The Mokena News Bulletin & The Semmler Family Pt. 1

The Mokena News Bulletin was THE paper of record, reporting from August of 1919 until its last issue in 1969. William and Margaret Semmler started their modest paper in the former Front Street saloon that her family owned. Both were very active in the community where they raised their family and made their living. Bill served as Village Clerk, Village Trustee and Frankfort Township Clerk, to name a few.

Through Matt's endless hours reading through the Mokena News Bulletin, he grew a great appreciation for their work. He wrote an in depth account of their life in Mokena and their impact on the Village. Matt did a great job of highlighting how great these two people were. Matt released this in four parts on his blog, (which you can find HERE) and we will be releasing this in two parts.  

Enjoy this series about the longest reporting newspaper in the history of Mokena, as well as two of Mokena's most influential citizens of all time! 

For the past year we have been doing more video episodes of our podcast through our YouTube page and our new website! The videos can be found through our website, www.mokenasfrontporch.com and our YouTube Page https://www.youtube.com/@MokenasFrontPorch . Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Israel: 0:42

Welcome to Mokena Front Porch, a Mokina History Podcast with Matt Galik and me, Israel Smith. All right, Matt, this episode is one that we've kind of talked about for a while and talks about two people that have had a tremendous impact on our village Absolutely they have, yeah, the Semler family, oh sure yeah, and their paper was the Mokena News Bulletin.

Matt: 1:05

That's correct, yeah.

Israel: 1:08

Where do we start with? You know what's the, what's the overview of these guys? Why is this something that everybody in Mokena should know about?

Matt: 1:16

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's such a good question. Where do you start with such an epic tale as this? The News Bulletin, aside from reporting the news in Mokena from 1919 to 1969, has served as an irreplaceable historic record for us, kind of like a Rosetta Stone, if you will. If you look back at, if you go and you look through the papers there's just without them we wouldn't know anything about anything that was happening in that time frame, because it reported on just about everything that was going on in town, as well as news from the neighboring towns as well.

Matt: 2:05

But aside from just leaving behind their life's work, for us, the Semler family, to be able to examine and take in and chart the history of Mokena in those years, from the days right after World War One, through the prohibition years, the hard days of the Great Depression, the equally hard days of World War Two and then the postwar prosperity and growth that came with it.

Matt: 2:36

Everything's there, you can see it all. And not only should we remember and honor them for their hard work and doing that for us all those years, but in their own lifetimes, when they were Mr and Mrs Semler we're still here they did a lot for the community Only, first and foremost of all the things they did was getting Wolf Road concreted into a hard road. Something that people don't really think about today is the fact that there was a time when most of this country just had bad roads, and Mokena was a prime example of that no paved roads, no asphalt. Certain places had had the money for hard roads, but Mokena was never really one of those, and Mr Semler's work in drawing together the right people, politicians, other Mokena businessmen, stuff like this to finally get it done with, or especially through the political mess that it became, as will be seen, is this nothing short of amazing, because it connected Mokena Wolf Road to the outside world, brought commerce into town. Was it was just a miracle when it was finally done?

Israel: 4:10

And there's the quote. It changed it from a money path to a modern passage.

Matt: 4:16

Yeah.

Israel: 4:17

And you think for this small town you know that was built on the railroad. Now you have a major hard road coming through. Yeah, yeah, that had to have a huge effect downtown.

Matt: 4:29

Absolutely yeah, and it really did. It changed everything from Mokena.

Israel: 4:32

And what's the timeframe that the Mokena news bulletin was being printed?

Matt: 4:38

Yeah, First issue came out in August of 1919. Mrs Semler sold the paper in. I spent around 1958 or thereabouts. We'll have the exact date here as we go through. She sold the paper and retired to a publisher in LeMont who kept up the paper all the way up until 1969 when the last issue appeared.

Israel: 5:07

So for 50 years this was the paper of record for this town?

Matt: 5:12

Oh sure, yeah, definitely.

Israel: 5:14

Well, this is a. You know you put so much detail into this. You know this was released on the blog as four parts, but where did you originally publish this?

Matt: 5:27

I originally published this. What we're about to hear in the form of a booklet that the Will County Historical Society published, marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the paper in the summer of 2019.

Israel: 5:42

Yeah, and Melissa Fedora was nice enough to provide me with a copy of this, so I think we can put these pictures and the images here, share these as well. Yeah because there's, as always, some really great pictures and stuff included. You said you weren't really sure if this is available for people to purchase or find somewhere.

Matt: 6:04

Yeah, that's a good question. So when this the original publication first came out, as you said, melissa was kind enough to grab a bunch of copies and she had them at the chamber office on Front Street for anyone that wanted one. I don't know if she ever sold out or not, so it's possible that she still may have a few, but if she doesn't, the Will County History Museum in downtown Lockport should have some, because for anybody that's interested in the history of the county at large totally recommend joining the History Museum, because once a quarter they put out a really cool publication that has as its subject some topic in Will County history and they have for sale the back issues of their the quarterly publication. They're available at the museum, so I'd imagine they would have some Very good, okay, yeah.

Israel: 7:00

Well, as I said, this is another really interesting story. There's not a whole lot of families that you can point to that have kind of turned the tide and had such a significant impact on our village as the semilars. So it's true.

