Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Preface
This manuscript is the product of a tape-recorded interview conducted
by Shirley Marshall for the Oral History Office, Sangamon State
Universlty in November of 1980. Shirley Marshall transcribed and edited
the transcript. Mr. Herron reviewed the transcript.
Howard Herron was born in Batchtown, Calhoun County, Illinois in 1897 into
a miner's family. The family moved to Auburn, Sangamon County, Illinois
when Howard was about six years of age. Except for a twenty-two month
tour in the navy, Howard has spent the rest of his life in Auburn.
Howard's many occupations include being a jockey, a car salesman then
owner of the Chevrolet dealership, a real estate broker, a coal miner
and a farm worker.
~oward's recollections include commentary on early Auburn businesses,
schools, WPA and PWA activities in Auburn, and early home and social
life. He provides eyewitness testimony to the 1910 fire that destroyed
the business district of the city and also describes the 1911 cyclone.
This interview was conducted in his mobile home which is located next to the
American Legion Home in Auburn.
Shirley Marshall is public librarian in Auburn and is beginning a
collection of oral histories of Auburn to be housed in the Auburn
Public Library.
Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that it is a
transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, narrator and
editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is
inherent in such historical sources. Sangamon State University is not
responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for views
expressed therein; these are for the reader to judge.
The manuscript may be read, quoted and cited freely. It may not be
reproduced in whole or in part by any means, electronic or mechanical,
without permission in writing from the Oral History Office, Sangamon
State University, Springfield, Illinois 62708.