Articles

By Roberta Codemo Springfield Southeast High School junior Maurice Johnson wanted to be a pharmacist, until he met Kevin Seals, chief environmental scientist at Hanson Professional Services, Inc. and the coordinator for the Grow Our Own Minority Participation program. “Three years ago I had no idea what engineering was,” Johnson said, until he attended an […]

The 100th anniversary of shrine giving By Catherine O’Connor 2015 has marked the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Ansar Shrine, one of five temples in Illinois which serve as regional headquarters in Rockford, Chicago, Peoria, Springfield and East St. Louis. The Springfield Shriners chose the name Ansar and received a charter in 1915 […]

By Gabe House Pease’s at Bunn Gourmet has a little something for everyone. Incredibly Delicious quiche and Bean Counter coffee are available for breakfast. Children have their own play and lounge area. Or at the end of a long day, perhaps a glass of wine paired with Pease’s confections in front of a crackling fireplace […]

By Eric Woods Born in Indiana, Miles Parkhill moved with his family to Springfield when he was five years old. With the exception of a few summers spent in Florida, Parkhill has primarily lived in the Illinois capital. “It has a very affordable cost of living,” he said, regarding why he enjoys living in Springfield. […]

Executive director, Downtown Springfield, Inc. By Shannon O’Brien As a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Lisa Clemmons Stott co-wrote a documentary called “Whatever Happened to Saturday Night,” about the demise of downtowns when malls became more popular.  As the new executive director of Downtown Springfield Inc. (DSI), the documentary seems prescient. “I’m trying […]

Springfield Business Journal and United Community Bank are pleased to sponsor this year’s “Best Places to Work,” recognizing outstanding businesses in central Illinois. The program is open to any business in Sangamon or Morgan county with 35 or more employees. Many of the nominations were submitted by the employees themselves, in other cases someone who […]

by Job Conger During the early evolution of internal combustion gasoline engines, it didn’t take long for inventors to hang one on a bicycle, resulting in the first motorcycle. Similarly, about three years ago, when the first multi-rotor and quad toy helicopters zoomed skyward from fertile minds, it didn’t take long for someone to hang […]

By Colin Patrick Brady Maureen E. Williams of Strategic Hourglass Systems provides an essential service out of her Chatham headquarters. But it is one for which, she says, “tragedy was the catalyst.” When Williams received news that her nephew, Shayne, had died at age 32 in a house fire, he had none of the essential […]

By Catherine O’Connor The Wardrobe may be one of Springfield’s best kept secrets. Tucked away in a quaint former neighborhood gas station that was transformed in the 1960s into a cozy gallery-like shop, the store is an outstanding example of building adaptive reuse. A step inside reveals a quiet, understated microcosm of the boutique universe […]

By Ginny Lee Jose Lopez, Jr. moved to Springfield from Jacksonville four years ago and opened Casa Real at 301 North Grand Ave. W. in the building that once housed longtime Springfield eatery Wayne’s Red Coach Inn. The popular Mexican restaurant has earned a faithful following since then. More recently, Lopez, 28, bought the building […]

By Roberta Codemo Central Illinois now has access to the hottest game sensation sweeping the country. A longtime fan of escape room video games, Rebecca Henderson, founder of SMARTpath Education Services, first founded Escape Bloomington – a live interactive version of the popular video games – in Bloomington in 2014 as an offshoot of her […]