Community News
Will Tackaberry explains Honor Flights to Rotary
Each flight costs $75,000
On February 21, Will Tackaberry from the Litchfield Rotary came down and spoke to the the Benld Area Rotary about the Land of Lincoln Honor Flights for veterans. It was a regular scheduled luncheon as the retired military serviceman delighted the Rotarians.
Tackaberry began his 37 year military career in the Navy in 1948 and he retired from the Air Force in 1985. He serves as a radar specialist in the Navy, and as a combat air crewman and a full-time technician with the Missouri Air National Guard.
He now works as a volunteer for several organizations and assists veterans in the Litchfield, IL area. He is on the Board of Directors for the Area Agency on Aging and a delegate for the Veterans Assistance Commission, as well as the coordinator in Montgomery County for the Land of Lincoln Honor Flights.
“We watched the Russian submarines,” Will explained, “They were cracking all of our ships and we let them know we knew they were there. They weren’t invisible!” Right now, Will is working on a website where heroic stories of United State Military Veterans are featured. You can access the site by clicking here.
The site features the Veteran’s stories. The stories come from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War while pictures are featured of the war service and any other awards or medals that the veteran wants. “It is a really interesting program,” Will noted, “We will be going on PBS in a couple weeks and be filmed as Illinois Stories.”
According to Will, most of the veterans do not like telling their story or opening up to anyone. It is different with the site though. He went on to say that the veterans feel more open in describing what they experienced and their stories. “They look great on the site.”
About four years ago, a hub was formed around our whole area for Honor Flights. “The purpose of the Honor Flight is to give our World War II Veterans a trip to go to Washington to see the monument,” Will explained, “Most of the guys have never seen the dedication, but we give them the chance to see the memorial along with the Korean War and all the other memorials in Washington D.C.”
The veterans do not pay a penny as it cost the program $400 per veteran to experience the trip. The guardians, which go with the veteran are never an arm’s length away from them, have to pay the $400 to go with the veteran after the undergo an application process. The guardian has to undergo training to go on the flight, so they know how to “take first class care of the veterans.” The veterans are getting old and have to have constant care. Oxygen tanks and wheelchairs are always needed as a nurse goes on every flight.
The day starts out at 5:30 in the morning when the flight takes off from Capitol Airport in Springfield. They fly directly to Washington and the tour buses are there waiting for them. All the meals, refreshments, tours, and flights are free. The tour buses take them to all the different memorials throughout the day and if it is raining, they go to the space museum.
The first stop in Washington is usually the World War II memorial and then they move to the Korean War memorial. Finally, they go the Vietnam memorial. “The funds come from organizations that raise money for us,” Will explained, “It cost us $75,000 to take one flight up there. Sixty to seventy veterans are present along with sixty to seventy guardians.” A lot of the veteran organizations donate too, according to Tackaberry.
The big event is coming home as the trip is just a one day trip. About halfway back on the aircraft, each veteran is handed a “mail call.” Schools send letters and grandchildren send the veterans letters. All the letters are kept in Springfield and sorted into bags for each veteran. The bags of mail are handed out to the veteran halfway home so they can read through them before landing in Springfield.
“The other highlight is the arrival in Springfield Capitol Airport,” Will noted, “They get one heck of a reception.” Military color-guards, bands, school children, and family are waiting for the veterans to enter the airport. They make one big aisle for the veterans to walk through. “The reception is outstanding,” Will went on to say, “Most of these veterans did not get a good homecoming.” Some of the fellows that were in WWII hardly got a parade or anything, so this makes up for what they missed out on.
Will is looking forward to when they start taking the Vietnam veterans and seeing their arrival home. He went on to say they are taking all the WWII veterans first, then the Korean veterans, and finally the Vietnam veterans. “The Vietnam veterans should go this summer,” Will explained, “They never got a welcome home and we will see that they get a good welcome home.”
The Honor Flight is going to start taking Korean veterans in May of 2012 and the Vietnam veterans should go this summer. The flight in April is all World War II veterans.
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Dana Carr Skinner, 52, of Gillespie has announced her candidacy for Macoupin County Circuit Clerk. She will be on the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot.
