Mark Motsinger voted president of Historical Society

The first agenda item of the new Saline County Historical Society President Mark Motsinger is an unfortunate one: Repairing vandalism.

Motsinger took the position during Tuesday's meeting of the society. Former President Mary Shackleford had resigned the post, member Ed Miller asked if Motsinger would be interested and the society unanimously voted Motsinger into office. Motsinger is also a member of the Saline County Tourism Board, Illinois Historical Society and is a Carrier Mills-Stonefort High School history teacher.

The recent snow brought an unexpected crowd to the society's Saline Creek Pioneer Village and Museum, but not the sort of crowd the society would like to have back. Several windows were broken out of buildings and hitch for a buggy in the Aydelott Barn was broken.

"It was during the snow. There were footprints all over the place," Motsinger said.

The society is holding a clean up and repair day April 11.

Motsinger said he would like to see the society become more visible, attract members from throughout the county and advocate for historic preservation in the county.

"I'd like to see things like the Raum house never happen again. I think part of our duty is to guard stuff," Motsinger said.

The Raum house was the former home of Civil War Union Army Officer Gen. Green Berry Raum at 203 E. Walnut St., believed to have been the oldest house in Harrisburg. The house dated to 1857. In February of 2014 it was demolished for parking space for Harrisburg First Baptist Church.

Motsinger would like to see a monument erected in honor of Raum.

"If they have monuments (of Raum) on the battlefield in Vicksburg's Cemetery Ridge we can do something in Harrisburg," Motsinger said.

Motsinger is also interested in new artifact acquisitions for the museum.

"I'd like to see the L.O. Trigg collection end up in the museum," he said.

He would also like to bring lecturers to the Historical Society meetings. Currently, Motsinger has organized a local history lecture series at Steam Cafe called Southern Illinois Unearthed. The first lecture is 6:30 p.m. today featuring Shawnee National Forest Heritage Program Manager Mary McCorvie giving the lecture "Suitable Only for Tree Crops: The Story of the Shawnee National Forest."