News of the Old: Zion Restored… If they build it, we’ll watch the ball game

“Zion was founded by a man who believed the world to be flat despite his having taken a trip around it.”

So begins the entry on the town of Zion from “Illinois, A Descriptive and Historical Guide,” (1939) from the Federal Writer’s Project States Guide project.

As previously posted, The Federal Writer’s Project was controversial with local residents. The section on Zion bears this out.

John Alexander Dowie from Zion Historical Society Web Site

Continuing….The guide identifies John Alexander Dowie (1847 to 1907) as the man who bought real estate on the North Shore to build a community where his Christian Catholic Apostolic Church would govern every phase of civic life. “Our motto, the unalterable and unassailable truth that where God rules, man prospers…our object, the establishment of the rule of God in every department of the government.”

Also…”The use and sale of liquor, tobacco, playing cards, oysters, pork and clams are prohibited. Through a special ruling obtained from the Illinois Commerce Commission, no trains stop in Zion on Sunday.”

There is much more up-to-date information about current events in Zion on their web site. And you can also visit Shiloh House, the Zion history museum, Sundays from 2 to 5: Memorial Day through Labor Day. We will.

from Lake County Baseball web site

There is a new spiritual connection to Zion. Kevin Costner and the his Northern League Minor League Baseball Team, the Lake County Fielders break ground on their new stadium in Zion later this summer in July.

Costner, star of  “Field of Dreams” the  poignant 1989 paean to baseball, America, fatherhood and Iowa, reflects on this team and the movie in a February press release.  ‘This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and could be again. “The Northern League in the past featured such personalities as Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda (1956) and Lou Brock (1961) who won league batting crowns and another member of Cooperstown, Earl Weaver, managed Aberdeen in 1959. And current major leaguers, J.D.Drew and Kevin Millar.

We’ll be watching the ball park in Zion and as we reflect on Zion; who can forget that Zion also lost launched the career of atheist-American Rob Sherman who in April 1986 successfully launched a campaign (and his career) to remove the cross from Zion’s city seal?

Current Zion Seal

Former Zion Seal