Dana, a lifelong Macoupin County resident was born and raised in Wilsonville by her
parents, Barb and Van Baker. She graduated Gillespie High School in 1990 and attended SIUE
before starting her family. She has raised eight children all of whom graduated college or attended trade school. Dana is married to Todd Skinner.
Dana is currently a public servant, serving the people of Illinois as a paralegal. She has
over 25 years legal experience with 15 of those years being directly in the courtroom. She has
worked in law firms that practiced in all areas of the law from probate, family, civil, traffic,
criminal and real estate. After working several years in the legal field, Dana went back to college and obtained a paralegal degree.
Dana is running for Circuit Clerk because, “It is time for me give back to my community
and the residents of Macoupin County. Lee Byots Ross has done an amazing job as our current Circuit Clerk and I want to continue the work that she has accomplished. My adult life has been focused on my family and my children, and they are now grown. My focus now, would be to demonstrate to the residents of Macoupin County that I can and will do an excellent job as
Circuit Clerk,” Dana said.
The Circuit Clerk is responsible for establishing, maintaining and keeping all records of
the court, as well as several administrative, financial and public services.
“There are employees in the office now that have worked there a number of years, and I will be committed to them and their opinions, as well as the people the Macoupin County. I will learn from the current employees if I am elected in November and I believe that I have the experience, the knowledge and the work ethic that would make me an asset to the Circuit Clerks Office’s team,” Dana said.
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United Mineworkers of America President Cecil Roberts will commemorate the 125th anniversary of Union Miners’ Cemetery in Mt. Olive on October 13. Ceremonies begin at noon with a short historical parade, Roberts, IL AFL-CIO President Tim Drea, and frequent labor music.
Afterward, a meal will be provided as the labor music continues. The event is free and open to the public. A portable chair is recommended.
The cemetery is located on near 5536 Mt. Olive Road in Mt. Olive and can be found by following North Lake Street.
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Background of Union Miners Cemetery by the Mother Jones Museum:
The Union Miners Cemetery is in Mt. Olive, a small mining-town that was once the center of a rebellious group of miners who helped to secure Illinois as the solid rock for the United Mine Workers Union. Today thousands of visitors come each year to pay their respects to the memory to Mother Jones and the spirit that guided her and the founders of the labor movement in the United States. They reflect about the connections between the past and the present.
The cemetery was established in 1899, when commemorations of the miners killed in the 1898 “Virden riot” became controversial in the Mt. Olive cemetery where they were originally buried.
The bodies of the Virden “martyrs” were re-interred in a cemetery established as the Union Miners Cemetery by the Mt. Olive United Mine Workers local. Commemorations of these events in the following years contributed to a generation of activism in the Illinois coal fields.
They did this by claiming the kind of memorial space that was denied in other places, such as Haymarket, where police often disrupted commemorations. This built a sense of connection between past and present in the area, and made it clear that ordinary workers had changed the course of history. The role of the ordinary worker came into focus. Mt. Olive was one of the few places in the country where labor history was taught before the 1970s.
This is a unique place in the history of the labor movement; it was the only union-owned cemetery in the country. This is a place with a monument to Mother Jones, but it also evokes the power and potential of the labor movement. It is a place of reflection and remembering, of thinking of the labor movement’s roots. It is a shrine not only to Jones but to the sacrifices that connected human rights and labor rights, a place where people wonder when and why labor lost power.
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When I decided to write this article, my original intent was to find out when they removed the rails down the middle of Macoupin Street, but I thought I might research when the railroads came and went in Gillespie. So here is a brief history!
In the 1850’s, railroads were becoming more important to the US for both transportation of people and goods. Chicago was the hub of railroad traffic in the west and cities throughout Illinois were vying to have railroads come through their section of the state. Having a railroad meant prosperity and growth. Towns would grow with increased population. The key question was where are the railroads going to go? Influence by key political people throughout the state was important.
Prominent people in the US and central Illinois like Judge Joseph Gillespie, William Mattoon, Electus B Litchfield and Robert Rantoul (Massachusetts senator) and others help bring the railroad south.