Matt: 7:15

Yeah.

Israel: 7:16

So you know of anybody else that's put together a history at all of the semilars.

Matt: 7:24

You know, the closest thing I could think of was a write up that Ada Semler, the daughter of William and Margaret Semler, put together herself. At the time she was Ada Westland, because that was her married name. She wrote a little history, maybe just a couple pages or so. Way back must have been, maybe in the 1970s or so, that I, if I remember correctly, was published in a publication called when the Trails Cross, which was, or I should say is it still exists, was a publication put out by the South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society. So she, she wrote a piece based on her own memories and things she knew about her parents and things like that. But as far as, yeah, as I know, no one ever really wrote the definitive history.

Israel: 8:22

Well, it's great that that you did and thank you Glad that we're able to share it here.

Matt: 8:28

So thank you.

Israel: 8:29

Enjoy this multi-part story.

Matt: 8:33

There's perhaps no greater virtue in our land than that of free speech, guaranteed in the Constitution. It is the cornerstone of democracy. No one item upholds and embodies this ideal more than the American newspaper. In the hands of its reader, it is the country's truest speaker, from the metropolis to the humblest village. Every community has an organ that not only represents its citizens but also allows them a platform to speak and be heard. The newspaper is also an irreplaceable historic document, one that, when properly cared for loyally, remains decades after its birth to give researchers hard facts where previously only false memories and muddled stories existed. Every publication is a reflection of its creator and no man has been better suited to helm a newspaper than William Semmler of Moquina, illinois, described during his lifetime as an individualist with real American determination and also as one of Moquina's most up on his toes citizens. His life's masterpiece was the news bulletin, his hometown's paper from 1919 to 1969.

Matt: 9:52

Semmler was a popular man about town, who created oodles of friends and was remembered by a contemporary as hustling, smiling, agreeable bill with your hand shaking, which was always real. From this authenticity sprung the greatness and immortality that he shared with his steadfast partner and wife Margaret, along with their two daughters, adeline and Ada. The Semmler's Moquina was one significantly different than today's, where now we have a bustling suburb of Chicago. They knew a much smaller, rural community, one that boasted less than a thousand residents, a place where everyone knew each other and colsoot from passing Rock Island locomotives coated uptown buildings. As we mark the centennial of the News Bolton's founding, we honor the Semmlers and how their lives. Work in Moquina profoundly affected the village they called home, where they rose from humble beginnings to become one of Chicago Land's most respected media companies. William Semmler's roots reached back to the earliest days of the village, where destiny found him. To really understand Bill, one has to look at those who gave him life, john and Catherine Semmler.

Matt: 11:10

His mother was born Katerina Heim, who first saw the light of day in Moquina on August 20, 1855. The Chicago, rock Island and Pacific Railroad had been completed through the locale only three years before, and what began as a tiny hamlet clustered around a train depot was starting to show signs of growing into a lively village. Her parents were hardy folks of Hessian stock, having left their homeland and set down stakes in what would later become Frankfurt Township at the end of the 1840s, after first trying his hand at rugged prairie farming. Katerina's father, martin Heim, soon became physically incapable of the grueling toil and, with the arrival of the Rock Island, set up a smart little store near the tracks that catered to the men who laid the rails and the other predominantly German-American citizens of the sparsely populated area. Counting some success in this endeavor, heim converted his business into a beer saloon that became a mainstay in Moquina, a place where people of all walks of life robbed elbows. Starting on what would come to be called Front Street. The tap room had modest living quarters attached to it where the Heims raised four children.

Matt: 12:34

The third to be born, katerina, or Catherine as she came to be called, came of age in a Moquina that was bustling with activity and growing seemingly by the day. Her family were charter members of the German United Evangelical St John's Congregation in the village, having been with the flock since its inception in 1862. And Catherine was confirmed there on Palm Sunday 1869. It was with this same congregation that, on November 8, 1885, at the age of 30, catherine married Johann Semmler, a Prussian shoemaker, 10 years her senior. Nothing has survived the ravages of time that indicates how they came together.

Matt: 13:18

Originally a native of Ganesan in Prussia, semmler found himself on America's shore in 1867. After having done a stint in the Prussian military, he was in Chicago by 1871, plying his shoemaking trade on DeCultham Street that year. He survived the destruction of the Great Fire, having been saved only by a lucky change in the wind's direction at the last second. After John and Catherine Semmler were married, they moved a few miles down the road to New Lennox, where their only child was born on January 9, 1887. He was baptized at St John's in Moquina on June 4 as Wilhelm Edoard Emil Semmler, but as a lad he was known simply as Willie. The Semmlers moved to Frankfurt in 1897, but were back in New Lennox by 1900.

Matt: 14:14

The elder Semmler set to work at his craft in the tiny community where the family kept house along what would later be known as the Lincoln Highway. Living immediately south of the Chicago, rock Island and Pacific Railroad tracks, young Willie became captivated by the puffing locomotives and coaches that passed back and forth behind his home. Like many American boys throughout the ages, he came to live and breathe all things train. His interest transcended that of most, however, when, as an ambitious lad of 14, he set out to build his own locomotive no small task. Willie set to it with ardor and dedication, displaying a vim that would be a trademark for all of his days, attached to the back of the Semmler house, facing the railroad tracks.

