MONMOUTH, Ill. — “This is a pleasant location and bids fair to be a thriving town.” That was the observation of Levi H. Brown, when he visited the recently incorporated town of Monmouth in 1837. …

In the middle of the Bronx in New York City is a bustling neighborhood known as Fordham. In 1848, it was a sleepy rural village without even a post office, and perhaps its only claim to fame was a famous resident — the poet, author and literary critic Edgar Allan…

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Walk up the 10 concrete steps to Monmouth’s Pioneer Cemetery at East Archer and 6th Street, and suddenly you find yourself on a broad flat plateau littered with broken marble headstones — many of them weathered beyond readability and only a few still standing. Most have been…

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Our future economic prosperity may lie in the tech and service industries, but 70 years ago manufacturing was still king…

MONMOUTH, Ill. — In recent months, we have become all too familiar with the collateral damage that war inflicts on innocent civilians. The global Red Cross and the Red Crescent movement have been providing critical relief to displaced families in Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries such as Poland. The…

Several of Monmouth’s quirky voting houses still stand MONMOUTH, Ill. — For more than 50 years, Monmouth may have been one of the only cities in the country to maintain 10 public buildings that were open only two days a year — in April and November. More specifically, the buildings…

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Dr. Vird Odell Cudd had as many vocations as Forrest Gump, working as a circus performer, professor, veterinarian, would-be sheriff, philanthropist and elephant caretaker, but his favorite role by far was Santa Claus. When the colorful longtime Monmouth resident died in 1964 at the age of 88…

MONMOUTH, Ill. — In his 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Frederick Douglass, David W. Blight says of the renowned abolitionist who lived 20 years in slavery: “…in sheer miles and countless number of speeches, he had few rivals as a lecturer in the golden age of oratory. …

MONMOUTH, Ill. — June 1, 2022, will mark the 50th anniversary of the end of one of the saddest architectural declines in Monmouth history. …