This newspaper clipping from 1918 captures the first time that the body of a Williamson County soldier had been returned from foreign soil. It, unfortunately, would not be the last.
Body of Soldier Arrives From England
Dennis L. Kirby, former private in the 113 Sanitary Train, is to be buried with military honors in Marion on Tuesday afternoon. The body was returned from England on Sunday and is held at the Cash Undertaking Parlor pending the funeral. Continue reading
An Early Prenuptial Agreement
While transcribing Probate Book C in the Circuit Clerk’s office in Marion, Charla Schroeder Murphy and Helen Sutt Lind came across the following. At a time when women had very few legal rights, it is a very unusual instrument. Continue reading
The road leading to Carbondale from Marion that we now know as new Route 13 is a far cry from what or where it was in the early days when it was no more than a trail. Before Crab Orchard Lake was constructed around 1939, and a section of Route 13 was re-located around it, there was old Route 13, a narrow road extending out West Main Street in Marion and running almost straight, dead west to Carbondale, joining East Walnut in Carbondale, about a half mile south of where new Route 13 now intersects Giant City Road. Continue reading
When the heat wave of July 1980 was still in force, this article appeared in the Marion Daily Republican notating previous heat waves in the area’s past.
Mercury Hit 115 in 1901
While the present heat wave in Southern Illinois has some aspects that put it into the running as the worst ever, it has not yet topped the record for the hottest day. That distinction, according to old files of the Daily Republican, goes to a day in July, 1901 when the official reading at a weather station in Centralia was 115 degrees. Continue reading
The end of June through July 1980, found most of the country, including Southern Illinois in the grip of a massive heat wave that brought about drought conditions, searing inescapable heat and periodic high winds and storms.
In Southern Illinois, a damaging windstorm on Sunday, June 29th was followed, only a few days later, on Wednesday, July 2nd, by another damaging windstorm, which was reported to be, several times the intensity of the first, causing major damage throughout Southern Illinois. Continue reading