The bachelor's club called "The Owls" was started by then 26 year old bachelor, James Cartwright (later Illinois Supreme Court judge) and his friends in 1869. Club members met and had a picnic, a parade and a good time once a year on Margaret Fuller island on the Rock River. At these picnics they would eat chicken, chicken, chicken and more chicken. They would have boat races, horseshoe pitching contests, ball throwing contests, foot races and a card game named poker.

Membership in this social organization was not by choice and initiation was held on the island. This event grew each year with a large attendance of bachelors who swore never to break club's Code of Order, which would be violated by getting married. Such would result in a fine of $5, and the husband's name would be posted on a dishonor roll and stricken from the active members’ list. Every five year the Owls would invite their former (fallen) brothers to join them at the picnic. There was always a return parade from the island with the bachelor most likely to get married by the next year carrying the oil painting of "Little Dan." They would select an Owl who had a pretty steady girl or a pretty steady romance going on, to carry the Chromal in the parade. The Chromal was a picture of baby ["Little Dan"] laying on a pillow. There would be two shipyards on each side of him carrying a handle, like a cane, about six feet long. They hooked that around the candidate’s neck so he couldn’t get away and he marched in parade. In 1931 this honor fell to Dr. Henry L. Hefty who accepted it with “reservation and dignity.” (Little Dan is on display at Ogle County Historical Society.)

Genuine Owls carried a yellow umbrella, candidates carried red-white and blue umbrellas, and married men carried black umbrellas. A large crowd of townsfolk cheered lustily. Following the parade, a concert was given by the Oregon Municipal Band in front of the Coliseum where there would later be an annual Owl Dance until the wee hours of the next morning.

Information gathered from various history books and newspaper clippings.

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