USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois, Volume One > Part 26
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The Illinois Power and Light Corporation, itself a super power system, and lined with other great systems, not only distributes electrical energy in Danville and vicinity, but also distributes gas and operates the Dan-
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ville street railway system. A subsidiary corporation operates the traction system that connects Danville with all parts of the state and buys its "juice" from the parent corporation.
It is not only the twentieth century edition of the old Merchants Electric Light and Power Company of 1884, but also of the Danville Gas Light Company of 1867, and the Citizens Street Railway Company, of 1883.
The first gas company, known as the Danville Gas Light Company, organized February 21, 1867, manufac- tured gas for lighting purposes only. The pioneer plant had one fifty thousand cubic foot holder.
Today the Illinois Power and Light Corporation has three holders, seventy thousand cubic feet, one hundred thousand cubic feet and five hundred thousand cubic feet capacity, respectively.
From an output of forty thousand cubic feet of gas a day to six hundred thirty thousand cubic feet per day rep- resents the growth. Eight miles of gas mains have been increased and eight thousand customers are served today.
While gas was used for lighting at first, it is now almost exclusively used for cooking and Danville homes are gradually installing more and more gas-fired boilers for heating purposes.
At the gas plant the annual consumption of coal is three thousand nine hundred tons. There are five hun- dred fifty-three thousand gallons of gas oil carburetted at the gas plant.
The Citizens Street Railway Company was chartered June 13, 1883. Five mule-driven cars operated over three and one-half miles of tracks at a speed of five miles an hour, which in the eighties was considered daring.
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The first street car lines extended from the Public Square to English Street on the north, to Madison Square on the west and to the Wabash Railroad tracks on the east. The lines were electrified in 1892.
From one small room and one clerk on the ground floor adjoining the old car barn which stood at 150 North Ver- milion Street, where the Palace Theatre is now located, to the present modern office building, housing some one hun- dred and thirty employes represents years of steady prog- ress on the part of the company.
The Danville street railway system now operates nine- teen modern cars over twenty miles of track, in addition to operating motor busses over a four-mile bus line.
The three pioneer utility companies were consolidated in January, 1891, under the name of the Danville Gas, Electric Light and Street Railway Company, the holdings of this company, along with the properties of other public utility companies in the state gradually passing into the control of the Illinois Power and Light Corporation, which has three hundred and fifty employes in Danville.
The Illinois Power and Light Corporation is the indus- try that gives all Danville industries an electrified "kick." Its pay roll is among the largest in the city and its develop- ment and extensive improvements have aided materially in placing Danville in the front ranks of middle west cities.
RAILROADS
The finger of fate must have guided the men who back in the twenties of the past century started the foundation of the city that is now Danville.
This same finger of fate must have guided the men who have had to do with the development of Danville dur-
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ing the one hundred odd years that have passed since its founding, else it might have remained merely a county seat town, no larger than many other county seat towns in Illinois and Indiana.
No better location could have been selected for a metro- politan city and today there is no one who can reach behind the curtain which conceals the future from us and say, "You must stop at that point."
Avenues of transportation are what determine a city's greatness today. Railroad and interurban lines and paved highways provide an outlet, as well as an inlet for a city's freight and passenger traffic.
Danville owes its future development and prosperity to its strategic location on transportation lines that gives its easy access to through routes east and west, north and south-all directions.
Its closeness to Chicago, only one hundred twenty-four miles, gives it an advantage from an industrial and com- mercial standpoint, in being far away to escape the con- gestion of the second city of the United States and at the same time being close enough to afford residents here all the advantages of Chicago.
The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad gives Danville a north and south line, giving a Chicago connection with all lines on the north and a southern outlet to Atlanta, Georgia, and Florida points, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Gulf of Mexico, and also to points in Texas and the southwest.
The Big Four Railroad connects on the east with Pitts- burgh and New York and points east and on the west with points northwest by way of Peoria. On the south this railroad connects with southern points by way of Cairo.
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The Wabash Railroad connects with all eastern points and provides a connecting link on the west with Omaha, Nebraska, and points west, and Saint Louis and Kansas City and points southwest.
