USA > Missouri > Greene County > Springfield > Items of genealogical interest in the Springfield, Greene County, Missouri newspapers, the Springfield leader and the Springfield daily news for 1929, Part 2 > Part 47
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1866
... Mar. 1 - The Rev. Father Francis W. Graham came from Rolla to say first Catholic mass here. In 1868, under his leadership, the Kelso College Building, northwest corner North Campbell and
Tampa, became original Immaculate Conception Church.
1867
Fcb. 3 - Fire in northwest corner of Public Square burned Union Press, a grocery, saloon, stagecoach company barn, two warehouses, and a row of Negro cabins in Jordan Valley.
Shortly after fire, Pride of West Hook and Ladder Company of volunteer fire fighters was organized with William Il. Worrell, captain.
April 4 - First publication of The Springfield (weekly) Leader issued by O. S. Fahenstock and Company with Daniel C. Kennedy, editor, and, after September. 1868, owner. It became a daily, May 3, 1870, but there was later interval of weekly publication before it returned to daily.
lune 13 - Hazelwood Cemetery bought by city.
National Cemetery established by United States government. During the year, reburial of 1514 Union soldiers, of whom 795 were identified, was made from original burial sites al area Civil War encounters.
Aug. 7 - First Springfield street lights - four coal oil lamps on Square. with one at each street entrance. Soon five more gleamed on Boonville Irom Square to Jordan Creek.
Sept. 9 . First public schools here opened in three rented buildings. Cen- tral School. Jefferson and Olive, opened in 1871: Negro School, at Washington and Central. in 1872. Jonathan Fairbanks served as superintendent 1875-1912
Permilla Caroline Stephens, widow of Prof. John A. Stephens, founder of first academy here, was appointed postmaster (1867-'77). the only woman over to serve in that office in Spring- field.
1868
May 30 - First Springfield Memorial Day (called Decoration Day) featured a National Cemetery program. Speakers were S. H. Boyd and William E. Gil- more.
1869
May 30 - Monument to United States soldiers in the Battle of Springfield. built with $5000 bequest in will of Dr. T. J. Bailey, dedicated at National Ceme- tery.
Corporate limits of town extended by Missouri General Assembly.
1870
Springfield's population: 5555.
Apr. 21 - Construction train of South Pacific Railway, later Frisco, pulled into station at Commercial and Benton. Formal opening of road connecting with line built before Civil War to Arlington,
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It was a hot day shortly after the Civil War when a patriotic meeting, with both Blue and Gray veterans on hand, was held in the Public Square. The courthouse can be seen at the entrance to College Street. Farther down the street, the tower of First Christian Church rises above nearby buildings. The crowd (ahove) gathered April 15, 1906. the day after the lynching of three men on the Public Square. In the background is the old red brick Greene County jail from which a moh removed the men. The sheriff's home is in the foreground. .
was May 3.
Confederate Cemetery was es- tablished adjoining National Cemetery "and 501 dead, mostly unidentified, were moved there from nearby battlefields. Decd to Confederate Cemetery, combining with National, was signed, June 28. 1911, by Harvey W. Salmon, president of State Confederate Asso- ciation, and J. E. Elliott, secretary. Confederate monument, Chevalier Trentanove sculptor. was dedicated, Aug. 10. 1901. Last eligible burial in cemetery, May 22, 1964, was Mrs. Mar- tha Ann Hadden, widow of Thomas Hen- Ty Hadden, Confederate calvaryman.
Maple Park Cemetery chartered.
June 6 - Ozark House, hotel built by South Pacific Railway Company, was opened on Commercial Street near sta- tion. It burned in 1874; rebuilt in 1879.
Springfield Wagon Company orga- nized; reorganized in 1872. Famous for wagons for 70 years.
July 4 - Town of North Springfield was incorporated.
1871
Sept. 7 - Metropolitan Hotel on Col- lege Street opened with grand ball. Outstanding hotel 40 years; closed 1952; razed 1954 for parking lot.
Wooden bell tower and band stand built in center -of Public Square; remained until 1882.
