Hub City U.S.A. Capstone of Illinois !

Preface:

This article about the Hub City is dedicated to the memory of Major Thomas Koritz - United States Air Force

He gave his life defending the dignity The United States of America

The town of Rochelle Illinois was first established in 1853, but was known as “lane”.

The current population Is 9600 residents. By the Rochelle Chamber of Commerce it has been called” the city of progress.” Rochelle is in Ogle County and is the largest populated town in the county. Rochelle is also called “The Hub city,” because it has many intersections of major transportation arteries that run through the town. The north and south corridor of Route U.S. 39 intersects with the east-west corridors of Illinois Route 251, and Route 38 (which is also known as the Lincoln Highway Corridor). The Lincoln Highway corridor stretches from coast to coast across the United States. Beginning in New York and ending in California, this was the first coast to coast highway in the United States. This is a recognition that the State of Illinois boasts about. Another main artery for transportation is Illinois Route 88 that begins in Chicago and runs west to the Mississippi River. When this road was first built it was named Illinois Route 5. And today a stretch of this road is called "The Reagan Memorial Tollway, named after President Ronald Reagan. President Raegan was born and raised in Dixon Illinois, which one small town that route 88 passes close by.

But the biggest tourist attraction to the Hub City is the Railroad Park.

The two largest railroad companies’ tracks intersect in Rochelle. The Burlington Northern & Santa Fe line runs from the south east towards the northwest. And the Union Pacific line runs from the east through Rochelle to the southwest. Where the two rails intersect it forms a diamond shape that can be seen from satellites above the earth. People travel from coast to coast to visit the Railroad Museum at 124 north 9^th St. Even tourists from other countries have traveled to Rochelle to see this site.

Because Rochelle is such significant traffic hub the Union pacific Railroad built the Intermodal # 3 there.

The intermodal covers 1,595 acres and has cost 210 million dollars. This is a rail yard where goods are redistributed to different parts of the United States and Canada. The intermodal system is fast, efficient and serves well over 80 million people in a single day. This is a part of the Northern Illinois Technology Triangle project or (NITT). Many people from other countries have toured the intermodal and are building comparable facilities.

Rochelle was tagged with the sir name of “Lane” (came from Robert Lane who was one of the first area land owners).

The Lane family established the first hotel in 1853. The Lane hotel was bought and sold several times over the years, and evolved to be known as the Delos Hotel and became commonly known as “the Traveling man’s center.” This building still stands at the corner of 128 north main and Second Avenue. The first newspaper was started in 1858, and was called “The Lane Patriot. “ The paper has evolved to be called the Rochelle News Leader “today.

In the early 1800’s Rochelle was still called “Lane.”

in 1861 someone had been setting fires to some of the buildings in the downtown area. Mr Thomas Burke was arrested for this crime. Burke was on trial for setting several fires that burned down several buildings in 1861. During the trial for Mr. burke he was seized by some local people. They Hung him by the neck with a rope from the third story window and left his body on display for 3 hours on Cherry Street. After this incident Rochelle became known as” Hangman’s Town “Shortly after this nasty sir name the town name was changed to Rochelle.

Rochelle has had many forms of industry throughout the years since 1853.

In the 1860’s and 1870’s there was the Budlong and Miller Brewery. A job there paid 5 cents a day. The brewery eventually became known for its specially designed barrels that did not leak. Leakage was a big problem when brewing beer. Also in the 1870’s a woodworking factory was built by William Wade. This factory was built in close proximity to the Rochelle Municipal Airport that was first activated in 1947. The airport consisted of only one grass runway. It was named Schultz Field after Mr. Vern Schultz who donated 27 acres to the city of Rochelle for the airport construction. This small town airport now boasts a 4226 foot long and 75 foot wide paved runway that can accommodate small Charter jets.

Since then Schultz field was renamed to” Koritz field “ in honor of Major Tom “Teek” Koritz.

Tom was a flight surgeon who lost his life as he was shot down in the Persian Gulf war on January 17^th 1991 . He was a pilot of an F-15 Eagle fighter/bomber and was born and raised in the Hub City .Tom learned to fly at the Hub city Airport. Out of respect for Major Tom Koritz and his family the name of the airport was changed to” Koritz Field.” Also the San Antonio Garden clinic in North Carolina was named after him; Tom had been based there while in the Air Force. Major Koritz was also a surgeon for the United States Air force. At that time there were only 7 people in the U.S. Armed forces that achieved this title, of a Surgeon/Fighter pilot. What an honorable life this man had .Tom was only 37 when he perished. When Major Koritz died he left behind three sons and his wife. I’m proud to say that I had the chance to play High school football with Tom as Rochelle Hub. Tom’s father was a medical general practitioner in Rochelle for 35 years. He is retired and still lives there.

Quality Education in the Hub city:

Education in the Hub City has evolved very well. The first high school was built in 1938 at444 north 8^th St. Before this there were many small farm schools in the area. The small town outlying schools still feed students into the Rochelle high school for education from grade 9 through 12. The Rochelle High school has achieved good ratings in preparing students for college entry.

The first Rochelle high school was built in 1921 on north 7^th street. This building was then demolished in 2004 when a new high school building was built at 1401 Flagg road, about one mile north of the old building. The residents of Rochelle are very proud of their new high school facility

In conclusion the Hub city is a great place to live and work. It has all the amenities of the Chicago suburbs with that personal touch you can only find in a small town. It has a clean and interesting history with a promising future. Rochelle has a very healthy atmosphere for children to grow up in. And it also has great accommodations for the elderly, and all ages in between. Rochelle also is an amazing place for amazing grace, which means the Hub City is also a great place to worship in many of its fine churches. I like to call the Hub City a little town with big character.

Other sites of reference for Rochelle The Hub City, Illinois and The Historic Lincoln Highway:

www.rochelletourism.com

http://www.wifr.com/hometowns-rochelle