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The Immke Restoration Project and Exhibit has been generously underwritten by Tim & Jill Schlindwein and Dr. James & Sharon Wilson
Transcript
Greetings!
I’m Henry W. Immke. I had a photography studio in Princeton from 1866 until 1923. I was born in the province of Hessen, Germany on March 9, 1839. My father was a weaver of fine damasks for the wealthy.
At the age of 16, I came to the United States and worked as a farmhand in nearby Peru, Illinois.
From 1863 to 1866, I studied photography under Samuel M. Fassett in Chicago, who had one of the largest and best equipped studios in the United States.
While working for Mr. Fassett, I photographed President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession in Chicago on May 1, 1865, taking one of the most well-known photographs of the event.
In 1864, I married Mary Steinbrook, whom I met while living in Peru. She joined me in Chicago and we had four children together, Henry William Immke, Jr., Minnetta, Pansy, and Leroy. We moved to Princeton in 1866.
Initially, I was a partner of photographer William H. Masters at the south end of Princeton, but, unfortunately, the partnership dissolved after just five and a half months.
I opened my gallery at the north end of town but, unfortunately, that building burned down, and I was forced into a temporary gallery space for three years. Finally, I was able set up business at 819 N. Main Street and rented out the lower story of the building. I called my studio, the “Gallery of Art,” and remained there until I retired in 1923. The studio building, which was located on the corner of East LaSalle and Main, no longer exists.
In the course of my career, I estimate I took over 30,000 photographs on glass plate negatives. 20,000 survive today and are in the care of the Bureau County Historical Society.
After I retireed, I moved to South Dakota to live with my daughter Minnetta. I died there in 1928. I am buried in Oakland Cemetery here in Princeton alongside my wife and children.
Upon my death, the extensive collection of photographs became the property of my son, Henry William Jr until he died in 1956. At that time, it was donated to the Bureau County Historical Society. The Historical Society stored the items until 1987 when the decision was made to restore the negatives and make them available to the public. The process of cleaning, boxing, scanning, and cataloging the over 20,000 negatives was completed in 2025.
Thank you for visiting! I hope you’ll visit the Bureau County History Center and view some of my slides!
Oakland Speaks
Speaker Information
Award-winning broadcaster Nick Young is the voice of Henry W. Immke. Young’s fifty-plus year career included both major-market radio stations and national networks. He was a CBS News Correspondent for twenty years, including four years as the anchor of the CBS World News Roundup. Upon returning to Princeton in 2010, he anchored on WBBM Newsradio in Chicago until his retirement in 2020.
Membership
Bureau County Historical Society, membership is open to everyone. Download here and print the above document or call us at 815.875.2184 and join today!