Articles Submitted By Michael
Local History
Published February 23, 2013
How did Mark Martin, Dean Roper and Rusty Wallace, former Ozark area racers, fare in the 1983 Daytona 500? Read part 2 of Fairground Racers.
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Local History
Published February 19, 2013
Former Springfield Fairground Speedway racers meet again at the Daytona 500 in 1983. That race included Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace and Dean Roper.
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Local History
Published January 14, 2013
One of the best known singers in both country and pop music, Kenny Rogers performed a concert in Hammons Student Center on July 19, 1981.
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Local History
Published November 27, 2012
Springfield native Clara Smith Steichen was an eyewitness to World War I. She and her husband lived in the French countryside when war erupted in the summer of 1914.
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Local History
Published November 5, 2012
November 11 marks the ninety-fourth anniversary of the end of World War I. Commanding Springfield’s own company of troops in France was Captain Paul Frey, Company C, 130th machine gun battalion.
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Local History
Published October 29, 2012
Mounted Police officers kept Halloween pranks to a minimum in Springfield in 1893. Aurora, however, was visited by hobgoblins and Brownies who left many obstructions in the form of horse and cow pens built in the streets.
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Local History
Published July 23, 2012
Have you been to a concert at the grandstand of the Ozarks Empire Fair? Five thousand people attended the Alabama concert on a Monday afternoon in 1981. Eight hundred more stood in line after the concert to meet the band.
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Local History
Published June 18, 2012
Apparently the South-West High School in 1850 was so well known that no information about its location or its teachers were given in an article that appeared in the South-Western Flag newspaper.
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Local History
Published June 4, 2012
Mark Martin was a frequent competitor at the Fairgrounds Speedway in the late 1970s.
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Local History
Published May 21, 2012
The 1850 Springfield South-Western Flag newspaper gives a recommendation for the killing of bed bugs...but not one we would use today!
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Local History
Published March 26, 2012
Commemorating the 95th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I, Local History associate Michael Price will discuss life in Springfield during the Great War Monday, April 2, 6:30 p.m. at the Library Station.
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Local History
Published March 12, 2012
Johnny Cash and the Carter family played at the multipurpose center at Southwest Missouri State University [now known as MSU] in March of 1977. June Carter and her family lived in Springfield and performed at KWTO in 1949 and 1950.
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Local History
Published February 20, 2012
The 1979 Daytona 500 remains one of the most famous races in NASCAR history. Read a short synopsis of the race and find a link to a history of the entire 1979 NASCAR season.
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Local History
Published November 7, 2011
One of the largest Veterans Day (then Armistice Day) celebrations in Springfield occurred on November 11, 1941.
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Local History
Published October 20, 2011
The St. Louis Browns faced the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman Park in St. Louis in the 1944 World Series.
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Local History
Published August 9, 2011
A log cabin, donated in 1973, is used to mark the location of Sterling Price’s headquarters, located near the base of “Bloody Hill" at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield.
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Local History
Published August 1, 2011
General Lyon's headquarters was located in a home owned by John S. Phelps on College Street just west of Main Avenue. This recent photo shows the location formerly occupied by Lyon.
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Local History
Published June 27, 2011
Early Civil War events in Missouri occurred far from the Ozarks, but the turbulent times soon engulfed the relatively quiet Springfield region.
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Local History
Published May 24, 2011
Ray Harroun earned a place in racing history on May 30, 1911, when he won the first Indianapolis 500, making front page news of the Springfield Republican Newspaper.
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Local History
Published May 16, 2011
A historical sketch of Edward Martin Shepard from the Drury College
Bulletin, June 1934. Dr. Shepard, a teacher at Drury College, had died April 28, 1934. Dr. Shepard was instrumental in establishing the Springfield public library.
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Local History
Published April 4, 2011
An account of a brush with the notorious Jesse James while he was contemplating the robbery of the Granby Mining Company, reprinted in the Christian County Republican in 1899.
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Local History
Published February 17, 2011
The history of auto racing is full of exciting finishes and surprise winners. Few are more compelling than Jamie McMurray’s victory in the 2010 Daytona 500. A native of Joplin, Missouri, he was a regular competitor at I-44 Speedway in Lebanon, Missouri, in the late 1990s.
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Local History
Published January 24, 2011
Ozarks racing legend Larry Phillips won hundreds of races in a forty year career. Phillips is the only five time national short track champion and was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. A biography of Larry Phillips will be released this month.
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Local History
Published November 30, 2010
Many families have lived on portions of the Wilson’s Creek battlefield through the decades. Perhaps no individual has been more interesting than Dick “Dixie” O’Connor, who bought a farm near “Bloody Hill” in 1950 and created the Spanish mystery stone.
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Local History
Published October 26, 2010
The 2010 World Series begins on Wednesday, October 27 when the Texas Rangers meet the San Francisco Giants. That date also marks the 25th anniversary of Game 7 in Missouri’s "I-70 Series" between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals.
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Local History
Published September 6, 2010
George Brett visited Springfield and signed autographs in 1984. One of the most accomplished players in baseball history, George Brett played for the Kansas City Royals from 1973-1993.
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Local History
Published August 2, 2010
The 149th anniversary of the Battle of Wilson’s Creek will be observed on August 10, 2010 at the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. Here is an article about the acquisition of the land by the National Park Service from the Wilson's Creek Battlefield Foundation.
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Local History
Published July 12, 2010
In a letter in the
Missouri Weekly Patriot, Reverend Wines proposes to leave the books and money he has collected to Springfield for the establishment of a library and a Library Association. An article in the Missouri Patriot reports on it's progress the next year.
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Local History
Published July 6, 2010
One of the most prominent men in Springfield, Missouri during the Civil War was Reverend Frederick H. Wines.
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Local History
Published June 21, 2010
Emigration from Southwest Missouri to California was reported in the
Osceola Independent and reprinted in the
Springfield Mirror newspaper in 1856.
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Local History
Published May 27, 2010
Bill Holland, winner of the 1949 Indianapolis 500, won a sprint car race at the Springfield fairgrounds in 1959.
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