Gorham, Illinois

Hello All!

I shot this quick video while in the town of Gorham, Illinois. For those of you who don't know Gorham is my middle name and is also my mother's maiden name. This is a very small town in the Southern tip of Illinois not far from the Mississippi River. There isn't much of anything in the town- the school has been boarded up, the post office has closed, and there are absolutely no stores.

Today, the population in Gorham is only 300. The town has been shrinking for many years. My Uncle told me a story about that population sign... its a little bit of family history. Something like 30 years ago my parents were dating in nearby Carbondale and attending Southern Illinois University. My dad owned a crappy old van and it just happened to break down in Peoria, Illinois. My uncle, who worked in outdoor construction, was laid off for the snowy winter and didn't have much going on. So my grandfather told my uncle to drive down there, pick my parents up, and drive them back to Carbondale so they could go back to school. A week later they would all return to Peoria to pick up the fixed van and then part ways. As the story goes, my grandfather told my uncle to stop by Gorham and steal that sign. After a few nights of drinking and partying in Carbondale, my uncle got directions to the tiny town and drove out there with a few tools and returned with the sign. It's been part of the family decor ever since. Right now it hangs in my cousin's house... the population on the original reads 400.

If I grew up in Gorham today, I would jump on one of those trains just to see where it goes. There isn't much opportunity or vitality in this small town. On a final note, my cousin Jane who has done extensive research into our family's genealogy believes that one of my American ancestors settled near the town in the old pioneering days and that it is likely that the town is directly related to my family's bloodline.