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Story Subject Category: Illinois Culture/History
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Nestled along the bluffs of the Mississippi River, Collinsville, Ill., is home to the world’s largest catsup bottle. The bottle, formerly a water tower for a local catsup bottling plant, had become a bit of an eyesore by the late 1990s. The company that owned it was reluctant to do upkeep and maintenance. By 1993, the plant and the bottle were up for sale. After a community outcry, the town saved the famous bottle.
Segment duration: 05:03
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Producer: Virginia Steffen
This segment is filed in these categories: Historical Landmarks • Illinois Culture/History • Collinsville • Villa Grove
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A group of baseball players in Macon County is preserving the old days of baseball. The Rock Springs Ground Squirrels play the game by 1860s rules, which don’t allow swearing or gloves. Producer Julius Bolton takes viewers to the Macon County Conservation District to enjoy a bygone era from our national pastime.
Segment duration: 06:02
Story links:
- Vintage Baseball Association--Rock Springs Ground Squirrels
- Rock Springs Ground Squirrels Vintage Baseball Site
Producer: Julius Bolton and Jeff Bossert
Editor: Tim Hartin
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Hobbies • Illinois Culture/History • Sports • Decatur
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A friendship during World War II helped George Kitterman of Bloomington survive fierce conditions during the Battle of the Bulge. In this Prairie Fire story, Kitterman describes being pinned down in a foxhole with his friend Joe Spencer, covered with snow with only a bazooka and one shell between them. They wondered what they would do if a German tank came over the ridge.
Producer Denise La Grassa begins with Kitterman learning about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when he and his pals were finishing a game of touch football and turned on a car radio to hear the Chicago Bears score. “We follow him through much of his war experience, but the centerpiece is this friendship that was so important to him,” La Grassa said.
Segment duration: 08:26
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Producer: Denise La Grassa
Editor: Eleanore Stasheff
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Illinois Culture/History • World War II • Bloomington
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Producer Denise La Grassa talks with Tuskegee Airman Col. Elmer Jones, one of six original aviation cadets for the Tuskegee Airmen trained at Chanute Field in Rantoul. Jones, who became ground crew commander, was proud to serve his country in aircraft engineering during World War II, even though he served in an all-black unit. He maintains that being in a segregated unit provided an unexpected opportunity for the Tuskegee Airmen. They were able to prove their abilities at a time when people questioned whether African Americans should be allowed to fly and maintain planes. “They proved they were as good as white fighter pilots,” said LaGrassa. “World War II was really the beginning of the civil rights movement.”
Segment duration: 08:12
Producer: Denise La Grassa
Editor: Eleanore Stasheff
This segment is filed in these categories: Illinois Culture/History • Military • World War II • Rantoul
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The last 15 years have really flown by ... when I started at WILL I was new graduate of the University of Illinois looking to get some experience in my chosen field. I started working some part time TV jobs and luckily one of them was at WILL-TV. Shortly after I started, the station hired a new executive producer, Jack Kelly, and he wanted to start doing more local production. One of the ideas was to do a magazine show. Jeff Cunningham became the producer/host for the new show. He decided on the name because a prairie fire burns away the surface of the prairie to expose the roots and encourage growth.
This has always been the mission of the show as we visit the people and places of Illinois. I was lucky to work as Jeff’s production assistant on the first season. The shooting days were long and our equipment was challenging ... Jeff shot the video and I was cabled to him carrying the recording deck and boom microphone. Our editing equipment was “linear” so if you wanted to change a sequence after you created it you had to start over. The computer “cut and paste” editing of today has been an incredible gift to video producers.
I had grown up in Springfield and had a fondness for my home town and for central Ilinois, but I always thought I’d leave. Working with Jeff gave me a greater appreciation for the beauty, the individualistic people and the integrity of this place. When Jeff left for a job in Wisconsin, I applied for the position. Luckily, WILL took a chance a relatively inexperienced producer and gave me the job. For the first five years or so I did most of the work myself. Luckily there were folks like Ian Mitchell, Mark Williams, Matt Docter and Celeste Glende who helped out and started producing stories for the show. I have been privileged to share the show with them. I was especially lucky when Tim Hartin started producing for the show in 1997. His creativity and striving for excellence have pushed the production values of the program to a higher level. Some of the most well-crafted stories have his hand in the production ... Jennie Hodgers, Cajun Connection, Skins and Tins Drum Shop, etc. Since Prairie Fire began I cemented my relationship with central Illinois by marrying a farmer and having three sons here in the land of corn and beans. I’m so happy they are growing up in this place that has been their family’s home for generations. I love the fact that Prairie Fire has introduced me to the richness of central Illinois and that I can share all of that with them.—written by Alison Davis Wood
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Producer: Tim Hartin
This segment is filed in these categories: History • Illinois Culture/History
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Orpheum Science Museum by Elif Basar
In college I read somewhere that the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum was looking for volunteers, and they were holding a volunteer orientation. I had never heard of this place, and I was not even aware that a children’s museum even existed in Champaign. I had done previous volunteer work with children and science, so I thought this would be a fun opportunity. I went to check out this tiny museum, which I had passed by several times in the past, and hardly noticed. I was pleased when I walked inside. Who knew at the time that what looked like an abandoned area of downtown held such a colorful and promising place? The answer is, not many people. Apparently, I was not the only one who was unaware of it.
