Wheaton

9780738540351

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Where will you find C. S. Lewis's wardrobe, J. R. R. Tolkien's desk, Malcolm Muggeridge's typewriter, Madame Blavatsky's tiara, the bones of a hulking mastodon, Billy Graham's traveling pulpit, and Tyndale House, publishers ofthe best-selling Left Behind series?

Where will you find students, mystics, theologians, doctors, authors, actors, and musicians living in harmony? In Wheaton. Located 26 miles west of Chicago, the ""All America City"" boasts excellent schools, exquisite old homes, safe streets, and fine museums. Though Horace Greeley is credited with uttering the immortal ""Go west, young man!"" the sentiment had been acted upon much earlier by questing pioneers, many of whom halted in the middle plains, sensing terrific potentialin the rich black soil of Illinois. Among these were Warren and Jesse Wheaton and Erastus Gary from Pomfret, Connecticut. Seeking suitable land for farming, they settled and constructed a mill. From there they built cabins and harvested spring crops. Soon there was a village of a few hundred, connected by train to the farthest reaches of the nation. Now there is a city of 55,000 residents.

LaSalle County

9780738541051

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LaSalle County was first discovered by Native Americans and then the explorers Fr. Jacques Marquette, Louis Joliet, and Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. The Illinois and Fox Rivers sweep through, winding around lush forested areas. LaSalle County boasts many natural resources: there are open rich farmlands, and valuable rock formations in the region are now part of four state parks. The county's many towns collect a diverse history, from Native Americans, including Potawatomi, Fox, and Ottawa, to early explorers and Abraham Lincoln to one small town that quietly helped in World War II by building the landing ship tank. Rich deposits of coal and St. Peter sandstone attracted industry and the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. LaSalle County has grown and been shaped by the people and events that have made this country great. This varied history is shown through vintage photographs from private collections, museums, historical societies, and libraries.

Haunted Rockford, Illinois

9781467137294

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Just beneath the glossy surface of Rockford's rich heritage lies a dark history of tragedy.

The city's troubled and turbulent past left scars that still resonate today. Geraldine Bourbon's final struggle still echoes throughout the farmhouse where her estranged husband pursued her with a pistol from room to room before gently laying her corpse on the bed. The sobs of society darling Carrie Spafford still keep vigil over the family plot of the cemetery where she sowed the heartbreak of her twilight years. From the vengeance of Chief Big Thunder to the Witch of McGregor Road, author Kathi Kresol shares the legends and lore of Rockford's haunted history.

Chicago's Fashion History

9780738584324

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From the ashes of the Chicago Fire of 1871 came the birth of the city's fashion scene as entrepreneurs built new storefronts virtually overnight. Aided by the Windy City's incredible network of railroads, these fledgling enterprises in turn created millionaires who wanted to wear the latest clothes from Europe. Marshall Fields and Potter Palmer were among the local elites who regularly boarded ships to France and returned with exquisite suits, coats, hats, gowns, fabrics, and other accessories, which designers sought to re-create with cheaper fabrics and labor. Chicago's reputation as a trendsetting metropolis was only sealed by the city's film industry. Charlie Chaplin and his cast of stylish starlets had women north and south of Madison Street copying every hairdo and dress. Even after moviemaking moved to Los Angeles, actors and actresses traveling to New York City regularly dropped in when they switched trains downtown. By World War II, Chicago, the City of Big Shoulders, became the place to start a career as a fashion designer.

Cover image for Chicago's Fashion History, isbn: 9780738584324

Forest Park

9780738583266

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Beer, biers, and more beer . . . the name Forest Park will usually evoke images of taverns or cemeteries. While both have played an important role in the prosperity and growth of the community, there is so much more to this community once known as Harlem. Originally the site of a Potawatomi Indian village and burial ground, the town has also been home to an amusement park, a torpedo factory, a golf course, a racetrack, and a baseball stadium. The blue-collar sibling to neighbors Oak Park and River Forest has weathered many changes. Prohibition during the 1920s saw the closure of 39 taverns. The building of the Congress Expressway in the 1950s forced the relocation of over 3,500 graves, dozens of homes and businesses, destroyed landmarks, and severed the town. Through it all, Forest Park has persevered, though much of its past has disappeared.

Aurora

9780738563749

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Take a fascinating journey through the history of Aurora, Illinois with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

The history of Aurora, Illinois is one of diversity. This is the first book to trace the city's early days of its first white settlement through World War I and the early 1920s, as seen through the eyes of its diverse ethnic groups. Immigrants from northern, southern, and eastern Europe, southern Blacks, and Mexicans all came to provide their talents to the massive railroad industry and the dozens of factories in the city, which were producing various products to be used by the entire nation and as well as in the construction of the Panama Canal.

Will County

9780738560632

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Later that same year, workers broke ground for the nearly 100-mile-long Illinois and Michigan Canal between the Illinois and Chicago Rivers. The opening of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the movement of industry away from Chicago caused manufacturers to turn their attention to Will. As the county's population grew, the unincorporated area between Joliet and Chicago's southern suburbs continued to shrink. The transportation ties linking Chicago with the communities of Will County--traces, paths, wagon roads, canals, rail lines, plank roads, and highways--helped create an expanding metropolitan region. The early history and unique growth of Will County is showcased in this book. Over 200 vintage postcards provide an interesting glimpse into the social, material, and cultural history of Will County in the early 20th century.

Glenview

9780738551906

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Following the signing of the treaty of 1833, which required that local Potawatomi tribes relocate west of the Mississippi River, European settlers began to arrive in the area now called Glenview. Primarily of English and German origin, they established farms and trading posts. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 had a profound effect on the hamlet. Lumber from the forests of Wisconsin used to rebuild the city was moved from the north via rail. By 1872, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad laid the first set of tracks from Wisconsin to Chicago; the line brought prosperity to local residents. In 1899, the village was incorporated. The first mayor, Hugh Burnham, a nephew of Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, is credited with its name--Glen View. The community evolved into a mosaic of truck farms, major industry, small businesses, country clubs, polo fields, entrepreneurs, and colorful characters. Glenview maintained its ambiance as a "village of homes and gardens" until the latter years of the 20th century.

Cover image for Glenview, isbn: 9780738551906

Wauconda

9780738583174

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To the Algonquin-speaking Native Americans, the territory later to be named Wauconda was their land. With the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, they were forced to cede it to the US government and move west of the Mississippi River. This action paved the way for white European Americans to settle and prosper. Their descendants thrived, built successful businesses, and raised families. Shortly after the beginning of the 20th century, the railroad and new roads brought out Chicago city folks who cooled themselves on Wauconda's sandy beaches. Now many 21st-century residents who can trace their lineage to those early families continue to live and work as Wauconda adapts to growth.

Rock Island

9780738501574

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Rock Island, Illinois, named All American City by Life magazine in 1955, is a mighty river town that prides itself on its leadership and sense of community. In every house on every street, there is a story to be told of how the residents came to be a part of this unique city. A few Rock Islanders can trace their roots back to the first white settlements of Farnhamsburg and Stephenson; fewer still go even further back than that, to the villages of Wappello and Keokuk and the Sauk warrior, Black Hawk. In Rock Island: All American City, the authors invite us to join them on a visual tour that explores the area's earliest neighborhoods, from Spencer Square to Broadway, Greenbush, and Old Chicago, from Longview and Highland Park to Keystone and Douglas Park. Discover how the Mississippi and Rock Rivers helped to shape the lives of area residents and how they have shaped its course; meet some of Rock Island's first families, including the Weyerhaeusers and Denkmanns, who arrived in Rock Island with little more than a dream and left their legacy in the area's landscape, architecture, and culture. Also learn the stories of the "regular folks" and unsung heroes who contributed in their own special ways to the city's rich history.

Route 66 in Springfield

9780738583761

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From 1926 through 1977, Route 66 carried millions of travelers from the shores of Lake Michigan to the Pacific Coast. Americans fell in love with the automobile and made a family tradition of the road trip. On its three different alignments through the capital city of Springfield, Route 66 took motorists around the Illinois State Fairgrounds, past the state capitol, and through Abraham Lincoln's neighborhood. Mom-and-pop motels, gas stations, and eateries opened along the highway and became familiar landmarks to travelers in the "Land of Lincoln." In Springfield, the "horseshoe" and the "cozy dog" became popular local foods, and one of the first drive-up window restaurants opened. A man spent 40 years on Route 66 operating his gas station before transforming it into an internationally known museum. Meet the proprietors of these businesses, witness the growth of the highway, and enjoy a generous dose of nostalgia.

Elgin, Illinois

9780738518947

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Elgin, Illinois, was founded in 1835. However, the community truly came into its own at the end of the Civil War, when the Elgin National Watch Company moved there and took the city name as its own. The name Elgin became synonymous with quality for over 100 years. Elgin, Illinois: "Wish You Were Here" tells the story of the town of Elgin during the 20th century, featuring vintage postcards of that period.

