1870s Fashion
1870s Fashion
The Trends
The Trends
The Trends
Springfield, Illinois:
The Home of President Lincoln
Image courtesy of Nicholas Overstreet
Like most Midwestern cities, Springfield had a simple, if not inevitable start. Situated on Spring Creek and near the Sangamon River, it was the perfect place to settle for South Carolinian John Kelly. He is documented as the first non-indigenous person living on the land that would become Springfield and after finishing his cabin in 1819, he inspired speculators, businessmen, and families to fill the area. One of those opportunity-seekers was Elijah Iles, now celebrated as one of the founders of Springfield, who in 1821 opened the town’s first store. That same year, Sangamon County was founded by the state legislature and Kelly's cabin was the temporary county seat. Two years later in 1823, the town of Calhoun, later Springfield, was platted and by 1831, Springfield was officially the county seat of Sangamon County and home to almost thirteen thousand residents. The town square surrounded the newly erected brick court house and would continue to be the business center of Springfield into the twentieth century.
Some city on the breast of Illinois
No wiser and no better at the start
By faith shall rise redeemed, by faith shall rise
Bearing the western glory in her heart...
We must have many Lincoln-hearted men
A city is not builded in a day
And they must do their work, and come and go
While countless generations pass away.
Vachel Lindsay, "On the Building of Springfield"
Springfield Illustrated, 1889, 48.
Courtesy of the Illinois State Library
By 1870, 17,364 people lived in Springfield, nearly double the number of antebellum residents. Over the decades and into the 1900s, agriculture remained an important part of the county’s industry, but the city was quickly becoming a hub of manufacturing and service businesses. Because of innovations in the rail system, intercontinental cities were able to produce on the same level as those with access to water and the sea. Springfield saw a growth in iron and coal companies, mills, production facilities Illinois Watch Company, furniture and implement makers, as well as fabric producers and factories like the Springfield Glove Company. Stores like those owned by the Myers brothers and John Bressmer would go on to become large-scale department stores, serving thousands of Illinoisans and in the case of the Myers Brothers, merging with national corporations. The fashion businesses of 1870 to 1915, from factories to small shops, are of particular interest to this project and their place in Springfield are as important as the residents themselves.
For more information on Springfield, visit SangamonLink
[1] History of Sangamon County, Illinois, (Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Company, 1881), 563.
[2] Kienzler, Mike Kienzler, "Population Changes, 1830-2010." SangamonLink, April 21, 2014, Accessed March 05, 2018, https://sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/?p=4948.