Bridget Hart held her extensive family of two girls and six boys together after the death of her beloved husband, John. That tragedy had taken place in 1891. The family lived on a farm outside Winnebago, Illinois on Wolf Grove Road, about six miles away from Rockford.
The Wisconsin State Prison, located in Waupun, Wisconsin has many stories of hauntings, but it is the State Prison Cemetery that is the focus of this story. The graveyard for the prison is located almost two miles away from the prison and reported to be almost as old. It was used for the inmates whose
In the mid 1800’s Winnebago County realized the need to deal with the issues of those people who were not able to support themselves and those deemed insane. Their solution was to develop a working farm that would be sustained by its own crops grown by the people housed at the farm. The Winnebago County
The Rockford Public Library is celebrating one hundred-fifty years of service to the Rockford Community this year. This seems like good time to share some of the tales of its history. One of the favorite stories is about the beautifully carved wooden dog that was part of the Rockton Centre Branch for decades. This work
The Grinnell Senior Center sits on one of the most historic streets in Beloit, Wisconsin. According to the Historic Preservation Booklet : A Guide for Property Owners published in 1997, Bluff Street is one of first residential streets in the city. The neighborhood was formed shortly after the building of the first bridge crossing the
The Holiday Season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is often referred to as “The Most Wonderful Time of Year”. But others point out that there is something beyond the colorful lights and tinsel that can make this time of the year seem eerie and dark. The shorter days and much longer nights leave a
Rockford has been fortunate to have many men and women whose names have put the Forest City on the map. One of these extraordinary people, named Sammy Mandell, came to light in the 1920s and ’30s. Though most people won’t recognize the name, Sammy was once the Boxing Lightweight Champion of the World. Sammy’s story
According to the Civil War trust website, there are over 400 documented cases of women disguising themselves as men in order to fight in the Civil War. The man known as Albert Cashier was really Jennie Irene Hodgers and became the most famous of these brave women. Jennie Hodgers was born on Christmas Day in
Traveling the backroads in any state is one of my favorite past times and the last trip was no different. I had a long weekend so my partner and I threw a couple of things in a bag and ran out the door. It has long been a dream of mine to travel the entire
Joseph Bush was killed in what the May 14, 1926 edition of the Daily Register Gazette newspaper called the “strangest accident” in the annals of the police. Prohibition was the law of the land from 1920 until 1933 but it was a tough law to enforce. Bootlegging was a very lucrative business in the big