Special events of historic interest include the tornado of 1920, and the Elgin Road Races, which gained national fame for a brief time around the World War I era. More than 200 pictures, culled from the collection of the Elgin Area Historical Society, and colorful narratives tell of the accomplishments by those first few generations who lived and died in the community.

Clark County

9780738560250

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Discover Clark County, a community in Illinois affected by booms in oil and farming as well as housing award-winning writers.

The Wabash River, the National Road, and later the Vandalia Railroad and other rail lines brought settlers and prosperity to Clark County. Communities like Marshall, Martinsville, Casey, Westfield, Darwin, York, and West Union all flourished. The oil boom, which began in 1905, opened one of the most important industries in the county, and a local tank farm and pipeline both operate 100 years later. Farming has always been the main focus for Clark County, smaller grain mills having been replaced by large grain elevators, and the sale of farm equipment and supplies remains a vital business today. Yet Clark County is unique in having hosted a most unusual and successful writers' colony. Located on the west edge of Marshall, the colony produced numerous published authors, including James Jones of From Here to Eternity fame. In addition, several other Clark County citizens have authored books, and a Casey native was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for news writing.

Burr Ridge

9781467113397

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The Village of Burr Ridge is aptly named--and not merely for the bur oaks, nor the limestone ridges as the land nears Flagg Creek.

Before there was Burr Ridge, frontier German, English, French, Scottish, and Native Americans came to these forests. The Plainfield and Joliet trails were early Native American and frontier routes to and from trading posts, and oral histories recount the Potawatomi stopping near what would become County Line Road. The angled routes of Plainfield Road and Historic Route 66 are silent reminders of these past trails and travelers. In 1917, International Harvester Company opened a research facility along County Line and Plainfield Roads to perfect agricultural equipment, namely the iconic Farmall tractor. This inspired the namesake village, Harvester, in 1956, which was renamed Burr Ridge in 1962. The modern Illinois Interstates 55 and 294 intersect near Burr Ridge, spurring growth. Today, the village has the distinction of being one of the wealthiest communities in the United States.

Riverside

9780738591902

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The unrelenting industrialization of America in the 19th century brought undreamed-of wealth and abundance to the nation as it emerged as a major world power after the trauma of a bloody civil war; however, the wealth was unevenly distributed, and industrialization inevitably produced the undesirable side effects of overcrowded tenement life, pollution, and the general degradation of the environment. This, in turn, set some of the nation's great thinkers on the path to coming up with answers to alleviate the ill effects of a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing society. Frederick Law Olmsted's answer in 1868 was the conception of a suburb for Chicago that combined the best aspects of urban life with that of rural life. So, he created Riverside, an ideal environment for civilization to flourish.

Cover image for Riverside, isbn: 9780738591902

Haunted Aurora

9781596298057

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Aurora was the first Illinois city to have electric streetlights, but a dark history has resisted illumination as stubborn as the chilly corner of the old roundhouse repels the summer heat.

Learn why Aurora counts ""City of Cemeteries"" among its nicknames as Diane Ladley, ""America's Ghost Storyteller,"" describes the nineteenth-century doctor suspected of trading bodies between his cancer center and a neighboring graveyard. Other eerie legends and strange stories revealed in this book include the marauding brave brought to justice in the Devil's Cave by his own tribe, the sweet legacy of NFL great Walter Payton and the elephants that saved a circus from a tornado.

Cover image for Haunted Aurora, isbn: 9781596298057

Chicago Shakedown

9781467139519

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The Ogden Gas Affair represented the biggest political scandal of Chicago's first sixty years. Mayor John P. Hopkins and Democratic Party boss Roger Sullivan conspired with ten other insiders to form a dummy corporation to blackmail Peoples Gas Company. The scam poured money into the coffers of beneficiaries who were never prosecuted, including the governor of Illinois, John P. Altgeld. As their lengthy swindle ran its course, Hopkins and Sullivan rubbed elbows with the most notorious grafters of the robber baron era, including Charles Yerkes and Big Bill Thompson. Author John Hogan follows the money in a scheme that became a template for the enrichment of the connected at the expense of the citizenry.

Cover image for Chicago Shakedown, isbn: 9781467139519

Haunts of the White City

9781467139656

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At the close of the nineteenth century, Chicago offered the world a glimpse of humanity’s most breathtaking possibilities and its most jaw-dropping horrors.

Even as the White City emerged from the ashes of the Great Fire, serial killers like H.H. Holmes stalked the sparkling new boulevards and tragic accidents plagued the factories, slums and railroads that powered the churn of industrial innovation. Ship captains spoke to the dead, while undertakers discovered reanimated corpses no longer requiring services. From posh mansions built on massacre grounds to the drowned quarries of a forest preserve, Ursula Bielski follows the dark undercurrents beneath the electric lights of the World’s Fair.

Cover image for Haunts of the White City, isbn: 9781467139656

Chicago in 50 Objects

9781467146753

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When investigating the mysteries of Chicago's past, it's helpful to examine the physical evidence. From a fiddle played by a Chicago pioneer and a jersey worn by Michael Jordan to a relic of the Great Chicago Fire and the guns used in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, these talismans chronicle the city's tragedies and triumphs. Some heirlooms shed new light on familiar figures like Louis Sullivan, while others commemorate the contributions of less heralded visionaries like Frances Glessner Lee. Joseph Gustaitis explores Chicago's history through fifty carefully chosen objects, a collection that includes stockyard knives, the world's first portable radio and Nelson Algren's typewriter.

Trigg's Ozark Tours at Shawnee National Forest

9781467125031

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Today's Shawnee National Forest visitors would not recognize 1930s southern Illinois. Hills and hollows were void of trees, the rivers and creeks choked with eroded topsoil. The need for a national forest was so great that a small group of men from southeastern Illinois vowed to make it happen. Much of the responsibility for promotion fell on newspaper publisher L.O. Trigg. Beginning in 1931, the annual Trails, Tours, and Detours excursion demonstrated the great potential for outdoor recreation in the southernmost counties of Illinois. In large part due to Trigg's Ozark Tours, the National Forest Commission approved the purchase units that would become the Shawnee National Forest. Herein is the story of the Trigg Ozark Tours from 1931 through 1949, the men who went, the places they visited, and the legacy that remains today.

Cover image for Trigg's Ozark Tours at Shawnee National Forest, isbn: 9781467125031

Springfield

9781467124232

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The 1960s and 1970s were a time of significant change in the history of Springfield, Illinois, as the city redefined itself through major developments in education, technology, and commerce. This pictorial history allows readers to remember the familiar places of those decades, such as the downtown area, and acquaint themselves with the history of the new institutions that started in this time period. Colorful images, many taken by amateur photographers, document the theme of change in the landscape and culture of Springfield as the city moved into the future.

Cover image for Springfield, isbn: 9781467124232

Chicago Calamities:

9781609490348

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The story of Chicago is often likened to that of a phoenix rising out of the ashes of the Great Fire. Yet that infamous event was only part of the destruction that has shaped Chicago's identity. Discover here the larger narrative of calamities that have befallen the Windy City, such as the 1954 killer water surge that swept in on a calm summer day, the 1967 tornado that ripped through rush hour traffic, the 1886 Haymarket Square riot that put Chicago on the anarchist map and many other acts of nature and human folly. As you witness a fireproof theater burn, a flood rise up without rain and one of the greatest maritime disasters occur within city limits, encounter both unexpected tragedies and unlikely heroes.

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Chicago Comedy:

9781609492113

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Famous for being a city of broad shoulders, Chicago has also developed an international reputation for split sides and slapped knees. Watch the Chicago style of comedy evolve from nineteenth-century vaudeville, through the rebellious comics of the '50s and into the improvisation and sketch that ushered in a new millennium. Drawing on material both hilarious and profound, Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History touches on what makes Chicago different from other cities and how that difference produced some of the greatest minds comedy will ever know: Amos 'n' Andy, Jack Benny, Lenny Bruce, Del Close, John Belushi, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and so many, many more.

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Chicago to Springfield

9780738583730

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The story of Chicago gangsters in the 1920s is legendary. Less talked about is the tale of the politicians who allowed those gangsters to thrive. During the heyday of organized crime in the Prohibition era, Chicago mayor "Big Bill" Thompson and Gov. Len Small were the two most powerful political figures in Illinois. Thompson campaigned on making Chicago "a wide open town" for bootleggers. Small sold thousands of pardons and paroles to criminals, embezzled $1 million, and was then acquitted after mobsters bribed the jury. This book is the story of those Jazz Age politicians whose careers in government thrived on and endorsed corruption and racketeering, from Chicago to Springfield. It complements author Jim Ridings's groundbreaking biography, Len Small: Governors and Gangsters, which was praised by critics and situated Ridings as a trailblazer among Chicago crime authors.

Summit

9780738552484

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Summit, fittingly named after its location astride a rise, was built on that low ridge crossed by travelers seeking a convenient route into America's interior. As a portal to the North American interior, Summit's land has witnessed the travels and pauses of Native Americans, French explorers and missionaries, fur traders, the English, and finally Colonial Americans. To this day, it remains synonymous with unsurpassed transportation advantages, having stimulated considerable commercial, industrial, and urban growth. From its earliest hut to its latest futuristic library, Summit has played an irreplaceable role in the progress of the United States.

