The year is 1861 and America is in the grips of a bloody Civil War that will change it forever. In Richmond, the capital of the new Confederate States, Southern Belles and Ladies are sewing uniforms, throwing fundraising gala...
On July 17, 1904, 500 residents of Hammond, Indiana gathered together one unseasonably hot summer afternoon, wearing their Sunday best, to watch an innocent man get buried alive. Visit us online at itshometownhistory.com Supp...
In 1647, laborers toiling away at the Tower of London uncovered two small skeletons while clearing away rubble from a staircase. Had the discovery been made today, scientists would have used a whole host of forensic tools, in...
I just recently learned that NBA legend Bill Russell once came to my hometown of Marion, Indiana during the 1960's. The result of this brief stay was at once funny and inspiring, and one of the best stories ever told about ba...
In 1922, thousands of teenagers in Manhattan went on a straw hat smashing spree that sent many of them to jail, and some of their victims to the hospital. The exact reasons for the riot are unclear, but a clue from contempora...
There are just times when you need a great speech. These times are rare, but they exist. This episode is about a time like this, when America need a speech and the President of the United States stood with his hat in his hand...
On a cold morning, October 21st, 1861, an officer in the Union army named Major Henry Livermore Abbott led the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment through another hopeless assault against a superior enemy force, up an isolat...
Sometimes the bad guys win. Sometimes the people with the worst intentions get what they want in life and their victims lose everything, like when one unemployed German lathe operator attempted to murder the best tennis playe...
One of the most important hometowns in American history is Alexandria, Virginia. Along with being the wealthiest city in Virginia, Alexandria is home to the Institute for Defense. Analyses, the United States Patent and Tradem...
The first battle of the Civil War was the Battle of Fort Sumter, off the coast of South Carolina, in early April 1861. A week later, something like a battle erupted in the streets of Baltimore during the Pratt Street Riots, w...
Sometimes known as the 1913 Massacre, the Italian Hall Disaster was a tragedy that occurred on December 24th, 1913 in Calumet, Michigan. 73 people were crushed to death in a stampede when someone falsely shouted "fire" at a c...
Sometime in 1678, the mighty Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I, known as the “soldier king” of Europe’s most warlike state, sat in his heavily padded throne surveying his army with an ambassador from France.With a row of part...
Part 2 - Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millio...
Part 1 - Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millio...
How have I never heard of Robert Smalls?I’m betting you haven’t either. Smalls was an antebellum slave and real-life action hero who fought without permission in the Civil War and pulled off one of the most daring heists in A...
Does Blonde hair make you dumb? No, seriously does it? Let’s track the history of this stereotype and find out if it’s true.Visit us online at itshometownhistory.comEpisode Sponsors:Get 25% off your Liquid IV at Liquidiv.com ...
This is the 2nd half of our Dear H.H. Holmes episode. Meet Almeda Huiet, of Wabash County, Indiana. Possibly the first Chicago victim of infamous serial killer H.H. Holmes. Visit us online at itshometownhistory.comSupport our...
Could this be the first Chicago victim of infamous serial killer H.H. Holmes? In Chicago on a cold November morning in 1888, the body of a young lady is found in a lake with her throat slit. The story of this young lady, and ...
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup that white performers have used throughout history to portray, and demean, black people. The dark substance white performers would put on their faces was typically shoe polish, grease ...
Have you ever heard of The Landlord's Game, created by Elizabeth Magie? Well if you haven't, you certainly aren't alone. Elizabeth Magie's creation looked like Monopoly, but it was anti-Monopoly - more accurately, it's the or...
World history is filled with strange occurrences, from deadly fashion trends to wars fought on baseless grounds. However, none are as weird as the Cadaver Synod, which saw the decaying corpse of a pope being screamed at for h...
The centerpiece of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site is the former home of our 16th president, where he lived with his young family for seventeen years. After moving to the White House in 1861, Abraham and Mary kept thi...
The first of April is widely regarded as an unofficial holiday reserved for pranks and hoaxes that seem too ridiculous to be believed yet are surprisingly enough to fool several hundreds of people. The pages of history are li...
When the founding fathers of the United States began adding amendments to the U.S. Constitution to help secure rights and safeguard a free society, the first thing they focused on was the most fundamental: free speech.Autho C...
