Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes
Most people have heard about the Flying Dutchman patrolling the oceans or even the abandoned Mary Celeste. America's inland seas...
Devin Walk
Devin Walk is a freelance writer from Illinois with over a decade's worth of history-related writing. He is also the founder of Memories of the Prairie, a website dedicated to the history of the Midwestern United States.
The Orphan Trains
Between 1854 and 1929, up to 200,000 children were sent away on trains to be adopted by new families. In...
Old images of Madison Wisconsin. (Slideshow)
Madison, Wisconsin is the “City of Four Lakes.” In 1836, the city, just a name on a paper, was named...
WPA, Great Depression-era posters
In 1935, during the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established.Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put around...
Murder at Starved Rock
Starved Rock State Park, two hours southeast of Chicago, is one of the most beautiful spots in Illinois. The park...
Construction of the John Hancock Center (Video Footage)
(Video from thekinolibrary)
Video of the devastating “Great Flood of 1993”
The "Great Flood of 1993" occurred from May to October along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers . The devastating flood...
Photochrom photos from the late 1800s to early 1900s
Photochrom photos were popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Photochrom was a process of colorizing black and white...
Ghost stories from Fort de Chartres in Illinois
According to legend, a July 4th full moon illuminates a phantom, funeral procession complete with wagons and apparitions in 18th-century...
Surreal, color photos of railroad life in 1940s Chicago
This is a collection of photos documenting life on the railroad in 1940’s Chicago, from the Library of Congress’ Farm...