Name: Scots of Chicago's North Shore
Brand: David Forlow
SKU: 9781467104302
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Scots of Chicago's North Shore

9781467104302

$24.99

Scots helped found Lake Forest, and hundreds of native-born Scots settled there. The Scottish influence is evident in town names along Chicago's North Shore like Glencoe, Bannockburn, Milburn, and Dundee. The Keith family theater chain became RKO Studios with Scots-born J.J. Murdock as president. James Simpson was CEO of Marshall Field and Company and oversaw the building of the Merchandise Mart. After Simpson, a series of Scots ran Fields: John McKinlay, James McKinsey, and Hughston McBain. Scots partnered to form Carson Pirie & Scott. They also founded Douglas and Stuart Oats, which became Quaker Oats. Hugh Robertson was president of the Zenith Corporation, and the Armour family operated one of the largest meatpacking companies in the world. Only slightly smaller was Wilson Meats, which later spun off Wilson Sporting Goods. This book tells the story of these Scots and many others.

Cover image for Scots of Chicago's North Shore, isbn: 9781467104302

Chicago Sluggers

9780738533940

$21.99

The Chicago White Stockings--later renamed the Cubs--won the inaugural National League Pennant in 1876 with a barrage of offensive numbers. Ross Barnes led the league at a .421 clip, and three other Chicago batters finished among the league's top five hitters. Even pitcher Al Spalding hit an impressive .312. Thus began the "northsiders" tradition of producing some of the major leagues' greatest sluggers--including "Cap" Anson, "Gabby" Hartnett, and "Hack" Wilson.

The Chicago White Sox--still named the White Sox--won the inaugural American League Pennant in 1901, led by Fielder Jones' .311 average for a team built more around pitching than hitting--a team that won its first World Series title in 1906 with the nickname "The Hitless Wonders." But the "southsiders" also put up some lofty offensive numbers with the likes of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Eddie Collins.

Cover image for Chicago Sluggers, isbn: 9780738533940

Hudson

9780738583419

$24.99

The village of Hudson greets visitors with signs stating, Pride of the Prairie. The first settlers arrived in Hudson Township in 1829, settling near a Potawatomi Indian village about 1 mile west of where Hudson now stands. The boulder identifying the last stand of the Potawatomi village in McLean County was placed near the village's origin in 1920. The boyhood home of the famous author and philosopher Elbert Hubbard, built in 1857, still stands at Broadway and Walnut Streets. Constructed in 1929, the man-made Lake Bloomington offers both residential and recreation areas. The Evergreen Lake area includes a county park with camping, picnic areas, and a beach. In Hudson, readers will catch glimpses of these things and more: the past 175 years of people, agriculture, organizations, churches, and schools—all built on the strong foundation of the early settlers.

Cover image for Hudson, isbn: 9780738583419

The University of St. Francis

9780738584164

$24.99

The story of the University of St. Francis began in 1920 when the seeds were planted for Assisi Junior College. The school's evolution continued when, as the College of St. Francis, it awarded bachelor's degrees in 1930, became coeducational in 1970, and attained university status in 1998. The university owes its existence to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate, founded by Mother Alfred Moes in 1865, with Mother Thomasine Fryewska serving as the first president of the institution. Currently this vibrant community claims over 3,500 students on the main campus in Joliet, the many off-campus sites, and online. Throughout the years, the school has grown, adding buildings, programs, and students, but has remained rooted in its Franciscan identity of respect, service, integrity, and compassion.

Cover of a history book about The University of St. Francis featuring a sepia campus image

Mascoutah

9780738583808

$24.99

German emigrants established Mascoutah in 1837, naming it after the Mascouten Indians. Despite being located in an area filled with swamps, snakes, and disease, the village prospered, owing primarily to a flour mill that drew farmers into town. This brought customers to merchants and tradesmen. By the 1850s, Mascoutah was thriving and had established itself as the social and cultural center of the surrounding area. By 1900, it was the third-largest town in St. Clair County and one of the most progressive. World War I, the establishment of Scott Air Force Base, Prohibition, and the Great Depression soon altered the course of Mascoutah's history, but the town retained its resiliency. For over 170 years, Mascoutah has grown and adapted to meet a changing world, retaining its small-town flair and pride in its German heritage.

Cover of Mascoutah Postcard History Series featuring a vintage street scene in Mascoutah with parked cars

Godfrey

9781467110693

$24.99

Capt. Benjamin Godfrey founded Monticello, which later became Godfrey, after he settled in present-day Godfrey Township in 1834. The rolling hills and genteel settlers, including E.A. Riehl and Charles Lock, reminded him of his native New England. The region's first families set the tone for what would become the village of Godfrey, which today is a sylvan community of growth and innovation. Benjamin Godfrey founded Monticello Female Seminary, the first such institution in the West, and it became the centerpiece of the town. The original buildings, now a part of Lewis and Clark Community College, remain the village's most distinctive landmarks. The Godfrey region also served as a vital link in transportation, with interstate steamboats and railroads. Today, Godfrey is a growing bedroom community along a new Illinois highway extension. Godfrey also preserves its magnificent bluffs along the Mississippi River through the Great Rivers Land Trust and other similar organizations, parks, preserves, and green space.

