News and Events
Questers boost education outreach
A $500 donation from the Crystal Lake Chapter of the Polly Crandall Questers is helping fund a series of school educational programs being offered, starting this spring, by the McHenry County Historical Society. Children can learn about the Native American tribes in our area, as well as early pioneers and the decisions they were forced to make before traveling to a new home "out west." For details email karolina@mchenrycountyhistory.org.
Cary says "bull" to historic demolition rumors
Village officials said the one-of-a-kind, historic building that houses Cary’s governmental offices and police station is here to stay.
“I love this building, and I love its historical background,” Mayor Mark Kownick said. “It’s a very cool structure, but it’s just falling apart. … You come here in the rain, and there are buckets everywhere.”
Historic Preservation Commission rebooted
The McHenry County Board appointed on April 16 appointed five new commissioners to McHenry County HIstoric Preservation Commission. They are Melody Jacobson and Sarah Metivier Schadt of Woodstock, Susan Zeller and Derek Gablenz of Crystal Lake; and Alfonso Casal of Spring Grove.
Huntley could be on track for rail service
In the 1850s, railroads changed the landscape of McHenry County. Now it just might happen again.
Discussions on bringing a high-speed passenger rail service between Chicago and Rockford appear to be moving off the back burner and heating up.
Quilt Basting March 20
An itch to stitch
Thanks to all who came out Wednesday, March 20, with needles at the ready and plenty of Band-Aids ... just in case.
The basting of "Honoring Adelia" was completed ... seamlessly.
The new quilt for the 2020 raffle is a bow-tie pattern made from 1930s pastel prints. Some of the fabric prints have recognizable figures in them. They are called object or conversation prints. These were used as early as the mid-1880s.Often the early prints were of a patriotic or nautical subject, or a nature theme.
Answering the bell
Bell ringers ring up donations
Volunteer bell ringers from the McHenry County Historical Society collected nearly $300 for the Salvation Army amid bone-chilling temperatures on Dec. 7. Special thanks to all those who donated and participated! Our intrepid board president, Mary Ott, (pictured) said ringing the bell was the only thing that kept her from freezing solid.
2019: Rock Around the Quilted Tree Winners
Blue Ribbons - First Place
Holly Scott, McHenry
Category - Heirloom Quilts
“Rising Sun” or “Crown of Thorns”
Holly Scott
Category – Hand Quilted Bed Size
“Feathered Star Sampler”
Phyllis Boppart, Woodstock
Category – Wall Quilts
Log Cabin Tree Skirt
Red Ribbons - Second Place
Barbara Peterson, McHenry
Category - Heirloom Quilts
“Crystal Snowflake”
A "Brew Crew' thriving south of the Wisconsin border
We hear so much negative news about Illinois nowadays that it was with pride that I read that the Chicago metro region leads the nation in the number of breweries with 167.
A recent report by Colliers International, a brokerage based in Seattle, identified the Chicago area as the destination for craft brewers. They occupy about 1.6 million square feet of commercial real estate – tops among metropolitan areas in the U.S.
Policymakers should be on hot seat after global warming report
What if last weekend’s blizzard was not some “freak of nature,” but rather part of a new natural order? What if such extreme weather events become the norm?
If you are worried, you are not alone. According to a new federal report – Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released
Nov. 23 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program:
• Human health and safety, our quality of life and the rate of economic growth in communities across the U.S. are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Hebron making history on multiple fronts
By the time you read this, the inaugural “Fall Fling” fundraiser benefiting the Hebron Public Library will be in the books.
The challenge now is to keep the library vital and visible moving forward.
Board President Sharon Pohlman said what began in 1915, thanks to the vision of a ladies’ afternoon social club, has persisted. But lately, a more accurate word is subsisted. This independent, nonprofit venture has been slipping by on only $20,000 a year – and that covers stipends for two part-time librarians, utilities and materials.
Service to McHenry County resonates in valor quilts, 'Bells of Peace'
Valor Quilt program honors veterans
Austin James “Jim” Bailey admitted he always was interested in flying. As a teenager, he wrangled a job sweeping floors around the Boston airport, just so he could be close to airplanes and the pilots who flew them.
“In the 1930s, there was always something going on, and I got to meet some very interesting people,” Bailey said.
The list of celebrities passing through included Charles Lindbergh and Eddie Rickenbacker.
Honestly: What would Lincoln say nowadays?
The Illinois State Historical Society wants to inject a little bit of “Honest Abe” in every state courthouse this year.
To commemorate Illinois’ bicentennial, the Illinois Judges Association and Illinois Judges Foundation boards, the Illinois State Bar Association and Illinois Bar Foundation boards collaborated with the state historical society on a project to manage and fund the installation of 30-inch-by-40-inch photographs of lawyer Abraham Lincoln in each of the state’s 102 county courthouses.
Quilt program stiches past, present together
Janette Dwyer was 18 when she thought she might want to be a quilter. Thirty-four years and quilt shop later, she continues to embrace the art form.
“I love the quilt history, or the ‘story behind the story,’” said Dwyer, of downstate Atkinson, Ill. “I wish quilts could talk and tell us their history, as well as their journey.”
Dwyer, who owned Quilt Quarters in Geneseo between 1999 and 2005, has been a quilt appraiser and lecturer since then.
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