I’m always fascinated by the big plans people had in the early half of the Nineteenth Century when the Midwest was opened up to settlement. The former Jubilee College, founded by Episcopal minister Philander Chase in 1839 northwest of Peoria, was to operate as a seminary for priests serving the surrounding states. Only a small…
Tag: Central Illinois
Southwest and Northeast of Downtown, Galesburg, Illinois
Heading southwest down Louisville Road, I spotted one of the grain elevators that line the train tracks in Galesburg. Now owned by ADM, it possesses one of the largest grain silos I have ever seen, at least in diameter. I worked my way back up on Monmouth Boulevard, which connects the center of town with…
Northwest of Downtown, Galesburg, Illinois
It’s always interesting to see a city such as Galesburg that is primarily a community of wood frame houses, its building materials brought south from the Northwoods by Chicago’s vast rail network. The house above is the first one north of the railroad tracks that separate the residential neighborhoods from downtown. Of course there are…
Around Downtown, Galesburg, Illinois
Whiting Hall the Italianate style building above and below, was originally part of Knox College and functioned as a women’s seminary. The central core is from 1854-7, with the east wing added in 1885 and the west wing added in 1895, when it received its current name. It is now senior housing. The Knox County…
Central Congregational Church, Galesburg, Illinois
As I mentioned yesterday, Central Congregational Church holds down the southwest corner of Central Square in Galesburg. It is easily the most beautiful example of Richardson Romanesque that I have seen, and I’ve seen a lot of them. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a Congregationalist church still in business; I think every one…
Central Park, Galesburg, Illinois
Look at the above postcard from the late Nineteenth Century, with a view down Main Street, which we looked at yesterday. An intact, intimate urban space with even a streetcar going by. It’s not like that anymore. As we walk down Main Street in Galesburg, crossing over Cherry Street, we see the parking lots and…
Main Street, Galesburg, Illinois
We’ll be looking at Galesburg, Illinois for the next six days, as part of my continued examination of the cities and towns within the sphere of St. Louis’s economy. Located along the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, there is still a giant railyard going through the town in a northeast-southwest orientation southeast of downtown. Main…
Family Farm, Late June 2023
Update: See the farm in August of 2023 for updates after the tornado. Two days after I posted these photos on March 29 of the family farm, a tornado struck, destroying several structures and trees. Thankfully, the historic horse barn, built in the late 1800s, survived with minimal damage, losing only a few pieces of…
Family Farm, Deer Creek Township, Illinois, March 2023
I woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground, which I was not expecting at this point in the season; apparently the same thing happened in St. Louis. It was very, very cold out, to say the least. But the sky was clear and blue in the morning.
Downtown Lincoln, Illinois
While there is the typical suburban sprawl on the edge of Lincoln, I was impressed by the overall strength and health of the downtown area of the city. There is little loss of the street wall around the courthouse square, and there is even a little theater district! There are two restored theaters, and rather…