I've got a great idea for a new course at Streator Public Schools: Streator history!

Some might scoff at this. But there are great reasons for such a course. The most important one is this: Streator is a great city!

I was at the Streatorland Historical Society the other day. What a place! Everyone should take a tour. It's at 306 S. Vermillion Street. Phone is 815-672-2443. (By the way, why in the world do we have to dial the area code for a place that is TWO BLOCKS AWAY?).

Go there! You'll learn a lot. If our young people would learn more about their town, maybe they wouldn't be so attracted to alcohol and drugs. Getting high on Streator is a lot better than getting high on anything else.

For instance, did you know ... ?

• Shabbona Street is named after Chief Shabbona, the grandnephew of Chief Pontiac. He was a great, courageous man. His son and nephew were killed because the chief kept warning the settlers about raiding Indian war parties. We're all here because of him.
• In the 1860s, Col. Ralph Plumb was resident manager for Dr. Worth Streator, who headed an investment group in Ohio. Streator is named after the doctor. Plumb was a Civil War veteran, built our first railroad, built a high school and donated it to the city, erected an Opera House and even established a bank! He developed so many railroads that only three Illinois cities had more!
• Clyde Tombaugh from Streator discovered the planet Pluto! Now some misinformed misfits don't think Pluto is a planet anymore. But don't worry about them. If Earth keeps going the way it is, we might not be a planet any more either!
• Edward Plumb was hired by Walt Disney to do the musical soundtrack for the movie "Bambi." He worked with the famed director Leopold Stokowski on music for "Fantasia."
• Burton Baskin of Streator co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain.
• Streatorite Clarence Mulford went on to Hollywood to write scripts for dozens of Hopalong Cassidy Westerns.
• Our Plumb Opera House hosted such celebrities as Jack Benny, the Marx Brothers and Will Rogers.
• Bob Tattersall of Streator was one of the best race car drivers ever, sweeping the NASCAR midget racing series back in the 1950s. He was world speed car champion seven times!
• Doug Dieken was an all-conference and all-state football player at Streator Township High School. He went on to star 13 years with the Cleveland Browns.
• Streator even had its own car company — the Streator Motor Car Company. Its car was once described as "The Rolls Royce of America." If you can believe it, one employee was none other than Eddie Rickenbacker, who went on to become America's greatest fighter Ace in World War I.

See what I mean? Our young people need to know this. They need to stop talking about "deadend Streator." They need to start thinking about a great city with a great history of great accomplishments. Hometown pride can do a lot for you. And this is a fabulous hometown.

Trust me, young people, all the great Streator stories have not been written. Yours could be the next one!

• THE REV. JOHN H. SCHMIDTKE is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Streator. He can be reached via e-mail at lonnyc@mywebtimes.com.