Illinois

Historic Highlights: Municipal bands a favorite of summer across Illinois

Published

2 years ago

June 17, 2024

Historic Highlights: Municipal bands a favorite of summer across Illinois

Times may change, but some things stay the same. Fortunately for music lovers, the municipal band is a constant, a cherished part of the summer landscape in many communities for decades.

Across Illinois and the nation, musicians in communities large and small keep the tunes playing for a devoted following, spending their precious time and using their own instruments on warm nights throughout the season. And mostly, it’s for the love of it.

“It gives me great pleasure to play in the band,” said Laurence Buxbaum, a retired artist who has played clarinet in the Carlinville Municipal Band for over 35 years. “I enjoy playing music all by myself, but I especially enjoy making music with other, like-minded people.”

The DeKalb Municipal Band performs its annual Independence Day concert at the Dee Palmer Band Shell in Hopkins Park in DeKalb on July 4, 2022. The municipal band dates back to 1854. (David Toney for Shaw Local/David Toney)

The term “municipal band” and “community band” are often used interchangeably. In many cases, municipal band members are supported by their cities and earn small amounts of money for their efforts, while community bands may be solely volunteer efforts. There are an estimated 2,500 community bands nationwide.

Several municipal bands in Illinois jockey for the title of oldest in the state. In DeKalb, the city’s municipal band dates to 1854, when the Silver Cornet Band was created by a small group of musicians who had just returned from the California Gold Rush.

This photo, provided by former DeKalb Municipal Band Conductor Dee Palmer before he died in 2011, is one of the earliest pictures of the Coronet Band of DeKalb. Palmer conducted the band for 63 years and the bandshell where the band performs each summer has been named in his honor.

Today, the band concerts attract sizable crowds and are even broadcast live on local radio as DeKalb lays claim to “the city with the oldest continuous band in Illinois.”

Dee Palmer conducted the DeKalb Municipal Band for 63 years before his death in 2011. A statue of Palmer was unveiled in 2009 in Hopkins Park where the band performs its summer concerts. (Beck Diefenbach)

In Peoria County, the community band of Elmwood (population 1,945) makes a similar claim to the title of oldest in the state.

In 2009, the band marked its 150th anniversary with a special concert including an originally commissioned piece inspired by a Lorado Taft statue in Central Park, home to the band’s performances.

That band’s website also declares itself “the longest continuously performing community band in Illinois.”

In Edwardsville, one of the older towns of the state, the municipal band has origins that date back to 1843. Today, the 75-member band plays weekly during the summer, mostly at the Edwardsville City Park next to the public library, continuing a tradition since 1885.

Edwardsville was one of many communities that took advantage of a 1927 state law allowing municipalities to enact a “band tax” to support their bands. The Illinois law was copied from neighboring Iowa, where Karl King, a former Barnum and Bailey Circus bandmaster, had campaigned for legislation permitting communities to levy taxes for their bands.

The Alton Municipal Band has been around since 1891 and plays in front of enthusiastic crowds during their summer schedule, mainly at Riverview Park on Thursdays and Haskell Park on Sundays.

Like many others, the Alton Municipal Band features a wide range of ages among its members, ranging from late teens to late 80s. The band offers a mixture of Broadway, traditional marching band favorites, and contemporary numbers.

In Carlinville, the municipal band plays around six concerts a year, including for Memorial Day and Flag Day. Most are held in the town square and attract a strong following.

Buxbaum also plays in a unique composition of municipal bands from four small towns. The southern Macoupin County communities of Staunton, Gillespie, Mount Olive and Benld each hosted their own bands for decades, though around a quarter-century ago, the bands consolidated to form what is now known as the Heritage Community Band.

Of the communities that compose the group, Staunton had the oldest band, dating to 1863, so the Heritage Community Band rightfully claims 160 years of near-continuous legacy. The band is directed by Darryl Coan, a music professor at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

When those older bands were established in the mid-1800s, entertainment options were few and far between. In that era before television, radio, the Internet and automobiles, residents were left to their own devices to pass the time. Music was the choice of many, and local bands popped up at significant events, such as political rallies, rudimentary sports challenges, and town picnics.

Such musical accompaniment was prevalent in town functions even in the early years of the 20th century. In down times, municipal bands have provided an uplift for residents burdened by world wars, the Depression and similar downturns, and the lasting effects of natural and man-made disasters.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.

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Illinois

Illinois Tollway proposing increased tolls in 2027 to fund $26.5 billion in road construction

Published

2 minutes ago

June 20, 2026

Press Room

Illinois Tollway proposing increased tolls in 2027 to fund .5 billion in road construction

Illinois drivers might soon have to pay more to drive on the state’s tollways.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has proposed an increase in tolls in 2027. If approved by the board, it would be the state’s first toll hike since 2012.

