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158 years of fire fighting, it started with a fire

Published by admin on Mon, 06/29/2026 - 11:13am

Probably the first thing mankind did after inventing fire, was figure out how to control it. That problem still has not been totally solved. In the 19th century, wooden buildings coupled with open flames for heat and light made fire a town’s number one enemy. In the bitter cold of 1868 Wilmington stared that enemy in the face.
A little after midnight on January 18, 1868 a fire broke out at the store of M. A. Hirsch, No. 83 Water Street. We read the following description from the Wilmington Independent.

Withholding endorsements could be seriously counter-productive for AFL-CIO

Published by admin on Sat, 06/27/2026 - 1:28pm

The news earlier this month that the Illinois AFL-CIO has “deferred” all decisions on legislative and statewide endorsements in the upcoming fall election generated quite a bit of headlines.
“Springfield not only failed to advance key priorities, but the process by which legislation was considered fell short of what working people deserve,” a statement by the state federation claimed. “These concerns span the full breadth of our movement, with public sector, private sector, manufacturing and building trades all expressing dissatisfaction.”

Law and Order On The Frontier Of Illinois

Published by admin on Mon, 06/22/2026 - 11:50am

The history of Braidwood is a wild one, full of murders, beatings, and lynch mobs. But Braidwood is not alone with that scenario. This area was once the wild west. Before we talk of our own town let us step away from Will County to Iroquois County and the town of Watseka where our first story is ready to start. Lights, camera, action.

Buried California gold, it's everywhere around us

Published by admin on Mon, 06/22/2026 - 11:47am

It's in Wesley, it's in Wilmington, Florence and more. California gold is in the ground. Don't go running out for picks and shovels just yet though. What I mean will be made clear in the following paragraphs. Set the way back machine for January 24, 1848, location - the American River near Sacramento, California.
On that day James Marshall found shiny metal in the tailrace of Sutter's mill. It turned out to be gold. It wasn't until August 19, 1848 that the news was published in the East. The rush was immediate.

Wilmington's Whiskey Wars and Women's rights

Published by admin on Mon, 06/15/2026 - 11:59am

We left our story of saloons and sample houses with a new dram shop law enacted. Local ordinances set closing hours at midnight, and no Sunday hours, while State law made bartenders and owners libel if a patron was over-served.
It took awhile before owners got used to the new hours. We read in August of 1872 in the Wilmington Advocate, “City Marshal Lyon has been “going for” saloon keepers lively this week. Four have been fined for selling at unlawful hours. Some of the cases have been appealed, we learn. Laws are sometimes overdone.”

Reading photos, draw your own conclusions

Published by admin on Mon, 06/15/2026 - 11:26am

I can hear the music in my head, from PBS's TV show - The History Detectives. It happens to me every time I feel like I have a puzzle to figure out. I'm putting on my Sherlock Holmes hat, come Watson the game is afoot.
I recently reviewed the photos I have of people and organizations in Braidwood history. Two photos caught my interest, and I realized that they represented the very violent history of Braidwood. We know little about who these people were, but we do know they were “packing.”

Pritzker’s attendance record does him no favors

Published by admin on Sun, 06/14/2026 - 1:34pm

Gov. JB Pritzker last week squarely placed the responsibility for passing a Chicago Bears stadium bill on the team itself, and had some unsolicited lobbying advice for the Bears as he attempted to brush off his own session attendance issues.
The governor continued to downplay his own role in passing a stadium or stadium-related bill, saying it was Bears management which “decided to glom on to the mega projects bill that I proposed.”

Falling into the abyss, scandal rears its head

Published by admin on Mon, 06/08/2026 - 12:18pm

The fall of 1883 was a time of scandal in Braidwood, or so it seems if you read the Joliet Weekly Press from that time. The Weekly Press was the scandal sheet of its day. They did not let the lack of hard facts get in the way of a good story. And, unfortunately there are no local papers still existing of that time period to give us those facts.

Whiskey and Wilmington, an old story

Published by admin on Mon, 06/08/2026 - 11:42am

We live in an era where there are many choices, some good, some bad. I was astonished the other day when I went into a large liquor store and found the incredible choices I had to make in the whiskey department.
There was fruity ones like apple, there were spicy ones like jalapeno, there was sour mash, Canadian bourbon, French bourbon, and on and on. Well I can tell you that back in the day, there was no such thing. Today, whiskey is my choice topic. The pros and cons of drinking aside, let's look at what saloon life was like in the 19th century.

Bears stadium saga not done yet

Published by admin on Sun, 06/07/2026 - 1:29pm

Six days before the last day of the spring state legislative session, Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) gave me two big reasons why it was so difficult to push a Bears stadium bill across the finish line.
Cunningham, as you know, is the chief sponsor of the Senate’s Bears bill.
Every stadium-related legislation passed in Illinois included the Chicago mayor and the Illinois governor pulling in the same direction. This time, that didn’t happen;