Learn about 'The Railroad to Lafox' at Garfield Farm Museum May 13
On Saturday, May 13, Garfield Farm Museum in Campton Hills will host an afternoon session on how railroads impacted the development and growth of northeastern Illinois into what we know today.
At 2 p.m., Kenneth Carlson will discuss how Kane County contributed to the growth and development of Chicago and the impact of the region on the national and global scene.
Carlson is a volunteer at the Spring Valley Heritage Farm in Schaumburg. He grew up in a farm town and his grandfather, father, and uncle worked on the railroads. He is a history enthusiast, a musician and a model railroader. He is a member of the National Model Railroad Society and the British Train Society of Illinois. Carlson as an avid photographer of railroads since 1958, has been interested in how the growth of the railroads changed the early pioneer farms. Ken and his wife are currently helping to organize the history of Hanover Park.
William Ogden was instrumental in having a railroad built through LaFox on the way to Freeport in the early 1850s.
Carlson will talk about how the farms benefited from the new technologies of this era.
Early settlers banked on the growing agricultural commodity, wheat, which had numerous applications in local, national and international growth, food stuffs, and international sustenance by the 1850s. Northeastern Illinois was instrumental with its fertile soil and its location to the Great Lakes and other transportation networks that boosted the economy and area on to the national and international scene.
There is an $6 donation for the talk.
Reservations are preferred and can be made by contacting the museum at (630) 584-8485 or info@garfieldfarm.org.
Garfield Farm Museum is located on Garfield Road, off Route 38, 5 miles west of Geneva. Garfield Farm is a former historically intact 1840s Illinois prairie farmstead and teamster inn that is being restored as a working 1840s farm.
For information, contact (630) 584-8485 or info@garfieldfarm.org. Visit www.garfieldfarm.org or facebook.com/GarfieldFarmMuseum/.