Time Was

    One of the Christmas traditions of our age is the special entertainment that can be seen at this time of year. Many movies open for the first time on Christmas Day, and there are special holiday shows at the Rialto and other concert venues. It was no different in the day.
    In Wilmington the concert venue was Empire Hall, later to be renamed the Opera House, and later to have its third floor removed.

    We live in an age when most childhood diseases have been controlled by vaccines. Measles, mumps, whooping cough and diphtheria are no longer child killers.
    But there was a time when the mere mention of these diseases put people into a panic. That panic changed the very ownership of Wilmington Public School.
    The history of Wilmington schools is a long one. The first school was erected in 1838 where Booth School is now. It was a wooden frame structure. By 1849 Wilmington had outgrown it.

    Today we are looking at the social occasion known as the dance. I don't see a lot of them happening these days. But the dance in the 19th century was the primary way for guys and gals to meet, and if you were lucky you actually touched each other is a socially acceptable way. Strike up the band, the dance has begun.
    The first ethnic groups to come to Braidwood were from the British Isles. So it is no wonder that the first mention of the dance I have is the following from January 13, 1872: “Four dances in Braidwood on Robert Burns' birthday, the 25th of January.”  

    No, I'm not talking about the metal gold - none around here that I know of. I am talking about the golden color of corn.
    Living in small town America as we do, we see the clouds of dust the machines raise during harvest, the army of grain trucks on roads both large and small, and maybe even hear the sound of the dryers on the night air. Our topic today is corn.