Hear the name “Lincoln” and you see the man splitting rails, say, or on a debate platform towering over Stephen A. Douglas. Few recall the soon-to-be president being shooed out the front door of his house in a hail of potatoes. But that image of Lincoln was as valid as the others, as we learn […]
James Krohe Jr
Posted inNews
The famous architect’s Springfield project
If you had asked cosmopolitan Springfieldians in 1990 or so to name the Springfield parking ramp designed by flamboyant German American architect Helmut Jahn, most would have pointed to the municipal ramp at Seventh and Monroe. As built in 1967, its louvered façade of precast concrete slats made it one of the handsomest structures of any […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Springfield’s back yard
Is there any other place that figures so centrally in the social, recreational and erotic life of so many Springfieldians from so many backgrounds? A summer evening with a fishing line in the water, listening to the waves lapping on the old dam steps. Watching the moon rise over the water with a lover. Paddling […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
A drummer who never missed a beat
My father liked to tell this story. He was a professional musician, and a country band out of Ashland had hired him to play at that year’s Chandlerville Burgoo. “Just go down 78 to the end,” the leader told him. “You can’t miss it. If you do, you’re in the river.” When he met his […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The rise and fall of the Mormons’ new Zion
Prophets who offer a path to peace in this world and redemption in the next have never been rare in the U.S. They were never less rare than in the 1830s and 40s. The direction and pace of social change left many people uneasy in this world and yearning to find a better one with […]
Posted inOpinion
Big guy, big personality, big flaws
James R. Thompson, the biggest (six feet six) and longest (14 years in office) governor Illinois ever had, died on Aug. 14, 2020, in Chicago at 84. His rise as a politician coincided with that of this newspaper, and to those of us working at Illinois Times in those days he was a familiar, if […]
Posted inOpinion
Fallen heroes
Where, I wonder, would they put a statue of Mike Madigan? In July, the House speaker announced that he wanted to see the statues of Pierre Menard, a slaveholder, and Stephen A. Douglas, whose wife owned slaves and who was a nativist bigot, liar and opportunist, removed from the east lawn. It took Madigan 78 years […]
Posted inNews
Lyric flights
John Prine died on April 7, killed by COVID-19. If you don’t recognize the name, you probably won’t care that Gov. JB Pritzker in June proclaimed Prine the first Honorary Poet Laureate of Illinois. A much-loved character, Prine grew up in Maywood and got his break in Chicago and lived there for a while. He […]
Posted inOpinion
Zone defense
Organizers with the City of Springfield and the Springfield Regional Planning Commission held what amounted to an informal design charette the other day. Citizens were invited to imagine a future Springfield as part of the process of devising a new 20-year land use plan for the capital. My eye was caught by remarks made to […]
Posted inOpinion
Selling off the family silver
Endangered. Photo BY DAVID HINE Bruce Rauner’s campaign to destroy the Illinois State Museum risks losing tourist income, the services of top scientists and administrators and priceless artifacts, not to mention any claim Illinois might make to being a civilized commonwealth. Might there be yet one more loss – the loss of the museum building […]
Posted inOpinion
“You look fabulous, really!”
When it was built for $150,000 in 1906, the Ferguson Building housed the Lincoln Bank. PHOTO COURTESY SANGAMON VALLEY COLLECTION The U.S. economy, having finally recovered from the bankers’ attempt to poison it, is up and about again, and Springfield is seeing a modest uptick in spending on the rehabilitation of historic downtown structures such […]
Posted inOpinion
Political economy
Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford PHOTO BY TIM WARD VIA WIKIPEDIA.ORG “Because economic decisions are made by elected officials every day,” said Rockford state senator Dave Syverson to the Register Star recently, “we need to have officials who understand the economic impact of what they do.” Illinois lawmakers who do not understand such things, in the […]
