Category Archives: Uncategorized

Flashing red lights on the Statehouse dome once alerted Springfield police to emergencies. See Statehouse dome lighting.

League Park, used in the early 1900s by local baseball and football teams, was built in 1902 and demolished by an arson fire in 1911. Today, the site is again a baseball facility. See Richard Kinsella, baseball scout, team owner.

Springfield teams in the early Three-I League tended not to last long and to change names frequently. See Richard Kinsella, baseball scout, team owner.

Terry Ransom, born in Champaign, moved to Springfield with his parents as a child. He has done a great deal of research on the Underground Railroad, including drawing up a map of the various routes that passed through Illinois. In an interview … Continue reading →

Theresa Faith Cummings, a sixth-generation resident of Springfield, was the first director of the Community Action Agency’s Neighborhood Center. In an interview for the Springfield African-American History Foundation series, Cummings discusses the center’s services, her family’s history in Springfield, family … Continue reading →

Velma Carey, her husband, Lee Carey, and their children moved from Champaign to Springfield in 1956. Through involvement in her children’s schools, Mrs. Carey became aware of conditions in the Springfield school district and was involved in the school district … Continue reading →

Frank Carlos Ewing Sr. was an inmate at the Menard State Penitentiary at the same time as his son, Frank Jr., in the 1960s. The elder Ewing had been convicted of the murders of his aunt and girlfriend; the son was … Continue reading →

WTAX radio moved from Streator to Springfield in 1930. See Radio beginnings in Springfield.

WCBS was Springfield’s first permanent radio station. See Radio beginnings in Springfield.