Matt: 15:00

The engine's base was made with spare logs that were around his father's shoe shop, while its boiler was fashioned out of a metal container used for displaying coffee, while a flour and sugar barrel completed the setup. A smokestack was made out of an old stove pipe, a headlight out of a salmon can. Sewing machine, parts for the throttle and a working bell and semaphore were attached to the engine as well. Every conceivable component of an authentic locomotive was fabricated by the young Semmler out of whatever material he could get his hands on. He also put together a waterproof cab with the help of some cast aside tobacco signs, complete with a homemade engineer seat. It proved a popular place for neighborhood boys to seek refuge from the elements. After all of Willie Semmler's work was done, his locomotive measured 12 feet long, four feet wide and eight feet high, and bore yellow cardboard letters C, r, I and P and the numbers 932.

Matt: 16:02

After a real engine that ran the line, the Lads engine came to be something of an attraction for passersby. On the Rock Island line. Trainmen would sometimes throw authentic railroad knickknacks for the youngster to incorporate into his engine If a passing accommodation was making a stop long enough. In New Lenox, it wasn't rare for railroad men to come to get a closer look at Semmler's handy work, who declared it to be a dead ringer. For the real thing, willie was even once graced by a visit from the road master himself, as well as travelers who stopped by to photograph the locomotive. Willie Semmler, one of the biggest train enthusiasts in Will County, was set for a career in the world of railroads until disaster struck. On the fateful night before Thanksgiving 1901, a calamitous fire destroyed John Semmler's shoe shop, along with the home of his family. While they escaped the inferno by the skin of their teeth, young Willie's locomotive, the scene of countless passionate hours of his labor, also succumbed to the flames.

Matt: 17:06

The following year, while Willie Semmler was 15, the Semmlers moved home in hearth, back to Moquina, to the house on Front Street that once held the old saloon of Catherine's father Martinheim. The building was awash with local flavor, holding its original doors and windows, as well as timbers that still showed the scars of the acts that felled them decades before the old bar made of black walnut could even still be found in the place. It was here that John Semmler opened up his shoe repair shop and began conducting business in Moquina. Aside from being a railroad buff, young Willie was possessed of an intellectual drive that gave him a thirst for the printed word, which led him to visit the farm of Willard Owen, just southwest of Moquina, oftentimes making the trek by foot with his father. Mr Owen was known to keep a large personal library from which he freely allowed Willie to borrow. Young Semmler only went to school until he was about 10 years old, but displayed an aptitude for spelling, grammar, history and geography, along with an early knack for writing. All would serve him well in the future, as social networks are the wheels that drive life. A friend of Willie's opened a door for him that would determine his destiny.

Matt: 18:24

Bill, as he came to be called on his adolescence, was the friend of Ida Kinnery, a Moquina resident about 13 years his senior. The daughter of the village's railroad crossing flagman, kinnery was the local correspondent to the Juliet Weekly News and in 1907, found herself engaged to be married. Looking to resign her position with the newspaper, she invited Bill to take over the spot for her. Thus it was that Bill Semmler of Moquina, a tender lad in his 20s, became a reporter. The exact date of this turning point in his life, his formal introduction to the journalistic world, has become somewhat muddled over the years, with contradictory points abounding. It likely occurred around 1907, as this is the earliest known reference in the pages of the weekly journal the pages of the weekly news to his being named a reporter.

Matt: 19:17

As the newspaper carried a vast array of items from across Will County, bill Semmler served the publication as the local contributor for Moquina Frankfurt and the surrounding area. It was with the news that Bill cut his teeth with the press, recording neighborhood births, marriages and deaths for the paper, but also cheerful news of parties, occasional snippets of petty crime and even details of property transactions. In a reflection of his heritage and the greater ethnic makeup of the area, bill had an understanding of the German language, which also enabled him to pick up newsy morsels from Moquina's more elderly residents, some of whom lacked English abilities. Aside from reporting community news, bill also occasionally used his columns to showcase self-composed poetry. This work was mostly seasonal, having to do with holidays such as Thanksgiving, christmas and Valentine's Day, but he also wrote Rewards, which appeared in the news on August 15, 1907, which contained stanzas such as Glory After the Gloom, blessing After the Blight, joy After Deep Sorrow After Darkness the Light. Another piece, the Threshold, which appeared the day after Christmas that year, partially read the joyous bells o'er Moor and Fell in mellow echoes. Their story tell, and this is their joyous refrain a bright and happy New Year's here again. Every man has the woman in his life who propels him forward, and Bill Semmler found his in Margaret Ustreich.

Matt: 20:57

While the historic record has left us with many rich details on Bill's early life, we are left with comparatively few on Margaret's. She was two years younger than him, having been born on May 18, 1889. In a geographic parallel, margaret Ustreich was a native of Joliet, the seat of Will County, located 11 miles west of Moorkeena. While a school chum of hers later described the young lady as A very sweet girl with a wonderful disposition, margaret had an exceptionally tough childhood, at one point spending a year in bed with a heart condition. She moved to New Lenox in 1906, where her sister, clida, was manager of the local telephone office, taking a job there as her assistant. No details have survived the course of time as to how, but in some way, margaret Ustreich and Bill Semmler got to know each other as teens and she later often accompanied him as he traveled the Moorkeena area in search of news in a horse-drawn buggy that had been provided him by the news. The young couple tied the knot on October 21, 1914, at Zion Evangelical Church in Joliet, from whence they set down their stakes in a cozy, newly built home on Neathammer Avenue in Moorkeena.

