www.boonecountyjournal.com In Our 21th Year 815-544-4430 The Boone County Journal July 22nd, 2016 1 FREE COUNTY LOCAL NEWS, OPINION & HISTORY Real Journalism for a Real Democracy www.boonecountyjournal.com Published Every Friday • July 22nd, 2016 • Vol 21 • Issue 12 No. 1052 region and in Belvidere, there were many millinery stores available to find almost any “notion” or idea that anyone could imagine. The three women shown here likely worked in Ames Millinery. No one identified the women shown here but we could likely conclude that one of the women was Mrs. Ames whose name appeared on the front of the store. In addition to women’s dresses and men’s suits, Ames Millinery also carried fabrics that could be made into shades, curtains, draperies, bedspreads, towels and a myriad collection of other fabric goods. Women in the later 1800s also made their own bed clothing, sheets, pillow cases and their personal underwear. Those were the days when men and women did not generally rely on others to manage their personal needs. The culture of today has moved far away from those days of the rugged individualist who handled their own plumbing, their own housing construction and their own personal clothing construction. So many of those skills that were learned by young girls and boys as they watched their parents handle these needs have disappeared as the culture advanced and changed after World War II. As the culture moved through the years after World War II more and more the cultural and economic changes strove for a more specialized society. Further, the ease of shopping and with the advent of credit as a form of currency, people chose to throw away clothing and curtains and bed linens when they wore out rather than to repair them. The economic theory was called “planned obsolescence.” When Ames Millinery was prospering in downtown Belvidere, clothing and curtains were repaired and darned until there was little left to repair. The women pictured here appeared to have worn their finest dresses just for the photographer. It is likely that the dresses were made from cloth that Ames Millinery had on their shelves. Perhaps the plaid fabric worn in the luxurious dress worn by the woman on the far right came from a bolt of fabric in the store. The plaid fabric might have come to Ames from Scotland or England where some of the finest fabrics were found in that era of the middle and late 19th Century. Millinery stores found in many small towns across the nation of those days all stocked fabric, thread, needles and fringe along with sewing machines later near the end of the 19th Century. Some here might remember that sewing machines were very important to the growth and development of Belvidere because the National Sewing Machine Company once held a primary site at State Street and Main Street. However, even that presence changed as the years advanced. By the middle of the 20th Century the cost to manufacture sewing machines in Belvidere had become too high as other manufacturers had sent their manufacturing to Taiwan and Korea and Japan after the end of World War II. The reduced cost to manufacture sewing machines and other consumer products led to the demise of the National Sewing Machine Company. But, by that time, Mrs. Ames Millinery Store had also disappeared from downtown Belvidere. Some her have wondered when or if the downtown neighborhood of Belvidere would ever reappear as a viable commercial site. Perhaps one day that rebirth will occur but for now, searching to find those retail outlets where consumers can find what they want is most often satisfied at the local Wall Mart store and no longer at Ames Millinery. The Journal wants to thank the Boone County Historical century ago, these items were essentials that were found in Society for allowing use of the photograph used for this every home. story. Memories of a In the late 19th Century Belvidere had a number of downtown millinery stores. Millinery is a word that modern women and girls might need to search-out a definition to Dying Age understand what the word means. The word “millinery” By James Middleton means a business or the work of a milliner and a “milliner” Big Plans There was a day when girls and young women had a list is a person who designs, makes, trims or sells women’s of tasks that they would need to know before they embarked hats. However, the word “millinery” came to be used to At Chrysler into the world. In more than a century, that list of items a identify a shopkeeper who designs, makes, trims and sells By James Middleton young woman would need to know before she began her not only women’s hats but all type of sewing materials and Belvidere and Boone County has had a long tradition life as an adult has changed. The changes from one era to equipment used in the manufacture and repair of clothing of benefitting from old local sources to stimulate growth another era are truly spectacular when one considers hos and cloth. and development of the economy while being unable to some of those postulates have today, been forgotten. The store in this photograph was known as Mrs. A.T. stimulate growth based solely on the merits of the city and For example, young women who were embarking on Ames Millinery and Notions. The term “notions” is the county. When the National Sewing Machine Company the 20th Century needed to know how much lard to mix another archaic term or expression used to identify items was anchored in downtown Belvidere, that corporation led with flour and other ingredients to make a flaky pie crust. that every sewer or tailor would need, other than fabric, to the growth and expansion of the economy of the city and Women were also taught how to baste, how to run a seam make a dress or a suit of clothes. was for many years the largest employer in the county. and how to darn. Today, these words are archaic and In the middle and late 1800s every home was a site Later, when Chrysler Corporation came to town, that unknown to most people. Few if anyone knows how to where garments were made. This fact was especially true company led a surge in growth through the region. But, baste or how to darn or even how to thread a needle in a in rural areas. If one dared to travel into North and South as always, the primary corporate decisions for expansion sewing machine. Many men and women might be stumped Dakota, Nebraska, west Texas or further west to Wyoming are made without any consideration or consultation with today if someone came to their door and asked for a spool and Montana, even notions would be difficult to find out of thread or a thimble or even a needle. Yet, more than a there. However, in what was the civilized northern Illinois Continued on page 2.... 2 July 22nd 2016 The Boone County Journal 815-544-4430 In Our 21th Year www.boonecountyjournal.com Part of what Mr. Marchionne said in May was in Continued from Front Page.... response to the sales figures for the Jeep Cherokee. city or county elected officials. The corporations wanted Sales of the Cherokee had totaled in 2015 over 220,000 to expand and they did not ask local elected officials if they vehicles. Mr. Marchionne said that he chose Belvidere to would approve of the plans. manufacture the SUV because he wanted a plant that could Such is now the case with the announcement from assemble 300,000 vehicles a year. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) who said last week Some in county and city government have commented that the corporation plans a $350 million investment that there is interest in the Belvidere/Boone County area in the Belvidere assembly plant and will hire up to 300 for suppliers of parts and automobile components used in new workers. This corporation said that the investment is the manufacture of the Jeep Cherokee to consider moving planned to retool the Belvidere plant to manufacture the to the area for easier supply of those parts. However, there Special Issues 2016 Jeep Cherokee sport utility vehicle (SUV). has, as yet, been no formal announcement of any of those No formal date was announced when the Belvidere suppliers planning for such a move to occur in the near The Boone County Journal plant would begin to manufacture the Jeep Cherokee. future. The Belvidere plant today manufactures the Dodge Dart, The moves announced by FCA actually goes beyond Jeep Compass and the Jeep Patriot vehicles. The Chief plans for Belvidere. The company plans to invest more Executive Officer of FCA, Sergio Marchionne announced than $1 billion, according to the Detroit Free Press, July 14, Boone County Fair in May that Belvidere would be chosen to manufacture the 2016, in the overall retooling of Belvidere and the Toledo Jeep Cherokee that had become a top selling brand in the assembly plants. Between both locations, the company is Fiat-Chrysler fleet. also planning to hire on as many as 1,000 new employees, 2016 It was also announced last week that corporate plans or more. It is expected that more than $700 million will be call for the Belvidere plant to discontinue manufacturing spent in Toledo to retool that plant to manufacture the Jeep August 9th - August 14th the Dodge Dart, effective in September. The Jeep Compass Wrangler and to hire 700 new employees.