Corn Kings and One-Horse Thieves
Odds & ends
Illinois past and present, as seen by James Krohe Jr.
The Corn Latitudes
Springfield
I lived in Illinois's state capital for the first 40 years of my life, and commented on it in print for more than a half-century. Here you will find many of those articles about my home town—its culture and history, its social life and government, its tourist sites and notable residents as they appeared mainly in Focus, Atlantis, The Phoenix, Illinois Times, and The Reader of Chicago.
There are of course two Springfields, as there are two Albanys or two Sacramentos. Because it is the state capital, "Springfield" to Illinoisans at large means state government. The other Springfield is the mid-sized Midwestern backwater that hosts state government, a town described by Andrew Ferguson in his 2007 book Land of Lincoln as “a clapped out old burg." Us natives protested that this was inaccurate, Springfield being not all that old. I recently found an undated manuscript in my files, probably from 1975, in which I averred, "My perspective on Springfield history can be stated as follows: the study of Springfield’s past is fueled by the same curiosity that causes a pathologist, when confronted by a corpse, to wonder how it died." Yes, imitation Mencken, but no less true for that.
Posting every Springfield title in my archives on a single page would make it unwieldy, so links have been grouped by topic, which lists appear on their own pages. All other Springfield pieces are listed individually below, in no particular order.
Articles about the city-within-the-city that is the State of Illinois establishment appear here; articles whose principal focus is the man who made Springfield famous appear here. See also Springfield boy for articles about Springfield as it was experienced by this Springfieldian.
Missing is a chapter I co-wrote in 1980 with Cullom Davis titled "Springfield: An Evolving Capital," which appeared in The Middle-size Cities of Illinois: Their People, Politics, and Quality of Life, edited by Daniel Milo Johnson and Rebecca Monroe Veach and published by Sangamon State University. I remember almost nothing about it, and doubt that it is something that the serious student of Springfield needs to read.
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Springfield history (including Lincoln)
Springfield schools (including
higher ed)
Springfield nature & environment
Springfield politics & government
In which Springfield’s canned “chillis” pass a test
"Prejudices" Illinois Times December 2, 1982
Of Birthdays, Gracie Allen, and Exiles
Baby steps at Illinois Times
"Prejudices" Illinois Times September 18, 1980
Still Alternative After All These Years
Springfield and Illinois Times after 35 years
""Dyspepsiana" Illinois Times September 30, 2010
Springfield tries to have fun. It isn’t pretty
“Prejudices” Illinois Times July 10, 1981
Taking the Christian out of Christianity
The YMCA picks up a new name but sells an old idea
"Dyspepsiana" Illinois Times August 12, 2010
Dull Springfield
Springfield is hardly alone in being just the tiniest bit sensitive about how outsiders see it. (One of my favorite books is Chicago: The History of Its Reputation by Lloyd Lewis and Henry Justin Smith, Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929.) However, Springfield might have better reasons for its sensitivity than most places.
When the statehouse sleeps, Springfield snores
"Prejudices" Illinois Times April 9, 1981
“I’m Proud to Be a North Ender”
Springfield's most Springfield neighborhood
"Prejudices" Illinois Times September 5, 1980
Social issues
Race, demographics, poverty, public health, class divisions, immigration, and kindred topics as disputed in the state capital.
Racial change in 1970s Springfield
“Prejudices” Illinois Times May 8, 1981
What riot? Springfield still won’t talk about race
"Prejudices" Illinois Times September 20, 1990
Sangamon County shows the nation how to die young
“Dyspepsiana” Illinois Times May 17, 2012
Living Too High Off the Hog
Springfield can’t keep living like this
"Dyspepsiana" Illinois Times March 3, 2011
The immigration issue in 1980s Springfield
Dyspepsiana" Illinois Times January 28, 2016
Immigrants as the solution, not the problem
"Dyspepsiana" Illinois Times November 10, 2011
Springfield’s city band marches into Salzburg
"Prejudices" Illinois Times August 23, 1990
Charlie Parker’s winning way to disguise English muffins
“Dyspepsiana” Illinois Times November 5, 2015
Organized fun in Springfield. In Springfield?
“Prejudices” Illinois Times August 15, 1980
Looking back on high school sports rivalries
"Dyspepsiana" Illinois Times March 31, 2011
The Wandering Whistler in White
Springfield’s abundance of eccentricity
“Prejudices” Illinois Times February 18, 1977
A Springfield developer floats a casino plan
"Prejudices" Illinois Times April 28, 1994
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SITES
OF
INTEREST
Essential for anyone interested in Illinois history and literature. Hallwas deservedly won the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society.
One of Illinois’s best, and least-known, writers of his generation. Take note in particular of The Distancers and Road to Nowhere.
See Home Page/Learn/
Resources for a marvelous building database, architecture dictionary, even a city planning graphic novel. Handsome, useful—every Illinois culture website should be so good.
