They Broke the Prairie

by Earnest Elmo Calkins

       First published in 1937 in honor of
      the Galesburg and Knox College Centenary, the book contains a wealth of
      lively details and amusing anecdotes. Calkins traces the progress of the
      community and the college through the arrival of the railroad, slave running,
      abolitionist confrontations, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Civil War,
      and the postwar era.
 

Genres: History

480 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1971

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful account of the the first hundred years of Knox and Galesburg. in many ways, it reflects the time in which it was written, (racism, focus on the upper class, anti-Semitism...), but it is consequently as telling about the attitudes of the time in which it was written as about the historical periods it concerns itself with.

The discussions of the early years, the conflict between Presbyterians and Congregationalists, and the construction of the railroad are particular standouts.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great to read about the people (the book was written in 1937 so all women and non-white men were pretty much cast aside) behind the street names and other places of my college town.

[Judith Squires · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting account of the found and early history of my hometown of Galesburg, Illinois. Calkins went on to becoming a true pioneer in the advertising industry. I was astonished by this paragraph because it is so timely today:

School books were written and edited with this thought in mind, that it was unthinkable that your should suspect its country was ever wrong, or any country that opposed it ever right, or that the men who founded it were anything but grand and noble--in short demigods. Nothing was further from the minds of patriotic beadles and churchwardens in the good old days that children were sent to school to learn the truth about anything, least of all history. Even today there are sharp outcomes against liberalizing the school books to approximate at least something like the truth."

Why are we still willing to feed our school children such lies?

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting to read about the history of where I worked and lived at the time. I got some inspiration for at least one or two columns from this book, I think.

[Linda Crouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, I lived in Galesburg, Illinois for 58 years.