How did folks get around in historic Belleville? Society’s 2025 calendar shows you
As the retailers rush to get their Christmas merchandise on the shelves, they are a step behind the folks at the Belleville Historical Society.
The society is selling next year — in calendar form, that is.
The Belleville Historical Society 2025 Calendar is called “Getting Around in Historic Belleville.” It has photos of early transportation, from trains to cars, mostly from the early 20th century.
The calendar is on sale for its usual $10, and a list of places where you can buy it is at the end of this column.
The cover photo sets the tone. It features two brothers, Albert and H. Lon Muren, and two sisters, Jean and Josephine Baker, finely dressed and heading for a picnic in Mascoutah in a fancy car. The Muren brothers would establish the Western Automobile and Electric Company in 1908.
The Belleville Electric trolley makes an appearance waiting to board passengers on the Public Square. A couple of hearses also are featured. They doubled as ambulances when they weren’t transporting dead people,
Decorated horses, carriages and automobiles are also shown. Ed Dobshuetz makes a couple of appearances, once driving his Locomobile Steamer, giving a mailman a lift. In another picture he is driving a 1901 Oldsmobile pulling a wagon loaded with bicycles to his bicycle shop.
A motorcycle, a train, a truck and a horse-drawn load of Liese lumber also grace the pages.
The calendars are available at several local stores and online at the society’s website, bellevillehistoricalsociety.org.
Other locations are:
Artisans Off Main – 310 E. Main St.
Blanquart’s Rusty Gem Vintage Market – 26 E. Main St.
Circa Boutique – 128 E. Main St.
Eckert’s Country Store – 951 S. Greenmount Road
Eckert Florist – 201 W. Main St.
Local Lucy’s – 122 E. Main St.
Peace by Piece Boutique – 2427 N. Illinois St.
