SangamonLink

Beauty ban, 1911 Illinois State Fair The “lady managers” of the 1911 Illinois State Fair’s domestic science school were appalled when they learned one of their instructors was giving young women advice on cosmetics well as hygiene. Th…

Beauty advice was out of bounds at the 1911 Illinois State Fair. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/beauty-ba...

Krous Park Beer was the lifeblood of Krous Park, which operated west of Amos Avenue in Springfield from about 1878 until the early 1910s. John G. Krous (1847-94), who owned a saloon on the northwest corner of…

Krous Park, off Amos Avenue, lived and died by beer. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/krous-park/

Oops ... 179 years. (Date is right in the entry itself.)

Donner Party: Emigrant tragedy The Donner Party left Springfield to emigrate to California in mid-April 1846 but became stranded in deep snow near present-day Truckee, Calif. The group’s experience is remembered primarily becaus…

On this day 129 years ago, the Donner Party was straggling into the Sierra Nevada mountains, headed for its date with destiny. Read Read SangamonLink’s newly expanded entry on the Donner tragedy and its Sangamon County origins. sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/donner-pa...

Springfield Survey, 1914 The Springfield Survey of 1914 was a massive study of local schools, prisons, and other institutions, and it’s still well-known in the fields of sociology and social work. But, partly because it wa…

The Springfield Survey of 1914 examined the lives of people who don’t usually make it into the history books: common laborers, schoolchildren, petty criminals, the poor, mentally ill and feeble. There’s never been anything like it anywhere else.
From SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/1010/

Springfield Zouave Grays go to war, 1861 “The city yesterday (wore) a camp like appearance,” the Illinois State Journal reported April 18, 1861, three days after President Lincoln called for volunteers to defend the Union from southern re…

The Springfield Zouave Grays were the first Illinois unit to respond to President Lincoln's call for volunteers to preserve the Union. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/springfie...

The Pillsbury smokestack comes down at 10 a.m. today (Thursday, Sept. 18). Moving Pillsbury Forward has a viewing site near 15th & Phillips.
"MPF volunteers will be on site to welcome visitors. We look forward to seeing many friends throughout the day and hearing their Pillsbury stories."

Demolition of Springfield's Pillsbury plant starts this week. Moving Pillsbury Forward will provide a viewing area.
MPF: “We hope to see many of our friends this week as we celebrate the bittersweet end of the Pillsbury era in Springfield.”
sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/1541/

Coal mining For several years in the middle of the 20th century, Sangamon County was a leader among Illinois counties in the production of bituminous coal. Coal was discovered in Illinois as early as 1673, whe…

The last coal mine in Sangamon County (the Viper Mine near Williamsville) is shutting down, the finale to an industry that brought prosperity, immigrants and, sometimes, tragedy to central Illinois for 150 years.
ICYMI, from SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/coal-mini...

Gray Eagle’s Salve Chief Gray Eagle, a Native American born in Oregon, sold what the label claimed was a miracle-working ointment for two decades in Springfield. According to the label on each 2-ounce, $1.25 jar, Gra…

Chief Gray Eagle, born on the Umatilla reservation in Oregon, sold his proprietary salve and educated Springfieldians on Native American history. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/gray-eagl...

Early farming changes (William Herndon description) On Aug. 31, 1876, William Herndon (1818-91), Abraham Lincoln’s last law partner and biographer, spoke to the ninth annual meeting of the Old Settlers of Sangamon County. Here is part of his speech,…

‘Illinois was hell on oxen and women’: William Herndon, 149 years ago. ICYMI on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/early-far...

Sparrow slaughter, 1891-1901 Illinois had a bounty on English sparrows from 1891 to 1901. The birds endured, but the bounty was a bonanza for young boys with BB guns. The English sparrow (also known as the house sparrow), was …

Illinois put a bounty on the English sparrow – “a bird unclean in habits, murderous in practice” – in 1891. It didn’t work. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/sparrow-s...

The automobile as ‘devil wagon’ – Illinois State Register, 1907 The Illinois State Register, in an editorial published on Friday, Nov. 8, 1907, reluctantly admitted “the automobile has doubtless come to stay.” But the writer – probably the Register’s longtime e…

Henry W. Clendenin, longtime editor of the Illinois State Register, was no friend of the automobile. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/the-autom...

Kiddie Land amusement park Kiddie Land was Springfield’s home-grown amusement park in the 1950s and ‘60s. On opening day, May 27, 1950, every child received a balloon, and rides – on the merry-go-round, ponies, boats and a f…

Rides were two for a quarter at Kiddie Land. A look at Springfield's homegrown amusement park, new on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/kiddie-la...

Illinois State Fair beer ban, 1953-74 Acting on complaints from church groups and parents, the administration of Gov. William G. Stratton prohibited the sale of beer at the 1953 Illinois State Fair. The ban on beer, as well as on any o…

Police worried about “beerleggers” following Gov. William J. Stratton’s 1953 ban on beer sales at the Illinois State Fair. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/illinois-...