Matt: 22:14

Margaret Semmler was very civically minded in her new hometown, leading the local campfire girls as early as 1915, a spirited group of young ladies akin to the Girl Scouts. The Joliet Weekly News, bill's employer, consolidated with the Joliet Herald in 1915, which put him on the staff of the new Joliet Herald News at its inception. Ever looking to expand, bill Semmler set up a small print shop in his Moorkeena home in early 1916 after having gotten a jumpstart in $8 of capital that had been borrowed from W H Beckstein, the owner of the village's grain elevator. After the passing of John Semmler in April of that year, bill picked up his equipment, which consisted of a small hand-operated press and a few different fonts of type, and moved the shop into the old property on Front Street where his maternal grandfather had served sudsy beer and his father worked on shoes. He took on a partner of the venture, namely a Moorkeena gent named Wachter, who, when the population of the village in this era is surveyed, was likely one Andrew Wachter, an engraver who was a near neighbor to the Semmlers. Before long, this partnership dissolved and the historic record hasn't left us the reason why Bill's erstwhile printing business, which turned out business letterheads, auction posters as well as forward the flavorful bulletin of Moorkeena's German United Evangelical St John's Church, was eventful for him, as his simultaneous experience as a reporter and the new know-how as a printer gave him a solid foundation of valuable knowledge for the future.

Matt: 24:00

Bill Semmler's budding career was almost interrupted when America entered World War I in 1917, during which time he was summoned to the Will County Courthouse by the draft board to undergo a physical examination.

Matt: 24:14

What transpired isn't known, although the fact that he listed his invalid widowed mother as a dependent on his draft card and declared himself not physically strong may have played a role in his never having been called up. Bill Semmler wore many hats in the Moorkeena of his day, for not only was he a printer and gatherer of local news, he also took a seat as village clerk in April 1912 under Mayor Ona McGovney, having received a whopping 65 votes from his townsmen to his opponents 1. In this capacity, which Bill filled until 1922, he took down the minutes of the village board and issued local hunting licenses, among other tasks. Bill's drive to serve the community was tireless as much. Later he became a Moorkeena Village trustee from 1937 to 1943, serving also as clerk of Frankfurt Township for 8 years. Another venture soon started for Bill and Margaret that of parenthood, when their marriage was graced by the arrival of their first child, adeline Semmler, on August 18, 1917. He was followed by her sister, ada Semmler, three years later, on February 7, 1920.

Israel: 25:32

So this is kind of, right now, the early life of Bill Semmler, before we get into where he's actually now going to start the paper and do that but you see he really is committed to the community and it's great to see already he's clerk, he's run solidly, wins an election there 65 to 1. What do you think it was about Moorkeena for him that just really made him be so for Moorkeena and want to make it a better place. Yeah, that's a really good question.

Matt: 26:13

I think, at least at this point in his life, I think it would probably would have been formed by the fact that, simply, his roots were in Moorkeena. Of course, as we've seen, his, his father was a German immigrant who had only been in the country maybe 20 or so years thereabouts before Bill was born, and had really never lived in Moorkeena before they eventually moved back here. But his mom his mother was born and grew up here and his grandfather who unfortunately he never knew, but his grandfather was the saloon owner on Front Street who was in business here for many, many years was one of the very, very first businessmen in Moorkeena. He was, he was here right when the railroad was being built through. I think it was just this foundation of the community being in his roots that probably played a pretty significant role in that.

Matt: 27:15

I also think that, since he was working as the Moorkeena correspondent to the first of Juliet News and then the Juliet Herald News for quite some time, at this point I think his, since his work was in the community and it consisted of going around and talking to people, talking to the business owners, talking to his neighbors, people in town that he knew, which was probably just about everybody Also people coming to him with things they wanted him to put in the paper. His just his day in and day out was just Moorkeena was this town. So I think a combination of those things is what probably gave him this, this drive to serve Moorkeena, which is what he did for literally the rest of his whole life.

Israel: 28:10

Wow.

Matt: 28:10

Yeah.

Israel: 28:11

Yeah, and it's interesting too and you mentioned how eventually he becomes a village trustee but he's clerk here and I thought it was interesting how you know you're in a case here where he's the media but he's also the you know the part of the village government and that. And I'm sure, we see that later on in the story where that's kind of brought up and used him against. Used against him a little bit, but yeah, I'm sure that had to create a little more conflict than at times too.

Matt: 28:42

And it did, which we will see. Yeah, as the as we carry on here. But yeah, just the nature of small town life at that point Lots of people wearing more than one hat.

Israel: 28:53

Definitely In town, right? Yeah, all right, and I'll keep going with the story.