Remembering Galesburg

9781596296732

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Galesburg, Illinois, has made quite a name for itself since the first settlers arrived in 1836. It has witnessed the comings and goings of fifteen United States presidents, listened to Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, seen the birth of an elephant and served as home of the man who brought the dandelion to America. Lifetime resident and city historian Tom Wilson captures the true spirit of the town through this charming collection of articles from his column, "Tracking History." Nuances and details, from the excitement of the Lincoln-Douglas debates to the frustrations of stalemate college basketball, make Remembering Galesburg a sparkling depiction of this town's personality.

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Swedish Chicago

9780738531861

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Tour Chicago's Swedish heritage, from the great waves of migration to the present day, through vintage photographs in Swedish Chicago.

At the turn of the 20th century, Chicago was home to the largest Swedish population of any city in the world outside of Stockholm.

In the 1920s, Sweden experienced an economic depression and population growth that sparked another rush of Swedish immigration to America and Chicago, where they settled in large numbers in Andersonville and North Park. Chicago has been home to many famous and influential Swedes, including writers Carl Sandburg and Nelson Algren, and builder and developer Andrew Lanquist, who gave us both Wrigley Fieldand the Wrigley Building.

Paul Michael Peterson is an English teacher and lifelong Chicago resident whose grandparents emigrated from Sweden. He continues to celebrate the yearly traditions that his Swedish heritage has given him, including making glogg at Christmas.

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Korean Americans in Chicago

9780738531878

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Koreans first began to immigrate to Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. Drawn to the Windy City in search of a better life for themselves and their families, Korean Americans quickly began to establish what has become a thriving community that remains active and distinct. For the past 100 years, the Korean American community has contributed greatly to the growth and development of the Chicago metropolitan area-politically, culturally, and socially. In this book Korean Americans in Chicago celebrate these contributions with over 200 photographs that detail the various aspects of life within the community.

Cover image for Korean Americans in Chicago, isbn: 9780738531878

Stories of Springfield

9781596299320

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Discover new stories about the famous characters of Springfield, Illinois, and why some of its lesser-known citizens deserve to be famous too. Learn about the first Lincoln museum and its controversial creator, the cholera epidemic that spared the town and the operators of Springfield's Underground Railroad. Unearth the mysteries of a local poet's wrenching death and "airship" sightings from the nineteenth century. From Springfield's fatal pole wars of 1844 to the invention of better dental forceps, local historian Tara McClellan McAndrew's research splices together the comic, the tragic and the completely unexpected in these chronicles from Lincoln's town.

Herrin

9781596297975

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Herrin, Illinois, has seen many dramatic events unfold in the nearly two hundred years since it was a bell-shaped prairie on the frontier. Now, Herrin native John Griswold, a writer and teacher at the University of Illinois, provides the first comprehensive history of this most American city, a place that in its time became not just a melting pot, but a cauldron. Discover why the coal was so good in the "Quality Circle" and what happened to the boom that followed its discovery. Explore the roots of the vicious Herrin Massacre of 1922 and learn why the entire nation has focused its gaze on this small Midwestern city so many times. Incorporating the most recent scholarship, interviews, and classic histories and narratives, this brief and entertaining history is illustrated with more than seventy-five archival photos that help tell this important American story.

Cover image for Herrin, isbn: 9781596297975

The Ghostly Tales of the Midwest

9781467198752

$12.99 $9.74 Save 25%

Ghost stories from the Midwestern United States have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

The haunted history of the Midwest comes to life—even when the main players are dead. Visit Ohio, the oldest state in the Midwest, to glimpse ghosts in the Butler County Historical Museum. Or travel to Crown Point, Indiana, and see Ruffle Shirt Hill’s Underground Railroad site. Dive into this spooky chapter book for suspenseful tales of bumps in the night, paranormal investigations, and the unexplained all across America’s Midwestern states; just be sure to keep the light on.

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New Salem

9781467136204

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In 1829, eleven years after Illinois became the twenty-first state, New Salem was founded on a bluff above the Sangamon River. The village provided an essential sanctuary for a friendless, penniless boy named Abraham Lincoln, whose six years there shaped his education and nurtured his ambition. Eclipsed by the neighboring settlement of Petersburg, New Salem had dwindled into a ghost town by 1840. However, it reemerged in the early part of the twentieth century as one of the most successful preservation efforts in American history. Author Joseph Di Cola relates the full story of New Salem's fascinating heritage.

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Skokie

9780738584430

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Settled in the 1840s, incorporated as Niles Centre in 1888, German and Luxembourger immigrants founded Skokie and created a rural community of farms and greenhouses.

A short-lived real estate boom in the 1920s gave Skokie its current boundaries, streets, and sewer systems. Due to the Great Depression, however, these paved roadways remained vacant until after World War II. Aided by the construction of the Edens Expressway, Skokie experienced tremendous growth and became a bustling suburban community. Many of the families that settled in Skokie during this time were Jewish. In the last quarter century, other families moved to the suburb, many with Indo-Asian origins, leading to the ethnically diverse community that Skokie has become today.

Cover image for Skokie, isbn: 9780738584430

Iranians in Chicagoland

9780738533902

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In 1893, Haj Mirza Mohammad Ali Moen-Ol Saltaneh journeyed to Chicago from Iran to visit the World Columbian Exposition. According to his memoirs, the Exposition's Ferris Wheel was one of the first things he saw. He visited the Persian Palace, Iran's exhibit at the Exposition, where he met Iranian workers and several French dancers posing as Persian women. These Iranians were likely the earliest group of Iranians who came to Chicago. They little imagined that by 2004, at least 10,000 Iranians would live in the city. Authors Hamid Akbari and Azar Khounani present a newly assembled collection of Persian Palace photographs coupled with Moen-Ol Saltaneh's observations of Chicago.

Galena, Illinois

9781596297302

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

With 85 percent of its buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, Galena truly is a place drenched in history.

From the ancient burial mounds crowding the high banks of the Mississippi to the home of President Ulysses S. Grant, the Illinois town's rich past is everywhere on display. Follow Diann Marsh in her dogged pursuit of that fascinating heritage and catch glimpses of unforgettable incidents like the courageous defense put up by a handful of Galena settlers during the Black Hawk War or the monster flood that turned a day in 1892 into a bridge-snapping spectacle. Fortunes are won and lost within the space of a page, but the legacy left by Galena's determined citizens and cared for by passionate guardians like Marsh is one that is sure to endure.

Cover image for Galena, Illinois, isbn: 9781596297302

Legendary Locals of Lake Forest

9781467102148

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Since the 1850s, Lake Forest, located 30 miles north of Chicago on Lake Michigan, has been a distinctive suburb. It has been a retreat from the diseases, public accessibility, rougher elements, soot, stockyard smells, and general density of bustling city life. For at least five generations, it has been the retreat for Chicago's leading New England-descended families, such as the Farwells, Swifts, and Armours. And for over 150 years, Lake Forest has been the home for a community of educators, merchants, artisans, designers, and a wide variety of estate specialists, the latter from pre-Civil War escaped slaves and Scots and Irish immigrants to today's notable garden and interior artists. Legendary Locals of Lake Forest draws on rare archival images from local and Chicago public and private sources.

Oswego Township

9780738552088

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In 1832, John, Walter, and Daniel Pearce, and their brother-in-law, William Smith Wilson, walked west from their homes in Ohio prospecting for land. When they reached the Fox River in the vicinity of modern Oswego, they agreed they had found the place they wanted to settle. The next year, 1833, after selling their Ohio farms, they traveled west by wagon with their families and became the first settlers in Oswego Township. Just two years later, Lewis B. Judson and Levi F. Arnold laid out a new village on land first claimed by Wilson, creating the foundation of today's bustling village of Oswego. A stagecoach route crossroads, the seat of Kendall
County for nearly 20 years, and a market town for the surrounding agricultural area, Oswego grew steadily until the Civil War. After the war, growth slowed until the second half of the 20th century when the area began to boom, both in population and economically. This book offers many of the area's newest residents a chance to look back at Oswego Township's rich heritage.

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Chinese in Chicago

9780738534442

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

The first wave of Chinese immigrants came to Chicagoland in the 1870s, after the transcontinental railway connected the Pacific Coast to Chicago. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act prevented working-class Chinese from entering the U.S., except men who could prove they were American citizens. For more than 60 years, many Chinese immigrants had acquired documents helping to prove that they were born in America or had a parent who was a citizen. The men who bore these false identities were called "paper sons." A second wave of Chinese immigrants arrived after the repeal of the Act in 1943, seeking economic opportunity and to be reunited with their families.

