History

Of the five senses, the olfactory sense is the most closely related to memory. All of us have experienced the phenomenon of being suddenly and almost magically transported back in time, in the mind’s eye, when a particular scent triggers a reaction within us and we find ourselves in that place that we subconsciously associate […]

The decade of the 1930s marked the halcyon days of radio. Television was still a novelty, while radio technology had progressed to a high level of sophistication, allowing for not only both live and taped news and entertainment programming to originate from the studios but from remote locations as well. One of the most popular […]

Although today we live in what might be called the post-railroad age, it is impossible to overstate the importance of railroads in the formation of our great nation. Before their appearance in the 1830s, the single, unified United States we think of today existed only in the minds of political thinkers, not in the minds […]

Justin Taft, well-known Sangamon County farmer and former Clerk of the Supreme Court, recently published a semi-autobiographical look back at his 80-plus years in a book entitled As I Saw It — A Collection of Short Stories on Rochester and the Taft Family. Taft’s stories are of the homespun variety and recall the days before […]

James R. “Bud” Fitzpatrick (1895-82), owner and publisher of the Springfield Citizens Tribune, kept a plaque on his office desk that bore this quotation: “There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” From these words he drew true inspiration, for apparently he felt that he never had a bad idea and […]

At the corner of 12th and Reynolds, hard by what was once the site of the John Hay Homes, stands the former residence and business of August Rechner Sr., a native of Baden, Germany, who emigrated from that place to Springfield in 1895 as a 17-year-old boy. The two buildings have borne witness to so […]

Just a few years ago, when our kids were still quite little, our family was watching an old black-and-white television program when my daughter allowed that she wasn’t altogether enjoying the show. When we asked her why, she innocently asked whether the whole world was black and white “back then.” She was disturbed by the […]

Fans of such insipid pop-culture TV fare as Fear Factor, Survivor, American Idol and other staged, stultifying and overly orchestrated pabulum so mind-numbingly vacuous that you can actually feel your IQ score tumbling as you watch, know this: There was a time when they played for keeps. Remember the 1969 movie They Shoot Horses, Don’t […]

In the days before television talk shows, cooking shows and HGTV — indeed, in the days before television itself — the American woman, who was almost always a housewife, had a limited network of resources upon which to call when she sought information so vital to her occupation: the business of cooking, cleaning, and household […]

Susan Lawrence Dana is best remembered for her Springfield home, designed by the young Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1883, the young Susan Lawrence married Edwin Dana, who worked with Susan’s father on mining interests in the West. Six years later, Susan wrote a poem to Edwin, recounting how he first sent her a valentine and […]

On June 18, 1945, Dick Schofield, a ten-year-old fourth grader from Harvard Park School, had the opportunity to meet the state’s top elected official, Gov. Dwight Green. Schofield, a representative of the Springfield Junior Baseball League, was there to promote the Old Time Baseball Players Association’s “Baseball Day” at Lanphier Park. The program for “Baseball […]

On May 27, 1942, the Hunn sisters of Springfield were innocence and beauty incarnate as they modeled their new spring outfits at Aunt Hannah’s Baby Shop, which was then located at 126 N. Fifth St. in the Orpheum Recreation Palace. They had been specially outfitted for a party at the Leland Hotel to honor their […]