Category Archives: Industry

Harvard Park

Posted on September 17, 2019 by editor

The person who named Harvard Park, one of Springfield’s largest early subdivisions, won $100 in a contest sponsored by the Springfield Improvement Association. He or she – the winner, one of 570 entrants, asked to remain anonymous – promptly donated … Continue reading →

Posted in Communities, Industry | 7 Comments

Fred R. Coats Co.

Posted on September 13, 2019 by editor

This entry has been updated and expanded. Fred R. Coats deserves to be ranked with Robert Lanphier, John W. Hobbs and the Weaver brothers among Springfield’s top industrialists and innovators. Coats (1865-1951), born in Bennington, N.Y., came to Springfield with … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Business, Industry, Prominent figures | Leave a comment

Hemp in Sangamon County

Posted on July 7, 2019 by editor

Note: This entry has been edited. See below. Long before it was mistakenly confused with marijuana, hemp was, briefly, a big business in Sangamon County. In a lengthy pitch published in the March 23, 1848, Illinois Weekly State Journal, entrepreneur … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Business, Farming, Industry | 2 Comments

Sangamo/Schlumberger Watthour Meter Serial Log

Posted on September 3, 2018 by editor

Hat tip: The following information, designed to help people determine the manufacturing dates of their Sangamo Electric watthour meters, was provided by SangamonLink reader David Dahle. Our thanks to him. Sangamo/Schlumberger watthour meter serial log Year                      Serial Numbers      … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Industry, Resources, Uncategorized | 2 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 electrified home

Posted on December 3, 2017 by editor

The first Springfield home to be equipped with electric lights reputedly was the palatial residence of Frank and Sarah Jones Tracy. It’s not clear when Frank W. Tracy, a banker and civic leader, had the lights installed. The date probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Industry, Local government, Prominent figures, Social life, Springfield | 4 Comments

First electric lights

Posted on November 25, 2017 by editor

Many Springfieldians got their first exposure to electric lights from two traveling circuses in 1880. Within a year, however, the city’s first power station was powering 10 “very brilliant” lights downtown, and a group of prominent businessmen had created the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Industry, Prominent figures, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Farm machinery, 1870s-1950s

Posted on September 11, 2017 by editor

Sangamon County farms switched from man- and horsepower to fully mechanized operations in fits and starts over more than 80 years. But the key impetus may have been six disastrous weeks of rain in the fall of 1926. Traction engines … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Business, Farming, Industry | 4 Comments

Butternut bakery, Jefferson Street

Posted on August 27, 2017 by editor

George S. Connelly & Co. began baking bread in an L-shaped building surrounding the corner of Second and Jefferson streets in 1913 or 1914. The Springfield area would eat Butternut bread baked there for almost 60 years. George S. Connelly … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Business, Industry, Prominent figures | 4 Comments

Springfield manufacturers and professions, 1869

Posted on July 5, 2017 by editor

The Jan. 4, 1869 edition of the Illinois State Journal included a section headlined “Our City: Its Population and Progress” that recorded a wide range of economic statistics. Here is some of what the Journal reported. Few even of our … Continue reading →

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