The Lincoln Highway around Chicago

9780738551975

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Once known as the "Main Street of America," the Lincoln Highway through western Indiana and eastern Illinois became the first urban bypass on the first hard-surfaced transcontinental highway in the nation. This stretch of the highway is also home to the famous Ideal Section, which set the national standard for road construction in 1923. Through some 200 vintage photographs, this armchair tour of the highway from Schererville, Indiana, to Geneva, Illinois, visits sites that early-day tourists saw and documents the people who made the highway what it was in 1913 and the people who worked to preserve its spirit and history at the close of the century. The Lincoln Highway around Chicago defines and describes the role of the Lincoln Highway in the Chicago area from a gravel track to a miracle mile that has served local residents as well as cross-country travelers for nearly 100 years.

The Bloomington-Normal Circus Legacy: The Golden Age of Aerialists

9781609497101

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Starting in the 1870s, the barns, icehouses, gymnasiums and empty theaters of central Illinois provided the practice sites for aerial performers whose names still command reverence in the annals of American circus history. Meet Fred Miltimore and the Green Brothers, runaways from the Fourth Ward School who became the first Bloomington-born flyers. Watch Art Concello, a ten-year-old truant, become first a world-class flyer, then a famous trapeze impresario and finally Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus's most successful general manager. The entire art of the trapeze--instruction, training, performance and management--became a Bloomington-Normal industry during the tented shows' golden age, when finding a circus flying act without a connection to this area would have been virtually impossible.

The Bloomington-Normal Circus Legacy: The Golden Age of Aerialists

Murder and Mayhem on Chicago's South Side

9781596296978

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Lurking below the Loop, behind the industry-driven energy of Chicago, lies the mysterious criminal underworld of the South Side. Recounting criminal exploits of legends like Alphonse Capone, as well as lesser-known stories like the Car Barn Bandits, Troy Taylor captures the intricacies of the most infamous stories of Chicago's South Side. From the gruesome murders committed by the unassuming H.H. Holmes to the mysterious death of Marshall Field Jr., join Taylor as he revisits the South Side's prosperous middle-class days and vividly depicts the strange and horrific crimes that have cast new light on the character of these too often overlooked neighborhoods.

Cover image for Murder and Mayhem on Chicago's South Side, isbn: 9781596296978

Murder and Mayhem in Chicago's Downtown

9781596296947

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In the company of author Troy Taylor, pull off the trick of coming back alive from some of Chicago's most infamous one-way rides." Meet the deadly womanizer Johann Hoch, who would propose to a woman within twenty minutes of meeting her and then poison her within a week. Follow "Terrible" Tommy O'Conner as he eluded the gallows for more than fifty years, until the city finally grew "tired of waiting" and dismantled them for the final time. Learn how even flower shops and cathedrals weren't safe from gangland violence, and relive the tragic fire at the Iroquois Theatre, where a "fireproof" curtain was made of cotton and did little to stop the blaze that killed more people than the Great Fire of 1871."

Cover image for Murder and Mayhem in Chicago's Downtown, isbn: 9781596296947

Chicago's Serial Husband

9781467158589

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When the police caught up with Johann Hoch, he’d already proposed to what they believed would have been wife number fifty-five.

For a decade, he traveled the country, marrying and deserting desperate women—and five of his wives were lying in their graves. He married Marie Walcker in Chicago in 1904, and when Marie died five weeks later, he proposed to her sister while the corpse lay on the bed. The sister agreed, only to be swindled out of her savings. Adam Selzer trails jovial, big-talking Hoch through a twisting tale of Chicago journalism, Chicago justice and the coming together of some of most daring and corrupt characters the city had to offer.

Cover image for Chicago's Serial Husband, isbn: 9781467158589

The Ghostly Tales of Rockford

9781467197441

$12.99 $9.74 Save 25%

Ghost stories from the City of Gardens have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

Welcome to the spooky streets of Rockford, Illinois!

Stay alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms.

Did you know the Burpee Museum is haunted by the ghosts of years past? Or that if you take a cruise down Blood Point Road, you may be chased by haunted hounds and a pickup truck determined to run you off the road? Have you heard the of the witch who kidnapped children as an act of vengeance?

Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Rockford forever, and have you sleeping with the lights on!

Cover image for The Ghostly Tales of Rockford, isbn: 9781467197441

Cardiff

9781467160759

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The discovery of a rich coal vein in northeast Livingston County, Illinois, in 1899 turned an open prairie into the large coal mining town of Cardiff within months. An explosion in the mine in 1903 that killed nine men looked like it might be the end of the mine and the town, but another mine shaft was sunk, and the town grew bigger than ever. However, the quality of the coal ran out in 1912. This time it was the end. The mine closed, and the buildings were transported elsewhere. The only thing left of Cardiff was its ghost town reputation. The town lasted only 13 years, but they were exciting years. This book brings the town and its people to life once again.

Quad Cities Beer

9781467151160

$23.99 $17.99 Save 25%

The Quad Cities have a rich history of brewing that started with the influx of German citizens in the 1800s. Breweries were established on both sides of the Mississippi River. Some of these historic breweries managed to reopen after Prohibition, but national competition ultimately closed the last of these stalwarts in 1956. In 1989, Iowa created a special class "A" brewpub permit, and the first of many brewpubs in the area, Front Street Pub & Eatery, opened in 1992. Blue Cat Brew Pub, on the Illinois side of the river, opened shortly after. The brewing renaissance has helped to establish the Quad Cities as a craft beer destination. Join authors Michael McCarty and Kristin DeMarr as they celebrate the heady heritage of the region.

Chicago Marching

9781467151436

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Examine the inflection points in Chicago's history of protest. A word packed with meaning and emotion, "protest" can be synonymous with both free speech and rioting. Chicago's citizens and city officials have a long and reactive relationship based on the tension between those differences of perspective, from the 1855 Lager Beer Riot to the conversation surrounding Black Lives Matter and the flashpoints of extreme political polarization. But what led to pivotal events like 1886's Haymarket Affair or 1963's massive school boycotts? Joseph Rulli seeks to understand what provoked an explosion into violence or elicited a heavy-handed response.

Northfield

9780738583693

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In 1926, railroad and electric power tycoon Samuel Insull held a contest to name a station on the Skokie Valley Electric Line that the locals already called the Skokie Swamp. The winning name? Wau Bun, a Potawatomi word meaning "dawn" and also the name of a noted Potawatomi chief from the late 1700s. But the residents of Skokie Swamp hated the name and plotted their revenge. Three years later, as Insull was on a train pulling into the station, he was horrified to discover that vandals had taken it upon themselves to rename the station Hot Bun. Insull and the locals compromised, and the more neutral moniker of Northfield was adopted. The Skokie Valley Electric Line has long since been closed, and popular legend holds that Insull died penniless and alone in Paris. But the town of Northfield has survived and thrived. Once a loose affiliation of farms, Northfield is now a quiet suburb that has enviable schools, beautiful homes, and gorgeous landscapes.

Cahokia

9780738589978

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From Holy Family Log Church to Jarrot Mansion, the over 300 year history of the close knit Cahokia community is detailed in this photographic history.

In 1999, Cahokia will celebrate 300 years as the historic, close knit community located directly across the great Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The village's proximity to St. Louis allows residents to enjoy all the cultural opportunities of a large city, while keeping its small-town atmosphere. Cahokia has a distinctive French heritage and is today still inhabited by many of the same families whose ancestors came to the community in the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the many fascinating pieces of Cahokia's history featured in this book is the Holy Family Parish, founded by missionary priests from Quebec. The first Mass was said there on December 8, 1698, establishing Holy Family as the oldest continuous parish in the United States. Today, the treasured Holy Family Log Church, dating from 1799, occupies this site. Other images among the 200 shown here include the historic sites of the Cahokia Courthouse and Jarrot Mansion, as well as scenes of daily life around town.

Jazz Age Chicago

9781467150798

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When people imagine 1920s Chicago, they usually (and justifiably) think of Al Capone, speakeasies, gang wars, flappers and flivvers. Yet this narrative overlooks the crucial role the Windy City played in the modernization of America. The city’s incredible ethnic variety and massive building boom gave it unparalleled creative space, as design trends from Art Deco skyscrapers to streamlined household appliances reflected Chicago’s unmistakable style. The emergence of mass media in the 1920s helped make professional sports a national obsession, even as Chicago radio stations were inventing the sitcom and the soap opera. Join Joseph Gustaitis as he chases the beat of America’s Jazz Age back to its jazz capital.

Cover image for Jazz Age Chicago, isbn: 9781467150798

Chicago's Jewish West Side

9780738560151

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No matter where the scattered Jews of Chicago live now, many can trace their roots to this ""Jerusalem of Chicago.""

For nearly half a century, the greater Lawndale area was the vibrant, spirited center of Jewish life in Chicago. It contained almost 40 percent of the city's entire Jewish population with over 70 synagogues and numerous active Jewish organizations and institutions, such as the Jewish People's Institute, the Hebrew Theological College, and Mount Sinai Hospital. Its residents included ""King of Swing"" Benny Goodman, Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, journalists Irv Kupcinet and Meyer Levin, federal judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, civil rights attorney Elmer Gertz, Eli's Cheesecake founder Eli Shulman, and comedian Shelley Berman. Many of the selected images come from the author's extensive collection. This book will bring back memories for those who lived there and retell the story of Jewish life on the West Side for those who did not.

