The first is a collection of digital images that the Villa Grove Public library has listed. Actually the library is called the Camargo Township Library, however I call it Villa Grove because it is in Villa Grove Illinois. Villa Grove was for a site of maintenance of Steam Engines for the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad. When the age of steam died out in the 1950's the shops in Villa Grove were closed. Some ruins still remain of the roundhouse and a few shop buildings. The wonderful thing about the images in the Camargo Township collection is that they show the time when the shops were thriving.
Man holding flowers in the C&EI shops. I wish I knew the story behind this image.
I took the image above from the collection and cleaned it up and enhanced it some back when I was learning more about Photoshop. I was particularly interested in the railroad images because my grandfather worked for the C&EI most of his life. There also are images for local people, for something called the Pancake Festival, and for reunions of the Villa Grove High School classes.
Digital Images at the Camargo Township Library
I think the Camargo Township Library and its volunteers should be commended for making the effort to put these resources online.
One of my favorite sets of images on Flickr is from Flickr user GaleChicago . The images are from a road trip that she made in 1975 through central Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. They were taken with a Minolta SRT 101 on Tri-X. I feel they are wonderfully evocative of the time. Also the set contains the only photos that I know of for the departed Philo Illinois Dog & Suds. Viewing these photos was partially an inspiration for me to do B&W film again.
Small Towns, 1975
Gale is also responsible for saving the sign for the Chuck Wagon Diner formerly in Champaign Illinois, now in Princetown, New York.
Chuck Wagon Sign Leaving Chicago For New York
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