PRESERVATIONAND CONSERVATIONASSOCIATIONVolume 13

1993 Illinois PreservationConference

"Living with History" will be the themeof this year's statewide preservation con-ference being held in Galena June 3-5.Galena, one of the earliest lllinois boomtowns, is remembered as a trade center ofthe Northwest Territory and the home ofPresident Ulysses S. Grant. In the late1840s and early 1850s, Galena was thewealthiest city in lllinois. .Itshillsides arescattered with homes and mansions of

prosperous miners and businessmen. Theconference is a great time to visit Galena'shistoric homes, stores, and sites, and tomeet Galena residents, business leaders,and public officials.

The conference, with "Living with His-tory" as its theme, will explore the manydimensions of dealing with historicresources on a daily basis. While Galenapresents a unique backdrop for thistheme, many communities have the op-portunity to live with history. Workshopswill focus, for example, upon the sensi-tive and economical renovation andrepair of a historic home, the economicbenefits of heritage tourism as will assome of the problems it creates, such ashigh prices and TIMBY (Tourist in myback yard). The Planning for Preservationtrack will discuss the protection of cul-tural resources and property rights.

The conference will also offer case

. studies of how Galena integrates its his-toric resources into everyday life. Par-ticipants will have the opportunity tovisit house museums located in neighbor-hoods, exceptional reuse projects such asGalena Green Condominiums, andseveral of the shops along Main Street.

The historic DeSoto House Hotel willserveasconferenceheadquarte~.Thehotel is offering conference room rates,call 1-800-343-6562 and make your reser-vation under the lllinois PreservationConference. For further information, con-tact PACA for a brochure and registrationmaterials.

March-April, 1993 Number 2

PRESERVATION&LIVABLE COMMUNITIES

Make the Connection!

Preservatia1 W::ek May 9 -15 1993 Natb1aIltust Rx Histrri: Preservation

ExclusivelySpalscred By Murphy's Oil &Jap

Historic Preservation Week, 1993

Historic landmarks will be renewed, revitalized neighborhoods will be toured andAmerican community life will be celebrated as preservationists across the country ob-serve the 22nd annual National Historic Preservation Week, May 9-15.

Co-sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and hundreds of localgroups, "Preservation and Livable Communities: Make the Connection!" is the theme ofthe week-long celebration.

"Preservation Week presents a perfect opportunity for us to make the connection be-tween historic preservation and the aesthetic, environmental, and economic well-being oflivable communities," says Richard Moo, president, National Trust for Historic Preserva-tion.

Activities locally include the Second Annual Kids Building Fair, to be held May 15 infront of the Orpheum Theatre, and the third "Architreasures" contest on May 7, spon-sored by the News Gazette and PACA. LoOk for PACA's new blue and green banne~ tobe flying from street poles in downtown Urbana in honor of Preservation Week.

Focus on: The Illinois Theatre

During the last half of the nineteenth cen-tury, Urbana's Tieman's Opera Househad opened and closed. It was soonreplaced by Busey's Hall, which closedabout 1903, leaving Urbana without anopera house. During the next few years,support was strong and widespread for anew opera house, although the Rev.Toble,of Trinity Methodist Church, called theproposed opera house a "public curse."

By the autumn of 1906, the new operahouse was becoming closer to reality.Early plans called for a four-story build-ing, costing as much as $100,000, to beerected west of the Hatiron building. (TheHatiron building stood in the triangleformed by Main and Springfieldavenues.) An elaborate building was en-v~sioned. The first story would house theopera house; the second and third, theHatiron store; and the fourth, a dancehall. A roof garden would be located onthe roofs of the new building and the ad-joining Hatiron building.

Prominent and influential citizens were

backing the venture. They were advisedby theatrical manager George W. Chatter-ton of Springfield, who managed operahouses in Springfield, Decatur, Lincoln,Bloomington, and Danville. The groupformed a stock company, the IllinoisTheatre Building Company.

Stock sold at $100.00 a share and$34,000 worth of stock in the theatre com-pany had been sold by February of 1907.More than sixty people had purchasedstock in the company including W.B. Mc-Kinley, several members of the Buseyfamily, T.B.Thornburn, GR. Baker, CCGere, E.M. Knowlton, and G.M. Bennett.

