Madison County Historical Society

09/04/2026

Autumn is such a great time of year! Mark your calendars for the 2026 Annual Living History Days!

09/03/2026

If your Madison County organization is holding an event to celebrate Labor Day, please feel free to post information in the comments.

09/03/2026

The Highland Historical Society will be celebrating America's 250th at a celebration September 11-13, 2026. I think this takes the place of Harvest Homestead Days this year.

09/01/2026

This Labor Day Weekend, there is an opportunity to learn about the sometimes violent struggle of laborers to improve working conditions and wages. A program at Woodlawn Cemetery in Edwardsville, Illinois, will feature a reenactor portraying Mother Jones. She will tell the story of the "Massacre at Virden" where a 19-year-old Edwardsville man, Ernest Fred Long, was among those killed in October 1898. They will be dedicating a plaque in his honor near his grave. Don't let the "Event Tickets" keep you away. The event is free, but they would appreciate advanced registrations just so they have an idea how many are coming. You can just show up the day of the event too.

08/29/2026

Did you know...A question was put to Illinois voters in 1834 asking where the state capitol should be located, and ALTON won! Looking at the results of the referendum, the General Assembly decided the margin was too slim to act on it.
The vote:
Alton: 8,157
Vandalia: 7,730
Springfield: 7,075

Springfield became the capitol in 1839, largely due to the efforts of a group called the Long Nine that included Abraham Lincoln.

08/17/2026

Save the date!

08/17/2026

Update! The Italian issue has been bumped to November to allow time to collect more of your Italian immigrant stories. Please contact us soon!

08/11/2026

Test your knowledge, enjoy the games, and shop at a great silent auction! It's time to get your teams together!

Opening Doors to Madison County History

08/11/2026

Last one of the year, so we hope you can come! Thanks to everyone that has attended these throughout the year. We greatly appreciate attendees AND the Edwardsville Masonic Lodge!

08/11/2026

Many thanks to everyone who attended the last MCHS Speaker Series of the year on Sunday afternoon. As expected the crowd was overflowing - our largest gathering yet. Don Cook and Jeff Pauk gave excellent presentations and Steve Kromraj with Bob Clouse covered questions and answers on "The Search for Fort Russell. "

Thanks also to all our volunteers who helped set-up, ran the projector, greeted attendees, organized the used book fair, and went to the library to get extra chairs when it became obvious they were needed! Thanks also to Scott Oliva for the photographs.

As an aside we have a both a lost and a found. We found someone's glasses. They look like readers and were in a blue Anderson Hospital eye glass case. Our program presenter, Don Cook, had a shirt in a brown paper bag that is lost. If anyone has seen it please let us know.