The Illinois Foundry Co. made everything from two-ton industrial castings to cast-iron skillets. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/illinois-fou...

Parking meters are on their way out, the city of Springfield says. Here’s how they came in, ICYMI on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/first-parkin...

Four Springfieldians, including an ex-mayor, were scalded to death in an 1873 train collision. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/chicago-alto...

Yesterday’s rainfall, 3.62 inches, set a record for any April 27 in Springfield history. But when you’re counting deluges, nothing matches September 1926. ICYMI on SangamonLInk: sangamoncountyhistory.org/rainfall-rec...

Springfield’s U.S. Post Office honors a World War II hero. Quietly. New on SangamonLInk: sangamoncountyhistory.org/col-john-h-w...

For the centennial of Route 66: See Tom Waldmire cook Cozy Dogs and listen to the Illinois State Museum’s Route 66 oral history project. Links to both, new on SangamonLink. sangamoncountyhistory.org/route-66/

The Madison Furniture Co. ruled women’s softball in Springfield during the 1940s. Meet the team, new on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/madison-furn...

Among its attractions for travelers on Route 66: Sundown Corner had indoor restrooms. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/sundown-corn...

Ten people died in a fire at a shabby Washington Street nursing home in May 1972. In terms of fatalities, the tragedy is the worst in Springfield history. SangamonLink’s updated entry tells the sad life story of one of the victims. sangamoncountyhistory.org/carver-conva...

St. Patrick School is slated to close. Read about its history on SangamonLink, ICYMI: sangamoncountyhistory.org/st-patrick-p...

Women first served on Sangamon County juries in 1931. Among those who objected? Springfield’s “godfather,” Frank Zito. For Women’s History Month from SangamonLink (ICYMI): sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/first-wom...

The Curve Inn came by its name honestly. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/the-curve...

Route 66 in 1946: A writer had questions. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/route-66-...

The 50-year history of National Public Radio in central Illinois, new on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/national-...

After traveling to Africa in 1848, a Black Springfield barber and bathhouse owner declared himself “a warm friend and enthusiastic admire of Liberia.” New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/samuel-s-...

The forerunner of today’s Lincoln Library was founded amid controversy over whether civil rights pioneer Frederick Douglass should be invited to speak in Springfield. (Lincoln Library celebrates 140 years as a city institution on Monday.) From SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/springfie...

“Hickey” was a better deal than “Lucky.” Springfield experiments with gasoline-powered police and fire vehicles in the nineteen-teens. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/first-mot...

Old Central Illinois saying: “If you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes. It’ll change.” But the upcoming cold spell won’t be anything like the legendary Sudden Change of 1836. ICYMI on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/the-sudde...

Built in 1905, rebuilt in 2001, Auburn's 2-story bandstand is "something unique and something to see." New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/auburns-d...

The Tuxhorn coal mine near Rochester went through a typical life cycle: boom, bust, and redevelopment. Read its story, new on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/tuxhorn-m...

It was New Year’s Eve every night at the Lake Club. Read the story of Springfield’s famed nightclub/gambling den, ICYMI on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/the-lake-...

James Wickersham left Springfield as a fledgling attorney. When he died 50 years later, he was renowned throughout Alaska. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/james-wic...

Why is Alaska’s 35th-tallest mountain named after a woman from Rochester? Raymond Bruzan has the answer on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/rochester...

Santa fell victim to snowballs in Springfield’s 1950 Christmas parade. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/santa-sur...

At Springfield’s Oriental Café a century ago, the Thanksgiving special went way beyond turkey. Here’s the menu, on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/thanksgiv...

Ethelbert Kalb’s steamboat was the highlight of Glenwood Park. New on SangamonLink: sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/glenwood-...

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

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

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...

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/

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/

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...

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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-...

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...

“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...

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

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

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...

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...

“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...

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...