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Sugar Creek Point School started as a one-room, rural school. It was later converted into a private home on 1200th Road.
The one-room legacy
“When September comes each year and the first school bells ring there always awakens within us to get our books out and follow their summons.” Mabel Swain Estes Mabel Swain Estes and her … more
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This facsimile recreates the signatory section of the 1818 Illinois constitution.
In a state of transition
An important first step for a territory to become a state was laying out the groundwork for a constitution. The effort to move Illinois from territory status to state began in early 1818 after the … more
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This is the House of Representatives Chamber in the Illinois capitol. The photo was taken from the fourth floor gallery.
A capitol undertaking
A groundbreaking ceremony in 1868 started the sixth capitol building for Illinois. The Illinois legislature authorized a new capitol building at Springfield in 1867 on a nine-acre plot of land in … more
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The Old State Capitol in Springfield was the state house from 1840 until 1876 and was completely restored in the 1960s. It is a National Historic site and can be visited today to see the place where Abraham Lincoln served as a legislator.
A view Lincoln knew
Even though the citizens of Vandalia built a new capitol building in 1837 it was not enough to prevent Springfield becoming the state’s capital city. Some legislators wanted to move the capital … more
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The stage setting for “Uncle Jimmy” taken at the Paris High School auditorium in November 1934 The people on stage in no certain order are Pauline Thompson, Mrs. James Bolin, Mrs. Walter Morris, Emmajean Means, Lois Ann Morris, Mrs. Archie Morris, John Stanley and Walter Kimble representing the Pine Grove Community Club. (Special to The Prairie Press)
Dramatic showdown
A three-day, first-of-its-kind event was Nov. 22 through Nov. 24, 1934, at the Paris High School auditorium. The Edgar County Farm Bureau sponsored a drama and music tournament to bring together … more
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This gravestone in St. Aloysius Cemetery is testament to the effort Dan Pigg put into saving old markers. He used a special epoxy to put the stone back together after finding it broken into four pieces. (Roger Stanley/ The Prairie Press)
Amazing life unearthed
There is a gravestone in the St. Aloysius Cemetery indicating that John Barry was interred there at the advanced age of 117.  Dates on the stone show he was born March 27, 1768, in County … more
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Farm dealerships gone
When the tractor and the combine replaced the horse and the binder some businessmen saw opportunity in the new horsepower generated by machines. New businesses started that eventually replaced … more
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On the edge of statehood
In an ongoing effort to bring information about Illinois’ 200-year celebration for becoming a state in 1818, let’s review some of the steps necessary for that to happen. There was a … more
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A star shines from Hume
Many children grow up watching television. They pick one, or in some cases, several favorite shows and perhaps a character whose persona sparks dreams of growing up to be an … more
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Baldwinsville was a stop
A Colonel Baldwin built a large house and store that included a post office on an intersection of two trails in Hunter Township. This was a little after the failed city of Cambridge was … more
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Historic Tiger team honored
The Paris Tiger baseball team put the bow on yet another record-breaking season with an awards banquet Thursday (May 30) at Step Station.The season officially ended with a 2-1 loss to Mattoon in the … more
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Only a pile of gravel remains
On the Horace-Brocton Road, about six miles west of Horace there is a big pile of gravel on the south side of the road, but it hasn’t always been so. Many years ago a Methodist Church and … more
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Former Paris resident had role in Watergate
Many people try their whole lives to obtain the impossible dream. They try to reach the highest heights in their chosen profession, and some do not stop until the top is reached. Paris residents … more
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A free-thinking newspaper
The city of Paris has had many papers come and go. There was the Beacon, The Blade, The Paris Daily News as well as many others. For the most part, each paper posted its own views on subjects … more
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Clay speculated in county
Henry Clay was born in 1777 in Virginia and during his school years he studied law under George Wythe. Wythe’s previous students included Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall. All three men … more
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Local architectural gems
In the course of Edgar County events, the builders and people of this county have worked for and achieved something by being recognized with National Register of Historic Places … more
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Settlers left their mark here
The westward movement was still going strong in the late 1800s and many new families were still coming to Edgar County and Paris. Granville Collier was born in 1862 at Campbellsburg, Ind.,  … more
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Pontiac fought for land
Just after the French and Indians War between 1756 and 1763 another war started in what later became the Northwest Territory of the United States.The 1763 Treaty of Paris ending the French and Indian … more
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Paris native made her mark
 Paris was a hustling and bustling place in 1850. People from all over the eastern part of the United States were migrating west. Many stopped in Paris and Edgar County and made it home for … more
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Farmers take to the air
What was to become Flying Farmers started in 1944 on the campus of Oklahoma A & M University. In the next year, a national group started and eventually it became the International Flying Farmers … more
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