McHenry County High School Seniors, apply for the Nancy Fike Scholarship
News and Events
NEWS: Latino Farm Owner Plants Roots
The estimated 50 people who gathered the evening of June 8 in rural Harvard, experienced a little history being made.
Mexican immigrant Jorge Guereca worked for years planting and picking vegetables for the Harvard-area Stade farm. But always had grander ambitions.
McHenry County tourism initiative rooted in history
A rare, octagonal horse barn in Spring Grove may live on as an event venue.
Brothers George and Robert Richardson, together with their wives and children, want to disassemble and relocate the former Hatch barn to their Richardson Adventure Farm, at 909 English Prairie Road in Spring Grove. The first tower silo in America was erected in 1873 by Fred L. Hatch and his father, Lewis. Just remnants of its foundation remain. But the property, located at 801 Main St., does include a beautiful 1959 rainbow-truss barn and the aforementioned 50-foot-diameter, eight-sided barn.
Richmond bridge added to endangered list
CHICAGO – Landmarks Illinois announced its 2023 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois on May 4, calling attention to nine culturally and architecturally significant sites across the state that face growing threats of disinvestment and demolition.
Life before the Chicago Cubs
CUTLINE: This August 1908 picture shows the Marengo Athletics, a team that gained some degree of prominence between 1896 and 1901. It featured Carl "Lundy" Lundgren, who graduated from Marengo High School and then attended the University of Illinois before joining the Cubs. He played seven seasons and helped the Cubs to championships in 1906 and 1908. Lundgren, who possessed a fastball and sliding curve, struck out 103 batters in 1905 and finished his career with cumulative ERA of 2.42. The team played at Shurtleff Flats, where the Zion Lutheran athletic fields are now.
Solon Mills Depot revealed
Despite the best efforts of the W.A. McConnell Foundation the circa 1902 Solon Mills train station – formerly the Depot Restaurant, was scheduled to be demolished April 5 – but not before volunteers gathered Monday morning to save some of the original architectural components – including the siding, windows and trim ... not to mention stools from the diner.
Far afield in McHenry County, Latinos, farmers take root
One of the very first newspaper articles I wrote for the old Woodstock Daily Sentinel was about migrant farm workers in Harvard.
Thirty-plus years later, I still recall the back-breaking scene of men cutting cabbages under a hot sun – stooping, knife in hand, over row upon row.
Thursday night’s Raices Latina’s launch event and film screening brought that image to mind once again.
Unknown objects shot down reminiscent of ‘War of the Worlds’ reaction
The Netflix hit series “Stranger Things” might just be the tip of the comet.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre felt it necessary to remind all Americans that the trifecta of unidentified objects shot down in February were not Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
“I know there’s been questions and concerns about this, but there is no – again, no – indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity,” she said.
Road papers hit the road
The roads that we now take for granted, were not always so. In fact, it often took a Herculean effort on the part of many different property owners to get them created in the first place.
Ernest J. Varga, design engineer with the McHenry County Division of Transportation, said the first potential pothole in calling for a new road was reaching a consensus. All of the property owners from a given area had to agree, and they had to pony up the fees necessary to have their petition heard before the board of commissioners – the equivalent of today’s county board.
Marsh Bequest benefits Society
Special thanks to McHenry County Historical Society supporter and volunteer Doris Marsh – and her family – for their generosity and confidence in MCHS. The $10,000 bequest from Marsh’s estate is deeply appreciated and will be put to good use.
Quilt Cutting Day 2023
The Heritage Quilters' annual Quilt Cutting Day for the 2024 raffle quilt was a huge success – thanks to the efforts of volunteers. About 20 ladies gathered at the group's headquarters – 17618 Washington St. in Union with their favorite scissors, a pencil and ruler, a sheet of sandpaper and, of course, needle and thread to begin assembling next year's basket quilt. It features white, red and light brown fabric across 18 blocks. The blocks are due back in February.
Quilt Exhibit After Hours Open House
The McHenry County Historical Society hosted a Quilt Exhibit After Hours Open House – exclusively for its members, would-be members and their guests – from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at the Woodstock Opera House, 121 W. Van Buren St. Between 65-75 people attended the event, including 34 McHenry County Historical Society members. It featured information about the Heritage Quilters, children's take-home crafts, free refreshments and information about the Society and its programs – including the barn quilt trail.
Consider sampling a local history diet over the holidays
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service is predicting food prices will increase between 3 and 4% in 2023 – on top of a roughly 12% increase in 2022. Clearly inflation is taking a bite out of our wallet.
So what’s a family to do?
Park Ridge’s Pickwick is the latest victim in the demise of historic theaters
The possible demise of the latest in a long line of historic theaters is impossible to ignore. We are facing the exsanguination of these cultural icons – victims of public complacency and movie studio greed.
Park Ridge’s Pickwick, a former vaudeville house dating to 1928, is in danger of closing for good … or worse, being converted into an alternative use. It’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 only protects the building’s Art Deco façade and its trademark 100-foot tower.
Vintage Christmas display 2022
UNION – After a two-year hiatus, a one-of-kind, vintage Christmas display returns to the McHenry County Historical Museum at 6422 Main St. in Union through Jan. 6.
This year’s offerings from worldwide Christmas collectors Dave Harms and Lynne Eltrevoog, shine a light on … lighting.
Events mark military milestones, past and present
It’s special to find a direct descendant of the Revolutionary War with ties to McHenry County, but Sunday will be a special day.
That is when the Kishwaukee Trail Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter will place a bronze marker next to the worn headstone of Phebe Ashley Mead Weed in a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. in old Marengo City Cemetery at 101-199 N. East St.
Historic Halloween - Return of the Dead
Some 100 brave souls on Oct. 26 heard the real-life, macabre stories of how four individuals tragically lost their lives in McHenry County. This year's offerings included the horrific death of a Harvard couple in the I903 Iroquois Theater fire, the aftermath of a dead man found floating in Crystal Lake, the unsuccesful investigation to identify the remains of a dismembered woman buried in a wooded area outside Crystal Lake and the strage circumstances surrounding a 1958 fatal train accident between Crystal Lake and Cary,
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