South
Historic Illinois home of Paul Powell, the 'Shoebox Scandal' politician, faces sale as trust funds dwindle
- Paul Powell, a powerful figure in southern Illinois politics, left behind $800,000 in cash in the “Shoebox Scandal.”
- Powell established a $250,000 trust that sustained his legacy for over half a century.
- The trust, which maintains Powell’s birthplace as a museum in Vienna, is running dry, and the home is likely to be sold.
Paul Powell, the southern Illinois political powerhouse who died and left behind $800,000 in cash in the notorious “Shoebox Scandal,” used to say, “The only thing worse than a defeated politician is a broke one.”
For more than half a century, a Powell-established $250,000 trust sustained his legacy, for better or worse. But the account that maintained his birthplace as a museum will soon run dry. The fate of the home in Vienna, a town of 1,300 about 140 miles southeast of St. Louis, is uncertain, but it likely will be sold.
For decades it has been home, according to Powell’s wishes, to the Johnson County Genealogical and Historical Society, which has the home looking as it did during the political giant’s time in office, with memorabilia cluttering the walls.
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The upkeep runs about $5,000 annually, while last year the society’s income was $4,300, said board member Gary Hacker, 85, whose parents were schoolmates of Powell and mowed his lawn as a teenager in the early 1950s.
A sign marks the Paul Powell Home and Museum in Vienna, Ill. The birthplace of Powell, one of Illinois’ more notorious politicians, might soon be up for sale. (AP Photo/John O’Connor, File)
“We’re probably going to be putting it on the market for sale,” Hacker said. “The historical society will relocate.”
Southern Illinois was Powell’s fiefdom for much of the mid-1900s. He brought jobs by expanding the state’s prison infrastructure to the region, pumped money and status into Southern Illinois University and promoted county fairs and pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, which served the dual purpose of enriching Powell, who held racetrack stock.
While in later years Powell spent more time in Springfield and Chicago, when he was at home, favor-seekers streamed to the house. Sunday afternoons were spent in the sunroom he added in the 1950s, where three televisions were tuned to separate networks carrying sports, Hacker said.
“He was pretty adept at watching football, smoking cigars and conducting political business on the telephone or with people who visited him there,” Hacker said.
Winning a House seat in 1934, the Democrat was elected speaker in 1949, 1959 and 1961 — once despite Republicans claiming a one-seat majority. His quid pro quo deals with the boss of Chicago, Mayor Richard J. Daley, ensured projects for both regions and were often punctuated with another Powell aphorism: “I can smell the meat a-cookin’!”
Powell’s leverage only grew with his 1964 election as secretary of state.
“When Paul Powell was a man of influence, people knew where Johnson County was,” said John Rendleman III, a lawyer from Carbondale.
Rendleman’s father, a Powell friend and executor of his estate, uncovered one of the more outlandish political scandals in a state renowned for splashy corruption cases.
After Powell’s sudden death at 68 in October 1970, the elder Rendleman found $750,000 in cash, stuffed mostly in attache cases but also in at least one gift box from Marshall Field & Co., in his suite at Springfield’s St. Nicholas Hotel. Another $50,000 was stashed in his Capitol office about five blocks away.
A federal investigation concluded Powell skimmed much of it by awarding contracts to friends with kickback conditions. His estate, settled in 1978, was worth $4.6 million, the equivalent of $21.8 million today. He had $1 million worth of stock in horse tracks where he determined the most favorable racing dates.
The IRS claimed $1.7 million, and the state of Illinois $230,000. News reports on other politicians with horse racing stock led to federal prison for former Gov. Otto Kerner, at the time a federal appeals judge. Future politicians were required by law to start completing annual statements of economic interest.
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The number of curiosity-seekers once drawn to the Powell home by the bizarre legend has dwindled, Hacker said. Few remember Powell even in Vienna.
“Memories last about a generation,” Rendelman said.
About $80,000 remains in the trust, Hacker said. Subtracting legal fees and the home’s value, appraised at about $60,000, will empty the account. A court date for closing the trust has not yet been scheduled.
Telephone and email messages seeking comment were left for the trustee at First Mid Bank & Trust in Mattoon.
It’s not beyond possibility that the house will remain open, Hacker said. One potential buyer has suggested making the three-bedroom home of about 1,700 square feet (160 square meters) into a bed-and-breakfast.
As the Supreme Court weakens voting rights protections, Tennessee’s Jim Crow history offers a stark warning about race, power and representation.
