Two Williamson County Maps Added

Two Williamson County Illinois maps have been added to the Williamson County Maps section of the History page. One map shows all of the towns, ghost towns, villages and railroad stations that have existed in the county and the other map was put together by Nannie Gray Parks for the 1939 County Centennial event marking the 100th anniversary of the county. The Nannie Gray map shows all of the early trapper and pioneer trails in the county as well as historic points of interest. Continue reading

Cross Roads Community, School and Cemetery Histories Added

Cross Roads School drawing by Bob Jackson

Thanks to the book “Cross Roads School’ published in 1984 by Bob Jackson, President of the Williamson County Historical Society, new histories have been added to the Cross Roads section of the History Page. Bob, himself, was a graduate of the Cross Roads School.

Cross Roads was a community of folks who lived at the crossroads of two old county trails which is located at the intersection of Khoury League and Songbird Roads just northeast of Marion, Illinois. The community had a church, cemetery and old country school, although all that remains today is the cemetery. Continue reading

Washington School Students Tour Museum

Eighty seven students and several adult chaperones from the Marion Washington School’s fourth and fifth grade classes toured the Williamson County Historical Society museum Thursday, May 22, 2014. The students were broken up into eight tour groups accompanied by volunteers of the county museum and teachers from the Washington School. Continue reading

Open House Held on May 17th, 2014

The Williamson County Illinois Historical Society hosted an open house on May 17th, 2014 to celebrate the museum’s extended hours of operation and also the 175th Williamson County Anniversary. The event was held from noon till just after 3 P.M. and was attended by approximately 90 people.

Coverage was provided by the Southern Illinoisan and WSIL Channel 3 television. Dr. Courtney Kisat distributed educational information and several board and society members served as hosts for visiting patrons. Continue reading