The History Press [new releases]

Local Luminaries, Famous Passersby & Everyone in Between

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

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

A colorful Midwestern city with a colorful past

Eau Claire’s history is a rich tapestry of tragedy, mystery, and everything in between. Time after time, a round-faced man with a bristly mustache appeared amongst loggers in late nineteenth-century photos, but who was this man? In 1903, residents were left stumped when a mysterious body arrived by train from Chicago. Thirty years later, Hollywood came to Eau Claire with a world premiere of Out All Night, a comedy starring Zasu Pitts and Slim Summerville. Facing a labor shortage during World War II, the city welcomed German POWs and often worked side by side with them in the corn and pea fields.

Local authors Jodi Kiffmeyer and Diana Peterson collect the humorous, heart-breaking, and utterly befuddling stories of the city’s past. 

Michigan is home to an amazing array of food and drink brands, each with a fascinating story behind it.

Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals like Kellogg’s and Post changed how the world eats, and Gerber first made baby food commercially available. But the Wolverine State is bursting with many other notable edibles, such as Faygo, American Spoon, Jiffy, Sanders and Vernors. Better Made uses Michigan potatoes for its chips. Fudge, pasties and anything made with cherries are also local standards. Others are gone but not forgotten, like Awrey’s and Twin Pines.

Authors Gail Offen and Jon Milan explore the history and stories behind all of these and many, many more.

Most know Detroit as the hometown of Motown legends like Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. And they’re all here! But beyond the well-known list of famous Detroiters awaits a veritable who’s who of pop culture, sports, TV, movies and more.

Christie Brinkley, Robin Williams, Sonny Bono, Lucille Ball, Charles Lindbergh, Robert Wagner, Lizzo, Tom Selleck, Ty Cobb, the creator of Gumby, the guy who portrayed Jaws in the James Bond films, and many more.

Compiling over 100 names and places, author Steve Platto leads a celebrity tour of the Motor City that readers can take with them on their own travels or explore from the comfort of home.

Through the years, relentless change has swept away many of Mishawaka’s businesses and landmarks and the memory of once-prominent events.

The Great Mishawaka Fire of September 5, 1872, destroyed much of the central business district and changed the downtown forever. The street carnival of August 1901 was the most exciting week in the city’s history but later faded into obscurity. The Twin Branch Power Plant supplied the region with electricity, but hardly a trace of it remains today. The massive Rubber Regenerating Company operated for over twenty years, and now a popular park exists atop its buried rubble. Center Point Tower, the landmark that never was, pointed the way to downtown’s future revitalization.

Peter J. De Kever finds these and other lost stories from Mishawaka’s past.

The story of the intersection between vigilantism and law enforcement

In frontier Indiana, vigilantism was a grim necessity. Beginning with the vigilance committees of the 1860s that lynched the Reno Gang and the Knights of the Golden Circle, who plotted to assassinate Governor Morton, the Hoosier State was a hotbed for citizens taking the law into their own hands. Later groups such as the White Caps enforced their own moral code, while the state legislature sanctioned the Horse Thief Detective Association and the Banking Vigilantes.

Chronicling the vigilante groups that operated in Indiana, author Robert Bowling explores the evolution of law enforcement from the lone marshal on the frontier to the birth of the modern police department and the Indiana State Police.

A Portal to Rock ‘N’ Roll History

During the 1970s, Chicagoland venues hosted an eclectic mix of legendary rock ‘n’ roll acts that thrilled audiences. Fans flocked to historic venues like the Auditorium Theater, International Amphitheatre, Arie Crown Theatre, Kinetic Playground and B’Ginnings to forge relationships and hear music that shaped their youth and endured a lifetime. Acts like Led Zeppelin, the Who, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Wings, Genesis and so many others took the stage here during rock’s most prolific and memorable era.  Jim Summaria and Mark Plotnick bring those mind-blowing performances back to life with exclusive concert photos, histories, trivia and more.  

Spirits of the Gateway City

Since 1764, St. Louis has been the gateway to the unknown. Walk along the limestone cobbles of Laclede’s Landing and witness the birth of a city with large aspirations and crooked dealings. Here you will find fur traders hardened by wilderness “law,” former slaves fighting for their future, criminals immortalized in song, the rise and fall of the elite and the fight for the soul of a child. Meet the people behind Eads Bridge, the Old Courthouse, City Hospital, Lemp Brewery and more. From the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War and Reconstruction to the modern day, hear their stories and learn why they may still haunt the cobblestones beneath your feet. Jennifer Elwyn delves into the dark side of a historic city.

