Category Archives: Farming

Illinois State Fair settles in Springfield (1894)

Posted on December 26, 2019 by editor

An unelected board designated Springfield as the permanent site of the Illinois State Fair in 1894, after lawmakers spent 15 years proving they couldn’t do the job. From 1853, when the first state fair was held in Springfield, the show … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Amusements, Farming, Illinois State Fair, Spectacles | Leave a comment

Osage orange (hedge apple)

Posted on November 11, 2019 by editor

The heyday of living fences on farms lasted less than 30 years. But Osage orange trees, descendants of fencerows planted as early as the 1840s, still line country roads and fill hedge lines throughout central Illinois. As the name suggests, … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Farming | 5 Comments

Hemp in Sangamon County

Posted on July 7, 2019 by editor

Note: This entry has been edited. See below. Long before it was mistakenly confused with marijuana, hemp was, briefly, a big business in Sangamon County. In a lengthy pitch published in the March 23, 1848, Illinois Weekly State Journal, entrepreneur … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Business, Farming, Industry | 2 Comments

‘Alfalfa train,’ 1913

Posted on May 13, 2019 by editor

The alfalfa train was an automobile caravan that traveled to the ends of Sangamon County for five days in June 1913, carrying experts who preached the gospel of alfalfa hay. Over the five days, the half-dozen alfalfa advocates and dozens … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Farming, Science, Soil | Leave a comment

The Cottage Garden

Posted on February 26, 2019 by editor

Springfield banker Nicholas Ridgely (1800-88) turned his love of plants and gardens into a business in 1849 when he started the Cottage Garden and Nursery in the area roughly bounded by 13th, 15th, Washington and Reynolds streets. Ridgely, who owned … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Buildings, Business, Early residents, Farming, Lincoln, Abraham, Prominent figures | Leave a comment

The Sangamon River

Posted on September 26, 2018 by editor

In 1831, a new Illinois county was formed from parts of Madison and Bond counties. The new county was named for the river that bisected it: the Sangamon. The headwater of the Sangamon River is a small stream emerging from … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Farming, Mills, Prehistory, Sangamon River, Sports and recreation, Transportation | Leave a comment

Lake Springfield holdout, 1933

Posted on February 21, 2018 by editor

Leander Shoup vowed to go down in a blaze of gunfire rather than relinquish his 123 acres of farmland to inundation by Lake Springfield. The city of Springfield won a lawsuit to take over the land, a little over a … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Farming, Law enforcement, Local government, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Farm machinery, 1870s-1950s

Posted on September 11, 2017 by editor

Sangamon County farms switched from man- and horsepower to fully mechanized operations in fits and starts over more than 80 years. But the key impetus may have been six disastrous weeks of rain in the fall of 1926. Traction engines … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Business, Farming, Industry | 4 Comments

Johnston-Hatcher fires, 1907 & 1913

Posted on March 4, 2017 by editor

The Johnston-Hatcher Co. sold home furnishings of all kinds from 1899 to 1949 in downtown Springfield. The store, however, fell victim to two of the city’s most devastating early 20th-century fires. Johnston-Hatcher was the creation of two sets of brothers … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Airport, Amusements, Auto dealers, Buildings, Business, Crime and vice, Disasters, Farming, Fires, Presidents, Prominent figures, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Price-Prather House, Williamsville (National Register)

Posted on February 16, 2017 by editor

Williamsville’s Price-Prather House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places partly for its architectural features, but the building’s early owners, especially J. Frank Prather (1859-1927), played major roles in development of the beef cattle industry in Sangamon County, … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Architecture, Buildings, Farming, Historic Sites, Prominent figures | 6 Comments