Category Archives: Police

Marion Police Department

1907 Licensed Automobiles in Southern Illinois

Posted on by April 28, 2013

This list shows the locations and numbers of licensed vehicles in Southern Illinois cities in the period from 1907 to early 1909 as taken from an Illinois Secretary of State Report. I defined Southern Illinois to be defined as a line parallel to the Alton area. There were a total of 10,799 licensed automobiles in the State of Illinois. Continue reading →

1914, Police Restricting Auto Men

Posted on by August 31, 2018
1927 Marion Auto License

1927 Marion Auto License

It is pretty well established that the Williamson County Fair has been, in the past, a very big affair not only for the county but for the entire region as well. So large were the crowds and conversely the numbers of automobiles that there is no way the fairground could handle all of the automobiles. The solution was to park elsewhere and catch a ride to the fair. Continue reading →

1918 Lynch Mob Gathers on N. Market St., Marion, Illinois

Posted on by February 8, 2013
Lynch Mob Gathers ca 1916

Lynch Mob Gathers ca 1916

This photo, circa 1918, of the east side of the first block of North Market Street just off the square shows a lynch mob gathering. According to information on the back of the photo the man on the balcony is holding a machine gun. Blowups of the picture show a white man in a dark suit holding a black man in a white shirt by the arm under the balcony. The crowd is split on racial lines with blacks facing south toward the camera and whites facing north with their backs towards the camera. Continue reading →