With a history dating back 2000 years, Columbia Tusculum stands as a vital contributor to the region’s development.

The lush, strategically located land provided essential resources for native hunting and trade as well as for pioneer farming. Positioned at the convergence of the Little Miami and Ohio Rivers, the young community became a hub for transporting people and goods. Over time, streetcars, railroads, and Columbia Parkway facilitated transportation, fostering migration and growth. Columbia's Lunken Airport, a major municipal airport in the early twentieth century, also enhanced Cincinnati’s connectivity.

Author Dinese Young unfolds the story of Cincinnati’s oldest neighborhood and its role in the city’s evolution.

Local author Rena Glover Goss unfolds the intricacies of the murder that rocked Jefferson County.

In 1899, the Cramblett and Gosnell families lived on Perrin Run. Quincy Cramblett, romantically involved first with Elva Gosnell and later with her sister Cora, frequently proposed marriage. Both girls declined because of their father’s objections to the young man. Growing desperate, Quincy proposed that he and Cora commit suicide. She refused. Weeks later, their father, James Gosnell, was fatally shot. Immediately suspected, Quincy was indicted for murder after a brief hearing. Over the course of two trials in 1900, local critics differed vehemently about his guilt or innocence, and crowds packed the courtroom to witness the drama. Qunicy was acquitted, but none one else was ever questioned or indicted for James Gosnell’s murder.

Echoes of the past can be found in every corner of Monroe County.

Incredibly, the county has over a hundred lost towns across its fifteen townships. Some of these towns have notorious histories, such as the murderer who founded a village and the town that robbed its own citizens. Some succumbed to tragedy, including one that was swallowed up by the water and a resort town that disappeared. Others were simply absorbed by another state. Local historian and author of Hidden History of Monroe County, Michigan, Shawna Mazur collects the stories behind these vanished communities, revealing where these towns were located, how they grew and why they disappeared, often without a trace.

Dark Secrets & Curious Cases

From its beginning as an outpost to its current offering of occult shops and restaurants, Ypsilanti has been made and remade by the people who love it. People like Mary Ann Starkweather, who may not only haunt her former home, but also Eastern Michigan’s campus. Or the victims of John Norman Collins, who might lurk along the road on which they were found. However, ghosts aren’t the only strange occurrence. Ypsi also has its fair share of UFOs, strange creatures, and inexplicable phenomena. Join podcasters and authors Crysta K. Coburn and Kay Gray on a tour of Ypsilanti’s darkest, weirdest, and most puzzling encounters.

Beneath the calm and bucolic appearance of Ross County, dark things await.

Chillicothe’s iconic Majestic Theater is a veritable haunted hotspot. Numerous homes in Huntington Hills report strange occurrences, and ghostly shadows appear nightly at Mound City. Unbeknownst to many, a Frankfort apartment complex stands on the hallowed ground of a family cemetery, leaving the spirits beneath the earth far from peaceful. Deftly weaving together elements of murder, mystery, suspense, and horror into a captivating blend of the supernatural and the unknown, award-winning author Neal Parks leads a haunting journey through local haunted lore.

Restless spirits inhabit the homes, farms, churches, and graveyards of Carroll County.

Perishing under mysterious circumstances, Absalom Karn may have good reason to remain in his home after death. Isaac Cox is rumored to have dropped dead immediately after building his twenty-room mansion, but another spirit may be attached to the place. A Native American burial ground may be to blame for the strange occurrences on the Taylor farm, and the owner of the Virginia Restaurant and Lounge believes a ghost saved her life. Local author Janice VanHorne-Lane takes a new look at well-known tales of local hauntings and introduces several new ones.

Listen to the stories of the restless dead

Amidst the sparkling lakes and rolling hills of Northern Michigan lies Newaygo County. The towns nestled within her borders were founded by hardy pioneers, and while their spirit lies in a sense of community, it is said that a few ghostly spirits also haunt the area. Atop a tree-covered hill sits a long-abandoned house, where the spine-tingling cries of the ghost of Screaming Ethel can be heard. The strains of unearthly piano music emanated through the rooms of a 1920s era mansion once belonging to Al Capone’s lawyer. The wraithlike spirit of a little boy is seen walking precariously along a river dam.

