Photos from the Heartland

On a recent trip home for a high school alumni event, Volker von Glasenapp—who grew up in Dunlap and now resides on the West Coast—captured these images on his drive from Chicago O’Hare and back. He has fond memories of his time in the Midwest.

“My graduating class of 85 people at Dunlap High School in 1967 was the largest in its history,” he remembers. “My, how times have changed! Dunlap High School is much larger now and many of the other schools that we played in the old Blackhawk Conference (Princeville, Bradford, Toulon, Wyoming, Galva, Walnut and Manilus) have consolidated or no longer exist. While the high schools have changed, the towns themselves are, in many ways, very much like what they were back then. 

“I had occasion to return for an alumni event recently and I took the opportunity to revisit these communities and their environs. These photos are the result of that trip. They were taken with traditional black and white film, in this case Kodak Tri-X 400, and a Nikon F-100 with a 25-70mm 2.8 zoom lens.” 

All images ©Volker von Glasenapp, 2019