Ogle County News from Oregon, Illinois • a4

We had a full table at our recent board meeting. As people came in, other people drifted by our door and I realized we had visitors at the museum. Paula checked on our visi- tors and they seemed to be taking care of themselves so I forgot about them. Toward the end of our board meet- ing, Mike went to see if our visitors needed anything and he soon returned. He informed me that they needed my help.

They were Water- bury people from the state of Wash- ington and they were part of my hus- family. Nellie Obendorf, my mother, had been a Waterbury and we had not had Waterbury people here researching for a number of years. Linda and I sprang into action. She started writing down all the particu- lars of these two women while I got out the massive Waterbury file. John Waterbury, great-great-grandfather, had come to this area in 1836 to run the Under- ground Railroad.

He came with Solomon Shafer and they had led the Delaware Colony group to Buffalo Grove. They had a job to do and they were not a popular group at that time. The women that afternoon had found the big Underground Railroad spiral notebook that is right on top of the bookcase and, of course, John Waterbury is the first one in the book. The women thought they had hit the jackpot right off the bat. When I started bringing out the massive file of information, they were overwhelmed and hardly knew what they wanted.

But they soon figured out they wanted the genealogy of the family and detailed articles on Charles Noble and Helen Dement. We worked for two hours simply getting a feel of all the information. They would be back in two days and Linda and I had that time to pull together the material they wanted. Linda worked with the internet and I looked into the history books. The books gave excellent information on Charles Noble and a family picture that included Helen Dement.

Linda found more on Helen and the Noble family. Then I found in our massive file the genealogy that sister Imo- gene Obendorf Heins had written out by hand of all the family tree with Charles Noble and Helen Dement on it. They wanted all 27 pages, along with other information from the file. Ivan family had brought in pictures a few years ago that were different from what we already had and they wanted copies of those. Linda now has their email and she will continue to keep in touch to see how they are coming along with put- ting their part of the Waterbury fam- ily together.

They left with two his- tory books of Polo, much information of the history of their family and where they can find more help if needed. We were pleased with the donation to the Polo Historical Society and the good feeling of being able to help peo- ple connect to their families. Betty Obendorf is a retired teacher and volunteer for the Polo Historical Society. Betty Obendorf POLO HISTORY Waterbury family from Washington visits the museum By OTTO DICK The following article is from a story in the 1895 Ogle County Republican newspaper, a forerunner of the Oregon Republican Reporter. The headline reads: Our New School Building Erected At A Cost Of Over $25,000.

new schoolhouse is a building of which we may well be proud. Next to the courthouse, it is the finest building in the county. For years, the Oregon Public School has been noted for its high standard of learning despite the bad quarters which it was forced to occupy and now it will have surroundings com- mensurate with its high standing. need of a new schoolhouse has long been felt in Oregon, but it was not until late years that the question has been strongly agitated. In 1892, the ques- tion whether a new schoolhouse should be built or not was voted upon and defeated.

Again in 1894, the project was again voted upon and this time carried. Later, a vote was taken regarding the site, which resulted in the choice of the Gale (This location in Oregon was where our first mayor, James Gale, built a log cabin when he moved to Oregon.) outside of the building is of St. Louis buff pressed brick laid in choco- late-colored motor and makes a very pretty appearance. The basement is of Ashton Stone. The roof is of slate with galvanized iron cornices.

first floor has five large class- rooms, the general dimensions of which are 25 by 30 feet. It also has six dressing rooms. second floor has three class- rooms about the same dimensions as those below and a high school room, 39 by 53 feet, with recitation room off from it. On this floor, the school superinten- dent also has a recitation room with a laboratory, sink, etc. new schoolhouse, an indication of the new era of prosperity which has set in for Oregon, reverts the mind to the retrospective past in which the capital city of Ogle struggled vainly under diffi- culties.

From the time the first settler, attracted by its many advantages, erected the first log cabin there seemed to hover a negative spell around Ore- gon, only in the late years broken, to keep it from reaching its proper place among The architects of the building, McMurray and Davis, were from Chi- cago. The builder was Glanfield and Son of Dixon. The quotes above give us an insight of language of that time. I enjoyed the reference to Oregon as the capital of Ogle County. When this building was removed, my father-in-law Don Mattison gave me a load of brick from the school.

Now when you enter our home, you are stepping on brick from the 1895 high school building. Otto Dick is a retired teacher and has researched Ogle County history for several years. Photo provided by Otto Dick The Oregon High School was constructed in 1895. New high school in Oregon was built for $25,000 in 1895 Oregon Depot Museum offers story of the Reagan brothers Ronald Reagan is known all over the world. But few know about his big brother, Neil, who was nicknamed Even fewer realize all the ways the two brothers helped each other in their successful careers.

At 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, Dixon speaker Tom Wadsworth will come to the Oregon Depot Museum to present Dutch Helped Moon: The Story of the Reagan Brothers of The one-hour presentation will reveal how Ronald Reagan influenced his big college education and career in radio, movies, media and advertising and how Neil Reagan influenced the success of Ronald political career. The event is free and open to the public. For more information about Oregon Depot Museum programs, call Otto Dick at 815-440-0639, Roger Cain at 815-757- 9715 or Chris Martin at 815-742-8471.

WERE THE PROGRAM Neil (left) and Ronald Reagan are shown looking over a transcript in this undated photograph. Photo provided by Michal Burnett, Ore- gon Depot Museum 4 gl Co un ty Ne sp ap er Sh aw Lo ca l.c om Fr id ay ct ob er 20 ,2 02 3 GL CO UN TY NE.