Pillsbury, 1940: 100 steps between wheat & flour (illustration) The Pillsbury Flour Mills Co. celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Springfield plant with, among other things, this advertisement in the Feb. 29, 1940, edition of the Illinois State Register. As …

See how Pillsbury Flour Mills Co. celebrated its 10th anniversary in Springfield. From SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/pillsbury...

New: The Pillsbury Project has released 128 pages of documentation as demolition proceeds at the almost-100-year-old plant. Milling raw wheat was a complicated, expensive and (for some of us) fascinating process; this is the best look you’re liable to get. pillsburyproject.org/wp-content/u...

‘Bee-Keeping for Women’ (1909) by Louisa C. Kennedy John A. (1808-92) and Elizabeth Kennedy (1812-92) moved with their six children from Pennsylvania in 1860 and took up farming in the Curran area. For some period of time, possibly beginning as soon…

“Not so bad for two women, pretty well along in years” – the business of beekeeping at the turn of the 20th century. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/bee-keepi...

Peter Vredenburgh Lumber Co. & its Alabama company town The Vredenburgh family operated lumber businesses in Springfield for 145 years. One of the main reasons for the Vredenburghs’ success, though overlooked in Springfield, was the logging empire the V…

Springfield’s hometown lumber family also owned a timber empire in the woodlands of Alabama. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/peter-vre...

Leland Grove The city of Leland Grove was formed in response to a plague of potholes. Subdivision development took off in the area, on the southwest side of the city of Springfield, after World War II. But it w…

The city of Leland Grove, Ill., turns 75 this year. The reason it exists? Potholes. ICYMI on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/leland-gr...

‘Tamale men’ (1890s) Roving “tamale men” became a late-night phenomenon in downtown Springfield around the turn of the 20th century, and a single family kept the tradition going until the 1960s. The Illinois State Jour…

Red hots, pepper fiends and the DeCrastos family … Before food trucks, tamales were Springfield’s favorite street food. ICYMI on SangamonLink sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/tamale-me...

Henry Stephens: miner, Carl Sandburg muse Henry Stephens was an African-American coal miner in central Illinois from the 1890s into the early 20th century. Poet Carl Sandburg talked to Stephens sometime around 1917 and turned Stephens’ tho…

A new historical marker remembers coal miner Henry Stephens and his connection to Carl Sandburg. SangamonLink tells the rest of the story. sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/harry-ste...

Charles Coe, “Texas immigration agent” Charles C. Coe took an unusual approach to his Springfield real estate business: he tried to get people to leave town. Coe  (1860-1926) worked in central Illinois from about 1901 until 1920, billin…

“Texas is great” – In the early 1900s, Charles C. Coe used railroad junkets to sell western real estate. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/charles-c...

1910 Springfield Park Board election: ‘Shameful & disgraceful’ Political insiders went all-out to rig the 1910 Springfield Park Board election. “Spreading around the apparent victory (of incumbent park board members) lurks the shadow of the most amazing corrup…

The most important date in the Springfield Park Board’s 125-year history may have been Election Day 1910. The skullduggery was brazen.
ICYMI on SangamonLink sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/1910-spri...

2-year-old vanishes, 1950 Two-year-old Earnest Cagle Jr. was asleep when his parents went into Cecil Delay’s bar in Buckhart about 11 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, 1950. He was still sleeping when his father checked on him a c…

A toddler slept in a car while his parents visited a bar. Then he was gone. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/2-year-ol...

William Dodd Chenery, impresario The dedication of Lake Springfield on July 12, 1935 featured an elaborate pageant involving more than 100 participants – among them city fathers who portrayed themselves in a drama depicting the pl…

Lake Springfield’s 90th anniversary party tomorrow (Monday, June 2) features music, games and birthday cake. That’s nothing compared to the 3-day extravaganza CWLP, with the help of showman William Dodd Chenery, put on in 1935. ICYMI, from SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/william-d...

John W. Sturdy, Rochester’s Confederate veteran This entry is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in the May 2025 edition of The Prairie Land Buzz Magazine. Copyright Raymond Bruzan. Published with permission. Contributor: R…

John W. Sturdy, veteran of the Confederate Army, spent his postwar life farming in Sangamon County. The trunk he brought with him from Virginia now is in the collection of the Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/john-w-st...

Henrietta Ulrich, businesswoman Henrietta Ulrich, the story goes, sold her fabulous pearl necklace to buy what became the near west side of Springfield. Sadly, the story probably isn’t true. As a young woman, Ulrich (1797-1887) h…

Henrietta Ulrich was successful because of her business talent – not (probably) her pearls. Meet this 1840s entrepreneur on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/henrietta...

‘The Sycamore Sentry’: Memories of Cantrall, 1950s (This entry is excerpted from Old Cantrall: The History of a Small Village Carved Out of the Illinois Wilderness, a work-in-progress by Cantrall native Andrew Wasilewski.) “It was a special place d…

“It was a special place during a special time with special people.” Andrew Wasilewski’s upcoming book tells the history of Cantrall. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/the-sycam...

Springfield Sallies (professional women’s baseball) Note: This entry was expanded in May 2025 to add information on local women who played in the AAGPBL. See below. The Springfield Sallies were one of the least successful, and also shortest-lived, t…

Four Springfield women played in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. Who were they? Find out on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/springfie...