Join author Marie Helena Cisneros as she weaves the area’s vibrant history together into some of Newaygo County’s most chilling tales.

Grand Rapids history is crowded with departed souls who refuse to rest in peace.

The twisted spirit of Lolita, a mother who committed unspeakable acts upon her children, stalks the block where she grew up. In life, Frank Hibben Stout’s obsession with his “sister” led to a tragic end for both. In death, his blood-dripping apparition is seen where a local restaurant now stands. The protective spirit of Edythe first appeared after a fateful Ouija board game at a local church, and the Children’s Museum is haunted by the friendly spirit of a boy seen by the young and old alike.

Come walk with the dead as author Julie Rathsack weaves together the threads of the forgotten past with the spirits who have remained behind.

Ghouls of the Glacial Lakes and Prairie Region

Buried in the annals of the region are torrid tales, disasters and the unexplained. At historic Fort Sisseton, the old hanging tree and a phantom buffalo soldier are just a few of its spectral stories. Partygoers from over a century ago still linger at Aberdeen’s Easton Castle. De Smet’s historic Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead attracts thousands of visitors annually, many unaware of its familial spirts. Locals in Watertown still debate whether the apparition at the Goss Opera House is that of a traveling performer named Annie or murder victim Maud Alexander, who was set on fire by her own son. Victims of a 1940 train wreck between Milbank and Marvin seemingly never left the scene of the accident. And Captain Luff of The Muskegon disaster can be seen mourning on the banks of Big Stone Lake. Author Deborah Cuyle chronicles the area’s most fascinating and perplexing lore. 

Give the ball to Leroy,” the “Carmel Connection,” “Holy Toledo!” & More

Over its century in existence, Ross-Ade Stadium hosted thousands of memorable moments. Here are the 100 greatest games from the stadium’s first 100 years. Go inside Ross-Ade as Purdue clinches the 1929 Big Ten Championship and Bob Griese plays a perfect game against top-ranked Notre Dame in 1965. Relive Drew Brees leading the Boilermakers on a dream-come-true Rose Bowl season in 2000 and a former walk-on quarterback sinking #3 Michigan State with an epic passing performance.

From Jack Mollenkopf to Jim Young, Tiller Time to the Brohm Squad, Rod Woodson’s epic Old Oaken Bucket battle to the Tyler Trent game, author and Purdue alum gathers the moments in Ross-Ade when legends were made.

Springfield has launched a lot of history, from the career of Abraham Lincoln to the wagon train that bore the doomed Donner party. But some pieces of that history stubbornly linger to haunt the present. Meet the Gibson Girl who introduced her society circle to séances and the vengeful actor who held down a leading role as mischief maker after death. From the shadows in Oak Ridge Cemetery’s Receiving Vault to specters at the Vinegar Hill Mall, Garret Moffett offers an expanded tour of the eerie corners of Springfield’s past.

Lawrence County may seem a sleepy little place, but looks are deceiving.

The red light district in Ironton attracted enough attention for an FBI raid. On the other side of the law, Judge Lloyd Burwell became nationally known for his strict sentencing, which made him the subject for a movie starring Andy Griffith. A 1915 shooting on a shanty boat on the Ohio River sparked a fierce contest between Ohio and West Virginia over who had jurisdiction to prosecute the case. The mob ties of Continental Nite Club in Chesapeake ran all the way to the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas.

Local historian and author Lori Shafer gathers a selection of thrilling and occasionally gruesome tales from Lawrence County’s dark past.

From Muncie’s past come weird tales of supernatural encounters, creepy ghostlights, haunted houses, and eerie hoaxes.

In the years before the Civil War, wraiths routinely harassed travelers on turnpikes southeast of the city. A poltergeist once terrorized a family farm in northeast Center Township in 1890. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, ghosts appeared frequently at local businesses, theaters, office buildings, factories, and turnpikes.

Delaware County historian Chris Flook delves deep into local historical archives to reveal dozens of uncanny encounters, ghostly pranks, and strange paranormal phenomena of the Magic City.