1872
Springfield Woolen Mill completed on present site of Grant Beach Park; badly damaged in tornado, Nov. 5, 1881. It operated 18 years.
Mansfield Theater opened on South Avenue.
1873
Sept. 25 - First term of Drury College opened with 30 students and three in- . structors.
1874
Springfield Gas Company organized; began operations in 1875.
1875
June 3. Springfield observed a day of fasting and prayer, proclaimed
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It was a hot day shortly after the Civil War when a patriotic meeting, with both Blue and Gray veterans on hand, was held in the Public Square. The courthouse can be seen at the entrance to College Street. Farther down the street, the tower of First Christian Church rises above nearby buildings. The crowd (above) gathered April 15. 1906, the day after the lynching of three men on the Public Square. In the background is the old red brick Greene County jail from which a mob removed the men. The sherill's home is in the foreground.
statewide by Gov. Charles H. Hardin, because of grasshopper destruction. Later the town had a benefit concert for victims of the grasshopper onslaught.
1878
Telephone exchange opened in home of Edward Woelk.
May 20 - First train of Western Missouri Railroad Company, organized by Springfield businessmen, came in over track connecting Mill Street Sta- tiun and Ash Grove. This line resulted in Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis (Gulf) Railroad coming to Springfield, March 25, 1881. The Frisco System and Memphis line were consolidated in May, 1901, and the Commercial Street station abandoned.
1879
Feb. 22 - Saturday Club organized; federated 1896. The oldest Iederated woman's club west of the Mississippi River.
Charter for street railroad granted to
I. F. Fellows, R. J. McElhany, and James Stoughton. Mule car introduced in 1880. Route was on Boonville from the Public Square to Commercial, thence to Frisco Station at Benton. There were two miles of track, seven cars, 20 horses and mules. Other lines soon were built and most street cars electrified by 1899, Springfield being one of the early United States cities to have electric street cars. Last mule car operated in 1903; electric cars quit, Aug. 30, 1937.
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Springheld's population, 6522; North Springfield, 997.
April 18 - Springfield felt small effect of "eyclone" which demolished Marsh- feld, where 60 were killed, 32 died from wounds, and others were permanently
crippled.
1882
- Lowered railroad freight rates en- couraged fruit raising. Ira S. llaseltine and Sons had largest apple orchard near Springfield.
1883
Sept. 19 - P. B. Perkins, Fort Scott, Kan., exercised franchise given by City Council and organized Springfield Wa- ter Company under laws of Missouri.
Aug. 9 - Monument to Gen. Nathaniel Lyon dedicated on Public Square; re- moved to National Cemetery, 1885.
Nov. 5 - Around eight persons were killed and many injured as tornado swept North Springfield from the Wnolen Mill at present Grant Beach Park, east on Division Street and Lo- cust, damaging the mill, destroying Sa- ered Heart Church and 40 houses.
1886
Some streets were lighted by Spring- field Gas and Electric Company.
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1887
April 4 - Voters overwhelmingly vot- ed to consolidate Springfield and North Springfield.
First large office building, four sto- ries, later increased to five, built by Judge James Baker at northwest corner Public Square and Olive. Called the Baker Block, it had Springfield's first elevator. It was torn down in 1950 to make way for addition to lleer's Store.
July - T. B. Collins arrived to become Springfield's weather observer, as United States Weather Bureau was be- ing established in Baker Block. Obser- vations began Sept. 20. Bureau was moved June 13, 1894, to new Post Office building (now City Hall), Boonville and Brower, thence to Springfield Municipal Airport, July 2, 1945. Several short - lived weather observation began as early as 1857.
YMCA organized with first quarters at College and Campbell. A. A. Mehl was chairman of organization committee; L. W. Hubbell, first vice president; and W. A. Brubaker, first secretary. Three story building was , governor of Missouri. Ile also was mili- tary governor of .Arkansas for a short time and was defense attorney for Wild Bill Hickok after Hickok shot a man to death on the Public Square.
ereeled at southeast corner of St. Louis and Jefferson; burned March 20, 1911, with $40,000 loss; reopened in Sept., 1913, in new building at Jefferson and Traffic (now Pershing).
