IGHS & Foundation

IGHS & Foundation Illiana Genealogical & Historical Society, the first Illinois genealogical society chartered in 1964 Conducts research at a reasonable cost.

Publishes Illiana Genealogist, a quarterly Illiana Genealogical and historical publication provided to all members. Operates a comprehensive and independent genealogical library at 215 North Street, Danville, IL 61832.

100% volunteer-run. Repository of all Vermilion County, Illinois, probate files from c1829-1970. Please check our website and visit us at the IGHS library!

Did you know…that Danville, Illinois, used to have a women’s orchestra? Marble’s Concert Band consisted of 25 members wh...
01/09/2026

Did you know…that Danville, Illinois, used to have a women’s orchestra? Marble’s Concert Band consisted of 25 members when it gave a concert on Sunday, November 20, 1929, to the children at the Children’s Home on the corner of Logan and Williams. The concert band played at a number of events that summer.

Top row: Martha Phillips, Margaret Morgan, Emma Jane Murphy, W.N. Marble (director), LaVerne Stone, Eunis Jackson, & Sue Langham.

Middle row: Thelma Brewington, Martha Schoolcraft, Eleanor Guy, Margaret Wilson, Maxine Luke, Gladys Franklin, Nell Kinney, & Ethel Marble.

Bottom row: Georgina Weibusch, Annabelle Kegy, Ruth Hays, Marietta Gastineau, Flodavine Langham, Marion James, Helen Waltzer, & Zelma Kelley.

Did you know…that the old Danville Public Library located at 307 N. Vermilion was built in 1904, funded by a gift of And...
01/09/2026

Did you know…that the old Danville Public Library located at 307 N. Vermilion was built in 1904, funded by a gift of Andrew Carnegie? Below are photos of the exterior and interior of the library when it opened in 1904. This building housed the Danville Public library until 1995 when it moved to the new library building northeast of the original structure. The 1904 building is now the home of the Vermilion County War Museum.

Did you know…that John Thomas was the first head football coach at the new Danville High School building in the fall of ...
01/07/2026

Did you know…that John Thomas was the first head football coach at the new Danville High School building in the fall of 1924? Recently graduated from the University of Chicago where he played fullback on the football team coached by the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg. He was an All American in 1922 and an All Big 10 player in 1921, 1922, and 1923. A contemporary of Illinois’ Red Grange, Thomas and his U of C team played the Illini and Grange at the then uncompleted Memorial Season in 1923, losing 7-0. Appointed DHS P.E. teacher and athletic coach in 1924, his 1924 and 1925 DHS football teams were undefeated. Thomas’ DHS track team earned the state championship in 1925. Thomas left DHS in 1927 to coach the Haskell Indian National University football team in Lawrence, Kansas, where he compiled a 10-8-1 record over two years. Thomas left coaching and worked at the American Red Cross and Cummins Business Machine at Chicago. John Thomas died in 1977 and was buried at Woodstock, Illinois.

Did you know…that the winter issue of IGHS’ magazine Illiana Genealogist was mailed out last week to all subscribers? Th...
12/30/2025

Did you know…that the winter issue of IGHS’ magazine Illiana Genealogist was mailed out last week to all subscribers? This issue has a detailed family history of the William and Ruth Whitaker Villars family, an article on a leading 19th-early 20th century Danville lawyer William A. Young and his wife, Elizabeth Maddox, information on DNA and the Illinois State Genealogical Society, an update on Danville humanitarian Laura Lee and her children’s home, as well as an assortment of local historical nuggets from the area’s past. Subscription to the Illiana Genealogist is included in the $40 annual IGHS membership fee. Single copies can be purchased at IGHS for $5.00. IGHS will re-open the library for business on January 13.

Did you know…what the current IGHS library at 215 W. North Street in Danville, Illinois, looked like a couple decades af...
12/29/2025

Did you know…what the current IGHS library at 215 W. North Street in Danville, Illinois, looked like a couple decades after it was built by the wealthy Danville businessman Anderson Henley in 1892? After serving as a home for several families, it was a funeral home for many years and later served as the Christian Home for Youth before IGHS purchased the property in 1998.

Did you know… that the 1913-1914 Hoopeston, Illinois, High School yearbook was called The Picayune? Here are the members...
12/26/2025

Did you know… that the 1913-1914 Hoopeston, Illinois, High School yearbook was called The Picayune? Here are the members of the staff in the yearbook office at the high school. The staff included: Malcolm Decker (editor-in-chief),Ivan Lyons, Herbert Woodard, Reid Townsley, Mary Watson, Helen Cory, Eva Bell, and Clara Bell.

Did you know…that the work is steadily progressing in transforming the back garage area into additional library space at...
12/26/2025

Did you know…that the work is steadily progressing in transforming the back garage area into additional library space at the Illiana Genealogical & Historical Society Library at 215 W. North Street in Danville, Illinois? The project is being financed through a generous grant from the Julius W. Hegeler II Foundation while the work is being done by Stout Construction. We will be hosting an open house when the renovation is complete. Happy New Year!

Did you know…that Nicholas Buck of Danville, Illinois, who died at age 94 in 1929, was proud of having voted for Abraham...
12/26/2025

Did you know…that Nicholas Buck of Danville, Illinois, who died at age 94 in 1929, was proud of having voted for Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860? Buck, a retired grocer, resided at 118 Franklin Street. He was born in 1835, two years before Queen Victoria ascended the British throne. He voted for 19 Republican presidential candidates and had personally met Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Did you know…that the mansion of Dr. Clark Leavitt (1833-1906) once stood at 431 N. Vermilion in Danville, Illinois? Bui...
12/19/2025

Did you know…that the mansion of Dr. Clark Leavitt (1833-1906) once stood at 431 N. Vermilion in Danville, Illinois? Built in 1888-1889, the house was a showplace at the time. Located across the street from the current Sherwin-Williams Paint Store, it was torn down in 1939.

Did you know…that in the 1850s, all men who were residents of Danville, Illinois, had to work three days a year on the s...
12/16/2025

Did you know…that in the 1850s, all men who were residents of Danville, Illinois, had to work three days a year on the streets and roads? If a man aged 21 to 50 did not, he was assessed a fee of one dollar for each day not worked. This undated article cites an April 26, 1856, Prairie State article, an early Danville newspaper. A dollar in 1856 equates to $38 today.

Did you know…that Vermilion County formerly had over 200 one-room schoolhouses before school consolidations took place?...
12/13/2025

Did you know…that Vermilion County formerly had over 200 one-room schoolhouses before school consolidations took place? Most were closed by the end of World War II. These schools taught first through eighth graders in the same room. Here is a photograph of the students and teacher of Higginsville School taken in 1926. Higginsville was a former community in the northwest corner of Blount township. First row, left to right: unknown, Elizabeth Kirk, Mary Porter, Chester Powell, Cecil Porter, and _____Parson. Back row, left to right: unknown, V. Kirk, Zelma Parson, Thelma Parson, _____ Kinney, Mr. Cooper, Florence Powell, Vera Powell, Bud Powell, and Jim Reece.

Did you know…that small villages formerly had hotels for travelers? Here is an article from the February 1, 1910, issue ...
12/13/2025

Did you know…that small villages formerly had hotels for travelers? Here is an article from the February 1, 1910, issue of The Danville Press-Democrat. It tells about the hotel in Fairmount, Illinois, changing hands.

Address

215 West North Street
Danville, IL
61832

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 3pm
Wednesday 10am - 3pm
Thursday 10am - 3pm
Friday 10am - 3pm
Saturday 10am - 1pm

Telephone

+12174318733

Website

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