MONMOUTH, Ill. — Beginning in 1906, the interurban electric railway allowed Monmouth residents to travel conveniently and inexpensively between nearby cities. Even after automobiles became more numerous during the 1910s, the interurban remained popular because paved roads remained scarce.

That would change by the 1920s, when the Good Roads Movement gained traction and communities competed to become part of a network of reliable highways. Monmouth was one of the cities that earned a spot on the Cannon Ball Trail, which connected Burlington to Chicago on a concrete highway. …

MONMOUTH, Ill. — I have written previously about Maj. Robert Wilson McClaughry, the pioneer prison reformer who graduated from Monmouth College in 1861 and for a time lived in Monmouth. From his appointment in 1874 as warden of the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet to becoming the first warden of the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1899, he was considered a groundbreaker in modern penal theory.

MONMOUTH, Ill — Growing up in Monmouth during the 1970s, one of the interesting landmarks I recall was a circular brick fountain in front of the National Bank of Monmouth’s Colonial Drive-In on East Broadway. It was particularly memorable because of a recurring nighttime prank by members of a Monmouth College sorority, who would drop a Salvo laundry tablet into the basin and by morning the fountain would be overflowing with suds.

Affixed to the masonry was a bronze plaque, announcing that it was the Myra Tubbs Ricketts Memorial Fountain. I always chuckled at that name, especially having no idea…

MONMOUTH, Ill. — As long ago as the early 1960s, downtown Monmouth merchants were worried about the encroachment of shopping centers and discount stores on traditional retail establishments. We know now that they had good reason to worry.

One of those merchants was about as traditional as you could find. Fred Schmitz, who for more than a quarter century ran a fabric store on the Public Square, showing up every day wearing a white shirt and bowtie, announced in 1963 that he was going to retire. …

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Sometimes an architectural feature of a residential property can survive long after the residence associated with it is gone. A good example is the sturdy brick and iron fence surrounding Warfield Manor apartments at the corner of East Broadway and North 3rd Street.

Constructed more than a century ago, the fence tells a portion of the history of the block, as does the remnant of an earlier fence adjoining it.

Five prominent names from Monmouth history figure in the block’s history — Babcock, Paine, Pattee, Tubbs and Warfield.

One of Monmouth’s earliest settlers, dry goods merchant Draper…

MONMOUTH, Ill. — In the 19th century, Monmouth boasted a long line of wealthy capitalists. Names like Hardin, Quinby, Hanna, Weir and Pattee are inscribed on impressive monuments in Monmouth Cemetery.

Then there was Calvin S. Orth. He lies beneath a modest headstone, did not live in a Broadway mansion and is little remembered, but his accomplishments were no less remarkable.

Born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in 1835, Orth was the son of a tanner who later became a successful farmer and encouraged each of his nine children to pursue higher education. …

MONMOUTH, Ill. — If you’ve ever called someone a “bonehead,” you can thank a Monmouth man for coining that word, along with many of the colorful phrases that have made their way into the lexicon of sports writing.

Charles Dryden, born on a farm near Monmouth in 1860, has been acknowledged by many baseball historians as “the dean of sports writers.” …

MONMOUTH, Ill. — The history of Greek life at Monmouth College is both long and proud, but it is also remarkably complicated, due to a United Presbyterian Church edict against secret societies that caused the college Senate to ban fraternities from campus for nearly half a century.

Greek-letter organizations at Monmouth began immediately after the Civil War, when returning veterans were granted charters in 1865 by the national fraternities Delta Tau Delta and Beta Theta Pi. Monmouth’s pioneering women’s fraternities, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma, were organized in 1867 and 1870, respectively. Phi Gamma Delta was founded in…