I was born & raised in Freeport, and am proud to be a Freeport Pretzel!

I was born in what was then St. Francis Hospital, on February 5, 1948.

I went to kindergarten & first grade at Union School.

I started kindergarten in 1953 at Union School. My teacher was Mrs. Ruth Mary Bolt. Gordon E. Eade was principal, and B. F. Shafer was Superintendent.

I learned to tie my own shoe strings and to keep time to music. I was quite shy, and needed improvement on telling stories and relating experiences. I found it hard to make friends, but learned to work, play and share with the other children. I learned to listen and figured out how to think of things to do and make by myself.

Mrs. Bolt wrote, "Bobby has made a remarkable improvement in adjusting to Kdg. His crying spells come less & less often & he's trying harder in every way. Criticism still "crushes" him, tho." It still does. If you like this website, write & tell me. If you don't like it, I don't want to know!

Built in 1897, Union Street School needs TLC.

First Grade at Union School, 1954-55
Miss Pearl Miller standing at rear
Top row: Julia Lincoln, Stephen Schwendiman, Roger Lincoln, Mike Jones, Roger Staas, Zena Holloway, Sherry Cordes, Carol Leemhuis, Bill Swingley.
3rd row: Larry Bordner, Jon Kirkpatrick, Jeanine Lorenz, Bobby Bike.
2nd row: Linda Lorae Moore, Sylvia Hamon, Linda Hendrickson, Janice Best, Linda Moritz, Mark Hornbogen, Susan Shelley, Ellen Waggoner, Glada Kay Brubaker, Linda Alexander.
Front row: Steven Kortemeier, Sheldon Koester, Jimmy Rafferty, Gary Manthei, Gary Dubey, Dennis Greier, Ch*** rest of name obscured.

My first grade teacher was Miss Pearl E. Miller at Union School in 1954 - 1955.

My grades were a solid B+, and I had good citizenship, social development, work habits, and health. On June 3, 1955, I graduated to the 2nd Grade.

This wonderful old building deserves to be renovated. Spencer Tracy played on the grounds of Union School as a child. I've heard stories that he attended Union School, but can find no record of that. The actor's uncle Frank Brown lived nearby. Spencer Tracy's parents are buried in Freeport's Calvary Cemetery. His father, John Tracy, was the first teller and bookkeeper of State Bank of Freeport.

Dolores Heitzman McLaughlin, a 1944 FHS graduate now living in Arizona with her husband Jack, wrote that she is a 3rd cousin of Spencer Tracy. Spencer's aunt Emma Brown, also known as Aunt Moom, was a frequent visitor to Jack's grandmother's boarding house - she also served meals there. Jack remembers her quite well. Dolores mentioned that Spencer's mother Caroline "Carrie" Brown was a descendent of Edward S. and Abigail (Stebbins) Brown, and Edward's father was Caleb Brown, who built Brown's Mill. Parts of the dam at Brown's Mill still survive in the Pecatonica River. The Stephenson County Visitor's Bureau is located on Brown's Mill Road, close to the old mill. One of Spencer's aunts married a brother of Dolores' grandfather.

When I told my mother the above information, she told me that we are related to the Stebbins' out that way. My mother remembers attending family funerals at Gunds Cemetery on Brown's Mill Road. So I did some research, and here's what I found. Spencer's parents were John Edward Tracy (born Jan. 1873 in Freeport) and Caroline Brown (born Oct. 1874 in Freeport). Caroline's mother was Abigail Stebbins (born April 30, 1842 near Freeport, died May 15, 1925 in Freeport). Abigail's mother was Jane Stearns (born July 22, 1817 in New York State, died May 7, 1898 near Freeport). Jane's father was Isaac Stearns. So Isaac Stearns was Spencer Tracy's great-great-grandfather.

Isaac Stearns was my great-grandfather's great-grandfather, or my great-great-great-great-grandfather. That makes me and Spencer Tracy 4th cousins, twice removed! Cool!

So to get to know my long lost cousin, I decided to watch all of Spencer Tracy's movies. Last night I watched "Inherit the Wind." In the movie, Spencer Tracy's character is bailed out of jail by a farmer who gives his name as John Stebbins. Spencer's great-grandfather Sidney Joel Stebbins (who married Jane Stearns) had a brother John Wayne Stebbins. Was this just a coincidence, or was Spencer giving tribute to his family's roots as farmers?

Dawn Marie Love-Tempel provided me with this photo of her grandfather, Elmer Love, in a class photo at Union School, with Spencer Tracy. However, there are a couple of problems with this photo. Elmer Love was born in 1892. Spencer Tracy was born in 1900. The boy identified as Elmer clearly is not eight years older than the boy identified as Spencer. It certainly looks like Union School, and Elmer is probably properly identified in this family photo, but Spencer Tracy was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended school there. Because of a multitude of family members still in Freeport, he came here often for visits, but there is no record of him ever attending school here. All said though, it's a great class photo from Union School. The photo was probably taken around the year 1900.

