March 08, 2025
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Logan junior high students to present ‘History All Around Us’ at Tiskilwa museum

Students investigate sites, organizations of local interest

By Derek Barichello
When Logan Junior High students present “There’s History All Around Us” at the March 10 program in Tiskilwa, one topic will be the 1959-60 Watershed Project. During the construction of the land dams, village president Bill Waca (pictured here) served as liaison between the U.S. Soil Conservation Service and Strunk Brothers Construction Company.

When Logan Junior High students present “There’s History All Around Us” at the March 10 program in Tiskilwa, one topic will be the 1959-60 Watershed Project. During the construction of the land dams, village president Bill Waca (pictured here) served as liaison between the U.S. Soil Conservation Service and Strunk Brothers Construction Company. (Photo provided by Cecille Gerber)

Tiskilwa Historical Society will host a community program, “History All Around Us,” presented by five students from Logan Junior High School, Princeton.

The program begins at 7 p.m. Monday, March 10, at Tiskilwa’s Museum on Main, 110 E. Main St.

In preparation for their research papers in David Gray’s social studies class at Logan, students investigated sites and organizations of local interest.

These five students will present their findings: Leila Acker, Brady Gross, Kiley Johnston, Libby Sierens and Levi VandeVenter, all from Tiskilwa.

In the past few weeks, these students and Gray have worked overtime on shaping their findings into an entertaining and enlightening program by projecting photos while they share historical facts.

Their research will reveal little-known information about origins and contemporary features of the 1864 Mount Bloom Cemetery; the four land dams of the 1959 Watershed Project; the decades-old history of Tiskilwa’s newspapers and its churches; and the Tiskilwa Historical Society itself.

“This research project is meant to show students that there is history all around them,” Gray said. “Hopefully, they gain more appreciation both for local history and for their community.”

Programs at Museum on Main are free of charge and open to the public. With this program, the Tiskilwa Historical Society hosts its first of several events planned for 2025 and welcomes daylight saving time. Presentations are followed by refreshments and social time in the museum galleries.

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