Cover image for Chicago's Jewish West Side, isbn: 9780738560151

Edwardsville

9780738560182

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Edwardsville, named for territorial governor Ninian Edwards, began life as a frontier fort and gateway to settlers. It became the seat of law and government of Madison County, which at that time encompassed much of the Illinois Territory. The town was incorporated shortly after Illinois became a state in 1818. In 1890, industrialist N. O. Nelson began a manufacturing complex and established the model town of Leclaire Village. Edwardsville grew rapidly through the late 1800s and early 1900s. Main Street became a bustling business district while elegant mansions were constructed on St. Louis Street. Take a nostalgic look at Edwardsville 100 years ago with a stroll down Main Street, a walk through City Park, or a glimpse of the weeklong Madison County Centennial festivities.

The Lincoln Highway Across Illinois

9780738593586

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From southern Cook County to the Mississippi River, the Lincoln Highway meanders through many of Chicago's suburbs before heading west through Illinois's fertile farmland. America's first transcontinental highway once stretched nearly 3,400 miles from New York City to San Francisco. The story of the highway's role in shaping the contemporary American highway system is one that examines the interaction of technology and human spirit. Conceived by entrepreneur Carl G. Fischer in 1912 and endorsed by businessman Henry B. Joy, the idea of creating an automobile-friendly roadway spanning America would soon change the nature of travel in the 20th century. Lincoln Highway in Illinois defines and describes the role of the highway as it zigzags its way across the Land of Lincoln and highlights the cities, towns, and rural communities along its route.

Cover image for The Lincoln Highway Across Illinois, isbn: 9780738593586

Greeks in Chicago

9780738561714

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Greeks arrived in America with the expectation that freedom would permit their families to thrive and be successful. With hard work, belief in the Orthodox faith, and commitment to education, Greeks ascended in Chicago, and America, to positions of responsibility and success. Today Greek Americans are among the wealthiest and most successful of immigrant groups. Greeks recognized a historical imperative that they meet the challenges and aspirations of a classical Hellenic heritage. Greeks in Chicago celebrates the rich history of the Greek community through copious pictorial documentation.

Cover image for Greeks in Chicago, isbn: 9780738561714

Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Zoological Society

9780738560922

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Brookfield Zoo first opened its gates to the public on July 1, 1934. The zoo has impressed millions with its barless exhibits--an innovation imported from Europe--and its expansive collection of rare and endangered species. Managed by the Chicago Zoological Society and located 14 miles west of the city's center, the zoo serves as an inspiring natural refuge for weary urbanites, while also drawing visitors from across the country with its innovative and expansive exhibits, unusual and diverse species, and gorgeous landscaping.

Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Zoological Society

Naperville, Illinois

9780738518954

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The remarkable city of Naperville, Illinois, began as an agrarian community in the mid-1800s. The rich prairie filled the grain elevators and cattle were shipped to the Chicago "Yards." Through the medium of historic photographs, this book captures the evolution of the people of Naperville, from the mid-1800s to the present day. These pages bring to life the people, events, communities, and industries that helped to shape and transform Naperville. With more than 200 vintage images, Naperville, Illinois, portrays a community that is both idyllic and contemporary. This book takes readers back to Naperville's simpler days, and provides a glimpse as to how this community grew into a new mecca. Business and commerce thrive, the schools offer quality education, city services are national award-winning, cultural activities are diverse and plentiful, and traditions blend easily with the future.

Cover image for Naperville, Illinois, isbn: 9780738518954

Madison County

9780738599830

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On September 14, 1812, territorial governor Ninian Edwards set aside the third county of the Illinois Territory and named it Madison for his friend Pres. James Madison. The boundaries of the newly created Madison County extended from its current southern border to the northern border of the Illinois territory and from the Wabash River on the east to the Mississippi River on the west. There were only a few settlements, and the daily life of the early pioneers consisted of the hard work required to survive. But the settlers did survive, and the county grew in population while shrinking to its current geographical size. Small settlements became thriving communities, such as Edwardsville, Alton, Collinsville, Highland, Granite City, and many others. In 200 years, the county has moved from an economy based almost completely on agriculture to one that has included railroads, flour mills, coal mines, steel mills, and oil refineries.

Chicago's Forgotten Synagogues

9780738551524

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

The disappearing history of Chicago's Jewish past can be found in the religious architecture of its stately synagogues and communal buildings. Whether modest or majestic, wood or stone, the buildings reflected their members' views on faith and their commitment to the neighborhoods where they lived in a time when individuals and the community were inseparable from their neighborhood synagogues, temples, and shuls. From Chicago's oldest Jewish congregation, Kehilath Anshe Maariv Temple (Pilgrim Baptist), to Ohave Sholom (St. Basils Greek Orthodox), to Kehilath Anshe Maariv's last independent building (Operation Push), come and explore Chicago's forgotten synagogues and communal buildings. Nearly 150 years of Chicago history unfolds in Chicago's Forgotten Synagogues as the photographs and accompanying stories tell of the synagogues' past greatness and their present and uncertain future.

Cover image for Chicago's Forgotten Synagogues, isbn: 9780738551524

Chicago's Opulent Age 1870s-1940s in Vintage Postcards

9780738519036

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Chicago's Opulent Age examines the buildings, events, parks, and people of the city from the 1870s through the 1940s. Also featured are ""funlands,"" fairs, sculptures, and transportation.

The fires that destroyed Chicago in the 1870s just happened to be events that have led to the city's importance today. Chicago, after the destruction of its downtown, was free to use new architectural concepts and to examine how to use its crowded land space. It was free to reinvent itself. Soon, new Jenny-inspired ""tower"" buildings began to claw their way into the sky, enabling the city to concentrate its commercial core. By the turn of the century, Chicago had added many lakefront buildings, parks, and temples of art and music, built an elevated railway system, and hosted a World's Fair. Chicago was the first city to let the inventiveness of industrialism mold the way it went about its business and pastimes. More than 200 pictures and colorful narratives provide a fitting tribute to the past history of this great city.

Chicago's Opulent Age 1870s-1940s in Vintage Postcards

Chicago Cubs

9780738577951

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

The world of sports in the earlier decades of the 20th century certainly wasn’t like the one we know today—it’s even wilder.

From the Roaring Twenties and up to the golden age of the 1950s, chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. owned both the Chicago Cubs and Santa Catalina Island in Southern California, so despite being over 2000 miles apart, the team would hold their spring training on the island from 1921 to 1951. Despite a rigorous training schedule, the players obviously felt the sunshine on their faces and the sand between their toes, and decided to have some fun as well. It wouldn’t be unusual to find a rookie ballplayer (nicknamed Hack) uprooting trees with his bare hands or a future president of the United States getting into a barroom brawl with some grizzled sportswriters. Even movies stars such as Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe were known to drop by. There were grand steamships, big bands, hopes and dreams, and World Series rings—it’s Chicago Cubs: Baseball on Catalina Island.

Cover image for Chicago Cubs, isbn: 9780738577951

Loves Park

9780738590936

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Loves Park got its name from Malcolm A. Love, a Rockford industrialist and alderman who, in 1901, purchased 236 acres of land along the east bank of the Rock River just a few miles north of Rockford. Love used the property as a private retreat. Soon thereafter, a railroad was built through the area, and in the decades that followed, residences and businesses started to arrive. The city incorporated in 1947 with a population of 4,500. Once it was established, all the elements of a modern community followed, including police and fire departments, a library, churches, gas stations, restaurants, and other businesses. Since then, the city of almost 24,000 has continued to prosper and is now home to the annual Memorial Day Young at Heart Festival, which brings in people from all across northern Illinois, and RiverHawks Stadium, home of the Rockford RiverHawks Frontier League baseball team.

Cover image for Loves Park, isbn: 9780738590936

Starved Rock State Park

9780738551364

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Starved Rock State Park is located midway between Ottawa and LaSalle. The park has more than 2,630 acres that include 18 beautiful canyons and waterfalls. One of the largest Native American encampments, the Grand Village of the Kaskaskia was located near Starved Rock. Fr. Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet are believed to be the first white men to have set eyes upon the rock. Ren©-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, built Fort St. Louis on the rock. Legend has it that a band of Illinois Indians starved to death while seeking refuge from its enemies on the rock, hence the name Starved Rock. Starved Rock State Park has remained virtually
unchanged through the years as its history is told through the author's vintage postcards.

Chicago Entertainment

9780738523309

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Chicago has historically been a place of great energy and a showcase of modernity. Determined to wash away the recent memories of World War I, Chicagoans in the 1920s and into the 1930s set out to enjoy themselves, creating a Golden Age of popular entertainment envied throughout the world. Chicago Entertainment Between the Wars, 1919-1939 explores in detail the various old and new playing fields of entertainment that blossomed during this time period, such as dance halls, radio studios, rodeos, theaters, public mechanical musical machines, and movie palaces.