I transferred to Blackhawk School when it opened in 1955 for grades 2-6. Mr. Eade wrote in an email that Blackhawk had kindergarten and 1st grade when it opened in 1955 even though sections of those two grades stayed at Union; Mrs. Ruth Mary Bolt taught the Blackhawk kindergarten, while Mrs. Marlene Harrison and Miss Nancy Garman taught 1st grade. Mrs. Phyllis Balz taught kindergarten at Union in 1955, and Miss Pearl Miller taught 1st grade.

Mr. Eade moved to Florida in 1968. He retired from the University of West Florida in 1990, but worked 9 additional years in various roles. His positions included faculty member, department chairman, and Assistant Dean of the College of Education. After a year of retirement, he returned as Assistant Dean for a second time for two years. He finally retired for good in June 2000 at the age of 75!

In second grade, Miss Ellen Goodhart was my teacher. Gordon Eade also made the transfer to Blackhawk. My fellow students were Crystal Cheeseman, Glada Brubaker, Lee Artz, Sheldon Keister, Michael Bollinger, Stephen Schwendiman, Frances Witte, Carol Leemhuis, Steven Schick, Michael Jones, Linda Moore, Zena Holloway, Roger Lincoln, Jimmy Rafferty, Lee Garner, Sylvia Hamon, Roger Staas, Terry Moss, Dennis Grier, Jan Doelker, Ellen Waggoner, Larry Kaiser, Jimmy Collins, Donna Hardman, Lanny Plowman and Darius Picking.

My grades improved to nearly straight A's, with just a B one period in reading and a B in one period in Arithmetic. My social development was again in question on responding promptly and willingly. My work habits around time were in question, but I did improve. On June 5, 1956, I was promoted to Grade 3.

Mrs. Kathryn Muse was my third grade teacher at Blackhawk School in 1956 - 1957.

Just a single B in the first period in Language ruined my chance at straight A's. I earned my promotion to Grade 4.

Blackhawk School, Grade 4, Mrs. Graves, 1957 - 1958

I got sick with Rheumatic Fever a couple of weeks into Grade 4, 1957-1958 with Mrs. Graves at Blackhawk School, and didn't make the class photo. Here's the rest of the class:
Top row: Pamela Buss, Darius Picking, Sherry Cordes, Dennis Eade, Lana Roen, John Bade.
Second row: Zena Holloway, David Hainke, Verna Lee Moriarity, Gary Manthei, Mrs. Graves, Janice Best, Robert Stebbins, Crystal Cheesman, Larry Kaiser.
Third row: Frances Witte, Lee Garner, Carol Leemhuis, Michael Jones, Julia Lincoln, Ronnie Green.
Bottom row: Marilyn Johnson, Lynn Bolender, Stephen Schick, Sharon Peck, Jim Manski, Linda Hendricks, Jimmy Rafferty, Ronda Tidwell, Stephen Schwendiman.

Blackhawk School, Grade 6, 1959 - 1960

Top row: Mr. Norman Kuhlemeyer, Lana Roen, David Hainke, Martha Babcock, Larry Kaiser, Debbie Reed, Raymond Yoder, Johnette Hopkins.
Second row: Carol Leemhuis, Wayne Smith, Julia Lincoln, Arnold Clark, Lorae Moore, Robert Bike.
Third row: Jim Manske, Verna Moriarty, Jon Kirkpatrick, Crystal Cheeseman, Darius Picking, Elizabeth Schubert, Mike Banks, Mindy Fine.
Bottom row: Susan Trigg, Craig Cuplin, Marilyn Johnson, Gregg Kaiser, Ellen Waggoner, David Marsh, Glada Brubaker, Stephen Schwendiman.

Mr. Kuhlemeyer emailed me and helped identify some of the students.

My great-great-grandfather homesteaded this farm along Richland Creek in 1848. The farm is located northwest of Cedarville, at the southwest corner of W. Richland Road and N. Bellview Road in Buckeye Township, Stephenson County, Illinois.

The family homestead from an old family photo.

My parents lived in this house on 17th Avenue in the Arcade section of Freeport when I was born. It was a tiny bungalow at the time, and has been updated several times since then.

My family moved into this home, built in 1905, at 1319 S. Carroll Avenue when I was nine months old. I lived here until I left Freeport, many years later.

When I was just a lad, I'd walk the couple of blocks down to Bob Steffan’s grocery store at the corner of S. Carroll Avenue and S. Galena Avenue and spend a whole nickel to buy Bazooka Bubble Gum with baseball cards.

I grew up just a block from the Stephenson County Historical Museum and Arboretum. I played on the grounds a lot. It wasn't as nicely kept then as it is now.

