McDermott and Flagg Township Museum publish book with stories from the history of the Rochelle area

By Jeff Helfrich, Editor in Chief

ROCHELLE – Flagg Township Museum historian Tom McDemott recently published a book containing 52 stories about the history of the Rochelle area.

“STORIES: Insights into the History of the Rochelle Region and Its People” is now available at the museum for $20. It can be purchased online and shipped for $25 by visiting flaggtownshipmuseumrochelle.org/home and using the “DONATE” button on the home page. All proceeds from the book go to the museum.

In 2021, McDermott began writing history-related stories for the Rochelle News-Leader’s opinion page. After the number of his completed and published stories grew to dozens, he considered publishing a collection of them in a book at the urging of museum director Jan Devore.

The stories in the book cover military heroes with ties to Rochelle, the first settlers of Rochelle, the history of employers such as Del Monte and Caron Spinning, the development of Rochelle’s school system, and various stories about historic buildings in the city.

“All of it was researched, but they’re formatted as stories,” McDermott said. “If you were sitting with your grandfather and he was remembering World War II, we tried to tell it the way he would have done it. We used old newspaper accounts as a basis. For the military stories, we researched the battles and the ships. Some people like to read about military history, some like to read the family names, and some like to read about the companies.”

McDermott said he originally only wanted to write five or six stories for the paper before he got into the swing of things. He has now written about 80 stories and plans to write a second book once he has finished the second 52. He tried to include a diverse range of stories in the first book and said publishing helps the stories live on.

“This was a way to get the stories out there,” McDermott said. “You die twice: the day you die and the day the last person says your name. We want to keep these stories alive. And that’s what the museum is about. People can sit down and read them to their children. They’re not meant to be read all at once. These stories are quick to read. It’s a fundraiser. We have a beautiful museum. We don’t have a lot of money. Our budget is $40,000 to $50,000 a year. If we can sell this book and make a couple thousand dollars, that’s a big part of our budget.”

Devore said Flagg Township provided the funds to print the book and was happy to support the fundraiser. She said the book has generated interest in the museum and has gotten people to buy it. 200 copies have been printed and more can be printed if needed.

“We want to get Rochelle’s story out there in any way we can,” Devore said. “It’s interesting that people are interested in a book that you can do so much online. It gives us great joy to give people that information.”

McDermott said he hopes the book and stories will inspire people to tell their own interesting family stories and record their family history. Maybe someone will read one of the stories and have some information or a photo to add to those and the museum’s archives.

McDermott never thought he would ever publish a book like “STORIES.” He had previously written a book about the Rochelle Fire Department, of which he is a former chief, and began researching at the museum and scanning historical items in the electronic file.

“Some stories come to me pretty easily,” McDermott said. “Some are jaw-dropping. Some stories I try just go nowhere and I can’t prove them. Some contain a wealth of information. Some are about people from Rochelle who are involved in a notorious national story. I haven’t found anyone from Rochelle who was on the Titanic, but there’s hardly anything else that doesn’t involve someone with a connection to Rochelle. Some I’ve worked 20 to 30 hours on. But it’s fun. I get to pick and choose what I research.”