The building committee consisted of M.W. Busey, CN. Clark, J.W. Stipes, and T.B.Thornbum. They hired J.w. Royer as ar-chitect. The committee accompaniedRoyer on visits to several opera housesthroughout the state to get ideas for thedesign of their new theatre. Final planswere scaled down from the early vision,with the building remaining quite grand,but hous~g only a theatre.The estimatefor the entire project was $50,000;finalcosts would exceed $60,000.

By early April, 1907, the building planswere submitted to the stockholders for

their approval. Construction woulc;lbeginas soon as advance sales of opening nighttickets had reached $10,000 to help withthe construction costs. With only $4,000 inadvance sales, the stockholders of the Il-linois Theatre Company met on Monday,June 17, 1907, and authorized the build-ing committee to let the contract for thebuilding. Contractor William E Baird sub-mitted the winning bid of $37,367. This

- - .'- -~~ --~....The lllinoisTheatre was located on Springfield Avenue, formerly Ral1road Street, in Urbana.Photo used with permission of The Urbana Free Library.

was for the building alone, and did not in- Seating capacity exceeded 1,400. Theclude decorating, furnishings, nor the gently sloping parquet and dress circlesstage equipment. seated 500 people in leather chairs. The

The Illinois Theatre was located at 312 first balcony seated 400, the second bal-West Railroad Street (now knoWn as cony 300, and the gallery 100. There wereSpringfield Avenue), directly acrQss from ten boxes, five on either side of the stageBirch Street, on land donated by the Hat- at three levels. The boxes were elaborate-iron Building Association. The theatre ly furnished and heavily decorated withbuilding stretched northerly back to Main roses and cupids. Twelve exits wereStreet where a secondary entrance was 10- provided. It was estimated that the fullcated. house could have been emptied in two

Construction of the Illinois Theatre minutes.

began in early June, 1907. The contractor Each floor had a toilet and lavatory forfor the brickwork was John S. Bennett both ladies and gentlemen. A ladies dress-with brick from the Sheldon Brick ing and check room was on the first floorCompany's yards, and the trimmings of and a smoking room for gentlemen wasSt. Louis pressed brick. Walsh & Hawley located in the basement.were sub-contractors for the concrete The stage was 43 feet deep and 67 feetwork, Charles Holden for the painting, wide with the proscenium arch mea sur-and J. D. Green for the plumbing and ing 35 by 37 feet. Both a fire-proof asbes-steam fitting. tos curtain and a canvas curtain were

The contract for the electric work went provided. Fourteen large dressing rooms,to R. L. Rock at a price of $2,385. The each equipped with hot and cold water,building contained five miles of wire and were located behind the stage. The dress-1,900 lights. The electric sign at the front ing rooms were separated from the stageentrance spelled 'lllinois" in IS-inch let- by a fire wall. The orchestra pit would ac-ters using 300 lights of various colors. commodate forty musicians. There were

The contract for interior decorations two entrances from under the stage.went to Mitchell & Halback of Chicago. The Illinois Theatre was managed byThe price of the contract was $1,000. George W. Chatterton, jr; his repre-Other sub-contractors were: plastering sentative at the Illinois was Edward F.and plaster-of-Paris work, S. D. Gal- Rea. Stage manager was William Funk, alagher; seats, Cincinnati Seating Com- long-time employee of the Chattertons.pany; and scenery, Sosman & Landis. Other staff members included: head

The brick exterior was not overly usher, Ralph Sutton; electrician, Frankelaborate. The building measured 70 feet Anderson; head flyman, Robert Cum-wide by 127 feet long. The walls, 23 in- mins and orchestra conductor, Professorches thick, rose 65 feet high at the front, Gus Rudolphson.and 80 feet high at the rear where the The new Illinois Theatre was formallystage was located. opened on Tuesday evening, March 3,

1908. The opening could easily bedescribed as the social event of the year inChampaign-Urbana. The Champaign DailyGazette's coverage of the event includedan extensive listing of those making upne capacity crowd. Many of the twin

cities' best known citizens were in atten-

dance. A few of them, whose familynames are most familiar today include:members of the Busey family, Isaac Kuhrt,Mr. & Mrs. Jake Kaufman, Mr. & Mrs.G.c. Willis, Mr. & Mrs. EK. Robeson, andMr. & Mrs. N.H. Cohen. The audience

also included people from Ogden, St.Joseph, and other towns along the interur-ban railway line. The women woreelegant gowns and most of the men worefull evening dress. The ladies were givenred and white carnations_as favors.

