News and Events
Moving forward with a new Tradition – Art Quilts
Quilter, artist, lecturer, author and teacher, Frieda Anderson has done a little bit of everything since she made the jump from fashion design to quilt artist. Nov. 6 the Elgin resident explained her process and offered some tips to others aspiring to "paint" with fabric.
"Mother Nature give us gifts all the time," she told the group of about 60. Most of her work involves machine quilting and is inspired by nature. She even uses her own hand-dyed cottons and silks.
Keeping “Pace” with history can be a tall order
Mass transit has come a long way since the days of the Frink and Walker Stage Lines through McHenry County.
The public is expected to spend in excess of $183 million on Pace bus service next year – $100.141 million of that from sales taxes. So when reports surfaced that the suburban transit agency might trim service in McHenry County people took notice.
Ford School plaqued
After two years of waiting, a reconstituted McHenry County Historic Preservation Commission and the McHenry County Board plaqued the 1886 Ford School Wednesday, Oct. 23, in Lake in the Hills.
Schmitt Chapel plaqued
JOHNSBURG – The McHenry County Historical Society and the village of Johnsburg hosted a plaquing ceremony Saturday, Oct. 19, at the historic Schmitt Chapel, adjacent to the Chapel Hill Country Club. They were joined by a number of Johnsburg-area relatives of the original builder.
The Friedrich Schmitt Chapel
You've come a long way baby, but there's more
There are many types of “snake oils” out in the marketplace. Some, unfortunately, can kill you.
Cities and states are tripping over each other in their effort to ban electronic cigarettes. Restrictions have been implemented in Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Washington and California, as well as San Francisco and some major retails, to name a few.
Circle may have faded, but it remains unbroken
Members of the Marengo Ladies Home Circle gathered on June 18, 1963, at the Marengo Baptist Church. Among the influential women pictured are Helen Shurtleff Kelley (far left, front). Her father was Judge Edward Schurtleff and her mother, Elizabeth, was an advocate for women’s rights.
Since 1878, the Ladies Home Circle of Marengo served as a doorway for newcomers to town and a treasure trove of local history, passed down through the generations.
Historic Halloween, Return of the Dead
For one dark and stormy night only, several of McHenry County’s tragically departed returned Oct. 9 to Union to describe the dramatic details of their – or other’s – demise.
Cider Fest pie-baking contest 2019
Grand Prize Winners
AMATEUR: Natalie Krajewski, Gurnee - apple spice cake with cheesecake
PROFESSIONAL (Apple of My Eye Award): All Seasons Orchard, Woodstock - Dutch apple pie
CAKE
FIRST – Natalie Krajewski, Gurnee
SECOND – Jean Turner, Huntley - apple cake with apple glaze
THIRD – Judy Link, Marengo - apple bundt cake with caramel sauce
BARS
FIRST – Natalie Krajewski, Gurnee - apple shortbread
Temple has the “bones” to be an alter to our forbearers
The Sept. 4, 1919 edition of the Harvard Herald said it best:
“Witnessed by fully a thousand members of the fraternity, coming from Chicago and with a representation from practically all the lodges and Knights Templar commanderies in the city and villages of the surrounding territory, the laying of the cornerstone of Harvard’s new Masonic temple was performed last Monday afternoon precisely as planned.”
Victoria Woodhull: The First Female Presidential Candidate”
For a woman few people today have heard of, Victoria Woodhull made plenty of noise in her time.
A leader in the women’s suffrage and labor reform movements, Woodhull had many and varied interests that included serving as a medium for railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt to contact the spirit of his recently deceased wife. With his support, Woodhull and her sister opened a successful brokerage house.
Joint Council takes to the water
The McHenry County Joint Council of Historic Groups ordered up some outstanding summer weather ... in mid-September ... for an informative pontoon boat tour of Island Lake. The hour-long excursion around this man-made lake not only benefited the Island Lake Historical Society, it gave a behind-the-scenes peek at this little oasis. Located just to the north of Route 176, the lake dates back to 1929, when a group of wealthy sportsmen damed Mutton Creek in an effort to create their own private hunting preserve.
Fred A. Walters House plaqued
The McHenry County Historical Society's Historic Sites Committee plaqued the Fred A. Walters House, 241 Hoy St. in Woodstock, on Saturday, Sept. 14. Donovan and Jennifer Day opened their home to the public to a tour, followed by light refreshments.
By PATRICK KING
"Teddy Roosevelt" returns to Huntley, relives history
When it came to the Roosevelts – yes, the Roosevelts – there was something special about McHenry County.
By 1914, Harvard High School graduate Lillian Keating Donovan was beset by serious polio pain. She decided to go “take the water cure” at Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1927. There she met another polio victim and devoted “pool buddy.” His name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt!
It was Roosevelt who nicknamed her “Donney” (for Donovan) and later appointed her as a federal revenue collector in Chicago, once he became president in 1933.
Pending sale jeopardizes chapel's future
If you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t give the nondescript, white building a second thought, but behind the cider-block facade is a gem, a little bit of history that has managed to survive the indifference of past owners and growing development along Chapel Hill Road near Johnsburg.
Step inside Schmitt Chapel and embrace its simple pleasures – from original paintings depicting the Stations of the Cross and a statue of the Virgin Mary to some well-worn, but welcoming pews. The place gathers you in and, in its own way, restores your soul – a mere feet away from a fairway.
"Ghost Towns of McHenry County"
Narrator/historian Craig Pfannkuche and McHenry County Historical Society former Administrator Kurt Begalka led full bus to various "Ghost Town" sites on Saturday, Sept. 21. An enthusatic group learned about communities in our own backyard that for one reason or another lost their allure and never thrived. If you wish to reserve a seat for a future "ghost" town tour contact the museum office at 815-923-2267.
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