Politsch Receipt Books

Receipt books from Poltisch Hardware, 835-838 South 8th in Quincy, and bank deposit bag for South Side Bank of Quincy.

These receipt books were acquired by Brian Inman...

"I think the year was 2005 and Mr. Politsch, the younger, had offered some items to the Quincy Community Theatre. I went to the old Politsch hardware to meet him and pick up the items. Mr. Politsch rolled up in his wheel chair to the front door of the old hardware store. He opened up the front door and it was like stepping back in time. I don’t know what year the hardware store closed but it looked like one day they just decided to lock the doors. There everything sat, shelves still full with new old merchandise. Old wooden and glass display cases. You could tell that they were very meticulous people.

Anyway, he showed me around and told me some stories. One story in particular about the hardware store being a very busy place for fur trappers and hunters. Folks would bring in their furs and the old man would give them cash on the spot. Here are some of the receipt books from those transactions."

39 skunk furs will net you nearly $86 in 1926.

Muskrat love

Happy New Year 1926.

Ace Power of Lima brought in the most muskrats from 1926-27.

Deposit Bag from the South Side Bank of Quincy.

Quincy Cubs 1973 Official Souvenir Program

Check out every page of this 1973 Midwest League Quincy Cubs Official Souvenir Game Program. Special thanks to Brian Inman for finding this Quincy "gem"...

Click here to look inside.

First Saturday Walking Tours

The Gardner Museum of Architecture and Design's popular First Saturday Walking Tours program takes place the first Saturday of every month May through October. It takes place in a variety of neighborhoods in Quincy and features a variety of architectural styles and historical information. This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.

There are only two dates left in this season's tour program. This Saturday morning, September 4th, at 10am... Meeting at 7th and Adams, St. Mary’s Church.

The last tour is October 2nd at 10am. 20th and Vermont, Bungalow District. More information to come regarding that.

The fee for the tour is $5 per person. Gardner Museum members are free. Participants are encouraged to wear good walking shoes and have the ability to climb stairs as occasionally a homeowner will invite everyone in for a tour.

The Saga of Lincoln's Huge Ear, a story by Gary Justis.

Stephen Douglas presented Abraham Lincoln with a six foot sculpture of an ear of corn. Right here in Quincy in 1858.

What?

Read all about "Lincoln's Lost Ear" from Gary Justis of Bloomington.

(Remember folks, it's just a spoof.)

Tornado of April 1945

On Thursday, April 12, 1945, at 10:20pm just hours after residents learned of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a tornado struck Quincy without warning. Nineteen people were reported injured but no one died.

The storm had touched down in Palmyra, Missouri, before striking Quincy. It then continued on to Mendon, Plymouth, and Industry, Illinois.

Mayor Edward Schneidman declared a state of emergency. Governor Dwight Green activated the state militia, and nearly 175 state police officers were sent to Quincy. On Friday, sightseers were so thick that the militia has to fix bayonets to clear people from the streets.

Losses from the tornado were estimated at about $1 million.

A second serious storm hit the city on July 2. This storm destroyed many of the trees in the city, damaged numerous buildings, and cut CIPS transmission lines that interrupted services to all Adams County.

These two photos of the Adams County Court House looking at the East Wing from Vermont Street (facing north), the photo at the top of this post is from the Broadway Street side. All photographs are donated by the Historical Society of Quincy & Adams County and Arlene Middendorf. (you can click each image for a large version)...

Alley between 5th & 6th, on Hampshire next to the Hotel Quincy

East side of 4th Street, between Jersey & York

Rear of St. Peter's Catholic Church, Meyer-Schutter Grocery at 120 South 8th Street

Jefferson-Johnson Motors, 323 Maine Street

7th & Hampshire, south side of street next to Musselman Building

Hampshire Street between 5th & 6th Streets

Belasco Theater, 6th & Hampshire

Richardson Lubricating Company, Front Street

Consolidated Oil Building, Front Street

Hampshire between 6th & 7th, taken from rear of building

St. Peter's Catholic Church, 8th & Maine

South side of Hampshire, between 5th & 6th

Hampshire Street, between 5th & 6th, looking west

Rescue of two residents, rear of Werneth's Market, between 6th & 7th on Hampshire

