All Titles

Go behind bars in the Wolverine State.

Almost every Michigan county had a jail, and if those walls could talk, they would speak of colorful sheriffs, vigilant turnkeys, and the motley population of prisoners housed in these county-run inns. St. Joseph County's “big house on the hill” nabbed headlines as the jail that held alleged Capone triggerman Fred “Killer” Burke, known as the most dangerous man alive at the time. Teenage robber Ray Rusch slipped away from the Genesee County Jail using a handful of pepper, and Ingham County Jail suffered from numerous infamous escapes in its day. Illegal hangings perpetrated by bloodthirsty mobs stained the pages of local history in Menominee, St. Clair, Shiawassee, and numerous other counties.

Author and crime historian Tobin T. Buhk leads an unforgettable tour of Michigan’s historic jails.

A Presidential Love Story   

When a young officer newly graduated from West Point met the eldest daughter of a gruff Missouri slaveowner, farmer and land speculator, it was love at first sight. Ulysses Grant and Julia Dent courted at her family farm, White Haven, until he was called away to the Mexican-American War. Secretly engaged, Ulysses wrote tender letters to Julia between daring exploits in battle. Upon his return, they were married. Ulysses’s military career stagnated, and after a miserable period of separation while he was stationed on the West Coast, Ulysses resigned to join Julia at White Haven before his second stint during the Civil War. Authors Vicki and Jim Erwin relate the Grants’ early life, their courtship, their life in Missouri and how that life shaped their future.

The murders that shocked Michigan

In the early morning of Tuesday, August 11, 1931, a Washtenaw County farmer found the smoldering remains of a car. Inside were the bodies of four teens, burned almost beyond recognition. Police immediately began an investigation, even tapping Harry Bennett, head of the Ford Motor Company Service Department, for assistance. Three killers stood trial two days later as a mob gathered outside the Ann Arbor Courthouse clamoring for a lynching. With the mob held back by the Michigan National Guard, Bennett delivered the killers to Jackson Prison by midnight Thursday. At the time, the so-called Torch Murders were deemed the most gruesome act of homicide in Michigan’s history—and perhaps the nation’s.

Peeling away myth from truth, author James Mann tells the story in full for the first time ever.

Since opening its doors in September 1965, Rock Valley College has been a cornerstone of education and community for northern Illinois. From its formation following a district-wide referendum in October 1964, the college embraced national and regional movements, demonstrating that Rock Valley College’s story is one of progress and transformation.

During the 1970s, the college expanded educational, employment, and athletic opportunities for women, and in the 1980s, it confronted the region’s Rust Belt decline through investments in advanced technical and health care fields. This legacy continued in the 21st century when Rock Valley College formed partnerships with Northern Illinois University and OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center. The college’s dedication to high-quality liberal arts and science education has empowered students to transfer to four-year universities, while its commitment to fostering an inclusive environment reflects the growing diversity of the community. Rock Valley College’s influence extends far beyond the classroom. Its alumni—over 33,000 degree and certificate holders—serve as a testament to the college's lasting impact.

Daniel Blumlo, PhD, is a history professor at Rock Valley College, where he has taught since 2010. This book draws upon images and documents from the Rock Valley College Archives and the Starlight Theater Archives to chronicle the college’s dynamic journey.

Some notable Buckeyes approach life from a peculiar vantage

Ohio has produced more than its share of eccentric men and women whose peculiar ideas, bizarre behaviors, and outlandish antics have served to make the world more interesting. Among them are a Native American who accurately predicted a solar eclipse in 1806, a failed merchant who convinced many people that the earth was hollow in 1818, sisters who fell out of favor with the women’s rights movement in the 19th century because they were too scandalous—or perhaps too progressive—and a minister who became convinced that the Garden of Eden was in southern Ohio 1908. From John Chapman and Annie Oakley to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, authors David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker illuminate Ohioans who took the road less traveled, and sometimes one that wasn’t even there.

The waters of Lake Michigan are a calm and tranquil place--until they aren't

Lake Mishigami, as the Ojibwe referred to the big waters of Lake Michigan, has a violent side, especially when the winds roar, creating waves that are freshwater giants. These waves have mercilessly taken many ships—along with their crews and passengers—to the bottom. Many have paid a dear price for mistakenly thinking this massive lake is nothing but an oversized pond. A single monstrous storm in November of 1880 sank or damaged north of 100 ships and claimed nearly 100 lives. But tragedy on the lake is so often met with heroism, those who brave carnage to save their fellow man. Lake Michigan can go from serene to devilish in less than an hour—author Michael Passwater delves into these transformations and their aftermath.