The reorganized Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- road, running into Danville on the old "Walsh" road, now known as the Chicago, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, pro- vides an outlet northwest and to the Orient.
Thousands of carloads of freight are now being routed through Danville from the far northwest to eastern points, circling around Chicago and escaping the tedious delays in the yards of that city, due to congestion. This road con- nects with the east over the Wabash.
Then there is the New York Central line between Dan- ville and Chicago, connecting link between this section and the northwest and Canada.
The Illinois Traction System gives Danville another freight outlet that sends shipments in every direction and brings them into the city from all points.
Six transportation arteries leading to and from Dan- ville in all directions, connecting with the leading trans- portation lines of the United States and Canada, and bringing the fields of raw material and the consuming centers of finished products close together.
Quoting from the Danville Chamber of Commerce liter- ature, "There's a railroad outlet from Danville to every point of the compass."
Danville and Chicago are both located in what is known as the Central Freight Association territory, and Danville generally enjoys equal rates with Chicago, with few excep- tions. To and from the southwest, the rates of the two cities are the same. To and from the Pacific coast and the northwest Danville has the same rates as Chicago,
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Decatur, Peoria, Springfield, Champaign, Paris, and Bloomington. Danville rates to and from the New Eng- land states and eastern trunk line territories are no higher than the rates of Terre Haute, Crawfordsville and Lafay- ette, Indiana. Rates to and from the north and immediate northwest are no higher in Danville than they are in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Served as it is by rail routes diverging to all points, with short line connections with Saint Louis, Kansas City and Chicago, the three greatest railroad centers in the world, the freight service between Danville and all points may be said to constitute continuous movement.
CHAPTER XXIV
CLUBS
DANVILLE CIVIC COUNCIL-CHAMBER OF COMMERCE-THE ROTARY CLUB -THE KIWANIS CLUB-AMERICAN BUSINESS CLUB-THE EXCHANGE CLUB-BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMAN'S CLUB-THE ALTRUSA CLUB-THE DANVILLE CLUB-"MICAWBER CLUB"-WOMAN'S CLUB- FEDERATED WOMAN'S CLUB-DANVILLE MUSICAL CYCLE-DANVILLE CHORAL SOCIETY-THE DANVILLE CIVIC MUSIC ASSOCIATION-HOME DECORATIVE CLUB-THE CLOVER CLUB-THE MONDAY ART CLUB- THE "G. I. P." CLUB.
Clearing houses for friendships, ideas and ideals.
That best defines the place in the community held by the service, or luncheon clubs. For both men and women.
There are four of these clubs for men and two, featur- ing monthly dinners rather than weekly luncheons, for the women.
These six service clubs are not only valuable aides to the Danville Chamber of Commerce, but they extend their influence into the civic life of the community. They bridge the gap between the social and the business life of the community.
These clubs represent the aristocracy of the business and professional world in Danville. Forgetting the many civic movements they have sponsored, their existence is warranted solely because of the business and professional friendships that have developed through them. Their
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existence is responsible for a marked improvement in the relations of men and women engaged in competitive lines of business.
The six clubs and a few other organizations formed the Danville Civic Council several years ago. This was a sort of central board, the membership of which com- .prises the president and one other representative, from each member organization.
The Civic Council, now dormant, considered matters of public policy and the members reported back to their organizations the action, favorable or unfavorable, taken by the council.
The Civic Council and its member organizations were directly responsible for the adoption of the commission form of government for the city of Danville and for the establishment of the Community Chest Fund. It was also back of the movement to create a municipal airport. The other organizations that were members of the council are: Piankeshaw Council, Boy Scouts of America; Danville Trades and Labor Council, and the Danville Chamber of Commerce.
These six service clubs are all affiliated with national organizations. The Rotary Club is the oldest in the city, having been established in October, 1915. The Kiwanis Club was second in the city, having been founded April 19, 1920. The American Business Club was organized here in the spring of 1925. The Exchange Club, perhaps the oldest from standpoint of national organization, was estab- lished here in the spring of 1927, the youngest of the four men's clubs.
The two women's clubs are: Business and Professional Woman's Club and the Altrusa Club, both established here in 1923. The former club, with about one hundred and
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fifty members, is represented in almost every business place in the city. The Altrusa Club is more restrictive, with forty members, most of whom occupy executive posi- tions.
