Tara McClellan McAndrew

Candles and popcorn strings on the tree, and the rare fruit treat in your stocking — they were all part of Christmases past. And they’re so removed from our modern lives, which often feature electrically-lit, artificial Christmas trees and fruit every day of the year. Here, for your enjoyment, are reminiscences of Christmases long ago, […]

When the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum opened, it was heralded as the first of its kind. However, there was an unofficial version housed in the Lincoln Home from 1884 to 1893. It was run by Civil War veteran Osborn Oldroyd, a man who was as quirky as the museum he created. When Oldroyd began collecting […]

During modern elections, Democrats and Republicans show their loyalty with lawn signs. In the 1800s, it was tree poles. They were erected on main streets and lawns around the country during rambunctious “pole raisings,” which attracted large numbers of party faithful and faithful partiers. In the 1844 presidential election, which pitted Democrat James K. Polk […]

It was the early 1830s and Samuel Stevens was a young businessman seizing opportunity in the Northwest Territory frontier. He’d journeyed to what is now the Rochester area from New Hampshire to buy land and build a home for himself and his fiancée. However, his fiancée, Lucetta Putnam, was from a well-to-do family. “We believe […]

Last week marked the 100th anniversary of Springfield’s race riots. They left our city with a legacy we will never outlive and perhaps never overcome. As Springfieldians struggle with that legacy, especially this year, it’s helpful to put our city’s riots into a national context, to understand how they fit into the broader history of […]

It’s not unusual to find a skeleton in a medical school, but you can’t say the same about an intact Depression-era drugstore, antique bloodletting apparatuses, or a 19th-century dentist’s fainting couch. All of these items can be found at Springfield’s Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. SIU-SM is one of the few medical schools in […]

Untitled Document Some of our earliest settlers’ stories are so fantastic, they’re hard to believe. Take Mary Neely Spears, also known as Granny Spears. At 19 she was kidnapped and enslaved by American Indians until she escaped and was discovered by her brother several states away more than two years later. She ended up near […]

Untitled Document Seven years before the Wright Brothers’ first flight, Americans were boggled by strange objects in the sky. The phrase “unidentified flying object” hadn’t been invented, so many observers called them “airships.” The Great Airship Wave of 1896-1897, which has spawned books and contemporary UFO studies, started in November 1896 when an airship with […]