Author Archives: editor

Z.W. Mitchell, African-American activist

Posted on February 3, 2018 by editor

Zedekiah “Z.W.” Mitchell, though a resident of Springfield for only a few years, was the controversial leader of the movement that eventually created the city’s Douglass Community Center, a social and cultural agency that served African-Americans for 30 years. See … Continue reading →

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Centennial Co-Operative Educational Congress, 1918

Posted on February 3, 2018 by editor

Black Springfieldians observed Illinois’ 100th anniversary in 1918 with a three-day conference examining the status, progress and prospects of the state’s African-American community. Some 3,000 people attended the Centennial Co-Operative Educational Congress, held Sept. 22-24, 1918, at the Illinois State … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Lincoln, Abraham, Local government, Prominent figures, Social services | Leave a comment

“Save the Union” riot, 1928

Posted on January 29, 2018 by editor

About 250 club-wielding coal miners allied with John L. Lewis’ faction of the United Mine Workers of America attacked members of an anti-Lewis splinter group, the “Save the Union” movement, at Springfield’s Old West Mine on April 24, 1928. See … Continue reading →

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Roy Jones (radical activist)

Posted on January 29, 2018 by editor

Roy Jones’ alleged Communist sympathies in the 1920s and ’30s got him in trouble with both with law enforcement and more conservative wings of the labor movement. See Hunger march blockade, 1933.

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George Voyzey (labor radical)

Posted on January 29, 2018 by editor

Springfield activist George Voyzey’s radical sympathies got him in trouble with both local authorities and some other labor union leaders. See Hunger march blockade, 1933.

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Hunger march blockade, 1933

Posted on January 29, 2018 by editor

Police cordoned off Sangamon County in April 1933 to quell a planned “hunger march” on the Statehouse by unemployed people from around Illinois. Springfield Mayor John “Buddy” Kapp summed up authorities’ opinion of the demonstration: “The law enforcing officers of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal mines and mining, Depression, Illinois capital, Labor unions, Law enforcement, Prominent figures, State government | Leave a comment

‘Toy-pistol tetanus’

Posted on January 22, 2018 by editor

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

Prince Sanitarium

Posted on January 19, 2018 by editor

The David Prince Sanitarium opened in 1890 as a center for general surgery and eye, ear, nose and throat treatment. By 1978, when the building was demolished, it was a shabby apartment building whose tenants were the respectable (and elderly) … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Medicine | 3 Comments

Fuel crisis shutdown, 1918

Posted on January 16, 2018 by editor

In January 1918, the federal government told thousands of Sangamon County workers to take the week off. U.S. fuel administrator Harry Garfield on Jan. 17, 1918, ordered most factories east of the Mississippi River to close from Friday, Jan. 18, … Continue reading →

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First labor strike, 1872-73

Posted on January 11, 2018 by editor

Sangamon County’s first labor strike failed, but it was only the first step in a coming struggle between business owners and the growing power of unionized workers. The issue in December 1872 was a demand by the county’s coal miners … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal mines and mining, Labor unions, Springfield Survey | Leave a comment