Godfrey cover from Images of America with two fishermen on a rocky riverside casting from the bank.

Distilled in Chicago

9781467152280

$23.99

From the mash in pioneer stills to the Malört in a hipster’s shot glass , David Witter explores how liquor has influenced nearly two centuries of Chicago’s existence.

Follow the trickle of alcohol through Chicago’s history, starting with the town’s first three permanent businesses: The Wolf, Green Tree and Eagle Exchange Taverns. Stir together stories from the Peoria Whiskey Trust and the Temperance Movement. The cocktails that lubricated the Levee District may have set up Chicago’s first gangsters, but Prohibition-era bootleggers would change the city’s identity forever. Post-Prohibition alcohol helped to create vast fortunes for Chicago based families and corporations, and the new Millennium saw KOVAL usher in a new era small and craft distilleries throughout Chicagoland. Sample a spirited history of the Windy City.

Cover image for Distilled in Chicago, isbn: 9781467152280

Chicago by the Pint

9781609491253

$23.99

Belly up to the bar and take a swig of Chicago's beer history with this new look at the Windy City's best and most historic brews and breweries. Included are Chicago's most prominent and significant craft breweries, with intricate details on history, important personalities and events in the breweries' past, top beers and more.

Cover image for Chicago by the Pint, isbn: 9781609491253

Legendary Locals of Wheaton

9781467100113

$24.99

A city is not merely its structures but also its citizens, the men and women working hard and raising families, aspiring to ideals or lofty dreams. Since its founding as a farm community by tough New England sodbusters, Wheaton has provided residency for an amazing array of personalities, from ex-slave William Osborne to astronaut Shannon Lucid, from sculptors to preachers, from intensely focused athletes to ordinary citizens performing extraordinary, selfless acts. As Carl Sandburg, poet laureate of Illinois, mused, These are the people, with flaws and failings, with patience, sacrifice, devotion, the people. Portraying glimpses of their humor, insight, dedication, and ability, this book seeks to celebrate only a fraction of these fascinating individuals, the true heart and soul of the city—and the nation.

Cover image for Legendary Locals of Wheaton, isbn: 9781467100113

Trailside Museum

9781467113410

$24.99

On October 8, 1930, Charles Cap Sauers, general superintendent of the Cook County Forest Preserve District, wrote a letter to Alfred M. Bailey, director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, about an idea he had. He proposed developing several nature study museums with the support of Bailey and the Academy of Sciences. Bailey eagerly wrote to Sauers that he had the Academy's full cooperation. By 1932, the Trailside Museum of Natural History was opened in River Forest, Illinois, the first of its kind in the Midwest. Several curators would come and go, but one in particular, Virginia Moe, dedicated more than 50 years of her life to the museum, animals, and people of Cook County. This is truly her story.

Cover image for Trailside Museum, isbn: 9781467113410

German Chicago Revisited

9780738518640

$24.99

German Chicago Revisited follows the photographic study which began in German Chicago: The Danube Swabians and the American Aid Societies. With this latest title in the Images of America series, historian and photographer Raymond Lohne crafts another volume about a group of American citizens who preserve their rich heritage with unwavering effort.

This book will give readers a glimpse into the life of a close-knit and highly active community, revealing groups like the Kerneir Pleasure Club, the American Aid Society, and the Society of the Danube Swabians. The German musical life of the city is featured, as is the Karneval season and other year-round festivities and celebrations of the Deutsch-Americans of Chicago and its suburbs.

Parade float with people in early 20th century attire against a city skyline; cover of German Chicago Revisited

Bensenville

9781467129305

$23.99

Bensenville is more than just an immediate neighbor of O'Hare International Airport. Taking its name from the German town of Bensen, it was established by a group of devout Lutherans. When it was incorporated in 1884, Bensenville was already a vibrant community of hardworking dairy farmers. Settlers first arrived in the mid-1830s; the growth of the dairy industry was a response to demand for dairy products at Chicago markets. The railroad brought these products into the city but also brought a demand for more laborers, which introduced a more diverse population, including many Mexican families. O'Hare dramatically impacted the village, wiping part of it off the map, but Bensenville is coming back. Since 1960, the Bensenville Park District has afforded locals with recreational opportunities ranging from a golf course to a water park. The Bensenville Park District is also in charge of the preservation of Fischer Farm, a museum on the site of one of the area's oldest remaining homesteads that hosts educational programming, reenactments, and festivals.

