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Western legend James "Wild Bill" Hickok killed an Arkansas man, Dave Tutt, in a gun battle on the Public School on July 21, 1865. The dispute that prompted the shoot-out started when Tutt won Hickok's watch in a poker game the night before. Hickok was acquitted of the murder. |
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The Human Fly climbed to the top of the Landers Building during its inauguration in 1915.
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Events often remembered.
Throughout the history of Springfield, there have been those events that have become "memorable"; events which have made Springfield known throughout the country or are such that they are still being talked about many years later.
Many of these events are violent in nature; such events, perhaps, tend to linger longer. There have been shoot-outs and fires and crashes and crimes.
But there have also been some incidents which, while not necessarily amusing at the time, are remembered more warmly today.
A collection of some of those events, chronicling many of those things that do not fit into neat categories, concludes this look at the city's 150th year history.
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National Guard troops surround the Greene County jail in April of 1906. They were called in to keep order following an incident on Easter in which a crowd of about 5000 men broke into the jail, took three Negro prisoners and lynched them on the Public Square. |
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One of the most costly fires in the city's history completely destroyed the northeast section of the Public Square on June 9, 1913, including Heer's Store. The loss from the blaze was estimated at $800,000. |
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Springfieldians found out just how much they had become dependent on modern services when the city was without natural gas service for several days in January of 1960 because of a gas line rupture. Emergency shelters were set up in public facilities and citizens used their ingenuity to survive a frigid few days. |
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An American Airlines plane attempting to land at Municipal Airport on March 29, 1955 crashed two miles from the airport. Twelve people were killed instantly with 23 seriously injured. Several died later. |
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In August of 1953 a story began that kept Springfield in the headlines for some time and which is preserved even today in the city's seal. A dozen hooded Indian cobras escaped from a pet dealer on St. Louis Street and the city was petrified for several months as the reptiles continued to be found throughout the community. Cobra music was played through loudspeakers (at right) in an attempt to lure the snakes out of hiding. |
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When a carload of 105 millimeter shells exploded in the Frisco Railroad west yards in August of 1954, it resulted in a five-hour bombardment of that area of town, with one person injured by shrapnel. |
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Page maintained by - Last updated March 14, 2001
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