Author Archives: editor

Betty Wanless Decker (women’s softball)

Posted on April 14, 2026 by editor

Betty Wanless Decker (1928-1995)  got her start playing softball with the Trinity Lutheran and the Madison Furniture Co. women’s softball teams while still attending Lanphier High School. After graduation, she joined the Caterpillar Dieselettes in Peoria; from 1949 to 1952, … Continue reading →

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Eleanor “Rudy” Rudolph (women’s softball)

Posted on April 14, 2026 by editor

Eleanor “Rudy” Rudolph (1928-2022), the daughter of Giuseppe and Chiara Rodolfi of Springfield’s Devereux Heights neighborhood, played one season for Springfield’s Madison Furniture Co. softball team and then joined the famed Caterpillar Dieselettes of Peoria. Rudolph, a catcher and sometime … Continue reading →

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Rose Folder Powell (women’s softball)

Posted on April 14, 2026 by editor

Rose Folder Powell (1926-2014) was born in Auburn and grew up in Springfield, where she graduated from Feitshans High School in 1944. Folder was still in high school when she began pitching for some of Springfield’s top women’s softball teams, … Continue reading →

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Ruth DeFrates Miller (women’s softball)

Posted on April 14, 2026 by editor

Ruth “Gabby” DeFrates Miller (1917-1996) was a freshman at Jacksonville High School when she began playing  high-level softball throughout central Illinois. Over the years, she played for Jacksonville, Springfield’s Madison Furniture Co., the Springfield Merchanettes, and the Californian Packing Co. … Continue reading →

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Madison Furniture Co. women’s softball team

Posted on April 14, 2026 by editor

Some of the best women athletes in Springfield history drew throngs to the Iles Park softball diamond in the 1940s. Madison Furniture Co. sponsored men’s teams in multiple sports, but its women’s softball team – fast-pitch, of course – was … Continue reading →

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Helen Westerman Austin (women’s softball)

Posted on April 14, 2026 by editor

Helen Westerman Austin (1926-2006) graduated from Feitshans High School and grew up playing softball with the Springfield Merchants and the Madison Furniture Co. women’s softball teams. Westerman was a shortstop and catcher. Westerman and her Madison Furniture teammate, Janice “Jerry” … Continue reading →

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Janice “Jerry” O’Hara (women’s softball)

Posted on April 14, 2026 by editor

Janice “Jerry” O’Hara (1918-2001), a talented athlete who excelled in basketball and softball, was born in Beardstown and graduated from Springfield High School in 1937. O’Hara was a mainstay of several of Springfield’s top softball teams in the 1930s and … Continue reading →

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‘Sundown Corner,’ Divernon

Posted on March 20, 2026 by editor

Sundown Corner near Divernon was a landmark in the early days of Route 66. The “corner”, at the intersection of Divernon Road and U.S. 66, got its name because the bar/restaurant/service station was a convenient stop for people traveling the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Hotels & taverns, Restaurants, Route 66, Social life, Transportation | Leave a comment

The Curve Inn’s curve

Posted on March 3, 2026 by editor

The Curve Inn once sat on an actual curve. The nightspot, housed in a 94-year-old building at 3219 S. Sixth Street Road, was badly damaged by fire in February 2026. The inn originally was near a long curve that connected … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Business, Crime and vice, Fires, Hotels & taverns, Restaurants, Route 66, Social life, Transportation, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Route 66: Where are all the people going? (1946)

Posted on March 3, 2026 by editor

Wilford Kramer, chief editorial writer for the Illinois State Journal, saw problems with the post-World War II widening of Route 66 from two lanes to four. This is a reprint of “Upon Reflection,” Kramer’s regular editorial page column, printed on … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Media, Prominent figures, Route 66, Transportation, Uncategorized | Leave a comment