Turnhalle (German Hall), Gymnasium, Dance Hall, Theater, Community Hall, with the connected Turn Hall Saloon, Peru, Illinois, mid-1890s. From the James Wallace glass plate collection, LaSalle, Illinois.

James Wallace was born March 26, 1857 in Plainfield, Illinois, son of John and Agnes (Taylor) Wallace who emigrated from Ayr, Scotland in about 1856. His sisters, Agnes and Annie, were born in Scotland and his younger sisters, Isabel and Jessica, in Illinois. He was a farmer, photographer, inventor and watch repairer and a member of the Waltham Presbyterian Church and director of the LaSalle National Bank in LaSalle, Illinois. He lived in Waltham Township in LaSalle County not too far from Starved Rock. He never married and had no children. He died on May 7, 1936 and is buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Waltham Township, LaSalle County, Illinois. (Courtesy of the family of James Wallace & Kate Morris Dickerson) View full size.