|
Contents
Foreword & Acknowledgement
Before the White Man/Coming of the
First Settlers
DeMotte Grows into a Town
Early Transportation & Farming
The First Schools
Dredging of the Grand Kankakee Marsh
Leonard Swart (Interview)
Casper Belstra (Interview)
Northern Indiana Land Company
The Halleck Telephone Company
DeMotte Mercantile Company
DeMotte Library Grows
Cheever's Garage
Eighty Years of Community Banking
Fairchild & Tanner History
Earl Schwanke Article
Keener Township Fire Department
(Art) Lageveen Looks Back
Fire Almost Destroys DeMotte in 1936
Kankakee Valley Post-News
Asparagus & Truck Farming
Businessmen's Association
Lageveen Remembers Incorporation
Belstra Remembers When...
Kankakee Valley Schools
DeMotte Elementary School
(DeMotte) Christian School
Mark L. DeMotte
Charlie Halleck
Walter Roorda, State Representative
C-SELM
Van Keppel Construction Company
Fire Destroys Main Building at Kaper's
The Hamstra Group
DeMotte Historical Society
Tysen's Family Food Center
Belstra Milling
The Fire of 1992
United Methodist Church
DeMotte Christian Church
Community Bible Church
Calvary Assembly of God
Bethel Christian Reformed Church
First Christian Reformed Church
Faith
Lutheran Church
St. Cecilia Catholic Church
United Pentecostal
First Reformed Church
American Reformed Church
DeMotte Town Court
Incorporation of DeMotte
August 10 Incorporation Hearing
September 1965 Incorporation
First Town Board Election
The First Town Board
DeMotte Town Council 1969-1997
DeMotte Town Hall
DeMotte Park Board
Wastewater Treatment Begins
DeMotte Chamber of Commerce
Check for
local history books about your town
or search Amazon.com
from here
|
Businessmen's Association
By the time the 1930's rolled around,
DeMotte had grown to the point that the merchants in town decided to
organize the DeMotte Businessmen's Association. There were problems with
break-ins, (the county sheriff was 25 miles away), keeping a fire
department was expensive and there were no street lights in town.
The businessmen were not only feeling the crunch of the 'Great
Depression', they were coping as best they could with the effects of the
1936 fire.
In a meeting on February 15, 1937, just 10 months after the fire it was
noted in the minutes, that Keener Township Trustee Simon Groet and his
advisory board had rejected the association's request for the township to
help pay for the fire equipment. The Association wrote Groet the following
letter: "At the last meeting of the DeMotte Businessmen's Association,
word was received by the committee that our request for support from the
township to help maintain the local fire fighting equipment could not be
granted. We understand that the request could not be granted because of
the nature of the request being in conflict with the law governing the
appropriating of township funds. This being the case, we will be glad to
have the board reconsider this request, with this provision, that the
appropriating of the money for this purpose be done in whatever manner the
board sees fit to do."
The businessmen resolved to continue the fire department and buy insurance
on the firemen immediately. They decided to borrow $100 for six months to
pay the bills and purchase insurance from Merle Curtin, (as the minutes
note), "at once".
 In
the late 1930's, Keener Township finally took over the fire department. By
law, they were required to own the department before they could
appropriate funds in the budget for operating expenses. Since DeMotte was
not incorporated, the town was therefore not a legal taxing entity. Funds
were available only through the township and county, but those entities
were required to own what they appropriated funds for.
For several years the fire truck was kept behind Cheever's Garage. A siren
was mounted on a pole and when a fire call came in, the telephone operator
blew the whistle. Not only the volunteer firemen, but everybody in town
knew there was a fire. The whistle also blew at noon each day and was used
in case of an emergency, such as a tornado warning.
LaVern Blankenbaker said the siren was located near his home. "Every time
the whistle blew," Vern said, "Jean and I came up for air."
The association had no budget for police protection before the town was
incorporated. They tried having the Jasper County Sheriff appoint a
"deputy' for DeMotte, they tried hiring a night watchman, nothing seemed
to work for long.
In an April 16, 1937 letter to Jasper County Sheriff Vern Michals, it was
stated, "There has been considerable reckless driving around town lately,
and we think that the presence of a deputy in town would be a big
help...", signed, John Terborg, Wm. J. Swart, and Otto DeYoung, Jr.