Anyone who drives in the Chicago area likely jumps on one of the Illinois tollways at some point.

“I try to avoid them, you know what I mean? But if I’ve got to get somewhere, and it’s like 10 minutes quicker, I’ll just take the toll,” said Shomari Dyson.

But that toll could cost Dyson and thousands of drivers who take it an average of 45 cents more per toll for passenger vehicles and 30% more per toll for commercial vehicles starting Jan. 1, 2027, if the Illinois tollway board approves the proposed toll hike, and those paying the tolls aren’t happy

“It’s ridiculous. I’m constantly getting tolls, charges, refills on my bank account when my iPass goes through. So, I can imagine it’s just going to happen more and more often,” Jon Jackson said.

Currently, tolls run as low as 30 cents and as high as $1.50 at various toll plazas.

This proposed hike could place the average toll well over a $1 every time drivers pass through an automatic toll plaza.

“I like to know where my money is going, and then [Interstate] 294 has been under construction for the last 15 years, and that is frustrating,” Frank Faso said.

The tollway said the hike is needed to handle projected repairs for road widening, bridge repair, and new technology. It’s all tied to a 15-year capital improvement program estimated to cost $26.5 billion.

The tollway board also wants automatic inflation-based increases every two years starting in 2029.

“We pay our taxes, man, you know what I’m saying? So all that extra, it’s nonsense,” Dyson said.

“If we’re going to void and not take part in things like the World Cup and Soldier Field that’s going to bring tax revenue to the state, they shouldn’t charge me for it,” Faso said.

The board must hold a dozen meetings in various counties to get the public’s take before voting on the toll hike. The first one kicks off in August, but drivers question if the public hearings are really about input.

“I think they’re just going to keep going through the motions,” Jackson said.

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Illinois

Illinois has already broken the record for number of tornadoes in a year — and it’s only June

Published

10 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

Illinois has already broken the record for number of tornadoes in a year — and it’s only June

Illinois has seen more tornadoes in 2026 than in any year on record.

Following several more tornadoes confirmed this week across the state, Illinois has recorded 143 tornadoes so far in 2026, beating the previous record of 142 tornadoes set in 2024. With reliable records dating back to 1950, Illinois averages just 54 tornadoes per year. But in recent years, the state has experienced many more:

2023: 121
2024: 142
2025: 126
2026: 143 and counting

Unlike 2024, when a record two-day tornado outbreak accounted for a large share of the year’s tornadoes, the activity in 2026 has been spread out across several months.

On Thursday, June 11, a tornado outbreak brought at least 21 confirmed tornadoes to northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, 13 of them in Illinois. Two tornadoes that day — in Streator, Illinois, and Hebron, Indiana — reached rare EF-3 intensity, with winds over 135 miles per hour. Numerous injuries were reported from the storms, but there were no fatalities.

Confirmed tornadoes from June 11:

Long Point to Streator, IL: EF-3
Wenona/Osage Township, IL: EF-1
Graymont to Dwight, IL: EF-1
Lee, IL: EF-U
Harpster to Elliott, IL: EF-0
Pembroke Township (Leesville), IL: EF-U
St. John to Schererville, IN: EF-0
Paxton/Loda, IL: EF-1
Merrillville to Hobart, IN: EF-2
Ludlow, IL: EF-1
Cedar Lake, IN: EF-0
Schneider to Hebron, IN: EF-0
Watseka, IL: EF-0
Hebron to Kouts, IN: EF-3
Wellington/Prairie Green Township, IL: EF-1
Bartlett, IL: EF-1
Boswell to Atkinson, IN: EF-1
Ade to Mount Ayr, IN: EF-0
Naperville to Lisle, IL: EF-0
Hickory Hills to Garfield Ridge: EF-2
Morocco, IN: EF-0

Though most of the Chicago area dodged severe weather from storms this week, the National Weather Service confirmed a brief tornado touchdown Wednesday night in Lake County near Grayslake. The EF-0 tornado had estimated winds of 80 miles per hour and was on the ground for about a quarter-mile. Damage consisted of several downed or split trees and sporadic minor roof damage along a narrow corridor in the Saddlebrook Farms subdivision.

Four more tornadoes were confirmed Wednesday in western and central Illinois. NWS crews are still surveying damage in central Illinois, and more tornadoes may be added to the count in the coming days.

With 143 tornadoes so far this year, Illinois leads the nation in tornado count for the third time in the last four years — a remarkable statistic for a state not typically thought of as being in Tornado Alley.

The recent increase in tornado activity across Illinois and the Midwest fits research showing a shift in tornado-favorable environments away from parts of the traditional Plains Tornado Alley and farther east into the Midwest and South. Climate change is one likely factor, as warming temperatures are expected to make the Plains hotter and drier overall, shifting tornado ingredients eastward toward the Mississippi River.

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