The Mokena News Bulletin & The Semmler Family Pt. 2

Here is part 2 and the completion of the Semmler story. Be sure to listen to episode 1 as well. The Semmlers played a vital role in our Village and their impact lives on today. Be sure to check out Matt's Blog posts that we based these episodes on. They can be found HERE!

We hope you enjoy this episode! Be sure to share it with a friend! 

Chapters

• 0:01 Semmler Family and Mokena News Bulletin
• 10:04 The Semmlers' Advocacy and Community Impact
• 20:12 Bill Semmler's Contributions to Mokena
• 34:03 Legacy and Importance of Mokena News
• 46:03 Evolution of Local Newspapers in Mokena

Transcript

Israel: 0:01

Welcome to Mokena's Front Porch, a Molkina History podcast with Matt Galek and me, Israel Smith. Alright, matt, welcome back. Thank you. This episode is part two of the Semmler's story. A previous episode covered kind of the earlier part of the lives and as they get into having the paper, yeah, absolutely. Can you give? Maybe just give a little brief overview.

Matt: 0:26

Absolutely yeah. This is the story of the Semmler family, namely Bill Semler William Semler went by Bill, his wife Margaret and their two daughters, Adeline and Ada and the news bulletin which was founded in 1919 here in Molkina. It was the Molkina Village paper. They carried news from the other surrounding towns too, but it was primarily, first and foremost, the Molkina paper, and the Semler family and their publication were a great source for good in the decades that it existed. They benefited not just the Mokenians of their own day but, the way I see it, they're still benefiting us now because they documented the history of the village in the years that they existed and because of them we now know what happened in the Molkina of yesteryear. And if it wasn't for the Semler's we'd be totally in the dark.

Israel: 1:26

Yeah, you realize how true that is as we read more about the things you've written or these pieces. And it's people like this across the country really that were the keepers of the story, the historians. They were writing the history for us when nobody else was doing that.

Israel: 1:49

This was, I thought, a great story and obviously you've committed a lot of time to this. Oh yeah, as I mentioned before, we got the booklet that you prepared earlier and then you put this out in four parts on your blog as well, and really the only in-depth discussion and telling of their story, I think that's been done. Yeah, that's definitely true. And now we kind of come to the second part and the conclusion. Let's just get into it. Yeah, let's.

Matt: 2:29

The news bulletin was no small town gossip rag. Aside from covering all local happenings, it also carried four or five serialized novels a year, as well as national and international news illustrated with photographs. A representative example would be a piece that appeared in an August 1931 issue that showcased the construction of the Empire State Building. Zesty flavor came from numerous bits of humor that appeared in the news bulletin's pages, such as an early series of columns called People of Our Town, which lampooned various personalities found in rural communities. Characters such as the irate reader, a man who has found something in this paper that he doesn't like, who is going around to ball out the editor, were highlighted. Also featured was the classy loafer who was waiting for a good job to turn up when he is going to blow this hick town. Another piece of whimsy was still a night, a reprinted column that appeared in the June 21st 1929 issue that not only past-eached two men looking for a speakeasy, but was also partially written in German.

Matt: 3:46

In December 1924, the Semmlers ushered in a column called the Clearing House, in which Mokino residents were encouraged to write into the paper and share their opinions on issues of the day. The zeitgeist of the era springs forth from these columns in which townspeople voiced their views on the prohibition-related crime wave that plagued the countryside around Chicago, decrying everything from hard roads, which made escape very easy for the bandits in their high-powered cars, to mail-order guns, which often time arouses some cracked brain-nuts to start on a hold-up career. Bootleg liquor also stood in the crosshairs which, in the words of one village resident, was being sold to weak-minded fools to drink and kill themselves with. At the end of the 1930s, a series of fictionalized letters were printed in the news bulletin under the title Uncle High Says. These had a lighthearted humoristic bend and were loaded with political jabs and inside jokes about Mokino business people. In the same era, a thinly veiled editorial column named Bugle Calls existed in the form of pieces written under the nom de plume of Zeb Potter. Another column called Voice of Vax Pop appeared with some regularity In a March 17, 1939 piece dripping with local satire. Won Back, ellie Spike wrote Boy oh boy, mokina has a real crisis. Europe has been hogging every crisis, but now we have one right here. Why? It's the biggest scandal since Hitler took Austria. The piece went on to parody Staggi Mokinians whose feathers were ruffled by a political newcomer running for local office, with the monocled author Ghibli, adding why the nervy young so-and-so? He hasn't been living here 75 years yet? The true flavor of the news bulletin came from the great American tradition the snide letter to the editor.