Southern states race to redraw district maps following SCOTUS ruling
Supreme Court decision, which split along conservative and liberal lines, essentially nullified section 2 of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Recent developments concerning race and democracy have prompted much discussion about the American experiment and the meaning of citizenship. This series of guest essays examines major issues, such as race, slavery, Jim Crow and civil and voting rights, in the context of their collective meaning in our present.
These guest essays help us understand the importance of these topics in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Supreme Court has nakedly attacked the most significant legislative achievement in American history: the Voting Rights Act. Justice Samuel Alito argued that Louisiana’s use of the law to support minority majority congressional districts was an unconstitutional “racial gerrymander.”
Louisiana v. Callais will be remembered as the culmination of a decades-long effort by conservative politicians and jurists to undermine one of the central underpinnings of American democracy. The brazenness of the Court’s action is as disturbing as it was predictable. Many have argued the Court’s actions will lead to a new Jim Crow.
As the nation comes to grips with a new legal paradigm regarding civil rights, imposed by an unelected and hyper-partisan Court, it is time to reexamine just what Jim Crow actually meant to Tennessee and the South, as well as what it might portend for our future.
What Jim Crow was and how it took hold
The Jim Crow era, de jure and de facto, existed from the end of Reconstruction to the late 1960s. The term is the center identifier for all the laws, rules, and customs that governed the period. It originated around 1828, when Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice originated the character of “Jim Crow” in New York. Wearing “blackface,” Rice regaled audiences with dance and song in blackface, using burnt cork makeup to give the appearance of Black skin.
By 1840, “Jim Crow” was incredibly popular because of its deeply offensive representations of Black people. The outrageous stereotypes meant to dehumanize Black America would, by the 1890s, take on an even more menacing tone.
How Tennessee built a segregated society
Tennessee was the first state to reenter the Union in June 1866. Our state had a long history of holding people in bondage. Enslaved people were chattel, meaning they were little more than property to be bought, sold and possessed. After the war, Tennessee designed laws to make Blacks into second-class citizens.
In 1875, Tennessee created one of the first frameworks for a segregated society, which allowed a variety of public-facing entities – hotels, businesses, transportation and others – to refuse service and/or admission to Black Tennesseans. This was in response to Congress passing the 1875 Civil Rights Act, which promised equal treatment for Black people in public places and the right to serve on juries.
By the start of the 20th century, Tennessee, like the rest of the South, erected all kinds of laws to trap Blacks into second-class citizenship. Everything was segregated, from housing to hospitals to cemeteries to water fountains to bathrooms to lunch counters. The Supreme Court gave its blessing to segregation in 1896 when it decided the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The federal government had given Tennessee and the rest of the South its blessing to enforce a deeply dehumanizing, two-tiered apartheid system.
The vast majority of Blacks were disenfranchised by a series of official acts of the Tennessee legislature in 1889. Laws regarding poll taxes and literacy tests restricted many from accessing the ballot. Lynchings served to intimidate Black Tennesseans from challenging the new laws.
At least 177 Black Tennesseans were lynched during Jim Crow. Ida B. Wells began her career in Memphis documenting the scourge of lynchings in her Free Speech newspaper. She was terrorized by angry whites, and after her press was burned by a white mob, she remained in the North, where she continued her work. The murders and mayhem undergirded Jim Crow in Tennessee.
Why change required sustained pressure
Today, it is not enough to say these laws have changed. Too often, it is noted that the country has moved past race. Brown v. Board of Education came to pass. The Civil Rights Act came to pass. The Voting Rights Act came to pass. The Fair Housing Bill came to pass. These advancements came about because of the courage of Black Americans, white and Jewish allies, and others who demanded change toward justice. Commentators point out these changes as if the country should be rewarded for finally delivering on basic rights already guaranteed by the Constitution.
Congress and the statehouses did not change because they felt morally responsible for the plight of Blacks. The changes came because people said “enough.”
How today’s disputes reflect unresolved history
In 2026, our problems remain rooted in the Jim Crow past. A great many Americans, including those in Tennessee, never accepted the racial progress of the 1950s and 1960s. Some argue our new congressional maps are simply an exercise in partisanship and power.
Poppycock! Such measures will result in the disenfranchisement of Tennesseans. If some are not able to elect representatives who are in alignment with their political and policy views, then something most vile has been reawakened in the Volunteer State.
Basic issues such as support for public schools, public works, infrastructure and investment will subside as political attention is devoted to areas of the state perceived to be more authentically Tennessean at the expense of Black and poor residents. The irony is that the supermajority has forgotten that less than 20 years ago, they were in the minority and were quite sensitive about violations of the rights of the minority.
