Welcome to the
El Paso, Illinois
Community History
Webpage
 

Sponsored with funding from Heartland Bank & Trust Company




El Paso Celebrated 150 years in 2004

Sesquicentennial 2004 books available - - by calling the El Paso Public Library at 309-527-4360. The cost is $45.00 plus $8.00 shipping. This book is titled El Paso, Illinois, Pictorial History 150 Years 1854-2004. It is a very attractive hardbound book with 320 pages and and over 480 pictures.

Make sure you see - - See under "Collections" below the Ethel Eft scrapbook collection for thousands of pages of El Paso information.






Purpose:

The purpose of this webpage is to provide links to various sources of information about the history of El Paso, Illinois.  Please enjoy reading about our heritage.



The following are our links:

Famous Natives:
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, an El Paso native, was one of the best known spokesmen for the Roman Catholic Church through his television and radio ministries and his life is being examined for possible sainthood.

Digital books:

El Paso Story     The El Paso Story is a digital book version of the hardback book published in 1954 as a centennial book and updated in 1974. It has over 400 pages which includes photographs and stories about the settlers of the El Paso area.

El Paso Illinois 1896 Souvenir Album    The El Paso Illinois 1896 Souvenir Album is a digital book version of the book published in 1896 as a souvenir book.  It has 124 pages which includes photographs and stories about the settlers of the El Paso area.

Kappa, Illinois, Its Early Families and History.    The Kappa, Illinois, Its Early Families and History booklet is a digital book version of the booklet published in 1978 by the Woodford County Historical Society.  It has 54 pages which includes photographs and stories about the settlers of the Kappa area.

Collections:

El Paso Post Card Collection  This is an album comprised of an El Paso postcard collection of George E. Drake.  It contains dozens of old post cards depicting scenes from recent decades to almost one hundred years old.

El Paso Old Pictures of Houses This is an album comprised of over 140 pictures (mostly from 1896) of El Paso houses and many corresponding recent pictures. The comparisons from then and now are very interesting.

El Paso Community History, Merlin Haas Photo Collection This is an album comprised of over 40 pictures (mostly from the early 1900's) of some houses, businesses, and people of early El Paso.

El Paso, IL,Community History, Ethel Eft Scrapbook Collection This is a collection of 19 scrapbooks with each covering a different year including 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1951, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, and 1980. There are over 2,800 images of her scrapbook clippings from the Bloomington newspaper and the El Paso newspapers.

El Paso, IL,Community History, Edith Steffen Scrapbook Collection This is a scrapbook covering generally the World War II years for El Paso people. There are almost 100 images of her scrapbook clippings from the Bloomington and El Paso newspapers.

Cemeteries:
El Paso Evergreen Cemetery Listings  This is a listing of people from the burial stones and other records of the Evergreen cemetery. This information is maintained by David Fever

El Paso St. Joseph's Cemetery Listings  This is a listing of people from the burial stones and other records of the St. Joseph's cemetery. This information is maintained by David Fever.

El Paso St. Mary's Cemetery Listings  This is a listing of people from the burial stones and other records of the St. Mary's cemetery. This information is maintained by David Fever

Kappa Cemetery Listings  This is a listing of people from the burial stones and other records of the Kappa cemetery. This information is maintained by David Fever

Genealogy & History:
El Paso Genealogy & History Researchers  This is a listing of people in El Paso that are interested in helping with history and genealogy questions. 


El Paso World War II Project - - Want to tell future generations what life was like in the 1940's? Dick Steffen is interested in collecting histories (oral or written) from individuals who served in the military, both overseas and at home, and those that helped on the home front. He is also interested in scanning pictures and other memorabilia. You can contact him at:
Dick Steffen
204 Reed Station Road
De Soto, IL 62924
Phone: 618-867-2930
or the best way, by email to dsteffen@siu.edu
 


 

This page is maintained by Allen C. Drake. The sponsors of this page are unable to provide further research on the documents presented here.

Copyright 2006-2018.