11th Annual Prarieland Chautauqua
Pioneers of Science and Invention
Under the big tent in Community Park, Jacksonville, Illinois
Friday, September 4, to Monday, September 7th, 2009,
Director: Wolf D. Fuhrig
The Morgan County Historical Society produces the annual Chautauquas filled with historical re-enactments, storytelling,
lectures, music, and dance. Each year, some 2,000 spectators enjoyed the Chautauqua's
education, entertainment, food, and fellowship. Each year, the number of vistors
from beyond Morgan County has increased. The theme of this year's Prairieland Chautauqua
will be "The Age of Lincoln." The four-day event will again be staged under
the big tent in Jacksonville's Community Park from Friday, September 4, to Monday, September
7th, 2009.
"Pioneers of Science and Invention"
Friday, September 4:
4pm: "The Brad Floreth Band"
5pm: Brian "Fox" Ellis of Peoria portrays "John James Audubon"
6pm: Supper
7pm: Amy Lowe tells "The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad"
8pm: "Peter Cartwright" portrayed by Rev. Joel Catlin of O'Fallon
Saturday, September 5:
4pm: Cathy Lane and Marilyn Walters tell "The Story of the Oregon Trail"
5pm: Paxton Williams of Diamond, MO. portrays "George Washington Carver"
6pm: Supper
7pm: Baritone Joel Tinsley of Jacksonville
8pm: Brian "Fox" Ellis of Peoria portrays "Charles Darwin"
Sunday, September 6:
4pm: The Stephanie and John Wilkey Show
5pm: Wolf Fuhrig tells "The Story of the Brooklyn Bridge"
6pm: Supper
7pm: The Pondell Trio of Decatur
8pm: Michael Hughes of Ada, OK portrays "Alexander Graham Bell"
Monday, September 7:
4pm: Lee Murdock of Kaneville, IL sings "Songs of the Great Lakes"
5pm: Mike Offutt's "Ultimate Science Show"
6pm: Supper
7pm: "Sing-along" with Ken Bradbury
8pm: Hank Fincken of Indianapolis, IN portrays "Thomas Edison"
Dinners At Prairieland Chautauqua 2009
Service Friday, September 4 to Monday September 7 daily beginning at 6:00pm and ending at 6:50pm 
Dinner reservations need to be made at least a day in advance at Hamilton's Catering Service. Phone 217-675-2720, fax 217-675-2711; or e-mail info@hamiltonscatering.com. For the answering service, please leave your full name, the date of the reservation, and the number of meals ordered. Price per dinner is $10.00.
Publicity: The Jacksonville Journal Courier
Lighting and Sound: George Westenberger
Catered Meals: Hamilton's Catering
Desserts: Jacksonville Fifty-Year Pilot Club
To sustain the Chautauqua as a distinctive event of the Jacksonville area community into the future, the newly established Morgan County Chautauqua Society (a committee of the Morgan County Historical Society) solicits your participation with your ideas, your skills, and your material support. To become a patron of the Prairieland Chautauqua, please contact Dr. Wolf D. Fuhrig at WDFuhrig@aol.com.
History of Jacksonville, Illinois Prarieland Chautauquas
Wolf D. Fuhrig, Director
Themes and Major Presentations (Reenactor names listed in parentheses)
July 5 to 10, 1999
Inside the Civil War
Abraham Lincoln (Harry Hahn)
William Tecumseh Sherman (Theodore Kachel)
Louisa May Alcott (Gayle Stahlhuth)
Angus August Burleigh (Hasan Davis)
Elisabeth Van Lew (Annette Baldwin)
Sojourner Truth (Alice McGill)
May 31 to June 4, 2000
Jacksonville 1825 - 2000
Harriet Tubman (Shirlee Pettit)
Dorothea Dix in "Not Above a Whisper" (Harvey & Patsy Mack)
William Jennings Bryan (Theodore Kachel)
Jonathan Baldwin Turner (Karl Bockemeier)
Vachel Lindsey (Bob Large)
Peter Cartwright (Joel Catlin)
June 30 to July 4, 2001
American Humor
Will Rogers (Doug Watson)
H. L. Mencken (Chuck Chalberg)
Mark Twain (Tom Gilding)
James Thurber (Carrol Peterson)
Ken Bradbury: "When Coonridge Comes Alive"
June 10 to 15, 2002
The Jazz Age
Henry Ford (Doug Mishler)
Edna Ferber (Gayle Stahlhuth)
Harry Emerson Fosdick (Arnold Wettstein)
Bix Beiderbecke (Frank Trompeter)
Harry Truman (William Worley)
Coco Chanel (Annette Baldwin)
July 2 to 6, 2003
American Women
Lucy Parsons (Alma Washington)
Susan B. Anthony (Annette Baldwin)
Abigail Adams (Rebecca Bloomfield)
The Grimke Sisters (Tara McAndrew & Linda Schneider)
Ladybird Johnson (Rebecca Bloomfield)
Josephine Baker (Vernice Jackson)
Calamity Jane (Leah Schwartz)
September 2 to 6, 2004
Westward Bound: The Lewis and Clark Expedition
Captain Meriwether Lewis' Mother (Dianne Moran)
Shawnee Women (Glenna Wallace)
Sacagawea (Dianne Moran)
President Thomas Jefferson (Patrick Lee)
Captain William Clark (Patrick Lee)
General Andrew Jackson (Ted Jackson)
September 1 to 5, 2005
Pioneering Educators: Celebrating 175 Years of Education at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois
Julian Sturtevant (John McCord)
Catherine Beecher (Wendy McCarty)
Owen Lovejoy (Rev. William F. Moore)
Harriet Beecher Stowe (Ruth Pangrace)
Jonathan Turner (Karl Bockemeier)
Stephen Douglas (Fred Krebs)
William Jennings Bryant (Fred Krebs)
Abraham Lincoln (Fritz Klein)
September 1 to 5, 2006
Movers and Shakers in Illinois
John Wesley Powell (Bill Steinbacher-Kemp)
Jane Addams (Annette Baldwin)
Philip Bliss (John McCord)
Mother Jones (Betsy Means)
Abraham Lincoln (Chris Vallillo)
Ernest Hemingway (Redd Griffin)
Frank Lloyd Wright (Lyman Shepard)
Vachel Lindsey (Bob Large)
Carl Sandburg (Barry Cloyd)
August 31 to September 3, 2007
Voice for Freedom and Justice
Sojourner Truth (Annette Jefferson)
Henry Clay (George McGee)
John Ross (Michael Hughes)
Frederick Douglass (Charles Everett Pace)
Patrick Henry (John Chalberg)
Bert Williams (Ann Ommen)
William Lloyd Garrison (Michael Hughes)
Paul Robeson (Joel Tinsley)
William Wilberforce (John McCord)
Theodore Roosevelt (John Chalberg)
For more information or to become a patron of the Jacksonville Chautauqua, contact:
Director: Dr. Wolf D. Fuhrig
503 West College, Jacksonville, IL 62650
Phone: 217-243-2423, Fax 217-245-1226
E-mail: wdfuhrig@aol.com
Chief Sponsors:
The Morgan Country Historical Society
and the Illinois Humanities Council
Overnight packages available!
This event is made possible by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council
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Phone: 217-243-5678 Toll-Free: 1-800-593-5678 Fax: 217-245-0661  |
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