Thoughts from the past

The following quotes are from a video compiled by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Presented at the chamber's annual meeting, it features several past board presidents and chairmen.

"There was a smatter of talk at that time that we should build a building, one of our own ... but it was a germ that grew into the wonderful building that, we thought, was the Empire State Building, on Jefferson, and we thought we were good for 20 years, but boy, we outgrew that one in a big hurry."

Don Wessel, 1980

"The emphasis in '86 was going to be on small business ... we were going to focus on being a resource for small business, actually have a resource center, try to have some forums for small businesses to talk about issues."

Mike Williamson, 1986

"We had an extremely interesting process of looking for a new chamber director ... and delightfully, found Jim Anderson. So as it turns out, in my mind, it was a great year. It was one of the best years of my life, and I really enjoyed the meetings."

Allen Casey, 1998

" One of the more significant areas was the first really public-private partnership that we put in place in the latter part of 1990, which comprised the chamber, the Springfield Business Development Corporation, the city of Springfield and City Utilities, to start focusing in one single direction and pool our resources toward economic development. And that partnership laid the groundwork ... for our first industrial park."

William E. Kirkman, 1990

"Being probably the first very small business owner to be chairman of the board was very significant to me because my whole goal was to bring small business really into the forefront and into the limelight. I think we managed to do that."

Nikki Sells, 1998