Strolling through time

This Saturday you can take a trip through time without leaving St. Charles.

The St. Charles Heritage Center will sponsor a "history crawl" to celebrate its 75th anniversary, which is in January 2008.

Julie Bunke, museum director, said the tour will focus on historical sites in the downtown area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street. She hopes it will help promote the museum.

"We tried to come up with little known facts that people don't usually associate with St. Charles," Bunke said.

This is not a guided tour. Everybody will get a map of the designated sites so they can take the tour at their own pace. Museum volunteers will be posted at each site to share information on the place's history.

Some tour stops include the St. Charles Public Library, Hotel Baker, Norris Funeral Home and Century Corners. But Bunke said volunteers will also discuss more than 30 other sites not included in the tour.

One of those places is the Howard House Hotel, on Illinois and Third streets, that is now an apartment complex. Mary Todd Lincoln was said to have visited the hotel sometime after the Civil War to consult with a psychic to contact her deceased husband, Abraham Lincoln, and her deceased sons.

Another little known fact is that St. Charles was once touted as the pickle capital of the world. The city became so closely associated with the label that it was a question on the game show "Jeopardy!"

"(We want people) to spread the word of the town and tell other people about the history," Bunke said.

The tours begin at noon and end at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for nonmembers. The event is free for anyone 18 and under if accompanied by a paying adult. Free parking will be available behind the Heritage Center.

For more information call (630) 584-6967 or visit www.stcmusuem.org/programs.html.