Category Archives: Uncategorized

Clarence Root of Springfield suggested “wireless telegraphy” as a way to distribute weather forecasts. See “First radio weather report.”  

Caryl Towsley Moy revived Planned Parenthood in the Springfield area in the 1970s. See Maternal Health Center/Planned Parenthood.

Mary Douglass “Dougie” Funk was among the early supporters of Springfield’s first birth control clinic. See Maternal Health Center/Planned Parenthood.

Calista Herndon was one of about a dozen socially prominent women who founded Springfield’s first birth control clinic. See Maternal Health Center/Planned Parenthood.

A 1940 appearance in Springfield by singer/actress Jeanette MacDonald was controversial, but it provided long-term financing for the city’s first birth-control clinic. See Maternal Health Center/Planned Parenthood.

The Grand Hotel, 109-11 N. Seventh St., was the longest-lived of Springfield’s classic downtown hotel/rooming houses. See Downtown Springfield hotels, 1907-16.

Fred Blood was the precocious director of the Capital City Band from 1910 until his death in 1924. See Louis Lehmann (band director).

Frank Berneker, who was white, was the first director of the Springfield Municipal Colored Band. See Louis Lehmann (band director).

Lewis “Happy” Evans, a classically trained musician, was director of the Springfield Municipal Colored Band from 1941 until 1956. See Louis Lehmann (band director).

The Springfield Municipal Colored Band was created in 1936 and went out of existence when the black and white band units were combined in 1956. See Louis Lehmann (band director).