Matt: 29:00

When the Joliet Weekly News and the Joliet Herald became one in 1915, mokena residents noticed immediately that the subscription for the new paper was a heftier price than that of the old news and by and by takers of the publication started to drop off the rolls. Local folk who recognized Bill Semmler's natural talent for scouting out newsy morsels encouraged him to start his own sheet and thus, in an extraordinary moment, sprouted in Bill's mind the first seed of the idea to start his own newspaper that would serve the Mokena area. In neighboring Tinley Park, businessmen who had enjoyed his coverage of their neck of the woods during his time with the news floated the idea of starting a stock company to help Semmler get a paper started. No small amount of money was raised in this endeavor and Bill even looked over real estate there to house an office. But America's entry into World War I threw a wrench into these plans and they came to not. At this point he reshifted his attention to Mokena, his hometown.

Matt: 30:12

While the Mokena of this era was a small rural place mustering up around 500 residents, it also boasted a rich journalistic history. The village's first news person was a plucky 18-year-old named Julia Atkins, whose hand-written broadsheet, the Mokena Star, appeared in 1852, as the community was barely more than a handful of buildings along the newly built Rock Island line. The Mokena Advertiser was another early publication, helmed by Charles Jones, another young editor from 1874 to 1877. At the same time town correspondents, using romantic monikers such as Bluebeard, cupid and Euripides, sent in news to the Juliet papers. Well, in the 1880s the Mokena commercial advertiser was printed in Lockport. The Juliet Weekly News and later its amalgamated form, the Juliet Herald News, could be counted on for Mokena reportage, especially under Ida Kinneries and later Bill Semler's tenure as contributors. But local columns were painfully short during the World War I years, often being edged out by news from the county seat. In this era, residents of Eastern Will County found themselves without representation in the press.

Matt: 31:38

When the war ended in 1918, the question of a new Semler-led local paper started up anew in Mokena. A few town business people, such as auto dealer Elmer Cooper, harness maker Albert Helmuth, insurance man Ona McGovney, as well as the Frankfurt Grain Company and JC Funk of Tinley Park, put their money where their mouths were and promised their support in the form of advertisements. The idea to forge ahead with a new publication was set into motion as Bill and Margaret Semler brainstormed what to call the paper. Mokena businesses were lined up on Front Street, with the Semler Print Shop being a near neighbor to all. Among them were two blacksmiths, a feed shop, a livery stable and three general stores. A grain elevator stood near the busy Rock Island depot, and Bowman Derry maintained a milk bottling plant on Marty Street, the community's main north-south thoroughfare. A two-story schoolhouse stood on the east side of town, while four churches provided for the spiritual and social life of the village.

Matt: 32:49

Things started off modestly in the new concern, or, as the Semlers would later more candidly put it, on a shoestring, as their first issue was about to see the light of day in August 1919, its letters were set by hand at the Front Street office, after which the type forms were gently wrapped in paper and then bundled into a suitcase. Bill and Clinton Krause, a 15-year-old neighbor, hauled the luggage onto a Rock Island accommodation bound for Blue Island some 13 miles distant. Once there, the two Mokenians took their cargo up a steep hill to an old press on Western Avenue, ownership of which Bill had recently come into. To their fortune, the press would eventually make its way to the printing office in Mokena, alleviating the drudgery of having to make repeated trips to Blue Island. Once all the newspapers had come off the rollers, they were brought back to Mokena via a return train and addressed at the Semler House.

Matt: 33:51

On August 21, 1919, the first issue of the newspaper was born to the world, bearing the heavy title of the News Bulletin. In a reflection of the epoch in which it was born, the News Bulletin triumphantly heralded the return of Mokena boy Alfred Hatch from Germany where he had been stationed with the Army of Occupation. In other happenings of the post-World War I era, the newspaper eagerly reported that the village's campfire girls had raised enough money to support a French orphan. A week later, when the second issue landed in the hands of its subscribers, its front page held the flavorful story of Fred Steinhagen Sr, an irate Mokena farmer who had been arrested for firing a revolver at local baseball players whose fetching of errant balls on his property he interpreted as trespassing. News from the neighboring communities of Frankfurt, marley, madsen, new Lennox and Tinley Park was also included, along with farming and household tips, as well as some jokes thrown in for good measure. Composed of eight pages, with five columns to a page, it could all be had for $1.75a year.

Matt: 35:09

Those first editions of the News Bulletin had about 200 subscribers. However, by the end of 1919, the Semmlers had upped their numbers, counting a whopping 900 people in Mokena and the surrounding territory. The dramatic uptick was due to a subscription drive brainstormed up by Bill and Margaret, the grand prize in which was a $900, 1920 Overland Touring Car, the same ultimately being won by Mamie Colber of Mokena In a model that was kept up for a goodly portion of the publication's existence. News was gathered by calling local families and outright asking for it. It was also asked for in the pages of the paper itself, reminding readers early on to send in your news items. We want them all. Perhaps you entertained company, know of a party, of a visitor from a distance, an accident, a social affair All these things make good news items. Just bring or send them in. By doing so you will help to make this paper a real spicy sheet. By August 1921, the price of a yearly News Bolton subscription had gone down slightly and would cost a reader $1.25. Towing the new price and knowing full well that issues were being passed around Mokena from person to person, the Semmlers wrote that A paper is like a woman every man should have his own and not run after his neighbors.

