The Town Cupid Forgot

Cupid has skipped over Plano, Ill., and the citizens of that thriving little city are thinking of sending a new map to the little god of love with PLANO marked in big letters on it. Whether Cupid thinks the self-binders they make down there are sufficient to tie the knots without his aid or not can only be guessed, but the fact remains that Plano has more eligible bachelors to the square inch than any town in the central west.
Unmarried men and ex-married men are so numerous that it keeps the tailor busy repairing their clothes and sewing on their buttons. The laundries charge extra for mending hosiery and shirts. Recently, when the town was left without a tailor, a philanthropic citizen took pity on the buttonless bachelors and spent a week persuading a new tailor to come in and fill the want.
In the town, with its 1,694 persons, there are more bachelors and grass widowers who live lonely lives than in any town of twice its size in the state. There are three classes, those who live alone and do their own housework, those who eat at one place and sleep at another, and those who live with their relatives.

"Bachelors' Inn" Is Crowded

"Bachelors' Inn" houses twenty-five bachelors--that is, men who were born bachelors, acquired bachelorhood, or had bachelorhood thrust upon them by divorce courts. There are enough eligible men in that one house to gladden the hearts of many lonely women, and enough in Plano to make the expression "old maid" obsolete in two or three counties.
The plight to which the women of Plano are reduced indicates that these bachelors shy at the sight of women, for a short time ago there was such a scarcity of men escorts that the mayor was called upon to ask the town marshal to escort women to their homes when they arrived on trains in the evening. It may be that the bachelors were not notified of the coming of the women.
The bachelors, however, have a wonderful reputation for bashfulness. They shun women and play games by themselves in places where there is no rustle of skirts. Recently a crowd of bachelors formed a club of their own, rented grounds, and constructed tennis courts, where, safe from the incursions of matchmaking mamma, they play in peace.

Plenty of Girls and Scenery

Yet Plano has plenty of girls, pretty and talented, and several wealthy and not old widows, almost enough of them to supply each one of the bachelors with a good wife.
And, also the country around Plano is as beautiful and romantic as any in Illinois. It is in the heart of the lovely Fox river region, where the hills are covered with beautiful foliage, where the roads and lanes wind in and out through groves along the river, a country where Cupid, one would think, would make his favorite hunting ground.
So it seems that, for some reason, Cupid has skipped over Plano and left the hearts of bachelors and maids untouched by his arrows.
There are rich bachelors and poor bachelors, handsome and homely bachelors, many of excellent families, successful in business, some specially gifted. They belong to every class of society, from the pulpit to the "hired" man, and yet, with many women verging on "old maidhood," they do not wed.

Women Show No Pity

That the hearts of the women are untouched either by love or its cousin, pity, for these bachelors is shown by a recent occurrence.
A professional bachelor in crawling into his last clean shirt two days before his belated consignment was due to arrive from the laundry ripped it wide open.
The haberdasher's store was closed. Every bachelor friend wore shirts too large for him. In despair he let his sad plight become known, hoping that some tender hearted woman would take pity on him and offer to sew up the rent. Not one volunteered, and, pasting the tear together with court plaster and trusting to luck, he attended the function.
The editor of the local paper, seeing the dire plight of his bachelor constituents, went up to Aurora and offered subsidy to get a tailor to come down and attend to the mending for the single wretches.

Partial List of Bachelors

Here is a partial list of the candidates for matrimony who have either been turned down in caucus or refused the nomination:

S. H. Ness, photographer, lives with mother Ben Olsen, lives with his mother John Filby, married one month, divorced Arthur Tooley, painter, lives with relatives Herman Thurow, retired farmer, lives with daughter W. H. Barnes, widower, shoe merchant, lives alone Cyrus Morris, manufacturer, lives with brother Orrin Robbins, manufacturer, kept bachelor quarters with his father until the latter married the sister of his son's former wife; now keeps bachelor quarters by himself L. P. Marble, painter, lives alone; has fine garden, fruits, and a big flock of chickens The Rev. Dr. Charles E. Henry, minister, Baptist church, lives with sister Thomas Welch, retired, lives with sister Frank Harden, lives alone John Hall, bookkeeper, lives with relatives Frank Zimmerman, blacksmith, lives with relatives Dr. Ohlwein, dentist, boards; sleeps part of time in his office W. R. Taylor, druggist, grass widower, sleeps in store Henry Knie, merchant, lives with sister John Stahle, saloonkeeper, lives alone Jess Sheer, liveryman, eats at restaurant, sleeps in office. John Spolum, boards with mother, sleeps in his store Louis Lanphear, lives with relatives

Louis Lanphear, one of the bachelors, in his police uniform

Some More Matrimonial Prizes

F. H. Earle, president F. H. Earle Manufacturing company and Earle Metal Bed company, proprietor of Bachelors' Inn Adam Booker, ice man, sleeps over drug store Dr. Gilbert Beck, veterinary surgeon, lives alone Lazelle and Clyde Agler, live with mother Prof. Alfred Cook, formerly a professor in University of Pennsylvania, left to write on sociology; lives alone in his quarters with a large supply of books Charles Bailey, teamster, lives alone George Bissell, carpenter, lives with relatives Lawrence Bell, manager Northern Illinois Telephone company, lives with relatives Bert J. Sears, son of the richest man in Little Rock township, lives with father Charles Tenney, retired, boards Dana Gall, teamster, boards Orville Kilts, lives with mother Warren Keeler, farmer, lives alone Charles Lawson, lives alone Frank B. Tyler, retired widower; lives with mother

Bert Sears

There are others, but this will supply the demand

Meet but Never Love

There is no lack of entertainments to bring the bachelors and unmarried women together. There is a fine golf course, literary societies, a society for the collection of historical data concerning the Fox river valley, and many other organizations, but they seem to lead in every other way except toward matrimony.
The conditions are such that the ministers and justices would starve if they depended upon marriage fees.
But there is always the expectation that some day Cupid will descend upon Plano and find the happiest hunting grounds in all Illinois. - Chicago Tribune - July 16, 1905

Anne Sears Genealogy
Updated: December 30, 2005, by Anne Sears
Comments to: Anne Sears -[email protected]