Can You Believe This? Standish, Appleknockers, Skinny Dipping

This is a collection of odds and ends. Some may be stories you are familiar with, and others may be stories you have never heard before. 

Why Next to Knox College?- Standish Park is in the news with a grant to enhance the park and restock the trees. It is exciting to see the initiative to revitalize the park. 

The arboretum is named for Dr. John Van Ness Standish, who was long-time Lombard College professor and also the President of Lombard for three years. Dr. Standish was a descendant of Miles Standish.

Why is a Lombard professor’s park next to Knox College? The story is that after a long career at Lombard, he had a conflict about his pay with Lombard. Upset, he resigned as President. 

He loved trees, and chose to donate $100k (equivalent today of $3 million) to build the park next to Knox College. His donation may well have been done in a combination of his love of trees and spite toward Lombard College.

 

Cobden Appleknockers- If you live in Galesburg and follow basketball, you are probably very aware of the Cobden Appleknockers. In 1964, tiny Cobden became the darling at the State tourney. Cobden HS that year had only 174 students. 

The Appleknockers upset Pinckneyville in triple OT in the Super-Sectional, then upset the Silver Streaks in the Elite 8 game. They went onto lose 50-45 to Pekin in the State Championship game. So talk about a horrible weekend for the Streaks- they lose and their rival, Pekin wins State. 

As most small schools have consolidated since the ‘60’s, Cobden is till going. Today they have 133 students but are supported by the local industry- their orchards. 

Since the great team of ‘64, Cobden did not win another Regional Championship for 56 years until 2020. 

During the Covid season in 2021, Cobden went undefeated at 18-0. The IHSA did not hold a State Tourney but Cobden has a State Championship trophy celebrating that season. 

Skinny Dipping- The old GHS just off the square had two swimming pools- a girls pool and a boys pool. Legendary teacher, Art Fish told that the male students in PE did not wear swim suits- it was skinny dipping. Girls in the girls’ pool wore bathing suits. 

During much of GHS’s history, GHS students had to pass a swim test to graduate. 

When GHS moved to Fremont St, there was no swimming pool. So GHS went from two swimming pools to no swimming pools. 

Art Fish