Centuries before Columbus arrived, a powerful culture rose up in the Mississippi Valley. These people built a sophisticated civilization that became the largest north of Mexico. Up to 20,000 people populated Cahokia which made it larger than London in 1250 AD. These people influenced cultures from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. They made significant advances in astronomy, agriculture, and economics. And then they disappeared. The Mississippian period began 1100 year

The history of the Edward Dobbins Lodge Building can be found in the Abstract of Title of Lot 69 in Valentine J. Bradley’s Addition to the Town of Lawrenceville. The building may be the oldest in the city. The first entry is the land patent from the United States to Toussaint DuBois that was granted on August 28, 1788. The land Patent covered a group of seven locations comprising what was known as ‘the Schoals’, a part of the Northwest Territory France ceded to the colony of

The capture of Fort Sackville (Vincennes) without loss of life during the conflict between England and the colonies was George Rogers Clark' s most significant military achievement. The decision to assault the Fort presented him with a daunting, almost impossible task. He would have to trek through the wilderness some 200 miles in the dead of winter, through flooded, icy river bottoms, while hoping the British remained unaware of his approach. He and his band of tired, cold,

Lawrence County prehistory is archeologically complex, spanning a wide range of time extending from the earliest known prehistoric time prior to the Paleoindian (ca 12,000-10,500 BC) up to the time of Euro-American settlement in the early nineteenth century. Our area, the central Wabash Valley, was one of the last major unknown archaeological areas of Illinois until the Illinois State Museum made archaeological excavations in the 1960’s. The period that existed until, and aft

Dogs have long been considered "Man's Best Friend," with their partnership with humans dating back thousands of years. The oldest domesticated dog remains in North America, found at the Koster Site in Illinois, were buried alongside humans around 8,500 years ago. Lawrence County's archaeological history stretches from before the Paleoindian era (ca 12,000–10,500 BC) to early nineteenth-century Euro-American settlement. Were there any dogs in OUR early history? Our friends fro

Recently, our researcher has been working on organizing our family files and binders (we are still in the A’s). The Adams’ family binder...

Manuscript on “Cromwell McVitty” prepared by Raymond Greene, Lewistown Pennsylvania August 28, 1934. Read before the...

Don't forget to attend the LHS play, “Voices from the Hanging” on TONIGHT Friday, May 23, 2025, at 7 p.m. in the LHS auditorium. (It's...

In the last half of the 17th century Marquette, Hennepin, Joliet and LaSalle explored the county drained by the Mississippi and Ohio...

Explore the Historic Trails from Purgatory Swamp to the Five Mile House Robinson, IL – The Central Wabash Archaeology Chapter (CWAC)...