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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
Bingo classes in the company dorm? That sounds fun
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