Jack Klasey

In an article datelined “Bradley, Ill., April 20,” the Chicago Tribune reported “This small industrial community of 2,100 persons closed every shop, office, factory and school today and turned out

Advertised as “Champion Boy Skater of the World, Only 9 Years of Age,” (although he was actually 13), Fred D. Martin was an entertainment sensation at skating rinks across the

“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.”

On Sunday evening, Oct. 8, 1871, a small barn on the west side of Chicago was consumed by a fire that soon spread to adjoining buildings. Fueled by flammable wooden

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, James M. Lillie was well-known as a prominent Kankakee citizen and successful building contractor, owner of one of the city’s finest homes, a

At 2:20 a.m. on Sunday, June 3, 1923, Merchant Police Officer Charles E. Hendrix stood at the mouth of a dark alley behind the Baird-Swannell Hardware building at Dearborn Avenue

Kankakee Police Sergeant Tom Jones and Patrolman Paul Blanchette were driving on Willow Street near Harrison Avenue in the early morning hours of July 8, 1958, when they noticed a

In the years following World War II, Kankakee was “booming” with new factories, a growing population, sprawling housing developments, and a bustling downtown filled with stores, restaurants and other businesses.

Stretching almost four miles across the center of the city, Court Street is one of Kankakee's oldest and longest streets.

In early August 1958, Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Patterson, of Bourbonnais, received a telegram from Commander William Anderson, captain of the USS Nautilus, the Navy’s first nuclear-powered submarine. The