Join Sterling Rock Falls Historical Society on Sunday, November 13, 2022, at 2:00 p.m., for an interesting program: “A Fire of Straw in Bureau County.” The Lincoln Learning Center, 611 E. 3rd Street, Sterling, IL, is the location. There is no fee to attend and refreshments will be served.
Our speaker will be Bob Glaser, author of “A Fire of Straw in Bureau County.” The Illinois prairie in the 1840s could hardly be thought of as the location for a planned, utopian settlement. This is especially true, if the motivation for the effort was the complex and controversial writings of a French utopian socialist, who never set foot on American soil–much less the prairies of northern Illinois. The elaborate doctrines of Charles Fournier would be imported and stimulate thousands of Americans to action, specifically some idealists residing in Bureau County, IL.
Until now, there has been no comprehensive research done on the attempted Fournierist communitarian effort in La Moille, IL. One hundred and seventy-year-old dreams are difficult to track down and examine! For the first time, the far-strewn fragments of the surviving historical record have been reassembled, to illuminate this unique event.
With a Master’s degree from Illinois State, Bob Glaser taught Social Studies at Walnut High School for over 30 years. The La Moille research developed from his work with the historic Galena Trail and Coach Road from Peoria-to-Galena, IL. He and his wife live in Walnut, IL.