St. Peter's Catholic Church

Stern Building, northwest corner of 5th & Hampshire

Chatten Implement Company, 10th & Broadway

Rear of St. Peter's Catholic Church, 8th & Maine

Between 5th & 6th, looking east down Hampshire

Between 6th & 7th, looking west down Hampshire

Quincy Sesquicentennial Parade, 1958

Quincy Buds Defeat the Chicago Cubs

While on a barnstorming tour two weeks before the 1907 World Series, the Chicago Cubs made a stop in Quincy. The Buds were part of the I-I League (the "Illinois-Iowa" League), and were a .500 team. The Cubs were just coming off a 116-36 season in 1906, and a 107-45 season in 1907. The 116 wins in the 1906 season was only matched by the 2001 Seattle Mariners (116-46), and the '06 Cubs 116-36 record still stands as the all-time best. The 1907 Cubs were considered one of the greatest baseball clubs ever assembled, with the legendary Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance combo patrolling the infield, and the most dominating pitching staff in the league with multiple 20 game winners. They would go on to sweep the Detroit Tigers in the World Series two weeks after the game in Quincy. That same Cubs team would also repeat as World Champs in 1908. As for this game against the Buds, on that September day in Quincy, the mighty Chicago Cubs lost, 5-2. Had it not been for 2 costly Quincy errors, the Cubs could have been shut out.

Postcards from Maine

Map of the Bounty Lands

Military Land Tracts of Illinois. Bounty lands for Veterans of The War of 1812.

John Anderson

Born in Clayton, John Anderson grew up in Quincy and Adams County. After attending college at Iowa and serving in WWII, Anderson went from performing on Mississippi River showboats to amassing hundreds of stage, film, and television credits. John Anderson's many screen roles included used-car huckster Charlie in PSYCHO (1960), the title character in THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY (1977) and a dead ringer for baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, whom Anderson portrayed twice, in EIGHT MEN OUT (1988) and the TV biopic BABE RUTH (1991). A veteran of 500 TV appearances (including Gunsmoke, the Virginian, Dallas, four guest stints on The Twilight Zone, and ironically, Quincy), John Anderson was seen as FDR in the 1978 miniseries Backstairs in the White House, the Civil War mini-series North and South, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and was a regular as Michael Spencer Hudson in the daytime drama Another World, Virgil Earp in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-61), and Harry Jackson in MacGyver (1985-1991). He was also the uncredited voice of Mark Twain in the Epcot attraction The American Adventure.

Watch John Anderson in The Twilight Zone episode, The Odyssey of Flight 33...

Quincy, 1858

5th and Maine Street in Quincy, looking north.

Tour the Mansion and Museum

Tours of The Governor John Wood Mansion and The History Museum are Tuesday through Saturday - April through October - from 10am to 2pm with the last tour at 1:15 p.m.

Other tour times can be made by appointment. Calling the Historical Society office at (217) 222-1835. Office hours are 10am-2pm.

Admission $4.00 adult, $1.50 student per site, site pass $6.00 adult, $3.00 student.

The History Museum

Built in 1885 this historically significant structure served as the minister’s home for the English Lutheran Church, which later became Luther Memorial Church, from 1917 to 1951. The red entrance symbolizes the house’s historical connection with the church, which has red doors. As a museum of the Historical Society, the building now provides an exhibition facility showcasing items from Adams County’s past.

Exhibits in The History Museum are organized by themes and include the Black and White Gallery and rooms highlighting the Civil War, early founders, education and fine arts, industry, agriculture, pharmacies and medicine, steamboats, railroads, circuses, and a major doll collection. One Adams County township is featured annually in a rotating display with items depicting its history and its Centennial Farms. Tours of The History Museum begin in the Visitors Center, which is the next building south.

Your Input is Welcome!

If you have any old photographs that you would like to share on this blog, please send them in, and I'll post them. Any old or interesting photos from Quincy, Adams County, or anything that relates to the history in said area. Old maps, and similar items are welcome. Please email them to me, but please supply the related information. By that I mean the who/what/when/where. At least the when/where. The more old pics, the more interesting your next visit to the blog will be!

Send what you'd like to share, to this link. 

(Apologies for the Photoshopped version of our city's founding father!)