Bartlett

9780738523286

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

The Village of Bartlett got its official start on February 11, 1891 when the petition for incorporation was filed in Springfield, Illinois. Beginning with the fledgling Village that existed at the turn of the century and continuing through Bartlett's coming of age in the mid-1960s, Bartlett: Our Past and Our Progress chronicles the emergence of a community that has grown to epitomize the all-American town. This historical walk through Bartlett includes more than 200 images that portray many of the area's important firsts, as well as its ongoing traditions. It features photographs of significant local landmarks such as the first train depot, Immanuel United Church of Christ, Bartlett Grade School, and most importantly, many wonderful pictures of its residents--past and present. Residents have generously shared their photos and recollections with the Bartlett History Museum in order to tell the story of their hometown.

Mokena

9780738582726

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Founded in 1852 by Allen Denny, a War of 1812 veteran and operator on the Underground Railroad, Mokena has for over 150 years been a center of commerce and a transportation hub. Meaning "turtle" in the ancient Algonquin tongue that was fluently spoken in this region for centuries, Mokena rose to prominence with the completion of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad in 1852 and would bustle in the post-Civil War era. Home to such unique industries as the Mokena Mineral Springs and the Mitchel Brewery in the 20th century, the village is today a renowned suburb of Chicago.

Macon County

9780738541365

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Macon County occupies nearly 600 square miles of fertile farmland in the geographic center of Illinois. Abraham Lincoln made his first Illinois home here, on a pleasant bluff overlooking the Sangamon River, near presentday Harristown. On May 10, 1860, he was first nominated for the presidency in Decatur, the county seat. During the World War I era, Macon County boasted over a dozen hamlets and villages, including Warrensburg and Maroa, which both enjoyed opera houses and busy train stations. Maroa was home to John Crocker, who became a famous banker, while nearby Forsyth produced Black Bart, the infamous bank robber. After World War II, Decatur became known as the "soybean capital of the world." And today, agricultural and industrial workers depend on one another, growing and processing the corn and soybeans that have made Macon County a self-sustaining economic engine.

Cover image for Macon County, isbn: 9780738541365

Glencoe, Illinois

9780738520193

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Glencoe, Illinois, "Queen of Suburbs," has long been heralded as an idyllic place to live. Situated on Lake Michigan in the heart of Chicago's North Shore, Glencoe was first settled in 1835 by Anson Taylor, a young storekeeper. Glencoe began to thrive thanks to one of its famous early residents, Walter Gurnee, president of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad. Gurnee moved to Glencoe in the mid-1850s and in 1855 established a railroad stop across the street from his home. His presence accounts for the town's accessibility and nucleus, but it was the vision of Dr. Alexander Hammond, who arrived in Glencoe in 1867, that helped to shape it into the model suburban town it has become. It is the people of the past and present who are at the heart of this community. This collection of over 200 images captures the heart and spirit of this all-American suburb, from the village's founding and early history as a farming community and utopian settlement to the annual Fourth of July parades that continue to trumpet through the town's center.

Cover image for Glencoe, Illinois, isbn: 9780738520193

Glenwood

9780738583235

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The village of Glenwood, Illinois, was founded in 1846 as Hickory Bend--a good name considering the abundance of hickory trees in the area and the winding Thorn Creek, then known as Hickory Creek, running through it. The village most likely would have remained a small farming community had it not been for the decision of the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad to lay tracks through Hickory Bend. The settlement grew as the railroad developed. Glenwood is situated on the ancient coast of Lake Michigan known as the Glenwood Shoreline and is home to the Glenwood Manual Training School. Founded in 1887 with the help of Robert Todd Lincoln, the school became a residential institution for boys ages 8 through 16 who needed a home for one reason or another.

Galesburg

9781467114783

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The origins of Galesburg can be traced to a group of courageous pioneers who came to this gently rolling prairie in 1837 and founded Knox College and the town. The founders were staunch abolitionists, and Galesburg became a major stop on the Underground Railroad. Farmers bought land owned by the college and reaped bountiful harvests from the virgin soil. But, Galesburg was more than just a college and farming community. In the mid- and late-19th century, two major railroads came through town: the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q) and the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad. The CB&Q built one of the largest rail yards in the nation, and it is still expanding today. Manufacturers took advantage of Galesburg's ready transportation and able workforce, and the once-small town transformed into a successful municipality that offered good jobs and living wages. Small businesses and service companies thrived, and Main Street stores flourished. Images of America: Galesburg contains never-before-published images that show how Galesburg citizens worked, played, and worshipped from the 1880s to the 1960s.

Vandalia, Illinois

9780738507941

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Situated on the Kaskaskia River is the community of Vandalia, Illinois, a town proud of its place in history and excited about its future. Vandalia has proved that as the place where Abraham Lincoln began his political career, and the location of the terminus of the Cumberland Road, it is a town of global historical importance.

Vandalia, Illinois contains many previously unpublished photographs, and not only highlights Vandalia's place in Illinois state politics, but also touches on those unique individuals, families, events, and businesses that helped shape it. Vandalia served as Illinois' capital from 1819-1839, when Springfield took over that honor. During the 20 years it served as the capital of Illinois, Vandalia became the starting point for many political and professional careers-most notably a young, beardless Abe Lincoln.

Cover image for Vandalia, Illinois, isbn: 9780738507941

Robinson and Crawford County

9780738540290

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The histories of Robinson, Palestine, and Oblong, along with the smaller towns of Crawford County, are rich and colorful, reaching back to 1680 when a French trading post was established near the Wabash River. In these pages, readers will learn about Crawford County's Pioneer City and where Abraham Lincoln stayed when his family came through to purchase land and will see homes and businesses of the prodigious leaders of Robinson and their improvements to this rural area. Readers will experience the oil boom of the early 1900s, the horrible fate of the Hutson family, the flying Rousch brothers, and the life of James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity.

Haunted Macomb

9781596290976

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

The Illinois town of Macomb is the perfect example of an old prairie town that has grown from an unforgiving frontier into a modern and diverse community in the twenty-first century. Since 1828, spirits of departed citizens have stubbornly remained dead above ground within the county. Meet the Woman in Black, who gave the coal-mining community of Colchester an additional burden of dread to the one they faced every day beneath the earth. Both kindness and suffering indelibly mark the old orphanage where the unselfish hands of Josie Westfall still care for unseen children. And then there's the presence of Belulah Wagle, the brutally murdered wife of a bootlegger, in the cemetery where her remains were finally laid to rest. Garret Moffett will guide you among witches and poltergeists in this expert tour of Macomb's haunted history.

Elmwood Park

9781467111201

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In less than 50 years, Elmwood Park transformed itself from ""prairie to prosperity.""

Fertile lands once home to Native Americans sprouted a development unlike any that had ever been seen in the Chicago area. The Westwood subdivision, started by John Mills just before the start of the Great Depression, resulted in the construction of over 1,500 brick bungalows in two years. A second postwar boom coincided with the Italian American migration from the old Chicago neighborhoods. The next 50 years would see continued growth and change. When people think of Elmwood Park, images of food often accompany those thoughts. Envisioning a barbecue pork sandwich or a ""combo, juicy, sweet and large ice, no-lid"" brings back memories of standing in long lines, cash in hand, among people of all races united in the desire to satisfy their appetites.

Italians in Chicago

9780738550459

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In over 200 images accompanied by an insightful narrative, this collection uncovers the trials and triumphs of migration, ethnic survival, and daily life.

Italians have been a part of the Chicago communitysince the 1850s. The city's Italian immigration ratepeaked in 1914, and many of these new residents settled in neighborhoods on the north, west, and south sides of the Loop and in the industrial suburbs of Chicago. An intriguing visual tour, Italians in Chicago explores the lives of over four generations of the community's residents and experiences.

Cover image for Italians in Chicago, isbn: 9780738550459

Barrington

9780738588568

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Barrington, located between Chicago and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, along the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad corridor (now Metra), has enriched area history from the days of the Potawatomi Indians through the railroad age. Later, Barrington became the stage for relaxed country living away from the busy financial and industrial districts of Chicago. Businesses, churches, and architecture are captured in these historical postcard photographs, along with the people who helped the community grow and prosper.

Unknown Chicago Tales

9781467147521

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Chicago's most famous stories tend to crowd out the competition and shout down alternate perspectives. Visit with the man who founded a 150-year-long Chicago political dynasty. Take a peek at some of the lesser-known Chicago film classics. Review Professor Moriarty's Chicago caper and Annie Oakley's cocaine case. Uncover the lengths to which Chicago's long-celebrated Mr. Pioneer Settler went to keep a slave. Discover why the Kennedy curves at Division Street and why the county jail saved a gallows for fifty years. From Death Valley Scotty's wild ride to the bowling ball that went around the world, John Schmidt provides a parade of Chicago originals.