Matt: 5:54

An early example of townie salt was the communication printed by the semilars in July 1921, in which a resident complained about the less optimal condition of village streets, a subject that would later prove to be a big one for Bill. The writer asked what are the streets of Mokina for? Are they a garbage pail? And admitted that my temper gets the best of me when I have to drive my clean machine over egg shells, musk melons and lemon shells, corn husks and muddy sloth holes. Referring to Bill Sembler's status as village clerk at the time, the anonymous writer threw a barb his way when he snarled Say Mr Editor, maybe you will scrap this as you are a member of this board, but if you do, there are other papers.

Matt: 6:43

The many letters received by the semilars weren't all grumbly. Many were laudatory. Typical were the words sent by John H Cappell, a faraway. Mattoon Cappell had spent his formative years in Mokina and, like Bill, could trace his heritage to the founders of the village. In March 1926, he dropped a line to the News bulletin office reading. I want to congratulate you for the good paper you are putting out. As I enjoy reading of the old hometown very much, I can hardly wait until the paper comes. The people of Mokina and the Synod ought to be proud of the paper you publish. Closing on a touching note, cappell wished that you may prosper in your work is my prayer. Another representative bouquet came by way of an unidentified writer to the Juliet Spectator in 1939. In what surely must have left their editor a touch confused, the correspondent breezily complimented the publication, only then to quickly heap praise upon the news bulletin expressing I like our Mokina paper. It is a well-printed and newsy country weekly, far above the average country weekly in get-up and print. I want to congratulate the editor of the Mokina news bulletin for his fine paper. The semlers also received a bouquet from none other than the Chicago Tribune.

Matt: 8:03

During the euphoric period immediately after the end of the Second World War, normally browning of the prestigious publication found herself in Mokina, vividly profiling local residents and life in the village. Upon examining the news bulletin she declared that its makeup has dignity. Its repertorial style has a cosmopolitan touch. Mokinians used the news bulletin as a forum to quash rumors, the bane of small-town existence. A wave of malicious hearsay that had been spreading in the area regarding farmer George Hauser induced him to write to the paper in the spring of 1933. Facing foreclosure on his farm, he wrote I would like to get a few lines in the news bulletin and let the public know the truth about the gossip that has been going on about me. Addressing each piece of the story individually, he eventually came to the nastiest part of the episode. Hauser stated there was also some gossip being circulated that I threatened a shooting, and this is a lie. I did not come from fighting stock. Those who were on the starting end of hearsay also got a chance to speak During a period in October 1924, when some burglaries had recently taken place in town. Hardware storekeeper Milton Krap sold some keys to residents Peter Hummerding and Alois Peshara. Finding the purchase is suspicious, krap tipped off Village Constable John Frisch. Later, realizing his mistake, the shopkeeper wrote a note to the newspaper, which reprinted it on the front page under the heading an apology, explaining what had happened. The Mokinian made his realization clear that the event had cast a serious reflection on the characters of both Mr Hummerding and Mr Peshara and as they are entirely innocent in this matter. I hereby publicly extend my apologies to them for the statement that I made to Officer Frisch concerning them.

Matt: 10:04

Bill and Margaret Semler weren't simply journalists reporting the news. They were also arguably Mokina's most passionate advocates, who used the news bulletin to lift the community in every way. A long column published in the February 11th 1921 issue called what Can Mokina Do addressed a shortage of housing in the village and a general sense of stagnation that had crept in. Bill penned the piece which cheered Mokina would have a future if everyone got together and pushed. And let us see how some small improvements can be made which will lead to bigger ones. While warning that out-of-date customs do not work anymore, he devotedly pushed for development, patronizing local businesses and keeping up the town ban stand at Union and Third Streets. Bill's editorials leapt off the page and forced the reader to take notice. In reading them one came to see that his heart beat for Mokina. In response to later accusations that his paper was favoring the advancement of other nearby communities, bill authored a front page editorial called Mokina Needs Cooperative Boost, appearing in the April 15th 1926 issue.

Matt: 11:19

Semler defended his stance that the news bulletin always stands ready to boost any worthy project or undertaking that is for the betterment and welfare of any community and to knock everything that knocks the town. Coming straight to his hometown, he said this town has the finest opportunity in the world to become one of the best towns along the Rock Island. But whether it does or does not, all remains not with its citizens but with its businessmen, calling on Mokina's tradespeople to ban together and promote commerce in town. He also declared again that the old petty jealousies that have dominated Mokina for years must be eradicated before the village will progress. At present we have too much of that old spirit. It doesn't pay to nurse this spirit. Cut it out and let us all work for one goal the upbuilding and progress of Mokina.

