Search entries
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Lizzie on Park Sherman Company
- The Tree-Sitting Fad of 1930 on Tree-sitting fad, 1930
- editor on Aetna Foundry and Machine Shops
- William McCombs on Aetna Foundry and Machine Shops
- Patti Wauters on Franciscan Life Center (Franciscan motherhouse)
Archives
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- July 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
Categories
- Abolitionism
- African Americans
- Agriculture
- Air travel
- Airport
- Amusements
- Animals
- Architecture
- Arts and letters
- Auto dealers
- Breweries
- Buildings
- Business
- Celebrations
- Children
- Churches
- Coal mines and mining
- Communications
- Communities
- Crime and vice
- Department stores
- Depression
- Disasters
- Early residents
- Education
- Ethnic groups
- Family life
- Farming
- Fever River
- Fires
- First Citizens
- Germans
- Higher education
- Historic Sites
- Histories
- Hotels & taverns
- Illinois capital
- Illustrations
- Industry
- Irish
- Italians
- John T. Stuart
- Journalism
- Labor unions
- Law enforcement
- Lincoln Home
- Lincoln Tomb
- Lincoln, Abraham
- Lindsay, Vachel
- Lithuanians
- Local government
- Maps
- Markers
- Media
- Medicine
- Military
- Mills
- Museums
- National Register
- Native Americans
- Parks
- Photos and photosets
- Politics
- Prehistory
- Presidential candidates
- Presidents
- Prominent figures
- Public health
- Race riot of 1908
- Railroads
- Resources
- Restaurants
- Sangamon County
- Sangamon River
- Schools and school districts
- Science
- Slovenians
- Social life
- Social services
- Soil
- Spectacles
- Sports and recreation
- Springfield
- Springfield Survey
- State government
- Transportation
- Uncategorized
- Weather
- Women
Blogroll
Category Archives: Amusements
Charles Wood/Carlo Modini, operatic tenor
A torrential rainstorm beat down on Springfield the evening of Sept. 16, 1886. But the weather didn’t stop local opera aficionados from packing the Chatterton Opera House at Sixth and Jefferson streets to hear tenor virtuoso Carlo Modini. “Nearly every … Continue reading
Fortune-teller scandal, 1897
A fortune-teller with a gift of gab went to prison in 1897, thanks partly to an investigation by Springfield’s first woman dentist. Arthur A. Waite went by the name of “Luke Leslie” when he set up shop at Second and … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Crime and vice, Law enforcement
Leave a comment
The Sazarac
The Sazarac, a bar, restaurant and center for political intrigue, was a fixture in the 200 block of South Sixth Street in Springfield for more than a century. The Sazarac was on the west side of Sixth Street for most … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Business, Hotels & taverns, Restaurants
1 Comment
Springfield wins minor-league baseball game, 33-23 (1926)
Baseball-mad Springfieldians got more than their money’s worth on July 20, 1926, both on the field and in the next day’s newspaper story. The Springfield Senators, the local entry in the Class B Three-I League, outslugged the Peoria Tractors that … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Social life, Sports and recreation
Leave a comment
Riverton Athletic Club
The mammoth home run Robin Roberts hit on Oct. 14, 1951, remains a highlight in the 80-year history of the Riverton Athletic Club. Roberts, a Springfield native who had just completed the second of his six 20-win seasons as a … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Parks, Social life, Sports and recreation
1 Comment
Great National Horse Show and Equestrian Fair, 1865
The 11th annual Great National Horse Show and Equestrian Fair, held on the outskirts of Springfield in August 1865, was neither national nor, apparently, all that great. But it did draw Harper’s Weekly, the era’s most popular magazine, to central … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Illustrations, Maps, Spectacles, Sports and recreation
Leave a comment
Dan Patch sets state fair race record (1906)
An estimated 40,000 people watched Dan Patch, the world’s most famous harness horse, set a new Illinois State Fair pacing record on Oct. 2, 1906. Dan Patch covered the one-mile fairgrounds track in 1:59¼, the first time a harness horse … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Animals, Social life, Sports and recreation
Leave a comment
Haskell Viaduct (Illinois State Fairgrounds)
The Haskell Viaduct was a pedestrian bridge that connected the Exposition Building to the Poultry Building at the Illinois State Fairgrounds from 1897 until, probably, the mid-1920s. The Poultry Building (today’s Artisans Building) also was completed in 1897, but in … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Architecture, Maps, Uncategorized
Leave a comment
‘Toy-pistol tetanus’
Dozens of young Sangamon County residents were injured, and a few killed, by toy pistols during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The pistols were a regular feature of the Fourth of July, which is when the vast majority … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Children
Leave a comment
Courthouse square locomotive
Two thousand people filled Adams Street in 1915 to watch a steam locomotive puff its way from Third Street to the courthouse square. The engine – the Chicago & Alton Railroad’s No. 533 – was set up on the south … Continue reading
Posted in Amusements, Historic Sites, Spectacles
Leave a comment