This photo shows Woodland Cemetery’s City Vault. (Photo courtesy of Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County)

Silent Sentinel

In 19th-century America, city vaults emerged as a distinctive feature of both urban and rural cemeteries, reflecting both practical necessities and shifting cultural attitudes toward death. As towns grew, limited…

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This map shows the extent of the Military Tract between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers in Illinois. (Photo courtesy of The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County.)

Quincy Area Bounty Land Pays Volunteer Soldiers

Settlement in Quincy and Western Illinois was closely tied to land bounties the U.S. Congress awarded to volunteer soldiers in the War of 1812. It was a method of compensation…

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This photo shows Wiley Post’s plane after the crash at Monroe Airport. (Photo courtesy of Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County)

Quincy’s Monroe Airport and Wiley Post

In the early days of aviation, few communities had paved runways for planes to land. Most just had graded landing strips in fields. But aviation and the miracle of flying…

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On On March 27, 1925, an unknown 21-year-old pilot made an emergency landing on the Farlow Field in Camp Point, Illinois. Two years later, after completing the first solo transatlantic flight, Charles Lindbergh became the most famous person in the world. Quincyans helped design the plane he used, “The Spirit of St. Louis,” and played a vital role in early American aviation. (Photo courtesy of the author.)

Quincy Played a Vital Role in Charles Lindbergh’s Historic Flight

On March 27, 1925, a small plane made an emergency landing on the Farlow Field near Camp Point. A 21-year-old pilot, who only a week earlier had been commissioned a…

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A formal picture of Sgt Veile. (Photo Courtesy of the Veile family.)

Tech. Sgt. James Veile Killed in Action

James Leroy Veile was born August 9, 1923, in Quincy. He attended St. Francis School where he was a Boy Scout and a member of the safety patrol. James graduated…

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This picture shows Orchard House in Concord Massachusetts where the Concord School of Philosophy began. Emery rented the house from Bronson Alcott and lived there with his family while in law school at Harvard. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Samuel Hopkins Emery, Jr.

Emery is a well-known name in Quincy’s history. Samuel Hopkins Emery Sr. was a Congregational minister, and a Civil War Chaplin. He planted the seed and encouraged the  founding of…

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This is the official photo taken when Douglas entered Congress in 1843. (Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress)

Adams and Douglas: an American Irony

It was one of American history’s great ironies. Stephen A. Douglas in 1843 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Fifth Congressional District centered in Quincy, Illinois,…

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The 1834 Lords Barn bell now can be seen in an alcove on the south side of the Governor John Wood Mansion. (Courtesy of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County.)

Quincy Mourns the Death of a President

“Services appropriate to the great calamity which has befallen the nation will be observed at the First Congregational Church to-morrow.” So said the April 15, 1865 Quincy Daily Whig and…

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This photo was published in the newspaper after the death Donald Kaspervik. (Photo Courtesy of the Quincy Herald Whig)

Quincy Mother Loses Three Sons in World War II

It was Saturday afternoon, February 12, 1944, when “a fragile little woman . . . walked into the editorial rooms of The Herald-Whig . . . to tell of the…

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Harry Klene’s tobacco shop with Chief Badger . (Photo courtesy of Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County)

Chief Badger, Harry’s Gift of an American Legacy

Before the arrival of today’s discount smoke shops, Quincy had a thriving trade in wholesale and retail tobacco products. Wooden cigar store “Indians,” a colloquial term no longer used, advertised…

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Photo courtesy of https://www.findagrave.com

St. Francis School Fire

On December 22, 1899, a tragic fire at St Francis Solanus School in Quincy, Illinois, left 12 children dead and a community heartbroken. I first heard about “The Fire” as…

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A view of Riverview Park at the turn of the 20 th century from its observatory. (Courtesy of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County.)

Picnics are a Summertime Tradition

A picnic simply means a meal eaten outdoors, or al fresco dining. Some historians believe that the origin of the word picnic, historically spelled pic nic, is from 18th century…

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