will.illinois.edu/prairiefire/segment/pf2007-04-26-c WILL Public Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Series Segment Family history, History, Illinois Culture/History, Military, Springfield, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings I’ve driven I-72 between Springfield and Champaign thousands of times and many times I wondered about the lone brick smokestacks that appear on the horizon near Illiopolis. So one day I decided to investigate and I got off at Illiopolis and went to the city library. There I learned about the Sangamon Ordnance Plant. The library had a treasure trove of old company newsletters with pictures of all the young women who made this small town their home during World War II. Thankfully I was able to track down Jean Gordon and Lola Marbold who used to work at the plant as teenagers. Their recollections of life at the plant turned back time to another era. I was impressed at the way the plant treated their many young female employees with good pay, child care, even bingo classes and a beauty salon in the company dorms. To the girls, it was an adventure but also a way to help the war effort. After the show aired my mom told me that my Grandpa Posegate had worked at the plant. Since he was deaf in one ear he was ineligible for service . So instead, after a day teaching school in Springfield, he would hop on the inter-urban line to Illiopolis and work the night shift at the Ordnance Plant. It was his way of fighting the war. Abstract Magazine PBCore Genre Picklist Is Part Of http://will.illinois.edu/prairiefire/episode/pf2007-04-26 Illinois, Indiana Spatial Intermediate (grades 7-9)|High School (grades 10-12)|Primary (grades 1-6)|College|Post Graduate|General Education|General TV-G Alison Davis Wood Producer WILL-TV, University of Illinois Copyright Holder Publisher © 2009 University of Illinois 2007-04-26T11:10:00-06:00 2007-04-26T11:10:00-06:00 video/x-pn-realvideo http://willmedia.will.uiuc.edu/ramgen/pf2007-04-26-c.rv Moving Image RealSystems Real Media 9 30665 00:07:26 eng pf2007-04-26-c.rv WILL Public Media, University of Illinois 2007-04-26T11:10:00-06:00 2007-04-26T11:10:00-06:00 video/mp4 http://willmedia.atlas.uiuc.edu/mpeg4/pf2007-04-26-c.mp4 Moving Image MPEG video MPEG-4 00:07:26 eng pf2007-04-26-c.mp4 WILL Public Media, University of Illinois 2007-04-26T11:10:00-06:00 2007-04-26T11:10:00-06:00 video/x-flv http://willmedia.atlas.uiuc.edu/flash/pf2007-04-26-c.flv Moving Image Flash Video Flash Media 8 00:07:26 eng pf2007-04-26-c.flv WILL Public Media, University of Illinois