The stakes for voting rights and representation
To argue that race no longer plays a role in American life simply does not pass the smell test. Conservatives are missing an opportunity to gain traction, followers and, most importantly, voters because many are unwilling to put down the barbed clubs of grievance and shortsightedness.
The Voting Rights Act was not a radical legislative solution. Its design was very basic and conservative in its purpose: to develop a series of mechanisms to enforce and ensure equal opportunity and access for all Americans to taste the richness of American democracy.
Daryl A. Carter, Ph.D., is associate dean, director, and professor of history at East Tennessee State University.
After Virginia Tech football faces VMI in its season opener, it remains in Blacksburg to host Old Dominion in a potential trap game Sept. 12. The Hokies hold a 4-3 record over Old Dominion, though last year’s matchup marked a critical point in the last half-decade — or perhaps further — of Virginia Tech football.
The Hokies fell behind the 8-ball quickly and never recovered, letting the Monarchs run and throw amok to a 28-0 halftime lead. Virginia Tech trailed by as many as 31 and thinned the margin to 19 with as many points in the fourth quarter, losing 45-26. The next day, the Hokies fired head coach Brent Pry. Just under tow months later, Virginia Tech hired new head whistle James Franklin from Penn State.
The truth, however, is that both teams look radically different. The Hokies will start a new signal-caller — almost certainly redshirt sophomore Ethan Grunkemeyer, who followed Franklin from Penn State — though they return several experienced options at wideout and running back in senior WR Ayden Greene, redshirt senior RB Marcellous Hawkins and redshirt freshman RB Jeffrey Overton Jr.
Old Dominion, however, returns a scant total from its 2025 roster. Gone is ODU’s starting quarterback in 2025, Colton Joseph, who was whisked away to the Big Ten to join the Wisconsin Badgers for this upcoming season. Joseph threw for 2,624 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The dual-threat signal-caller, who was named the Sun Belt offensive Player of the Year, also rushed for 1,007 rushing yards on 158 carries, scoring 13 times on the ground.
In his stead, Old Dominion does not yet have a definitive answer. Sophomore Quinn Henicle returns after logging 184 passing yards on a 17-for-40 rate in 2025. He served more as a pure runner, logging 209 rushing yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns on 44 carries.
Old Dominion also lost its top running back: Trequan Jones. The 5-foot-9 tailback raced off for 792 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns on 105 totes. He initially committed to Maryland — the school the Hokies will play in Week 3 (Sept. 19) in their first road game of the season — on Jan. 4, but pulled his commitment 11 days later, per 247Sports. On Jan. 26, Jones committed to Tulsa.
Running back Devin Roche is the lone returner from last year’s starting lineup; the then-redshirt sophomore tabbed 630 rushing yards and four scores for 5.7 yards a carry. Roche rolled up yard totals of 145 and 137 agaisnt Troy and Georgia State, respectively.
Like quarterback and running back, the wide receiver room saw a plethora of turnover. Leading receiver Tre’ Brown III (762 receiving yards, four receiving touchdowns on 38 receptions) left for LSU, while Ja’Cory Thomas went to Vanderbilt and Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding ventured to Maryland, where he’ll play the Hokies a week after Old Dominion does.
It’s a telling note that Old Dominion’s top returning receiving production comes from wideout Sidney Mbanasor, who logged 68 receiving yards on six catches. Getting to Mbanasor means passing four wideouts who all left, plus a running back and tight end who are no longer with the program. Those six players — Brown III, Thomas, Abdul-Rahim Gladding, running back Ketravion Hargrove and tight end Dawson Johnson — accounted for a whopping 2,523 receiving yards out of ODU’s total of 2,813.
As aforementioned, Old Dominion returns only one of its 11 offensive starters, resulting in an aura of mystique but also trepidation. The Monarchs will not feature a signal-caller with extended experience, but neither will the Hokies. Grunkemeyer has only started seven games in his college career (all from last season), while UNC transfer Bryce Baker, redshirt freshman returnee Kelden Ryan and true freshman Troy Huhn all have never seen game action.
VirginiaTech can, and should, take care of business, but the pitfall of facing Old Dominion has been a historical road block. In then-head coach Brent Pry’s first year at the helm of the Hokies, Virginia Tech lost 20-17 to the Monarchs, conceding 10 fourth-quarter points to fall in Norfolk.
This time around, Virginia Tech should have enough to outlast the Monarchs, though things could get chippy.
Virginia Tech’s game against Old Dominion is set to be on Saturday, September 12, at noon ET. The game is currently set to be shown on The CW.
Prediction: Virginia Tech 35, Old Dominion 21
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