From captivating tales of lingering lumber barons to lovelorn ladies and chilling stories of murder, Michigan’s hotels hold secrets that will send shivers down the spine.

Ghostly apparitions and mysterious whispers have terrified guests for years at Petoskey’s Terrace Inn and The House of Ludington in Escanaba, while eerie occurrences and disembodied voices wake guests in the night at Kalamazoo’s Henderson Castle Inn. Once named America’s Most Haunted City, Mackinac Island has enough ghosts to keep visitors sleepless for a lifetime.

Embark on a spine-chilling journey through the Mitten State with Haunted Flint author Roxanne Rhoads as she unveils the spooky history of Michigan’s most haunted hotels and inns.

The Deadliest Twister in U.S. History

The weather forecast for much of the Midwest on March 18, 1925, predicted “Wind and rain.” This prediction was right, but lethally inadequate. Around 1 p.m., a tornado touched down near Ellington, Missouri, and charged relentlessly for three and a half hours across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. The destructive storm left schools and workplaces leveled, over 600 dead and 1,600 injured in its two-hundred-nineteen-mile wake—earning it the name, the Great American Tornado. A nation united, doctors and nurses rushed aboard express trains. The Red Cross orchestrated an enduring six-month relief campaign, and people contributed funds and condolences from around the world. Amidst the staggering ruin, volunteers, the Red Cross, and ordinary heroes like Isaac Levy spearheaded awe-inspiring recovery efforts that rivaled the powerful storm.

The rich history of St. Clair County has been shaped by the colorful people of its past.

From the Kerley Lot to the City Flats Hotel, the corner of Military and Water Street in Port Huron is forever etched with the spirit of diverse and passionate citizens like Daniel B. Harrington and James W. Sanborn. The bankruptcy of John Johnston & Co. shaped the fortunes of a local family. Local lumbermen influenced the lumber industry not just in the county but across Michigan. The Radical Republicans contributed to the rise and fall of Congressman Omar D. Conger, and the controversial John P. Sanborn played an outsized role in local politics. Author Brenda L. Williams leads a historical journey into the captivating lives of early local luminaries.

For most, beer is a beverage. To a brave few, it’s a lifestyle.

In Tanked in Cincinnati, Mike Morgan and Bret Kollmann Baker drink a few brews with the region’s most legendary brewers, beer reps, and bar owners and take a soul-searching look at why some great ideas succeed wildly, and others ignite a dumpster fire. Along the way, they embrace the nostalgia for the early days in craft beer, answer what it’s like to be the number one enemy of Anheuser-Busch, and ask hard hitting questions like, “Why are there so many kids in this tap room?”

With interviews from Jim Koch of Boston Beer Co., “Mr. Cincinnati” Jim Tarbell, “Beer Dave” Gausepohl, Scott LaFollette of the late Blank Slate, Bryant Goulding of Rhinegeist Brewing Co., and more, Morgan and Kollmann Baker discover how a city once synonymous with America’s best beer lost its beer identity and then reclaimed it with a vengeance.

The Buckeye Presidents

Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding. These seven Ohio-born presidents led the nation through some of the most pivotal periods in US history.

Learn how each of them became president and how their time in the White House shaped the future of the country. Travel the Buckeye State and visit the museums, monuments and historic homes that tell their stories. From Canton to Freemont and Mentor to North Bend, Heather S. Cole is a guide to the places the Ohio presidents called home.

The rural landscape of Henry County, Indiana, offers a bumper crop of captivating stories deeply rooted in history.

John “Snowball” Merida’s towering, crowd-thrilling home runs could have landed him in the Major Leagues were it not for his skin color. Native son Gen. Omar Bundy refused to retreat in World War I. His decision in all probability saved Paris from the Germans. A solitary chimney stack is an oddity in a green landscape, but it was in this spot more than a hundred years ago that a decision changed the course of New Castle history.

Compiling stories of brave veterans and basketball heroes, nationally known catchphrases and political could-have-beens, author and local historian Darrel Radford uncovers lost gems from Henry County’s past.

Meet the men from Southwestern Illinois who served in the Civil War. Learn about their lives prior to enlistment, follow them into battle, and bear witness to their legacy.

