Local History News

Huntley Coloring Books – 175th Anniversary

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Free coloring books are now available at our Library! Stop by the library’s Information Desk or Children’s Desk to pick up a copy and help celebrate Huntley’s 175th! In celebration of the Village of Huntley’s 175th anniversary, the Huntley History Alliance created this coloring book featuring scenes from historic Huntley photographs complete with historic notes. … Read more

Post Office and Huntley – Local History Intertwined

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12/01/2025 This time of year, we generally see a surge in mail due to the holidays. As reported by USPS in 2022, they processed 11.7 billion pieces of mail and packages during the holiday season. Most people enjoy the convenience of mail delivered to their dwelling. This has not always been the case; delivery in … Read more

Good Luck Margarine!

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11/01/2025 Have you heard about the Butter Margarine War that occurred from the late 1880’s until 1950 when the federal government taxed margarine to make it less competitive? And did you know that some of this scandalous margarine churned out from a factory located in Huntley? The factory was owned by the John F. Jelke … Read more

The Huntley Cemetery

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10/01/2025 Temperatures are cooling, increasing occurrences of overcast weather, and foliage changing colors; these are all signs that it just might be October. Another association with October is that it can be a time of remembrance of those who have passed away.    As many decades go by, sometimes the only item left for remembrance … Read more

What is our Local History?

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09/01/2025 Our local history department at the Huntley Public Library has an amazing repository of multifarious information sources about Huntley’s downtown and its surrounding historical area. Thanks to the many Huntley patrons who have donated historical items and resources, the Huntley History Alliance which includes the Huntley Historical Society, and our very own Nancy Bacheller. … Read more

It’s Back to School Time

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August 13th is the local students’ first day back to school for the 2025-2026 school year. In celebration, let’s look at Huntley’s educational past. We begin with the one-room country schools then detail some of the changes throughout the decades. Then, we’ll look finally at some highlights of the school district’s innovations. One-room country schools … Read more

Let’s Welcome Summer with Fun Historical Tidbits

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In June, we finally – oops, I mean officially – welcome Summer. Did you know this month also is recognized as World Milk Day (6/1), National Flag Week (June 9-15) and Father’s Day (6/15) all in the same month? To honor these three events and our community – let’s connect them to Huntley’s Local History. … Read more

May = Local History Month

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May is designated as the ‘Local History Month’ and we’d like to pay homage with “The More You Know, the More You Grow!” You might know about the village of Huntley’s founding father, Thomas S. Huntley. Did you know he was not the first one to settle here? The Whittemore and Cummings families were generally … Read more

April’s National Poetry Month

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The ways we can celebrate Huntley’s history are vast and wonderful. This month we were inspired by the national designation of April as National Poetry Month as our topic of celebration. Hmm, how does poetry and Huntley’s history relate?

In the Local History department of our library, we have wonderful resources available for whatever your local history research may entail. For this poetry research, we used the Illinois Digital Archive (IDA) to review past editions of one of Huntley’s papers, The Farmside. We searched for any type of references involving Huntley residents as published poets. (We even discovered the beginning of Huntley High School’s writing club in 1972 called, The Scribes, who published a booklet of poems and short stories in their first year with community donations.) On our shelves, we discovered the endearing poem “In Huntley, Illinois” by Mrs. Anna Schachtner (pg. 143) from the book “At Home in Huntley 1851-2001.” We even found the inspiring poem, “The Evolution of a Patriot” by Charles H. Stephen in the “Huntley Centennial 1851-1951.” (Book covers are shown in featured image.)

We hope our findings and our examples of research tools inspire and encourage you to come into our library and explore the Local History collection. There are so many memorable treasures waiting to be rediscovered. Instant access can be obtained from your personal electronic device by going online to the IDA website at https://www.idaillinois.org – or better yet, come to the library and use one of our computers. If this posting inspired you to learn more about Huntley’s history or maybe to create your own poem about this friendly village with country charm – we are delighted. Please know that we are here for you.

A few more findings about local poets:

Judy Riedl had two poems chosen for publication in Treasured Poems of America in the Summer 1997 with the publisher Sparrowgrass Poetry Forum.

Sylvia Harmon published “Somehow My Love” in Women’s Household Magazine in the October Issue 1978.

Adam T. Hosteny published “The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight” in Day Break on the Land in 1997. At the time of publication, he was 7 years old according to The Farmside.