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We’re thrilled that Congressman Darin LaHood is pushing ahead to make New Phiadelphia a national park.  He’s assembled great information on his own webpage (https://lahood.house.gov/recognizing-new-philadelphia-site) and you can follow the bill—currently identified as H.R. 820—on the Congress website https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/820/all-info?r=1&s=1. We especially like this two minute video from New Philadelphia with cameos by Representative LaHood, and […]

Lots to report this February.  If you don’t catch it live, the links are and will be here.  In print: The Chicago Tribune published a detailed story about New Philadelphia with loads of photos on February 14, 2021. Kudos and thanks to writer Christine Ledbetter of Hull, Illinois.  You can also view the story as […]

Fashioning Illinois: History Lost and Found from Chris Young on Vimeo. In 1817 Lucy McWorter was the first McWorter to gain her freedom when Frank began his lifelong project of buying family members.  As a result of this choice, her son Squire was born free just a few months later.  The family eventually moved from […]

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As of December 2020, this effort is rolled over to the 2021 Congress.  Letters are not needed at this time.  Do stay tuned. Longtime friend and Congressman Darin LaHood has introduced the New Philadelphia National Historical Park Act, H.R. 8224 to make New Philadelphia, Illinois, a unit of the National Park System.  Please add your […]

Gerald McWorter and Kate Williams-McWorter, who wrote the 2018 book New Philadelphia for the New Philadelphia Association, continue to attract audiences for the story even in the pandemic. Of two recent presentations, the first is still available online, so do help yourself.  And get in touch if you want a live/remote presentation to your group! […]

Join a nationwide “group watch” on July 4, 2020 at 10 am Illinois time, or plan your own Fourth of July viewing anytime.  New Philadelphia descendant Gerald McWorter and other representatives of the nation’s Underground Railroad sites will read the renowned Frederick Douglass speech, “What to the Slave is your Fourth of July?”  Mr. Douglass […]

Our third online Likes Lecture was a success like the first two with at least 50 people present; we’re just sorry that the recording failed and we cannot offer it here. On Tuesday, June 23 at 7 pm online, musician and music educator Bill Camphouse of Perry, Illinois spoke about American popular music across the […]

Our second online talk was a success like the first with at least 45 people present.  On Tuesday, June 16 at 7 pm online, Curator Erika Holst of the Illinois State Museum in Springfield spoke about the upcoming exhibit, Fashioning Illinois, 1820-1900. What was it like to make, wear and care for clothes? How did […]

Our June 9, 2020 speaker Charlotte E. Johnson shared new knowledge about the photo below.  It is in the McWorter family collection and perhaps others as well, but identities were not well known.  It is an 1880 photo of the Hinds family. Left to right, John Thomas, mother Lucy McKinney Hinds, Polly R. in her […]