 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2010) |
The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Springfield, Illinois. For a similar list organized alphabetically by last name, see the category page People from Springfield, Illinois.
Springfield is the capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the largest in central Illinois. Approximately 208,000 residents live in the Springfield metropolitan area.
Lincoln is a city in Logan County, Illinois, United States. First settled in the 1830s, it is the only town in the United States that was named for Abraham Lincoln before he became president; he practiced law there from 1847 to 1859. Lincoln is home to two prisons. It is also the home of the world's largest covered wagon and numerous other historical sites along the Route 66 corridor.
The University of Illinois System is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Illinois consisting of three universities: Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign. Across its three universities, the University of Illinois System enrolls more than 94,000 students. It had an operating budget of $7.18 billion in 2021.
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. He is considered a founder of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted.
Paul Martin Simon was an American author and politician from Illinois. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1985 and in the United States Senate from 1985 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, he unsuccessfully ran for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination.
The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is a public university in Springfield, Illinois. The university was established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1969 as Sangamon State University with a focus on post-graduate education. It became the third member of the University of Illinois system on July 1, 1995. The university now also includes a liberal arts college and is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. UIS is also a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education. The campus' main repository, Brookens Library, holds a collection of nearly 800,000 books and serials in addition to accessible resources at the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campuses.
John Peter Altgeld was an American politician and the 20th Governor of Illinois, serving from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democrat to govern that state since the 1850s. A leading figure of the Progressive movement, Altgeld signed workplace safety and child labor laws, pardoned three of the men convicted in the Haymarket Affair, and rejected calls in 1894 to break up the Pullman strike by force. In 1896 he was a leader of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, opposing President Grover Cleveland and the conservative Bourbon Democrats. He was defeated for reelection in 1896 in an intensely fought, bitter campaign.
The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. Until the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that senators shall be elected by the people of their states, was ratified in 1913, senators were elected by their respective state legislatures, so Lincoln and Douglas were trying to win the votes of the Illinois General Assembly for their respective parties.
Oak Ridge Cemetery is an American cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.
John McAuley Palmer was an American politician. He was an Illinois resident, an American Civil War general who fought for the Union, the 15th governor of Illinois, and presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party in the 1896 election on a platform to defend the gold standard, free trade, and limited government.
Emil John "Dutch" Leonard was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed knuckleball pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1933–1936), Washington Senators (1938–1946), Philadelphia Phillies (1947–1948) and Chicago Cubs (1949–1953). Born in Auburn, Illinois, Leonard batted right-handed and was listed as 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and 175 pounds (79 kg).
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum documents the life of the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, and the course of the American Civil War. Combining traditional scholarship with 21st-century showmanship techniques, the museum ranks as one of the most visited presidential libraries. Its library, in addition to housing an extensive collection on Lincoln, also houses the collection of the Illinois State Historical Library, founded by the state in 1889. The library and museum is located in the state capital of Springfield, Illinois, and is overseen as an agency of state government. It is not affiliated with the U.S. National Archives and its system of libraries.
Lincoln Home National Historic Site preserves the Springfield, Illinois home and related historic district where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1844 to 1861, before becoming the 16th president of the United States. The presidential memorial includes the four blocks surrounding the home and a visitor center.
Naomi Burgos Lynn was the first Hispanic woman president of an American public university. She served as president of Sangamon State University in Springfield, Illinois, beginning in 1991 and through its entrance into the University of Illinois system as the University of Illinois Springfield. She retired as chancellor of UIS in 2001. At her retirement the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair for Lincoln Studies was created at the University of Illinois Springfield, where Dr. Phillip Paludan served as its first recipient.
John Richard "Ducky" Schofield was an American professional baseball infielder who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers from 1953 to 1971.
Springfield High School (SHS) is a public secondary school located in Springfield, Illinois, United States. It is the oldest of the three high schools in Springfield Public Schools District 186. The school draws mainly from the west side of Springfield.
Timothy Craig "Tug" Hulett Jr. is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals.
During the American Civil War, the state of Illinois was a major source of troops for the Union Army, and of military supplies, food, and clothing. Situated near major rivers and railroads, Illinois became a major jumping off place early in the war for Ulysses S. Grant's efforts to seize control of the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. Statewide, public support for the Union was high despite Copperhead sentiment.
Michael A. Burlingame is an American historian noted for his works on Abraham Lincoln. He is the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield. Burlingame has written or edited twenty books about Lincoln.
William A. Marovitz is an American lawyer and politician who was involved in real estate in Chicago and was married to Christie Hefner from 1995 to 2013.