By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent

SMITHFIELD, Ill. — The Red Brick Schoolhouse, which now serves as the Community Center, was where Marjorie Bordner – one of the founders of the Spoon River Drive – was set up with her books this year.

The idea for the Spoon River Drive originated when five people were trying to come up with a small event for a Sunday afternoon to celebrate the Illinois Sesquicentennial in 1968. Forty-two years later, this two-weekend event now brings thousands from all over to this Western Illinois area, which its founders put on the map.
In the Spoon River Scenic Drive booklet, in an article titled “Portrait of a Founder,” Bordner reminisced about the history of the Spoon River Drive.

“Something that happened during the first one,” she said, was “after making plans and the whole world found out we were doing it, there was so much traffic, I couldn’t get to Bernadotte to help.”
The Bernadotte area is of special interest to Marjorie. It was the site of the World War II Camp Ellis Reservation. According to a website about Camp Ellis, on almost 18,000 acres near the towns of Ipava, Table Grove and Bernadotte, Camp Ellis was constructed in a few months and officially opened on Jan. 31, 1943.

Part of the information for the website came from Bordner, who worked at the camp. From her experiences she wrote the book From Cornfields to Marching Feet.

Bordner was born on a farm near Macomb. In 1946 she married Lawrence Bordner and graduated from Western Illinois University and went on to receive master’s and doctoral degrees.

For her thesis she traced the characters of Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology. From her research, she went on to author A Spoon River Portrait, Its History and Festivals.

At 94, Bordner is still active and teaches and works at the Western Illinois University library.