Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society

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Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society The Stella Grobe Research Center and Rita Welsh Memorial Library together have the area's best collection of local historical and genealogical references.

Our open hours:

Call 815-284-1134 to check status of opening or to make a request to come into the center. You may also email us which might have a faster response than a phone call. Our email address is [email protected]. We actively doing research and inquiries.

We had a great turnout last Sunday for the cemetery walk at Palmyra Cemetery ! Thank you to all of the volunteers and t...
10/03/2026

We had a great turnout last Sunday for the cemetery walk at Palmyra Cemetery ! Thank you to all of the volunteers and those who supported our event !

It's going to be a beautiful day for a walk through the cemetery tomorrow ! Join us at Palmyra Cemetery, 358 Timber Cre...
09/26/2026

It's going to be a beautiful day for a walk through the cemetery tomorrow ! Join us at Palmyra Cemetery, 358 Timber Creek Road, Dixon, 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. for our annual Cemetery Walk.

Be sure to join us in a new location - Palmyra Cemetery at the corner of Sugar Grove and Timber Creek Roads - for our an...
09/17/2026

Be sure to join us in a new location - Palmyra Cemetery at the corner of Sugar Grove and Timber Creek Roads - for our annual cemetery walk on Sunday, September 27th, 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

From the Pictorial History of Lee County Schools - Red Brick School, completed in 1869, was located on Seventh Street ne...
09/12/2026

From the Pictorial History of Lee County Schools - Red Brick School, completed in 1869, was located on Seventh Street near Highland Avenue in Dixon for a cost of $32,000. Later the name was changed to E.C. Smith in honor of is former superintendent. The school operated until 1938 when Lincoln School opened. In the summer of 1939, the school was torn down to make way for tennis courts and a playground.

Couldn't pick just one - a few views of the Dixon Collegiate Institute from our collection. Corner stone was laid on Ju...
09/12/2026

Couldn't pick just one - a few views of the Dixon Collegiate Institute from our collection. Corner stone was laid on July 4, 1855 in Bluff Park. The school was endowed to the extent of $25,000, with generous donations by the citizens of Dixon of grounds, property, apparatus, etc. to the extent of $12,000. Incorporated in 1857, it later became the home of different private schools, and finally gave way to residences.

Meet W. W. Harsha and family - wife, Catherine Smith, William, Ida and Albert.William Willett Harsha was born in West He...
09/12/2026

Meet W. W. Harsha and family - wife, Catherine Smith, William, Ida and Albert.
William Willett Harsha was born in West Hebron, Washington
County, New York in 1821. He graduated from Union College,
Schenectady, New York in 1843 where he studied law but shortly after entering upon the practice, changed his profession and entered the ministry, in connection with the Associate Presbyterian Church. He commenced his ministry in Galena in 1846. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1872 from Fulton College, Missouri.
On going to Dixon in 1855 he founded the Presbyterian Institution, known as Dixon Collegiate Institute and acted for some years as its president. He was also the first formal pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Dixon. The family left Dixon in 1862 and relocated to Chicago for several years and then Jacksonville. In 1876, his wife, Catherine died and he remarried two years later to Alice Dickey, a teacher at the Illinois Institute for the Blind, located in Jacksonville. In 1884, they moved to Omaha, Nebraska , where he had accepted the presidency of Bellevue College, Nebraska. William died at age 79 as a result of railroad accident in Missouri. His body was returned to Dixon and he is buried in the family lot in Oakwood Cemetery.
*William was a brother-in-law of well known Dixon resident, Prof. E.C. Smith.

Address

113 S Hennepin Avenue
Dixon, IL
61021

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 9am - 12pm

Telephone

(815) 284-1134

Website

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