On Saturday evening, January 6, 2018, a dinner was held in the Crystal Room of the old Kentwood Arms Hotel, now MSU’s Kentwood Hall, to celebrate the 150th birthday of John T. Woodruff. Woodruff who lived from 1868 until 1949, and was active in Springfield from 1904 until approximately 1945, was the paragon of civic engagement, building a number of large, important buildings, including the Woodruff Building, the Colonial Hotel, Hotel Sansone, the Kentwood Arms, and the Frisco Office Building. He also brought many institutions and jobs to Springfield, including the Frisco West Maintenance and Repair Shops and O’Reilly Army Hospital.

Ron Warnick’s Route 66 News Blog ran a story about the dinner, and KOLR10, a local Springfield TV station, aired a segment about the event, too.