The establishment of the two business women's clubs has given the young women of the business world an equality with the men they associated with daily. The national organizations of the men's and the women's serv- ice clubs tackle the same problems of business and pro- fessional life. They have brought a new era to the man and woman in the business world.
The Rotary Club, the dean of luncheon organizations in Danville, has one hundred members. Like the other clubs the membership requirements are rigid and there will never be more than one hundred men in its ranks. The officers are: President, Oliver D. Mann; vice presi- dent, George C. Mahle; secretary, W. H. Debenham; treas- urer, Don H. Wilson; directors: Carey B. Hall, Luther Fuller and Past President William B. Murray.
The Kiwanis Club, second in point of years of service in Danville, has the following officers: President, W. R. Jewell; vice president, Chris R. Leins; district trustee, Paul S. Millikin; secretary, Earl S. Ward; treasurer, J. H. McCormick; directors: Dr. George C. McCann, H. Ernest Hutton, Robert B. Kinningham, C. E. Vance, Reverend Ralph Blake Hindman, Harlin Steely, Jr., Thurman Allen.
The officers of the American Business Club are: Presi- dent, W. A. (Bud) Neff; vice president, John Cannon; secretary, Vernon L. Reck; treasurer, J. A. Miller; directors: Lewis R. French, Doctor Melvin L. Hole, John A. (Jack) Gannon, Don Black and Past President F. J. McEvoy. The Danville chapter is one of the leaders in the Fifth District American Business Clubs, Past Presi-
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dent Fred R. Daniel having been district governor in 1928 and Jack M. Williams, ex-secretary of the Danville chap- ter, being elected district secretary and treasurer in 1929.
The Exchange Club, although only organized in Janu- ary, 1927, has forty-two active members and has estab- lished itself firmly in the civic life of the community. Its officers are: President, Leslie Snell; vice president, Everett L. Dalbey; secretary and treasurer, G. Stanley Olmsted; board of control: Leslie Snell, Everett L. Dal- bey, G. Stanley Olmstead, Don Sink and Doctor J. D. Wilson.
The officers and directors of the Business and Profes- sional Woman's Club are as follows: President, Winifred Jones; vice president, Minnette Yeoman; recording secre- tary, Oma Suitt; financial secretary, Violet Farmer ; treas- urer, Vernie Doan.
The board of directors, in addition to the officers, com- prise the following sixteen committee chairmen: Civic, Reva Clair Hoff; courtesy, Ruth Wait Lanter; education, Mildred Glindmier; emblem, Betty Hanson; extension, Sophia Dillon; finance, Verna Peck; grievance, Edna Walters; health, Ortha Thornburg; hospitality, Mary Schwartz; publicity, Dorothy Taylor ; music, Beulah Wat- kins; membership, Sophia Dillon; program, Fanny Stock- dale; public relations, Reva Clair Hoff ; reservations, Anna- belle Schull; transportation, Beulah Miller.
The Danville Club has also achieved distinction in the circles of the Illinois Federation of Business and Profes- sional Woman's Clubs, the late Mrs. Annie Glidden having served as state president and Miss Reva Clair Hoff as state secretary. Mrs. Nell Mann Shedd, past president of the local club, has also served five years on the state execu- tive board by virtue of one year as chairman of the state
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program committee, two years as chairman of the state publicity committee and two years as chairman of the state extension committee. Miss Hoff is also at present chair- man of the eighteenth district and by virtue of that ap- pointment a member of the state executive board.
The following are officers of the Altrusa Club: Presi- dent, Sara Sandusky ; vice president, Jennie Schull; record- ing secretary, Eve Carson; financial secretary, Dorothy Packard; treasurer, Maude Stipp; national executive com- mittee member, Lucia Huber; directors: Mrs. Dora Crim, Mrs. Mary E. Collins and Miss Ethel King.
A powerful influence is wielded by the more than five hundred men and women who are members of the six clubs. They follow closely an unwritten code of ethics in the business world. At luncheons and dinners and also in their everyday contact, there is no formality in their greetings. The walls of reserve, which enclosed business in a sort of mysterious secrecy, have been done away with since the coming of these clubs.
