Category Archives: Parks

Jerome Leland’s pigeons

Posted on June 24, 2022 by editor

In the early 20th century, Springfield hotel menus often included squab – breast of squab, “royal squab sur canape,” etc. But pigeons (the more common name for squab) made their way into the heart, not the stomach, of Jerome A. … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Animals, Buildings, Farming, Hotels & taverns, Parks, Prominent figures | 3 Comments

Comer Cox, Urban League leader

Posted on May 12, 2022 by editor

Comer Cox, the namesake of Comer Cox Park in Springfield, was an Alabama native and star athlete in his  youth who went on to lead the Springfield Urban League. Comer Lane Cox was born May 9, 1905, in Athens, Ala. … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Business, Parks, Prominent figures, Social services | Leave a comment

Springfield Sallies (professional women’s baseball)

Posted on January 25, 2022 by editor

The Springfield Sallies were one of the least successful, and also shortest-lived, teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league, whose memory was revived by the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” lasted from 1943 to 1954. … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Parks, Prominent figures, Sports and recreation, Women | 2 Comments

Women’s golf, 1899

Posted on November 26, 2021 by editor

“A crowd of young society women in 1899 shocked the conventions of the day by reckless indulgence in a game called golf,” the Illinois State Journal recalled in 1931. Most of that sentence was nonsense. There’s no evidence anyone was … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Media, Parks, Photos and photosets, Prominent figures, Social life, Sports and recreation, Women | Leave a comment

Rees Memorial Carillon

Posted on August 22, 2021 by editor

Before the Springfield Park Board could build a carillon in Washington Park, it had to answer two questions: how many bells would it hold, and what kind would they be? When newspaper publisher Thomas Rees died in 1933, he left … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Communications, Journalism, Local government, Parks, Prominent figures, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Cotton Hill

Posted on April 23, 2021 by editor

Cotton Hill was the only community wiped from the map by the construction of Lake Springfield in the 1930s. But there wasn’t much there to begin with. The Illinois State Journal explained the origin of Cotton Hill in an editorial … Continue reading →

Posted in Communities, Local government, Parks | 5 Comments

Iron Spring, Washington Park

Posted on October 16, 2020 by editor

The Iron Spring in Washington Park originally poured forth from a sandstone cave at the foot of a steep clay bluff. Cattle drank its water. But when Washington Park opened in 1901, the spring was one of its earliest attractions. … Continue reading →

Posted in Historic Sites, Local government, Markers, Parks, Social life, Sports and recreation | Leave a comment

Founding of Douglas Park, 1921

Posted on September 22, 2020 by editor

The Springfield Park Board bought the property that became Douglas Park (later Duncan Park) in September 1920, but there was a problem with developing the new land: the neighborhood stank.* The park district paid $20,000 to buy the 26-acre “Enos … Continue reading →

Posted in Local government, Parks, Public health | 5 Comments

Camp Sangamo

Posted on June 24, 2020 by editor

When the Boy Scouts opened their first Camp Sangamo in 1920, the amenities included a Victrola, a croquet set and two rowboats. But no telephone. As the Scout organization explained in the Illinois State Journal prior to opening: There will … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Parks, Sports and recreation | 2 Comments

Carnegie library pillars

Posted on May 5, 2020 by editor

The five limestone columns that face the courtyard of the Washington Park Horticulture Center make up the last exterior remains of Springfield’s old Carnegie library. Andrew Carnegie paid part of the construction cost of the old library, which opened in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Arts and letters, Parks, Uncategorized | 3 Comments