Author Archives: editor

Roosa-Diller fire, 1920

Posted on May 22, 2020 by editor

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 | Leave a comment

J.C. Penney store, Springfield

Posted on May 17, 2020 by editor

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 | 3 Comments

House of prostitution standoff, 1885

Posted on May 15, 2020 by editor

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

Posted on May 13, 2020 by editor

This entry has been edited and expanded to reflect questions about whether there really was a smallpox “epidemic”in Sangamon County in 1901-02. When a smallpox scare broke out in Springfield in 1901, the Springfield City Council decided to build a “pest … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Local government, Maps, Medicine, Public health | Leave a comment

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

George Voyzey, union radical

Posted on May 3, 2020 by editor

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 →

Posted in Coal mines and mining, Depression, Industry, Labor unions, Prominent figures | Leave a comment

‘The Big Tent Theatre’, 1936

Posted on April 28, 2020 by editor

The Big Tent Theatre, one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Depression-relief programs, played to packed houses at West Grand Avenue (today’s MacArthur Boulevard) and Outer Park Drive in 1936. The Big Tent was formally part of the Federal Theatre Project, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Arts and letters, Depression, Theaters, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Toddler food poisoning deaths, 1927

Posted on April 24, 2020 by editor

Contaminated cream puffs apparently were the source of the poison that killed three toddlers and sickened a half-dozen more in a Springfield foundling home in 1927. The suspect cream puffs were on the breakfast menu at the Springfield Redemption Home, … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Public health, Social services | Leave a comment

Lanphier High School’s historic Earth Day flag

Posted on April 18, 2020 by editor

A homemade flag Lanphier High School students carried to the Statehouse in 1970 as a symbol of the environmental movement found a permanent home in the Smithsonian Institution. But a mystery remains: who sewed the flag? Smithsonian Magazine revived the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Schools and school districts, Science | 13 Comments

Telephones in Springfield, 1939-84

Posted on April 14, 2020 by editor

Dial telephones went into use in Springfield in dramatic fashion on Aug. 20, 1939. Four minutes before midnight, crews of workmen in two separate locations simultaneously disabled the old operator switchboards and plugged 21,000 telephones into the new one. “With … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Communications | 2 Comments