Matt: 12:17

Another editorial which appeared in the September 7th 1928 edition addressed a particularly prickly issue. A piece was printed detailing how some town boys had been caught in the basement of an abandoned front street building, allegedly in the act of setting it aflame. The young men later turned up at the news bulletin office down the street, claiming that they merely had the misfortune of being found with a kerosene lamp in their possession and that they'd been spinning their wheels in the community with nothing to do and nowhere to focus their energy. Titled Youths Present Social Problem, the subsequent editorial on this matter said the fact of the matter is these boys are right. The youth of today will be the citizens of tomorrow. The old idea that a boy or girl must sow their wild oats is all the bunk. Let us wake up and do something for the youth of our community. The news bulletin was also used as a platform from which to defend the rights of others and stand up to bullies.

Matt: 13:23

With World War II and full swing in Europe, but still more than a year before the United States entered the fray, the summer of 1940 found no small amount of chatter swirling around Will County concerning spies and other nefarious elements. Joliet's citizen Otto Aetor, editor of a paper called the German American, got mixed up in the hearsay and the semlers came to their fellow newsmen's rescue. In a long article called Don't Believe or Repeat Everything you Hear that appeared on July 12, 1940, it was reported that a poisoned tongue whispering campaign had leveled charges of Aetor's being involved with anti-American activity and that he had even been taken into custody by the FBI. The reports were soundly quashed by the news bulletin, the semlers stating outright that all the stories about him are idle gossip. The column went on to explain that Aetor had ample proof that he has never been engaged in any subversive propaganda and he is 100% for his adopted country. There has not been one word of truth in the yarns broadcasted about him.

Matt: 14:38

An even wilder tale was also making the rounds in the county seat where one, paul Schirne, found himself under attack based on his ethnicity. The German born hotel proprietor was also supposed to be under the investigation of government agents who allegedly had found Nazi flags and uniforms in his possession. Speaking on Schirne's behalf, the news bulletin printed that this yarn was just one big lie from start to finish. Mr Schirne has been a citizen of this country for many years and has always been a loyal American citizen, one whose integrity has never been questioned. The column had the final word by gently reminding Mokinians that a person's good name and reputation, which has taken years to build up, can be blasted and ruined overnight. This is a sin none of us should be a party to. Jealousy. Hate and loose tongues are the cause of ill-founded yarns. Let us be really and truly Americans in every sense of the word. Do not be a scandal or war monger.

Matt: 15:46

Showing great foresight, bill Semmler was a champion of the preservation of the old Denny Cemetery on the southern edge of Mokina. Bill had taken an interest in the historic site, then a forlorn overgrown heap, as early as the World War I era, when he was still a young beat reporter for the Juliette Herald News. Entered at the hallowed grounds were the remains of Revolutionary War soldier Charles Denny, whose original 1839 gravestone was weather-beaten and crumbling by the early 20th century. Applying valuable experience gained while securing a government-issue grave marker for local Civil War veteran John Van Horn, buried at Marshall Cemetery in 1909, semmler helped to get a new headstone for Denny in 1916. The marker arrived in Mokina via the Rock Island Railroad in the dead of winter and was stored inside WH Beckstein's grain elevator until the weather broke Years later. Margaret would call the marking of Denny's grave one of her husband's proudest moments.

Matt: 16:56

The Moquina Garden Club set out to clean up the tangled mess of weeds and overgrowth in the Old Family Cemetery in 1939, and the News Bulletin was their biggest supporter. That armistice day, bill was given the honor of bestowing a new name on the site, which thenceforth was known as Pioneer Memorial Cemetery. In the same vein, the paper was instrumental in causing the observance of Memorial Day to become a yearly occurrence in Moquina, where here to fore, it had been an intermittent. Right At the early date of 1921, the Semmlers propelled local residents to action by publishing an impassioned column called what About Memorial Day, in which it was alluded that the neighboring communities of Frankfurt and New Lenox could be counted on to have a full program.

Matt: 17:49

Where in the Moquina Cemetery lies soldiers who fought not only in the Civil War but also in the Revolutionary War, and must their graves be allowed to be overgrown with weeds instead of flowers and with brush instead of flags, just because we are too indifferent or, might we say, not patriotic enough to honor their memory? The next year, using flags and flowers procured by the Semmlers, the News Bulletin's sponsored a smart ceremony wherein the local soldiers' graves were decorated and various speakers were invited to town. It went over well and, starting in 1928, a regular program was carried out annually, with the Semmlers spearheading it. Later, the Boy Scouts helped ease the burden of their work and while down the line, the Moquina Civic Association took over the day's activities. Bill Semmler still served in a place of honor as chairman of arrangements.

Israel: 18:48

So, matt, in previous stories we've talked about John Hatch taking a big role in cleaning up a pioneer cemetery. Where's the time frame in that had that kind of it was a previous the Semmlers coming in? Can you kind of tell us about that? Yeah?

Matt: 19:06

that's a very good question actually.

