Did you get a chance to go to the Corn Boil Event in City Park this year? The park was crowded with vendor tents and big umbrellas shielding their wares from the threatening sky and scorching heat. There were people everywhere, many in line to get their taste of local sweetcorn. I had a prior commitment for dinner, so I had to pass on that issue. The top of the inflated kiddie slide caught my eye and triggered a recollection of an article in an old Bulletin I found that described some of the games played at the 1910 Fall Jubilee. From 1907-1914, the celebration of the harvest of the local corn crop was called the Fall Jubilee since it was held in September. It attracted as many as 15,000 visitors. It went for three days and was very much like the Heart of Illinois Fair used to be, featuring activities like baking contests, dress making and hat style exhibitions, horse trading/auction, horse and bicycle races, multiple parades, and other fun events.

Two events described in the article came to mind that show how things change through history. The first one was the bicycle race. It wasn’t to see who the fastest rider in the event was, even though there was that type of race as well. The speed race often gave rise to onlookers laying down money on riders whom they wanted to win. No, there wasn’t a racing commission back then, so you took your chances!

A second bicycle race was quite different. It was a test of balance and control, not speed. They measured a straight-line course on the dirt of the horse track at Columbia Park. Contestants had to mount a “wheel,” as bikes were often called back then. The goal was to ride the measured distance to the goal line as slowly as possible. The trick was not to lose balance, because if you put your foot down, you lost. It was not an easy task. The time for the event could last up to an hour.

The second event was not given a name in the article, but contestants had to enter with a fee from the person or a sponsor. While wearing a basic set of daily outerwear, they would dress in a complete set of outer clothing over their clothes. Then, with all buttons and zippers fastened, including shoes, each contestant had to run a measured distance and cross a line, remove the outer clothes, and put on a different set of clothes at the waiting line. To finish the race, he had to secure all fasteners and race back to the start line in the shortest time. The two sets of outer clothes were furnished by the event sponsors, which consisted of oddball and humorous, and often ill-fitting garments. A missed button could cost dearly. Each of these events were sponsored by local merchants who gave merchandise prizes from their stores, and sometimes cash prizes of $2.00 (About $68.00 today). 

I also thought about how these celebrations got started here. The practice of celebrating a successful harvest has been around for centuries and in many different styles. Why did we choose corn and not some other farm product? I have researched our local history for nearly twenty years and found that the crops being grown/farmed here since 1834 did not include corn. From what I can tell, the predominant crop here at the beginning of Rome and Chillicothe was oats. I refer to the note of history that in 1835-36, Isaac Underhill planted two hundred acres of oats after seeing a farmer there have a bumper crop the previous year. Underhill, however, wasn’t so lucky because “blight” wiped out his crop. The rise of corn farming wasn’t a factor in agriculture here until a man named Henry Truitt came to Chillicothe. Truitt was a junior partner of a consortium that owned a vinegar distillery in Peoria. A large amount of grain was needed to run the distillery, and the company tasked Truitt with the challenge to go to Chillicothe and open a grain buying business in 1850-51. When he approached farmers, he asked why they didn’t farm corn. They laughed and said, “Corn don’t grow here.” He then offered to pay farmers $5.00 per acre to plant corn the next year and promised to buy all of their available crop at harvest. That motivated several farmers to take Truitt at his word. When harvest came, Truitt carried through with his promise. As the saying goes,” … and the rest is history.” So that’s how corn became the crop we celebrate each year.