© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Effort To Restore Facade Of Springfield's First Black Firehouse

On the 13-hundred block of Adams street in Springfield sits a building that's been used as a Masonic lodge for decades. What's not obvious by looking at it now - is that it was once the first black firehousein Springfield, back when the city was segregated in the early nineteen-hundreds.

 
Local groups have come together in hopes to return the outside of the building to it's original appearance and get the building historically recognized. Engineering and architectural plans are complete to return the facade of the building to its original appearance. Backers say they need about $200,000 in donations to do the project. Ken Page, a member of the Prince Hall Masons who own the building - and Norm Sims, the executive director of the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission join us for this interview:
CLICK HERE for more info about the project.

 

Rachel Otwell of the Illinois Times is a former NPR Illinois reporter.
Related Stories