January 12, 2022

Dear Village Resident,
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Visit the Municipal Centre to drop off unwanted medications, holiday light & electric cord recycling, and food pantry donations. You can also pick up a McHenry County map, brochures on county services and firearm responsibility, or information on that new building project you have in mind for the new year! Find us at 7401 Meyer Road, Monday - Friday from 8 AM - 4 PM.

ComEd Scams & Contact Numbers


ComEd regularly receives reports of phone calls from people posing as ComEd employees. They use a tactic called "spoofing" so the Caller ID phone number appears as a ComEd number. They falsely claim that your service will be disconnected unless a payment is made. If this happens to you, contact ComEd at 1-800-EDISON-1. They can verify any payment due or planned outages, plus report your call to their security team. View a list of other ComED phone numbers to report an outage, call JULIE and more here.

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Little Free Library


Have you visited the Little Free Library book exchange yet? Located in the town square at Blivin and Main Street, Girl Scout Troop 1888 installed it as a gift to the community one year ago. Learn more about Little Free Library book exchanges here. Contact Frances Mai-ling with questions or donations.

Kindergarten Screening

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Kindergarten screening and registration for children entering kindergarten at Spring Grove Elementary or Richmond Grade School this fall will take place on Friday, February 18. Call 815-678-6866 to make an appointment or view more information here.

Photo of the Week

Amie Wells took this photo of a splendid December sunset with the Spring Grove water tower in front. If you have a photo of Spring Grove you would like to share, email it here.

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Nature's Feed and Steve's Real Food Webinar


Are you interested in learning more about feeding your pet a raw diet or want to better understand the eating habits of your picky cat? Does your pet suffer from allergies? If so, join Nature's Feed and Steve's Real Food for a FREE Webinar this Thursday, January 13! For every attendee, Steve's Real Food will donate $5.00 to Helping Paws Animal Shelter! Please register ahead of time here. All are welcome to attend this on-line free event.


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Christmas Tree Disposal

Trees may be placed out for garbage collection during the month of January or recycle your Christmas tree in the Glacial Park Conservation Area at 6705 Route 31, in Ringwood until January 16. The trees will be processed into mulch for local hiking trails so must be without any decoration or lights.

Horse Fair Park & Hatchery Park Rentals

Reserve Horse Fair Park for your 2021 parties! (Non-residents can reserve the Park starting Monday, February 14.) The Hatchery Park Pavilion can also be reserved, too. View more info...

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Blast from the Past - LeRoy Norton & Blacksmith Matt Hahn

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LeRoy Norton circa 1915

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Anna Ward Norton circa 1915


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January 3, 1924 headline

Joseph "LeRoy" Norton was born in 1859 in Vermont. He settled in Spring Grove with his parents in the 1860s where they farmed on English Prairie. His wife Anna Ward was born in England in 1861 and came with her parents to English Prairie in 1866. Leroy and Anna married in 1879.


One December day in 1923, LeRoy was driving his team of horses to Spring Grove with a load of block wood when he recognized Matt Hahn on the side of the road. Matt was a well-known character, who had worked as a blacksmith in Solon Mills for several years and earlier as a hired hand for the Mark Pierce family on their farm in English Prairie. Hahn was about 60 years old and was separated from his family.


When Norton stopped his team and invited Hahn to ride with him, he noticed he was in a stupor. Norton urged him to ride with him but instead of taking the seat, Hahn insisted on sitting on top of the load. Norton warned him that he might fall off from where he sat. As the team jogged along, Norton heard noises behind him and drew his rein to stop the team, but they were going downhill, and he could not bring them to an immediate stop.


Hahn had fallen from the load between the front and rear wheels of the wagon and the rear wheel with the heavy load road over his chest. Norton stopped a passing auto and with assistance, brought him to his home. Burton Township Supervisor, Frank May, was notified and he brought the seriously injured man to the Woodstock hospital where he died the next morning.


A coroner's inquest was held where Hahn's friend, Joe Kuhn, told his story. Hahn had been drinking for several days in Solon Mills when he asked Joe (who admitted that he had also been drinking) to take him to Grass Lake. They made the trip in Kuhn's Ford truck while drinking a pint bottle of moonshine along the way. They tried to buy more in Grass Lake, but unable to, Kuhn said he drifted around the town all day, but didn't see anything more of Hahn, and couldn't even tell what he himself did, only that he got home around seven o'clock that evening.


"That moonshine", Kuhn said, "could put a man out of business for a couple of days". State's Attorney Lumley asked where they got the moonshine, but Kuhn swore the pint wasn't his and he had no idea where Hahn got it.


The coroner's jury brought in a verdict of "death caused by injuries received while intoxicated". Lumley promised an investigation into the moonshine. And LeRoy had a story to tell for the rest of his life that ended in 1945.

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