Category Archives: Prominent figures

Robert S. Fitzgerald: Poet, translator

Posted on April 10, 2013 by editor

 Robert Stuart Fitzgerald (1910-1985) was an educator, poet, journalist, translator, editor and author who lived in Springfield for 20 years in his youth. While Fitzgerald was a student at Springfield High School, his talent for poetry came to the attention … Continue reading →

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Pre-1900 baseball

Posted on April 8, 2013 by editor

Baseball hit Springfield around the 1860s. That’s probably when its precursor, “town ball,” arrived, according to lifelong Springfieldian John C. Cook, quoted in the March 20, 1927 Illinois State Journal. “The ball was generally of solid rubber or cork, with … Continue reading →

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Albert Ide and the Ideal Engine

Posted on April 5, 2013 by editor

Inventor and businessman Albert L. Ide (1841-1897) won international fame as the creator of the Ideal steam engine, which was used in early electric generation systems around the turn of the 20th century. Born in Ohio in 1841, Ide arrived in … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Industry, Prominent figures | 16 Comments

Auburn

Posted on April 2, 2013 by editor

Auburn was founded twice. The first time was in 1835 by the Eastman family – George and Asa, along with their sister Hannah, who chose “Auburn” as the name of the fledgling community. (An 1896 Illinois State Journal article hypothesized that … Continue reading →

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Dawson

Posted on March 31, 2013 by editor

The village of Dawson is near an old Native American trail that ran from Clear Lake to Buffalo Hart. The village itself was incorporated in 1883, two years after the Wabash Coal & Mining Co. opened a mine shaft in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal mines and mining, Communities, Prominent figures | Tagged | 1 Comment

John L. Lewis

Posted on March 26, 2013 by editor

For 40 years the head of the biggest coal miners union in the U.S. in an era when the country depended almost entirely on coal for its energy needs, John Llewellyn Lewis (1880-1969) was a household name from the 1920s … Continue reading →

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Donner Party: Emigrant tragedy

Posted on March 18, 2013 by editor

The Donner Party left Springfield to emigrate to California on April 14, 1846, but became stranded in deep snow near present-day Truckee, Calif. The group’s experience is remembered today primarily because, before the surviving members of the expedition were rescued, … Continue reading →

Posted in Disasters, Early residents, Markers, Prominent figures | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments