Monthly Archives: January 2022

Cathedral High School basketball champions, 1939

Springfield’s Cathedral Boys High School won its only Illinois Catholic Conference basketball tournament in 1939. The 16-team event was held at the Illinois State Armory Feb. 24-26. Cathedral’s 285 students (as the name suggests, the school was open only to … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Schools and school districts, Sports and recreation, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Springfield Giants (Class D baseball)

The Springfield Giants played one season, 1950, in the Class D Mississippi-Ohio Valley baseball minor league. See Springfield Sallies.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Springfield Sallies (professional women’s baseball)

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

The Krehbiel murals (Illinois Supreme Court)

The first public art Albert Krehbiel created apparently was on the buggies, carriages and delivery wagons his father manufactured in Iowa. His most famous works, however, are the 13 allegorical murals that decorate the Illinois Supreme Court Building in Springfield. … Continue reading

Posted in African Americans, Architecture, Arts and letters, Buildings, Illinois capital, State government | Leave a comment

Alfred Piquenard, Statehouse architect

The question of who deserves credit for designing the Illinois Statehouse has a complicated answer. When commissioners awarded the first design contract, newspaper stories called it “the plan of J.C. Cochrane,” referring to Chicago architect John C. Cochrane. An early … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Historic Sites, Illinois capital, Prominent figures, State government | 2 Comments