Cover image for Bensenville, isbn: 9781467129305

Germantown

9780738582986

$24.99

Germantown is a unique community located 40 miles southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. It has a single Catholic church as its center and a rich German heritage. This is a pictorial history of the settlement that grew out of a desire for worship. The first German settlers came to Shoal Creek in 1833 and worshipped in a small house that contained neither benches nor chairs and had a split oak bench supported by four props that served as the communion rail. In 1837, the German homesteaders bought several tracts of land and reserved the ground in the center as church property. Preparations for the present stone building took two years, and it was completed in 1854. At that time, St. Boniface Catholic Church was the largest church in the state of Illinois. It is still referred to as the mother church of Clinton County.

Sepia toned Germantown cover from Images of America showing children outdoors

Central Michigan Avenue

9780738520247

$24.99

Today Chicago's Central Michigan Avenue is a busy commercial and cultural center situated on the beautiful lakefront. Easy access to office buildings, major cultural attractions, and parks makes it one of the premier tourist destinations in the city. This book traces the history of the avenue from the 1860s to the present day. Once a genteel residential neighborhood, Central Michigan Avenue was reborn after the 1871 Chicago fire. Over time a street wall of buildings took shape on the west side of the street. The east side of the avenue was designed to remain open to green parkland and water. In this book more than 180 photographs document the fascinating history of Chicago's front yard.

Cover image for Central Michigan Avenue, isbn: 9780738520247

Chicago's Monuments, Markers and Memorials

9780738520025

$24.99

Chicago is a city that is filled with history. In nearly every neighborhood monuments, markers, and memorials have been erected to commemorate this history. It is safe to say that Chicago has one of the richest collections of such commemorations to be found anywhere in the world. While many of these works were completed by local or virtually unknown artists, others were created by world renowned artists, architects, and sculptors, including Pablo Picasso, Lorado Taft, Louis Sullivan, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Whether they commemorate events like the Haymarket Riot, captains of industry like Marshall Field, sports heroes like Michael Jordan, or famous politicians like early Chicago mayor John Wentworth, each of Chicago's monuments, markers, and memorials has an interesting story to tell.

Cover image for Chicago's Monuments, Markers and Memorials, isbn: 9780738520025

Celebrating Palatine

9781467126885

$24.99

The first settlers came to the area that would become Palatine in 1837, shortly after a treaty with the local Indians. Farmers arrived first, merchants and tradesmen followed, and Palatine Township was formed in 1850. Joel Wood laid out a town and brought the railroad in 1855, and men of the area formed a Palatine company that fought in the Civil War.
On April 2, 1866, 73 men voted to incorporate the Village of Palatine. The town served as a commercial center for the farms surrounding it. Growth was slow, and the population of Palatine in 1945 was still only 4,000. Then came the post-World War II boom. Chicagoans spread out searching for affordable housing, and the jobs and highways followed. Palatine, 35 miles northwest of the city, thus came to be considered a suburb of Chicago and is one of its oldest to the northwest. Its population today exceeds 72,000 residents. The village held special events throughout 2016 to celebrate its sesquicentennial. The articles in this book, which were published in the Daily Herald, were part of that celebration.

Cover coming soon placeholder for Celebrating Palatine.

The University of Illinois at Chicago:

9780738507064

$24.99

The University of Illinois was founded in 1867 and expanded into Chicago in the 1890s. Through time, demands for the growth of the urban campus were answered. Under the leadership of Mayor Richard J.
Daley, the Circle Campus was created and located in 1965 on the Near West Side of Chicago in the historic Hull-House neighborhood. In 1982, Circle Campus joined with the Medical Center to form the University of Illinois at Chicago. With outreach programs coordinated in the Great Cities Initiative, the University recognized its urban location as a major strength. Over the last decade, UIC has helped to develop a new model of higher education: the comprehensive urban research university. This volume contains almost two hundred historic photographs that
serve as a rich record of the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois. Today, with 15 colleges located in a prominent urban setting, the campus is the largest and most diverse in the Chicago area, serving students from around the world. The University of Illinois at Chicago has grown to about 25,000 students, with 12,000 faculty and staff, and is one of the hundred largest research universities in the nation. It offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in more than 230 disciplines.

The University of Illinois at Chicago A Pictorial History cover showing students protesting with handwritten signs

Chicago's Italians:

9780738524566

$24.99

Since 1850, Chicago has felt the benefits of a vital Italian presence. These immigrants formed much of the unskilled workforce employed to build up this and many other major U.S. cities. From often meager and humble beginnings, Italians built and congregated in neighborhoods that came to define the Chicago landscape. Post-World War II development threatened this communal lifestyle, and subsequent generations of Italian Americans have been forced to face new challenges to retain their ethnic heritage and identity in a changing world. With the city's support, they are succeeding.

