When Truman Visited Eldorado

It was announced on September 20, 1948 that President Truman would visit the city as a part of his Southern Illinois motor tour.

His visit, on September 30th, caused a great deal of excitement. Businesses were closed and school children were let out to witness this historic occasion. The crowd, estimated at several thousand, gathered on the streets, in the windows and on the rooftops. Judge Harry C. Flanders was the Master of Ceremonies. The high school buglers played “The Star Spangled banner” and Dr John C. Burnett sang “America.”

The Presidential caravan arrived over an hour late and was greeted with a 21-gun salute. Mrs. Truman and their daughter Margaret accompanied the President. After a 5-minute speech the President and his party continued on to Carmi.

Although Mr. Truman was the first president to visit Eldorado, the record shows that two presidential candidates had visited in the past. In 1892, Grover Cleveland was driven down Grand Ave. on his way to the old railroad station and in 1908, Williams Jennings Bryan addressed a crowd from the porch of the Murray Hotel.

The original articles of President Truman’s visit can be found in the Eldorado Daily Journal on September 21, 1948 and September 30, 1948. We’ve given you the basic facts, now you tell us your story… what do you remember about “When Truman visited Eldorado.”

Another President Visits Southern Illinois

On October 3, 1960, then Senator John F. Kennedy visited Harrisburg on a campaign swing through Southern Illinois. Following President Truman’s route, Senator Kennedy made what he claimed was a record breaking 15 speeches in one day. A large crowd was assembled on the courthouse square to meet the Senator’s party, which arrived 2 hours later than expected.

The original articles of President Kennedy’s visit can be found in the Eldorado Daily Journal on October 3rd and 4th, 1960. Were you in that crowd? What do you remember about the visit?

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What Window? Where?

Opening a New Window into the Past @ the Eldorado Library


The Eldorado Memorial Public Library is proud to announce a new service and new equipment. With the help of an LSTA grant from the Illinois State Library and the support of many community groups, the Eldorado library has purchased a microfilm reader scanner and 3 new public access computers. In addition, several new programs will take place. For instance this blog has been created to focus on the genealogy and local history resources of the library and to involve you the reader in creating REMEMBER WHEN …ELDORADO a record of Eldorado history.

The new microfilm reader/scanner is a state of the art piece of equipment that can print directly from the microfilm or can scan the microfilm so that it can be saved and or emailed. We will now be able to answer email requests for obituaries and other newspaper articles by email the actual article back to the person requesting the information, saving paper, postage and time. Also purchased with grant funds were 3 new computers and a new microfilm cabinet.

You are invited to a demonstration of the new equipment at the Eldorado Memorial public Library on Thursday, January 29th, any time between 5:30 and 7:30 pm. If you are unable to visit the library during that time, please contact the library to arrange a convenient time when staff will be available to show you the scanner.

We will soon be having a program on blogging, and hope to start collecting local historical photographs to publish on our website.
Come back and visit this blog often, and be sure to share your memories.