The Western Illinois Museum in downtown Macomb hosted a celebration of Bill Thorpe a week after the 91st anniversary of Thorpe’s birth.
Thorpe was born on Sept. 4, 1933. Macomb hired him in 1961 to be the city’s first Black police officer. He retired in 1984 as a sergeant.
Belinda Carr hopes people remember how Thorpe persevered.
“And because of his perseverance, we are where we are here today,” Carr said, pointing out that he opened the door for Black people to work at the city’s police department.
“He withstood all the challenges that he had to face, and he handled it as a gentleman. He kept a smile on his face and did his job, and it got better for him.”
She said Thorpe participated in the community and worked with students at Western Illinois University.
Carr said she got to know Thorpe and his family quite well. Carr came to Macomb in 1976 with the intention of staying for just a couple years. Instead, she worked at WIU for 34 years, including as director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Multicultural Center.
Carr said there’s been progress through the years, but it’s still difficult to attract people of color to Macomb and similar communities in rural America.
“There are no Black barbers here. The only beauty shop just came and they do basically braids. So, there’s a lot lacking, but at the same time, Macomb has a lot of positive attributes,” she said.
Carr said Macomb is a good place to be and to raise a family.
She enjoyed the celebration of Thorpe, and said he would have been proud to see the number of people who attended.
Gregg Huston also appreciated the turnout. He was raised by Bill and his wife, Helen Thorpe.
He hopes the audience came away with an idea of what kind of person Thorpe was.
“Yes, he was a police officer. But he was more than a police officer. He was a decent person, a decent human being. I hope that a lot of people saw and heard that Bill believed in being the best that you can be.”
He also helped the Black officers who followed him onto the department – people such as O.J. Clark.
“Bill was a heck of a mentor,” said Clark.
Like Carr, Clark said Thorpe persevered and taught others how to persevere.
“Deal with what you’ve got to deal with,” Clark said.
Plans continue to create a park in honor of Bill Thorpe
Temesgen Tesfay helped organize the event at the museum. Tesfay is finishing an internship at Macomb City Hall after earning a bachelor’s and two master degrees at WIU.
“We wanted to commemorate him on his birth month,” said Tesfay. He wrote the application to the Activate History Microgrants program from Illinois Humanities, which provided funding for the celebration.
Tesfay said he learned quite a bit about Thorpe while helping organize the event.
“I learned a lot about his career path and the challenges that he faced. I heard a lot of stories about how he was not allowed to bring his gun home (when Thorpe was a police officer),” Tesfay said.
“He basically put his head down and kept on grinding until he became a sergeant.”
Tesfay said the city will keep pushing ahead to create William H. Thorpe Memorial Park on a small, triangular lot in the 1200 and 1300 blocks of East Pierce Street.
He said fundraising continues for the project, which will cost an estimated $120,000. The city is contributing a $30,000 grant to the project.
Donation checks should be made out to the Macomb Community Foundation with Thorpe Park in the comments and sent to the Mayor’s Office at Macomb City Hall.
Tesfay said the project will be completed in phases as funding becomes available.
Thorpe remained active after retiring
According to his obituary, Thorpe worked at Western Illinois University physical plant after he retired from the police department. He became a supervisor there, and retired after 13 years.
He later drove a bus for the public transit system in Macomb, and after retiring from there he worked as a barber.
Thorpe passed away at his home on Oct. 21, 2019.
Full disclosure: Tesfay also worked at TSPR while he was a WIU student.
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