Cover image for Chicago's Italians:, isbn: 9780738524566

Chicago State University

9781467129794

$23.99

In 1867, a teacher training school was formed in a leaky railroad boxcar in Blue Island, Illinois. Over the next 150 years, the school grew from a rural county certificate-granting program to Chicago State University (CSU). During the 1930s, CSU was at the forefront of preparing teachers for diverse learners, and by the 1980s, the institution expanded its influence by partnering with international universities. At its inception, there were 13 pupils, and by the mid-1990s, the university had a student body exceeding 8,500 students. As the school grew, so did its influence. Now in the 21st century, CSU has become a hub for education, science and technology, and health professions, offering baccalaureate through doctoral degrees. In addition to academics, the institution has a rich history of student activism, athletics, and cultural activities.

Cover image for Chicago State University, isbn: 9781467129794

Libertyville

9780738583891

$24.99

The 1950s was a turning point for Libertyville; the town was growing up, transitioning from a quaint farming community into a vibrant upper-middle class suburban village. Carl Cizek documented this change in a series of photographs. Recaptured today, the images offer a visual journey of a maturing town. .

Libertyville Then and Now cover featuring a modern street scene above a vintage storefront photograph.

Early Chicago Hotels

9780738540412

$24.99

From their rise in the early 19th century, Chicago's hotels were bustling centers of city life. The Great Fire in October 1871 destroyed all of that. But it also gave the city an opportunity to begin again with a fresh palette of architectural ideas. By the World's Columbian Exposition
of 1893, Chicago had built over 1,400 hotels and lodging houses, establishing it as the nation's prime destination for business, conventions, and tourism. Early Chicago Hotels presents more than 200 postcards, inviting the reader to tour the stunning exterior and dazzling interior designs of Chicago's architects. The city's fi rst-class hotels, resorts, and lesser-known second-class hotels--many of which are long gone--are featured. These early hotels set the stage for the great palace hotels of the 1920s.

Cover of Early Chicago Hotels from the Postcard History Series showing a grand hotel lobby with a sweeping staircase.

King of the Gold Coast:

9781609493202

$21.99

Chicago's breathtaking Lake Shore Drive, with its beaches and luxury homes, has its origin in a neglected marsh and a clandestine land development. Meet the uncrowned king of the disputed shore, George Wellington Streeter, the outlandish swindler, unlikely hero and self-proclaimed founder of the Gold Coast who tried to secede from the state of Illinois. Opposing him was the quiet vision of Potter Palmer and the full weight of his investment syndicate. With this keen piece of investigative history, Wayne Klatt uncovers the secrets that both sides of the conflict managed to keep in spite of lawsuits, state inquiries, a presidential forgery and two murder trials.

Cover image for King of the Gold Coast:, isbn: 9781609493202

Remembering Champaign County

9781596299634

$21.99

Champaign County's history is an intriguing mix of hard living and higher learning, with a long tradition of bearing witness to progress. That progress was not without struggle, the arrival of the railroad came at a high cost in human life, and the arrival of racial integration was long overdue. These vignettes by former mayor Dannel McCollum provide a memorable glimpse into the heart of the county's history, uncovering new angles on old stories and preserving the familiar features of beloved characters. Reacquaint yourself with entrepreneur extraordinaire Benjamin Franklin Harris, as well as a promising lawyer by the name of Abraham Lincoln who defended the county's first convicted murderer. Then treat yourself to a brief dip into March Madness history with the Fighting Illini's 1989 surge to the Final Four.

Cover image for Remembering Champaign County, isbn: 9781596299634

Onarga

9780738560601

$24.99

How Onarga received its name remains a mystery. Realists believe Illinois Central Railroad land commissioner John Calhoun combined two or three consonants and added the necessary vowels to invent a nice-sounding town name. Many prairie towns in the 1850s, with the arrival of the railroads, received their names by this method. Romantics believe Onarga was named for a young Native American girl, Princess Onarga, daughter of an Iroquois Indian chief. Prior to the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, Native Americans controlled this part of Illinois, and among the roving tribes that crisscrossed the grand prairie were the powerful Iroquois. Legend says that when a name was proposed for the new town on the railroad, none better than Onarga was given. This mystery may never be solved, but the realists and romantics agree to disagree--agreeing foremost on celebrating and preserving the rich history of Onarga.

Cover of Images of America Onarga showing a historic two story house with people at the entrance.

North Park University

9780738560618

$24.99

North Park University was founded in Minneapolis in 1891 to provide basic education for Swedish immigrants and theological training for students entering the ministry. The school moved to the North Park community on the outskirts of Chicago in 1894. Since that time, the cornfields and cabbage patches in the area have given way to stores, bungalows, and apartment buildings, and the campus now covers 30 acres in a bustling urban neighborhood. The school has become an ethnically and racially diverse Christian university and seminary offering degrees in a wide range of disciplines and enrolling 3,300 students from across the country and around the world. It is one of the few evangelical Christian universities in the United States located in a major city.

