Category Archives: Depression

Transient shelters, 1934-35

Posted on September 6, 2024 by editor

When a jobless migrant – a “hobo” or “tramp” – wandered into Springfield during the Great Depression, he might have been in for a surprise: a well-stocked shelter offering meals, a bed, work opportunities and even recreation. Springfield’s transient-aid program … Continue reading →

Posted in Depression, Hotels & taverns, Social services, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Theater bombings, 1931-32

Posted on January 3, 2021 by editor

Unhappy theater workers were the immediate suspects in 1931, when bombs – both explosives and stink bombs – went off in three local cinemas. A few months later, another bomb wrecked the home of a theater manager. Members of Springfield … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Business, Crime and vice, Depression, Labor unions, Law enforcement, Theaters | Leave a comment

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

Bank holiday scrip (1933)

Posted on November 23, 2019 by editor

Springfield kept its economy going during the “bank holiday” of 1933 by printing its own money. State and federal officials ordered banks across the nation to close in early March 1933, amid a wave of bank collapses caused by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Depression, Local government, State government | 1 Comment

Basketball tournament in Illinois State Fairgrounds Coliseum, 1933

Posted on July 18, 2019 by editor

Repairs to the Illinois State Fairgrounds Coliseum, under way in summer 2019, will include heating and air-conditioning systems. But the building was unheated in the winter of 1933, when the Coliseum played host to a boys high school basketball tournament. … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Buildings, Depression, Schools and school districts, Sports and recreation | 2 Comments

Springfield in 1939, according to the Federal Writers Project

Posted on June 10, 2019 by editor

Editor: This entry, originally published in 2014, has been revised and expanded. Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide was part of the American Guide series, which profiled each of the then-existing 48 states during the 1930s. The American Guides were … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Communities, Depression, Historic Sites, Histories, Illinois capital, Lincoln, Abraham, Maps, Markers, Springfield, Transportation | 2 Comments

New Deal projects, 1930s

Posted on January 23, 2019 by editor

Thousands of people clogged downtown Springfield on June 30, 1939, celebrating the fact that streetcar tracks no longer crisscrossed Monroe Street. The giant festival, which included three bands, a jitterbug contest and appearances by city officials, was the climax of … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts and letters, Buildings, Celebrations, Depression, Local government, Social services, Transportation | 2 Comments

Kidnapped banker, 1932

Posted on March 2, 2018 by editor

Springfield coal miner James Gammaitoni lost his life savings when Taylorville’s John B. Colegrove State Bank failed in 1929. So Gammaitoni took direct action: He kidnapped Colegrove. John Benjamin Colegrove had been a lawyer and real estate investor before he … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Crime and vice, Depression, Law enforcement | Leave a comment

Hunger march blockade, 1933

Posted on January 29, 2018 by editor

Police cordoned off Sangamon County in April 1933 to quell a planned “hunger march” on the Statehouse by unemployed people from around Illinois. Springfield Mayor John “Buddy” Kapp summed up authorities’ opinion of the demonstration: “The law enforcing officers of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal mines and mining, Depression, Illinois capital, Labor unions, Law enforcement, Prominent figures, State government | Leave a comment