Historical Society of Montgomery County

10/22/2026

NOKOMIS, ILLINOIS CHAUTAUQUA - 1908

The movement known as “Chautauqua” began in New York in the 1870’s. It was created with the mission of promoting “lifelong learning, moral self-improvement and adult education”.

The first Chautauqua gathering in Montgomery County was held in 1905 at what is now Walton Park in Litchfield. Then in 1906, community leaders in Litchfield and Hillsboro established the “Midway Chautauqua”. The Illinois Traction line would run directly to the area picked as the location known as the Midway Chautauqua, which would continue for the next 26 years.

A lake was established where numerous cabins, grandstands, dining hall, swimming area and a walking bridge across the lake were built and thousands of people attended this gathering each year.

William Jennings Bryan (presidential candidate and orator) drew a crowd of 12,445 people when he spoke for the second time in 1907. Hatchet wielding prohibition leader Carrie Nation and numerous other famous persons spoke here.

The Historical Society of Montgomery County has many photos of these gatherings and quite a few of the cabins built on the Chautauqua lake were moved to old Hillsboro Lake after the last gathering was held in 1931. More photos and stories will be shared in later posts. The Litchfield-Hillsboro Chautauqua was not the only one in Montgomery County.

This photo shows a family gathered at the Nokomis, Illinois Chautauqua in 1908 in front of their tent camp named Wild-Wood Inn. The caption reads “ALL THE COMFORTS OF HOME” and “Nokomis, Illinois Chautauqua, August 1st to 10th, 1908”.

Can any of our Nokomis friends give any more details such as the location where it was held (could it have been where Sportsman’s Lake is today), who some of the speakers may have been, what structures were present, what years did it encompass etc., etc. We would love to know more.

10/15/2026

IMPORTANT !!! Jeff Dunn, of Hillsboro, Illinois, has restarted a page called “Montgomery County Illinois History “. Be sure to check it out - it will show amazing photos and stories of interest concerning Montgomery County.

Jeff and the late Miles Harris documented countless historical records including cemetery records and images, newspaper accounts, photographs and so much more.

This page will help continue promoting our county’s rich history.

10/13/2026

HILLSBORO RESIDENCE OF JUDGE EDWARD LANE

Edward Lane, born in Cleveland, Ohio, arrived in Hillsboro with his family in 1858. He attended local schools and graduated from the Hillsboro Academy.

Lane became a teacher and later studied law. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1865, became city attorney for three years and was elected as a judge of the Montgomery County Court from 1869 until 1873.

Lane became an Illinois Congressman from 1887 to 1895 and was, for a time, chairman of the Committee on Militia.

Edward Lane died in his home in 1912 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.

Lane had this home built, at 624 S. Main St. in about 1873-74. The home stood on part of the CVS Pharmacy parking lot and the past location of the Bass, Patton, Dean Funeral Home - soon to be the offices of White and Associates.

The house was built in the same style as the Montgomery County Courthouse and because of the architecture and the paint color, was often called “The Little Courthouse.

For a time, the house was used as “an old folks home” and was later removed and was replaced by a modern “old folks home” owned and operated by the Pete Patton family.

Shown here is a black and white photo of the Lane home, an AI colorized version and a photo of Judge Lane.

10/12/2026

Christmas House Tour tickets available!

10/11/2026

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT!!!!

My name is Mike Rappe and I am the person who posted the two colorized images (thus far - there are more to come) showing scenes from downtown Hillsboro on this Facebook site. I take full responsibility for posting these and if any person takes umbrage with my doing so, let their anger be directed at me and not the Historical Society of Montgomery County as a whole. Any negative emails, posts on other sites etc. should be directed only to/about me and not other board members or regular members of the society.

Some facts: Any photograph taken before 1931 belongs to no one individual but is the property of all of us collectively in what is known as the "Public Domain". These public domain photos may be used, reproduced and disseminated in any manner we wish. The exception is when a person, under copyright law, creates new material within the photograph with a sufficient amount of "original creative expression" to be a true "derivitive work". Photoshop edits that are purely restorative or aim to recreate what the photo originally may have looked like, lack the artistic rules to be copyrightable.

Any person may use apps, programs or artificial intelligence to alter a public domain photo. Sites such as Photoshop, Adobe, Canva, Picsart, Chat-GPT, Fotor, Pic Monkey, Pixir and so many others are examples of these methods. Simply making a photo clearer, removing creases, making tree leaves greener, changing the color of a person's clothing, changing a photo from black and white to color or partial color, removing a person from an image etc. are not considered derivative work.

The photo of the crowd in front of the Historic Montgomery County Courthouse was one of hundreds in my phone and I asked Chat-GPT to colorize it and make it clearer. I posted the resulting photo. Nothing in the photo is my own or anyone else's creation.

Most importantly, the Historical Society of Montgomery County wants people to use any of our images, in any manner they wish, to promote the history of our county. You do NOT need our permission, and we are all secure enough in our mission that you DO NOT need to credit us in any way if you recreate, alter or change these images at all. If you wish to take one of our images to create photocopies, postcards or to simply share as often as you wish - please do. We want our work shared with as many interested people as we can find.

I will be adding more colorized photos in the near future and I would appreciate this post being shared with others.

Send a message to learn more

10/10/2026

Another colorized image. Makes me wonder what a trolly system would be like, running through town and out to the Sports Complex, Bremmer Sanctuary, Fusion Fitness etc.

The mechanical turn-table for this local trolley was in front of the Hillsboro Fire Dept. where all of the work is being performed.

I asked workers if they had found any interesting evidence of it and they said they uncovered logs with bark still attached and coated with a tar like substance. They thought the logs could have been part of the turntable structure. Who knows?

10/09/2026

A colorized image showing the Historic Montgomery County Courthouse from the past. Was this a political rally or were folks gathered to send soldiers off to battle or ……

10/06/2026

**ATTENTION** Our Venmo Account for the Historical Society of Montgomery County has been listed incorrectly up to this point. Our Actual Venmo Account is: Mike Rappe@MCHS1834. Please note that there is a space between my first and last name. Also, although the account is in my name, the funds go to our Historical Society account and not my personal one.

We were alerted that some folks were not able to send us funds using the incorrect info that we had provided. We are very sorry if this has caused any confusion. Setting up modern technology is rough for us in the "older generation".

Again, please use: Mike Rappe@MCHS1834

Send a message to learn more

10/01/2026

An early leader of the Lutheran Church and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln will be the topic of the 2pm Sunday, October 11, gathering of the Historical Society of Montgomery County. The program will be held at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 103 N Main St., Hillsboro.

Dr. Francis Springer was the third pastor of St Paul's which was established in 1832 by the Rev. Daniel Scherer and was the second Lutheran Church in Illinois. Dr. Springer became it's pastor in 1846.

Springer was also president of the Hillsboro Academy, a Lutheran institution for boys and girls located on the site of the present day Hardee's restaurant. The former Carnegie Library on School St. is a replica of the Academy building.

Prior to coming to Hillsboro, Springer and his wife were neighbors and close friends of Abraham and Mary Lincoln in Springfield.

Guest speaker for the October 11 program will be William Furry, retired executive director of the Illinois State Historical Society and former editor of the Illinois Times newspaper.

The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

10/01/2026

Tickets now available for dinner for 4 at the Historic Harkey House