Kate's Brief History

One of the advertisers in Holland’s Business Directory – and a major source of information about all the other advertisers – is the Napervi...

In honor of Women’s History Month, let’s take a look at the woman-owned businesses that were listed in the 1886 Holland’s Directory. At leas...

While William Henry Hillegas built an upstanding reputation in the Naperville community, it’s his son that the guides on the ghost tours tal...

W.H. Wright’s farm looks tidy and prosperous, but who exactly was W.H. Wright?  Naperville’s history features a number of Wrights. One of th...

At sixteen years old, Fred Long emigrated from Stuttgart, Germany in 1853 and was living in Naperville by 1856. There is no record of his pa...

America is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Technically, the war ended with General Robert E. Lee's surrend...

Civil War history buffs are commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle at Gettysburg, While the three day battle resulted in a horr...

The longest list of Naperville men who died during military service comes from the Civil War, the 150th anniversary of which we are commemor...

Kate recently had the opportunity to visit the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison. Not a huge museum, it’s easily viewed in an hour if y...

The Ditzler brothers came to Chicago in 1844 from the east via the Great Lakes. Jonathon Ditzler settled in Naperville where he married and ...

Throughout 2011 museums will be observing the anniversary of the Civil War. For some history buffs, that means re-evaluating the politics th...

While most folks have heard of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and some are familiar with “The Little Giant” nickname, that’s usually the extant...