Comiskey Park

9780738532448

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The Chicago White Sox opened Comiskey Park on July 1, 1910. Their owner, Charles Comiskey, wanted a new, modern, park made of steel and concrete to replace the old South Side Park. Comiskey Park was the home of the White Sox for the next 80 years, and over 72 million fans saw games there. This book recounts the history of the storied ballpark and the great events and ballplayers that made it famous. The Sox won all three World Series games played at Comiskey in 1917, the year of their only championship. It was followed two years later by the infamous Black Sox Scandal. In 1960, then owner Bill Veeck, one of the great innovators in the game's history, installed the first exploding scoreboard in center field. Starting in 1969, Comiskey had a unique playing field for several years; artificial turf on the infield, and natural grass in the outfield. Comiskey Park last hosted the World Series in 1959, when the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Sox four games to two. All-star players and fan favorites always made a trip to Comiskey worthwhile, and the Sox have fielded their share of Hall-of-Famers through the years, including Luke Appling, Nellie Fox, Eddie Collins, Luis Aparicio, and Carlton Fisk.

Chicago Heights

9780738532066

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Chicago Heights is a multicultural tableau, depicting the story of nineteenth-century pioneers and twentieth-century workers who built one of the most vibrant of the small, industrial cities of the Midwest. The exciting collection featured here is a result of an intensive city-wide campaign to identify the very best photographs of old Chicago Heights.

About half came from the extensive collections of the Public Library and the Historical Society, while the rest were borrowed from local residents. This fascinating compilation features various past and present residents of Chicago Heights, a look at its diverse ethnic groups and religious denominations, and glimpses of old downtown buildings that no longer exist. The city's church groups, ethnic clubs, businesses, factories, and transportation facilities are all pictured here. Along with detailed captions, Chicago Heights offers the rare chance to experience the history of old Chicago Heights, bringing its exciting past alive again.

Cover image for Chicago Heights, isbn: 9780738532066

St. Charles

9780738501253

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St. Charles has long been a recreational delight for its citizens and a popular destination for visitors. The area played a significant role in the Civil War; it was the site of active abolitionist and underground railroad movements, and Camp Kane served as a training ground for Union soldiers. This new addition to the Images of America series showcases in historic photographs the people and events that helped to shape the St. Charles of today. Beginning in the 1830s with founders and early entrepreneurs Minard, Ferson, and Hunt, this visual tour explores the city's progress through the 1930s. Scenes of lazy summer days spent camping, swimming, and picnicking on the banks of the Fox River come alive within these pages, and images of early industry show the importance of the area's farming and livestock. Vintage photographs of local companies such as Cable Piano, Moline Malleable Iron, and Crown Electric are also featured.

Chicago's Southeast Side

9780738534039

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Steel and the steel industry are the backbone of Chicago's southeast side, an often overlooked neighborhood with a rich ethnic heritage.

Bolstered by the prosperous steel industry, the community attracted numerous, strong-willed people with a desire to work from distinct cultural backgrounds. In recent years, the vitality of the steel industry has diminished. Chicago's Southeast Side displays many rare and interesting pictures that capture the spirit of the community when the steel industry was a vibrant force. Although annexed in 1889 by the city of Chicago, the community has maintained its own identity through the years. In an attempt to remain connected to their homelands, many immigrants established businesses, churches, and organizations to ease their transition to a new and unfamiliar land. The southeast side had its own schools, shopping districts, and factories. As a result, it became a prosperous, yet separate, enclave within the city of Chicago.

Lombard's Lilac Time

9780738578040

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Lombard has been called the Lilac Village since the late 1920s when William R. Plum, affectionately known as the Colonel, bestowed his world-renowned lilac collection to the village for use as its first public park. Colonel Plum's 2.5-acre estate was known as Lilacia and began in 1911 after a trip to the Lemoine Lilac Gardens in France. By the time Plum passed away in 1927, he had amassed over 200 varieties of lilacs and had the largest collection of French hybrids in the world. Jens Jensen, the famous landscape architect, designed a public space out of Plum's lilac collection with winding paths of native limestone, tulips by the thousands, and a lily pond in the park. The first community-wide Lilac Festival was held in May of 1930, unveiling Jensen's Lilacia and including a Lilac Queen and Court, a pageant, parade, and wide variety of events and festivities celebrating the village's new park.

Cover image for Lombard's Lilac Time, isbn: 9780738578040

Princeton

9780738578187

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In 1831, the settlement of Princeton, Illinois, began as families from New England, and later the Mid-Atlantic states, traveled West seeking good land. These early settlers built the Hampshire Colony Congregational Church. Rev. Owen Lovejoy, one of its earliest pastors, became a well-known abolitionist and used his Princeton home to harbor runaway slaves. Before the Civil War, Princeton citizens convinced Burlington Railroad to lay rails within a mile of their town. The community expanded its main street to meet the railroad and insure the town's growth. Today Princeton remains a richly endowed and vital community, set in the peaceful countryside of North Central Illinois.

Chicago Motor Coach Company

9781467102452

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Chicago Motor Coach Company chronicles an era in Chicago when buses first traversed the city's park district boulevards, including the Magnificent Mile. Streetcars were not allowed on the boulevards; this situation paved the way for the first motor bus operation, Sheridan Road on the North Side, in 1917. By 1922, John D. Hertz would purchase the Sheridan Road line and secure franchises to operate over the boulevards on the South and West Sides. The Chicago Motor Coach Company was now born, along with the bus-building industry. From a Hertz plant in Chicago, it would become General Motors Truck and Coach Division at Pontiac, Michigan, the largest producer of transit buses in the world. In 1952, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) would purchase the Chicago Motor Coach Company.

Cover image for Chicago Motor Coach Company, isbn: 9781467102452

I Grew Up in War Housing

9781641120050

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At the start of WWII, two government defense housing projects were built in East Alton, Illinois. These projects became known as the "defense area," where author Phillip Walkington lived from birth through high school. Although intimately familiar with his surroundings, he never perceived their unique place in history as the unintended results of a plan to offset issues created by World War II. In I Grew Up in War Housing, a never-before-documented piece of history comes to light. War workers came to these defense areas in a steady stream seeking employment, and though jobs were to be had, there was nowhere for the influx of workers to call home. Multiple tiers of government worked together to build the defense housing projects under the Lanham Act, which provided federal funds to defense-impacted communities where the population had soared and local facilities were overwhelmed. Written to praise the war workers who in-migrated throughout America to support the war effort--and for his father, who was one of those workers--Walkington's I Grew Up in War Housing is a firsthand account of an exceptional place created during an unparalleled time in history.

Italians in Chicago

9780738583648

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Drawn from scores of family albums, these intimate snapshots tell the story of the unique and universal saga of Italian immigration and life in Chicago.

More than 25,000 Italian immigrants came to Chicago after 1945. The story of their exodus and reestablishment in Chicago touches on war torn Italy, the renewal of family and paesani connections, the bureaucratic challenges of the restrictive quota system, the energy and spirit of the new immigrants, and the opportunities and frustrations in American society.

Wicked Northern Illinois

9781596292789

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From the secrets of Joliet Penitentiary to the ferocious gunfights between the Ku Klux Klan and the Shelton Gang, Troy Taylor takes the measure of the dishonest sweat and innocent blood poured into the prairies of Northern Illinois. Meet the "fallen angels" of Decatur's red-light district, the Springfield counterfeiters who bungled stealing Lincoln's bones and the Aurora man who propped up his porch with the heads of his wife and brother-in-law. And if you dare, eavesdrop on the chilling confession of a man who left a dancer's corpse to the mercy of the railroad tracks: "So, I pat them on the cheek, call them sweet names, and kill them."

Kane County in Vintage Postcards

9780738518664

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Rich land at the edge of a great prairie with the wonderful Fox River flowing through it, providing a source of power-this is what the settlers of Kane County found when they arrived. Early pioneers came from the eastern United States in the 1830s, and later migrated from Europe. Kane County in Vintage Postcards tells the story of the beginning of Kane County through its first 100 years, 1838 through 1938, featuring images of that period.

This new history of Kane County includes an essay on the importance of postcards as historical data, a general history of the county, and a section-by-section look at 27 cities and villages. More than 200 pictures and colorful narratives tell of the accomplishments by those first few generations who lived and died in the county.

Plainfield

9780738594385

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Plainfield is Will County's oldest community. The area along the DuPage River was originally home to the Potawatomi Indians. By 1830, a small settlement called Walker's Grove was developed along the DuPage River south of where the village is located today. During the Black Hawk War, these settlers constructed and took refuge at Fort Beggs, named after Rev. Stephen Beggs. In 1834, the village of Plainfield was platted by Chester Ingersoll. This book spans the early settlement, the Civil War years, and the commercial development of the 19th century well into the 20th century and includes a chapter on the 1990 tornado. Tim and Michelle will share the many images taken from early glass negatives in addition to a collection of rare documents and paper items from early Plainfield. These images lend the opportunity to reflect upon Plainfield's rich history.

