When I was growing up in Elmwood in the 1940s and 50s, the first week of September was a special time. I argued with my parents that the school board should call off classes so kids could spend as much time as possible on the kiddie cars or merry-go-round. Besides, who wanted to diagram more sentences or fill in more workbooks?
Elmwood Gazette
Ringling Brothers in Princeville and Elmwood?
“A Grand Celebration at Elmwood, not on the 4th but the 6th of July [1889].” The Elmwood Gazette.
When Flipping the Switch, Thank Mr. Brown
When he was running the mill, he was also thinking about electricity. While he used kerosene lamps in his home and businesses, he was a little jealous of his friends in Peoria and Pekin and decided to build a power plant just south of town on the banks of the Kickapoo Creek, believing electricity was the wave of the future.
Celebrating the Fourth in Small Town America
At the turn of the 20th century, Americans took our country’s birthday a great deal more seriously than they do today, particularly in small towns in the Middle West. Take Elmwood, Illinois, for example, a small country town of 2,000 people, located near the middle of the state, roughly twenty miles down dirt roads to the nearest town of any size. Festivities on the 4th began early in the morning, when the sun was just coming up, and lasted until dark when space above the horizon was brightened by sky rockets just above the tree line
Stories From Small Town Illinois 