All across America, communities large and small are readily identified by a historic connection to their collective past that celebrates civic achievement and respectfully remembers the common values that made such accomplishments possible.  These common attributes define our culture and permit us to leave our mark on the vast canvas of civilization.  We are a people of the present who are deeply rooted in a storied past that gives us cause for reflection.

“Their chief aim was not great wealth but civilization. So, while they built their homes they helped build school houses and churches, sometimes living in dwellings lacking conveniences so that they might provide the other necessities of civilization.”

Benjamin J. Radford, March 2, 1911

- describing early citizens of Woodford County -

   Woodford County, Illinois, is a part of America’s heartland that is richly blessed with good people, abundant natural resources, and a community ethic that inspires as it instructs.  A creation of the frontier, the pioneer spirit that formed this place still animates the hearts and minds of those who inhabit this land yet today.  We are a people of the present who wish to ennoble future generations with an understanding of their community heritage.
  The Woodford Center for History and the Arts will permit the residents of this community the opportunity to continue the civilizing influences that our pioneering forebears brought to this place in generations past.  We till, we sow, we nurture, we reap – our cycle of continuity persists, for we are a people of the present who are timeless.