The Lawrence County Illinois Historical Society proudly announces the TV premiere of its  documentary, "An Eagle on his Button." This film highlights the remarkable stories of African Americans from Lawrence County who served in the Civil War. Tune in to WVUT-22 PBS on SATURDAY February 28, 2026 at 6:00 pm Illinois time (7:00 pm Indiana time) to watch this important local history event. Today we conclude our stories about the Tornado that devastated the Pinkstaff area seventy

The Lawrence County Illinois Historical Society proudly announces the TV premiere of its  documentary, "An Eagle on his Button." This film highlights the remarkable stories of African Americans from Lawrence County who served in the Civil War. Tune in to WVUT-22 PBS on SATURDAY February 28, 2026 at 6:00 pm Illinois time (7:00 pm Indiana time) to watch this important local history event. We continue our stories about the Tornado that devastated the Pinkstaff area seventy years

We continue our stories about the Tornado that devastated the Pinkstaff area seventy years ago on February 25, 1956. The tornado then began its destructive work in the town of Pinkstaff. Willis Siefert,  43-year-old Pinkstaff resident at the time, narrowly escaped being killed when the high winds drove a six-foot piece of two by four lumber through his bedroom wall, like a huge spear, barely missing the bed where he was asleep.  Mr. Seifert had just cashed his weekly paycheck

We continue our stories about the Tornado that devastated the Pinkstaff area seventy years ago on February 25, 1956. (Please refer to the map of locations published Monday February 23 to follow the path of destruction.) As remembered by 94 year old Doris Gosnell.   On February 25 th,  1956, Edgar and Doris Gosnell along with their two daughters, five year old Claire Ann and two year old Vonda were living in the old Gosnell homeplace. Their new home was being built right ne

Seventy years ago February 25 marks the anniversary of the Pinkstaff Tornado. This week we will share some first- hand accounts from residents who lived through that awful night. Early on Saturday, February 25, 1956, a tornado developed when a cold front met an unusually warm air current coming from the Gulf of Mexico. In Lawrenceville, the barometer read 29 inches at midnight Friday, following a gradual decline throughout the day. At that time, the temperature was 62°F. The

The Research Library and History Center will be closed the week of December 21-27. The Lawrence County Historical Society received an early Christmas present from two of our favorite English guys, Andrew Hills and Jonathan D Hills, authors of a book titled “Origins of Armour No 2: An Armoured Repeating War Gun: Mark Bowman and William Hughes; Gun Carriage of 1900.”   This book examines a design patented in 1900 by two inventors from Pinkstaff, Lawrence County Illinois, Bowman

This is one of several photographs of a house belonging to the Childress family taken after the tornado struck the Pinkstaff area in...

We do not have digitized county newspapers for March 1879-August 1879 so the researchers had to look for local news in the Vincennes and...

The general stores in small communities sold a little bit of everything. To encourage shoppers, some gave away chinaware, or sold it at a...

The first railway charter granted by the Illinois General Assembly was to the Chicago and Vincennes Railroad in 1835. The demand for...