Category Archives: Historic Sites

World War I memorial (new)

Posted on September 27, 2019 by editor

An obelisk bearing the names of 113 Sangamon Countians who died of wounds or disease in World War I was created in the early 2000s by John Kerasotes, a member of Springfield’s pioneering movie theater family. Kerasotes, however, remained anonymous, … Continue reading →

Posted in Historic Sites, Local government, Markers, Military, Sangamon County, Women | 1 Comment

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

Catharine Frazee Lindsay, community visionary

Posted on March 7, 2019 by editor

Catharine Frazee Lindsay is remembered mainly as the mother of Springfield’s famous poet, Vachel Lindsay. But many of her son’s ideals and, perhaps, some of his literary talent were inherited from his indefatigable mother. Despite a variety of personal trials, … Continue reading →

Posted in Churches, Historic Sites, Lindsay, Vachel, Local government, Prominent figures, Women | 3 Comments

Wimmer Cemetery, Auburn

Posted on October 10, 2018 by editor

Wimmer Cemetery, an inactive but by no means abandoned graveyard east of Auburn, is one of Sangamon County’s oldest burying places. No one has been buried at Wimmer since 1934, and by 1999, the site was overgrown, dilapidated and vandalized. … Continue reading →

Posted in Communities, Historic Sites | 2 Comments

The Lincoln Home after the Lincolns (1861-1953)

Posted on July 30, 2018 by editor

For nearly a century after Abraham and Mary Lincoln left it, other people lived in and managed their former home at Eighth and Jackson streets. Among the eclectic group were a railroad executive, a couple of politicians, a physician, an … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Historic Sites, John T. Stuart, Lincoln Home, Museums, Prominent figures, State government | 7 Comments

Peter Cartwright, preacher

Posted on June 21, 2018 by editor

Peter Cartwright called himself “God’s Plowman,” referring to his 60 years of building Methodist congregations throughout the Midwest. Cartwright (1785-1872) was already a successful preacher in Kentucky (his native state) and western Tennessee when he and his family moved to … Continue reading →

Posted in Churches, Early residents, Historic Sites, Prominent figures | 2 Comments

Buffalo Hart Presbyterian Church

Posted on April 20, 2018 by editor

When European settlers first came to the Buffalo Hart area in 1824, the most noticeable feature of the landscape was a large grove of trees surrounded by prairie. Most of the early residents built their homes on the edge of … Continue reading →

Posted in Churches, Historic Sites, Social life | Leave a comment

Twelve Mile House

Posted on March 22, 2018 by editor

Twelve Mile House was an inn, stagecoach stop and post office in the early 19th century. It later became one of the landmarks used when Illinois officials designed the highway that became Route 66 and then Interstate 55. Where, exactly, … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Early residents, Historic Sites, Hotels & taverns, Maps, Transportation | 3 Comments

Camp Butler (Civil War training camp)

Posted on December 17, 2017 by editor

At the start of the Civil War in 1861, states scrambled to build training facilities for the influx of raw recruits.  Springfield’s first attempt at a location was Camp Yates, an area bordered today by Washington, Governor, Lincoln and Douglas … Continue reading →

Posted in Historic Sites, Military | 11 Comments

Courthouse square locomotive

Posted on December 17, 2017 by editor

Two thousand people filled Adams Street in 1915 to watch a steam locomotive puff its way from Third Street to the courthouse square. The engine – the Chicago & Alton Railroad’s No. 533 – was set up on the south … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Historic Sites, Spectacles | Leave a comment