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Category Archives: Education
Mary Lord Harrison, Springfield’s other presidential wife
Mary Scott Lord Dimmick Harrison wasn’t quite the First Lady of the United States. But she came close. She wasn’t quite a Sangamon County native, either. But, again, close enough. Mary Dimmick (1858-1948) was 37 years old in 1896, when … Continue reading
‘Rachel,’ the Springfield High School ghost
There is some truth to the folklore around “Rachel,” the supposed ghost that haunts Springfield High School. SHS was built on the former site of Hutchinson Cemetery, once the city’s largest graveyard. Hutchinson Cemetery covered five acres southwest of the … Continue reading
Posted in Buildings, Education, Schools and school districts, Videos
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Springfield High School sketches, 1930 (Alda Raulin)
Alda Raulin captured classic views of Springfield High School in five line drawings that led off the 1930 edition of The Capitoline, … Continue reading
Buster Bartholomew, coach & educator
As an athlete, Buster Bartholomew was a one-armed wonder. But he made his mark as a coach, teacher and booster of country schools. Homer “Buster” Bartholomew (1891-1943), born in Tuscola, was the son of Charles and Susan Myrtle Bartholomew. His … Continue reading
Schools ban girls’ basketball, 1907
In December 1907, when Springfield high school Principal L.M. Castle abruptly told the women’s basketball team they had to play behind closed doors, the girls revolted. They shut down the team and published a bitter protest in the January 1908 … Continue reading
Tri-City boys basketball, 1952-53
The Tri-City Tornadoes were kings of Sangamon County basketball in the 1952-53 season. Tri-City Community High School, located in Buffalo, was the first consolidated high school district in Illinois. The merger of formerly separate high schools in Buffalo, Dawson and … Continue reading
First Rochester schools
The 1881 History of Sangamon County, Illinois, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships includes two short accounts of the earliest schoolhouses and teachers near Rochester. As described, the schools were rough and improvised, and one burned down in … Continue reading
Robert Preston Taylor (Lincoln College of Law, Illinois State Museum)
By one measurement, Robert Preston Taylor (1876-1951) goes into history as the first African-American graduate of the old Lincoln College of Law in Springfield. But that would ignore Taylor’s more significant achievement: bringing to life exhibits at the Illinois State … Continue reading
Posted in African Americans, Education, Higher education, Museums, Prominent figures
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First Black U of I trustee
This entry has been updated and corrected. See below. John J. Bird became the first African-American trustee of the University of Illinois at a time when the school was essentially all-white. Bird’s tombstone in Oak Ridge Cemetery doesn’t mention that … Continue reading
First school for Black children
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