Matt: 19:09

Yeah, because the whole history of how Memorial Day has been observed in Moquina is a pretty long and interesting one. But yeah, john Hatch, who was a local Civil War veteran and was the owner of the grain elevator in town for many years and a general storekeeper, a businessman very involved in Moquina, first village clerk, as he got older he took on a lot of the work of observing Memorial Day, making sure that his fellow Civil War veterans' graves were cleaned up and in presentable shape, making sure they had a flag on them and flowers on them, stuff like that. As I was saying, as he got older, though, he kind of started passing things off to the local campfire girls, which we've talked about on the podcast. They were an organization kind of like the Girl Scouts, and he sort of showed them the ropes and showed them the individual graves and made sure that they were taken up the responsibilities. But Mr Hatch passed away in 1920. And at that time the campfire girls had also disbanded. So in that timeframe, the early 1920s, nobody was really doing anything.

Israel: 20:25

So it just got left again to kind of be abandoned and overgrown, exactly.

Matt: 20:31

Yeah, there really wasn't anything going on year to year Memorial Day-wise in Moquina and I think Bill Semmler hit it, hit the nail right on the head when he said well, Frankfurt always does something, which they did. Frankfurt years ago in this timeframe was going all out for Memorial Day. New Lennox could always be counted on to be having something. So he said, why aren't we doing anything? We have just as patriotic of people in our town as theirs. Let's get it together.

Israel: 21:05

He was a big part of making sure that happened from year to year, and from the time that this happened with him to now has it pretty much been maintained consistently since then.

Matt: 21:16

Yeah, pretty much, Pretty much. Yeah, as far as I know, every year I'm thinking back to the years of the Depression and World War II and of after having gone through the issues of the news bulletin from those years. No year is sticking out in my head as having been one where something didn't happen, even with those hard times you know depression, a wartime, etc. Etc. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. We can pretty much thank him.

Israel: 21:51

Yeah, I mean it points directly to his legacy. That's very cool.

Matt: 21:57

Perhaps Bill Semmler's most enduring contribution to Moquina was his tireless activism for the improvement of Wolf Road, arguably the village's most important thoroughfare.

Matt: 22:10

Much like those leading away from the heart within the human body, a vital artery is the lifeblood of a community. The vibrancy of a village depends on it, as do the livelihoods of the merchants therein. An impassable road spells stagnation and despair for any neighborhood, and no one was more aware of this than Bill Semmler. Through his resolute, unflagging work, wolf Road went from a muddy path to a modern passage. For much of Moquina's early existence, what would later be known as Wolf Road was barely more than a rural farm lane, known as Marty Road after a family that farmed along it. Well into the early 20th century, bill and Margaret's daughter Ada, remembered how, in anything less than perfect weather, the road was real muddy, rocky and tough. Bill Semmler loathed these conditions with a passion, often risking getting harassed in Wolf Road while traveling north to Orland Park to collect news. Thus began his personal quest to bring the road into modernity. Through his local networking skills, bill was able to win over important allies in this drive. In his corner were Charles Hirsch, a cattleman and farmer along the road, and JV Hall, a neighbor to Hirsch, who kept a small restaurant. Other influential friends of Semmler's who pitched in to help were LG Bruder, a Chicago businessman and Moquina resident, and AML Cappell, a local farmer who also served as Frankfurt Township Highway Commissioner. These men, with Bill Semmler as their leader, formed the Moquina Development and Hard Road Association in the early 1920s. By December 1926, not only did the Moquina territory not have any hard roads to speak of, but it also had the dubious distinction of also not being connected to any. The association held regular evening meetings at the Village Schoolhouse and, through much perseverance, succeeded in convincing property owners north of town in Cook County that the concreting of Wolf Road would benefit them. Through lobbying on their part, the neighboring county's Board of Commissioners was persuaded to include the section of the road from 143rd Street south to the county line on a paving program.

Matt: 24:46

All things considered, however, this new hard road still tapered off well north of Moquina. Bill Semmler and his fighters triumphed when a Will County bond was passed for the paving of the rest of the length through town. With the task ready to be completed, what the news bulletin later called a spirited fight broke out over which route the new road should follow. Some local block supported the construction of a brand new artery following a convoluted route from east of New Lenox through Moquina, along Front Street, then continuing further eastward until it linked up with Keen Avenue or today's Route 45. Bill Semmler and by extension the news bulletin, found this route totally unreasonable and tirelessly promoted, staying with the plan of completing Wolf Road south to the Lincoln Highway, in the words of his daughter Ada. In this period, the entire project became a political football, with strife abounding between Moquina factions and the Will County Board of Supervisors, which ultimately held up the paving of the gap for several years. Meanwhile, the first concrete was poured north of town on October 15, 1930, and when the section was finished a month later, a special ribbon cutting ceremony was held at St Mary's Hall. Bill still worked to have the last segment from Hickory Creek south to Lincoln Highway finished, but the dust wouldn't ultimately settle until the autumn of 1936 due to a property dispute of epic proportions with farmer Clarence M Cleveland.