Hoopeston

9781467114240

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Hoopeston is the second-largest rural town in northern Vermilion County. It was founded in 1871 but was not incorporated until 1874. The area was originally settled as three towns: Hoopeston, North Hoopeston, and Leeds. Today, it has the distinction of being the only town by this name in the United States. Big Ten basketball coach Thad Matta, a former graduate of Hoopeston High School, and Frank Gustine, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates when he turned 19 in 1939, are both local legends. Jean Hixson earned her pilot's license at 18 years of age and went on to serve with the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II and was a member of the NASA's Mercury 13 astronaut program in 1961. Hoopeston is the home of the National Sweetcorn Festival and the National Sweetheart Pageant, a stepping-stone to the Miss America Pageant. To date, nine young women who have competed in Hoopeston's National Sweetheart Pageant have gone on to win the Miss America Pageant.

Bolingbrook

9781467114257

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The intersection of I-55 and Illinois Route 53, a major north-south road in DuPage Township, became a stopping-off place for travelers after the US government paved Route 66, the Mother Road, into four lanes in 1959. West Hill Construction Company, or rather Mr. Dover, launched an advertising campaign that promised housing developments for a youthful population wanting their own home and wide-open spaces to raise children. A 1960 plat map filed in Will County shows the first five lots for Bolingbrook subdivision unit one along Route 53. Within five years, Westbury, Colonial Village, and King's Park were built, and 5,000 people accepted Mr. Dover's invitation to buy a home. Bolingbrook incorporated five years later in October 1965. Today, 50 years later, Bolingbrook contains 23,665 housing units spread over 25 square miles and is home to a diverse population of 74,411. How Bolingbrook grew from Pathways of the Past and Future to A Place to Grow is an interesting story to celebrate.

Cover image for Bolingbrook, isbn: 9781467114257

Assyrian American Association of Chicago

9781467102759

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In 1917, the Assyrian American Association was founded and established in Chicago by those arriving in the United States in an effort to unite the growing community, aid newcomers, and celebrate cultural heritage. The first wave of Assyrians came to Chicago in the late 1800s. Their success prompted successive migration, particularly during World War I, when the Ottoman Campaigns incited massacres in Turkey and Iran and prompted survivors to flee. Although 100 years have passed, the organization remains a pillar of the Assyrian community in Chicago and a prized secular organization in the United States. Cultural activities such as shows and lectures by artists, sponsored by the association, are yet another means of bringing the Chicago community together for shared enjoyment. These pages are filled with old and new photographs that bring the organization's history to life and provide a firsthand look into the past and present.

Cover image for Assyrian American Association of Chicago, isbn: 9781467102759

Chicago Skyscrapers in Vintage Postcards

9780738533421

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The skyscraper has changed the face of urban architecture--and it all started in Chicago. Born out of the ashes of Chicago's Great Fire of 1871, the first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building located at the northeast corner of LaSalle and Adams Streets, was completed in 1885. Designed by William Le Baron Jenney, the nine-story building had a metal load-carrying structural frame, the development of which led to steel-frame skeletal construction and the taller skyscrapers that would follow. Much has changed in skyscraper construction since 1885. But Chicago's impressive urban landscape has maintained its important place in architectural history and today boasts the tallest skyscraper in North America, at 110 stories.

Chicago Skyscrapers in Vintage Postcards

Chicago Beer

9781467149259

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Long before corner bars stitched the social fabric of Chicago's neighborhoods together, raucous pioneers like Mark Beaubien were fermenting over the untapped potential of the unbroken prairie. Take a determined saunter from the clamor of Chicago's first breweries, through the hidden passages of thousands of speakeasies and then back into the current of the contemporary craft beer revival. Follow a path plastered with portraits of infamous saloonkeepers and profiles of historic bars. Author June Sawyers serves as an expert guide, stopping every so often to collect a vintage beer label, explain an original recipe or salute the heady history that sits atop the City of Big Shoulders.

Westmont

9781467105842

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At the time of its incorporation, Westmont was the home of rolling prairie and vast swaths of farmland. Over the next 100 years, Westmont grew into a place known for its small-town charm and close-knit community. Over the course of its history, the "Progressive Village" would find itself tied to the Great Chicago Fire, Prohibition, the godfather of Chicago blues music, and the international Beanie Babies craze. It is a town that has thrived on community involvement, from its humble beginnings with an all-volunteer fire department to its current reputation for having some of the best volunteer-led events in all of Chicagoland. Westmont is a proud community that cares for its citizens and celebrates their accomplishments.

River Grove

9781467129732

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For well over its 130-year existence, River Grove has been a place to call home, first by the Native American tribes, then by a few settlers—mostly of Germanic origin—to the melting pot it has become today. Through photographs, the reader will travel from the farmlands it once contained to a Polynesian paradise nestled near the banks of the Des Plaines River; a town where a thirsty whale could satisfy its appetite with legendary Vienna Red Hots, no ketchup, of course, and a mai tai. Considered a real-life Mayberry by longtime residents, it continues to have that small-town feel amid the hustle and bustle of a village bordering the metropolis that is Chicago. The oldest town in Leyden Township has literally weathered many storms—and floods—and as the townsfolk stood shoulder to shoulder filling sandbags, they realized that they indeed inhabit a village of friendly neighbors.

Cover image for River Grove, isbn: 9781467129732

Oak Ridge Cemetery

9780738577234

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Springfield's historic Oak Ridge Cemetery is accounted second only to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., as the most visited cemetery in the United States. The burial place of Abraham Lincoln, Oak Ridge's dramatically landscaped grounds are an important contribution to American landscape architecture. A portrait of Victorian sentimentalizing of death, Oak Ridge provides a sublime backdrop for contemplating life. Unlike grim churchyards and bleak graveyards, rural cemeteries are places of great beauty for the living who continue to use them for walking, riding, and quiet reflection. But Oak Ridge's peacefulness has occasionally been disturbed, as in 1876 when gunfire rang out while secret service agents attempted to catch grave robbers who had broken into the Lincoln Tomb.

Witchcraft in Illinois

9781625858764

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For the first time in print, Michael Kleen presents the full story of the Prairie State's dalliance with the dark arts.

Although Illinois saw no dramatic witch trials, witchcraft has been a part of Illinois history and culture from French exploration to the present day. On the Illinois frontier, pioneers pressed silver dimes into musket balls to ward off witches, while farmers dutifully erected fence posts according to phases of the moon. In 1904, the quiet town of Quincy was shocked to learn of Bessie Bement's suicide, after the young woman sought help from a witch doctor to break a hex. In turn-of-the-century Chicago, Lauron William de Laurence's occult publishing house churned out manuals for performing bizarre rituals intended to attract love and exact revenge.

Cover image for Witchcraft in Illinois, isbn: 9781625858764

The Great Chicago Beer Riot

9781467118903

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In 1855, when Chicago's recently elected mayor Levi Boone pushed through a law forbidding the sale of alcohol on Sunday, the city pushed back. To the German community, the move seemed a deliberate provocation from Boone's stridently anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party. Beer formed the centerpiece of German Sunday gatherings, and robbing them of it on their only day off was a slap in the face. On April 21, 1855, an armed mob poured across the Clark Street Bridge and advanced on city hall. The Chicago Lager Riot resulted in at least one death, nineteen injuries and sixty arrests. It also led to the creation of a modern police department and the political alliances that helped put Abraham Lincoln in the White House. Authors Judy E. Brady and John F. Hogan explore the riot and its aftermath, from pint glass to bully pulpit.

Cover image for The Great Chicago Beer Riot, isbn: 9781467118903

East Peoria

9781467110075

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East Peoria is unique with its hills and valleys, scenic bluffs, and views of the Illinois River. Native Americans and early settlers were drawn here, but taming the land did not come without its hardships; the area was prone to floods. Joseph Schertz first platted what was known as Bluetown in 1864. The area's resources attracted industry, and the town thrived. The city of East Peoria was established in 1919. This collection of photographs provides a glimpse into the past lives of those who lived, worked, and played in the community. Much like today, the East Peoria residents of yesteryear included business owners, firefighters, musicians, teachers, churchgoers, laborers, and more. Other photographs illustrate the hardships people endured to pave the way for generations to come. Many locals will recognize names such as Davis, Sommerfield, and Spinder, as well as the city's former landmarks.

Serbs in Chicagoland

9781467112307

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Chicagoland boasts the world's largest population of Serbs outside of Serbia. Seeking economic opportunities and religious freedom, Serbs first settled in the area more than 100 years ago. Many found work in steel mills and other industries along the banks of Lake Michigan. The first Serbian Orthodox church in the Chicago area began serving parishioners in 1911, and more than a dozen additional congregations were built for the growing numbers of Serbs who arrived after World War II. Civic organizations, such as the Circle of Serbian Sisters, were established to honor and uphold customs from the old country. Traditional Kolo dancing groups, tambura ensembles, and performance troupes have entertained Serbs and non-Serbs alike. Actor Karl Malden, perhaps the most famous Serbian American from the Chicagoland area, first took the stage in theater productions at his family's Gary, Indiana, Serbian Orthodox church. After the devastating wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, a new wave of Serbian immigrants arrived in Chicago, demonstrating that the city remains a welcoming place due to its abundance of Serbian culture, churches, and community.