Welcome to Forgotonia

Just yesterday I posted a roundup of news and historical articles about the former Carthage College / Robert Morris campus, which has sat rotting and destructing in my hometown for at least 10 years, despite many local leaders’ attempts to save it.

Today, this news from KHQA in Quincy:

Congressman Phil Hare secures money for Carthage

To rennovate old Cartahge [sic] College campus

“Hare helped secure $2.43 million of stimulus money to rennovate [sic] the old Carthage College campus. [The money comes] out of American Reinvestment Act …”

[Full story here.]

Now, I feel obligated to warn that the story has some pretty bad errors, (including the name of the vet they interviewed). But they did at least cover the story, and they captured a shot of one of the empty buildings. And it’s great news for this area, especially in this era of budget cuts.

On an oddly related note: my next high school reunion (didn’t we just have one of these things?) is taking place in Carthage over the Fourth of July weekend, and one of the leaders of the restoration of the old Bryan Auditorium has planned a multi-year reunion mixer to take place in the refurbished building. Some of my friends are raising their eyebrows at me about this, but:  I’m definitely turning in my RSVP card. Oh, how my 18-year-old self (of “I’m never comin’ back to this town!” fame) would mock me! (Go ahead and laugh, you little punk!)

It’s time for a quick roundup of news about the restoration/re-vamping of the former Carthage College/ Robert Morris campus.

old Bryan Auditorium/ new Charger Center

I have received a couple of e-mails and/or comments on the blog from CC alumni and area residents who were interested in the old school in my hometown. (Thank you!) For those of you new to the blog, let me explain that I’ve done quite a bit of writing and blogging about the strange saga that surrounded the campus, a quick summary of which you can find here.

With the recent grand (re-)opening of one of the buildings, and an unveiling of the restored/refurbished auditorium coming up on June 2, the Hancock County Journal-Pilot has been running a weekly series about the history of the former campus.

So, for those readers and for the sake of convenience, I offer a compilation of the links:

Articles on the history of Carthage College

• “Rebirth of the Campus“
• “Evergreen battles, kissing rocks, and other tales of Carthage College“
• “Carthage College students form nation’s first Circle K chapter“

Letters to the Editor from Carthage College alumni:

• “Carthage alumnus remembers“
• “Does anyone remember this?”

If you’re from Carthage, attended Carthage College or Robert Morris (or one of the strange “international” incarnations of the college in the 90s), or have any memories whatsoever to share about the campus, I would love to hear from you.

The latest installation of the Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois was released last month, and once again there are a bulk of Chicago area sites but at least one local landmark, too. (See my previous post about local endangered sites, including the Bernadotte Bridge.)

You can see the full 2010 list here.

The most local site is something in Moline, IL called Red Cliff, a dramatic, Italianate-style house built in 1874, which you can see a picture of and read about here. The property was once owned by John Deere—as in thee John Deere, after whom the company would be named—but it’s now in foreclosure. It seems like another example of something we take for granted every day that might seem insignificant, but would be a minor tragedy if it were destroyed. At least that’s how I feel—each loss of this kind just chips away at authenticity and character, and adds to strip-mall-y-ness, of our communities. (Which, I mean, I like my Borders and TJ Maxx as much as the next gal, so call me a hypocrite. But …can’t we have it both ways?)

While the rest of the sites fall outside Forgotonia, another item on the list is the entire Main Street Program, which affects the whole state because it is one of the many victims of the state budget crisis. (Thanks again, Blago’ and all y’all.)

Have you been to Red Cliff? Do you live in any of the communities mentioned on the list? Got any ideas of what else should be listed (locally)?

So did anyone out there go the Vishnu Springs tour this weekend?

(I couldn’t go because I was in the Quad Cities.)

Did you take pictures?

Was there a good crowd?

Who led the tour?

Did you see any ghosts?

Tell me tell me tell me!

This Sunday, Oct. 18, will be

“…the first time the public has been invited to visit Vishnu Springs since it was acquired by Western Illinois University“

according to this calendar item from Tri State’s Public Radio’s web site.

In other words, your first chance to go scope it out but to do so legally, without the threat of getting busted for trespassing.

(Which, I admit, takes away a bit o’ the thrill. But …don’t tell my employer I said so!)

Check out my previous post *about how I wink wink have not been there) here, and this official Vishnu page here.

So, this is pretty huge:

Macomb Journal to become ‘McDonough County Voice’

Okay, but also not huge.

Because it seems like a long time coming, and not only because of the way the industry’s been going. (BTW does it seem a little sad that the announcement wasn’t even the paper’s top story on its own web site?)

All the way back in 1999, I was convinced that the Journal was on the absolute brink of going under. I mean, like, any time.

Confession/ Full Disclosure: I speak as a former (suffering) newsroom staffer.

When I was fresh out of college, I put in all of 9 months at the Journal before heading up to a larger, more stable, and less-bashed-by-the-public paper. But those 9 months were some of the most memorable months of my life*.)

So I guess I was off by a mere decade or so. about the Journal folding.  And thankfully it’s not “going under,” but, if you look at it one way, expanding.

I’m actually hopeful for the staffers and for the general public. I think this has potential to be a really good thing. We need a strong, dependable daily that truly covers Macomb and the county.

But it can’t be strong and dependable if the people holding the purse strings continue to expect the minimal staff to do two and three peoples’ jobs.

(I can’t claim to know whether Gatehouse Media is guilty of this, but I do know the former company, Liberty, was.)

I feel sympathy for, and immediate empathy with, anyone who has ever worked one single day for the Macomb Journal.

I learned, from my time as a news reporter (in more than one town), that when it comes to What Everybody Gets Around to Bashing Mercilessly After They’ve Covered About Two Minutes of Smalltalk,

your local newspaper is second only to

1. the weather
and
2. the people who are supposed to fix potholes.

So I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the reporters’, editors’, and photographers’ (if they even hire those anymore) sakes, this merger will bring about more and better resources, employee retention, and a stronger and better paper.

*I could start with the first assignment on my first day, in which I got attacked by a leg-humping dog at Pinhook Days in Industry. But I’ll save that for another time.
—

According to an Associated Press story yesterday, something in Fulton County has been named to the watch list of endangered historic places. The story had about a sneeze’s worth of information, though, so I went in search of some more deets.

Apparently (according to this site) the item in need of preservation is the bridge in Bernadotte—pronounced by the locals sometimes as “Bernadette,” like as in Bernadette Peters, or “Bernie Dot” (which totally just makes me giggle every time I hear it).

But giggling aside, I hope the old bridge can indeed be saved, because, for among other reasons,

“…It spans the Spoon River in an area that gained notoriety after poet Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology was published 1915.”

PS: Thank Wikipedia for this helpful bit of history:

The unincorporated village of Bernadotte, in Fulton County, which is four miles north of Ipava on the Spoon River, has the distinction of having once been considered as the site for the capital of Illinois, prior to the capital being located at Vandalia in 1820. Vandalia was selected over Bernadotte by the difference of one vote.

(But Vandalia, of course, got the boot, too.)