Matt: 26:32

During the trying days of World War II, the Semmler family opened their hearts to the community and made sure that every local service man and woman had a friend Partnering up with the auxiliary to the William Martin post of the VFW. They saw to it that every Moquina soldier, sailor or marine regularly received a free copy of the news bulletin by Christmas time 1943, this operation had become so big that area residents were flummoxed as to how the Semmlers were pulling it off. Many curious requests were coming into the news bulletin, wondering about the details. So the column that appeared in the December 17th edition gingerly said that an explanation had, here to fore, been held back as we do not care for credit, our only aim and satisfaction being to know that our boys in the service of our country are receiving the paper and enjoying it. However, to satisfy readers, the piece did go on to lay out how it was all done. Aside from the news bulletin, the Semmlers Orland Park Herald and Tinley Park Times were also being posted, and while there had been some reports of hiccups with delivery, generally the papers were finding their recipients.

Matt: 27:51

In the very beginning of the effort, adeline and Ada Semmler handled all of the addressing of the paper's wrappers themselves, with some help pitched in by Margaret. As the project grew, this part of the work was taken over by local volunteers, and every Thursday evening the papers would be packed into the addressed wrappers by more town volunteers. Among them were some patriotic Moquina children who gave their time to the effort. Ever thankful for their time, margaret rewarded the kids with hot chocolate at the news bulletin office. The postage for all of the papers no trifling amount was taken care of by the village's auxiliary to the VFW. At the conflict's height, some 700 complimentary copies of similar presses. Papers were being sent to all corners of the globe, wherever fighting men and women from Moquina and the neighboring communities were located, be they well behind the front lines or at the front.

Matt: 28:52

During the course of the war, touching thank you letters flooded Moquina for the simlers, many of which came enclosed with photos of the service people who wrote them. On June 12, 1943, private Sherwin Lease penned a note that partially read Dear Mr Semler, this is the first I have written to you, although I should have done so long ago. I am now in North Africa and have received two news bulletins since I have been here. Although they meant a great deal to me in the States, they mean so much more now. On December 28 of the same year, navy man and village trustee John Marty wrote from Mary Island, california. A few lines read Dear Bill, it sure is swell when Tuesday comes around, for that is the day the bulletin arrives. I always look forward to reading all the news from hometown folks. You sure are doing a grand job for us fellows in the service, as it sure means a lot to us to hear what's going on in the old hometown.

Matt: 29:52

By the time the autumn of November 1944 rolled around, the news bulletin was reporting on service men and women so much that it was beginning to push out other local news. On September 21, bill personally authored a column assuring readers that other news was still wanted, deeming if the news rates first page, it will be put there anyway, but kindly asked the neighboring sports teams to simply summarize their games, as the scores were taking up too much space. It was signed Yours for Victory, and Until Our Boys Eat Hamburgers in Tokyo. William Semler Editor. As the years and decades marched on, the paper grew exponentially and by 1943 it could proudly boast a circulation of around 3,000 in eastern Will County. Meanwhile, the Tinley Park Times was doing so well that it was necessary to open a separate office there in 1941. The publications of the Semler Press had become such a time-honored institution that at the end of 1944 they were bestowed with the Certificate of Merit from the Illinois Press Association.

Matt: 31:03

Bill Semler lost a hard battle with cancer on June 8, 1946, at the age of 59. That's ended a chapter not only for the Semler family but also for . Upon the news of his passing being made public, tributes poured into town. Illinois Senator Richard Barr called Bill a true American. Well Will County Clerk Joseph Hartley rude. I don't know a man I thought more of than Bill Semler. Everett Cooper, mayor of Moquina, the scene of so many of Bill's labors of love, said that in Bill's passing the community has lost one of its most loyal citizens and a very true friend. Obituaries for him appeared in papers as far off as Alton and Decatur, while on June 14, the News Bulletin itself dedicated most of its large front page to their editor in Black Bordered Reportage under the title 30, which in journalistic parlance signifies an end. At the time of his passing, bill Semler was a member of the Illinois Press Association, the Cook County Publishers Association, the Lions Club of Frankfurt and was also the chairman of the Moquina Civic Association's Publicity Committee. That year he was also included in who's who in Chicago and Illinois.

