"An Agreeable Assemblage of Dwelling Houses"

"An Agreeable Assemblage of Dwelling Houses". . , Bicentennial Plaza , A REALTOR Community Partership is located at the center of what is known the Aristocracy Hill section of Springfield. Originally dotted with trees and crossed by the Town Branch, the area was occupied by the mansions of some of Springfield's most prominent entrepreneurs and laborers. , Jacob Bunn Home , Among the residents of this neighborhood was Jacob Bunn, An 1840 arrival from New Jersey, Bunn first opened a grocery store, eventually building a large wholesale operation before expanding into banking, mining and manufacturing. Companies descended from those founded by Jacob Bunn operate nationally even today. His large Italianate home and its spacious grounds were located on what is now the South Sixth Street end of Bicentennial Plaza. , Clanging, Smoking symbols of Progress , To the west of this plaza , people of wealth happily shared the neighborhood with exciting new enterprise which generated noise and smoke. , North of the Illinois Governor's Mansion, across Jackson Street, stood the Springfield Wollen Factory. Animals powered the machinery there until the 1851 installation of steam engines. A railroad connecting Springfield to St. louis and Chicago carried freight and passenger trains along Third Street, leaving smoke and soot in their wake. , The Helmles , Late in the 19th century, George H. Helmle occupied the South Fifth street end of what has become Bicentennial Plaza. a leading local architect, he designed many area buildings and homes. Helmle was also the architect for two Illinois Governor's Mansion renovations. his father, William Helmle, lived and worked in that building that still stands just north of this Plaza.