Mackinaw‘s Hometown News Site

At 9:15 P.M. Friday October 22nd, Tazewell County police responded to a call originating from a home on American Legion Road, outside of Mackinaw. At the scene, officers found 2 gunshot victims - Rebecca Bolin (age 51) was dead on the scene while her husband, Douglas Bolin (age 52) was Life Flighted to OSF Medical Center in Peoria in critical condition. 3 teenagers were taken into custody by Saturday, October 23rd, and are all charged with First Degree Murder with Intent along with one count of Attempted First Degree Murder: Sage Raeuber (19), Nathaniel Maloney (18), and Andre Street (17).

In the early morning hours of Sunday September 5th, a structure fire occurred at The River Roadhouse, 30573 IL-9 in Mackinaw. According to Training Officer Roger Benhoff, of the Mackinaw Fire Department, firefighters reacted to the initial alarm at approximately 4:37 A.M. and 13 firefighters were soon on the scene. Before long, the decision was made to also bring in units from both Tremont and Minier Fire Departments for extra assistance. Working under clear conditions, firefighters battled the blaze for about 4 hours before being able to extinguish the flames, with no injuries reported.
    
Referring to an Illinois State report that The Mail has yet to obtain, Training Officer Roger Benhoff reported that the fire is believed to have started in the southwest corner of the building as a result of a faulty electrical box. When asked about the damage that occurred to the interior of the building, Roger responded “Gutted. I believe it will be a total loss.” A dollar estimate of damage is not immediately available. 
    
The Mail has reached out to the owners of The River Roadhouse and the Illinois State Fire Marshal. Neither were available for comment at  time of publication.
 

For this week's profile, I had the opportunity to dust off a little project I haven’t quite gotten around to trying to: track the details surrounding the military service of Emery Whisler, a son of Mackinaw. Take a visit to Veterans Park and you’ll find a memorial inscribed with the words “Priv. Emery J. Whistler 122 M.G. Bn. 33 Div. 1898-1918”, indicating that young Emery was a member of the 122nd Machine Gun Battalion of the 33rd Division during World War One. Starting with this information, here is what I’ve been able to piece together.

MACKINAW – On the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, a group of nearly sixty people gathered in the Mackinaw Community Center to recognize the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans at a ceremony sponsored by the American Legion. The ceremony was moved to the Community Center from the original venue of Veterans Park due to the weather.

Originally the first seat of government for Tazewell County, Mackinaw draws its name from the local Kickapoo Indian tribe that was said to live in the western and south-western parts of the county. During this time, local tribes were still dealing with some upheaval caused by local events and friction between tribes. For a period of time, the Kickapoo Indians were not considered friendly to non-natives, but were subdued in part due to influence from the local Potawatomi tribe. Luckily, the Potawatomi tribe was superior in numbers compared to surrounding tribes. Eventually, Kickapoo Chief Mackina would come around and begin the process of building neutral, if not friendly, relations with local settlers. Unfortunately, due to national events in 1832, local tribes would largely evacuate from the state of Illinois.