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

December 17 1880 The new editor Sam B Day noted that the Rural Republican had the largest circulation of any paper in the county. “Lawrenceville”, he said, “was located one mile north of the crossing of the Ohio and Mississippi and Danville and Southwestern railroads. It was a beautiful little village of about 1000 inhabitants surrounded by some of the finest farms and farming land in the state. It was a strong temperance town and was inhabited by a thrifty and enterprising

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

Sumner 1899 Sumner came into existence with the building of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, the construction of which was first started in March 1853 at Sandoval, Illinois. The railroad was open for operation in 1855 from St Louis, Missouri to Vincennes, Indiana. The road then was later completed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Its name was changed to the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern railroad (B & O SW) in 1890 and again changed in 1916 to the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) railroad omi

According to various internet sources, (and there you have it. . .) Mother Shipton was one of the most famous English seers. She was believed to have successfully predicted the dissolution of the Church in the reign of Henry VIII, the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, as well as the premature death of Henry Edward VI’s son. While most of us are familiar with the prophecies of Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce, those of Mother Shipton are not as well known. Ursula Southeil better known as Mo

The on- line copy of the Rural Republican, Lawrence County’s  newspaper, derived from old, microfilmed copies, is too degraded to read easily for Friday, December 10 , 1880.   The news in this blog for this time period was reported by the Vincennes Weekly Western Sun.  Bridgeport Brevities: John A Bard was officiating in the post office. HK Lanterman was crippled up with rheumatism. Several of the young folks met at the residence of Charles Vanausdel and partook of a most b

We know how busy this time of year is going to be for everyone with shopping, decorating, wrapping etc. so we present “gift buying through the decades” –five days of gifts that Lawrence County residents were purchasing locally.  Today showcases December 1940.

We know how busy this time of year is going to be for everyone with shopping, decorating, wrapping etc. so we present “gift buying through the decades” –five days of gifts that Lawrence County residents were purchasing locally.  Today showcases December 1930.

We know how busy this time of year is going to be for everyone with shopping, decorating, wrapping etc. so we present “gift buying through the decades” –five days of gifts that Lawrence County residents were purchasing locally.  Today showcases December 1920.

We know how busy this time of year is going to be for everyone with shopping, decorating, wrapping etc. so we present “gift buying through the decades” –five days of gifts that Lawrence County residents were purchasing locally.  Today showcases December 1910.