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...

Wartime Decatur: 1832-1945 documents the vigorous wartime culture based on community involvement and a strong sense of patriotism.

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....

Since the mid-1700s, Native Americans, pioneers, farmers, and entrepreneurs have made their home in the fertile plains and valleys of the Mississippi River Bend. However, it wasnít until Standard Oil opened its first refinery in 1908 that the towns of Wood River, Roxana, South Roxana, and Hartford were established. Essentially communities of refinery workers and their families, the towns thrived for decades as an influx of refineries brought more...

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...

East Alton has a long and proud history. From the earliest settlement, Beeman's (Benen) Fort, in 1811, the village of East Alton has long been an industrial powerhouse. The home of Olin Corporation's Winchester Division, East Alton's industrial production played an important part in winning both world wars. Having all the trappings of a company town, it somehow transcended this to become a thriving diverse community, filled with a dedicated citizenry,...

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...

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...