Category: Illinois
Abraham Lincoln’s Senator Challenger
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2020/02/25Feb20-Stephen-Douglas-2020.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Abraham Lincoln led the country through the Civil War, but it was this man who defeated him for the senate…
Smoke-filled Rooms
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2020/02/19Feb20-Blackstone-Hotel-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)You many have heard of backroom political deals referred to as having taken place in a smoke-filled room. Today I’ll…
A Chicago Landmark
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2020/02/18Feb20-Blackstone-Hotel-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When it was constructed just over a century ago, it was the tallest building in Chicago. It remains a landmark…
John Deere Before the Tractor
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2020/01/09Jan20-John-Deere-Plow-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When you hear the name John Deere you might think of tractors. However, that is to think in modern terms. …
The Relocation of John Deere
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2020/01/08Jan20-John-Deere-Plow-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)We’ve all heard of John Deere equipment and you may know the company is headquartered in Moline, Illinois. But that’s…
The Man Who Was Just Another Blacksmith
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2020/01/07Jan20-John-Deere-Plow-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)He was just another blacksmith until some of his old friends convinced him to move from the northeastern U.S. to…
Guinness Records Knows Casey, Illinois
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/09/26Sep19-Casey-Illinois-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)The folks at Guinness Book World Records knows Casey, Illinois very well. It seems they have to send someone there…
A Beautiful Rocking Chair
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/09/25Sep19-Casey-Illinois-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)It’s a beautiful rocking chair. The kind of chair that would be the perfect place to relax. There’s plenty of…
How Windchimes Changed Lives
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/09/24Sep19-Casey-Illinois-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)They are the windchimes that changed the way people thought about this small town. How could wind chimes do that…
A Place They Call Barnacopia
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/09/10Sep19-Barnacopia.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)What does a farmer do when he retires from working the land? For Gary Bocker he really wasn’t looking to…
An Iconic Vehicle Modernized
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/08/03Sep19-Mahindra-Roxor.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)Some say it was the iconic vehicle of World War II. A vehicle that General Esienhower said was one of…
Grieving Traditions
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/08/26Aug19-Funeral-Customs-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)When someone close to us passes, we mourn. While it’s not a topic we usually want to dwell upon…this man…
History of a Difficult Subject
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/08/23Aug19-Funeral-Customs-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)Today’s topic is one people don’t often like to discuss, yet it’s one with which all of us must deal…
Popcorn and Pumpkins
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/07/24July19-Illinois-Popcorn-Pumpkins.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)Popcorn, pumpkins and more. Colin just thought every farm in American grew those crops, but then he took a look…
The Risk of a Crop Below Ground
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/07/23July19-Illinois-Oil-Field-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)Most farmers take on some risk when they put a crop in the ground. This farmer sees the risk in…
An Oil Field Where You Might Not Expect It
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/07/22July19-Illinois-Oil-Field-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)When you think of American oilfield you perhaps think of Texas, North Dakota or the fields on the north slope…
A Trip to the Mastodon Park
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/07/12Jul19-Mastodon-Park.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)Imagine you unearthed the bones of an animal and had little idea of what you found. Now imagine making up…
From Korea to Vietnam
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/06/26Jun19-Kermit-Bell.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Over 2 decades after he first entered the army, Kermit Bell was now on his way to Vietnam. Not only…
Civil War History in Sycamore, Illinois
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2019/04/18Apr19-Sycamore-Illinois-Civil-War-History.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:01 — 2.1MB)In the days after the Civil War, some African American families moved north with the Union troops with which they…
The Historic Chicago Fire
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2018/10/17Oct18-Chicago-Fire-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:59 — 2.0MB)Bells rang the warning. Prison cells were opened to allow inmates to save their own lives ahead of the coming…
