Columnist

Searching for a hero – the case of M. Henry

Published by admin on Mon, 03/24/2025 - 12:31pm

Today’s story is only somewhat related to Braidwood, and, I can’t even prove that. But it is one of the many trails down which I have traveled searching its history. It starts with a sad story from October of 1909.

Wesley, it hasn't always looked this way

Published by admin on Mon, 03/24/2025 - 11:13am

Those of us who live near the “town” of Ritchie have grown accustomed to the way things look now. Very few question the location of flood water, the placement of roads or the location of the old Wabash railroad bed now known as the Wauponsee Glacial Trail. Today we learn how flood waters, a railroad and an opportunistic town board created what we see now.

House committee doesn’t budge on Pritzker’s plan to dissolve some townships

Published by admin on Sun, 03/23/2025 - 11:00am

Two major proposals backed by Gov. JB Pritzker did not advance out of legislative committees before last week’s passage deadline.
Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton confirmed that she won’t be advancing her legislation supported by the governor that would dissolve townships with populations below 5,000 (SB2217), and eventually abolish townships with populations below 50,000 and lower the petition threshold to 5 percent from 10 percent to put a township abolition on the ballot.

The rise and fall of the Braidwood coal company

Published by admin on Mon, 03/17/2025 - 12:15pm

The founding father of Braidwood, James Braidwood, and his family, his short life and his coal company are the subject today.
George Woodruff in The History of Will County, 1878 describes him this way; “ Mr. James Braidwood claims that he built the first house in Braidwood, had the first house to burn, sunk the first coal shaft in Braidwood, his wife had the first child born and the first child to die in Braidwood.”

The trek to California and gold

Published by admin on Mon, 03/17/2025 - 11:09am

Last time, we left our intrepid Will County fortune seekers were near Fort Bridger and Salt Lake City. Set the way back machine to July, 1849 on the banks of the Bear River.

Workers rack up overtime while mass transit agencies face ‘fiscal cliff’

Published by admin on Sat, 03/15/2025 - 11:15am

Most weeks I use this newspaper column to highlight a story that’s appeared in my subscriber newsletter Capitol Fax. This week will be no different, but today’s column was written by my associate Isabel Miller:
Rep. Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines) recently told me he was “astonished” by some Chicago Transit Authority employee paychecks.
Rep. Moylan, the Chair of the House Transportation: Rail Systems, Roads & Bridges Committee, is heading into the transit funding discussions armed with an inch-and-a-half-thick binder filled with CTA salary data.

The journey begins, California or bust

Published by admin on Mon, 03/10/2025 - 10:29am

Today we are going back to 1850 and the intrepid men who ventured from Will County to El Dorado, commonly known as the gold fields of California to search for riches and a better future.
We know two men from Wilmington, William Goodwin and H. J. Northam left together in March of 1850. Goodwin was a married man with children, while Northam was a 29-year-old well-to-do bachelor merchant. We don't know if these two were friends, or only had the same goal.

State’s foster care system facing crisis

Published by admin on Sun, 03/09/2025 - 1:06pm

Advocates say a major storm is brewing that could overwhelm the state’s child foster care system.
The problem is legal liability insurance, or, more specifically, the lack thereof.
Insurance companies, advocates and providers say, are not taking on new private foster care agencies as clients and some agencies are being notified that they’re losing their insurance, including some of the state’s biggest foster care providers. Some others are being forced into high-priced, low benefit insurance plans. Many may ultimately find themselves out of business.

Fishing by hook, crook or dynamite

Published by admin on Mon, 03/03/2025 - 12:24pm

As the industrial age started polluting land, sea and sky during the first decade of the 20th century people started to appreciate the unspoiled, unpolluted places. The Kankakee River, both up and down stream from Wilmington was one such place.
Fish in the Kankakee that decade were abundant. We read on June 24, 1904 in the Wilmington Advocate, “Fishermen complain that the river is swarming with minnows and small pickerel and the fish have so much food they will not bite at bait though they may be seen in large numbers.”

The birth and early history of Essex

Published by admin on Mon, 03/03/2025 - 12:19pm

Today we set our sights south to the town of Essex. Set the wayback machine for December 19, 1879.
We first read of Essex's birth announcement in the Wilmington Advocate, “Essex is booming as a new railroad town. Messrs. Odell and Lonergan are about putting up corn cribs there, it is said. Town lots have been staked off and a railroad depot located, so report says.” Odell was an entrepreneur from the Wilmington area originally, but he had his hand in almost every town in the coal field, including the one named after him.