Hidden History

Early pioneers braved countless dangers to start anew in what is now Lorain County. Some of their stories faded from memory along the way, waiting to be rediscovered. Uncover the origins of the Felons' Feast held by abolitionists in 1859. Celebrate the true story of Major League Baseball's first black player, Moses Fleetwood Walker, who played for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1883. Learn about the great scientific discovery made in Oberlin by Charles Martin Hall in 1886, as well as how one of Elyria's forefathers rose to become chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Discover how the Easter Seals, officially named in 1967, began with a sixty-year-old streetcar accident. Author Kelly Boyer Sagert shines a light on fascinating lives and the county they shaped.

Beyond the stunning beauty of Wisconsin's Sturgeon Baylies a hidden past of colorful characters, tragic shipwrecks and compelling community achievements.

Arriving as an immigrant to the town, Joseph Harris Sr. became a founding father, creating the Door County Advocatenewspaper and leading a campaign to construct the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. More than one hundred local volunteers formed the ranks of Company F, nicknamed Les Terriblesby the French for their bravery and sacrifice in World War I. After surviving the Civil War, former slave Peter Custis endured unimaginable tragedy while forging a life in the city.

Authors Heidi Hodges and Kathy Steebs expose the forgotten history of Sturgeon Bay. It's a story of dogged perseverance.

Fueled by ambition and pipe dreams, Fargo's earliest residents created an entire city out of the dust of a flat, desolate prairie. Roberts Street might not exist if it weren't for Matilda Roberts, a resourceful pioneer wife who encouraged her husband's cousin to set up his law firm on that important downtown thoroughfare. O.J. deLendrecie generated so much success through his retail store that he was able to buy President Theodore Roosevelt's ranch in western North Dakota. Oliver Dalrymple may have been the bonanza farm king, but the better manager was his rival, Herbert Chaffee of the Amenia and Sharon Land Company. Author Danielle Teigen reveals the intriguing true stories behind many of the most engaging characters and what continues to make the "Gateway to the West" unique.

If any place in Chicago has been all things to all men, it has to be the corner of the city that is occupied by Edgewater and Uptown.

Babe Ruth and Mahatma Gandhi found a place of refuge at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, but the locale has also been a sanctuary for Appalachian coal miners and Japanese Americans released from internment camps. Al Capone reportedly moved booze through a secret tunnel connecting the Green Mill and the Aragon Ballroom, ""Burglar Cops"" moonlit out of the Summerdale police station, and a ""Kitchen Revolt"" by some not-very-ordinary housewives sent once-invulnerable machine ward boss Marty Tuchow on his way to Club Fed. Ferret out the hidden history of Uptown and Edgewater with veteran beat reporter Patrick Butler in this curio shop of forgotten people and places..

From the tale of a fiery nineteenth-century male suffragette to the forgotten founder of long-distance telephony, local author Laura Bien reveals the bizarre, baffling and oft-overlooked tales of Ypsilanti history. Scratch your head as Eastern Michigan University honors the area's onetime Potawatomi residents and its teacher school acculturates native children to white ways. Consider the earth closet, "? an indoor, nonflushing, composting toilet that's quite possibly the least popular invention in Michigan history. Witness a young artist's rise from Cleary Business College, which began as a penmanship school, to national fame or trade verse with Ypsilanti's unofficial nineteenth-century poet laureate, a poor farmer who became pen pals with John Greenleaf Whittier."

Join OnMilwaukee.com's Bobby Tanzilo for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Milwaukee's incredible past.

Sail out to the Breakwater Lighthouse, scramble up the wings of the Milwaukee Art Museum and dig up the city's roots on the corner of Water Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Seize the chance to do a little urban spelunking and explore basilicas, burial grounds and breweries. Ring the bell in the city hall tower, and take a turn around the secret indoor track at a Montessori school. No space is off limits in these untold stories of the Cream City's most familiar places and celebrated landmarks.

Montgomery County never fails to surprise the visitor with its unique and varied history. Even local residents are often unaware of some of their county heritage. Anyone who spends some time in Crawfordsville will eventually know about General Lew Wallace, author of the one-time bestseller Ben-Hur, as well as Senator Henry Lane, who helped found the Republican Party and get Abraham Lincoln nominated for the presidency. Wabash College was founded here in 1832 and is one of the two remaining all-male colleges in the nation -- with the dubious honor of having fired Ezra Pound before he went on to fame as a poet. The Hidden History of Montgomery County will touch upon such topics but will also bring to light many of the area's other deserving stories.