Casey Plans June Events Honoring Printer Mary Katharine Goddard

Casey City Council Meeting | June 1, 2026

Article Summary: Economic Development Director Tom Daughhetee told the Casey City Council on Monday, June 1, 2026, that the city’s 250th anniversary committee will stage a June 13 birthday celebration for Mary Katharine Goddard, the colonial printer whose name appears at the bottom of an early printing of the Declaration of Independence.

Casey 250th Anniversary Programming Key Points:

• A birthday celebration for Mary Katharine Goddard is set for Saturday, June 13.
• The library’s June story walk features “Revolutionary Mary,” a book about Goddard.
• The Red, White, Blue and You event has been moved from the park to Lang’s Landing.
• Judging is complete in the city’s Decorate Your Porch contest, with more than 70 homes photographed; winners have not been announced.

CASEY — A little-known Revolutionary-era printer is getting a birthday party in Casey, and the city’s economic development director told the City Council on Monday, June 1, 2026, that she is the centerpiece of a June calendar building toward the Fourth of July.

Economic Development Director Tom Daughhetee said the June 13 celebration for Mary Katharine Goddard is the next major event under the city’s program marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.

The chairwoman of the city’s anniversary committee, addressing the council after Daughhetee’s report, said she had sought out something distinctive for Casey’s observance.

“At one of our preliminary meetings, like seems like two years ago, I made the comment that I wanted to do something that nobody else in the country was doing,” she said. “And I had run across this information about this Mary Katharine Goddard, which to my knowledge, nobody in town or anybody knew anything about her.”

Goddard printed a copy of the Declaration of Independence at the request of the Continental Congress, the chairwoman said, and signed it with her full name rather than the “MK Goddard” she typically used — a notable act at a moment when the signers had committed treason. Goddard also served as a postmaster in addition to running a printing operation.

A Third Committee Event

The chairwoman said the Goddard celebration is the committee’s third attempt to teach Casey residents something new, following a history fair in March and Founders Day in May. Information about the birthday party went out with city utility bills.

She also announced that the Red, White, Blue and You in the Park event, scheduled for the following Saturday, has been relocated from the park to Lang’s Landing, a change she said was made late the previous night to avoid a conflict with other art-in-the-park programming.

Judging is finished in the city’s Decorate Your Porch contest, though winners have not been announced. The chairwoman said she photographed more than 70 homes alongside the committee’s judges.

“If your focus is looking for people who decorated their porch — I took over 70 pictures that day,” she said. “There are a lot of houses, and there are so many cute ones.”

Nichols asked that the winners be posted on the city’s Facebook page once announced.

Library Programming

Daughhetee said the Casey library will feature “Revolutionary Mary,” a book about Goddard, as its story walk for the month of June. The library’s summer reading program for children runs every Wednesday in June, he said, and staff from Lincoln Log Cabin will visit on Wednesday, June 17, to present on Abraham Lincoln’s history in the area.

No council action was taken on any of the events, which were reported as informational items.