CULTURE

Culture

The Jacksonville region is in touch with its history, fusing the past lives of its greatest residents with its future. The first college building in Illinois - Beecher Hall - is still in use on the Illinois College campus and several nearby homes were stops on the Underground Railroad. The Jacksonville Heritage Cultural Center pays tribute to the area's most distinguished former residents with renovations underway to transform the Old Jacksonville Post Office into an interactive museum of the area's past. The Big Eli Ferris Wheel, towering at the entrance of Community Park, symbolizes Jacksonville's century-long legacy of manufacturing the world famous amusement rides

Jacksonville, in the mid 1800's, was described by many who visited as an Athens in the West. The progressive city was a hub for Underground Railroad activity and several historic homes served as stations to aide in the escape of runaway slaves. Proud, educated men like Edward Beecher - brother to Harriet Beecher-Stowe - and Jonathan B. Turner helped the movement to be successful. The Woodlawn Farm (pictured below), just east of Jacksonville off I-72, was a significant site along the Underground Railroad during the mid-1800s and was recently purchased by the Morgan County Historical Society to become the first stop on the Underground Railroad Homes Tour.

General Grierson Liberty Days, a weekend of Civil War re-enactments and symposiums surrounding Civil Ware hero Gen. Benjamin Grierson's legacy, attracts participants far and wide to experience the region's role and culture during the Civil War. The Prairie Land Heritage Museum Antique Steam Engine Show likewise draws thousands of visitors to celebrate our farming lifestyle and its past.

Live theatrical productions are never in short supply as the Sophie Leschin Theatre hosts the Jacksonville Theatre Guild's nine annual productions. The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra holds five performances annually featuring visiting musicians from such heralded orchestras as the St. Louis Symphony. Its Chorale features 40 singers from high school to retirement age providing live entertainment throughout the year. MacMurray College, Illinois College and all local high schools fill out the rest of the calendar with their own plays, musicals and live entertainment productions.

Jacksonville is home to the David Strawn Art Gallery, residing in one of the city's finest architectural treasures from the late 1800s. Both local colleges feature prominent art galleries, Illinois College's McGaw Art Gallery and Mobil Art Gallery at MacMurray College.

MacMurray College recently dedicated two new fine-arts facilities, the Putnam Center for the Arts and the William H. Springer Center for Music. The McGaw Fine Arts Series is a non-profit organization, which is part of the community lecture-concert series of Illinois College bringing first-rate virtuosos in all of the fine arts to the region.