Williamson County Illinois Historical Society

Our first membership meeting since the beginning of the Covid pandemic will be held on Sunday, May 7th, 2:00 PM at the museum.

During the meeting we will be going over projects undertaken at the museum/library since the last meeting, accessions taken in, upcoming projects and the state of the museum. The program will be conducted by our member Charla Murphy who will be discussing facts about the 128^th Illinois Infantry.

As a reminder, our WCHS membership dues run from January thru December and are still $20 per year. You can check the status of your dues by looking at the latest address mailing label. If you’re dues are paid it will say 2023 or higher, if it says 2022 or earlier, your dues are overdue. Contact us if you have any further questions about your dues or the meeting at wchsmail@yahoo.com.

As of March 1st, the Williamson County Historical Society’s Museum/Library is now open on it’s extended hours of operation. Until Thanksgiving, we will now be open Wednesday thru Saturday from 9:30 AM till 3:00 PM.

WCHS President, Sam Lattuca, gave history programs to students of the Adams School on Friday 10th, 2023. Lattuca spoke to the 7th grade civic’s class about prohibition and how it was handled in Williamson County and additionally also spoke to the 8th grade history class about Williamson County history.

Lattuca recounted who has occupied the counties land since prehistoric times including the tumultuous times of the civil war, the late 1800’s and 1920’s through the depression and WWII years up to the county’s development in more modern times. These included the formation of the Marion Prison, I-57, the Crab Orchard lake project and the Illinois Ordnance plant during WWII. 

The talks were scheduled by Adams school teacher Dana Stearns and Lattuca had just recently spoken to a class of high school students about Williamson County history