Virginia C. Bulat

Virginia Catherine Bulat, the pen and maiden name of Virginia Bulat Carroll (23 March 1938 – 21 December 1986), was an independent scholar and historian of local Illinois history. Bulat was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Nazareth Academy in La Grange, Illinois (1952–1956).

Bulat was the daughter of Edmund Peter Bulat, winner of the 1933 State of Illinois middleweight Golden Gloves amateur boxing championship.

Bulat worked in the publishing industry in Chicago in the early 1960s. She later became an amateur archaeologist and worked for the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. State Department. Bulat was a third-generation American of Austrian-Polish heritage.

Both books prominently feature Hofmann Tower, a landmark on the Des Plaines River between the towns of Lyons and Riverside, Illinois. George Hofmann, Jr., a local brewer built a dam on the Des Plaines River to generate electricity. He also built the adjacent tower as part of park that attracted visitors to picnic and ride boats.