Preserving The Past
Through our bi-monthly newsletters, we aim to keep the fascinating history of our community alive and accessible. Enjoy features on historical events, profiles of key figures, and insights into our ongoing preservation work.
Historical Events & Figures
Enjoy our profiles about Metamora’s famous figures and events such as President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson, and the Underground Railroad.
Preservation Work
See updates we’ve made throughout the years to our wonderful museum located just one block off the Metamora square.
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December 2024 Newsletter
Progress on the Underground Railroad documentary, plus we hear from a conductor's grandchildren. Many facts about Metamora from 1914.
Read MoreOctober 2024 Newsletter
A first-person account of the Lincoln-Douglas debates by the daughter of the Woodford County sheriff. The Metamora Herald details a storm that killed 5 horses. Learn more about the proprietor…
Read MoreAugust 2024 Newsletter
Early Metamora lawyers, featuring Adlai E. Stevenson I. Tribute to Lincoln from August 1923. Brutal deed to the Engel cattle. Christian Union Church dedication. Updates to the corbels on the…
Read MoreJune 2024 Newsletter
Obery Farms celebrates 150 years in Metamora, with a video teaser and photos more than 100 years old. Plus, MTCO converts to dial-up phones in 1958.
Read MoreApril 2024 Newsletter
The Schrepfer family homestead is located on what is now the Metamora Fields Golf Course. Plus, the earliest burials and oldest deceased in both St. Mary's and Oakwood cemeteries.
Read MoreFebruary 2024 Newsletter
When wolves roamed Metamora. Eyewitness account of the Underground Railroad. A Lincoln story. Pantagraph news clippings.
Read MoreDecember 2023 Newsletter
Some Christmas events in Metamora, 1910-1953; research while trying to find where Roswell Goings is buried; Kevin Wood as Lincoln on October 14, 2023, at the Metamora Courthouse
Read MoreOctober 2023 Newsletter
Searching in Oakwood Cemetery for the grave of Marie Speirs, owner of the Metamora House. Plus, a new "Walking/Biking Tour of Historic Metamora" slide video (without audio) now on YouTube
Read MoreAugust 2023 Newsletter
History and photos of 111 E. Partridge St. (east half of lot 3 in block 28 of the original town of Hanover/Metamora), a former tavern, now the Dietel residence, just…
Read MoreJune 2023 Newsletter
Old Metamora-area photos received from the Joliet Area Historical Museum. Kittenball/softball over 100 years ago
Read MoreFebruary 2023 Newsletter
Future Farmers of America (FFA) pest eradication program contests in high schools; 1920 Wagner Ford car and Fordson tractor ad with names of Metamora-area customers; description of country school east…
Read MoreDecember 2022 Newsletter
Extensive excerpts from Mennonite County Boy by C. Henry Smith, originally from Worth Township west of Metamora.
Read MoreOctober 2022 Newsletter
Morsetown Cemetery Underground Railroad Conductor marker ceremony of September 25, 2022 (with conductor gravestone photos); 1949 4-H Club photograph; Adlai Stevenson "Copperhead" rumors
Read MoreAugust 2022 Newsletter
Wawros present the Stevenson House with paintings by Mary Schiltz Heinzmann, wife of Metamora physician Dr. C.B. Heinzmann (family name sometimes spelled "Heinzman"); C.B. & Mary Barbara Heinzmann car crash…
Read MoreJune 2022 Newsletter
Underground Railroad marker ceremony coverage; MAHP video tour of Metamora now available on YouTube; illustration of Maple Grove School by Kay Sears; old birth certificate and local ads; photos of…
Read MoreApril 2022 Newsletter & Underground Railroad Press Release
Underground Railroad marker ceremonies; pictures of St. Mary's School history, railroad removal near Lowpoint, and the house that became the Mason Funeral Home
Read MoreFebruary 2022 Newsletter
Sign from Schlipf's implement & appliance store; Abraham Lincoln 8th Circuit markers & rededication; difficulty tracing old roads; old jail/John Zimmerman Boarding House
Read MoreDecember 2021 Newsletter
Stage coach route and train in Metamora; remembrances of Lincoln's time in Metamora; Fandel family photos
Read MoreOctober 2021 Newsletter
About 10 old post cards with local photos, donated as unneeded by Metamora Courthouse State Historic Site; small excerpts and images from the 1873 county atlas; "Mrs. S. M. Snyder"…
Read MoreAugust 2021 Newsletter
Highlight items of 79-year-old Bob Remmert's audio interview about old Metamora and growing up in the 1940s-1950s; conflicting details about where the American Hotel was located; map of 50+ historic…
Read MoreJune 2021 Newsletter
Addresses of old village leaders' homes and businesses; "missing pieces" from the last newsletter, including many photos of grocery & general stores; group photos of St. Mary's Grade School graduating…
Read MoreApril 2021 Newsletter
Abersol/Isch's store photos, including before the house was moved west.
