A handful of new books landed on my desk in the past few weeks: –Terrence Malick by Lloyd Michaels (October 20, 2008) –Health Culture in the Heartland, 1880-1980: An Oral History […]
Category: Illinois / regional
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 10, 2008
Goofy Ridge. Mason. Nine miles northeast of Havana. The origin of the name is unknown. According to a local story, the name dates from the Prohibition era of the 1920s, […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 9, 2008
Wing. Livingston. Seven miles northeast of Fairbury. Founded in 1883 by a man named Byrd. According to a local story, there was already a Byrd in Illinois so there ought […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 8, 2008
My hometown! Park Forest. Cook, Will. Founded in 1946 as a residential community for returning veterans of World War II by Carroll F. Sweet and American Community Builders. The name […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 7, 2008
Foosland [FOOS luhnd]. Champaign. Village (1959) seven miles southwest of Gibson City. Founded in 1874 and named for William Foos, an absentee landlord who owned some 3,500 acres in Champaign […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 6, 2008
Bug Tussle. Franklin. According to a local story, the community was named when a revival meeting attracted more june bugs than attendees, and the congregation spent most of the evening […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 3, 2008
Elizabeth. Jo Daviess. Village (1887) Twelve miles east-southeast of Galena. According to an Illinois state historical marker, in June 1832, at the height of the Black Hawk War, a group […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 2, 2008
Bone Gap. Edwards. Village (1891) six miles northwest of Albion. Reportedly named for the large number of animal bones found by settlers in the 1830s (Harper, ed., History of Edwards […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 1, 2008
We just received finished copies of Edward Callary’s new book Place Names of Illinois. The publication date is November 3, 2008, and every weekday leading up to publication I will post […]
More bumper sticker fallout
Inside Higher Ed reports this morning that the National Communication Association is comdemning the University of Illinois policy of restricting employees’ political speech. And further down the page, in mathlete news, a 13-million-digit […]
A few views from the UIC reception, September 17, 2008
Kris & Kendra descend the stairs. UIC staff distribute anniversary bags. Attendees listen to […]
In Our Own Backyard
The New York Times covers an experiment in family ties taking place in Rantoul, our neighbor to the north. Rantoul has suffered some hard times since the closing of Chanute […]