Love That Small Town Charm of Yorkville

New local book highlights the history of small town using vintage images. End Quote

Chicago, IL (1888PressRelease) December 10, 2014 - The newest title from Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series Yorkville by experienced news writer, Jillian Duchnowski. Although currently the news editor for the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb, her brief stay in Yorkville, IL was just enough to ignite her love of the town and develop her passion for its history and people. "I hope the images in the book invigorate readers' interest in Yorkville history and remind them how much the town has grown and thrived, as well as how much it has remained the same." Duchnowski says.

For this project, Jillian Duchnowski teamed up with the Chapel on the Green Historical Society and gathered images from the private collections of local residents. The author's favorite photograph shows Ruth Sherman and Eunice Christian striking a carefree pose in their marching band majorette uniforms in the late 1930s or early 1940s. A close second is a photograph of a vehicle advertising Frank F. Weber, running for president of the United States in 1940.

Of the more than 200 images in Yorkville, readers can find several historic shots of the downtown area, Blackberry Creek and the Fox River Bridge and dam. Although bursting with images of enjoyment and vitality, this new book also covers recent tragedies of a train derailment and the botched robbery of the Pine Village Steak House.

Highlights of Yorkville include:
• Various stages of rebuilding the former Kendall County Courthouse
• Photographs and stories of former teacher turned Republican House Speaker, Dennis Hastert
• An image of the Prime Minster of India on a visit to Yorkville in 1949

Please join us for the following upcoming events and meet the author!

Images of America: Yorkville Launch Party
Where: Cobblestone Bakery and Bistro
101 W. Van Emmon Street, Yorkville, IL 60560
When: Friday, December 19, 2014 from 5pm to 8pm

Book Signing
Where: Chapel on the Green Historical Society
107 W. Center Street, Yorkville, IL 60560
When: Saturday, December 20, 2014 from 1pm to 4pm

Presentation and Signing
Where: Chapel on the Green Historical Society
107 W. Center Street, Yorkville, IL 60560
When: Sunday, January 18, 2015 at 2pm

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online.

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America's people and places. Discover more than 8,500 small towns and downtowns at http://www.arcadiapublishing.com.

Yorkville
by Jillian Duchnowski
Images of America Series
Price: $21.99
128 pages/ softcover
Available: December 15, 2014

Meet Jillian Duchnowski
Author of Yorkville
Jillian Duchnowski, 33, first cast her sight on Yorkville in November 2010, when she moved there to launch a new online publication for Aol called Yorkville Patch. She quickly fell in love with the small town charm of Yorkville's frequently evolving downtown, its new whitewater course on the Fox River, and the colorful, passionate people who call Yorkville home.

A 2003 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Duchnowski has more than a decade of experience writing for print and online newspapers. She won the Illinois State Bar Association's Lincoln Media Award in 2010 for her reporting on insanity issues in the criminal justice system and helped Yorkville Patch be named the Yorkville Chamber of Commerce's new member of the year in February 2012. She volunteered and walked with the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure between 2007 and 2010, but nowadays, her walks just entertain her cocker-spaniel/poodle mix, BlackJack.

Presently the news editor for the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb, Duchnowski brought a storyteller's approach to local history and a reporter's eye to detail. She hopes her book inspires new Yorkville residents and visitors to appreciate the deeper history behind the buildings they pass, perhaps on a daily basis.

What lasting impact do you hope your book will leave?
I hope the images in the book invigorate readers' interest in Yorkville history and remind them how much the town has grown and thrived, as well as how much it has remained the same.

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