The "March of Dimers"

The Jaycee “March ofr Dimers” pause for a rest at Momence on January 22, 1956, before heading onward to Kankakee to complete the group’s 120-mile fundraising trek.  (Kankakee County Museum Photo Archive)

By Jack Klasey

May 31, 2025

At 5:30 p.m. on Friday, January 20, 1956, a dozen Jaycees (members of the Kankakee Junior Chamber of Commerce) set out on a 120-mile round trip hike to Chicago to raise funds that would support the March of Dimes in its battle against polio.

Styling themselves “The March of Dimers,” the young men set a goal of raising approximately $6,000 at the rate of one cent per foot traveled. Six of the “dimers” would be walking in shifts on the Kankakee-to-Chicago leg, with the remaining six, also walking in shifts, making the Chicago-to-Kankakee return trip. Accompanying them would be a caravan of support vehicles, including an Illinois State Police escort and a truck carrying an electrical generator and floodlights (to light the way for the walkers after dark).

The marchers faced not only the challenge of distance, but a battle against the wintry weather: “The walkers strode toward Chicago Friday night and Saturday morning in subfreezing temperatures,” reported the Journal in its Sunday edition, “which dropped as low as 13 degrees during the overnight march. Continuous snow and a wind also beset the six-man marching team.” The six walkers making the return leg on Saturday night and Sunday morning encountered even worse weather—overnight temperatures dropped as low as three below zero.

While the Jaycees made their round-trip march, volunteers at the Kankakee March of Dimes headquarters accepted donations by telephone and in person. Donations were also accepted by the marchers as they walked the 120-mile route. By the time they reached Chicago on Saturday, donations registered at the Kankakee office had reached $3,040 (slightly more than half the $6,000 goal).

The Journal noted one special donor, who made her contribution as the walkers approached the outskirts of Bradley. “A little six-year-old girl, who knows first-hand the suffering of a polio patient, was one contributor before the Jaycees marched out of the Kankakee area,” the newspaper reported. “Linda LaMontagne of 30 Belle Aire Dr., standing with the aid of braces and crutches, halted the March of Dimers entourage…on Route 54 [now Route 50] Friday at 6 p.m. to add her contribution to money collected in the wheelbarrow pushed by one member of the walking team. The young girl was stricken with polio when six months old.”

In Chicago, where the marchers reached their halfway point at noon on Saturday, they were greeted at the intersection of State and Madison by Mayor Richard J. Daley and a delegation of city and Polio Foundation officials. Following the ceremony there, the marchers turned around to begin the southward return journey.

In its Monday edition, the Journal observed the arrival of the marchers in Kankakee. “Six foot-weary men strode into …the headquarters at 5:45 p.m. Sunday to discover the fruits of their efforts and that of their fellow Jaycees had exceeded their hopes. The Jaycee pilgrimage to Chicago and back to Kankakee…had collected approximately $7,250….The Jaycees had won their battle, but the big winners will be the thousands of lives saved and the huge number of persons, especially children, who will live without a crippling blow from polio.”

Polio was a greatly feared illness that reached epidemic proportions in the early 1950s. In 1952, there were nearly 58,000 cases of polio reported nationally, resulting in 3,145 deaths and 21,269 individuals affected by mild to disabling paralysis.

The March of Dimes, established in 1938, raised funds to care for polio victims and to conduct research for a vaccine to combat the illness. A Mayo Clinic article on the disease noted, “Before a vaccine became available….many people avoided crowds and public gatherings, such as fairs, sports games and swimming pools…due to concern about getting polio. Some parents wouldn’t let their children play with new friends and regularly checked them for symptoms.”

Beginning in 1952, a team of researchers led by Dr. Jonas Salk worked to develop an effective polio vaccine. A major financial supporter of Salk’s research was the March of Dimes. On April 12, 1955, the “Salk vaccine” was announced, and within days, a nationwide vaccination program was under way.

In Kankakee County, preparation for a free mass inoculation began on April 15, with distribution of permission slips to children in the first and second grades. While physicians and nurses would be volunteering their services, a fund drive was launched on April 17 to raise $1,500 that would be used to purchase 6,000 “one shot” disposable syringes to administer the vaccine.

The county-wide vaccination program was scheduled for May 5. “The one-day assault on the dread disease,” reported the Journal, “will actually be a two-day affair—with the first shot to be administered May 5 and the second May 26. A third ‘booster’ shot is said to be necessary, but this will probably be administered next fall.”

A second type of polio vaccine (administered orally, rather than by injection) was introduced in 1961 by a research team headed by Dr. Albert B. Sabin. The Salk and Sabin vaccines, combined, defeated the dreaded disease: in 1994, polio was declared eliminated in North and South America.

Jack Klasey is a former Journal reporter and a retired publishing executive. He can be contacted at jwklasey@comcast.net.