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...

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. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, built Fort St. Louis on the rock....

With roots dating back to 1851, the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) transported millions of passengers and countless tons of freight. Most trips were completed without incident. However, there were occasional mishaps, including derailments and collisions with other trains or highway vehicles. Most accidents were minor, while others made the national news, such as the October 30, 1972, collision of two commuter trains in Chicago that killed 45 passengers....

In 1857, convicts began breaking rock to build the walls of the Illinois State penitentiary at Joliet, the prison that would later confine them. For a century and a half, thousands of men and women were sentenced to do time in this historic, castle-like fortress on Collins Street. Its bakery fed victims of the Great Chicago Fire, and its locks frustrated pickpockets from the world's fair. Even newspaper-selling sensations like the Lambeth Poisoner,...

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...

The history of Rock Island County, once known as the "farm implement capital of the world," starts well before that industry sprung up on the Mississippi River at a point where the river runs east to west. Fur trading, farming, mining, milling, and lumber all played a key role in the county's formation. As the railroad moved west, the first rail bridge over the Mississippi at Rock Island created a transportation hub and furthered the area's process...

You might be middle aged if ... you are mourning your mother's death while caring for your ailing father which leads to grappling with long-simmering sibling rivalries at the same time you are protecting your cildren from the fall-out of your ugly divorce and dealing with a contentious ex-husband as you try to stay sane and survive a hurricane. In this gripping memoir, Sullivan guides the reader through the chaotic whirlwind of unexpected and unwanted...

Uses images from postcards and vintage and modern photographs to present a pictorial tour of Chicago's section of America's "Mother Road," Route 66.

A circle of salt. A crust of bread. A coin of silver to release your dead. He comes to you in your final hours, when fear from your actions weigh heavily on your soul. He consumes your darkness and whispers words of solace to release you from your deepest secrets. Grigori Dumah is a sin eater. Would you call him to share in what you have done? Would you trust him to release you from your sins? He could leave you to suffer in the darkness of your own...

For more than 150 years, Marshall Field's reigned as Chicago's leading department store, celebrated for its exceptional service, spectacular window displays, and fashionable merchandise. Few shoppers recalled its origins as a small dry goods business opened in 1852 by a New York Quaker named Potter Palmer. That store, eventually renamed Marshall Field and Company, weathered economic downturns, spectacular fires, and fierce competition to become a...