Maybe it’s the obesity epidemic that has so many people worried about their waistlines. Or maybe it’s the ongoing recession that has people looking for low-cost extracurriculars. Whatever the cause, it’s clear that Americans are more interested than ever in getting fit. Last year was the first in which the number of marathon finishers topped […]
Community & Lifestyle
Posted inArts & Culture
‘Ultimate Frisbee’ offers fitness, fun and community
If you’re home from college or just wanting to get fit and have fun in central Illinois this summer, ultimate Frisbee may be for you. A game of “ultimate” is like soccer but is played with a flying disc and an edge of competition. The game has no referees, and players can even call a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The farm that McCormick’s Reaper built
Thinking about gardens and summer and checking out new sights and sounds? Why not head north this summer and check out St. James Farm? For years the locals only saw the gate of the lovely farm where the McCormicks, descendants of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the commercial reaper, lived and worked. In 1851, Cyrus McCormick […]
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Visit Benton and the Shawnee National Forest
You can find information about almost any kind of history in the small town of Benton. This is where Charlie Birger, the Prohibition-era criminal, was the last person to be hanged in Illinois, as well as the town where the first Beatles record was heard stateside. Come to this southern Illinois hamlet, tour the sites […]
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School’s out, but there’s plenty for children to do
For at least a few students, the countdown to summer vacation began last August. Others maybe waited until January, by which time the bitter cold and recent memories of semester finals started giving way to daydreams of summer sunshine and three months of test-free bliss. But Illinois summers also come with high humidity, and, come […]
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From Springfield to the Baseball Hall of Fame
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. […]
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1937 – INCHES KEEP FLOOD FROM CAIRO
Flood waters have begun to recede in Southern Illinois in and around Cairo following concentrated efforts by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others, but plenty of work remains to be done. (More info and background here: http://thesouthern.com/news/national/article_56caf9fc-feea-5bb3-9f49-1f85096096ca.html) In an interesting coincidence, Illinois Times editor Fletcher Farrar recently found some old newspapers from 1937 […]
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Pioneer life here was hard on women and animals
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 […]
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It’s time to grow spinach
The arrival of spring is a sure sign of yellow daffodils, green lawns and garden fresh salad. This spring try growing leafy greens, one of the easiest vegetables to grow. You are sure to enjoy the best tasting salad with greens that you have grown. Spring greens such as spinach and lettuce are easy to […]
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When Springfield went to the dogs
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 […]
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When Valentine’s Day gangsters cooled off in Springfield. Or not.
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 […]
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The Lincoln Museum at Lincoln
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 […]
