The Hamlet, or by some stretch, the village of Nortonville, is the southernmost population center (another stretch) of lower Morgan County.
Like all other small farming communities of the great Midwest, Nortonville has numerous attributes, past and present, that contribute to its uniqueness. But perhaps its greatest attribute is the young men and women of this small farming community who have served and are still serving in our nation’s military.
From the Civil War to the present, her citizens have answered the call to serve, and the breadth of that service has reached all over the world from the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic, the Antarctic and even space! The depth of that service has reached from the unimaginable horrors of hand-to-hand combat with the loss of life and the incomprehensible savagery of the POW camp to service at the highest command level in our Pentagon — all of this from a small farming community of common people!
The Nortonville Community Club is made up of a small number of mostly older community members banded together to serve the community as best they can and preserve the rich heritage of the Nortonville area. In 1993, Nortonville celebrated its centennial and, as part of that event, a small wooden military monument was constructed and displayed in the park. It is now in deteriorated condition and in need of replacement. The club members decided a permanent stone monument was needed, the preparation for a granite monument was begun and the list of names for inclusion on the new monument was updated to 228 men and women who have served or are serving in the military uniform.
Daws Monuments was chosen to produce the memorial because of the close ties that its owners, Stu Daws (a Vietnam vet, now deceased); his widow, Donna Daws; and their son, Justin Daws; have had with the Nortonville area for many years.
The Nortonville Club is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that would welcome monetary contributions to assist with the cost of the monument.
Contributions should be addressed to: Nortonville Community Club c/o Ann Newingham, 20 Jacksonville Place, Jacksonville, IL 62650 and marked for “military monument.” The club hopes to have the monument completed and placed in the Nortonville Park by late fall of this year.