A great deal of what Danville is today and what Dan- ville will be in the future is and will be due to the six service clubs.
Business and professional men of today have their Rotary, Kiwanis, Exchange, American Business and other service clubs, which have for their objectives the develop- ment of the best interests of the city. The Chamber of Commerce is also a comparatively modern institution which seeks the industrial development of the city.
But back in the seventies and eighties a pioneer service club flourished in Danville, which may well be called the "Daddy" of them all. It is believed that this old time organization may have even provided the idea for the service club movement in the entire United States.
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This pioneer in the men's club world was the Micawber Club. The exact date of its organization is not known, but it was in existence as early as 1871 and its member- ship included the leading business and professional men of the city.
John M. Barton, 438 North Vermilion Street, an active member of the Kiwanis Club, was a member of the Micaw- ber Club, joining it in 1878. A complete roster of the Micawber Club is not available, but it is believed that Mr. Barton may be the only surviving member.
About the only tangible record of the Micawber Club is a list of twenty-six members and two wine decanters which are in the historical room at the public library. There were more than twenty-six members, but the roster at the library probably comprises mostly charter members.
Just what significance the two wine decanters had is problematical. That they are authentic is indicated by the fact that each bears the name "Micawber." The club met evenings in two rooms in the building where the Lin- coln Theatre now stands. The meetings were not held regularly and the program consisted of serious discussion of the problems of Danville, interspersed with social ses- sions, in which tobacco, the two decanters and royal flushes undoubtedly played a prominent part.
It was in the sessions of the Micawber Club that the germ of the idea of the Danville street railway system was born. Uncle Joe Cannon and his brother, W. P. Cannon, were members, although Uncle Joe's name does not appear in the roster at the library.
Uncle Joe and his brother and other members of the club drew up the plans for the first street railway system and organized the first company, which was chartered June 13, 1883, its official name being the Citizens Street
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Railway Company. Mules provided the motive power for ยท the cars.
No modern luncheon club ever did more for Danville than did the old Micawber Club in bringing street cars to the city. But that was not all. Cities were just as anxious then to locate new industries as they are now and there were no Chambers of Commerce to take over that form of development.
The Micawber Club learned that a starch factory in Vincennes, Indiana, had burned to the ground. The mem- bers got in touch with the owner, J. G. Cunningham, and prevailed upon him to move his plant to Danville.
This new industry was called the Danville Starch Works and the plant was opposite the site of the new High School building, near the old C. & E. I. shops. This plant employed quite a number of men and operated for several years, Mr. Cunningham finally being forced to suspend operations because of financial troubles.
The good accomplished by the Micawber Club and its influence in the city can never be measured in dollars and cents. Friendships were cemented at those night meetings that lasted to the grave.
The men's luncheon clubs of the city should pay tribute to this pioneer organization in some way. It might be possible to unearth some more records of the club, which, together with the two decanters and the original roster, might be preserved in some sort of memorial case that could be installed in the Historical room at the library.
The twenty-six whose names are on the roster at the library are as follows :
Ben Bandy, Captain Bandy, J. B. Mann, Doctor R. W. Gillette, A. Hawes, William Whitehead, C. L. English, John Barton, Dr. P. Barton, E. E. Bundinot, Ed Holton,
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Ben Crawford, W. P. Cannon, St. James McKee, L. T. Dickison, D. C. Frazier, John Holden, Dudley Watrous, Smith Williams, James Logue, A. L. Webster, Joe Camp- bell, Ben Brittingham, William Kirkland, W. Cunningham, Oscar Bullman.
Mr. Barton is authority for the statement that Uncle Joe Cannon was a member, and it is known there were other members but there are no records available to show who they were.
Women have been behind every movement for good the world over, and Danville women have been the originators of intellectual, moral and social movements in the city and have been keenly interested in civic matters and the gen- eral welfare of the community.
The outstanding woman's organization is the Woman's Club, organized in 1895 with thirty-five members and now numbering three hundred and forty-two women. It is not the oldest club but it is the largest, an organization that has increased its activities as the years have passed.
Its membership represents the flower of the cultural and social circles of the city and its record during the thirty-five years of its existence is a record of the intel- lectual and moral development of Danville.
