ELSAH - Come one; come all! Celebrate a belated 200th Birthday Party for Illinois Statehood. Hear how in 1818 our great state of Illinois was created on Sunday, January 27, 2019, at 3:00 PM in Farley’s Music Hall, Elsah, Illinois.
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Historian Jon Parkin will lead Historic Elsah Foundation in a bicentennial commemoration of Illinois statehood with his presentation, “At Last We Are a State: Illinois Territory’s Quest to Enter the Union in 1818,” Due to a record snowstorm last November, Parkin’s presentation was rescheduled.
Parkin will reveal the key events leading up to Illinois becoming a territory and subsequently, a state. He will also describe the major issues that were debated in the convention that wrote and ratified the Illinois Constitution in 1818.
Perhaps the most interesting and important event Parkin will discuss is one that occurred in Washington, D.C., on April 18, 1818. On that day, President James Monroe signed legislation making what would have been Chicago, Wisconsin, into what became Chicago, Illinois. Who knew?
Parkin has been Director of the Madison County History Museum since 2017 when he retired from a 25-year, high school teaching career. He and his wife Vera, who is a professional pianist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, live in Edwardsville.
This event will mark Historic Elsah Foundation’s commemoration of the birthday of Illinois, which occurred 200 years ago on December 3, 1818. The program is one of the Hosmer- Williams Lectures sponsored by HEF and underwritten by Liberty Bank.
The event is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required. Parking is available. Refreshments will be served following the presentation.
Attention media, print, and otherwise, for additional information, contact George Provenzano, at gprovenzano@lc.edu, or visit our website, historicelsah.org