Matt: 32:34

It was his final wish that Margaret take the helm as editor-in-chief of the News Bulletin, which she faithfully did, maintaining a good newspaper worthy of fine American principles. Running the publication was a Herculean effort. So a managing editor, oliver Gedeist, was hired by the Semler family in early 1947. He was introduced to Moquina and the surrounding territory in a column of the paper where Margaret assured her neighbors of his journalistic bona fides and kindly urged readers to cooperate with him. Showing the homie spirit of Moquina at the time, she invited subscribers to personally call her with questions and also wondered if there might be a house in town for Gedeist to rent. Even after Oliver Gedeist announced himself in a section of the paper and, well aware of his status as a newcomer in a small town, warned Moquinians that he was bad with names, gedeist was also acutely cognizant that he was following in Bill's footsteps, writing that in coming into this new responsibility, it is my purpose to carry the responsibility in such a way that the memory of William Semler will be integrated in and be a basis for every business transaction conducted. The Semler standard shall never be lowered, and that he did. For week after week the paper was the same quality as it always was.

Matt: 34:03

Meanwhile, the news bulletin marched into the future. In 1947, an addition was added to the east side of the historic office to house two new linotype machines and a Miele press. This continued to boom, and another extension to the old place, this time on its northern side, was finished in the spring of 1953 to house a duplex press. The new press weighed in at a colossal 13 tons and took a pair of workers a month to install. Their labor was worth it in the end, for the new equipment carried an output of 3,508 page papers an hour.

Matt: 34:46

As editor-in-chief, margaret Semler won well deserved laurels for her work. After publishing a special souvenir edition of the news bulletin for the Mocchina homecoming in the summer of 1949, the Illinois Press Association bestowed upon her the Mate E Palmer award for that year, while the next year she received the prestigious first prize from the National Convention of Press Women at Reno, nevada. For decades of selfless service to Mocchina, margaret Semler retired in the spring of 1955, whereupon Glenn F Logan of Juliet took over as managing editor. At this time, the news bulletin counted a circulation of around 3,500 and maintained a staff of 10. Margaret Semler ultimately sold the paper in 1958 to Kenneth Johnson, a Lamont-based publisher, who put out that community's Lamont-er as well as the Lockport Herald.

Matt: 35:50

In addition to these publications, johnson would also later found newspapers in Downersgrove and Naperville. In 1960, he set up the Frankfurt leader and that year added Mocchina to the news bulletin's title. After continuing to print the news bulletin for most of the rest of the decade, johnson sold his holdings to field enterprises who, in June 1969, merged the news bulletin and the other local papers into the Southwest graphic, after having been in print for 50 years. No small feat for a publication with such humble beginnings. The last issue of the news bulletin came off the press on June 4, 1969. Its front page contained stories touting the new graphic and bemoaning high tax rates, and thus when the reader finished the last page, it was the end of an era.

Matt: 36:49

While staying in the hands of the Semler family, the paper's old office on Mocchina's front street would go on to house a cork company and met an untimely end in the fall of 1977, when it was forever erased from the village's landscape. Margaret Semler spent her later years in a Joliet retirement community, always keeping her trusty typewriter at hand and surrounded by scrapbooks of her and her late husband's achievements. She has gone down as one of the most influential ladies in Mocchina's history and to this day she hasn't been equaled. She passed away on March 4, 1988, having reached 98 years. The doyen of the village, the Mocchina of the modern age, in all of its progress and improvement, is the legacy of the Semler family and the news bulletin. The village owes their memory the highest attention and devotion. As we honor our history, the work of the Semlers has become a Rosetta Stone to the village's past, without whose long efforts over the decades this chronicle would be dark and uncharted. Through the news bulletin and their passion for Mocchina, the Semler family's achievements have brought them immortality.

Israel: 38:12

I think you sum that ending up just really well, oh thanks. You know, just displaying the importance of this couple to Mocchina.

Matt: 38:23

Yeah.

Israel: 38:23

You know as well as the surrounding area. I mean you think about the other papers. You know the Tinley Park paper that they ran. Yeah, absolutely, and you know they had. Yeah, just as you said. It's just an unbelievable effect they've had on this village.

Matt: 38:37

Yeah, they have, they really have, they have a big influence.

Israel: 38:42

And I thought it was interesting. You know they in the beginning, where they were encouraging people to share their news. You know it kind of reminded me of almost like the social media today, like it was how people got to tell you know who came to dinner, who visited from Chicago.

Matt: 38:59

Yeah, absolutely.

Israel: 39:00

Or whatever it was. Yeah, no, that's covered the politics and the gossip and the yeah, that's absolutely true.

Matt: 39:05

activities yeah, 100%. Yeah. Yeah, they collected all the news either just by going out and physically collecting it themselves, or by inviting people to, like we were saying to just contact them with so and so was in town, or it's.

Israel: 39:24

It's funny stuff to read now, because you know who would ever really care about who came to visit, right Until you look at Facebook.

Matt: 39:32

Yeah, exactly.

