How well do you know your Rockford history? Try to answer a few of these questions. Who was the first National League batting champion? Who was the first person to translate the hieroglyphs on King Tut's tomb? What Rockford resident was involved in a major court battle over copyright infringement and used a lawyer by the name of Abraham Lincoln on the case? Stumped? Then you need to take Dnewsman's Magical History Tour.




Dnewsman is Doug Schroder, and he's going to be answering those questions and a lot more as he takes people on a tour of some of the historic places in the Forest City. On Sunday, April 29, tours will be offered hourly, on a first come first served basis, from 1pm-8pm. The limo bus departure point will be from the north end of the Mobile Gas Station parking lot on North Main, just south of Auburn Street. According to Schroder, "The four neighborhoods surrounding the intersection of N. Main and Auburn St. (Churchill's Grove, Edgewater, North End Square, Signal Hill) is where the tour will take place."




It's an hour's worth of fun and education about the things we should know - but don't - about our fair city. Cost for the tour will be $15 for adults, $12.50 for students (18 and under) and seniors (65 and older), with two spots open per tour for children (5 and under) to ride for free. Reservations are now being taken for group tours. Private group tours will be $195, based on groups of up to 15.



Of his own experience, Schroder says, "Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of knowledge on the history of this area. During the Camp Fuller Festivals (1999-2002), I served as one of the tour guides for the trolley tours.


He continued with the more recent part of the story, "Last June I started a thread in the history section of the rrstar.com forums. It has been the most popular and longest running thread (over 64,000 views to date), so I thought 'Why not let people see this stuff live?,' and have put together the tour."


Touring via limo bus you can see and hear the history of the North End in comfort and style. For more information or to reserve your spot, call Schroder at (815) 243-9832. Alternately you can email him at magicalhistorytour@mac.com. Just think how you can impress all your friends with your knowledge of Rockford after this fun event!

Oh, and what about the answers to those questions? Well, that would be spoiling the fun. To get those burning questions - and a whole lot more answered, you need to take the tour.