Matt: 36:42

The early period of the News Bolton's existence was a tough one for them, full of trial and tribulation. In their words. It was a time when the waves were high and the sea rough. Their enterprise faced open animosity from select Mokena business people and, for reasons known only to them, and lost the time. A handful steadfastly refused to advertise in the publication's pages, who, with a surly mean, made it known that Mokena did not need its own paper and openly urged Bill to quit. The Semmlers also had to take on no small amount of debt to get the News Bolton off its feet, this being something that they were still wrangling with five years after the first issue came off the press, when Bill wrote that Everyone he is indebted to will be paid in full, with interest to boot.

Matt: 37:34

At this point in the paper's young life, it missed its only issue. Due to a strike involving the Western Newspaper Union in Chicago, a supply of newsprint failed to make it to Mokena on time. The arbitration dragged on for a few weeks, but after having had his fill after the first week, bill went to the city himself and scrounged up a supply of paper which he carried back to the village wedged under his seat on a Rock Island train. After this episode, and having learned their lesson, the News Bolton office began to regularly carry large supplies of it. Bill and Margaret Semmler were the brains behind the News Bolton, but they had plenty of help from technology.

Matt: 38:17

An invaluable machine called the LinoGraph made its debut in Mokena on the last day of 1919. And while it wasn't actually up and running at the office until January 6th, it revolutionized the Semmler's ability to print the news in town. Where the work of composing the newspaper's type was once done by hand, the LinoGraph now did it mechanically and showing off the contraption in the pages of the News Bolton, the Semmler's noted. We do not believe in boasting, but the fact is that this machine is a boost for the News Bolton as it gives us fine equipment such as a seldom found in a small town. For all the good it did, the early days of the LinoGraph ownership were a source of a seemingly never-ending stream of vexation. One headache that crapped up were complications with the machine that resulted in the January 6th 1920 edition coming out late. In an apologetic blurb, bill wrote that he felt much aggrieved that the delay had taken place, but then proudly stated that we have now tamed the wild animal.

Matt: 39:27

The new publication got another boost up when a two magazine Mergantaler Lionel type machine was installed in June 1923. It being a more prominent relative to the Lionel graph. A major technical annoyance for the Semmlers was their old diamond cylinder press, a contraption they loved to hate. In 1925, bill wrote that it was behaving like a bulky mule and that it could only be operated by a wizard and hypnotist, before adding that he had lost much patience in religion in wrestling with this demon of a press. Another advance occurred in March 1925 when a new cylinder press, a Century II Revolution model, was set up at the Front Street office. This marvel was able to produce about 2,700 impressions in an hour, which saved the Semmlers and their employees much time, cutting their final production time in half. Prior to the installation of this machine, it would take almost five hours to print a run of the news bulletin, but with the new press it came down to an hour and a half.

Matt: 40:43

For a period early on, the Semmlers employed an assistant editor, having hired E E Turrentine. In May of the paper's first year, things were still wobbly as the publication tried to find its footing in Mochina and the surrounding area, with more delays in publishing and a piece on the front page of the May 14th 1920 issue that lamented the news bulletin has had a thorny path to travel on account of a shortage of help and also vaguely noted some dissatisfaction among the subscribers. In an instant it looked as if everything might literally go up in smoke when, on August 6th 1920, a freak gasoline explosion erupted in the paper's Mochina office. For a few panic-filled moments the situation looked utterly hopeless. But through the quick-thinking bravery of some neighbors and Bill's mother, catherine, who lived in the rooms adjoining the office, the flames were tamped down. In a piece on the fire that appeared on the front page of the following week's paper, bill soberly described himself as having been enveloped in flames and having to beat the fire out of his clothes. Assistant editor Turrentine was unlucky enough to have his foot burned and back wrenched when the explosion, in a close call, wedged him between the lino-type and the cylinder press. All of that week's news from Frankfurt and New Lennox was lost in the blaze. In talking about the incident in the news bulletin, the Semblers humbly thanked everyone who helped rescue them and their property.

Matt: 42:20

Being headquartered in a historic building had its share of problems too. One was flooding, which occurred in the old cellar under the structure. On one occasion, in March 1922, a clog in a drain caused 14 inches of rainwater to stand in the basement, requiring Chief Hermann Schweizer of the Mochina Fire Department to blast out the obstruction with the village fire hose. By the mid-1920s, the news bulletin bore the slogan Cust by some Disgust by many, red by all.