Oscar Taylor, an early merchant and banker built the house in 1857 and planted a variety of rare trees on the grounds of "Bohemiana." The house and three acres surrounding it were donated to the Freeport Park Board in 1953. The Stephenson County Historical Society maintains the house, grounds, and adjacent log home, farm museum and one-room school.

The Union Dairy was like a second home to me. When I visited Freeport on this trip, I went there every day!

Got confused late one night in Freeport. Stopped, got out flashlight, shined it up onto the street sign & saw this. Big help!

I've always loved these old garages on E. Empire Street.

We had reservations to stay at this motel, then a week before our trip, some kids were playing with matches. We stayed elsewhere.

Mrs. Mike's Potato Chips are another Freeport staple. We bought a pound to eat while there, and sent five pounds home!

The old Lincoln School has been renovated. Note the Girls Entrance on the north side of the building.

And the Boys Entrance on the south side.

The bricks used to make this house were rescued from Stephenson Street when they were removed to pave it. The builder tumbled the bricks to round the edges. Located at the corner of W. Stephenson Street & S. Park Blvd.

The childhood home of Charles Guiteau, infamous for being a presidential assassin, located at S. Galena Avenue & S. High Avenue. On July 2, 1881, Guiteau shot President Garfield, but always insisted that "the doctors killed Garfield, I just shot him," which was probably true. Read up on it if you don't believe me. Guiteau was convicted the following January and was hanged on June 30, 1882. His body was taken to the National Museum of Health and Medicine, where his brain was dissected in an unsuccessful search to find his insanity. There, in a baby blue file cabinet, are Guiteau's remains. In a drawer are Guiteau's bones, a Mason jar containing his brain chopped into cubes about the size of dice, two vessels containing his spleen, which fascinated doctors because it was grossly enlarged, and one finger bone in a cute little case with a glass top labeled "Guiteau's Trigger Finger."

Conveniently located where most Freeporters can find it, though most don't know the details of why it is there, is Freeport's Lincoln-Douglas debate site.

Honest Abe and the Little Giant debated slavery in the race for Illinois' 1858 U.S. Senate seat. Douglas won the election. The text of the debates was published all over the country. Tens of thousands of people read their every word. Lincoln's questions and answers so impressed people that he was drafted to run for president for the new Republican Party in 1860. He won.

This boulder, imported from Wisconsin, commemorates the Lincoln-Douglas debate. The plaque reads: "Within this block was held the second joint debate in the senatorial contest between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, August 27, 1858. "I am not for the dissolution of the union under any circumstances."—Douglas. "This government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free."—Lincoln. Presented by the Freeport Woman's Club, 1903. Dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt, June 8, 1903." Present at the dedication were many who had attended the debate.

Here I am with old Honest Abe himself. Betcha didn't know I was that old! (And in case you're wondering, yes, I'm wearing a Tilley hat and Tilley shorts!)

The slate blue Lustron house on the north side of South Street. In 1947 Carl Strandlund developed a porcelain-enameled steel house put together with wrenches. Made of more than 30,000 pieces, he planned to sell 100 per month. Despite receiving more than 20,000 orders, the company went bankrupt in 1950 after selling only 2498 houses. Each Lustron home has a serial number, never needs painting, and can be cleaned with a hose. I don't know what the serial number of this house is.

Freeport's glass houses, pictured both above and below, share Beaver as a side street and are on the corners of Avon and Elk, near each other. F. A. Schulz had large flower gardens on land near these houses. He sold flowers to Chicago, and at one time had a grocery store in downtown Freeport. In about 1930 he started building these houses. His son said he made some of the glass decorations from the windshields of Model Ts and broken glass from the W. T. Rawleigh factory and S. S. Kresge's 5 & 10 Cent Store (later known as Kmart). Schulz crushed glass inside wooden barrels and used shovels to throw broken glass and rocks into wet cement and stucco. His kids and grandkids also remember not being so fond of the houses because he would sometimes steal some of their things (even toys and kitchenware) and embed them in his grotto or in one of the houses.

The Castle, shown above and below, located at W. Stephenson Street and S. West Avenue.

Eugene has painted ducks, New Glarus has painted cows, and Freeport has painted benches. The Lincoln-Douglas bench is located at the Freeport Journal-Standard, where I worked as a cub reporter in the mid 1960s, writing obituaries and sports; while the bench below is at the Union Dairy.

The old W. T. Rawleigh factory, shown above and below. William Thomas Rawleigh was an early entrepreneur in Freeport, manufacturing household products including food items, condiments, salves and cleaning agents. Born in 1870, he came to Freeport in 1889 and married Minnie B. Trevillian in 1890. He began selling a small line of “Good Health Products” by horse and buggy. In 1895 he founded the Dr. Blair Medical Company which later became known as the W. T. Rawleigh Medical Company.

