In writing the history of our business men, it is fitting, and would not be history, if we did not mention Capt. W. H. Wildey first. No man has done more toward making Mt. Carroll than he has. Capt. Wildey served during the civil war, and made a great record there, thea came to Mt. Carroll, married and settled down to business life. He associated himself with James Strong and started in the grocery business next to where his store now is, on the west, as Strong & Wildey, and continued there until the brick store he now occupies was finished. Since that time he has continually occupied the premises. He and Strong for a number of years in addition to their grocery business, manufactured lime, and most of the foundation rocks and brick of the business buildings here are held in place by lime they made for mortar. He has always been one of the foremost, wide-awake business men in the city. Has always been at the head, started the first delivery wagon on ever run in the city, purchased the first car load of salt, which made his competitors think he had gone wild. The mud on Market street was deep in springtime and in summer the dust was deep. Capt. Wildey was elected Alderman of the city and under his administration that street was macadamized, the men breaking the rock by hand.

He was one of the first men to put his money into tho electric light company. He was an ardent advocate of water works and of a fire company. His purse was always open, and his ideas and arguments always sound. The Captain has grown old in the business and has seen Mt. Carroll advance from a small village to a city. He has done his share at all times in making the history of the town and without his acts and deeds, there would not be much of what is history. His body is not as strong as it once was, he probably could not throw himself upon a horse as he did when out on scout duty in the sixties, but his mind is as bright as ever and he is as full of pep as in the days of yore, when he was at the head of every enterprise in the city. Captain Wildey's name will always be associated with those who made Mt. Carroll. He is still at his place of business every day, the directing hand. He has one of the most popular wives and families in Mt. Carroll. He is at the head of the G. A. R. and always has been. He is an honored, upright citizen who has and is helping make Mt. Carroll what it is in 1922. Long live Capt. Wildey.

Mirror Democrat - History Of Carroll in the Now Nov 24, 1922