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Letters

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To the editor:

I was surprised to see the photo on the back of the September/October issue of Illinois Heritage. This excellent photo of the steam locomotive No. 3033 passing through Geneva Depot is featured in our new permanent exhibit. I was puzzled, however, at the date in the caption. The No. 3033 was a Class H 4-8-4. These were purchased by the Chicago & North Western Railway beginning in 1929. They continued in service until the late 1950s when they were replaced by the new diesel-electric locomotives. I was also curious as to when you acquired this photograph. The credit line lists us as "Geneva Historical Society" but we have been officially called "Geneva History Center" for over six years. Was this photo given to you in the 1970s or 1980s and then kept as a "stock" image? Did we somehow give you the wrong caption date? I look forward to your reply.

Ron Rawson Archivist
Geneva History Center

Editor's note:The photo you mention was indeed a curiosity. We found it in a box of photos here at the office without a caption but with a post-it note ascribing the year to 1910 and crediting the photo to "Geneva Historical Society." The photo was submitted for the Visions Calendar, we believe, but apparently did not make the cut. Still, old No. 3033 is well worth displaying. Thanks much for getting us back on track.



John Finley marker dedicated in Grand Ridge

On Friday October 15, more than 100 people gathered in the LaSalle County community of Grand Ridge to dedicate a new Illinois State Historical Society marker to a native son, John Huston Finley.

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Finley (1863-1940), who graduated from Ottawa Township High School and attended Knox College, was an author, editor, and educator who left his footprints all over northern Illinois. But his career took him around the world and landed him in New York City where he was editor-in-chief of the New York Times from 1937 to 1940.

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Above: John Hustin Finley, circa J935. John Finleys granddaughter Lucy Emerson and her husband, Bill, admire the new marker at the dedication.

Friends, family, and students from Grand Ridge Elementary School crowded into the school gymnasium at 10 a.m. for the marker dedication, which featured remarks by Finley's granddaughter, Lucy Emerson.

Finley graduated from Knox College in 1889 after a "spectacular academic career." He attended graduate school at Johns Hopkins University, returning to Knox College rour years later to become its youngest president ever. He was 29. In 1899, he accepted a position as an editor of Harper's Weekly in New York. A year later, he was offered the first professorship of politics in America at Princeton University, an honor arranged by future President Woodrow Wilson, who had been one of Finley's instructors at Johns Hopkins. During World War I, he served as the Red Cross Commissioner in Palestine, which was the subject of his book, A Pilgrim in Palestine.

Finley accumulated more than 30 honorary degrees in his lifetime and was famous for taking long walks. A sidewalk in Manhattan was named for him, which features his silhouette with a cane and scarf unfurling. His portrait hangs in the Standish Room of Seymour Library at Knox College in Galesburg.

The Grand Ridge marker, which was temporarily placed on a pole inside the school gymnasium for the dedication ceremony, will be installed on a wall overlooking a garden at the grade school. For more about the marker dedication, visit ww.historyillinois.org.

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News

Symposium banquet at the Mansion

Have you made your reservations yet? The 2005 Illinois History Symposium banquet will be held on December 3 at the Illinois Governors Mansion in Springfield. To reserve your place at the table we need to hear from you no later that November 25th. Don't miss this special opportunity to dine in the home of Illinois' chief executive and hear an excellent keynote address by Dr. Lillian Hoddeson, who will speak on the topic "Big Science on the Prairie: The Power and the Paradox of the Frontier Metaphor." Dr. Hoddeson, who teaches the history of 20th Century science and technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana, is the author of Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age and True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen. Banquet tickets are $35 each. For ticket information, see the Symposium schedule in this issue, or call 217-525-2781.

Society membership schedule to change

Beginning in 2005, annual membership in the Illinois State Historical Society will change from a monthly to annual schedule, with all new memberships and renewals becoming effective on January 1. The change will gave on postage, eliminate costly and redundant mailings, and free up time for Society staff and volunteers. New members who opt to join in mid year will have the option to receive all publications from the beginning of the calendar year, or have their Society benefits prorated for the remainder of the year. Transition to the new membership system will be completed December 2005.

And the winner is...

The 2004 winners of the Verna Orndorff Writing Competition and the Society's Harry E. Pratt Memorial Award, will be recognized at the Illinois History Symposium Banquet, to be held December 3 in Springfield at the Executive Mansion.

The Orndorff Award, a $1,000 cash prize given to a high school student for writing the best essay about Abraham Lincoln or the Civil War, will be presented to Patrick Dahlen, a senior at Carbondale Community High School. His winning essay, "Lincoln the Lawyer: Skilled Orator, Great Intellect, or Both?" will be published in the January/February 2005 issue of Illinois Heritage.

The Pratt Award is presented annually to a contributor to the quarterly Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society whose article received top honors for excellence, style, originality, and accuracy. The name of this year's winner will be announced at the banquet.

LPCI requests nominations

The Landmark Preservation Council of Illinois (LPCI) is again requesting nominations for Illinois' Ten Most Endangered Historic Places. Since 1995, LPCI has asked Illinois preservationists, community leaders, and interested citizens to nominate threatened or endangered properties.

For a property to meet the Council's endangered guidelines it must:

a)  Be a threatened historic property important to the community.
b) An irreplaceable icon fallen into disrepair.
c) An historic farm threatened by urban sprawl.
c) A historic building or structure that's caught fire, been abandoned, is falling apart, but still standing.
d) A group of resources threatened by poor planning or public policy.

To get an official nomination, which outlines the application process and required documentation, visit LPCI's website at www.landmarks.org. Deadline for this year's Top Ten is Monday, January 3, 2005. For more information call 312-922-1742.

Bears in bronze

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Sculptor Julie Rotblatt-Amrany is dwarfed by her bas-relief "Tribute to George S. Halas and the Legacy of the Chicago Bears,'' installed earlier this year at Soldier Field in Chicago. According to the artist, the sculpture was cast in white bronze on black absolute granite with laser-etched imagery. "The bas-relief is a time-line describing George Halas' contribution to the world of football and the history of the Chicago Bears," wrote Rotblatt-Amrany. The relief shows images of the team in the 1920s, Halas and the Bears celebrating the 1940s win against the Washington Redskins, fan images from Wrigley Field, as well as legendary Bears Red Grange, Bronco Nagurski, Gayle Sayers, Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, and others. The sculpture was arranged by Portraits/Chicago Inc.

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