Timeline: 1923

Earl Simpson, chiropodist, opened his combination of offices and barbershop at 36 ½ E. Main Street in Champaign. He came to Champaign as a barber and was part of the 370th Infantry during World War I.

January: Salem and Mt. Olive Baptist Church of Champaign held a joint observance of Emancipation Day at Salem Church. Rev. R. A. Hayden, pastor of Salem Church, Urbana Courier January 2, 1923, page 2.

January 30: The Ku Klux Klan held a meeting in their new headquarters—the Illinois Theater—in Urbana. By 1924, lodge meeting and activities around the county included Sidney, Mahomet, Rantoul, Champaign, and Urbana.

Allen Stringfellow (1923-2004) was born in Champaign, IL. Allen Stringfellow was a nationally known artist. After moving to Chicago after high school in the late 1930s, he became part of the WPA’s artist program and was associated with the South Side Community Art Center where he presided as director in the 1970s. About 1950, he co-founded the Halsted Street Arts Fair, known as the Old Town Art Fair. It was the second oldest art fair in Chicago.