Read MoreFebruary 2021 Newsletter
Abraham Lincoln facts; construction of the Metamora Courthouse; early local post offices
Read MoreOctober 2020 Newsletter
The Metamoran, a new 2020 history book by Ron Wagner; St. Mary of Lourdes Church history book photos, including St. Mary's Ladies' Society, St. Joseph's Young Men's Society, St. Cecilia's…
Read MoreAugust 2020 Newsletter
Class photos of Metamora High School Class of 1898 and Germantown School (i.e. Germantown Hills grade school) 1899 & 1900; Metamora east-side business district fire, May 27, 1941; death of…
Read MoreJune 2020 Newsletter
Class reunion photos from Metamora Township High School classes of 1918, 1924, 1937, 1938, 1942, and 1946; grade school class photos of Hickory Point School in 1905, Oak Hill School…
Read MoreApril 2020 Newsletter
Pre-1915 photo of northeast corner of Metamora Sq., numbered "26613"; August 1859 notice for the September 5, 1859 school board election, possibly the first, of "District No. 2, Town of…
Read MoreFebruary 2020 Newsletter
Helen Ahrens scrapbook newspaper photos, including engagement photos and announcements, Metamora dance pupils of Prenda East of Peoria, Woltz Studios photos of various Metamora children, and George E. Klein and…
Read MoreDecember 2019 Newsletter
Old county seat Versalles and nearby Bowling Green: excerpts from The Past and Present of Woodford County; recent field trip to the sites of the old towns and Lincoln's trail…
Read MoreOctober 2019 Newsletter
Photos and articles from Durward Guth & Charles Kamm, including Metamora Women's Club (1982-83) and Metamora Township High School production of "A Ready-Made Family (1951); the Herman Weber "rock house"…
Read MoreAugust 2019 Newsletter
Photo clippings of Metamora Prep League baseball and Metamora Township High School homecoming, plays, and cheerleaders, and American Legion school award winners from Germantown Hills and Metamora; WWII biography of…
Read MoreJune 2019 Newsletter
75th anniversary of D-Day, with news photos and clippings; photo of Metamora Township High School Class of 1946, with names; Sr. Cecilia Fandel books about the Alig and Fandel families…
Read MoreApril 2019 Newsletter
1893 plat of Metamora; grade school photos (1905 at Hickory Point School between Germantown Hills and Metamora, St. Mary's Catholic School graduating class of 1927, and 1935 at Lowell School…
Read MoreFebruary 2019 Newsletter
Metamora Herald excerpts from 1864 to 1908, including articles about Adlai Stevenson I being accused of being in the Knights of the Golden Circle, a group of copperhead southern sympathizers
Read MoreDecember 2018 Newsletter
John & Linda Keys clippings, including: Adlai Stevenson II visits the Abels, who owned the Stevenson House since 1935; farmer finds 2000 prehistoric Indian skeletons in 1954; Walt Laitas, first…
Read MoreOctober 2018 Newsletter
Metamora High School football; Chief Black Partridge of the Potawatomi, and local things named Partridge after him
Read MoreAugust 2018 Newsletter
More news clippings and photographs from Bob Remmert, and from Magdalen Hagemann's collection provided by Larry Hagemann
Read MoreJune 2018 Newsletter
Metamora Boys Off to World War I (100 years ago this month); commentary about the Stevenson House from Curt Andes, grandson of long-time Stevenson House owners Charles & Lillian Abel;…
Read MoreApril 2018 Newsletter
The old gun shop, the 1830s house at 109 W. Partridge St. next to Eli's Coffee Shop; MAHP receives Bertha Snyder's wedding dress; Morsetown School
Read MoreDecember 2017 Newsletter
Life and work of local stone-mason Herman Albert Weber; rediscovery of the village square well where the town pump house used to be
Read MoreOctober 2017 Newsletter
The origins of the Old Settlers' Association, and Old Settlers Days through the years
Read MoreAugust 2017 Newsletter
Phyllis Dietel's intricate, scale model of Lincoln's Springfield home on display at the Metamora Courthouse
Read MoreJune 2017 Newsletter
Samples of items on display at the Stevenson House, including old photos, Cardinalis yearbooks, and posters
Read MoreApril 2017 Newsletter
The "standard schools"; a short Metamora quiz; bottles from the "Bottling Company Metamora Ill"; Whisler's corner gas station on Illinois Route 89 near Lowpoint
Read MoreFebruary 2017 Newsletter
History of Black Partridge, Worth Township, Woodford County, Illinois, the settlement that later became known as Lourds or Lourdes; the Chicago & Alton Railroad and train wrecks at Washburn in…
Read MoreDecember 2016 Newsletter
Metamora's boarding houses: the Metamora House, Carpenter House, and American House
Read MoreAugust 2016 Newsletter
"The Real Lincoln Highway: The Forgotten Circuit Markers" by Guy C. Fraker.