Cover of a campus history book featuring North Park University building and a vintage group photo

Traveling Through Illinois

9781626190481

$21.99

If you have been driving through Illinois on I-55 and exclaimed, There's nothing out there but corn you aren't alone, but you couldn't be more wrong. Learn why Steven Spielberg visited Waggoner, Illinois, and what fruit Abraham Lincoln used to christen the town named after him, as well as what route was frequented by flesh-eating birds and what antique mall was said to harbor a spaceship. When you travel in the company of LuAnn Cadden and Ted Cable, every mile marker between Chicago and St. Louis hides a story, and even grain silos become adventure destinations.

Traveling Through Illinois book cover with an Interstate 55 sign over a city map and a Chicago skyline.

Springfield's Sculptures, Monuments, and Plaques

9780738551654

$24.99

Springfield is the capital of Illinois and the home of Abraham Lincoln and Vachel Lindsay. The city is filled with history, and that fact is reflected in the many sculptures, monuments, and plaques that have been commissioned to commemorate this history. The city contains more than 14 statues and busts of Abraham Lincoln. Famous sculptors have created 17 statues inside the state capitol alone, and 13 more statues and sculptures are located on the capitol grounds. The state's Capital Development Board sponsors the Art-in-Architecture program and provides funding for newly commissioned sculptures in state-funded public buildings. Several major American sculptors are represented in the many works, including Leonard Volk, Leonard Crunelle, Larkin Mead, Fred Torrey, and James Earl Fraser. Works of contemporary artists such as Michael Dunbar, Richard Hunt, and Preston Jackson are also present. Oak Ridge Cemetery contains four war memorials and Abraham Lincoln's tomb. Each of the sculptures, monuments, and plaques has a story to tell and helps to make Springfield's history come alive.

Cover of Springfield's Sculptures, Monuments, and Plaques showing a monument with statues and a crowd on steps

Chicago Marathon

9780738577180

$24.99

On Saturday, September 23, 1905, fifteen determined runners bolted at the sound of the starter's gun to begin an amazing journey of distance and endurance: the first Chicago Marathon. Huge crowds witnessed a thrilling race that had it all: action, disaster, suspense, a fallen favorite, and a cliff-hanger ending. It was epic, defining a new chapter in Chicago's athletic history. More than a century later, each year Chicago welcomes nearly 40,000 inspiring runners-from the world's best to complete novices-who will start, discover, battle, and ultimately finish something they once thought impossible, even ridiculous: the Chicago Marathon, all 26 miles, 385 yards. This book takes the reader into the marathon experience, including the sights, sounds, emotions, challenges, and achievements.

Cover image for Chicago Marathon, isbn: 9780738577180

It Didn't Play in Peoria

9780738525709

$24.99

It Didn't Play in Peoria explores the interesting history of this small Middle American town which is often looked over.

""Will it play in Peoria?"" was an old Vaudeville phrase meaning, ""Will it appeal to the average person?"" But it had greatness in its grasp, and more than once. The Illinois city has gained fame through the years, but more often as the butt of jokes or as an example of the typical Middle American town than through any recognition of its many accomplishments. Peoria boasts a string of close brushes with prosperity, any one of which could have made it a Chicago or a St. Louis. Charles Lindbergh, for example, first approached Peoria for backing for his historic flight, but the town's moneymen refused him and his Spirit of Peoria, perhaps losing a chance at the airline industry as well.

It Didn’t Play in Peoria book cover featuring a helmeted soldier against a dark background

North Aurora:

9780738541082

$24.99

North Aurora: 1834-1940 is a quintessential study of what happened when settlers arrived in the Midwest in the 1830s. The village's location on the Fox River provided plentiful trees and waterpower for sawmills. Soon other mills, smelting works, a packing plant, a door-sash-blind factory, and a creamery all came to town. The village's railroad enabled its Boswell Cheese Factory to ship cream cheese to England in 1877. By 1922, North Aurora had a huge entertainment complex, a popular racetrack, and a hotel. Today the village is growing rapidly but still maintains its rural atmosphere.

Military officer on a vintage motorcycle in a North Aurora historical scene.

Aurora's East-West Football Rivalry

9781626195554

$23.99

For over 120 years, the people of Aurora, Illinois, have gathered together to watch East Aurora and West Aurora High Schools square off in what is now Illinois' longest-running football rivalry. Since first taking to the gridiron in 1893, the schools have laid claim to mythical state championships, represented Illinois in intra-sectional games and pioneered night football. Alumni from these storied rivals include college all-Americans, Hall of Fame coaches, decorated war heroes, an Olympic medalist, a charter member of the NFL, numerous successful high school coaches, outstanding businessmen and civic leaders, including former mayors of Santa Monica, California, and Des Moines, Iowa. Author Steve Solarz pored over the records of more than two thousand games to produce a work that is both an encyclopedic resource and a passionate account of a celebrated tradition.

