Search entries
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- editor on Bullard & Bullard: Leading architects
- Aaron Babel on Bullard & Bullard: Leading architects
- Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop in Springfield to hold 100th-anniversary celebration on July 27 - Route 66 News on Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop
- Robert Chapman on Chapman Laundry
- Pam Dufour on Charles and Amy Reed (Sangamon County Poor Farm administrators)
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- July 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
Categories
- Abolitionism
- African Americans
- Agriculture
- Air travel
- Airport
- Amusements
- Animals
- Architecture
- Arts and letters
- Auto dealers
- Breweries
- Buildings
- Business
- Celebrations
- Children
- Churches
- Coal mines and mining
- Communications
- Communities
- Crime and vice
- Department stores
- Depression
- Disasters
- Early residents
- Education
- Environment
- Ethnic groups
- Family life
- Farming
- Fever River
- Fires
- First Citizens
- Germans
- Greeks
- Higher education
- Historic Sites
- Histories
- Hotels & taverns
- Illinois capital
- Illinois State Fair
- Illustrations
- Industry
- Irish
- Irish
- Italians
- Japanese
- Jewish
- John T. Stuart
- Journalism
- Labor unions
- Law enforcement
- Lincoln Home
- Lincoln Tomb
- Lincoln, Abraham
- Lindsay, Vachel
- Lithuanians
- Lithuanians
- Local government
- Maps
- Markers
- Media
- Medicine
- Military
- Mills
- Museums
- National Register
- Native Americans
- Oak Ridge signs
- Parks
- Photos and photosets
- Politics
- Portuguese
- Prehistory
- Presidential candidates
- Presidents
- Prominent figures
- Public health
- Race riot of 1908
- Railroads
- Resources
- Restaurants
- Route 66
- Sangamon County
- Sangamon River
- Schools and school districts
- Science
- Slovenians
- Social life
- Social services
- Soil
- Spanish
- Spectacles
- Sports and recreation
- Springfield
- Springfield Survey
- State government
- Swabians
- Theaters
- Transportation
- Uncategorized
- Videos
- Weather
- Women
Blogroll
Category Archives: Architecture
Old Capitol restoration, 1960s
Before the Old State Capitol was restored to the way it looked in the 1850s, the building housed Springfield’s public restrooms. You could tell by the odor. Earl “Wally” Henderson (1931-2016), co-founder with Don Ferry of the Ferry & Henderson … Continue reading
Alfred Booth, grocer, developer
Alfred Booth was a grocer and property developer in Springfield for more than 60 years. His most obvious legacy is the eight-story Booth Building at 516-18 E. Monroe Street. At the height of his career, Booth (1853-1939) developed single-family residences, … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Prominent figures
Leave a comment
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
Broadwell’s building
This entry has been edited to correct information in a photo caption. The building on the northwest corner of Fifth and Washington streets in Springfield was a drugstore for about 125 years. While that tradition ended in 1981, the old … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Business, Historic Sites, Medicine, Prominent figures
2 Comments
Brinkerhoff Home
The Brinkerhoff Home, which in 2020 sat buttoned-up and unused on the former campus of Benedictine University Springfield, was designed in the 1860s by Elijah E. Myers, who would go on to be one of 19th-century America’s best known, and … Continue reading
DeWitt Smith Building fire, 1918
When the DeWitt Smith Building caught fire in 1918, modern firefighting equipment saved the building, and a heroic elevator operator rescued many of its tenants. Even so, the top floors of the building, on the southeast corner of Fourth and … Continue reading
St. Patrick Parish, Springfield
The flag of Ireland lay draped beside the Stars and Stripes at a banquet held at the St. Nicholas Hotel on St. Patrick’s Day 1915. Springfield’s Irish Fellowship, led by the Irish-born Rev. Timothy Hickey, had organized Lá Fhéile Pádraig, … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Churches, Ethnic groups, Irish, Irish, Schools and school districts
2 Comments
National Emancipation Monument (proposed)
A statue of a black Civil War soldier was to be the centerpiece of a National Emancipation Monument that African-American residents of Springfield hoped would be erected in the city. The effort, which lasted from 1889 to 1893, ultimately was … Continue reading
Posted in African Americans, Architecture
3 Comments
Sacred Heart Church
It was a warm day in June 1884 when Catholics gathered on 12th Street near Cook Street in Springfield to lay the cornerstone for what was to be the area’s second German-oriented Catholic church. The two-story brick building, which included … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Churches, Ethnic groups, Germans, Slovenians
26 Comments
Paul M. Angle, historian
Of the 35 eminent Illinois writers whose last names are engraved on the frieze that decorates the Illinois State Library, only three had significant connections to Sangamon County. Two are predictable – Abraham Lincoln and Vachel Lindsay. The third is … Continue reading