Saybrook

Resources are listed in alphabetical order. More information can always be found by using our website search bar, or contacting a member of our staff.

Articles

Pages from our Past articles written by Bill Kemp

1 item

Honeybees sweetened 19th century life in Central Illinois

In November 1887, a poor local honey harvest led The Pantagraph to predict scarce inventories a...

Article

Biographies

2 items

Cheney, Owen Lee

Owen Lee Cheney (1846-1911) was a quixotic man in his quest for fame, fortune, and new experien...

Biography

Marmon, Mary Ann

Mary Ann (Cheney) Marmon (1837-1908) grew up in a log cabin on the Illinois prairie and was a m...

Biography

Blog

10 items

Arrowsmith High School

Built in 1929, this building served as the Village of Arrowsmith’s high school until consolidat...

Blog Post

Beckley-Moots Wedding Saybrook, September 1938

William C. Beckley and Bernadine Cleo Moots of Cropsey ready for their September 3, 1938 weddin...

Blog Post

Excelsior School -- Cheney’s Grove Township, 1938

Excelsior School, located two miles east of Saybrook, was one of more than 250 one-room schools...

Blog Post

McLean County Basketball Tournament Championship Game, Jan. 24, 1959

Gene Durham (22) of Saybrook-Arrowsmith High attempts a layup during the 1959 county tournament...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 74: Red, White and Blue in Sepia

In the years after the Civil War, Union Army veteran Gilbert Henderson Bates sought, in his own...

Blog Post

Saybrook’s last Civil War widow Emma Cook, May 1938

In May 1938, the Village of Saybrook prepared to celebrate its first Decoration Day (now known ...

Blog Post

Soap Box Derby Dreams

Mark Eugene Millard achieved what millions of children across of America have dreamed about… he...

Blog Post

Soap Box Derby Saybrook, July 14, 1937

That’s Bob Butler on the white pony towing Eugene Stauffer, third-place soap box derby finisher...

Blog Post

Three hospitals; three styles of caps June 1958

The distinctive caps worn by graduate nurses at the three Bloomington-Normal hospitals were com...

Blog Post

Village of Saybrook Center Street, 1941

Seen here is a section of downtown Saybrook in the spring of 1941. The view is from the interse...

Blog Post

Farming in the Great Corn Belt

Digital Exhibit

1 item

Erosion

Intensified farming and the use of tractors caused wind and water erosion, but area farmers did...

Digital Exhibit

Finding Aids

Archival collection finding aids (full contents of collections available on site)

2 items

Cheney’s Grove Township Records Collection

This collection contains receipts and oaths of office signed by Owen J. Cheney. receipts are fo...

Finding Aid

Ringo Family

Claude Ringo (1911-2005) was born in Saybrook, IL, to Atlee and Belva Pearle Swaim Ringo. In 19...

Finding Aid

Publications

Digitized books and pamphlets. To see all books in our collection, search our library catalog.

6 items

Illustrated History of McLean County

In this volume of over 500 illustrations the story of this land, called McLean County, Illinois...

Publication

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Saybrook, McLean County, Illinois 1893

Publication

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Saybrook, McLean County, Illinois 1899

Publication

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Saybrook, McLean County, Illinois 1906

Publication

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Saybrook, McLean County, Illinois 1913

Publication

The Story of McLean County and its Schools

Publication

Working for a Living

Digital Exhibit

1 item

Building Better Roads

Automotive travel created a demand for better roads, as rural dirt roads could not withstand th...

Digital Exhibit