Cover image for Aurora's East-West Football Rivalry, isbn: 9781626195554

Genoa and Kingston

9780738584478

$24.99

In 1835, while Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle was exploring the Galapagos Islands, the northern Illinois municipalities of Genoa and Kingston were being settled. Pioneers arrived via the historic Chicago-Galena stagecoach trail. Thomas Matteson, a Revolutionary War soldier from Ohio, and his family traveled in three covered wagons and became Genoa's first settlers. Genoa was incorporated as a village in 1876 and as a city in 1911. Kingston became a village in 1886. In addition to sharing a boundary, the municipalities share the Genoa-Kingston Fire Department, Genoa-Kingston Middle School, and Genoa-Kingston High School. During the Civil War, 109 men from Genoa and 105 men from Kingston, roughly a tenth of the population of each municipality at that time, enlisted in the Union Army. Men and women from Genoa and Kingston have continued to serve in the U.S. military from World Wars I and II to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Genoa and Kingston cover featuring a historic brick building, a vintage car, and men in early 20th century attire.

Northwestern Wildcat Football

9780738534336

$24.99

Their program was once regarded as a powerhouse, but 25 years ago the Northwestern University football team set records for futility. Defying nearly all expectations, the Wildcats experienced a rebirth in 1995 and have been surprising the college football world since. Northwestern Wildcat Football describes in detail the team's first games in the 19th century, the Wildcats' title runs in the 1930s, the career of NU legend Otto Graham, the 1949 Rose Bowl championship, the era of Ara Parseghian, the woes of the '70s and '80s, and Northwestern's return to football prominence in the past decade. From their beginning as one of the earliest college teams in the Midwest to the recent series of Big Ten championships, the Northwestern Wildcats have clawed their way to claim 8 conference titles, 36 All-Americans, and victory in some of the most thrilling college football games ever played.

Northwestern Wildcat Football book cover showing vintage and action football photos on a purple background

Douglas/Grand Boulevard

9780738518558

$24.99

The history of Chicago can be told through its neighborhoods, and perhaps none is more telling than Douglas/Grand Boulevard on the city's south side. The future site of the neighborhood remained a sparsely settled prairie until the early 1850s, when Stephen A. Douglas purchased a large tract of land and began developing a residential subdivision for the wealthy. Douglas/Grand Boulevard: A Chicago Neighborhood explores the development of this distinctive community and the many obstacles its residents encountered. Originally a predominately white neighborhood, Douglas/Grand Boulevard became an African-American community during the Great Migration when thousands of Southern blacks moved north seeking greater opportunities. After the 1919 Race Riot, an increasing number of white residents moved away from the neighborhood, and the community became a national model of black achievement.

Douglas/Grand Boulevard A Chicago Neighborhood book cover with a sepia street scene and a horse in the foreground

From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois

9781596299139

$24.99

Journey to a region where all the perennials are said to bloom at midnight on Christmas Eve and where a family's luck is determined by the first person to walk through their door on New Year's Day. Spend a literary Christmas in Herrin, listen to the twelve bells of Belleville ring out the coming year and greet the Three Kings of Germantown at Epiphany. Whether you are a newcomer to southern Illinois or whether you feel like you have been singing La Guiannee since the tradition started in Prairie du Rocher in 1720, join John J. Dunphy for a season of sacred memories and merry recollections.

Cover image for From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois, isbn: 9781596299139

Wicked Decatur

9781609491604

$21.99

In 1854, Decatur was nicknamed Hell's Half Acre. By the 1910s and 1920s, the town was referred to as the Second Most Corrupt City in Illinois, gaining notoriety as a place where murder, bootlegging, prostitution, kidnapping, gambling and political corruption were common. Members of the Decatur police force, like Troy Taylor's great-grandfather, were hard-pressed to bar the door against crime in a town that seemed determined to remain wide-open. Wicked Decatur presents a rogue's gallery of those who have slipped through the cracks of legality over the past century and a half.

Cover image for Wicked Decatur, isbn: 9781609491604

Lucky to Live in Illinois

9780738527765

$16.99

What do you get when you cross a read-aloud storybook with a write-in memory book? Magic moments between kids and adults! The Lucky to Live in Illinois book is the perfect tool to jump-start meaningful conversations between generations. Read-aloud rhymes set up interesting topics. Then write-in prompts invite children to record their own views to create a personal Prairie State keepsake. The real gift lies in the interactive nature of the book as it offers the perfect opportunity for adults to share their own stories and wisdom about such issues as friendship, community, team spirit, and other topics that help develop a child's social and emotional skills. Customized Illinois content—from favorite local cuisine (deep-dish pizza) to interesting attractions (Lincoln Home National Historic Site)—provides an even more personalized experience.

Cover image for Lucky to Live in Illinois, isbn: 9780738527765

Arlington Heights, Illinois

9781596296749

$21.99

The village of Arlington Heights--beginning with the diligence and fortitude of William Dunton--is replete with stories of bitter hardship and exalting triumph. Originally named Dunton after its founder, the village's success was sealed by canny deal-making that brought a railroad through the middle of town. As the state of Illinois boomed, the village on the tracks flourished with agriculture, industry, transportation and an expanding population. From the influx of immigrants and industry to the resurrection of the Arlington Park Racetrack, read the compelling history of a small agricultural village's transformation into a thriving commercial district and the unique way in which its small-town charm and industrious spirit coexist.