The factory, established in 1904, mixed exotic ingredients, packaged, labeled and shipped. The company began its international expansion in 1912 by opening its Winnipeg factory. By 1914 Rawleigh was recognized as one of the greatest worldwide manufacturers and distributors of over 100 household products. Large factory buildings were constructed at the head office in Freeport, and later branches were opened in Tennessee, California, Minnesota, Virginia, Toronto and Montreal. By 1922, approximately 20 million households were using Rawleigh products.

The Progressive Party considered nominating William T. Rawleigh as their Vice Presidential candidate in 1924.

As war threatened in the 1930’s, Rawleigh maneuvered to stockpile exotic foodstuffs from around the world in his North American warehouses. Rawleigh published guides for homemakers to cope with restricted or unavailable products.

After its founder died in 1951, the company began its slow decline. In 1987, the W. T. Rawleigh Corporation declared bankruptcy and abandoned the 450,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Freeport. When the three-building factory closed, most items were left intact, just as they existed during production. This left a set of structures that, as they declined, became a major health hazard. Vandals broke into the buildings, broke mercury thermometers, and contaminated the buildings. In 1989, another company acquired the W. T. Rawleigh Company and now that company carries the Rawleigh name on its products.

W. T. Rawleigh was mayor of Freeport in 1910 when President Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the Railroad Picnic.

Wilbur Rawleigh,
a 1914 graduate of Freeport High School,
as shown in the 1919 Polaris.

Wilbur's Playground, a park in the northwest area of Freeport, was bought and donated to the city in 1948 by W. T. Rawleigh in memory of his only son, Wilbur Thomas Raleigh, who died serving his country during World War I. The park is located at N. Warren Avenue and W. Elm Street, a block northwest of the Four Seasons.

The Illinois Central, Chicago & Northwestern train depot.

Freeport's other train depot, located near the old Patterson Lumber company, on the east side of the Pecatonica River, on the north side of Stephenson Street. This was the Chicago Northwestern, with daily freight service between Rockford and Freeport.

Stover windmills are still in use all over the world. This Stover windmill is on display at the Stephenson County Museum. Stover Manufacturing Company, locally known as Stover Steel, was located in a group of brick buildings, most of which still stand, on Hancock Avenue in Freeport. Stover was a major manufacturer of windmills from the 1870s until the mid 20th century. Until windmills were commonly used, farmers settled near springs, creeks, streams and rivers, or drilled and pumped up water by animal or human power. Daniel Stover, who moved to Freeport in 1866 from Lanark, invented the “Stover Wind Pump.” An advertisement in 1873 stated, “attached to a good well a windmill is better than a stream of water, in fact, we know farmers who prefer it because they can have water where they want at all times.” A picture accompanying the ad shows the wind catching sails to be mounted on a wooden tower. Dan Stover's brother Emanuel displayed family inventiveness by using a Stover windmill to grind corn. An average wind produced enough power to grind 15 bushels of corn a day.

These steep-roofed houses are located at the corner of S. Adams and S. Armstrong. Can anyone tell me the history of these houses?

Did I mention I went to the Union Dairy three times in three days?

The formidable entrance to Read Park. This red Montello granite pillar, and six others, stand at the east entrance to the park. The seven pillars contain 85 tons of granite, one bearing a large bronze tablet which reads, "Read Park Entrance, gift of F. A. Read, after whom this park is named." The park was opened in 1926. Francis Adelbert Read was a merchant, owned and ran a large department store downtown, and was a director of the telephone company.

They've made some improvements to the Read Park pool since I failed to learn to swim there in the early 1950s.

A car ran into the Krape Park entrance sign a few decades ago. They replaced it with this. It's still a palindrome.

Krape Park's natural bridge, a rock formation above and to the right of the Twin Caves.

Krape Park shelter house, above and below.

We used to have family reunions in this building in Krape Park. In the winter I used it to warm up after trying (unsuccessfully most times) to ice skate on Yellow Creek.

The top of the waterfall on Flagstaff Hill in Krape Park. There are steps carved into the rock along the falls. We used to be able to climb up & down the stairs, holding onto a chain railing while braving the splashing water. The steps are closed off now, presumably for liability reasons.

View from the top of the waterfall on Flagstaff Hill in Krape Park.

Memorabilia inside the Union Dairy.

Stephenson Street, looking east from S. Van Buren Avenue.

The new Freeport Public Library, conveniently located just a block west of the Union Dairy.

The old Superior Dairy, on S. Locust Avenue near W. Homer Street. I honestly cannot remember what the inside of the Freeport High School cafeteria looks like, because the Superior Dairy was just three short blocks from the High School. Did I mention that I like ice cream?

Way back up to the top

The Polaris

Freeport in 2002

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