News and Events
History of Camp Algonquin should be part of its future
A century-old, 116-acre fresh air camp off Cary-Algonquin Road could re-emerge into a brave new world, the world of “glamping.”
No, this is not a medical condition. Rather, it is the marriage between glamour and camping. A proposal under consideration by the McHenry County Conservation District would rent out “unique year-round seasonal dwellings,” including tiny homes on wheels and Airstream trailers. Fees estimated at between $150 and $300 a day would include a slate of activities ranging from cooking classes to yoga to movie nights and campfire concerts.
Binding Our State Together
Large crowd marks state bicentennial, transportation hubs
As Illinois marks its bicentennial this year with predictable programs about Carl Sandburg and Abraham Lincoln, Norm Moline gravitated toward another subject: transportation.
Sixth Annual Antique Appraial Day
Antiques Great Show
The McHenry County Historical Society & Museum hosted sixth annual Antique Appraisal Day from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at the museum, 6422 Main St., Union. Items included a piece of Teco pottery, several incredibly rare books, an extraordinary stemp collection and fragile flag. Appraiser Jim McArdle of Iron Horse Antiques estimated that this linen centennial flag owned by Mark and Sue Richmond of Algonquin is worth an estimated $1,000. The fragile flag is eight feet long and has 13 hand-sewn stars.
One Man's Mountain is another's Heartbreak Ridge
It was a travel brochure I received from the University of Illinois Alumni Association that underscored the power of branding. Titled “Romance of the Mekong,” the trip includes visits to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi tunnels “used for guerrilla warfare.”
Pandemics of the past
With potentially months remaining in this year’s flu season, the 2017-18 outbreak could go down in history as one of the deadliest ever.
For the first time in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 13 years of monitoring influenza, every state in the continental U.S. is experiencing “widespread” virus activity that has resulted in the hospitalization of about 12,000 people and the deaths of an untold number – 53 of them children.
Chill, groundhog – Woodstock Moose Lodge marks 100th birthday
Among the 90 Moose lodges sprinkled across Illinois, only about a third have been around a century or more. Woodstock Moose Lodge 1329 is among them.
The lodge will mark its centennial Saturday with a celebration and fundraiser at the lodge, 406 Clay St. in Woodstock. The evening will begin with a silent auction from 4:30 to 6 p.m., cocktails at 5 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m. and entertainment by Brock and Abrams (formerly of Herman’s Hermits and the Buckinghams) starting at 8 p.m.
Pringle School Restoration
Consultant lays groundwork for plan
Following a multi-year restoration effort, the McHenry County Historical Society is in the final stages of adopting a detailed plan to complete restoration of its 150-year-old Pringle School.
Toward that end, it hired an experienced consultant, Beth Baranski of Baranski Hammer Moretta & Sheehy Architects & Planners in Galena, to help us identify and prioritize what needs to be done moving forward. During a Jan. 18 meeting at the historical society museum in Union, she identified several key areas for improvement:
Rock Around the Quilted Tree Contest Results
This year's Rock Around the Quilted Tree theme is "Blue Christmas. Twenty-one quilts were entered in this year's seasonal show. This year's grand champion was Gail Smith of North Barrington. The pattern for her quilt was "Robert's Floral Garden" and she called the blue and white quilt "Delft Garden." Linda Heidtke of Woodstock earned People's Choice honors for her Christmas crazy quilt. It featured some of great-grandmother's tatted lace for decoration..
RESULTS:
Hand Quilt Bed Size
New laws lead to reflection on the past
Caption: Bob Switzer is pictured at the 1952 National Stock Outboard Championship on Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif. American Power Boat Association.
Photo courtesy of Switzer Craft Boat Co.
It is a new year, and that means it is time for new laws. In Illinois alone, 215 new laws went into effect Jan. 1.
A few that caught my eye include:
Generally speaking, retailers recycle a tried-and-true approach
F.E. Rawson general store is seen in Greenwood. Frank Rawson and his wife, Viola, are seated on the far left.
The opening of Dollar General stores recently in Harvard and Hebron, and Wonder Lake before that, underscores the company’s commitment to small-town America and harkens back to a time when general stores dotted the landscape.
Reminiscing of farms, an old McDonald’s
The Volo Auto Museum and the Des Plaines History Center are working to keep the McDonald’s Corp. from tearing down its replica of Ray Kroc’s first franchise, which began in 1955.
The building, which opened in 1985, served as a popular museum – with its golden arches, red and white tile and mannequin crew – until flooding ended pubic access in 2008.
Overtures by McDonald’s that it intended to demolish the building and donate the land to Des Plaines drew the attention of Brian Grams, director of the Volo Auto Museum.
Christmas Tree Ship author docks in Crystal Lake
In October 1971, a scuba diver searching for an entirely different wreck found the 123-foot Rouse Simmons, resting upright 172 feet beneath the surface of Lake Michigan, near Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
The three-masted, 205-ton schooner, built in 1868 by Allan, McClelland & Co. in the Milwaukee Shipyard, was named after a well-known Kenosha, Wisconsin, merchant – brother to Zalmon, who founded the Simmons Bedding Co.
Annual Quilt Lecture & Valor Quilt Presentation
"Serial Quilter" comes clean
Elgin textile artist Laura Wasilowski presented "Where Did I Go Wrong: Confessions of a Serial Quilter” Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the McHenry County Historical Society Museum, 6422 Main St.
Wasilowski earned a degree in costuming from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn. and later a master's degree in fiber from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. She has since written three books, taught numerous workshops and opened Artfabric, Inc., where she sells hand-dyed fabrics and threads, patterns and fusing books.
Sherrif's House placed on register
Old jail landmarked
One hundred and twenty years ago, national icon Eugene Debs stepped out of the front door of the old McHenry County Jail on the Woodstock Square before a large and enthusiastic crowd – flanked by his attorney, Clarence Darrow.
Upon his release, the Woodstock Sentinel reported that more than 300 people “went crazy with delight, rending the air with cheers and tiger shouts lifting [him] onto their shoulders that the crowd might see him.”
Historic Halloween - Return of the Dead
Our spooky past
An estimated 125 people filled Eckert Hall for this year's Historic Halloween and sat transfixed as our presenters relayed tragic stories from McHenry County's past.
A different result requires a different approach
Eugene V. Debs speaks to a crowd in Canton, OH, on June 16, 1918 . Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
I was a young kid when the University of Texas tower shooting occurred, but I remember it was all over the news.
Nothing that horrific had ever happened before.
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