Matt: 42:56

While the publication had a comfortable number of subscribers, all was not a rose-pedal path for the Semblers, as their straightforward sense of local journalism sometimes incurred the wrath of certain readers. A classic example would be the blistering fallout that reared up in the aftermath of a prohibition-era raid. In October 1930, a tip had reached the Will County State's attorney that illicit booze could be had at a Mochina ice cream parlor, and when special investigators came to town they discovered almost five jugs of moonshine and two barrels of beer on the premises. Edward Marty, a village trustee, future mayor and father of one of the shop's owners, grew violently angry that his son's name was published in connection with the police action and threatened dire vengeance on Bill Semmler In detailing efforts that had been made to cover up the news. Bill wondered on the news bulletin's front page if Marty favored the suppression of all news bearing on liquor raids, or does this suppression only apply to favored individuals, while also stating that those who engage in illegal business must expect to stand the consequences? Another occurrence was particularly ugly In the spring of 1931, when locals' tempers boiled over an issue regarding the installation of a central sewer. An unknown party attacked the news bulletin's office under the cover of darkness and painted the windows yellow. In a front page piece on the incident, the Semmlers asserted that dirty politics are being resorted to and also that they knew who was behind the lark. Referring to the guilty party, it was written that the opposition hates publicity and because this paper dares to print the facts, they go around saying that only lies are being printed. It was declared that the paint would stay on the windows until after the coming village election.

Matt: 45:01

As the news bulletin's readerships grew, it could be solidly depended on for stories not just from its Mochino home but also for the neighboring villages of Frankfurt, marley, new Lenox, orland Park and Tindley Park, and sometimes even carried items from Green Garden, homer Matson and as far afield as Oak Lawn. Interestingly, by the end of summer 1921, the paper counted at least one overseas reader in Germany, william Hoffman, a farmhand who had worked for Mochino brothers, charles and Julius Hirsch, had returned to the land of his birth and was receiving the publication there. In a happy letter back to friends in the village, filled with no small amount of pride for his adopted community, hoffman wrote that he is very glad to get his home paper, greatly enjoys reading it and in showing it to his friends. This ability to drum up news from nearby communities was a keystone to the similar success.

Matt: 46:03

In conjunction with the news bulletin, the family went on to found several other newspapers in Eastern Will County and Southern Cook County. One, the Tindley Park Times, was born in 1925, when business people and residents of Tindley Park began clamoring for a paper of their own. The community had long-standing ties with Bill Semmler, having asked him to work there as early as the World War I era. The Times was so successful that the family opened a printing plant in the town in the spring of 1941.

Matt: 46:38

Another jewel in the crown of Semmler Press was the Orland Park Herald, which debuted in 1926. In terms of layout and content, these publications were very similar to the news bulletin, with the articles on the front page being swapped for eye-grabbing happenings of each respective community. As the years carried on. The news bulletin became a Moquina mainstay and as the country entered the Great Depression, the Semmler family and their publication were able to keep their heads above water. Reflecting the dark economic situation in the country, the columns of the paper charmingly noted in October 1931 that they were able to help relieve the depression to a small degree by remodeling and expanding the printing plant attached to their front street office to its new dimensions of 20 by 40 feet.

Matt: 47:30

The news bulletin got a leg up on the afternoon of January 18, 1933, when it along with the Orland Park Herald and the Tinley Park Times, were boosted over the airwaves of radio station WCFL of Chicago. Bill himself gave a community talk on each of the communities served by these publications, which was in turn accompanied by a musical presentation. The News Bulletin office in Moquina was a veritable hive of activity. In addition to the newspapers that rolled off their machines under the umbrella of the similar press, the family also continued to take on general printing work. In August 1940, after being in business for exactly 21 years, a column noted that today the shop of the News Bulletin is a busy place. Three weeklies, one bimonthly and two monthly papers are printed here, while also proudly stating that they could take on color work as well as the traditional black and white. At that time, the nearly 100-year-old building was home to a cylinder press, two jobbers, a casting box stitcher, large paper cutter, electric saw, an addressing machine and loads of metal and wood type.

Israel: 48:51

So this is a very different semlers than we start with.

Matt: 48:57

They're getting established.

Israel: 48:58

They're starting to grow and expand outside of Moquina some I love the, you can see some of his humor. He talks about the news register being a real spicy sheet and then when he says the has the line a paper is like a woman, every man should have his own and not run after his neighbors. What a great way to market a newspaper and show his humor. But you also see, especially in a small town like this, how serious things can get and people take news stories and that you're not writing a story about an unknown somebody across town.

Israel: 49:41

This is somebody you see every day at the bank, at the exactly so that becomes, and you're talking about the Marty ice cream parlor? Yeah, that's right.

Matt: 49:50

And where was that? So the the Marty ice cream parlor Willard Marty and his partners ice cream parlor was over in Front Street on the let's see here. This would be the northeast corner of Front and Moquina streets, in the old building that's still there today, which is now a residential apartment, which we detailed in one of our recent podcasts the history thereof. So yeah, there's a little bit of interesting prohibition history there too.

Israel: 50:20

Yeah, yeah, that's great. Another tie around within the podcast, yeah definitely. And where was the news bulletins office?

Matt: 50:29

Oh, that's a very good question. So the news bulletins office was at what is today 10842 Front Street, one of the few addresses I can rattle off off the top of my head which is on the north side of Front Street, just a little east of where Midland Avenue joins Front Street, kind of let's see right more or less across the street from, maybe kind of diagonally northeast, across the street from the police department. There is a apartment building there now, a not a historic building. That's only been there since probably the 70s. That's where. That's where the news bulletin office was.

Israel: 51:13

And so what did this side of Front Street look like at that time? Were they the only business down here? At that was where the bar previously had been. That's right, that's right.

