How others see the Grant connection to the Historic West side neighborhood

This is a follow up to the June 3, 2010 entry on:
Dubois School site has an interesting history at       Click here

I found this entry in a blog on U.S. Grant: The title for the entry is:
Ulysses S. Grant Tour- Springfield, Illinois to the Ohio river

1861: Proceeding from the Old State House eastward a number of blocks, we visited the site where Grant had his first command of soldiers–the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Originally the area was the state agricultural fairgrounds before its conversion to a Civil War military training camp. Today it is a gracious suburb with historic homes. Two memorial plaques commemorate the historic military grounds. One is a plaque on an elementary school building…


…the other object commemorating Grant’s command of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry is a stone obelisk which now stands in a private garden…

The address of the blog is:

http://presidentusgrant.com/category/springfield-illinois/

The 1910 Sears Roebuck Agricultural Exhibit at the State Fair

Click on image below to enlarge:

In 1910 Sears Roebuck built an exhibit of their agricultural products and catalog house goods for the Illinois State Fair. On top of a pavilion, Sears featured a catalog house that was called the Avondale. The house was open for tours and, of course was decorated with items that could be purchased from their mail-order catalog.

Here is a postcard showing what the house would look like on the ground:

 The exhibit continued for many years and it is unknown when the house was removed from the pavilion. No records exist at Sears or in the files of the Illinois State Fair Museum. The house has become the residence of the fair manager and is still there today.

Here's an ad about this particular house design:

 Floorplan of the house

Here is a postcard showing the interior of the home:

 Dining Room Lamp as advertised in Building Materials catalog (Click on images to enlarge)

 China Cabinet shown in Dinig Room