Our Rural Heritage
188 stories
Policemen of the Ditch, it wasn’t easy
By Sandy Vasko In 1894, a project known as the Sanitary Canal, or the Big Ditch, was in full swing.…
Good enough to dig, not to vote
By Sandy Vasko I think that there are few other topics these days that are more contentious than that of…
World War I — May 1918, the smells of spring … and gas
By Sandy Vasko Today we are going back to the War to End All Wars. May 1918 brought warm breezes…
Frontier justice, the case of Mr. and Mrs. O’Donnell
By Sandy Vasko An ambitious young man and a beautiful young woman had their whole lives ahead of them. On…
Healer or faker? … a visit from royalty
By Sandy Vasko When the railroad came through Will County in 1854, it did more than give our citizens a…
There’s a land rush on, by George
By Sandy Vasko It is December 17, 1878. We are listening to George Woodruff give a presentation documenting the very…
What George remembered, a portal into the past
By Sandy Vasko What did it look like to the first ones? The first few white men to come to…
Finding true love … and choosing wisely
By Sandy Vasko It’s that romantic time of year; Valentine’s Day is when we express our feelings for the one…
WWI — A startling discovery, women in the workplace
By Sandy Vasko Being an old equal rights amendment worker, I can tell you that the issue of women’s role…
WWI — February 1918, things were rough all over
One hundred and seven years ago the War to End All Wars was raging in Europe. Our doughboys were on…
The I & M Canal, the men who built it
By Sandy Vasko 1836 was a banner year in many ways. The massacre at the Alamo stunned the nation, but…
The last escape of Mollie Brown
I am sure that almost all of us have had the experience of trying to tell a stranger where we…