The online version of The Encyclopedia of Chicago. Crammed with thousands of topic entries, biographical sketches, maps and images, it is a reference work unmatched in Illinois.
The Illinois chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2018 selected 200 Great Places in Illinois that illustrate our shared architectural culture across the entire period of human settlement in Illinois.
A nationally accredited, award-winning project of the McLean County Historical Society whose holdings include more than 20,000 objects, more than 15,000 books on local history and genealogy, and boxes and boxes of historical papers and images.
Mr. Lincoln, Route 66, and Other Highlights of Lincoln, Illinois
Every Illinois town ought to have a chronicler like D. Leigh Henson, Ph.D. Not only Lincoln and the Mother road—the author’s curiosity ranges from cattle baron John Dean Gillett to novelist William Maxwell. An Illinois State Historical Society "Best Web Site of the Year."
Created in 2000, the IDA is a repository for the digital collections of the Illinois State Library and other Illinois libraries and cultural institutions. The holdings include photographs, slides, and glass negatives, oral histories, newspapers, maps, and documents from manuscripts and letters to postcards, posters, and videos.
The people's museum is a treasure house of science and the arts. A research institution of national reputation, the museum maintains four facilities across the state. Their collections in anthropology, fine and decorative arts, botany, zoology, geology, and history are described here. A few museum publications can be obtained here.
“Chronicling Illinois” showcases some of the collections—mostly some 6,000 photographs—from the Illinois history holdings of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.
I will leave it to the authors of this interesting site to describe it. "Chicagology is a study of Chicago history with a focus on the period prior to the Second World War. The purpose of the site is to document common and not so common stories about the City of Chicago as they are discovered."
Illinois Labor History Society
The Illinois Labor History Society seeks to encourage the preservation and study of labor history materials of the Illinois region, and to arouse public interest in the profound significance of the past to the present. Offers books reviews, podcasts, research guides, and the like.
Illinois Migration History 1850-2017
The University of Washington’s America’s Great Migrations Project has compiled migration histories (mostly from the published and unpublished work by UW Professor of History James Gregory) for several states, including Illinois. The site also includes maps and charts and essays about the Great Migration of African Americans to the north, in which Illinois figured importantly.
An interesting resource about the history of one of Illinois’s more interesting places, the Fox Valley of Kendall County. History on the Fox is the work of Roger Matile, an amateur historian of the best sort. Matile’s site is a couple of cuts above the typical buff’s blog. (An entry on the French attempt to cash in on the trade in bison pelts runs more than
2,000 words.)
BOOKS
OF INTEREST
Southern Illinois University Press 2017
A work of solid history, entertainingly told.
Michael Burlingame,
author of Abraham
Lincoln: A Life
One of the ten best books on Illinois history I have read in a decade.
Superior Achievement Award citation, ISHS Awards, 2018
A lively and engaging study . . . an enthralling narrative.
James Edstrom
The Annals of Iowa
A book that merits the attention of all Illinois historians
as well as local historians generally.
John Hoffman
Journal of Illinois HIstory
A model for the kind of detailed and honest history other states and regions could use.
Harold Henderson
Midwestern Microhistory
A fine example of a resurgence of Midwest historical scholarship.
Greg Hall
Journal of the Illinois
State Historical Society
Click here
to buy the book
Southern Illinois University Press
SIU Press is one of the four major university publishing houses in Illinois. Its catalog offers much of local interest, including biographies of Illinois political figures, the history (human and natural) and folklore of southern Illinois, the Civil War and Lincoln, and quality reprints in the Shawnee Classics series.
The U of I Press was founded in 1918. A search of the online catalog (Books/Browse by subject/Illinois) will reveal more than 150 Illinois titles, books on history mostly but also butteflies, nature , painting, poetry and fiction, and more. Of particular note are its Prairie State Books, quality new paperback editions of worthy titles about all parts of Illinois, augmented with scholarly introductions.
The U of C publishing operation is the oldest (1891) and largest university press in Illinois. Its reach is international, but it has not neglected its own neighborhood. Any good Illinois library will include dozens of titles about Chicago and Illinois from Fort Dearborn to
Vivian Maier.
Northern Illinois University Press
The newest (1965) and the smallest of the university presses with an interest in Illinois, Northern Illinois University Press gave us important titles such as the standard one-volume history of the state (Biles' Illinois:
A History of the Land and Its People) and contributions to the history of Chicago, Illinois transportation, and the Civil War. Now an imprint of Cornell University Press.
Reviews and significant mentions by James Krohe Jr. of more than 50 Illinois books, arranged in alphabetical order
by book title.
Run by the Illinois State Library, The Center promotes reading, writing and author programs meant to honor the state's rich literary heritage. An affiliate of the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book, the site offers award competitions, a directory of Illinois authors, literary landmarks, and reading programs.
