STOCKTON — Stockton Heritage Museum will host a presentation by Brian and Joyce Ostberg, creators of the BeHistoric YouTube channel, on “The Winston Tunnel — Jo Daviess’ Historic Railway Relic.”
The presentation, “The Winston Tunnel — Jo Daviess’ Historic Railway Relic,” will take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Stockton Heritage Museum, 107 West Front Street.
Regional historians Brian and Joyce Ostberg will discuss the Winston Tunnel, the Chicago Great Western railroad’s epic engineering feat, drilled through nearly half a mile of Jo Daviess’ rock and shale. Their talk will describe the history of the tunnel, from its costly construction in the mid-1880s, its engineering challenges through the early 20th century, its closure and abandonment in the 1970s, and its subsequent decay and deterioration leading to its present state.
Brian and Joyce Ostberg started their YouTube channel, BeHistoric, in the autumn of 2020. The channel is devoted to regional history and prehistory. Since then, they have published over 70 documentaries on topics related to history, archaeology, and geology. Whenever possible, they collaborate with state archaeological and geological organizations, as well as local historical societies, such as the Stockton Heritage Museum, to produce their videos. Their series topics have centered on abandoned railways, such as the Chicago Great Western, regional Native American archaeological sites, regional fossil sites, and selected historical topics related to the early history of Illinois and Iowa, such as the Prairie Bandits of the 1840s.
Brian is a retired Software Engineering Director for AT&T Bell Labs, and more recently, Nokia, in Naperville, Ill. Joyce is a retired Molecular Biologist who worked at Abbott Labs in North Chicago before retiring to raise their family. Both she and Brian have an avid interest in history and prehistory, which led them to start their BeHistoric YouTube channel as a way of scratching that itch. They have lived in DuPage County, Ill., since 1985, where they raised their family.
“The Winston Tunnel — Jo Daviess’ Historic Railway Relic,” is free and open to all audiences.
For more information, visit www.
stocktonheritagemuseum.org, follow them on Facebook: Stockton-Heritage-Museum-
309324911534, email at info@
stocktonheritagemuseum.org, or leave a message at 815-947-2220.
About Stockton Heritage Museum
Stockton Heritage Museum is a not-for-profit entity dedicated to the preservation and teaching of Stockton area history. Visit the museum from May to October on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., or by appointment. Email at: info@stocktonheritagemuseum.org.
