"Your Voice That Bridges The Area Communities Together."
By Edward Oliver
In December 1941, my parents and I went to East St. Louis to visit a sister of Dad’s and her husband. They had the radio on. The announcer interrupted the program for a special announcement from the President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. President Roosevelt announced that the Japanese had attacked our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He said “December 7, 1941 is a date which will live in infamy.” I became age 4 in December 1941, but I will always remember this. [Read more...]
B & O Depot, Norris City, Ill.
By Edward Oliver
Dairy Day in Norris City was started in 1947, so this year is the seventy-fifth Dairy Day celebration, as well as being the Sesquicentennial (150th) Celebration for Norris City.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture determined from a survey back in the 1940s that farmlands around Norris City were particularly adaptable to dairying, so the organizers of Dairy Day were influenced by this study. [Read more...]
By Edward Oliver
Dairy Days 2021 are fast approaching for the Sesquicentennial of the founding of Norris City. The question has come up a number of times as to where Norris City got its name. [Read more...]
By Edward Oliver
Norris City’s plat was recorded on August 17, 1871. For more information about that see my article “Norris City Sesquicentennial” in the Villagers Voice dated January 18, 2021. [Read more...]
By Edward Oliver
My dad, Charles Oliver, and Norris Bruce, father of Carolyn Bruce and Betty Bruce McKenzie, always talked about swimming in Johnson’s Pond. Dad and Norris were just a few months apart in age (Dad was born in December 1902 and Norris a few months later in 1903). They were good friends and used to play together and get into mischief together when they were young boys. One trick they played on Norris Bruce’s dad, Anderson Bruce, got Anderson so mad that Norris went home with Dad and stayed for two weeks, but that is another story. [Read more...]
By Ed Oliver
The supreme law in the United States is the U. S. Constitution. Next in each state is the constitution of that state. Therefore the constitution of Illinois is the supreme law in Illinois secondary to the constitution of the United States. There is no provision in either constitution for anyone to “interpret” the words written in these constitutions, not even a Supreme Court Judge on either the Federal or State level. Also, there is no provision for anyone to say “I believe what was written is a mask of what the author or authors really meant, and what they really meant is so and so.” [Read more...]
By Edward Oliver
Our nation and the world are going through another virus, flu, or whatever you want to call this current health epidemic (threat). What is different this time is that both some government officials and some people have gone into a stage of panic instead of using common reasons (sense) or just using “horse sense” as we used to say when I was growing up. [Read more...]
Ed Oliver of Norris City stands with a new historical marker recognizing the War Emergency Pipeline, titled the "Big Inch," which was completed in 1943 at Norris City.
Historical Marker Dedication at Enbridge-Texas Eastern at 316 County Road 700 N (East Main Street and Illinois Route 1), Norris City, IL
A Dedication Ceremony of an Illinois State Historical Society historical marker honoring the completion of the War Emergency Pipeline at Norris City will be held at Enbridge – Texas Eastern in Norris City on November 11, 2019 (Veterans’ Day) at 2 p.m.
