This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
Press
Release
Watertown Remembered
Re-issued
in Digital E-book Format
CD set (2)
for computer and DVD includes
150 images of
Octagon House and Grounds
This year the Watertown Historical Society is
celebrating the 150th anniversary of the completion of the construction of
Watertown’s famed Octagon House
by John Richards for his wife Eliza.
This architecturally interesting and noteworthy structure has been
faithfully maintained by the society since its acquisition and serves as a
museum for the society.
As part of this anniversary
year observance the society has reissued the book Watertown Remembered, written for the society by Elmer Kiessling in the bicentennial
year 1976. The late Northwestern College
history and English professor and a former director of the Watertown Historical
Society had assigned the copyright of his book to the society.
Watertown Remembered has been out of print for a number of years.
Society and board member Ken
Riedl has digitized the text and pictorial content of the book and also
re-indexed its content. Original prints used
in the 1976 book were scanned so to digitize and the layout of the E-book
preserves that of the original hardcover book.
The 150-year anniversary
commemorative edition cdrom produced by Riedl consists of the book, its index
with hyperactive links from index entries to the referenced page(s) and 150
images of the Octagon House and grounds, including the First Kindergarten in
America and the Watertown Plank Road Pioneer Barn.
The commemorative e-book
cdrom for computer use is bundled with a second cd that contains the same set
of images as the first but which will play in DVD players with the images
viewable as a slideshow on a TV screen.
The bundled set of two cds
is available at the Visitor’s Center on the Octagon House grounds and can be
ordered through the society’s website, watertownhistory.org. The cost for the set is $30, plus a mailing
charge of $4, if applicable.
A remark by Lee Block,
director of the society at the time of the initial publication of the book in
1976, serves as the briefest of reviews:
“Watertown Remembered is a
rich composite of factual history seasoned with a charming array of anecdote
and folklore . . . E. C. Kiessling has given us an especially vivid and
indelible recollection for all to remember Watertown.”
To order and have sent by
first class mail send check in the amount of $34 to
Watertown Historical Society