Hidden History of Black Cincinnati reveals the untold stories that shaped a city and defined a people. 

Long before the Civil Rights Movement or the Harlem Renaissance, Black Cincinnatians were building communities, owning businesses, and resisting injustice in bold and brilliant ways. B.F. Howard and Pullman Porter Arthur J. Riggs co-founded the international organization now known as the Black Elks, and Margaret Garner’s tragic flight to freedom inspired Toni Morrison’s Beloved and ignited national debates on slavery. Celebrated painter Robert S. Duncanson rose to international acclaim in the nineteenth century despite the limitations of race.

Writer, historian, and cultural advocate Kareem A. Simpson unearths these powerful stories and more with clarity and care, offering a rich portrait of a city’s soul and the Black lives that shaped it.

Lovers of true crime and Ohio history will find themselves riveted by these crimes of passion.

There is a thin line between love and hate, and when intense passion threatens that border, blood will flow. Northern Ohio has had its share of people who felt that line snap. In Canton, the Phantom-Flapper Killer shot down her lover in cold blood after he threatened to expose her infidelity to the world. In Toledo, Dorothy Brown’s married boyfriend brutally attacked her when he learned that she was expecting. Max Amerman of Medina was willing to kill for the girl of his dreams, and when Cleveland’s Matilda Waldman believed that her husband was cursed by a witch, she took out the she-devil by way of a pistol.

Author Wendy Koile examines these relationships once bound by love, unraveled by lies, and cut off by murder.

Celebrate the ingenious, pioneering, and creative women who made the Circle City what it is today.

A diverse group of incredible women shaped Indianapolis as we know it today. But they’ve often been omitted from its history books—until now. These women include Civil War heroes, suffragist leaders, trailblazing educators like Eliza Blaker, famed entrepreneurs like Madam C.J. Walker and Christel DeHaan, and unsung heroes like Madge Oberholtzer. Women founded community cornerstones like the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Children’s Museum. One Indianapolis woman was the “mother of science fiction,” one wrote every episode of I Love Lucy, and another was a palm reader with a celebrity clientele. Other women in the Circle City have been pioneering athletes, trend-setting artists, and fierce community organizers, including the woman who saved the Indiana Pacers.

Author and lifelong Hoosier Ashley Petry celebrates these amazing women.

St. Cloud, Minnesota, sits at the crossroads of urban and rural life, blending the modern city with agrarian landscapes. As the heart of central Minnesota, St. Cloud’s strategic location at the intersection of major highways, railroads, and the Mississippi River made it a hub of transportation, commerce, and industry.

Workers established St. Cloud’s reputation for high-quality goods and strong infrastructure. These industries also influenced local neighborhoods, as many laborers settled near their work and formed tight-knit communities where traditions, languages, and cultural practices were preserved and expanded upon. Individuals like Jane Grey Swisshelm, A.G. Whitney, and Samuel Pandolfo also helped shape the distinctive history of St. Cloud. The seat of Stearns County, a center of industry, and a haven for immigrants and refugees, St. Cloud has played a pivotal role in the history of central Minnesota since its founding.

The roots of the Stearns History Museum are found in the Old Settlers Association of the 1890s. Out of these early efforts to preserve the history of Stearns County came the organization of the Stearns County Historical Society in 1936. The Stearns County Heritage Center was constructed in 1984 to securely house and preserve the county’s historic artifacts and records. Now known as the Stearns History Museum, it remains central Minnesota’s premier destination for experiencing history. Miranda Stueckrath is its public program librarian, and Grant Wilson is its archivist.

When Gideon Granger arrived in the area that would become Jefferson in 1803, he found an inhospitable land of dense forest, harsh winters, and sultry, humid summers. Even the most basic supplies were a day’s journey away. However, the former US postmaster general saw the potential in this land that he named for the president he had served, Thomas Jefferson. 

The city would later become the center of the US abolitionist movement in the pre–Civil War years as well as the seat of Ashtabula County government when the county was formed in 1808. Nearby Rock Creek, organized in 1819, never grew as big as its neighbor. However, the village is home to a Civil War cemetery, a picturesque creekside park, and one of Ohio’s most talented chainsaw artists. Roaming Shores, a lakeside residential community with hundreds of homes, was created in 1966–1967 when the Rock Creek dam was constructed, forming the largest private-access lake in Ohio.

