Kurt Begalka

Kurt Begalka: Brothers George and Robert Richardson, together with their wives and children, want to disassemble and relocate the former Hatch barn to their Richardson Adventure Farm, at 909 English Prairie Road in Spring Grove.

On Saturday, May 13, Friends of the Old Courthouse will host its last Dusty Boots tour before the courthouse and sheriff’s house reopen to the public.

One of the first newspaper articles Kurt Begalka wrote for the Woodstock Daily Sentinel was about migrant farm workers in Harvard. He still remembers the back-breaking scene of men cutting cabbages under a hot sun – stooping, knife in hand, over row upon row.

The news around the unknown objects shot down reminded Kurt Begalka of another event nearly 85 years ago when a rendition of H.G. Wells’ book, “War of the Worlds,” aired on the radio.

McHenry County Historical Society & Museum will turn off the lights on its holiday display after Friday, administrator Kurt Begalka writes.

Park Ridge’s Pickwick, a former vaudeville house dating to 1928, is in danger of closing for good … or worse, being converted into an alternative use, writes Kurt Begalka, the administrator of the McHenry County Historical Society & Museum.

The exterior of the 1876 octagonal horse barn near Spring Grove is not all that impressive. But step inside and look up, and the ceiling appears almost cathedral-like.

The Kishwaukee Trail Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter will place a bronze marker next to the worn headstone of Phebe Ashley Mead Weed, in old Marengo City Cemetery at 101-199 N. East St. The ceremony will start at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

It is estimated that up to 60 million American bison wandered the Great Plains and beyond, including Illinois. However, by the late 1800s, these bison were nearly driven to extinction.

During National Poetry Month, while war continues to rage in Ukraine, McHenry County Historical Society administrator Kurt Begalka decided to share the work of some Ukrainian poets.

In the rush to exploit 5G technology, those living in unincorporated McHenry County have been left in the lurch, waiting for a promised expansion that may never arrive, McHenry County Historical Society administrator writes.

As late as November 1941, Japanese representatives reiterated that their government’s desire for peace and claimed Japan had “never pledged itself to a policy of expansion.” Less than two weeks later, on Dec. 7, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

As we in the history game like to say, Richmond has “bones.” And those bones could support an amazing transformation … if it is done right.

Cary’s effort to save the former senior center, built in 1888 as a schoolhouse, is another example of historical buildings getting another life.

Learning that the village of Cary had worked out a deal with McHenry County to save the current village hall and repurpose it as a police training facility was encouraging, especially as historic preservation can be hard to come by.