Well dng in 1858 as fire protection, on Public Square was filled. The pump had . been laken out and the well closed for use in 1884.
1888
Jan. 1 - First free mail delivery in city. Post Office was in arcade at southeast corner of Public Square.
Perkins Grand Opera House, west side of Boonville near Central, opened with Grand English Opera Company featuring Emma Abbott Three nights and matinee. Building burned, March 27, 1896.
City had 70 street lamps (gas) and petitions were circulated for more.
1890
Springfield's population: 21,850.
Sempronius Hamilton "Pony" Boyd, Springfield lawyer and former con- gressman, appointed minister resident and consul - general to Siam. Because of Illness, he returned home two years later, leaving his son, Dr. Robert Boyd, in charge of the American office al Bangkok. Dr. Boyd became a friend of King Chulalongkorn, formerly the prince taught by Anna of "Anna and the King of Siam" and "The King and I." Because of friendship with the Spring- fieldian, King Chulalongkorn presented an autographed set of rare Siamese religious writings to Drury College. S. 11 Boyd died in 1894; Dr. Boyd uf ma-
John Smith Phelps, who lived in Spring- field from 1837 until his death in 1886. served in Congress 18 years and became
laria about a year later. 1891
October - St. John's Hospital opened. southeast corner Washington and Chest- nut, by Sisters of Mercy.
Nov. 28 . First organized football played in Springfield - Drury, 0; Washington University 18.
Bonds were voted for sewage disposal.
1891
July 11 - First failure of a Springfield bank. Four more banks closed in next four weeks, but one reopened. There had been 12.
Temple Israel organized. Building at Belmont and Kickapoo was built in 1930.
First section of Springfield lligh School (now Central) at Jefferson and Central, was built at cost of $100,000 on former site of home of Dr. E. T. Robberson, which was purchased for $15,000. High school classes were moved from old Centra! School building at Jef- ferson and Olive, where grade school classes were continued several years.
1891
June 24 - Springfield Post Office opened In new Federal Building on Boonville Avenue at Brower Street; T. C. Love, postmaster. Extensive addition to building completed in 1914. After Fed- eral Bullding at Boonville and Central was occupied, July 5, 1938, former site became City Hall, with lots owned by city between the two sites being exchanged. The city originally had
planned to build a city hall on these lots.
1895
Ilarry S. Jewell bought The Spring- field (Daily) Leader. Later he combined The Herald with it.
"Gottfried" or "Electric" Tower. with band and speakers platform, built on Public Square; removed in 1909.
1896
The Springfield Telephone Company bad 250 subserlbers.
Sorosis Club organized; federated in 1897.
Pald Springfeld Fire Department organized.
1898
Two companies of volunteers left for Spanish - American War but did not serve in Cuba.
1893
Feb. 12 - Springfield's coldest day on record - 29 degrees below zero.
Frisco Hospital Association orga- nized and hospital built at Broad (now Broadway) and Atlantic, but abandoned in 1922.
1900
Springfield's population: 23,267.
1902
Aug. 29 - Melal footbridge over Frisco tracks north of Commercial Street opened. It extended from Jeffer- son and Commercial, north to Chase. Cost was $8200.
1903
Sept. 25 - Cornerstone laid for Springfield Carnegie Public Library, Central and Jefferson. It was built with $50,000 gift of Andrew Carnegie. First patrons were served March 12, 1905.
Oct. 15 - Abou Ben Adhem Temple of the Mystic Shrine was installed with headquarters in Masonic Temple, 305 East Walnut, until moved to Shrine Mosque.
1901
Jan. 6 - Springfield Hospital Asso- ciation and Training School for Nurses organized. Building opened, Jan. I. 1905, as Springfield Hospital. It later became Springfield Baptist Hospital; now Park Central Hospital.
June 26 - St. Paul Methodist Episco- pnl Church, South, now St. Paul United Methodist Church, dedicated new build- ing at Jefferson and East Walnut. It replaced building at southwest corner of South and Walnut started In late 1850s. The congregation's first building in Springfield was In 1842 at Patton and Pershing.
