On Friday, March 25th, 1881 The editor noted that the monotony of the season was relieved somewhat last Sunday and also on Tuesday morning by a nice little fall of snow. “There was hardly enough, however, for a successful snowballing party.” The sun was shining and the snow was falling.  Jay Leonard of Allison offered his celebrated stallion, English Draft, for sale. Mrs. Booker of Duncanville Illinois rented the residence formerly occupied by M E Barnes in Lawrenceville an

Plan to attend the program “The Little Town with a Big Heart” on February 21, 2026, at 1:30pm at   at Sumner’s new City Hall, 224 S. Christy Ave. Free admittance and refreshment courtesy of the city of Sumner.  Presentation by George Zwilling. Local Black history in Lawrence County is a source of deep pride: it is the story of resilience, creativity, faith, entrepreneurship, and the leaders, families, churches, schools, and businesses that built and sustained this place agai

Born in Richland County, Illinois on March 8, 1908, Virgil Henry was the son of E Clinton and Rosa Shick Henry. He came from a family of schoolteachers; his father was a teacher; his brother Omar taught in schools in Lawrence County and his sister Fern was a teacher at Sumner High School. While a student in 1924, Virgil Henry of Sumner was awarded the prize in the home lighting contest conducted by the Central Illinois Public Service Company. The prize was a radio outfit

January 7 1881 ‘Ye tax gatherer is abroad in the land with his big book; Don't sic the dog on him.’  The tax collector counted 1,430 dogs in the county and hopefully was not bitten by any of them. The 17 th  snowstorm of the year occurred the day before the paper was published. Notwithstanding the extreme cold weather, a little Seed came to the surface in Lawrenceville last week. (The researchers haven’t learned who the parents were yet.) Reverend John Hennessy delivered qui

in 1991 the LTHS Marching Band performed at Disney World in Florida. Note their uniforms. By 1998 The band had new uniforms. This year they have new uniforms again and the Historical Society is the happy recipient of an old uniform for their county music exhibit. Look for it to be displayed soon.

Don't forget the Ladies of Lawrence: Clothing Through the Decades program Thursday Dec 4 10:00 at the History Center! News in Lawrencre County as reported in the Lawrence and Knox County newspapers for the week ending on December 3 1880. After the death of Mary Buntin , the new editor, her brother- in- law Sam B Day , began reporting the news. He had spent fifteen years in the publishing office setting type but stated that he would do a fair job with the news.    The worthy c