The opening production was "Marry-ing Mary," a musical comedy. MarieCahill, who had delighted audiences ear-lier in the season at the Walker OperaHouse, starred in the title role. Her com-pany gave the new theatre rave reviews.

After the performance, quite a numberof people remained for a tour of thetheatre. Every cab in the twin cities andeleven street cars were outside the theatreto return the audience to their homes.

Over the following several years, the Il-linois presented equally fine productions.On February 13,1913, Charles Frohman?resented theatre great Maude Adams inJ. M. Barrie's "Peter Pan." In 1914, dan-cers Irene and Vernon Castle appeared atthe Dlinois. Mrs. Castle's bobbed hair-do

caused a stir as the local ladies began im-itating it and rushed to have their hair cutshort. Sarah Bernhardt appeared on Oc-tober 16, 1917, in her last American tour.

Other noted performers included JinnyLind, Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar,Otis Skinner, Eddie Cantor, AI Jolson, andlocal musicians Sol and Julius Cohen.

Eventually, a decline set in. The qualityof the theatrical productions at the Dlinoissuffered. The high-class vaudeville actswere booked into other theatres and the

stars no longer appeared at the Dlinois.Three new theatres in Champaign, the Or-pheum (1914), the Belvoir (Rialto) (1915), -and the Vuginia (1921) no doubt in-creased the competitiol}. Soon, the enter-tainmet:\t at the Dlinois was limited tolocal ama-teur productions, prize fights,and wrestling matches.

For the last four years of its life, the Il-linois Theatre was owned and operatedby the Zenith Amusement Company, aKu Klux Klan organization. The Klan pur-chased the building when it had out-grown its former quarters. During thisperiod, the theatre was used principallyfor Klan activities, but was available forrental by local organizations for theatricalproductions.

The illinois Theatre burned in the earlymorning hours of Sunday, April 3, 1927.A passing University of Dlinois studentturned in the alarm about 2:15 am. At thesame time two men living in northeast Ur-bana, also noticed the smoke andreported the fire.

The Champaign, Urbana, and Univer-sity fire departments all responded quick-ly, bringing all their equipment. However,the fire quickly enveloped the building,perhaps fueled by reported gas ex-plosions in the basement. The firefighterssoon determined it would be impossibleto save the building, and concentrated

their efforts on bringing it un~er controland protecting the neighboring struc-tures. Within a couple of hours, the inte-rior of the once grand theatre had beenreduced to a gaping hole strewn with rub-ble and charred timbers. The thick lowerwalls survived the fire, but some of thethinner, upper portions had collapsed.

The cau~ of the fire was not readilydetermined. J.J. ReYnolds, exalted cyclopsof the KKK for Champaign County, hadoffices in the building. He believed thefire was arson based on a history ofthreatening telephone calls and anon-ymous letters. The authorities believedthat the fire might have been started byspontaneous combustion, since there waswet lumber stored in the basement.

The building was insured for $17,000,only about half of the $35,000 the Klanhad paid for the building. The Klan alsolost many of its files and sev!'!l'almiscel-laneous items.

Initial rebuilding plans, announced theday after the fire, called for the buildingto be rebuilt as a community hall and ban-quet room as soon as the insurance wasadjusted. Since the walls had survivedthe fire, the plan Was to remove the topportions to a one-story height, add a roof,and rebuild the floor. The new banquetroom would have been able to accom-

modate 1,000 people. However, the ban-quet room plans did not materialize.Eventually, the Tuscany apartments werebuilt in the shell of the burned out

theatre. The apartments are still standingtoday.

This article was preparedby PACA BoardMember, Perry Morris, who is researchingthe historyoflocal theaters.

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Kids Building Fair

A Celebration of the BuildingCrafts

The Second Annual Kids BuildingFair is scheduled for Saturday, May15 from 11:00 to 4:00 in the parkinglot in front of the historic OrpheumTheatre. Cosponsored by PACAand The Discovery Place, last year'sfair drew about 1,000 kids and theirparents to try their hands at variousbuilding crafts and trades. Thisyear, representatives from a num-ber of building trades will be onhand to share their skills and have

fun teaching kids how to lay brick,do plumbing, build and pai,nt aproject, set ceramic tile, or prepare a"faux finish." An assortment of

hands-on science exhibits spon-sored by The Discovery Place willalso be on hand as will other build-

ing related exhibits by area com-munity groups.

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New &: Renewing MembersMrs. J.L. FairchildMike PaceMr. & Mrs. R. A. Avner

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