Israel: 39:33

Because people do the same thing now on Facebook right, yeah, exactly, it's no different. I walked my dog you know or whatever. Exactly, it's 100% the same, which is really interesting. I mean, how we change, you know, everything changes, but it all stays the same. Yeah, that's true, yeah, and funny enough, I guess, in all the talking we've done about this, I've always, you know always called it the Mokina News Bulletin, right, right, and it wasn't until the very end that they added Mokina into the title. So that was interesting and I'll try to correct.

Matt: 40:06

Oh no, yeah, I'm sure years ago people did the same thing. I mean, after all, it was the Mokina paper, right and yeah, not too many people probably know that offhand now Right, right but.

Israel: 40:17

Exactly, and I thought it was really interesting, when they're talking about the success of Mokina, that Bill put the weight of the progress on the businessmen. Yeah, put it on the citizens or the politicians. He put it on the businessmen, right, yeah, yeah, and I don't know. I guess that's true today, right, unless you have people willing to come in and invest. You know, when you think about our downtown, that is less than lively.

Matt: 40:46

Right, yeah.

Israel: 40:49

Yeah, so it's interesting. What are you knowing the amount of time that you spent looking at these old papers? What do you think that the community, or our community, is missing by not having something like that paper?

Matt: 41:03

Oh, wow. I, first and foremost, I think a paper brings like a sense of unity and togetherness and it's all of us together for our community, kind of something like that. With the extinction of the Mokina messenger few years ago during the COVID times, I rue its loss and I feel its absence. And, yeah, having a paper in a community is just like one of the most important things you can have, not only because it reports the news and what's happening and people are up to date on what's happening in their community, but, like I was saying, yeah, there's just something about having a hometown publication that I think brings about this togetherness or this unity and hopefully somebody will step into that void.

Israel: 42:06

Yeah, thinking about it, do you see a time where there is a type of a physical publication again or somebody putting out something similar to this? You know, a modern version.

Matt: 42:21

Yeah, I do, I do. I can't say who it would be. People have suggested that I should do it, which I'm honored by, but I just I have neither the time nor the resources.

Israel: 42:36

Well, that's the big thing. I mean, it's a resource, exactly.

Matt: 42:39

Exactly.

Israel: 42:41

I mean, there's not a big market for newspapers right now. Better physical, Everything is pretty much gone digital.

Matt: 42:48

Yeah, exactly.

Israel: 42:51

But it's an interesting thought.

Matt: 42:52

It is yeah.

Israel: 42:53

There's something about picking up a paper off your driveway. I also thought it was really interesting when we talked about the proposed road, and one of the routes that I mentioned was going through New Lenox, through Front Street and connecting over to 45 to LaGrange Road Right right For one, that would have been a huge change to. Molquina and what we know it, connecting to a major road like that, it would have been a totally different downtown. Oh yeah, it would have changed everything.

Matt: 43:29

It would have been crazy, yeah, the amount of work that would have had to have gone into that, the construction.

Israel: 43:35

Sure, it would have probably stripped most of the historic buildings through Front Street. Probably, yeah, it would have been gone.

Matt: 43:42

Yeah, luckily Mr Semler, bill Semler was not really a fan of this idea and used his publication to sort of promote Wolf Road. Yeah, instead of constructing a new road, let us use Wolf Road. And if you look at all the papers through that whole time frame of the 20s going into the 30s by the time the whole thing was done, it was just this huge, never-ending project of lobbying and politics and getting the funding for this and getting the property rights to pave or not really pave but concrete this stretch of the road.

Israel: 44:26

And it was just this monumental, gigantic project that carried on for years and years and years and in comparison, we just got through a project where the bridge over I-80 on the road was down for a number of months and caused terrible turmoil, absolutely, I mean. People went out of their way. Routes changed all this stuff.

Matt: 44:50

Yeah.

Israel: 44:51

But we have Wolf Road back and it's not a muddy trail.

Matt: 44:54

No.

Israel: 44:56

We can't even imagine what life would have been with a road like that and how much that road changed Moquina. That's 100% true.

Matt: 45:05

Yeah, every time I drive down Wolf Road I think of the Semler family and Bill Semler and let me just put this out there In Tinley Park there is a Semler Drive or Semler Street or Avenue or whatever in one of the subdivisions out in Tinley, because he played a part in the history of their community as well. But he was a Moquina man and first and foremost he was a Moquinian and he dedicated his life to working here and making Moquina a better place for us to live and there is no street or road or anything named after him or his family here so we can put that out there. Maybe some day, hopefully in the not too distant future, we can change that.

Israel: 45:55

I mean, you can't think of too many better names that should be unassigned. 50 years of being the paper of record for our town and 50 consequential years that they're responsible for, that's true. So Bill died on June 8th of 1944 at the young age of 59 years old.

