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Full-text articles to support research in history and genealogy and lesson plans to support student learning.
Elgin, Illinois, was founded in 1835. However, the community truly came into its own at the end of the Civil War, when the Elgin National Watch Company moved there and took the city name as its own. The name Elgin became synonymous with quality for over 100 years. Elgin, Illinois: "Wish You Were Here" tells the story of the town of Elgin during the 20th century, featuring vintage postcards of that period.
Special events of historic interest include
...5) Kane County
Rich land at the edge of a great prairie with the wonderful Fox River flowing through it, providing a source of power-this is what the settlers of Kane County found when they arrived. Early pioneers came from the eastern United States in the 1830s, and later migrated from Europe. Kane County in Vintage Postcards tells the story of the beginning of Kane County through its first 100 years, 1838 through 1938, featuring images of that period.
This
...8) Hyde Park
First founded in 1853 by New York lawyer Paul Cornell, who named the community after the famous London park, Hyde Park was incorporated in 1861 and in 1889 the village was annexed to the City of Chicago. At the time of annexation, Hyde Park was extremely large in size, extending from 39th to 138th Streets. Today the area stretches from Lake Michigan to Cottage Grove Avenue and 47th to 59th Streets.
The 1890s was a time of great growth for Hyde
...Although it was first settled in the 1830s, Oak Park did not become an independent municipality until it split from Cicero Township in 1902. No longer a rustic small town, the village soon became a population magnet, attracting ever-larger numbers of prosperous, progressive people to settle in what many soon referred to as "the finest of the streetcar suburbs."Coincidentally, use of the penny picture postcard had approached a national mania during
...15) Aurora
Covered wagons brought a wave of migration to northern Illinois in the mid-1830s. On April 1, 1834, the first permanent white settlers, Joseph McCarthy and two assistants, paddled up the Fox River. The vicinity was known as Waubonsie's Village at that time. They built a log cabin, a dam across the Fox, and eventually a sawmill. The village had about 400 Native Americans who bartered fish for bread and tobacco. For almost 175 years now, growth has
...16) Chain O' Lakes
18) Fox Lake
Vintage postcards show the magic of the scenes and people of Fox Lake, a populsr destination of vacationing Chicagoans.
Fox Lake, nestled as it is in the the heart of the chain, has been one of the Chicago area's favorite recreation destinations for over 100 years. Starting in the late 1800s, wealthy sportsmen constructed clubs that sparked an era often referred to as the "resort heyday." An explosion of resorts and cottages beckoned
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