The men of southwestern Illinois, both white and Black, rallied to the Union banner when the Civil War broke out. Lewis Martin, an escaped slave, enlisted in the Union army and suffered horrendous injuries at the Battle of the Crater. Shurtleff College’s entire 1864 class joined up, and so many men from McKendree College served in the Illinois 117th that it became known as the “McKendree Brigade.” Some of the volunteers came from pioneer American stock, like Franklin Moore, whose forefathers fought in the War of 1812 and the Revolution. Others, such as Swiss-born John Kuhn, were immigrants. Author John J. Dunphy follows the men from southwestern Illinois who risked their lives to end the Southern rebellion.

The Story Behind an Iconic Landmark: Woodland Cemetery

Woodland Cemetery was founded in 1848, three years before Des Moines was incorporated as a city. One of the earliest Victorian “garden cemeteries,” its oak tree–covered hills served as the city’s first park. People could be buried at Woodland regardless of race, religion or income. Meet early pioneers like the Younkers, Tones and Neumanns, who immigrated here and started early businesses that withstood the test of time. Veterans from the War of 1812 to the Vietnam War are buried here. Civil War brothers in arms, Black and white, Union and Confederate, lie side by side. Woodland Cemetery is also an official stop on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Woodland volunteers Mary Christopher and Mike Rowley reveal fascinating stories of these departed residents.

Explore the city of yesteryear

East Chicago, Indiana, was a melting pot. The Indiana Harbor neighborhood drew comparisons to Ellis Island as immigrants flocked from all over the world to work at its steel mills. Once home to more than a hundred nationalities, the “Workshop of America” made metal and many other products. Despite issues like pollution and political corruption, it earned the nickname “City of Champions,” winning state titles, sustaining a historic high school rivalry, and producing greats like Gregg Popovich and Junior Bridgeman.

Award-winning Region journalist and Lost Hammond author Joseph S. Pete explores bygone landmarks like Washington and Roosevelt High Schools, Inland Steel Christmas parties, the zoo, Taco Joe’s, the Mademoiselle Shoppe, movies palaces, the gym where Michael Jordan played his first Bulls game, and more.

A Cubs dynasty founded on fastballs and fisticuffs.  Unlike today's Chicago Cubs, the Cubs of 1906-1910 were not at all lovable, and certainly did not always display traits customarily linked with a winning team. Their manager would brawl with his own players, and the players brawled with each other. Their second baseman and shortstop hated each other and didn't speak for years. Their best pitcher pitched with a mutilated hand. Their star catcher got into a spat with management and left the team for a year to play professional billiards. Their manager over time grew to despise the team owner. Yet, this group of brawlers, bickerers, and battlers dominated the National League and established a baseball dynasty, winning four National League pennants and two world championships in 5 years. Author Gary D. Santella follows the story of a team whose toughness and tenacity was a fitting reflection of early twentieth-century Chicago.

In the history of Cleveland television, there is no more formidable pioneer than Betty Cope.

From her entry-level position as a receptionist at WEWS in 1947, Cope rose up the ranks to become the producer of some of the area's most memorable early local programs. Together with a group of concerned citizens, she founded Cleveland's educational television station, WVIZ, in 1965.

Under her management, Channel 25 became one of the nation's largest producers of instructional classroom programming. Throughout Cope's twenty-seven-year tenure, WVIZ maintained high-quality programming standards, and she kept her station financially sound largely through the funds raised from the popular annual televised Auction. After TV, she embarked on a new career as an advocate of land conservation and park preservation.

Compiling original interviews and never-before-seen photos, author Christine Martuch tells story of one of Northeast Ohio's most remarkable women.

The Tombstone of Early Ohio

Southeast Ohio's Little Cities of Black Diamonds was a rugged region in the 1800s. Nowhere was this truer than in Corning and Rendville, mining towns reminiscent of the Wild West era. Gun duels, scandals, lynchings, and murders plagued these places, as intrepid European immigrants and tenacious Black miners relied on raw grit to survive rowdy saloons and perilous coal mines. These impoverished workers also took bold stands against affluent mine operators, leading to intense clashes with the Ohio National Guard.

Author and former Green Beret Jobie Siemer reveals stories of formidable union conflicts and the unyielding resilience of miners whose faith was a beacon in a chaotic struggle to restore order to Sunday Creek.