Springfield is the capital of Illinois. Various themes of the Mythic Mississippi Project are layered here. Among these are Lincoln, African American heritage, Native American heritage, Mormon heritage, and and coal mining heritage.
SPRINGFIELD: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
People are most familiar with Springfield because of its profound connection to Abraham Lincoln as seen in the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Lincoln National Historic Area, Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, Lincoln Depot, Lincoln Family Church, Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site (Oak Ridge Cemetery) and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. These sites are well managed by particular national, state and private agencies with excellent public interpretation. Information is abundantly available on the internet for each.
We are delighted to present two interviews about several of these sites. Below, Site Superintendent Tim Townsend talks about the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, which is a unit of the National Park Service system. CLICK HERE
In the other interview Site Superintendent Justin Blandford talks about the State Historic Sites portfolio in Springfield. CLICK HERE
In addition, the Old State Capitol State Historic Site (hyperlink is to a lecture by Mr. Blandford) and the Governor’s Mansion were recently refurbished and are open to the public with excellent interpretive programs. Like the Lincoln sites, these two sites are well represented on the web.
SPRINGFIELD: AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE
Springfield is the locus of a terrible event of racial prejudice: the 1908 riot, which leveled the prosperous African American neighborhood of Springfield and resulted in the lynching of two Black citizens. CLICK HERE.
Springfield is known to have had Underground Railroad sites, connected to the Underground Railroad in Jacksonville. An article about the UGRR in Springfield can be read here. Our project is trying to plot these locations on a map of Springfield so as open investigation further.
An article by Dean Karau, “Richard E. Carroll – A Black Man’s Journey to Freedom in Illinois” (Illinois Heritage, March-April 2021, pp. 28-34) informs that the daughter of an emancipated slave “purchased a dilapidated house on Twelfth Street” [and Jackson] in 1898 and opened it as the Lincoln Colored Home. This was the oldest orphanage for African American children in Illinois. It was known by several names in addition to the Lincoln Colored Home: the Lincoln Colored Old Folks and Orphans Home.
Although a new building was constructed in 1904 thanks to wealthy benefactors, the orphanage closed in 1933. Today, as seen in the photo below, it is derelict. It should be preserved and interpreted, especially because it is on the National Register of Historic Places (1998) – and there are not enough NRHP designations associated with the African American experience in America. A local group is trying to save the building as indicated on their sign in front of the building. That group is led by Lee Hubbard, son of Lyman Hubbard, one of the Tuskeegee Airmen. The Hubbard Estate owns the building.
Springfield also has a museum of African American history and culture. It is the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum, which is located at the entrance to Oak Ridge Cemetery where Lincoln is buried.
At least twenty-eight Black Civil War veterans are buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery. This includes Lewis Martin, whose shockingly painful photo bears testimony to the horrific wounds of war.
We also include in the African American story of Springfield the Jewish philanthropist, Julius Rosenwald, whose boyhood home was located in what today is the Lincoln Home NPS National Historic Site, because he donated millions of dollars toward the education of African American children in the rural south. We believe that Jewish awareness of prejudice combined with a childhood in Springfield that began while Lincoln was President and continued beyond the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments of the Constitution must have predisposed the young Rosenwald to his lifetime concern with race relations. Rosenwald lived in Springfield until 1878.
SPRINGFIELD: COAL HERITAGE
The importance of coal in the history of the State of Illinois and in Springfield itself is manifested in the statue of a coal miner on the grounds of the Capitol. The statue was dedicated in 1964 and commemorates all the Illinois coal miners who lost their lives in mines across the state.
Some references about coal mines in Springfield itself are found in the city’s newspaper, The State Journal-Register. For instance: “State map update reveals 1800s-era mine in Springfield” by Tim Landis, June 18, 2014 and “Digging Springfield: all about the city’s old underground mines” by Crystal Thomas, April 7, 2018. The Sangamon Link web archive has a very interesting article about the role of Springfield in the UMW-Progressives labor war.
SPRINGFIELD: MORMON HERITAGE
As the state capital Springfield directly intersected the history of the Mormons in Illinois. Legal cases played out at the state level in the Old State Capitol between the Joseph Smith, representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the State of Illinois and other private actors who found legal fault in particular Mormon actions. Indeed, the granting of a town charter to Nauvoo took place in the Old State Capitol where the legislature met. Joseph Smith’s records indicate that he stayed at the American House, which was Springfield’s fanciest hotel in the 1840s. As an individual, in 1843 Joseph Smith fought an extradition order from Missouri in the second-floor rooms of the Tinsley dry goods store building that were rented by the federal government for the U.S. District Court. That building was later occupied by the Lincoln-Hendon law offices (today a State Historic Site). Moreover, the Mormons had passed through Springfield en route to Missouri in 1834 before Springfield became the state capital in 1839.
SPRINGFIELD: NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE
Just outside downtown Springfield, a historic marker commemorates the 1838 passage of 859 Potawatomi people on the Trail of Death that marked their expulsion from their tribal land in Indiana and forced march through Illinois and Missouri to resettlement in eastern Kansas.
Location: Enter Sangamon County from the east on I-72 (US 36) and take exit 108 to get off I-72. Turn south onto CR 7 E (Overpass Rd.) and go about a mile. Turn west (right) on CR 1 AN. Follow CR 1 AN and cross Coal Bank Bridge. You will go under I-72 on CR I (also named Oak Crest Road). The Trail of Death marker will be on your right on the north side of Oak Crest Road near a golf course.
The Potawatomi passed in front of 518 E. Adams Street and opposite the Old State Capitol (which was being built at the time). A commemorative plaque (below) records their steps through the city. (There are several other markers in Illinois.)
Specifically, this plaque is located on the east wall of brick kiosk that covers entrance to underground parking garage. This is in the Old Capitol Plaza, between 5th and 6th streets, Adams and Washington streets.
ALSO OF INTEREST
We call attention to two other aspects of Springfield deserving of attention though without a trail or route framework in which to be embedded at present. Springfield (and nearby Jacksonville) has a fascinating history and heritage of Portuguese immigration: CLICK HERE. Springfield also has a notable “intangible cultural heritage” in the form of its horseshoe sandwich culinary tradition: CLICK HERE.