What did Springfield look like 200 years ago in the month of April?

Posted: Apr 17, 2023 / 01:22 PM CDT

Updated: Apr 17, 2023 / 01:22 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Springfield has been around since the early 1800s, and many significant events have occurred over the last 200 years.

Here’s a timeline of significant events that have happened in the month of April since 1837:

1837		Springfield’s first newspaper, The Ozark Standard, began operations under the direction of editor and publisher J.C. Tuberville. Later the newspaper was changed to The Eagle by a new publisher, R.A. Huffard. It had a short life, and the publisher of a third succeeding publication, the Springfield Advertiser, which began here in May 1844, indicated that the presses of the Old Standard and Eagle had been gathering dust for quite a while before he took over the building.
1867		The first publication of the Springfield Leader was issued by O.S. Fahenstock and Company with Daniel C. Kennedy the editor, and, after, September 1868, the owner. It became a daily, on May 3, 1870, but there was a later interval of weekly publication before it returned to daily.
1870		A construction train of South Pacific Railway, later the Frisco, pulled into the station at Commercial St. and Benton Ave.
1887		Voters overwhelmingly voted to consolidate Springfield and North Springfield.
1902		Ping pong was introduced to the community by “young society women”.
1906		A mob of men estimated at 5000 broke into the Greene County Jail on Easter Eve and took three black men, lynching them on the Public Square.
1907		The Missouri Pacific Railway ran its first train into Springfield on a line built by White River Division of Crane.
1926		The Senior High School Kilties Drum Corps makes its first appearance in a downtown parade.
1960		President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill creating Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Park. Later “Park” was deleted from the title. An appropriation of $120,000 was approved for the project.
1983		A tornado struck in south Springfield killing two, injuring 21, and damaging more than 800 homes. Voters in the county repealed the “blue law” and made it the 16th in the state to allow retail stores to sell on Sunday.