Time Was

You can't get there from here, 175 years of bad roads

Published by admin on Mon, 01/13/2025 - 10:22am

I am sure that you have encountered road construction that slowed traffic to a crawl, while saying didn't they just work on this road. It was worked on last year and the year before. Why can't they make a road that lasts? I am sure the township road commissioners ask themselves the same question as they go out to repair pot holes, regrade gravel roads and plow snow. Today we look at the subject of roads and their importance to a thriving community.

To report, or not to report, when tensions run high

Published by admin on Mon, 01/13/2025 - 10:18am

Some one once said that history always repeats itself. I think that's true to a certain extent. Today we hear of tensions running high in cities around the country because of police vs. public confrontations. As these incidents are reported in the media there are some who charge that the very act of reporting gives fuel to the fires of the rioters. Those are not new concerns. Set the wayback machine to Braidwood, 1878.

Technology made Custer Park what it is today

Published by admin on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 12:26pm

Custer Park, once part of Reed Township, is today a sleepy serene spot on the river. So how did technology have anything to do with it? The answer is that every industry that came to Custer was put out of business by technology.

Winter, polar vortex, and the transit of Venus

Published by admin on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 12:21pm

Well, it's no denying it's here; winter that is. And as I take out the heavy winter coat and try to find my gloves I look back to see what winter in Wilmington was like in the day,

Braidwood, no stranger to violence

Published by admin on Mon, 12/30/2024 - 11:38am

Everyday, all around us, we hear and see violence, whether it is in Gaza, Israel, Russia, the Ukraine or wherever, we wonder how can there ever be peace among them? How can they possibly get along after all this?. Our little corner of the world is no stranger to these kinds of problems. We have only to look at Braidwood in the late 1870's to see how we behaved under those conditions.

168 years of public service and still going

Published by admin on Mon, 12/30/2024 - 11:29am

Some buildings are built for living in, some are built for working in, and some are built to serve the public. In the latter group, it is rare to find a public building that is over 100 and still serving the public. But in Wilmington, we have one that's made it to 168 years old, and still going. I am speaking of the former Methodist Episcopal Church, now Wilmington Public Library at 201 S. Kankakee Street.

Christmas 138 years ago, 1886 holiday season

Published by admin on Wed, 12/25/2024 - 8:08am

In the spirit of the Ghost of Christmas Past, today we hop aboard the way-back machine to 1886 to celebrate the holidays in Wilmington.

120 years ago, a real Milestone

Published by admin on Wed, 12/25/2024 - 8:08am

Hey you, tired of working the same old job for the same old pay? Tired of someone else getting rich on your hard work? Want to get rich in just a few years? Man, have you heard of Milestone?
That was the talk in Custer, Braidwood and Wilmington, the summers of 1904 to 1906. Let's see what it was all about.

The case of the guilty conscience

Published by admin on Mon, 12/16/2024 - 11:46am

I was looking around in the March 22, 1907 Wilmington Advocate when this headline caught my eye, “CAPTAIN HOOKER, FORMERLY OF WILMINGTON, WILLS ESTATE TO UNITED STATES.” I started to wonder what kind of idiot this guy was, when I heard the music running through my head. You know the tune - the theme from History Detectives. And I found myself plunged into the case of the guilty conscience.

God bless us everyone

Published by admin on Mon, 12/16/2024 - 11:45am

Christmas is about children. We know that, and our forefathers did too. Our story this week is a reprint from 20 years ago, but, like Dicken's Christmas Carol, I believe it is a classic, and bears repeating. It is a Wilmington tale. It concerns two Wilmington families who received a very special Christmas present 128 years ago.