Comments on: A Highly Personal History http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2007/07/07/a-highly-personal-history/ Your home for traditional conservatism. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:38:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Mike Molander http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2007/07/07/a-highly-personal-history/comment-page-1/#comment-36662 Mike Molander Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:48:53 +0000 http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=180#comment-36662 Scott, I apologize that I missed your tribute to Jon until today. It was very well done. Thank you for such kind words about a man we all loved and respected very much. There isn't a day goes by that we at the Abilities Center don't think of Jon and contemplate what he would be doing if he were still with us. Fortunately, he led by example and so the mission continues. Scott,
I apologize that I missed your tribute to Jon until today. It was very well done. Thank you for such kind words about a man we all loved and respected very much. There isn't a day goes by that we at the Abilities Center don't think of Jon and contemplate what he would be doing if he were still with us. Fortunately, he led by example and so the mission continues.

]]> By: Chuck Sweeny http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2007/07/07/a-highly-personal-history/comment-page-1/#comment-8016 Chuck Sweeny Fri, 20 Jul 2007 04:58:58 +0000 http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=180#comment-8016 Oh, I forgot. Ruth, who was also 64 when she died, built the art deco News Tower on the banks of Rock River. It's a scaled down version of Tribune Tower. By the way, Scott, I wrote a highly personal column about Jon Lundin, quite simply the most interesting man in Rockford and the instigator of many projects around town that no one knew he had a hand in creating -- which is the way he liked it. Chuck Oh, I forgot. Ruth, who was also 64 when she died, built the art deco News Tower on the banks of Rock River. It's a scaled down version of Tribune Tower.
By the way, Scott, I wrote a highly personal column about Jon Lundin, quite simply the most interesting man in Rockford and the instigator of many projects around town that no one knew he had a hand in creating -- which is the way he liked it.

Chuck

]]> By: Chuck Sweeny http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2007/07/07/a-highly-personal-history/comment-page-1/#comment-8015 Chuck Sweeny Fri, 20 Jul 2007 04:45:42 +0000 http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=180#comment-8015 C'mon, Chronicles, you're better than this. Rockford has been a one newspaper ownership town since 1930. Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms bought the Register Gazette, the Daily Republic and the Morning Star. She was a suffragist, Illinois' first woman congressman, the first woman to be on the cover of TIME. She was also daughter of Mark Hanna, the Karl Rove of his day and then some. Ruth was married to Joseph Medill McCormick, a U.S. Senator from Illinois, until he died. She then married Albert Simms, a fellow congressman from New Mexico. She owned Rock River Farms, which still exists, and lived on an estate called Deerfield. It's hard to see the house, but in the winter, you can get a glimpse of it when you go down Kennedy Hill Road on the way to Illinois 2, just north of Byron. Ruth died in 1944. Chuck Sweeny C'mon, Chronicles, you're better than this. Rockford has been a one newspaper ownership town since 1930. Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms bought the Register Gazette, the Daily Republic and the Morning Star. She was a suffragist, Illinois' first woman congressman, the first woman to be on the cover of TIME. She was also daughter of Mark Hanna, the Karl Rove of his day and then some.
Ruth was married to Joseph Medill McCormick, a U.S. Senator from Illinois, until he died. She then married Albert Simms, a fellow congressman from New Mexico.
She owned Rock River Farms, which still exists, and lived on an estate called Deerfield. It's hard to see the house, but in the winter, you can get a glimpse of it when you go down Kennedy Hill Road on the way to Illinois 2, just north of Byron. Ruth died in 1944.
Chuck Sweeny

]]> By: Scott P. Richert http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2007/07/07/a-highly-personal-history/comment-page-1/#comment-6120 Scott P. Richert Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:57:13 +0000 http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=180#comment-6120 So very true, Clyde. Even when there are individual newspapermen who actually care about local history and realize that you can't understand the present without knowing the past, the dictates of big business (Gannett, Knight Ridder, etc.) keep them from expressing those truths in the pages of the newspaper. It's interesting to look at Jon Lundin's <i>Illustrated History of Rockford</i> with that in mind--for the first century, he often uses the local newspapers as sources (and, in fact, one of the best early histories of Rockford, published circa 1900, was compiled and published by one of the three newspapers at that time). Once Rockford becomes a one-newspaper town (post-World War II), the newspaper becomes a much less important source of Lundin. So very true, Clyde. Even when there are individual newspapermen who actually care about local history and realize that you can't understand the present without knowing the past, the dictates of big business (Gannett, Knight Ridder, etc.) keep them from expressing those truths in the pages of the newspaper.

It's interesting to look at Jon Lundin's Illustrated History of Rockford with that in mind--for the first century, he often uses the local newspapers as sources (and, in fact, one of the best early histories of Rockford, published circa 1900, was compiled and published by one of the three newspapers at that time). Once Rockford becomes a one-newspaper town (post-World War II), the newspaper becomes a much less important source of Lundin.

]]> By: Clyde Wilson http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2007/07/07/a-highly-personal-history/comment-page-1/#comment-6083 Clyde Wilson Sat, 07 Jul 2007 21:57:44 +0000 http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=180#comment-6083 It used to be we could count on the local newspaper to preserve the real local history and spirit. Now the papers exist only to impose foreign values on the community. It used to be we could count on the local newspaper to preserve the real local history and spirit. Now the papers exist only to impose foreign values on the community.

]]> By: Rascal http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2007/07/07/a-highly-personal-history/comment-page-1/#comment-6055 Rascal Sat, 07 Jul 2007 18:46:39 +0000 http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=180#comment-6055 Scott: Good piece on a good guy. I, too, knew Jon, but not as well as I should have. His passing is a great loss to the community. Scott: Good piece on a good guy. I, too, knew Jon, but not as well as I should have. His passing is a great loss to the community.

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