Friday, April 12, 2013
Author John Hallwas will share stories about Illinois' notorious outlaws on Monday night at the McHenry County Historical Society Museum in Union.
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Friday, April 12
Who: Guest Speaker: Author John Hallwas When: 7 p.m. Monday, April 15 Where: McHenry County Historical Society Museum, 6422 Main St., Union Admission: $10 donation requested To reserve a seat, 815-923-2267 ------------------------------------------------- Ed and Lon Maxwell had a reputation across Illinois as robbers and horse thieves, but in 1881 their crime wave reached a new, more infamous level. That is when they shot and killed two Wisconsin lawmen, Charles and Milton Coleman. According to author John Hallwas and the University of Illinois Press – which published his 2009 award-winning book, “Dime Novel Desperadoes” – the murders launched the largest manhunt in American history. About 20 posses pursued the brothers across Wisconsin, …
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Huntley founder platted three churches, including Lutheran church that remains an anchor in the village's historic downtown.
Huntley town founder Thomas Stillwell Huntley platted land for three churches when he laid out the town in the early 1850s. A deeply religious man, he set aside property for the Congregational, Catholic and Lutheran churches. Previous columns have described the origins of the local Congregational and Catholic churches. Huntley’s Trinity Lutheran Church on Church Street has roots that date back equally as far. This year the congregation marks its 140th anniversary. Trinity Lutheran Church formally was organized in 1871, although services had been held locally in members’ homes for several years before that. The congregation was predominantly German and the first church, built in 1874, was known as the German Evangelical Lutheran Church. …
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Meeting marks Historical Society's first anniversary.
Are you interested in preserving Huntley’s valuable historic artifacts and iconic sites? Would you like to own a piece of the demolished historic Marlowe Feed building? Do you want to learn what life was like in McHenry County before the Civil War? Then plan to attend “Huntley’s Rendezvous with History,” 10 a.m. July 23 at American Community Bank, 10101 Route 47. The event will mark The Huntley Historical Society’s first official year and will feature historical displays, period costumes, a presentation by McHenry County Historical Society Administrator Nancy Fike, a general membership meeting, light refreshments and more. The first 100 charter members of the organization will receive a piece of Huntley history to commemorate their …
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
170-year-old Huntley icon could be used as museum.
With the historic Marlow Feed Store now gone from the Huntley landscape, several local organizations are trying to preserve another village icon. The 170-year-old Sun Valley Farm, located on West Main Street at Lois Lane, is the focus of proposed renovations by the Huntley Park District, the Huntley Park District Foundation, The Huntley Historical Society and the Huntley Jaycees. With community support, the groups hope to improve the farmstead to serve as a repository for Huntley history and as a historic showplace and go-to destination for tourists, school groups and history enthusiasts. “We have the ability to make this into a treasure,” historical society member and Village Trustee Pam Fender said. “We just need to bring back …
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Learn interesting facts, like Huntley's first village ordinance and the name of the first baby born in Grafton Township.
Someone had to be the first. So who, or what, were some of the “firsts” in Huntley’s history? Although the town is named for him, Thomas Stillwell Huntley was not the first to settle in the area. A Mr. Grinnell was the first settler of record. He remained only a short time before selling his land to Lewis Holdridge, the second man to make his home in the area. Marion, son of William Robb, was the first child born in what was to become Grafton Township, and a two-year-old daughter of Charles Stowell was the first recorded death. The first religious services were held in 1839 in the Prescott Whittemore house, which still stands along Marengo Road just west of the town of Huntley. The services were led by a Baptist minister, Elder …
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Chronicling McHenry County's wild side.
Brothels, babes and booze, in McHenry County? In Huntley? Apparently so! Craig Pfannkuche, a volunteer researcher with the McHenry County Historical Society, recently spoke to the Huntley Senior Citizens Club on those salacious subjects, telling of the county’s most lawless era, the 1920s and early 1930s. "McHenry County was a wild and dangerous place in the 1920s,” he said. With documentation in hand, Pfannkuche told the group, “Everyone knows about the crime and corruption in Chicago, but just as much criminal activity took place in McHenry County.” He told of Al Capone’s Fox River Grove hideout where Capone and his gang “entertained women.” Pfannkuche said he has evidence that some of those women were from Huntley. He told of…
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Bev Kubis continues her family's tradition as waitress at the Village Inn on Main street.
Bev Kubis sits in a recliner, her broken right ankle swathed in a heavy cast. She’s been sitting for nearly six weeks, and the tedium is driving her crazy, she said. The 77-year-old can’t wait to get back to her waitressing job at the Village Inn restaurant on Main Street across from the Huntley town square park. She misses the busyness of the job and the banter of regular customers. “I’d sooner be moving around and talking to people,” she said. Bev laughed and recalled, “One man comes in every day and yells real loud, ‘Hey, you old goat, are you still working here?’ Bev Sigrist Kubis has been waitressing in Huntley since she was 12 years old. Following a family tradition, she eventually opened and operated the Village Inn …
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
From rural schoolhouses to modern campuses.
With the winter break over, it’s back to school again for local children. More than 8,000 students fill the eight schools of Huntley Consolidated District 158 these days. Every one of those students attends a relatively new school, since none of those eight schools existed 14 years ago. Yet children of the Huntley area have been going to school for more than 160 years. School District 158 is a very new, old district. The first local school began in 1842 in a log cabin about a mile and a quarter west of the future town of Huntley. Cynthia Thompson was the first teacher, instructing students of all ages. That original school sufficed until the first school within the town of Huntley was built in 1861, a building later moved to make way…
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Founder a generous, religious and intelligent man.
The name Huntley is spoken thousands of times each day in our community. Yet few living in the town today know the life story of the generous, intelligent, religious man for whom the village was named. Thomas Huntley was not the first settler to arrive in this area of southern McHenry County. But he was the first to envision a thriving community here. Much is known about Thomas Huntley from his lengthy obituary, published in the 1894 Huntley News, and republished in "Huntley Centennial: 1851-1951." Thomas Stillwell Huntley was born March 27, 1807, in Cortland County, New York. His pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit most likely came from his father, an early settler in Cortland County, who owned nearly all of Ellicottville, New York, …
Norm Fossmeyer
6:29 am on Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Great story on Trinity's history. Thanks for sharing. more ›