This field has hosted numerous teams over the years including the Springfield Sallies, Browns, Senators, Cardinals, Redbirds, Giants, Sultans, and Capitals. It is currently the home of the Springfield Sliders and the Benedictine University Bulldogs. The stadium was originally constructed in 1925, and had major renovations in 1977. The last renovation of the field was in 2006, and to the stadium was 2001.
Built in 1833, Edwards Place is a historic, Italianate Villa style house in Springfield, Illinois. It is the oldest home in the city still on its original foundation. Like many other buildings in the area, it has connections to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd, went there on many occasions to socialize with their good friends Benjamin S. Edwards and his wife Helen; a brother of Benjamin was married to a sister of Mary. It is now a museum showing the social and political life of the mid-nineteenth century. It contains several artifacts and furniture from the time period, including the "courting couch" on which Abraham Lincoln and Mary sat during their courtship. In-person and virtual (via Zoom) guided tours are offered by the Springfield Art Association; add-on activities like historical crafting and tea parties are available. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
John F. Bretz was a contractor in Springfield in the second half of the nineteenth century and this home at 1113 N. Fifth Street was built for Bretz in 1885 or 1886. The two-story wood-frame house is Queen Anne style with a hipped roof with lower cross gables. The wraparound porch abuts a front-gabled wing facing N. Fifth Street with a filled-in bay window topped by decorative brackets and metalwork. A brick warehouse building at the rear of the lot was used by Bretz to store materials for his profession. The John F. Bretz House is in the Enos Park neighborhood, an area of homes of the well-to-do in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The house and warehouse were listed together on the National Register in 2000 for the house's architecture and the association with the locally prominent builder and his construction business.
On the former campus of Benedictine University overlooking N. Fifth St. stands the George M. Brinkerhoff House. The grand, Italianate style brick mansion was built in 1869 for the successful businessman and founder of the Springfield City Railway Company and the Springfield Iron Company. George M. later added a huge greenhouse to the property. After his death in 1928, the mansion became part of Springfield Junior College (later Springfield College, and then Benedictine U.). The mansion - nicknamed "The Castle" - served many purposes over the decades including classrooms, administrative offices, dormitory, art school, and a preschool. The aging building was mainly vacant by the 1970s and was in danger of being demolished. The house became a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1978, making it eligible for restoration funding; volunteers helped to save the house including much-needed roof repairs. Benedictine University closed and put the campus up for sale in 2018, leaving the future of the Brinkerhoff House uncertain once again.
The two-story brick home set back from the road at 1317 N. Third Street on a large wooded lot was built around 1871 in an Italianate style with narrow arched windows. Renovations in 1905 in a Classical Revival style added a new roofline to keep up with changing styles. John Rippon, Jr. lived in this house from 1872 to the 1880s. A physician, Gustavus Wendlant, occupied the house by the late 1880s to the late 1890s and bought the home in 1891. Richard "Dick" Kinsella bought the house in 1899 and lived here until he died in 1939. Kinsella was a political boss, local government office holder and a talent scout for professional baseball. The Rippon-Kinsella House was listed in the National Register for its architectural significance in 1992 as an example of a once-common hybrid style of an Italianate house overlaid with Classical Revival elements.
The Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum (AAHM) is located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, east of the entrance to Oak Ridge Cemetery, at 1440 Monument Avenue. The museum sprang from the Springfield Illinois African American History Foundation, which was incorporated in 2006. The foundation's original goal was the gathering of oral histories to record the accomplishments of African Americans in the Springfield area. The foundation established the museum in February 2012 on Washington Street near the State Capitol. The museum moved to a historic home on the U. of I. Springfield campus in 2014 and then moved to its current spot in 2016. The museum's mission is to tell "our truths clearly, unapologetically, honestly, and in a way that children to seniors will be inspired and hopeful."
President Abraham Lincoln is buried in a tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. Funeral services were held here on May 4th 1865 after the train carrying the slain president's coffin traveled from Washington for two weeks throughout the northeastern and midwestern United States. Mrs. Lincoln and three of their four sons - Edward, William ("Willie") and Thomas ("Tad") - also are interred in the tomb, which was built in the late 1860s to early 1870s. The 365-acre Oak Ridge Cemetery is the largest municipal burying ground in Illinois. Lincoln's Tomb became a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and was listed in the National Register in 1966.
Dedicated on December 4, 2004, the World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial honors the 987,000 residents of the state who served in the armed services during the war years, and the 22,000 Illinois soldiers and sailors who perished in the war. The monument features a granite wall and memorial plaza with the names of major battles and other information engraved throughout the memorial. The centerpiece of the memorial includes a twelve-foot white marble globe.
The Illinois State Military Museum has many different exhibits from the different eras of the military. It is located in Springfield and is connected with the Illinois National Guard. It shows the history of the Illinois military starting with the early militia on down to the present day National Guard.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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This driving tour of the north part of Springfield begins at an historical ballpark and takes you to nineteenth-century homes, several museums, a World War II monument, and the tomb of Abraham Lincoln.