Read MoreJune 2016 Newsletter
The Engel family (who settled just west and south of Metamora) and their history; a new series of Association notecards.
Read MoreApril 2016 Newsletter
Schertz family farming portrait around 1909 on Illinois Route 116; a purported 1923 teaching contract, spread by mimeograph.
Read MoreFebruary 2016 Newsletter
1940s aerial views of St. Mary's and the north side of the square; the Wiltz family of Lourdes, Hickory Point, and the west side of Metamora.
Read MoreDecember 2015 Newsletter
Names for the Lincoln Tap bowling team and 1920 Metamora Grade School violin class; Santa Claus visits Metamora in 1910.
Read MoreOctober 2015 Newsletter
Civil War letter from Underground Railroad conductor's wife Nancy Dutton to her son Harvey, whose brother had just died at 19; Metamora aerial photos from 1939.
Read MoreAugust 2015 Newsletter
Civil War soldiers from Metamora: roster and stories; the March 2, 1865, train wreck that killed 5 Metamora-area people from the 33rd Illinois Veteran Volunteer Regiment, including Henry Walker, Sr.
Read MoreJune 2015 Newsletter
Upper Free Bridge; before the bridge; and the roads down from Metamora.
Read MoreDecember 2014 Newsletter
Photos and details: Seasons Greetings from the Christian Union Church (with people identified in the photo); a history of renovations to the village square through 2014.
Read MoreOctober 2014 Newsletter
Shirley Adams retires from the MAHP board. Photos: An old-fashioned fall.
Read MoreJune 2014 Newsletter
More photos of WWII Metamora from the Metamora Lions Club book, and a couple of Caterpillar and LeTourneau's.
Read MoreApril 2014 Newsletter
Western Metamora Township school districts merge in 1909. Book of WWII Metamora photos by Metamora Lions Club on display. 1909 burglars blow safe in Parr's Saloon.
Read MoreFebruary 2014 Newsletter
Photos and a history of Metamora bands. People who lost their lives at Vicksburg.
Read MoreDecember 2013 Newsletter
Excerpts from The Past and Present of Woodford County (1878), including laws, animal census, and the first post offices. Donation: 1846 letter from father to son, through the Partridge post…
Read MoreOctober 2013 Newsletter
Donations: Videotape of the 1976 bicentennial re-enactment of the Melissa Goings/Abraham Lincoln trial at the Metamora Courthouse, now converted to digital video file; WWI clothes; 1976 aerial photos of Metamora.…
Read MoreAugust 2013 Newsletter
Photo: 1924 Metamora Township High School cooking class group portrait.
Read MoreJune 2013 Newsletter
Popularity of Metamora: A Rich and Proud History already demands a second printing. Photos: H.J. Waldschmidt furniture business.
Read MoreFebruary 2013 Newsletter
Photos and story: The Metamora Garage/Dollar General and the pre-1914 buildings it replaced.
Read MoreDecember 2012 Newsletter
Photo and story: arrival Santa by car in 1910, from the Metamora Herald.
Read MoreOctober 2012 Newsletter
The store before the May 1948 Garber's supermarket. Donations: WWII and U.S.S. Talahatchee County military uniforms; Metamora souvenir history books from the 1960s.
Read MoreAugust 2012 Newsletter
Photo and notes: Parade for Lyndon Murray, first soldier going off to WWI from Metamora. Cass Irving and his house.
Read MoreJune 2012 Newsletter
Photos and stories: Lincoln Circuit Marking Association marker on Tazewood Road & Washington Blacktop. William Hoshor's Germantown House/Union House at Lourdes Road and Illinois Route 116, built in 1850, rebuilt…
Read MoreApril 2012 Newsletter
Typhoon in Lt. Emma Sommer's Letter from Okinawa, April, 1945; Caterpillar Inc. matching gift program doubles $1,150 of donations from Cat employees and retirees.