Cover image for Arlington Heights, Illinois, isbn: 9781596296749

When Hollywood Landed at Chicago's Midway Airport:

9781609495923

$21.99

Al Capone dove for the floor when he saw the flash of the camera, while his startled body guards drew their guns. The actress Miriam Hopkins ran screaming from the camera while Lyndon Johnson ran towards it. General Jimmy Doolittle called him a Son of a Bitch, while the Pope called him his friend. Bob Hope asked if he would escort Hope's wife to church, and John Barrymore asked if he would hide him from his mistress. Cary Grant demanded a shoe shine, Eleanor Roosevelt demanded an apology, and Harry Truman demanded a bourbon. Who was this guy? He was Mike Rotunno, and he was a photographer for one of Chicago's newspapers. Yet, he also photographed airplanes for the airlines, starting in the 1920's, the beginning of his 50 year career at Chicago's Midway airport. In that span he got to know everyone, great or small, and his story is like a cross between the movie The Terminal" and "Forrest Gump." He introduced movie stars to baseball players, Marilyn Monroe to a room full o."

Cover image for When Hollywood Landed at Chicago's Midway Airport:, isbn: 9781609495923

Lake Bluff

9780738552101

$24.99

The shores of Lake Michigan, with towering bluffs and heavily wooded ravines, have attracted many to Lake Bluff during the past two centuries. The Potawatomis were the first to come, using the ravines for their tribal council meetings. The German and Irish came in the 1830s, drawn by the cheap land prices. The 1870s brought the Methodists, who, seeing the beauty of the lake and the ravines, purchased 200 acres and formed the Lake Bluff Camp Meeting Association. The summer chautauqua brought thousands of visitors every year to its quaint cottages and hotels. It was in Lake Bluff where Frances Willard, president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, brought together other temperance leaders to form the national Prohibition party, which led to the ill-fated 18th Amendment. In the 20th century, Lake Bluff has retained its charming cottages and tree-lined village streets. It remains today a picturesque and historic northern suburb of Chicago, nestled along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Lake Bluff postcard history series cover with sepia collage and large Lake Bluff title

The Wise Animal Handbook Illinois

9780738528182

$16.99

Read-aloud time is about to get a lot more fun! The Illinois Wise Animal Handbook offers laugh-out-loud animal kingdom advice for kids of every age! Engaging animal photos entertain while charming read-aloud rhymes help jump-start conversations about practical life solutions. The Read Together/Do Together™ experience continues with pull out coloring pages in the back of the book featuring fun facts about special Prairie State animals including the northern cardinal and painted turtle. Enjoy the opportunity to share your own practical wisdom with your favorite little one as you read-aloud… and laugh-aloud….again and again.

Cover image for The Wise Animal Handbook Illinois, isbn: 9780738528182

Springfield Aviation

9780738561592

$24.99

Citizens of Springfield first witnessed human flight, a balloon ascent, on July 5, 1858. In 1861, the capital city's most famous resident, Abraham Lincoln, then residing in the White House, authorized the creation of the first U.S. "air force," a balloon to observe Confederate troops. Springfield's interface with aviation has been a steady stream of hot-and-cold-running enthusiasm since airplanes began flying from the state fair racetrack infield about 1910. Springfield Aviation chronicles that flow and concludes with photographs from Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in early 2008. It presents photographs of memorable airplanes, airships, and prominent aviators from the author's extensive collection, augmented by contributions from Springfield Airport Authority, Lincoln Library's Sangamon Valley Collection, and many others.

Cover image for Springfield Aviation, isbn: 9780738561592

The Chicago Haymarket Affair

9781467135740

$21.99

This history and guide presents the significant sites and events of the Haymarket Square riot, a major turning point in the fight for workers’ rights.

On May 4th, 1886, a bomb exploded during a labor demonstration near Haymarket Square in Chicago. The ensuing gunfire and chaos brought a grisly end to what began as peaceful support for an eight-hour workday. With both officers and civilians dead, newspapers proclaimed an anarchist conspiracy. The investigation led to the trial and execution of rally organizers.

The incident drew irrevocable attention to debates about workers’ rights and the role of law enforcement that continue today. In this guide to the key moments and sites of one of Chicago’s most confusing and chaotic events, author Joseph Anthony Rulli aims to establish a clearer understanding of its historical significance.

