Neighborhood college
The Council of Neighborhood Associations is sponsoring weekly neighborhood improvement
classes every Thursday night through November 6. Learn how to prevent crime,
preserve historic structures, and solve problems with creative solutions. Tonight’s
sessions–“How to Form a Neighborhood Association” and “Tenants and Landlords”–will
be held at the Lincoln Library, Seventh and Capitol, from 6:15 to 8:30. Subsequent
classes take place at Laurel United Methodist Church, Walnut and South Grand.
There’s a $10 registration fee. Call 787-6610 for more information. (PS)
Cemetery waltz
If your final resting place happens to be at Oak Ridge Cemetery, don’t be surprised
if you’re walking and talking above ground years after your burial.
Just look at cemetery resident Henry Hawkins Owsley. A Kentucky farmer who
despised slavery, he moved north to Springfield and died here in 1867. Or consider
the case of Reed C. Waddell, who, before kicking the bucket in 1895, swindled
hundreds of thousands of dollars from gullible victims buying his bogus gold
bricks. Anne Forquer Campbell passed away in 1891, but every fall you’ll find
her at Oak Ridge talking about her two husbands: George, who helped land the
state capitol in Springfield, and Antrim, a banker and lawyer. Other residents
known to say a few post-mortem words include Martin Baum, the founder of Baum
Stone Marble and Granite Works; Addie Duncan, one of Springfield’s first business
women; Lucinda Parmenter, wife of a successful Chatham farmer; and Thomas Condell,
an early leader of Springfield’s arts community.
Actors portraying the likes of Owsley and company are a regular feature of
the Sangamon County Historical Society’s annual cemetery walk at Oak Ridge.
But even after years of holding the event, society member Nancy Chapin says
it’s still a chore to get anyone to notice. “People don’t know we’re here,”
she says.
Chapin says that’s why the society decided to add something new this year:
“Historama.” Ten historians–including Phillip Paludan, Collum Davis, and Thomas
Schwartz–will be on hand to talk about Abraham Lincoln and other past concerns.
Local history groups and ten local businesses that are at least 100 years old
will be on hand to tell their stories. Music will be provided by the Prairieland
Dulcimer Strings.
The cemetery walk begins in Oak Ridge’s parking lot, where a trolley will
take people by a 1914 horse-drawn hearse and various grave markers whose occupants
will be brought to life (through the actors, of course). It all starts at noon
and goes to 4. It’s free, but donations are welcome. “Historama” will take place
among the magnolia trees across from the original Lincoln vault, downhill from
the current one.
For more information on the Sagamon County Historical Society, visit www.sancohis.org.
(JC)
The way it was
The very first Farm Progress Show
took place 50 years ago on the Earl Bass farm in Armstrong. Flatville farmer
Darius Harms recalls the original exhibition of modern farming equipment with
a sense of awe. He explains he was just “a school kid.”
Last week the 2003 show was held just a few miles away, at the Gernand &
Clark Farms. Several days before, Harms and his colleagues mounted their own
celebration: A Classic Tractor Drive at the I & I Antique Tractor &
Gas Engine Club’s show grounds in Penfield. “We did this the weekend before
so as not to steal thunder from the Farm Progress Show,” says Darius. But after
rain caused the Farm Progress Show to cancel two days, the Classic Tractor Drive
ended up as one of the week’s highlights.
During the parade, Darius spelled out the significance of each piece of equipment:
“After WWII, we tried to feed a hungry world. Machinery was advancing as fast
as it could. Different companies were trying to get into the act.”
Farming demonstrations were conducted with equipment from the 1950s and ’60s.
WGN’s Max Armstrong turned 50 along with his Super H Farmall tractor. Eventually
most of this equipment will end up in a permanent display at the Farm Progress
Show. But for now, Harms is still putting it to good use. Last spring he used
a 1946 McCormick Deering Farmall M and a 1952 two-row planter in one field,
and he’ll use vintage equipment for harvest as well. Besides tractors, the Classic
Tractor Drive featured a team of draft horses. Darius says in 1953 horses were
still used locally for farming. “In Vermillion County, half of the farms still
had horses.” In the days leading up to the Farm Progress Show, some farmers
took the time to remember the way it was. (CL)
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2003.