Matt: 51:25

Yeah, yeah, they were in those days pretty much the only business on this part of Front Street. Traditionally once again, at least in this era kind of post World War One, getting into the Great Depression, these years, the businesses on Front Street basically ended right around Front Street and Division Street, although which was not always the case. But in in this era we're talking about here, yeah, that's where the businesses kind of tapered off. And, yeah, the the semlers were unique in that they were a business out on the center Front Street.

Israel: 52:05

Well, very interesting, and I thought too. It says cursed by some, discussed by many and read by all. Yeah, it kind of goes back to the saying of you know everybody loves you. Yeah, you know don't, don't trust somebody everybody loves, or something like that, yeah, they're always he wasn't willing to give up. What do you believe to tell the? Tell the true story. What do you thought?

Matt: 52:28

Really the story and absolutely.

Matt: 52:31

As a historian, I'm very thankful for that. Well, Bill Semler's name appeared in almost every issue as editor. The contributions of his family members to the news bowls and can't be overlooked From. Okina at large was lucky to have in its court three women who gave their all to the paper. Margaret Semler was essentially the papers co editor and her husband's equal in the publication's composition and management for many years, maintaining the social pages Referencing the famous editor of the Washington Post. Another reporter would years later sublimely call her the Catherine Graham of Mokena.

Matt: 53:11

In her day Starting in her teen years, Bill and Margaret's daughter Adeline learned to operate the vital Lionel type machine, while her sister Ada Semler, who felt timid around the printing prance loud clanking presses, handled things in the office. On Thursday nights, getting the week's paper ready for its Friday publishing date was a family activity. Reflecting on the late nights spent with tricky machinery, Ada would later say that if all went well we would go home around midnight. If not, it could take until 2.30am to finish. Her mother, Margaret, also riley, wondered why they needed a house at all when the whole family spent so many nights toiling in the office.

Israel: 53:59

So that's the first half of our story here and we're wrapping up now with the kids starting to become part of the business and starting to pick up the role. What do we look forward to in the second half of our story?

Matt: 54:17

Oh, all kinds of good stuff. Yeah, the story just gets started really. The second half will tackle the whole history, with the Wolf Road issue that we talked about in the introduction. A little bit Talk about some more things that the Semlers got started for us here in town, like regularly celebrating Memorial Day, for example, and also one thing that I'm especially proud of them for is what all they did for Mokena service men during World War II and service women, as there were ladies from town too who were part of the Allied war effort. Yeah, just all kinds of really, really interesting stuff coming up.

Israel: 55:02

And they. You talk about it too, but did a lot for Pioneer Cemetery.

Matt: 55:08

Yeah, absolutely.

Israel: 55:10

He's responsible for the Denny marker that we have today. Yeah, that is true. Yeah, and you talk a lot about the process of that and what he went through and he really fought for that. And as you said the stuff they did for veterans, for people fighting, that nobody really found out about until much later. Right yeah, so they were just good people trying to do right by those serving that had served.

Matt: 55:38

Yeah, they really carried the Mokena folk who were often in the war, essentially during World War II, and I think gave them, as we will see, gave them really a lot of happiness and a lot of feeling of not having been forgotten. That really carried them on, I think, through a lot of pretty tough moments that they were going through. So they did a really exceptionally great thing.

Israel: 56:04

Well, an amazing story and a vital story to the history of Mokena. Yeah, a great first half and we look forward to sharing the next half next time. Sure, yeah, absolutely Thanks, matt, you're very welcome.

Matt: 56:19

Thank you.

Israel: 56:21

I hope you enjoyed that first part of this story on the Semblers. They play such a vital role to the history of our town and even just to be able to carry on this history. You know they cover a period from 1919 to 1969. So, being such a long stretch of time, you know I started thinking about how many significant events in history and world history in our area's history happened, and you know. Some of those include prohibition, the Great Depression, which went from 1929 to 1939, the famous St Valentine's Day Massacre, which happened in Chicago in 1929, World War II, the Space Race and all of the Vietnam War from 1955 to 1975. They were covering all of these stories, as well as covering the births, the deaths, the homes that were built, the things that were going on in the village, keeping and tracking that history, so much of which would just be lost if it hadn't been for them. It's great that we're able to share this story. I know I really enjoy it.

Israel: 57:28

I've enjoyed reading the booklet that Matt had written and then as well as going back now with the four blog posts, so we'll share those on Facebook on our website in the show notes also what we'll be reading in the second part there. Make sure you follow us on Facebook. Our friend, tony Marr, just keeps posting different interesting articles about things that we're sharing and from the podcast episodes. So all that is great to see and a good addition to what we're hearing in the episodes, so follow us on Facebook. Another new thing is we now have a YouTube channel. There's only a couple of videos on there and what I've started to do is take old episodes and put over pictures and some video and different things we have. But it's a good avenue for us to maybe present some different things, and there are some of those things that'll be coming as well. We'll have planned and hopefully more will come out of that channel as well.

Israel: 58:24

If you're enjoying the show, please share this with your friends, your neighbors, your family. Our next episode will be the conclusion of this similar story, so look for that. Please go back, listen to our other episodes if you haven't. We've got some great episodes out there and some great stuff coming down the line. Thank you very much for listening and we'll see you next time on Mokena's Front Porch.