Monthly Archives: November 2024

St. John’s Sanitarium

St. John’s Sanitarium near Riverton was a refuge for tuberculosis patients and disabled children for more than 50 years. The project was the idea of a Catholic priest, the Rev. Joseph Straub, and the final product was almost as elaborate … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Churches, Medicine, Prominent figures, Public health, Social services | 2 Comments

Chinch bugs, 1934

Chinch bugs plowed through Sangamon County cornfields in 1934. Combined with a miserable springtime drought, the infestation drove corn yields statewide to their lowest figure – 20.5 bushels per acre – since 1866. Chinch bugs, tiny bugs that propagate in … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Disasters, Farming, Science, Soil, Weather | Leave a comment

The governor takes a wife (1896)

Gov. John Riley Tanner “was addicted to pomp and circumstance,” Robert P. Howard wrote in Mostly Good and Competent Men, Howard’s 1988 guide to Illinois’ chief executives. If so, Tanner lived his best life in December 1896 and January 1897. … Continue reading

Posted in African Americans, Celebrations, Coal mines and mining, Illinois capital, Labor unions, Military, Oak Ridge signs, Politics, Prominent figures, Social life, Spectacles, State government | Leave a comment