During the late 1930's and 1940's the businessmen tried a variety of ways
to promote their businesses. They had a 'gift night', free shows, band
concerts. They discussed providing entertainment for the townspeople such
as having ball diamonds and horseshoes. They discussed a 'youth center'.
During World War II rationing was instituted by the U.S.. Government. In
Jasper County there was a Ration Board appointed which controlled
rationing in the county. You were given books with stamps. If you bought
sugar, a stamp was required, if you bought gasoline, it required a stamp,
if you bought a pair of shoes, they required a stamp, and so on through a
long list of rationed items. The stamps were allotted for each person in
the household.
In March 1943, the Businessmen's Association sent a committee consisting
of "Toots" Cheever, O.P Rowen, Art Lageveen, Sr., Adam DeHaan and John
Broertjes to approach the ration board about setting up a local board in
DeMotte.
The trip was successful, and Dorothy Van Dam was hired to run the local
board. She was hired and paid by the DeMotte businessmen even though the
board was still under the jurisdiction of the county. In July, 1943, it
was decided to give up the local board because of lack of funds and to
stop the weekly band concerts for the same reason.
Apparently, the local citizenry was not pleased over
the decision to do away with the local ration board. Each member of the
Businessmen's Association was assessed $3 and containers were put out for
people to contribute to keeping the board in DeMotte. Not only was the
board kept in DeMotte, but Dorothy Van Dam's wages were raised from $10 a
week to $12 weekly. In 1943 there were 1,647 ration books in Keener
Township.
 In
1943, the businessmen began to actively seek a medical doctor for the
community. By 1946, Dr. Martin O'Neill was serving the health needs of the
community.
The businessmen met rather sporadically during some years. A meeting was
called for January 7, 1946 to hear Attorney John Hopkins from Rensselaer,
discuss incorporation with the group. The discussion proceeded a little
further than it ever had before. O.P Rowen made a motion to have a
boundary investigating committee appointed from among their members. The
committee consisted of Neil Kaper, Wm. Swart, Otto DeYoung, Sr., and Bruce
Todd.
On April 22, 1946, the men decided to change the name of the Businessmen's
Association to the DeMotte Commercial Club. The minutes duly note that the
club would meet once each month on the first Monday, and they would have
membership cards made, 'pocketbook size'.
John Hopkins was again present to discuss incorporation but the minutes do
not reflect the discussion on the subject.
On May 6, 1946 the club held their first meeting under their new name. Al
Ewart, who had been appointed chairman of the incorporation boundaries
committee, outlined the proposed boundaries to be incorporated. He stated
that those boundaries must be surveyed prior to incorporation. Ralph
DeKock, Alvin Johnson and Ralph Myers were appointed to locate a licensed
surveyor to do the job. By the end of 1946 talk of incorporation had
cooled.
On June 30, 1947 the club voted to suspend meetings and collecting dues
for six months. That was the final meeting of the DeMotte Commercial Club.
In 1954, meetings of the businessmen were resurrected but they voted to
once again be known as the DeMotte Businessmen's Association. The meetings
were not scheduled regularly, but were to be called meetings, not lasting
more than one hour.
At the first meeting, the subject of securing a
full-time doctor for DeMotte was discussed. A sewer project for the town
was also mentioned.
Meetings during the years of 1954 to 1959 appear to be rather sporadic,
although during the years a fire house and the DeMotte Clinic located on
10th Street SW were added to the town.
At the March 1, 1960 meeting, incorporation again reared its head. A
motion was made by Albert K. (Bud) Belstra and seconded by Fern Traster
for the Businessmen's Association to give their support and underwrite the
incorporation of DeMotte. The motion carried unanimously. At the October 1
meeting that same year, Belstra again made a motion that "the committee on
incorporation be reactivated and find what is needed to complete
incorporation, and circulate petitions so that a majority of people can
sign." The committee was also ordered to find out the objections people
had to the incorporation and try to rectify them.
During the next five years incorporation was on everyone's mind and in
1965 the Jasper County Commissioners were petitioned to pass an ordinance
to incorporate DeMotte.
|
