CACHE HAS LIMITED
HOURS. SEE DESCRIPTION
Be Respectful,
Replace cache as found.
Cache placed
with permissions of property managers, granted
8-MAY-08
Using the sign with
the reddish hue, line 4. Punctuation counts as a character. Spaces
do not.
Position:
9
16 16 10 5
1 14
Key: F=1 J=2 R=3 S=4 Z=5
M=6 A=7 O=8 P=9 T=0
From the point where the
initial coords take you, you are within sight of two of Sycamore's
most majestic examples of historic architecture.
To the west is DeKalb County
Courthouse. This is the third and current DeKalb County
Courthouse was constructed in 1905 at an approximate cost of
$137,000. The project reignited an ongoing debate at the time over
the county courthouse's location and, once again, the over which
town would hold the coveted title of county seat. The county Board
of Supervisors authorized the project in 1901 and appropriated
$100,000 for the new building. The idea for a new courthouse
originated as early as 1900, when the essential design elements of
the Lee County courthouse were chosen
as the model for the new DeKalb County Courthouse. Though the
courthouse was modeled after the Lee County structure it does
differ; the Lee County building, in Dixon, Illinois, has a rooftop dome and also
is longer and wider than the DeKalb County building. By 1903, the
appropriation had been upped to $140,000 and the battle over the
county seat had begun.
The city of DeKalb sought to wrest the title of
county seat away from Sycamore. Two of DeKalb's most prominent
citizens, Jacob Haish and Isaac L. Ellwood, each promised to
donate $20,000 to help absorb some of the new building's cost;
their donation hinged upon the courthouse being moved to and
constructed in DeKalb. The city of Sycamore responded by
raising $70,000 in donations from its citizens and legal
wrangling continued, until 1904. Haish eventually pledged
$103,000 for a DeKalb courthouse but it was decided that the
county seat would stay in Sycamore and ground was broken,
despite the continuing legal battle, on October 19, 1903. The
building was completed on March 1, 1905 and the Crew
Brothers Company was hired to demolish the 1850 DeKalb County
Courthouse.
In recent history the third
DeKalb County Courthouse has figured in films, as well as the
Global War on Terrorism. Courtroom scenes for the 1982 made for
television movie Will, the story of G. Gordon Liddy (of Watergate infamy), were filmed in the
courthouse's third floor courtroom. In 2006 the United States
Department of Justice announced it had arrested Derrick Shareef on terrorism related
charges. Among the crimes the government accused Shareef of
plotting was a plan to assault the DeKalb County Courthouse in
order to "smoke a judge."
To the east is the
Sycamore Public
Library. Sycamore mayor and the library board's first
president, Fred
Townsend, donated the land for the library just after the
turn of the
20th century. Philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie gave about $20,000 toward the building.
Built on the site of Eli
Barnes 1840 Mansion House Hotel, the red limestone
building with clay tile roof was completed in 1905. In 1997 a
much needed addition to the library was completed. In June
2005, Sycamore
Public Library celebrated their 100th birthday by opening
the 1905 cornerstone. It contained historical documents and
photos placed there by the town officials, merchants, and
newspaper editors.
A fountain once stood to the
south of these coords in the center of State & Main Streets.
The fountain was donated by Mrs. O. C. Boynton and is visible in
many of the early photos of the library.
There is lots of parking nearby, the cache is
located on Sycamore's Main Street.
This is our contribution to
the series. This is meant to be an easy cache, when you don't want
to get muddy but still want to go geocaching.
This cache is located on
Main Street Sycamore, Illinois. The cache is available year round
and, while the puzzle can be solved 24/7, completing the cache is
limted to the hours;
Monday-Thursday
9:00 am - 9:00 pm 
Friday & Saturday
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sundays
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
(September - May)
The cache is not at the
listed coords, so please don't uproot, tread on or trample any of
the landscaping.
The hope is that new
Downtown / Main Street USA caches will start popping up all over
the USA.
You too can place a cache for this series:
1. Find a downtown or main
street and place a cache.
2. Name the cache " Downtown
/ Main Street USA : (town name,state)"
3. Include the following
paragraph in the cache description:
This cache is part of the
"Downtown / Main Street USA" series. Please visit the cache that
started it all - Downtown / Main Street USA: Edison NJ - GC11H9K.
Here you will find the latest count of caches in this series and
find out how you can add your own.
When your cache is
published, e-mail Twocat so he can add your cache to the
list.
Thanks and have
fun!