Sandy Mitchell Pavick has lived in northeast Ohio for more than 25 years. She is a full-time writer and is the author of four previous titles for Arcadia Publishing. For this book, Pavick has amassed images, many of which have never been published, from dozens of private archives as well as from Jefferson area libraries, museums, and historical societies.

For more than 200 years, Great Lakes shipyards have bolstered America's and Canada’s commercial and naval power.

Vessels like the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Niagara, and Walk-in-the-Water are now the stuff of legend, but lesser-known ships also have their stories to tell. Cargo-carrying schooners, such as Moonlight and Minnedosa, got faster and bigger over the years, helping them hold their own against the emerging steamships, while the revolutionary design of the R.J. Hackett set the standard for lake freighters for years. Of course, the Great Lakes have often exacted a heavy toll, as demonstrated by the mysterious disappearance of the Griffon and the harrowing sinking of Pere Marquette 18.

Highlighting vessels from the colonial era down to modern times, historian Glenn A. Knoblock explores the maritime heritage of America and Canada.

Northern Ohio’s past is rich and deep, but it also has a darker and odder side.

A police chase for a UFO began in Portage County and stretched eighty-five miles from Ohio into Pennsylvania. Gangster Pretty Boy Floyd met his end in East Liverpool, and infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer began his murderous career in Medina County. The region is also home to peculiar beings such as Orange Eyes, the Melonheads and the armless Charles Mill Lake Monster.

Join author James A. Willis as he forges a trail across Northern Ohio in search of all things eerie, inexplicable and just plain weird.

Delve into ghost stories pulled from century-old headlines and reported anew with author and investigative historian William G. Krejci. There was a time when ink-stained scribes would head into the community to report on ghostly visitations—many of their stories have been forgotten until now. At a Lorain County farmhouse, spectral women were said to manifest in the darkness of night. A haunted mansion was replete with the unexplained in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood. Rumors of a haunting at Cleveland’s Grays Armory have long circulated. New evidence reveals the site to have been the scene of two mysterious deaths and possibly a haunted house. Does a peddler who went missing two centuries ago drag chains across the attic floor at a Portage Lakes tavern?

Authors Cary O’Dell and Richard L. Sprehe lead a literary investigation of a brutal cold-case murder. 

In May 1975, in the small Southern Illinois town of Centralia, the body of one of its best-known residents, John Shakespeare, was found nearly nude, bound, and shot, execution-style, in the basement of his home. Shakespeare, sixty-nine, was a wealthy bachelor, an eccentric, an heir to the Shakespeare fishing fortune, a world-renowned collector of vintage cars, and, maybe, a possessor of a few secrets.

Despite the victim being well liked in the community, state and local police, and eventually even the FBI and Interpol, found a plethora of suspects while investigating the crime. Could it have been his longtime business associate? Or the mysterious hitchhiker seen in town just days before his body was found? Or a long-ago name from his past?

A work stoppage on the rails led to a fascinating moment in Ohio history.

As the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 made its way into Ohio, the state already had its share of problems. Tramps, men who’d taken to the road looking for work because of the economic depression of the 1870s, seemed to be overrunning the state. Railroads, one of Ohio’s biggest employers, cut jobs. Those not fired suffered from repeated cuts in wages and hours, making their already unsafe work conditions worse.

Strikes in neighboring states, instigated by another 10 percent wage cut on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, became violent and destructive. When they broke out in Ohio, something remarkable happened. Strikers remained mostly peaceful, avoiding the killing, looting, and vandalism seen elsewhere. Much of the credit for the path taken by Ohio must go to its level-headed governor, Thomas L. Young, who used the Ohio National Guard to great effect. 

The state of Michigan is home to Great Lakes and greater mysteries.

What made Paige Renkoski abandon her running car on the side of the freeway in broad daylight? Who murdered Eddie Hollman while he slept at his parents’ home? Greg McRoberts died in a hit-and-run accident. Will a mysterious letter writer with knowledge of the crime ever come forward? Ten-year-old Valerie Bishop was murdered after visiting the corner store. Could untested evidence reveal the identity of her killer? Why did Connie Royce walk away from a busy nightclub never to be seen again?

Nina Innsted, host of the Already Gone podcast, leads a journey through the missing, the mysterious, and the unsolved in a quest for answers and justice.