Oct. 17 - First night football game in history (according to longtime Spring- field contention) played here when Springfield Normal, a private institution, defeated Cherokee Institute of Tahlequah, I.T., 11 to 0.
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1905
March 20, Diemer Theater, built by Dr. F. W. Diemer, opened on Commercial Street. Pearl White, a Springfield girl, was among those working in box office. She became fa- mons in early movies in starring role of "Perils of Pauline," a popular serial.
1906
Feb. 16. F. W. Woolworth store opened here.
Feb. 22 - St. John's Hospital opened al Nichols and Main, in move from first site on Washington Avenue. Cornerstone had been laid by Gov. Joseph Folk in impressive ceremonies. Building Jater was expanded and became Merey Villa Nursing Home after hospital moved to 1235 East Cherokee. I opened there Oct. 2. 1952. Roth institutions were es- tablished and conducted by the Sisters of Mercy. A new Merey Villa, adjoining the new hospital tract, is under con- struction.
April 14 - Mob men estimated at 5000, broke into Greene County Jail and took three Negro men, lynching them on the Public Square. This was on Easter Eve.
June 11 - First session of Springfield State Normal School opened with enroll- ment of 543 at Cherry and Pickwick in building that had been the privately owned Springfield Normal School, es- lablished in 1894 by J. A. Taylor and Frank P. Mayhugh. The state institution moved to its present campus in la- nauy, 1909. Aller 1919 it was known as Southwest Missouri State Teachers Col- lege. later as Southwest Missouri State College, then as Southwest Missouri State University.
Nov. 29 - Mis. Ellen A. Burge opened Burge Deaconess Hospital in residence on north JJefferson Avenue. Miss Maude Luckey, later Mrs. John Conkling, was hist superintendent. First brick umt. also a gift of Mrs. Burge, opened July 10, 1908. The name was changed to Burge Hospital, then Burge Protestant Hospital, and now is Lester E. Cox Medical Center, as units were added and the area expanded.
1907
April 20 - Missouri Pacific Railway ran its first train into Springfield on line built from White River Division at Crane.
1908
YWCA organized - Mrs. Josephine Watson and Miss Lizzie MeDaniel gave ground on South Jefferson Avenue where building was finished in Angust, 1917 In 1919 the Jefferson Hotel, on an adjoining lot, was purchased for resi- dence for young women.
1909
Jan. 6 - Baldwin Theater, built in 1891 on St. Louis Street, burned.
July 5 - Frisco shops northwest of city opened.
Sept. 18 - Landers Theater, 311 Kast
Twenty-one years after Springfield's first telephone was Installed the Springfield Telephone Company was having its prob- lems during the coldest day of record - 29 degrees below zero, on Feb. 12, 1899.
Walnut, opened. Built by John D. Landers, the theater presented many great artists and entertainers as well as road show motion pictures. In early 1920s it became Landers - Orpheum Theater, then the first theater with sound motion picture equipment in Springfield, The Springfield Little The- ater, organized in 1935 and incorporated in 1947, purchased and restored the theater and opened there with its 1970- '71 season.
1910
Springfield's population: 35,201.
June 11-12 - First Springfield air varmval. Aviator Charles F. Willard crashed in his Curtis bi - plane, falling 150 feet but escaping with slight injuries.
Ort. 15 - Special train, with two surgeons aboard, was rushed to Conway in effort to save hfe of Stanley Kelchel, middleweight world champion, after he was fatally shot on farm near there. Ile died in the Springfield Hospital.
Dec. 12 - Children's Home in Pickwick Place burned; three children died.
1912
Jan. 27 - First Boy Scout troop here was named Bob White Patrol, No. 1.
Feb. 20-21 - Springfield's heaviest recorded snowfall - 20 inches, in 18 hours.
March 23 - Last session of Greene County Circuit Court in courthouse on Public Square was held as new courthouse at Boonville and Central (then Center) was occupied.
July 29 - City Hall was moved from 40 - year quarters on second floor of brick building on east side of Boonville, near Central, to third floor of new courthouse.
