea of a first-rate power,” Rockford historian Terry Dyer said. “There was a call for 500,000 men, but we didn’t have the facilities to train, feed and equip a force of that size. So the government decided to erect 16 military cantonments – temporary military establishments – across the United States and then determined which states wanted them. It just so happened that Illinois was chosen as one of those states.” Dyer, a retired printer who worked at Rockford College, said 22 cities in Illinois made presentations – including Rockford, Mattoon, Peoria and Springfield – were in the running. Rockford offered the government roughly 6,000 acres – six working farms – nestled between the Rock and Kishwaukee rivers in close proximity to rail service. That was a big plus since the
SUBMITTED PHOTO McHenry County News
Soldiers stand at attention during pup tent inspections.
camp needed 6 million gallons of water a day, Dyer said. Dyer, a recognized scholar and lecturer, will discuss the 1917 origins of the massive National Army Training Center named Camp Grant. The Sampler Series lecture begins at 7 p.m. Monday, April 3, at the McHenry County Historical Society Museum, 6422 Main St. Admission is $10. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. “I cover the whole 29-year history of it … and and how it changed the demographics of not just the Rockford area but all of northern Illinois,” Dyer said. “I never get tired of telling the story because it is so indigenous to this area.” A self-described “history nut,” Dyer’s great uncle fought in the Civil War, his grandfather served in the 12th Illinois Cavalry during World War I and his father fought
in North Africa and Europe during World War II. Health issues prevented Dyer, 70, from serving during Vietnam but he remains a passionate Civil War aficionado who has spent years chipping away on a book about the camp – named after Civil War general turned president,
Ulysses S. Grant. “They started building the facility in July 1917 and in four and a half months it went from pristine farmland to a fully functioning military city with a population of 57,000 by the summer of 1918. The entire population of Rockford
at that time was 60,000,” Dyer said. The camp boasted about 1,100 buildings – including barracks, officers’ quarters, stables, bakery, theater, blacksmith shops and a
See MILITARY, Page 3
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