Please join us to find out more about the podcast videos, QR codes and Historical Tours being created and coordinated by the Robert Morris University students.

We will be reviewing some of their projects and how new technology can be used to revisit and revitalize our past.

Did You Know from Enos Park Banner Newsletter February, 2012
Steve Combs, President

Your smart phone can be used as your tour guide on the historic walks being prepared for Enos Park. If you have a smart phone to scan a QR code like the one to the right, you can link to a website or download and view a video about a home or distinguished resident of the neighborhood.

The QR code here links to the EPNIA website, www. EPNIA.com. Future plans may incorporate GPS technology to allow effortless access to online information based on a visitor’s  location within the neighborhood.

Intern students from Robert Morris University are preparing online videos as part of the Association’s efforts to bring Enos Park’s history and people back to life. In addition to using enactors for the tour programs, we hope to set up a live enactment later in the fall as part of our Historic Homes Tour.

Stephan A. Douglas started his 1858 Senate campaign in the black walnut grove (4th and Dodge) just north of Edwards Place, Abraham Lincoln and Mary attended the 1860 wedding
of Ozias Hatch and Julia Enos at the Enos home, 1005 N 7th, his last social event in Springfield before he left for Washington, D.C., and General John McClernand, who lived at 801 N 6th, was in charge of local arrangements for Lincoln’s funeral and burial in Oak Ridge Cemetery which included the 10th Illinois Cavalry, a current enactment group.

The historic information and pictures in this newsletter have been taken from the 1997 study of Enos Park by Fever River Research, Floyd Mansberger and his staff. Additional information can be obtained from the Sangamon Valley Collection at the Lincoln Public Library.

Blues music from a St. Louis area blues group

Open mic jam session with local musicians

More information;
Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery 525-6800.

Before Edwards Place was Edwards Place it was Houghan’s House, where prominent local physician Thomas Houghan lived with his wife and stepson from 1833-1843. But Thomas Houghan was concealing a previous marriage and abandoned wife. When he sold all his properties, including his home to Benjamin Edwards, his first wife still had rights to 1/3rd of all his possessions. After his death she came to collect!

It is ironic that today, almost 170 years later, as the Enos Park Development LLC is acquiring property as part of its land banking efforts for the Enos Park Master Plan, we are confronted by property with multiple liens and lost owners. We have pointed to Edwards Place as the beacon for Enos Park’s historic past and now we find we are living with the same problems Benjamin Edwards and his family encountered during Springfield’s earliest days.

Come join us to find out how the story ends and how Enos Park is moving forward with its revitalization program.

Following the presentation, Paula Zink, Housing inspector, and Ryan Irwin, Neighborhood Police Office will bring the membership up to date on a major drug bust and efforts to eliminate a number of serious code violations. Refreshments will be served.

Important: We have changed the time and location for this meeting to 5:30 p.m. at the Art Association

The pie sale funds are ear marked for the EPNIA Safety and Security account. Funds from this account have been used to retain an attorney to bring civil action on behalf of the neighborhood against property owners with excessive code violations and police service calls. The Enos Park hotline, 787 ENOS, used to record trends in suspicious activity, is also funded from this account. Information from this source played an important role in solving a series of robberies during the summer in the neighborhood. Keep those calls coming! They help!

This year’s pie sale was supported by Qik-n-EZ, Tuxhorn Towing, St. John’s Hospital, Massie-Massie Associates, Marine Bank, Starbucks (Freedom Dr.), and CVS (Carpenter & N 2nd).

Made by a professional pie maker, pies are $13.00 each or $20 for a pie with a half pound of Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend Coffee.

The pie sale is an annual fundraiser for the historic Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association (EPNIA), and the funds will help the EPNIA continue safety and security initiatives and fund special projects like the Master Plan for Enos Park.

Orders:

• CALL 522-9381 or 971-9138 (leave a message)
• MAIL the Pie order form to: Enos Park NIA, 837 North 8th,
  Springfield, IL 62702 and be sure to include
  your check, payable to Enos Park NIA.

Pay by cash or check.

Deadline for orders is Friday, Nov. 18.

Pie Pick Up

Wednesday, November 23:
Between 1 and 5 p.m. at the west side of Elliott Avenue Baptist Church at 501 West Elliott (one block south of North Grand).

Karen Lee, Executive Director, SIU School of Medicine Community Support Network, will be our guest speaker and discuss the Hope Springs apartment project that is currently underway on Ninth St.

The former Hardees building on Ninth St. and the blue warehouse immediately to the south have already been demolished to make way for the new Hope Springs Apartments which will consist of two buildings with a total of 36 units of supportive living for disabled individuals.

The project is being led by Linscott Park Development of Chicago in partnership with SIU School of Medicine Community Support Network. Construction of the $4.4 million dollar project is expected to wrap up by this time next year. This project, in addition to the revitalization efforts of the Enos Park Development LLC, are making major changes to the look of the neighborhood.

Come join us to find out more about these changes.

We currently have 40+ properties in our land bank, and while the majority of these are vacant lots, there are about half a dozen houses that are candidates for renovation, in addition to two commercial properties.

We need people with a pioneering spirit who are not afraid to live in a neighborhood that doesn’t have matching mailboxes or a golf course nearby. We want people who appreciate the unique housing stock in the area and want to contribute to it through their own revitalization efforts. We are also looking for people who will commit to keeping the properties as
single family, owner-occupied homes that fit  within our design standards.

This year, instead of holding a fall historic homes tour, we have decided to hold an Urban Pioneer Tour. On Saturday, October 8 from 1 to 4 p m. we will have our available properties open for people to walk through and see the potential for themselves. The Art Association will be the starting point for people to pick up maps and information about the  properties. Board members will be on hand as well as representatives from local lending institutions and other groups that have partnered with us.

All along, we have only intended to be the middle man as we buy up the worst properties and try to get them into good hands. Right now we have more properties than we have partners, so we’re looking for a few good urban pioneers! We hope you’ll join us on October 8th and see what Enos Park has to offer.

The monthly EPNIA meetings are now held in the Assisi Conference room at St. John’s Hospital (please note the change of location).  You can enter from Ninth street near Carpenter or from the Carpenter Street side.  The Assisi Conference Room is right next to the library in the Main part of the hospital, NOT in the Carol Jo Vecchi Women and Children’s Center. When leaving the parking garage, turn right (west) to the Main entry, instead of left (east) to the Children’s Center. As you enter the Main entrance go down the hall to the elevators and turn right. Go to the end of that hall and make a slight jog (left then right) and go past the library. Assisi is on the left hand side of the hall and is clearly marked. There will be signs marking the way once you enter the hospital.

Monthly Association meeting dates are on the second Tuesday of every month.  Meetings start promptly at 7 p.m.and last about one and a half hours.

Meetings typically begin with a Treasurer’s Report, President’s Report, Police Report/Neighborhood Watch Report, Public Works/Housing Inspector Report and then a guest speaker for the evening, an open discussion session, and finally a 50/50 drawing.

We hope to see you there!