1913
May 15 - Convention Hall, which cost
$75,000, opened at Campbell and present MeDanici. About 20 years later it was occupied under lease to Sears - Roebuck and Company, then razed in 1958 for a parking lot.
May 20 . First Springfield Park Board appointed. The city owned two small parks, Washington and Lafayette, which were part of North Springfield when two towns consolidated. Phelps Grove Park was first purchase of new board.
June 9 - Northeast corner of Public Square, including lleer's Store, burned; loss $800,000.
July - Concrete "pie" put in center of Public Square; removed June 24, 1947.
1911
June 1 - Missouri Pythian Home for- mally opened. The massive gray stone structure became part of facilities of O'Reilly Hospital during World War 11 and for a time a Pythian Ilome was maintained at 629 South Campbell. The stone structure now is home of the Army Reserve Center.
1915
Heer and Landers Buildings were put into use during year.
1916
June 13-15 - City's first automobile show in new Holland Building.
October - Street car strike called; ended June, 1917.
1917
World War I took full attention of citizens.
May 30 - Baby Lloyd Keet kidnaped; body discovered nine days later.
1918
Jume - Headquarters of Assemblies of God moved to Springheld from flot Springs, Ark., where it had been orga- nized Apr. 2-12, 1914.
April - Mary E. Wilson Home opened. It was named for woman who paid $12,000 for home built by S. W MeLaughhn, pioneer bomberman, and gave il as residence for "aged ladies." She died in 1921, leaving $55,000 addi- tional to the home.
1919
June 30 - Last licensed saloon here closed under Prohibition amendment. Estimated $150,000 spent for liquor that day.
1920
Springfield's population: 39,361.
November - Prof. R. Ritchie Robertson, native of Scotland, head of the Springfield Public School Music De- partment, organized Boy Scout Band, later proclaimed largest such band in the world. Ile also organized Kiltie High School Girls Drum Corps at Central High School in 1926, as well as other school musicalgroups and somefraternalbands. ile died in 1939.
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1922
Oct. 2 - Contrat Bible College (for- merty Contrat Bible Institute) opened in basement of church, Campbell and Calhoun. After gift of 15 acres of its present 45 - acre campus by Springfield Commercial Club, it was established at Grant Avenue and Norton Road in 1923.
Cupping railroad strike here; 3000 men out of work.
1921 Nov. 3 - Shrine Mosque dedicated. 1921
lan. 15 - Holland Banking Company, one of oldest banks in Springfield, closed its doors.
. Feb. 15 - Springfield Pohce Depart- ment vacated old quarters in Fire Sta- tion on College Street and moved to new police headquarters on city lot facing Market Avenue.
March 24 - Larger animals of Spring- field Zoo at Phelps Grove Park were being moved lo Dickerson Zoo Park.
1925
January - John T. Woodruff, promn- ter of some of Springfield's foremost enterprises, announced plans for a lux- ury tourist hotel, later aamed Kentwood - Arms, also a golf course on his Cherry Street farm, now Thickory Hills Country Club. He also had built the Woodruff Building, which bears his name, and had promoted many other enterprises. among which were Colonial Hotel, form- er Frisco Office Building at Jefferson and Olive, and Sansone Hotel.
1927
Jan. J - The Bixby family of Mus- køgee, Okla., bought The Republican, from E. E. E. McJimsey and changed the name to The News. After The Leader was sold to eastera publishers, who later sold it to The News, the two plants were combined in The Leader building, McDaniel and Jefferson. The Press was established by H. S. Jewell in 1929. It consolidated with The Leader and The News as Springfield Newspapers, Inc., May 4, 1933, moving to building at Boonville and Chestnut. This burned March 27, 1947, and was replaced with nresent plant.
1928
Benton Avenue Viaduct opened in spring; Grant Avenue Viaduct la au- lumn.
Veterans of 35th Division held . convention here with Gen. John J. Pershing, Secretary of War Dwight Da- vis, and other dignitaries attending.
April 13 (Friday) - Springfield was shocked by news of West Plains dance hall explosion: 40 killed; 20 injured.