Matt: 46:20

That's right, yeah 1946.

Israel: 46:24

1946. And then the paper stayed around until June 4th of 1969.

Matt: 46:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah, mrs Semler kept it up after. After Mr Semler, bill passed away, like we were saying, tragically young really it was cancer, but she was already kind of unofficially the co-editor of the paper anyway. But she took over being in charge and running the show herself, kept going all the way up there until the end of the 1950s when she retired and sold the paper to the Lamont publisher and then they kept it up and finally, yeah, very last issue in 1969. So that's 50 years of history that it preserved.

Israel: 47:12

And did anybody kind of pick up the torch after that? Was there another paper going on at that time?

Matt: 47:18

Not really. There was a Moquina paper in the early 70s for a very brief time Of course. Now I can't remember the name of it. It was not around very long of the Moquina Herald maybe. Unfortunately, all the details of who was running that and you know, all of the background info is not known to me. And then there was the. Was it the Frankfurt Star For most of the 80s? I think it might have went back into the 70s a little. They carried a lot of Moquina news though, but the only paper after the Semmlers that was a Moquina paper in name and was sort of like a Moquina first and foremost kind of thing was independent news, which was founded in 2001. It was kind of a long time after 1969, which was editor was a Moquinian by the name of Bob Baker who ran that for a fair amount of time in the early 2000s.

Israel: 48:29

And then, when does the Moquina messenger come around?

Matt: 48:35

Moquina messenger. If I remember correctly, their first issue was in 2007.

Israel: 48:40

And what was the setup with that? Was that part of conglomerate and a bigger newspaper?

Matt: 48:47

Yeah, yeah, they were part. The messenger was part of a conglomerate called 22nd Century Media who owned and ran all sorts of local papers out in this neck of the woods there was, I think the Frankfurt paper by them was the Frankfurt station, I want to say. Then there was the Nuletics American and the Orland something or other, I can't remember, but yeah, that was a conglomerate, 22nd Century Media I think they even they had papers out in other portions of the state. They weren't strictly like a Eastern Will County, Southern.

Israel: 49:23

And did they have somebody local here running the paper? How does that work?

Matt: 49:30

Yeah, they did. They had an office 22nd Century Media's office was right, I guess. Technically that was an Orland address, but it was just immediately north of what you would call the Borgher between Mochina and and Orland and they had. They had quite a few editors actually over the years Last. The final editor of the Mochina messenger was a Mochina guy by the name of Tom Kramer, who is I still know, no, actually is a co-worker of mine now. So we I knew him from my days of submitting History articles to the paper, and I still work with them nowadays. Excuse me, still a Mokina residence. So, yeah, so that that was the good thing. I mean, there there were local people working on the messenger too. Yeah, yeah, they weren't, you know, out of town or anything.

Israel: 50:28

Yeah, well, and it's you know, you never know. I mean, we got, we got the paper and always enjoyed it, but you never, I never fully understood where it's coming from. I knew it wasn't a True local paper, but it was Mokina's paper. Yeah, as far as being yeah, sure, yeah, but yeah, definitely missed when that went away. Yeah, me too, yeah, and. I always enjoyed the great history stories that you shared.

Matt: 50:53

Oh thanks.

Israel: 50:54

Definitely sparked my interest for Mokina history. Oh yeah, as good. So this you know, probably the One of the most consequential stories you know.

Matt: 51:05

That will tell yeah absolutely the story of the.

Israel: 51:08

Summars. Thank you, matt, for sharing this. Thank you for putting this record together.

Matt: 51:13

Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely, You're welcome.

Israel: 51:15

Yeah as you said, you know, hopefully we can get more, more recognition for this couple, maybe a name on the street something Please, and yeah, for those you know board members, village trustees, whoever it is let's let's recognize these significant members of our past.

Israel: 51:38

Absolutely, I'm 100% behind it. Yeah, yeah, all right, matt, thanks again. This is a great story. Thank you. I love telling it. Hope you enjoyed part two of the episode about the Summler family and the Mokina News Bulletin. As we've said all through the episode, this couple is very important to Mokina. They have a great story and we owe so much of what we know today, what Matt's done, what we've been able to do so much that leads back To the Summlers and the work they did over the 50 years that the newspaper was Reporting here. So again, we hope you enjoyed that.

Israel: 52:18

Matt has a four-part series on his blog that these episodes were based on, so please check that out as well. He had some great photos in there. Some of those will share on our Facebook page as well, but you can check those out on his blog as well as read the full four-part Story. And be sure to subscribe to Matt's blog. You'll find the link in our show notes, but you'll get notifications when the new blog posts come out and just some really interesting stuff there. Matt's been posting for a number of years now and just some great articles on there.

Israel: 52:52

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