Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) can rightly be called “the son of the Mississippi River”, for such is his profound association with it.

We are thrilled to present the following interview with Dr. Bruce Michelson, Professor Emeritus, English, UIUC, who is one of the world’s leading scholars of Mark Twain. Please click here:  https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_v60jhw4m

Although Hannibal, MO. claims and markets Twain because the town was his boyhood home, Twain knew the Illinois side of the river quite well. We know that he overnighted in Chester in the “house with blue windows;” we are searching for the specific date. Barbara Schmidt (Mark Twain Journal Legacy Scholar 2017 and Mark Twain projects consultant) has compiled a list of his lecture visits to Illinois:

1867
April 9 – National Hall, Quincy
1869
January 26 – Batavia
January 27 – Fry’s Hall, Freeport
January 29 – Bench St. Methodist Church, Galena
February 1 – Strawn’s Hall, Jacksonville
1871
December 18 – Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, Chicago
December 19 – Union Park Congregational Church, Chicago
December 20 – Sandwich
December 21 – City Hall, Aurora
December 22 – Patterson Hall, Princeton
December 26 – Barrett Hall, Champaign
December 27 – Tuscola
December 28 – Lincoln Hall, Danville
December 29 – Mattoon
December 30 – Paris
1879
November 12 – Army of the Tennessee Reunion, Haverly’s Theatre, Chicago
November 13 – Army of the Tennessee Reunion Banquet, Palmer House, Chicago
November 14 – Founding of Press Club, Chicago
1885
January 8 – Chatterton’s Opera House, Springfield
January 12 – Opera House, Quincy
January 16 & 17 – Central Music Hall, Chicago
January 19 – Methodist Church, Evanston
January 30 – Opera House, Rockford
February 2 & 3 – Central Music Hall, Chicago