McDaniel Lake constructed hy Springfield City Water Company.
1929
Springfield celebrated centennial of first white settlement on original site of city.
First unit of St. John's Hospital (now Merey Villa) on Nichols Street was opened In 1906.
If you wanted a good swim In 1908 you took a street car to Doling Park where the lake was a great attraction.
1930
Population: 57,527
Oet. 5 - l'irst service of merged First and Calvary Presbyterian Church in new bullding, 820 Cherry. First Church had been organized May 19, 1844, and it moved from structure at southwest cor- ner of Olive and North Jefferson; Cal- vary Church, established, April 22, 1849, left building at St. Louis and Short Benton.
1932
Jan. 2 - Six Springfield and Greene County law enforcement officers were killed in Young Brothers' Massacre. They were Sheriff Marcell Hendrix, Dep- uty Wiley Mashburn, and Deputy Ollie Crosswhite; Clty Detective Chiel Tony Oliver, Detective Sid Meadows, and Pat-
rolman Charlie Houser.
Springfield's first commercial radio stations were KGBX, opened in Sep- tember, 1932 and KWTO, opened Christmas Day, 1933.
1933
June 1 - Cornerstone laid for United States Medical Center for Federal pris- oners. Site was former farm of JJudge Thomas Adiel Sherwood, for 20 years member of Missouri Supreme Court.
1936
Ozark Empire Fair held ils first exhi- bition on fairgrounds at Dickerson Zoo Park.
1938
Jan. 6 - Springfield city flag adopted by City Council - a tri-color flag of horizontal bars with four corner stars. Ils significance in coloring was given as: red for cooperation; white for achievement; and blue for civic pride, with stars standing, respectively, for
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religion, homes, education, and industry. The Hag was suggested by W. Paul Harris, Commercial Street busi- ness man.
New Federal Building at Central and Boonville occupied. City Hall moved from Courthouse to former Federal Building.
1939
First modern "supermarket" in area established by John Ramey at Glenstone and Sunshine.
Kraft Cheese Company opened pro- cessing plant on Mill Street between Boonville and Campbell, where it remained until moving to present loca- tion in September, 1954.
1940
Springfield's population: 61.238
Pant Mueller Company began as Mann and Mueller Heating and Sheet Metal Works on Olive Street. Incorporated in 1946 under present name, the firm entered dairy equipment business. In 1950 il moved to Kansas and Phelps, where it now occupies 39 acres, and manufactures many types of stain- less steel equipment for food, beverage, dairy, poultry and other industries.
1911
Nov. 8 - O'Reilly General Army Hos- pital was dedicated and immediately opened for patients, then continued as a VA hospital until last patient left Aug. 28. 1952. Tract used for hospital had included privately owned Glenstone Golf Course. Pythian Home grounds, and Smith City Park.
1912
Oct. 1 - Bond issue for $350,000 voted to establish Springfield Municipal Airport, northwest of city limits; It re- placed first city airport on East Division, which resulted Trom a movement for a municipal airport start- ed in 1928.
1915
March 26 - Springfield Gas and Electric Company, with gas, electric, and transportation departments, pur- chased by the city for $6,200,000 and name changed to Springfield City Util- ities. Springfield City Waler Company was added Dec. 30, 1957, at cost of $20,709,776.
1949
First unit of Gospel Publishing House occupied on Boonville at former White City Ball Park site, with As- semblies of God administration bullding opening in adjoining struelure in 1962.
IONAL
EXCHANGE BANK
The once Imposing National Exchange Bank building at the corner of Boonville Avenue and the Public Square was replaced hy the Landers Bullding which opened in 1915. It was considered great fun at the turn of the century to take a ride on an open air (closed in winter) street car - especially to Doling Park on a summer evening. Commercial Street was photographed in 1913 (upper right). The Frisco Employes' Hospital (Inwer right) opened Aug. 3. 1899, on two hlocks bounded hy Broad, Missourl, West Atlantic and Florida, and was abandoned in 1922. Posing in front of the Greene County courthouse on Dec. 14, 1912, shortly aller It was completed, was Frank W. Hunt, contractor.
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