Aledo is a city in Mercer County, United States. The population was 3,640 at the 2010 census, up from 3,613 in 2000, it is the county seat of Mercer County. Aledo was established in the 1850s, it was named DeSoto, after Hernando de Soto, until the discovery of an identically named village in Jackson County, Illinois. A post office has been in operation at Aledo since September 24, 1856. In 1857, the county seat was moved to Aledo from Millersburg after a countywide referendum. Aledo was incorporated on August 15, 1863. In the 1950s, the first Tastee-Freez in the United States was built in the downtown. Aledo is located at 41°12′1″N 90°45′0″W. According to the 2010 census, Aledo has a total area of 2.392 square miles, of which 2.38 square miles is land and 0.012 square miles is water. As of the census of 2010, there were 3,640 people, 1,568 households, 947 families residing in the city; the racial makeup of the city was 98.5% white. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.2% of the population. There were 1,568 households out of which 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 49.0% were married couples living together, 3.6% had a male householder with no wife present, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 39.6% were non-families.
35.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.2% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.84. The male population made up 47.5%, the female population made up 52.5%. There was 6.3% of the population under 5 years. The median age was 45.8 years. The 2009-2013 American Community Survey estimated the median income in 2013 for a household in the city to be $39,424, the median income for a family to be $56,546. Full-time, year-round male workers were estimated to have a median income of $44,435 versus $30,357 for females; the per capita income for the city was $21,373. About 15.0% of families and 18.4% of the population were estimated below the poverty line, including 22.1% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over. The American Community Survey estimated that in 2013 there were 1,740 civilians 16 years and over employed. Of those, 33.7% were estimated to be employed in educational services, health care or social assistance.
Aledo was the home to William & Vashti College — the campus/buildings were purchased and used by the Roosevelt Military Academy from 1924–1973. The Administration Building was torn down, the spot was used to construct an assisted living facility; the remaining two buildings are unused. William & Vashti College was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1910–1917; the High School Mascot used to be the Aledo Green Dragons. School colors were White; the Class of 2006 had 71 students, about an average class size. Aledo High School offers a variety of course curriculum in the sciences, literature, social sciences, the arts; the school has a concert band, jazz band, concert choir, swing choir. The school offers a variety of athletics including volleyball, both men and women's golf and women's basketball, wrestling and field, softball and cross country; some extracurricular activities that students can become involved in are scholastic bowl, basketball, pom poms, flags and musicals.
From 1915 to 2009, Aledo High School competed in Boys Football. They qualified for the state tournament on 17 occasions since the tournament began in 1974. From 1998 to 2006, Aledo High School has reached the finals of five IHSA boys' football championship tournaments. Of those five, the school won three times. Aledo School District #201 and Westmer School District #203 have consolidated since the 2009-2010 school year; the consolidation was on the ballot for the 2008 election. The measure passed by a 76% margin; the new consolidated district is Mercer County District #404 and the new mascot adopted by popular vote in early 2009 is the Mercer County Golden Eagles. School colors changed to navy vegas gold; the Class of 2010 had over 120 students, well above the usual average. Aledo hosts two annual festivals; the Rhubarb festival, held every June in the city downtown, offers a variety of rhubarb-related activities, ranging from rhubarb pie sales to free rhubarb seed distributions. The festival additionally offers other forms of entertainment and music.
The city of Aledo's Antique Days festivals occur annually in the month of September, includes a citywide food festival, music from local residents and the high school music departments
Ditylum brightwelli is a species of cosmopolitan marine centric diatoms. It is a unicellular photosynthetic autotroph that has the ability to divide and contribute to spring phytoplankton blooms; the D. brightwellii cell has a high length to diameter ratio. The cell wall is silicified; this hard, porous covering is known as the frustule and causes the cell to be more dense than the surrounding water. Oceanic currents and surface winds prevent D. brightwellii cells from sinking beneath the euphotic zone. Cells range in size from 80-130μm in length; the valve is most triangular in shape, but can be biangular or quadrangular. A long hollow tube called the rimoportula is located centrally and extends from each valve D. brightwellii is found in all global oceans except in polar waters. Genetically distinct populations were observed over the course of a spring bloom in Puget Sound, suggesting that certain genetic lineages are better adapted to certain environmental conditions. D. brightwellii reproduces asexually, creating clonal lineages.
Vegetative cells are capable of enlargement and may produce resting spores. However, samples from Puget Sound, WA display high genetic diversity; this is indicative of sexual reproduction. Clonal isolates have observed to produce eggs. Two eggs are produced from each oogonium and 64 sperm are produced from each spermatogonangium; the frequency of sexual reproduction in D. brightwellii is not clear, although conditions including increased nutrients, temperatures ranging from 10 °C-14 °C, a short photoperiod may be favorable for sexual reproduction. Eppley, Richard W.. "Periodicity in cell division and physiological behavior of Ditylum brightwellii, a marine planktonic diatom, during growth in light-dark cycles". Archiv für Mikrobiologie. 56: 305–323. Doi:10.1007/BF00425206. ISSN 0302-8933. Guo, Ruoyu. "Normalization genes for mRNA expression in the marine diatom Ditylum brightwellii following exposure to thermal and toxic chemical stresses". Journal of Applied Phycology. 25: 1101–1109. Doi:10.1007/s10811-012-9908-z.
ISSN 0921-8971. Jung, Seung Won. "Effect of temperature on changes in size and morphology of the marine diatom, Ditylum brightwellii Grunow". Estuarine and Shelf Science. 135: 128–136. Bibcode:2013ECSS..135..128J. Doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2013.05.007. Choudhury, Avik Kumar. "Phytoplankton and nutrient dynamics of shallow coastal stations at Bay of Bengal, Eastern Indian coast". Aquatic Ecology. 44: 55–71. Doi:10.1007/s10452-009-9252-9
Jerry Tucker was an American child actor, most notable for having played the "rich kid" in the Our Gang short subjects series semi-regularly from 1931 to 1938. Tucker was born Jerome Harold Schatz in Chicago, the son of Ruth and Leonard Schatz, his German Jewish surname was changed to "Tucker" for his acting career. Tucker first appeared in the 1931 Our Gang short Shiver My Timbers, he appeared in many Our Gang episodes and left the series after the 1938 Our Gang short Three Men in a Tub. In addition to his Our Gang appearances, Tucker appeared in the Marie Dressler film Prosperity, again as a spoiled rich kid, he appeared as one of Mother Peep's children in the Laurel & Hardy feature film Babes in Toyland. He appeared with Shirley Temple in Captain January in 1936, playing the "know-it-all" boy who forgets his answers on the test. On radio, Tucker played "the juvenile lead" on Jones and I, broadcast on CBS in the early 1940s and Roy Barry on the soap opera Hilltop House. Tucker went on to serve in the United States Navy during the Korean War.
He served aboard the USS Sigsbee. During World War II, he sustained an injury that caused him to limp, when his ship was hit by a Japanese kamikaze. Afterwards he married Myra and had a long successful career as an electrical engineer with RCA before retiring, his wife died in August 2012. Tucker died on November 23, 2016, of natural causes at Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook, New York, he was 91. Prosperity Sitting Pretty Hello, Everybody! Anything Goes Cavalcade of the West Hilltop House King Arthur, Jr. Jones and I The Andersons Jerry Tucker on IMDb Jerry Tucker at the TCM Movie Database Jerry Tucker at AllMovie "Jerry Tucker Shatz Papers finding aid". ArchivesUM. University of Maryland Libraries. Retrieved 5 September 2013. Prosperity Jerry played the part of Buster