Category Archives: Children

‘Patty Reed’s doll’ (Donner Party artifact)

Posted on September 10, 2024 by editor

Like the Donner Party itself, the best-known relic of that pioneer tragedy hails from Sangamon County. The Donner Party, of course, is remembered primarily because some of the emigrants, snowbound in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains in 1846-47, reportedly resorted to … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Disasters, Early residents, Prominent figures | Leave a comment

Christmas at the Wonder Store, 1881

Posted on December 21, 2023 by editor

Frank Myers was no relation to Springfield’s later department store dynasty, the Myers Brothers, but he apparently had some of the same merchandising instincts – down to the monkeys both used as advertising gimmicks. From the 1870s to 1904, Myers’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Animals, Business, Children, Department stores, Prominent figures | Leave a comment

The Lemon Jelly Cake (Madeline Babcock Smith)

Posted on November 17, 2022 by editor

Madeline Babcock Smith earned her spot in the literary limelight. But she never got to enjoy it. Smith’s first novel, The Lemon Jelly Cake, published Aug. 4, 1952, “enjoyed an immediate and astounding success,” Dan Guillory wrote in his introduction … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts and letters, Children, Communities, Crime and vice, Family life, Media, Prominent figures | Leave a comment

First school for Black children

Posted on May 31, 2022 by editor

Springfield’s Colored Baptist Church created what apparently was the city’s first school open to African-American children in the late 1840s. It was a struggle to keep open, but it took a decade before the city finally opened a public school … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Children, Churches, Education, Local government, Schools and school districts | Leave a comment

Sangamon County Detention Home, 1916

Posted on December 19, 2021 by editor

The Sangamon County Detention Home was created with two goals: to be both an alternative to jail for the county’s youngest delinquents and a refuge for neglected or abandoned children. It wasn’t a perfect solution to either problem, but it … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Crime and vice, Family life, Law enforcement, Local government, Sangamon County, Social services | Leave a comment

Thanksgiving charity, 1921

Posted on November 21, 2021 by editor

Special meals were the order of the day for Thanksgiving 1921 at local prisons, orphanages and homes for the poor, sick and aged. And disabled veterans got a bonus that weekend: an exclusive performance by poet Carl Sandburg. A look … Continue reading →

Posted in Celebrations, Children, Social services, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

‘The Story of the House,’ by Alice Bunn

Posted on November 15, 2021 by editor

Alice Bunn (1867-1953) was born and died in the spacious home at 435 S. Sixth St. that was built by her father, Jacob Bunn, in the 1850s. The house was torn down for a parking lot in July 1953, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Architecture, Buildings, Children, Early residents, Family life, Histories, Prominent figures, Social life, Women | 2 Comments

First burial at Oak Ridge Cemetery

Posted on August 27, 2021 by editor

  Eliza Helmle, the infant daughter of Carl Albert and Marie Helmle, was the first person buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery, according to cemetery records. A handwritten cemetery ledger says Eliza died of “teething” at nine months old; the record … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Germans, Markers, Oak Ridge signs | 2 Comments

Polio vaccinations, 1955 and 1964

Posted on December 15, 2020 by editor

First- and second-graders topped the priority list when local public health officials prepared to deliver the first polio vaccinations in 1955. The program was a success, despite an unplanned delay in scheduled “booster” shots. Children were among those most susceptible … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Medicine, Public health, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Child charged with ‘depraved’ crime (1894)

Posted on December 5, 2020 by editor

When two itinerant horse traders were charged in 1894 with “a nameless crime” – apparently sodomy and child sexual abuse – their presumed victim, a seven-year-old boy, went to jail as well. “The details of the story are too indecent … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Crime and vice | Leave a comment