The Rooms Where History Happened

Before Jefferson City became the Capital, hotels shaped its story. As the town grew from frontier roots, places like the City Hotel served travelers, lawmakers, and locals for over 80 years.

During each legislative session, hotels and boarding houses—like the one run by the Lansdown sisters—were in high demand. Hotels like the Madison and Monroe House became landmarks of progress, constantly expanding and modernizing.

These spaces weren’t just for sleeping. They hosted teas, dances, civic meetings, and debates that shaped the future of Missouri.

From social events to political movements, hotels were at the center of it all.

Local historian Michelle Brooks checks in to tell the stories behind these historic stays.

Perfect for readers who love small-town history, Missouri heritage, and forgotten local landmarks.

A Presidential Love Story   

When a young officer newly graduated from West Point met the eldest daughter of a gruff Missouri slaveowner, farmer and land speculator, it was love at first sight. Ulysses Grant and Julia Dent courted at her family farm, White Haven, until he was called away to the Mexican-American War. Secretly engaged, Ulysses wrote tender letters to Julia between daring exploits in battle. Upon his return, they were married. Ulysses’s military career stagnated, and after a miserable period of separation while he was stationed on the West Coast, Ulysses resigned to join Julia at White Haven before his second stint during the Civil War. Authors Vicki and Jim Erwin relate the Grants’ early life, their courtship, their life in Missouri and how that life shaped their future.

Local Luminaries, Famous Passersby & Everyone in Between

Since its founding in the early 1800s, Kalamazoo has welcomed a variety of notable characters who have shaped the community’s legacy in their own special way. Some, like Orville Gibson and Derek Jeter, are nationally recognized, while others, such as Sue Hubbell or Donald Bonevich, may be lesser known. Abraham Lincoln and Flora Temple briefly passed through town, and Mary Jackson and Gwen Frostic were among those who came here to attend college. Others, like Darwin and Opal Brown (aka Santa and Mrs. Claus) or Gene Rhodes (aka Gene the Pumpkin Man), were lifetime residents.

From founding fathers to early innovators, groundbreakers to entrepreneurs, artists to authors and athletes to entertainers, author Dianna Higgs Stampfler celebrates fifty figures in Kalamazoo-area history.

Utilizing historic photographs, Sandy Mitchell Pavick shows how faith is integral to the history of Ashtabula County. 

Among the first to form churches were Congregationalists, Methodists, and Presbyterians, followed closely by Episcopalians, Baptists, and Roman Catholics. The intrepid, itinerant preacher Joseph Badger was one of the area’s first clergymen and made the two-and-a-half-month trek in 1801 from Connecticut to Ashtabula County, which was then part of the Connecticut Western Reserve. The history of Ashtabula’s churches is an interesting and varied one. Churches here were a part of several efforts to effect social change, including the abolitionist movement, the Underground Railroad, and the suffragette movement. They are also the home of beautiful stained-glass windows, some by Tiffany Studios; hand-hewn wooden pews; and original artwork by talented clergy and parishioners. The many congregations that survive continue to make a difference in their communities.

Sandy Mitchell Pavick has lived in northeast Ohio for more than 25 years and is active in the Ashtabula County church community. She is a full-time writer and has penned two previous titles for Arcadia Publishing. For this book, Pavick has amassed images, many of which have never been published, from dozens of church archives as well as from private collections and Ashtabula County libraries, museums, and historical societies.

Revisit your favorite stores and memories of innovative Northland Mall in Michigan, once heralded as the future of shopping.

When the Northland Mall opened in Michigan on March 22, 1954, it was the world's largest shopping center. Its innovative design was the vision of architect Victor Gruen and the Webbers, nephews of Joseph Lowthian Hudson and executives of the J.L. Hudson Company. Northland featured Hudson's flagship suburban store surrounded by other businesses selling a variety of merchandise and services. More than just a shopping destination, Northland Mall was a total experience of activity and relaxation, with colorful courtyards displaying sculptures such as the famous The Boy and Bear.

Breaking Glass Ceilings in St. Louis

Erma Mary Bergmann was a generation ahead of her time. She was born in a cold-water flat over a shoe store on South Broadway in St. Louis’s Soulard area. Restrained by the Great Depression and the minority status of women in the 1930s

and ‘40s, she hoped someday to climb out of poverty. When she was recruited to play baseball with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, her life changed. She pitched a no-hitter in 1947. She parlayed her natural athletic ability into two successful careers, baseball and policing. She spent twenty-five years as a policewoman, serving on the dangerous Decoy Squad. Author Patricia Treacy details the history of a pioneering woman. 