Cover image for The Chicago Haymarket Affair, isbn: 9781467135740

Bloomingdale

9780738551982

$24.99

This photographic journal traces Bloomingdale's development chronologically from its earliest days through its sesquicentennial celebration. The area claimed in 1833 by the Meacham brothers, who traveled from the east in search of land and opportunities, encompassed parts of present-day Roselle, Medinah, and Cloverdale. The Meacham brothers and those who followed formed an agricultural community that thrived in its location on a major thoroughfare, the Chicago Galena Highway. Retail was an important part of Bloomingdale by the time the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad came through the northern part of Bloomingdale Township in 1873. Largely "Smalltown, USA" for a number of years, Bloomingdale came into its own in the mid-1970s with an explosion of population, business, and prosperity.

Cover image for Bloomingdale depicting a storefront on a tree shaded street with pedestrians.

Virginia Marmaduke

9780738519661

$24.99

Nicknamed "The Duchess" by a tongue-tied editor early in her career, Virginia Marmaduke is the First Lady of Chicago print journalism. She was the first woman to: cover both crime and sports for Windy City newspapers; be named (by Mayor Daley Sr.) to the Chicago Board of Health; be named Press Veteran of the Year by the Chicago Press Veterans Association; and to be inducted into Chicago's Journalism Hall of Fame.

First with the Chicago Sun, then the Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, the Duchess's newspaper career ran parallel to the 20th Century. She covered, as she called it, "blood, guts and sex," as well as presidents, natural disasters, women's issues, and-notably-humanitarian causes.

This volume, the first on the life and career of Virginia Marmaduke, reprints many of the famous articles from her Chicago heyday. Additionally, it documents her childhood in Carbondale, Illinois, her first newspaper job, and her return to Southern Illinois where she became a community booster, humanitarian, and beloved "all-Illinoisian."

Virginia Marmaduke book cover with three vintage portraits above a cityscape

Lewis University

9780738520223

$24.99

Now the twelfth largest among more than 50 private colleges and universities in the State of Illinois, Lewis University was established in 1932 as a small aeronautical school for boys and has developed into a dynamic, coeducational, and comprehensive Catholic university with a richly diverse student body. Founded by the Archdiocese of Chicago and now sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis is faithful to its Catholic and Lasallian heritage, offering a values-centered curriculum rich in the Mission values of knowledge, fidelity, wisdom, and justice and guided by the spirit of association, which fosters community in teaching, learning, and service. As Lewis celebrates its 70th anniversary, this volume provides a visual glimpse into the history of this unique institution. Included are photographs of its humble beginnings, its evolution during and after World War II, dynamic enrollment growth during the 1960s, the dramatic campus transformation through construction, its student activities, its athletic successes, and the campus today.

Lewis University book cover featuring the campus entrance with stone pillars and a curved road

Arabs of Chicagoland

9780738534176

$24.99

Arabs first settled in Chicagoland in the mid-19th century, when immigrants from all parts of the world were flowing steadily into the U.S. As tensions in the Arab world flared, immigration increased--the first to arrive were Lebanese Christians, followed by Muslim Palestinians. Today, there are more than 250,000 Arabs in the Chicago area, with equal numbers of Christians and Muslims. A part of the fabric of Chicago, Arabs serve in many roles, from business leaders to elected officials to judges, doctors, engineers, journalists, and more. In the wake of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, Arab Americans have come under great scrutiny and have suffered much misunderstanding. Now, this book, which explores their integral role in Chicagoland's growth, is especially important.

Arabs of Chicagoland book cover featuring a sepia family portrait on a beach.

The Trout Valley Hertz Estate, and Curtiss Farm

9780738561608

$24.99

John D. Hertz, of rental car fame, discovered Trout Valley (then a part of unincorporated McHenry County) in the 1920s.

He built a mansion, barns, and polo grounds on the banks of the Fox River, calling his new country estate Leona Farms. Famous landscape architect Jens Jensen designed its scenic landscape, fishing streams, and ponds. Here Hertz raised racehorses, including two Kentucky Derby winners, and hosted Gatsby-like parties for the rich and famous, including Myrna Loy, Will Rogers, and Walt Disney. Eleanor Roosevelt was once a guest too. In 1943, Hertz sold his estate to Otto Schnering, of Baby Ruth and Butterfinger fame, who transformed the grounds from a lush playground to the headquarters of a 10,000-acre farming operation. Old-timers still remember Schnering's six-pony hitch carrying joy-filled passengers down Main Street, the state-of-the-art livestock arena, and the trophy-winning cattle raised at Curtiss Farm.

Cover image for The Trout Valley Hertz Estate, and Curtiss Farm, isbn: 9780738561608

Boone County Originals:

9781596299382

$21.99

Daniel Boone may never have set foot in the Illinois county that bears his name, but his tradition of blazing new trails is certainly honored here. Boone County has been the home of Native American legends, a Major League Baseball player, a Miss America and a cross-dressing Civil War soldier. And don't forget Hairbreadth Harry, King of the Hobos, "? who wrote poetry, walked backward and bathed in gasoline. Enjoy the best of Mike Doyle's historical columns as he introduces the fascinating folk of this "garden on the prairie, "? where some of the tallest tales are true."