Tara McClellan McAndrew

Since this year marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War’s beginning, it seems appropriate to look back at how some of those soldiers spent their holidays. We begin with the accounts of two men in the 84th Illinois Volunteer Infantry who wrote about their experiences in the fall and winter of 1863. It had been […]

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson If one acorn can create a thousand forests, Springfield’s Harriet Knudson had enough acorns in 1936 for a million forests. “There were so many that I had to put them out on the back porch. There wasn’t room for them in […]

One of the best theater tickets in town over the last couple of years was to Springfield actor Aasne Vigesaa’s performance of The Yellow Wallpaper at the Vachel Lindsay home, directed by Kevin Purcell. But if you missed that, you can now see it on DVD. Springfield multimedia artist David Cain was so inspired by […]

A new event at the Old State Capitol on Sept. 10 follows an old tradition – showcasing artists and art in the building. It’s a practice that dates back to the 1800s. The event, “Celebrating Sangamon County History Through the Arts,” is sponsored by the Sangamon County Historical Society (SCHS) and will feature a visual […]

When Springfield Mayor Mike Houston announced in July that he would hold regular open office hours, he was in good company. In 1860, after he became president-elect, Abraham Lincoln did the same, but his experience with Springfield office hours was quite different from Houston’s. The mayor says he began the practice because “the average person […]

Some people think there’s a lot of crud in the Statehouse. For more than 50 years, there was. From at least 1917 to 1970, the Illinois Department of Public Health’s (DPH) main diagnostic lab was housed there. Its staff examined saliva, blood and bodily excretions for contagious diseases. Today, it’s hard to believe that such […]

Until the mid-1850s or so, much of Springfield was a mud bog. For decades our dirt streets were filled with trash and mud, and in summer, pools of rainwater stagnated on the streets and combined with refuse from roaming livestock to make the place smelly as well. Perhaps it’s no surprise then, that some Springfieldians […]

It was the summer of 1896 or 1897 and the Baltimore Orioles were playing an exhibition match in Springfield against a local baseball team. “It wasn’t that unusual for a major league team to stop off for an exhibition game,” says Don Doxsie, sports editor for the Quad-City Times. “Teams traveling from Chicago to St. […]

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the Sangamon County Historical Society is having an author of books about early American history, including one about our area, come to Springfield and speak on April 26. Dr. John Mack Faragher, an American history professor at Yale University, wrote the award-winning Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Prairie (published […]

In the middle 1800s, animal control in Springfield, like much of America, was an oxymoron. Cows, hogs and especially dogs roamed the streets and wreaked a variety of havoc, from destroying sidewalks and fences to hurting people. Unfortunately, those injuries could be fatal. Rabid dogs weren’t uncommon then and, with no rabies vaccine for animals […]

Eighty-two years ago, Chicago mobsters were lying low in Springfield, escaping fallout from the brutal St. Valentine’s Day massacre gang slaying in their hometown. Or maybe they weren’t. It depends on whom you believe. On Feb. 14, 1929, four men, some dressed as Chicago cops, stormed a north side garage near Lincoln Park which was […]

Not all Lincoln museums are alike. Compare, for example, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in Springfield and the Lincoln Heritage Museum in Lincoln.While the ALPLM uses state-of-the-art technology and recreated, life-size scenes from Lincoln’s life to tell his story, the much smaller Lincoln Heritage Museum at Lincoln College relies on artifacts to […]