A history of the Cream City's lost Black neighborhood told by the people who lived there

Some people don't have to imagine what Milwaukee's Bronzeville was like. They have only to remember. They recall Walnut Street alive with businesses serving a hard-working Black population making something out of the meager resources available to them. They describe religious establishments such as St. Marks Methodist Episcopal, St. Benedict the Moor, Calvary Baptist, and St. Matthews CME attending to the spiritual life and remember the Flame, the Metropole, and Satin Doll night clubs taking care of entertainment and secular needs. Above all, they recollect a people looking out for the well-being of all within its realm.

Gathering interviews with residents of the now vanished neighborhood, Dr. Sandra E. Jones reimagines Bronzeville not just as a place, but as a spirit engendered by a people determined to make a way out of no way.

How the city of Lorain, Ohio, came to be and the vital role it played on its way to becoming known throughout the world.

The City of Lorain was incorporated in 1874 by the town council. It was named after the county, which had been named by Heman Ely, who thought the area looked very much like the Province of Lorraine in France. Lorain's location next to Lake Erie and the early arrival of the B&O Railroad in 1871 made the city a hotbed for industry. The Hayden Brass Works built a large plant on Elyria Avenue. Captain Thew, a ship captain on the lakes, developed an improved gear system for a steam shovel, and that started the Lorain Thew Shovel Co., which became known worldwide.

Lorain grew tremendously in the 1890s. Construction of the Johnson Steel Rail Company started in 1894, and in just 10 years, the population of the City of Lorain tripled. In 1894, the American Stove Works built a plant in Lorain, where they made heaters and furnaces. Three years later, the American Shipbuilding Company built a yard and launched hundreds of ships before it closed in 1984. Lorain, Ohio, certainly did its part during World War II; many men went into service, and Lorain produced its own share of heroes. The shipyard was also put to work by the government to build the USS Lorain, a frigate.

See how Lake Forest's downtown and Central Business District have been the heart of the community for over 150 years.

Lake Forest is a picturesque city built on the shores of Lake Michigan and has been home to Chicago's capitalist families, who developed estates around beautiful Lake Forest College. For over 150 years, the Lake Forest Central Business District has been the heart of the community. Now, you can see for yourself why that is thanks to never-before published photographs from personal collections, the estate of Griffith, Grant and Lackie, the City of Lake Forest and others.

Indianapolis Social Clubsprovides nearly 200 rare vintage photographic memories that capture the heart, soul, and history of the clubs.

More than banquet halls, golf courses, and swimming pools, social clubs were a haven for businessmen, politicians, and community leaders, offering respite from public scrutiny.

Defining Indianapolis, the clubs were stoic agents of power and segregation, providing clear historical snapshots of Hoosier pomp and circumstance. The clubs did more than produce Olympic swimmers, world-class golfers, and tennis professionals; they were Indianapolis's multigenerational playgrounds. There were the politics and business dealings at the Columbia Cluband the Indianapolis Athletic Club, the golfing, tennis, and formality of Woodstock, Meridian Hills, and other country clubs, and the family fun in the sun at Riviera, Devon, and Olympia. These organizations offered more than magical summers with family and friends; they were the places to be seen

In 1869, the Suez Canal was completed and the city of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, the chief sawmill town on the Chippewa River, was incorporated.

Chippewa Falls grew in popularity and influence. It persevered through hardships and experienced the ebb and flow of wealth and power—and 135 years later, Chippewa Falls remains a vital community. This pictorial history documents the heritage of Chippewa Falls from 1896 through the present, with chapters such as Women at Work, Made in Chippewa for the Rest of the World, Family Albums, and Celebrate! Celebrate! By blending contemporary photographs with archival images and providing opportunities for reflection and comparison, this book contributes significantly to the preservation of the community's collective history.

Discover the excellent planning and history of Ohio's Euclid Golf Neighborhood, one of the finest in the country.

Euclid Golf was built on land owned by John D. Rockefeller, who lent it to the Euclid Club for its golf course. Developer Barton R. Deming employed Garden City principles and deed restrictions to entice the elite of Cleveland, while architects Howell and Thomas, Charles Schneider and others designed splendid houses in the revival styles that defined gracious living. As prominent Clevelanders made their homes in Euclid Golf, Fairmount Boulevard became known as The Euclid Avenue of the Heights.