Memories of Christmases past

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

The First Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

How a deadbeat huckster saved history

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 wa

How Sangamon County pols went to the poles in 1844

Springfield Whigs planned to raise the biggest pole in the nation, but disaster struck

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

Spirit of progress

Harvard Park celebrates a century as a working-class neighborhood that still works

T his year Springfield's Harvard Park neighborhood celebrates the centennial of its annexation to the city. The neighborhood's roots reach back to one of Springfield's oldes

A house full of heartache

Revisit Rochester history in weekend events

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 Ne

Springfield’s riot in context

There were riots in Ohio, Missouri, and Indiana, too

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 strug

Pearson’s legacy

SIU’s med school is home to unusual collection of memorabilia

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-cent

A stop on the freedom train

The capital city was an important station on the Underground Railroad

Untitled Document Part of the intrigue of the Underground Railroad is its mystery — we’ll never know the whole story. Its activists tried to keep their w

Medicine woman

Granny Spears learned her healing ways from her hated captors

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

“Hot air”

Remembering when “UFOs” were first spotted in the central Illinois

Untitled Document Seven years before the Wright Brothers’ first flight, Americans were boggled by strange objects in the sky. The phrase “unidentified flying object&#