A year by year record of Commercial Street and North Springfield, from the years before the railroad arrived through the turn of the century. The entries run in order, grouped into three eras.
Before 1868
For twenty years, from 1850 until the line was completed in 1870, the people of Springfield looked forward to the prosperity a railroad would bring. As one account put it, “Still, though not realizing their fondest anticipations, the citizens of Springfield hailed with joy the day when the road was completed to a point so near their borders.” The route opened a rift between Old Town and New Town, because much work had been done to bring the railroad directly into Old Town. When it was placed in North Springfield instead, Springfield proper felt cheated of a significant source of revenue. The animosity subsided only when the two towns combined in 1887, and even then the hard feelings lingered.
1868
A company of New York and Boston capitalists, with the help of a few Springfield citizens, purchased the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad from the State of Missouri after General Fremont failed to make the second payment on his purchase. The Springfield men engaged in the enterprise were Dr. Robberson, Eli Parrish, Chas. Harwood, Thomas Whitlock, S. H. Boyd, and Wm. Massey.
1869
The city’s first newspaper was formed under the name The Southwest. It soon moved to Commercial Street as The Springfield Republican. In 1871 it was dissolved and reverted to The Southwest, and in 1875 it changed its name to The Southwester.
1870
North Springfield had a busy year. The town incorporated on July 4th, but because most signers had not lived in the state long enough to be citizens, the two-thirds majority of petitioners was ruled illegal, and the town was reincorporated legally in May of 1871. In April, the first construction train from the South Pacific Railroad pulled into the new station at Commercial and Benton Avenue, and the boom began. The Ozark Land Company built one of the town’s first buildings, a first-class hotel opposite the passenger depot named the Ozark House, which burned in 1874. J. C. Jackson erected a two-story brick building on the south side of Commercial Street near the Jefferson Avenue intersection. H. H. Kaufholz erected a two-story brick building at Commercial Street and Robberson for a general store; it was destroyed by fire in 1872 when the famous Fellows elevator burned across the street, the heat igniting the store from 100 feet away.
1871
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was chartered with 44 members and met in the Masonic Hall. A disabled member could receive $10 a week while unable to work.
1872
A brick public school was built on the north side of town at a cost of $17,000. It is now Central High School.
1873
Drury College was founded a short distance from the North Springfield business district. H. H. Kaufholz built again on the site of his burned general store, adding a storeroom that H. H. Haynes rented for millinery and fancy goods. The railroad moved its car and engine repair shops to Summit and Sherman.
1874
Parce and Gray, wagon builders, constructed a manufacturing complex at 211 to 215 East Commercial. The building was still standing in 1884, at the time Holcombe wrote his history of North Springfield. A bill was introduced in the State Legislature to extend Springfield’s limits to include North Springfield if both towns agreed. North Springfield voted first, 72 against and 1 in favor, the lone yes cast as a joke. Learning the result, Springfield did not bother to hold its own vote.
1875
The first train arrived at the Main Street station. Dr. Hansford erected a three-story brick hotel, the Lyon House, on the site of his burned frame boarding house on the south side of Commercial Street.
1876
Encouraged by the booming town, J. C. Jackson erected a second brick building next to the first, to the east near Jefferson Avenue.
1878
J. C. Jackson raised his building by a story. One room was used as a grocery and the rest was fitted out as a hotel, operating as the North Springfield House.
1879
The Ozark Hotel was rebuilt after a fire destroyed part of it.
1880
North Springfield granted the Springfield Railway Company a franchise for horse-drawn cars.
1881
Rails linking Springfield and North Springfield were laid.
1884
After ten years of prosperity, serious construction continued on Commercial Street.
1887
The two towns merged, and construction on Commercial Street continued.
1889
An electric trolley system was created to move people around the heavily trafficked town.
1891
St. John’s built a hospital at Washington and Chestnut Avenues, and a new jail was built at Robberson and Central.
1899
Frisco Hospital was built at Atlantic and Broadway to serve railroad workers.
1902
Citizens Bank opened at 220 East Commercial with capital assets of $25,000. Its principal founders were the McDaniel family and Tom Watkins, Sr., who sold his grocery store and joined the bank as a cashier and stockholder. Ed V. Williams, who later left to open a clothing store, was the bank’s president.