Towanda Area History

Audio Descriptions	Date	Topic	Description

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Photograph of the Jacob and Sarah Moats log-cabin home, built ca 1856, with oral description	1856	Homes	This photograph is of the Jacob and Sarah Moats log-cabin home, one of the first homes build in the Towanda area, sometime before 1856. The home was located about two and one-half miles north of the .....

Photograph of Duncan Mansion, with oral description	1869	Duncan Mansion	This is a photograph of the Duncan Mansion built by William R. Duncan one mile southwest of Towanda following the Civil War. Stories abound about the three story 20 room home and whether it had been .....

Photograph of Locomotive along Towanda Main Street ca 1906 - 1910, with oral description	1906 - 1910	Railroads	Photograph depicts a steam engine switching freight cars in Towanda. Photograph includes Towanda's Main Street shops, the railroad depot, and a grain elevator in Towanda, ca 1906-1910. Included with .....

Photograph of early hand cranked party line wall telephone, patented in 1907, with oral description	1907?	Utilities	This photograph pictures a Western Electric Company model 250W hand cranked telephone that was patented on April 30, 1907. It was once in the Earl Nice farm house near Cooksville. When the Earl Nice .....

Photograph of Merna Spinsters Convention, with oral description	1910-05-02	Organizations	Photograph on May 2, 1910 of the Spinsters' Convention at Merna, Ill. Top L-R: Estella Kinsella, Margaret Arnold, Margaret Cunningham, Ella McAvoy, Katie Kinsella, Mary Foran Pendergast, Maggie Egan, .....

Photograph of J. H. Pumphrey Blacksmith & Wheelwright Shop, with oral description	1910?	Businesses	Photograph taken around 1910 shows five men standing in front of the J. H. Pumphrey Blacksmith & Wheelwright Shop in Towanda taking a break at the feed mill. Included with this photograph is an ora .....

Photograph of Barnes Depot around 1910, with oral description	1910?	Railroads	A photograph shows the Barnes Railroad Depot around 1910. The community of Barnes is located four miles south of the town of Towanda, along the Kankakee branch of the old Illinois Central Railroad. T .....

Photograph of young woman playing musical instrument, ca 1910, with oral description	1910?	Leisure	This photograph, from around 1910, is of an unidentified young woman playing a musical instrument outdoors in a fenced yard. The photograph is from a collection of glass slides that belonged to the S .....

Photograph of Towanda High School from around 1930, with oral description	1930	Schools	This photograph of Towanda High School was taken around 1930. The school building was constructed in 1913 with an addition of a gymnasium and classrooms in 1932. Towanda's four-year high school serve .....

Postcard of St. Patrick's Church at Merna, Illinois, with oral description	1940?	Churches	The postcard features outside and interior of St. Patrick's Church at Merna, Illinois around 1940. The card wishes you a Happy Christmas and a Glad New Year. This church was destroyed by a tornado i .....

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