Category Archives: Uncategorized

Dismantled statues, Illinois Statehouse lawn

Posted on October 5, 2020 by editor

The statue of Pierre Menard that formerly stood on the Illinois Statehouse grounds was a gift from a citizen of Missouri. Was it a good likeness of Illinois’ first lieutenant governor? Nobody knows. The Menard statue, along with that of … Continue reading →

Posted in Historic Sites, Illinois capital, Markers, Politics, Presidential candidates, Prominent figures, State government, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Tourist camp, 1924

Posted on September 22, 2020 by editor

A camp to accommodate the new phenomenon of automobile tourism was set up in Springfield’s Douglas Park in 1924. See Founding of Douglas Park, 1921.

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Theodore Lorch, actor

Posted on September 1, 2020 by editor

Theodore Lorch, who spent his teenage years in Springfield, was a film and stage actor whose busy career spanned the 1900s through the 1940s. Although he had leading roles in such movies as the 1920 version of “Last of the … Continue reading →

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Ethel Mars, artist, bohemian

Posted on June 29, 2020 by editor

Gertrude Stein’s prose-poem “Miss Furr and Miss Skene” was the first literary use of the word “gay” in the context of a same-sex relationship. The woman Stein called “Miss Furr” was patterned on Springfield-born artist and bohemian Ethel Mars (1876-1956?); … Continue reading →

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Illinois State Fair cancelled, 1942

Posted on June 15, 2020 by editor

Farmers, horse race owners and state officials scrambled for alternatives when World War II forced cancellation of the 1942 Illinois State Fair. A couple of months after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army Air Forces leased the state fairgrounds for use … Continue reading →

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Albert Booth family, wagon makers

Posted on June 13, 2020 by editor

The A. Booth and Son Wagon Factory once dominated the northeast corner of Eighth and Washington Streets in Springfield. The factory was built by Albert Booth (1813-1873), who moved his family from Menard to Sangamon County around 1840. He first … Continue reading →

Posted in Buildings, Business, Industry, Prominent figures, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Charles Longest, stickup artist and Army hero

Posted on June 6, 2020 by editor

Charles Longest was in state prison, accused of being the mastermind of an ambitious Springfield robbery gang, when he was judged fit to serve in World War II. See Springfield stickup gang, 1938. 

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‘Big Tent Theatre’ photographs

Posted on June 2, 2020 by editor

These photos apparently are publicity stills produced when the Depression-era Federal Theatre Project played a season of live, professional theater in a tent at West Grand Avenue (today’s MacArthur Boulevard) and Outer Park Drive in 1936. The venue was known … Continue reading →

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Carnegie library pillars

Posted on May 5, 2020 by editor

The five limestone columns that face the courtyard of the Washington Park Horticulture Center make up the last exterior remains of Springfield’s old Carnegie library. Andrew Carnegie paid part of the construction cost of the old library, which opened in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Arts and letters, Parks, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

‘The Big Tent Theatre’, 1936

Posted on April 28, 2020 by editor

The Big Tent Theatre, one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Depression-relief programs, played to packed houses at West Grand Avenue (today’s MacArthur Boulevard) and Outer Park Drive in 1936. The Big Tent was formally part of the Federal Theatre Project, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Arts and letters, Depression, Theaters, Uncategorized | 3 Comments