Wednesday thru Friday 10 AM -1 PM
Saturday 10 AM - 12 PM
or by appointment
My Hometown
The following prints were created especially for our gallery and feature landmarks (some on the National Register of Historic Places) in Collinsville, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri . . .
by world-renowned artist,
The Blum Belle ~
A Treasured Memory
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Blum House early 1900's -
photo from Missippi Valley Library District
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The Blum Belle - A Treasured Memory features the Blum House which was the Blum family residence from 1906-1997. The Blums were the owners of the Blum Manufacturing Company of Collinsville, Illinois, makers of cowbells for worldwide distribution.
Blum House today in winter -
photo from Missippi Valley Library District
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Blum Belle ~ A Treasured Memory
home décor idea
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Teacher's Pets
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The Charter Oak School -
photo from Great River Road.com
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Does this place look familiar? It is not far from here. just over an hour's drive the school is about one mile east of Schuline, about five miles outside of Sparta. You may have passed it in travels through Red Bud, Popeye's home of Chester, or Carbondale if visiting Southern Illinois University-C.
It is one of two remaining octagonal-shaped, one-room, school buildings in America. It served as a school from 1873 until 1953 when it was closed due to consolidation of the school district. Here is how the story goes according to Great River Road.com~
"In the early 1870s a young teacher, Daniel Ling, came to the Schuline community. Records show he was 'educated in the East, was scholarly, could read Greek, and was a skilled architect'. Ling felt 'an eight cornered building with windows on each side would offer improved lighting since light comes from all sides as nature intended, and would also offer better wind resistance to storms.' Blackboards painted on walls could be seen from any part of the room when lesson outlines were given . . . School started in the new building in the fall of 1873 with Miss Avis Allen as teacher."
About The Charter Oak School ~
The original structure of the one-room school was a log structure which was destroyed by a tornado in 1863. The is the reason the Daniel Ling structure was so readily accepted and was funded by a $1,000 bond so quickly. They also decided to add the white cloak room to the building once completed for students' coats. The louvered belfry was added to the roof a few years later.
Echoes of the Past
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About Echoes of the Past ~
The D.D. Collins House -
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The Daniel Dove Collins House is a historic house located at 702 W. Main St. in Collinsville, Illinois. Daniel Dove Collins built the house in 1845 for himself and his wife. Collins, a cousin of the founders of Collinsville, was the first president of the then-village's Board of Trustees, and he held board meetings in his house. The post-and-beam house was designed in the Greek Revival style. The house has five bays delineated by the six Doric columns supporting its front porch. It is a rare surviving example of a five-bay Greek Revival home in Illinois.
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The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 2002.
The Collinsville Civil War Memorial -
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The memorial has a sculpture of a Union soldier standing at parade rest with his rifle held in both hands with its butt resting between his feet. The memorial was places by Tent No. 19 Daughters of Union Veterans and was dedicated June 14, 1926. The base of the memorial is inscribed:
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Erected
To The Memory Of
Civil War Veterans
1861 -- 1865
By Tent No. 19
Daughters
Of Union Veterans
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Excerpt from Waymarking.com ~
The Beidler Hotel (1879) -
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Located at 315 East Church Street and built by Frederick and Angeline Penny Beider in 1879 after their original home was destroyed by a cyclone. This is a stately Italianate home with a Federal influence, featuring a rose motif cornice. The following is an excerpt from the Uptown Collinsville Walking Tour:
"In the late 1880s, their hotel was ideally located just atop “Depot Hill” (Reed Ave.), taking in many travelers with the short walk from the train depot. Mrs. Beidler, a former schoolteacher, was famous for her 25-cent chicken dinners. During the Civil War, Mr. Beidler was poisoned and summoned his wife to Washington, DC. Mrs. Beidler successfully pleaded her husband’s case to President Lincoln. She was certainly a woman before her time being the first woman to sit on the Presbyterian Board and the first to run for the school board in 1894. A long-time temperance supporter, Mrs. Beidler lived to see prohibition just two days before her death in 1920."
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