The Way We Worked - Monroe County, IL

10/21/2025

10/21/2025

TRUE AMERICAN HERO 🇺🇸 Nicholas Hartman was just 20 years old when he made the ultimate sacrifice on D-Day. Nearly 80 years later, he’s finally been laid to rest. As taps rang out and two vintage WWII planes soared overhead, the community honored the young soldier who gave everything: http://www.ksdk.com/article/news/nation-world/wwii-nicholas-hartman-funeral-unidentified-80-years-d-day/507-8afa2c94-c8f0-4a8b-81f7-addb1db266f7?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_KSDK_News

10/21/2025

When the teacher needed to satisfy 30 thirsty students during a school day at one of a Columbia’s eight rural schools that had no running water, you needed a Robinson Ransbottom Blue Crown 4 Gallon Stoneware Water Cooler, as shown here. The teacher would send her most reliable students to the creek to carry back cool, fresh water in a pail; or at a later time send them to the well to pump some cold water. The water was poured into the ceramic crock, which kept it cool for several hours. One such crock is a Sand Bank School and another is at the Monroe County History Museum. Robinson Ransbottom Pottery was started in 1920 in Roseville, Ohio; however, the company goes further back to 1856 with Whitmore, Robinson and Company. Unfortunately, the company went out of business in 2005.