Historic Illinois Calendar

The 2010 Calendar of Illinois State Historic Sites is now available!

Download the Order Form (Adobe Acrobat PDF format)

The 2010 edition of the Historic Illinois Calendar is now available. The calendar features full-color views of twelve Illinois State Historic Sites administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency's Historic Sites Division.

The 13-by-10-inch 2010 calendar is designed to provide space to record birthdays, appointments, and upcoming events. The design rivals that found in bookstores for nearly twice the price. The cost is $7 each, or $5 each for orders of five or more, an economical price that makes the calendar a popular choice for gift giving.

To purchase calendars, please send a check or money order to Historic Illinois Calendar, 1 Old State Capitol Plaza, Springfield, IL 62701-1512. Subscribers, please note that you will receive one Calendar as part of your subscription.

The twelve images are:

January — Pierre Menard Home State Historic Site Ellis Grove (Randolph County) Pierre Menard, a French-Canadian fur trader, was a well-established merchant in the Illinois Territory in 1800, about the time he built his elegant French Colonial home. Later expanded to include this dining room, the home exudes a refinement that was rare during Illinois’ frontier period. When Illinois became a state in 1818, Menard served as the first lieutenant governor. Photographer: Nels Akerlund	February — Bryant Cottage State Historic Site Bement (Piatt County) Bryant Cottage was built in 1856 by Francis E. Bryant, a friend of Stephen A. Douglas. According to Bryant family tradition, it was in this parlor that Douglas and Abraham Lincoln negotiated the terms for the now-famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. The restored cottage provides a glimpse of middle-class life in mid-nineteenth-century Illinois. Photographer: Gregg Daniels	March — Vandalia Statehouse State Historic Site Vandalia (Fayette County) When Vandalia residents learned of plans to relocate the state capital in 1836, they immediately started construction of a new capitol building. The plaster walls were still wet when legislators first met in the new structure. Local citizens’ valiant efforts to retain the state’s seat of government failed, though, and the state capital moved to Springfield a year later. Photographer: Nels Akerlund
April — Carl Sandburg State Historic Site Galesburg (Knox County) Pulitzer prize-winning poet Carl Sandburg was born in this Galesburg “workingman’s cottage” in 1878. Sandburg attended the local schools and local college. He spent his formative years in the tiny three-room house, and his first books of poetry were published in Galesburg. Some of the furnishings in the Sandburg home are original family items, and others reflect furnishings typically found in working-class homes. Photographer: Ron Ackerman	May — Jubilee College State Historic Site Brimfield (Peoria County) The first Episcopal bishop of Illinois, Philander Chase, had ambitious plans for an educational community that would be economically self-sufficient. Jubilee College was founded in 1838, but Chase’s grand plan did not materialize. Today the chapel and dormitory, with a restored schoolroom, are all that remain. Photographer: Nels Akerlund	June — Jarrot Mansion State Historic Site Cahokia (St. Clair County) Built about 1810 for French-born entrepreneur Nicholas Jarrot, the brick two-story Federal-style Jarrot Mansion is one of the earliest surviving masonry buildings in Illinois. Pictured here is the central hall, which leads to two rooms on both sides. The exhibit that hangs in the entry interprets the home’s history. Photographer: Gregg Daniels
July — Metamora Courthouse State Historic Site Metamora (Woodford County) Built in 1845, the Metamora Courthouse served as the center of county government until 1896, when the county seat was moved to Eureka. The two-story red-brick structure is one of two surviving courthouses on the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court traveled by Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, who rose to prominence as a central Illinois attorney, pled cases in the courtroom pictured here. Photographer: Ron Ackerman	August — U. S. Grant Home State Historic Site Galena (Jo Daviess County) When General Ulysses S. Grant returned to Galena fresh from victory in the Civil War, Galena citizens presented him with a gift—a completely furnished home on Bouthillier Street. Many of the furnishings that grace the parlor today are originals. Grant occupied the Galena home for only brief periods until his death in 1885. Photographer: Nels Akerlund	September — Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site Petersburg vicinity (Menard County) The Rutledge Tavern was built in 1828 as the home of James Rutledge, one of New Salem’s founders. When the village began to thrive—a time that coincided with Abraham Lincoln’s time there (1831–1837)—Rutledge converted the building to an inn where travelers could eat and sleep. The Rutledge Tavern fell into ruin as the village declined in the late 1830s and early 1840s. It was reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Photographer: Ron Ackerman
October — Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site Springfield (Sangamon County) When wealthy Springfield socialite Susan Lawrence Dana commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build her Springfield home, he delivered one of his largest designs to date—a 12,600-square-foot mansion containing thirty-five rooms and sixteen expansive spaces. Shown here in the west end of the reception hall is the Moonchildren fountain, sculpted by Richard Bock. Photographer: Ron Ackerman	November — Bishop Hill State Historic Site Bishop Hill (Henry County) A self-described “prophet of God,” Erik Jansson moved to the United States after running afoul of Swedish religious authorities. Jansson and a group of 400 followers founded Bishop Hill in 1846. At the center of the community was faith—and the Colony Church—which featured a second-floor sanctuary and one-room apartments on the first floor and in the basement. Photographer: Nels Akerlund	December — David Davis Mansion State Historic Site Bloomington (McLean County) David Davis and his wife, Sarah, enjoyed their gracious Bloomington home, which was built in 1872. Davis was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Lincoln in 1862, and spent much time in the nation’s capital, but Sarah preferred her prairie surroundings over life in Washington, D.C. The parlor is the picture of Victorian era wealth and gentility. Photographer: Gregg Daniels

Calendars are just $7. Order five or more at $5 each.

Get the Historic Illinois Calendar automatically when you subscribe to Historic Illinois and save!