Read MoreOctober 2011 Newsletter
History of the 1855–1922 Christian Union Church on S. Hanover St.; map and addresses of the pre-1855 churches. George C. Lemon, the other 19th-century owner of the Stevenson House. Owners…
Read MoreAugust 2011 Newsletter
Photos: pre-1940s Wagner & Belsly Implements "leaning building of Metamora" on N. Menard St.; Chicago & Alton train in 1914; the 1874-1931 wooden bandstand.
Read MoreJune 2011 Newsletter
Pre-1953 eyewitness account of early days of Metamora by Madeline (Isch) Sullivan, granddaughter of pioneers John and Catherine Abersol.
Read MoreApril 2011 Newsletter
Biography of attorney Edward Abersol. Donations: Garber ice cream containers; Wernsman's Restaurant menu with history since 1939; Metamora Fields invitation; wooden walker used by Sophie Loser (died 1954). Artifact computer…
Read MoreFebruary 2011 Newsletter
Stories and photos: John F. Isch's store at Abersol's Corners (W. Partridge St. at N. Menard St.); John Snyder's 1830s house (north on Wiedman Rd.); the ferry across the Illinois…
Read MoreDecember 2010 Newsletter
Lots of MAHP progress. Photos: Santa arrives in a car in 1910; three million dollars of prototype Tucker automobiles in front of Ezra Schlipf Auto Sales (306 W. Walnut St.).…
Read MoreAugust 2010 Newsletter
History notes about Santa Fe Trail, authorized by the state in 1833. Photos: 19th-century Christian Union Church on S. Hanover St., Colin Foley's Stevenson House diorama.
Read MoreFebruary 2010 Newsletter
Oakwood Cemetery monument "in memory of U.S. Soldiers and Sailors", containing stone specimens from the area; Lincoln notecards for sale from MAHP; Museografic software purchase by MAHP; observations of Something…
Read MoreOctober 2009 Newsletter
August 22, 2009, Metamora Square unveiling of new Lincoln statue with Melissa Goings statue based on Shirley Adams
Read MoreApril 2009 Newsletter
How Lincoln would have looked when visiting Metamora; Isch's Store photos, both as single-width before 1901 and double-width after 1901; notes on Stevenson House paint and window updates
Read MoreDecember 2008 Newsletter
Old schools in Metamora. Stevenson House restoration updates. New board members.
Read MoreJune 2008 Newsletter
$1000 grant to renovate Stevenson House windows. Metamora-area post office trivia. Photos: Metamora Grade School 1938-1939 student body. Photos of historic Metamora homes: 220 W. Partridge St. (Sol Egbert home…
Read MoreFebruary 2008 Newsletter
Photos: Metamora Public School (1873-1952); first class to graduate from the 1953 Metamora Grade School; Gene Springer holding family member Bertha Snyder's original painting donated to the MAHP; 1975 Class…
Read MoreDecember 2007 Newsletter
MAHP landscaping and annual meeting photos; Uncle John's saloon; the ice houses.
Read MoreOctober 2007 Newsletter
Photos of outhouse move from Dan Tullis Farm to Stevenson House. Donations, including St. Mary's calendars 1951-2007. National Register of Historic Places plaque installed.
Read MoreAugust 2007 Newsletter
Photos: Metamora's first band photo, 1871; S.M. Snyder in his 1904 Gale automobile circa 1949. New donations: Cazenovia Co-Op legal stamp; scrapbook of Metamora engagement and wedding photos.
Read MoreJune 2007 Newsletter
Summary of Adlai Stevenson I; Veterans Room in Stevenson House; first 2-seat car in Metamora owned by J.C. Snyder and 4-cylinder Glide vehicle owned by brother S.M. Snyder
Read MoreApril 2007 Newsletter
Spring renovations at the Stevenson House. Civil War roster. Country schools in 1910.
Read MoreOctober 2006 Newsletter
New additions to the museum. Stevenson House renovations. How Metamora got its name. Upcoming art classes. Auto dealerships flourish in 1932 Metamora. Gas wells dug near Metamora Township High School.…
Read MoreAugust 2006 Newsletter
Old hotels in Metamora. Metamora water towers. Stevenson House renovations.
Read MoreJune 2006 Newsletter
Old hotels in Metamora. Looking for an outhouse. Handweavers' open house. Open houses resume. 1941 fire.
Read MoreFebruary 2006 Newsletter
Stevenson House open houses for Valentine's Day and Hand Weavers Guild; Metamora Packing Company 1934 history
Read More