I volunteered for some of their special events’ weekends, which drew in a modest number of people. I had such a wonderful time explaining different scientific concepts to children, and seeing them engaged and actually interested in what I was saying. Children were really enjoying themselves, not even noticing that they were learning at the same time. I have always felt that places like these are very important for our community to have. Many of the surrounding communities have had established children’s museums for some time, and it is only in the last decade that Champaign has joined them. I wanted more people to be aware of this place, and its importance, so that is can continuously grow and improve as planned. Already this has started, as I observed by the crowd it drew in this January at the event Prairie Fire filmed. Children were all over the place, participating in hands on experiments and demonstrations. Trying to film them in action was a bit of a challenge, since they would run as soon as they noticed the camera. Virginia Steffen still managed to sneak up on them, and get some great shots before they noticed.
We had a wonderful time that Saturday shooting this. I really hope more people take notice of this neat little place, and will help to support it.
Segment duration: 08:13
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Producer: Elif Basar
This segment is filed in these categories: Arts/Culture • Illinois Culture/History • Libraries/Museums/Cultural Centers • Livestock/Animals/Zoology • Science/Nature • Champaign • Champaign County
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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.
Segment duration: 07:26
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Family history • History • Illinois Culture/History • Military • Springfield
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I knew of the Tuskegee Airmen, and that they integrated the military. But prior to covering the grand opening of an exhibit in Rantoul last year, I had no idea about their roots in this area. Before they trained in Alabama, more than 200 members of the 99th Pursuit Squadron got their start at Chanute Air Force Base. The metal mechanics, armors, and other ground support crew workers formed the foundation of the Tuskegee Airmen. Some of the first to train in Rantoul, as well as staff members at that site – now the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum – played a large role in making this story possible, by providing their descriptions and photos. Props as well to Chauncey E. Spencer II, whose father played a role in tearing down the barriers that kept African-Americans from serving as pilots (Chauncey Jr. provided some photos, as well as an archived interview with his late father.)
I hope Chanute gets a lot more attention for its role in making all this happen. The story of the 99th is as important as any other highlighting the pilots’ achievements during World War II.
Segment duration: 07:26
Producer: Jeff Bossert
This segment is filed in these categories: Ethnicity/Culture • History • Illinois Culture/History • Military • Rantoul
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Tim Hartin and I got to know Carl Sandburg while working on WILL-TV’s “The Song and the Slogan.” For that production we had interviewed his only surviving daughter, Helga, at her father’s birthplace in Galesburg. But the interview just didn’t seem to fit into that production. When we decided to produce a “Prairie Poets Special” for Prairie Fire, we knew it was our chance to use the footage with Helga. It was also a chance to give viewers another opportunity to visit the state’s wonderful museum in Galesburg. The museum gives you the opportunity to experience the many faces of Sandburg, from newspaper boy and socialist organizer to poet and folk singer. It is a place you should certainly see for yourself.
Segment duration: 05:11
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Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Arts/Culture • Illinois Culture/History • Literature
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My mom first taught me about Vachel Lindsay. On the wall in her bedroom she had autographed copy of one of his poems. It originally belonged to my grandmother. It was a present from her teacher upon her 8th grade graduation. The teacher had asked Lindsay to sign poems for the entire class and he had graciously obliged. It was a treasured possession in our house and a reminder of another famous man from my hometown. It inspired me to learn more about Lindsay’s poetry and his life in central Illinois. I learned that my grandmother had another connection to Lindsay. She had Susan Wilcox as an English teacher at Springfield High School, the same teacher who was a great influence on Lindsay’s life.
When the state beautifully restored Lindsay’s home, I knew it was time to put my interest in Lindsay to tape and produce a story on him for Prairie Fire. The story was even more fun to do because I got to interview Jennie Battles. I first met Jennie when I was planning my wedding and she worked at the Old State Capitol. Her love of Springfield and Illinois history is infectious. Her tours of the Lindsay home are so incredible that you feel the Lindsay family’s presence in every room. It is something you have to experience for yourself.
Segment duration: 08:46
Story links:
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Arts/Culture • Illinois Culture/History • Literature • Springfield
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