Meetings

Next Meeting

 

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. 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!

March 2012 Meeting

Sarah Mackey, the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Sangamon County, spoke about a new partnership with EPNIA. Habitat has committed to building one new house a year for the next five years, according to our design standards,  on land provided by Enos Park Developement. Additionally, Habitat is launching a new program called “A Brush with Kindness” that will provide exterior repairs to current homeowners who meet Habitat’s qualifications. Habitat hopes to break ground on the first house in Enos Park later this year.

February 2012 Meeting

Interns from Robert Morris University gave a presentation regarding the podcasts they are putting together for a series of historic walks throughout the neighborhood. Almost 90% of the houses in the neighborhood were built between 1850 to 1900, a time when Enos Park was known as the “Jewel of Springfield.” A series of four different walks will provide information about the historically significant and and architecturally unique homes in the area.

January 2012 Meeting

Ericka Holst, Curator of Collections and Historian for Edwards Place, revealed a scandalous secret…one that erupted in the 1860s, affecting the lives of dozens of Springfield’s most prominent citizens. 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.

November 2011 Meeting

The guest speaker was Karen Lee, Executive Director of SIU School of Medicine Community Support Network. She updated us on the Hope Springs Apartment project, where work has already begun at the site of the former Hardees on Ninth St. This $4.4 million construction project is scheduled to be completed next year and provide 36 units of supportive housing for the disabled.

September 2011 Meeting

At the September meeting, members of the Robert Morris University architectural CAD class presented their preliminary work in mapping the neighborhood. They utilized information from the previous Fever River Research survey and prepared maps and overlays showing the historical significance and condition of the homes. We will be using this information as part of our application to be recognized as a National Historic District.  

August 2011 Meeting

The August meeting featured guest speaker Tim Rowles, Executive Director of The Springfield Project.  He provided an update on the efforts currently underway to revitalize East Springfield, specifically the “Neighborhood of Hope” surrounding Feitchans Academy. The Springfield Project’s planning efforts are very much correlated to many of the changes that Enos Park is seeking at the city level to encourage redevelopment in the older neighborhoods.

June 2011 Meeting

The June meeting featured  Anthony Rubano with the Illinois History Preservation Agency. Anthony recently toured the neighborhood, along with the consultants from Mansur and Lakota, to assist us with our efforts in applying for recognition as a National Register Historic District. Enos Park would be the first area in the City of Springfield to receive this designation, and preliminary discussions indicate the Historic Sites Commission is very supportive of the idea. The EPNIA is currently conducting additional research and gathering the necessary documentation as we move foward with preparing an application. Anthony spoke about this process and the potential advantages of being recognized as a Historic District.

May 2011 Meeting

The May meeting featured John Milhiser, Sangamon County State’s Attorney, as the guest speaker. He updated us on the status of current projects his office is working on, as well as the newly implemented Drug Court program for non-violent offenders. Also, a special “Cleaning up the Neighborhood” award was presented to our NPO, Officer Ryan Irwin, and his partner, Officer Bob Oglisby.