Back in 1895 a group of women who were members of a Chautauqua class decided to organize along the lines of clubs that were being formed all over the country. Mrs. Jane Pennel Carter, whose husband, Joseph Carter, was at that time superintendent of the Danville schools, was largely responsible for this movement and became first president of the Women's Club.
This club, along with its intellectual and moral develop- ment program and its interest in community welfare, has also been active in social matters. Its object is now and
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always has been the intellectual uplift and broadening of womanhood.
It was directly through the work of the Woman's Club that domestic science was made a regular course of study in the Danville schools. It has also accomplished much in the literary and civic fields.
Several sections were formed, immediately following the organization, by the first president, Mrs. Carter, so that women could pursue different courses of study. This sectional idea is still carried out, but has been materially enlarged upon.
Following are the officers of the Danville Woman's Club: President, Mrs. William B. Murray ; first vice presi- dent, Mrs. Earl C. Thornton; second vice president, Mrs. George Cass; recording secretary, Mrs. Charles Watkins; corresponding secretary, Mrs. I. R. Songer; financial sec- retary, Mrs. E. Gordon C. Williams; treasurer, Mrs. George Telling; doorkeepers-Mrs. J. C. Miller and Mrs. R. N. Montfort.
The chairmen of the eight sections or departments of the Woman's Club are: American Home Section A, Mrs. I. R. Songer; American Home Section B, Mrs. Ike Levin; dramatic art section, Mrs. Chris Leins; literature section, Mrs. James A. Meeks; current events section, Mrs. A. B. Dennis; recreational section, Mrs. Charles Johns; music section, Mrs. A. J. Mielke; philanthropic section, Mrs. Perl Humrickhouse.
The committee chairmen are: Almshouse, Mrs. R. M. Utterback; auditing, Mrs. J. S. Emery; courtesy and social, Mrs. Elma Roseberry; calendar, Mrs. Fred Sum- ner; cooperative, Mrs. Frank H. Beshoar; entertainment, Miss Neva Fortner; ways and means, Mrs. H. E. Ducker; public health, Mrs. A. C. Church; membership, Mrs. J. W.
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Turner; social, Mrs. Milo Faulkner; publicity, Mrs. E. C. Ellis; parliamentarian, Mrs. Mary Coutant; shoes and stockings, Mrs. Elizabeth Mercer and Mrs. Mary Coutant; conservation, Mrs. J. C. Miller.
Some twenty years ago there was a feeling among the club women of the city that there should be a closer coordi- nation among the different organizations and the forma- tion of the Federated Woman's Clubs was the result.
This club, which comprises a membership of the vari- ous city and church organizations, numbers sixty-seven members, who are active delegates from the member or- ganizations, but in reality it represents the ambitions and ideals of thousands of highminded women of the city.
The influence of this organization upon the welfare of Danville cannot be measured in dollars and cents. It has always had a definite objective, that of civic betterment. It has not been active during the summer months but meets the first Monday afternoon in each month the rest of the year.
Perhaps its first outstanding achievement was the organization of a Travelers Aid Society in Danville. Ten members of the Federated Woman's Clubs formed the first branch of this society in Danville. The local society was financed for eight or ten years by this club. A county organization was formed and it was affiliated with the state organization. Today the Travelers Aid Society is one of the eleven important welfare organizations financed through the Community Chest Fund.
Then came the new million dollar high school building for Danville. The Federated Woman's Clubs got behind this movement, Mrs. Ann Wolford Ridgely was president at the time. Five thousand circulars were mailed by the club in behalf of the proposed bond issue. This carried
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and the club can well be credited with being responsible for the movement that placed Danville in the forefront of the cities of the state with outstanding educational facilities.
The Federated Woman's Club sponsored the organiza- tion of the first Parent-Teachers Association and it was actively connected with the child welfare movement. It was also back of the initial welfare movement that gave Danville its Associated Charities organization, a revived organization which is now supported by the Community Chest Fund.
The club is facing an active year, with the following officers in charge: President, Mrs. Carl Trough; corre- sponding secretary, Mrs. Frank A. Giddings; treasurer, Mrs. Gertrude Rogers.
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