The move south was brought about by the chartering of the Terre-Haute & Alton Railroad in January 1851 out of Mattoon, Illinois. It was to extend south to Alton because legislators wanted Alton to compete with St. Louis in the growth of the area. The work was started in 1852 to originally go 172 miles. It was completed in March 1856. Extensions were created from Alton to Belleville and eventually to St. Louis. By 1857 the route was completed and a railroad went through Gillespie. The St. Louis connection was helped by the building of the Eads Bridge in 1874.
In June 1867, the Terre-Haute Alton Railroad was leased to the Indianapolis & St Louis Railroad but went into foreclosure in 1882 and sold to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (known as the Big Four). This railroad came under control of Vanderbilt and the NY Central Railroad system.
The Terre-Haute Alton Railroad/Big Four Railroad came to Gillespie on an east west route. It passed through Gillespie today in the land next to the Civic Center, crossing Macoupin Street next to Subway. The Big Four Terminal was just off Macoupin Street where the Civic Center is located. There were additional terminals in Hornsby and Dorchester.
A 2nd railroad will add additional prosperity to Gillespie. The Illinois Traction System was a brainchild of William B. McKinley (not the president). He had a vision to create an electric railroad empire that covered at its peak 550 miles of rail.
The Traction system started in connecting Danville and Champaign in 1901-02, then to Decatur to Springfield in 1904. He also completed the route from Springfield to Granite City going through Gillespie and Benld in 1904. This Interurban as most people called it was a passenger service. It would eventually connect to Peoria by 1907 and St Louis by 1910. It was also possible to go to Chicago by connecting with other railroads. The Illinois Traction Terminal was on the corner of Macoupin and Spruce Streets where United Community Bank is located and at one time did have a small spur to the east.
Everyone associates the growth of Gillespie-Benld and the surrounding area to the coal mines, but the railroad also played a key part in the growth of the area.
You might wonder why main street is so wide compared to other towns’ business districts? Gillespie was unique by having the Interurban rail down the center of Macoupin Street but also the Big Four crisscrossed near Walnut Street. The town has to be one of the few towns in Illinois to have that unique situation.
In the early days, the crisscross intersection was controlled by only railroad signs. The “Stop, Look and Listen” slogan did not stop accidents at the crossing. Eventually, a crossing watchman was hired to control the car and pedestrian traffic at the intersection of the two railroad lines. It was also not unusual for a parked car to back into the Interurban in the business district.
These two railroads went north-south and east-west throughout town until the Interurban ceased to operate. The last Interurban use was on March 3, 1956. The rail line was eventually taken over by other railroads and would only be used for freight transportation, especially by Norfolk Western and other railroad lines. The rail line did have a brief arrangement to transport coal from Monterrey Coal Junction to Edwardsville in 1970, but the last use of the old Interurban Line for freight use occurred on August 20, 1970.
The eventual decline of the railroads in Gillespie coincides with the decline of the coal mines. Railroads were being transformed from coal to diesel and coal use immediately declined.
The Big Four stopped operating on December 17, 1964. Slowly they started to remove the tracks between Litchfield and Bethalto. Illinois maps show Big Four railroad tracks in 1965, but they are gone by 1967.
Now to the original premise of the article, when were the railroad tracks removed down the middle of Macoupin Street? My sources throughout town were varying, I got all kinds of guesses. I narrowed it down by my own memory. It was there in 1972 when I started teaching but then all of a sudden it was gone. I searched newspapers in the fall of 1972, then 1973 and I found it in 1974.
In January of 1974, the city decided to do something about the water lines in the business district. There was a conversation in late February to remove the tracks, but when will they do it? At the same time there was discussion about the sewer lines where the tracks are located. So, the city decided to it all at the same time, remove the tracks, and do water and sewer lines. By early April 1974, the tracks are gone and by early May, the downtown was a mess because of the water main project. After the downtown removal of tracks, the city eventually moved further north and south on Macoupin to remove the remaining tracks.
So, what proved to be a simple search gave you, the readers, a history of the railroads in Gillespie. Stop by the library and see the assorted railroad pictures and if you have anything railroad-related or an interesting picture involving the railroad such as an accident involving the railroads. I would like to see them.
