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Monthly Archives: May 2020
Harry Eielson’s miracle touchdown, 1918
Harry Eielson was a dominant athlete in high school and college. The Springfield High School basketball team, with Eielson as captain, won the 1917 state championship. Eielson took first place in pole vault at the 1915-16 state track meet, setting … Continue reading
Body in the barrel mystery, 1930
Springfield police thought they’d wrapped up their case when junk dealer Harry Ross confessed to murdering his partner and trying to burn the man’s body. But a judge said detectives went too far when they interrogated Ross for six days … Continue reading
Posted in Crime and vice
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Roosa-Diller fire, 1920
A “small army of suffering humanity” poured out onto the frozen streets of Springfield when a fire destroyed two dilapidated apartment buildings on Dec. 23, 1920. A passerby discovered the blaze about 7:30 p.m. He alerted residents and the Springfield … Continue reading
Posted in Buildings, Disasters, Fires
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J.C. Penney store, Springfield
J.C. Penney’s Springfield store was the 1,001st in the chain when it opened on Oct. 5, 1928. “Large crowds attended the formal opening yesterday of the new J.C. Penney company store at 522 East Adams street,” the Illinois State Journal … Continue reading
Posted in Buildings, Business, Department stores, Fires
2 Comments
House of prostitution standoff, 1885
While a crowd gathered outside, a stylish bordello madam held off a Springfield police raid for nine hours in August 1885. Police tried to serve a warrant on Retta Rawlins’ “house of assignation,” which was upstairs in a building on … Continue reading
Posted in Crime and vice, Law enforcement
3 Comments
Smallpox and Springfield’s ‘pest house,’ 1901-02
When smallpox broke out in Springfield in 1901, the Springfield City Council decided to build a “pest house” where victims could be isolated and cared for. The problem – in the face of neighborhood objections, a series of court contests … Continue reading
Posted in Buildings, Local government, Medicine, Public health
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Carnegie library pillars
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
George Voyzey, union radical
The radical sympathies of Springfield labor activist George Thomas Voyzey (1893-1950) got him in trouble with both local authorities and other union leaders. Voyzey served as chairman of the Springfield affiliate of Save the Union, a miners’ group that broke … Continue reading