June 6 Illinois History Minute

It’s June 6, and writer George Fitch was born this week in the town of Galva in 1877. Fitch was a columnist for several newspapers and magazines and served in the Illinois House. He’s best remembered for short stories he wrote about Old Siwash, a fictional college campus based on his alma mater, Knox College in Galesburg. Fitch is among those credited with describing journalism as the first draft of history. In his words, “a reporter is a young man who blocks out the first draft of history each day on a rheumatic typewriter.”

Also this week, a plat for a “Railroad Addition to Urbana” – commissioned by the Illinois Central Railroad --- was certified in 1853 in Champaign County. It was called an addition to Urbana, but the site became a separate city, now known as Champaign.