Derrick Babbs - our local Ford County Historian, recently posted on Facebook a story about merchants in Gibson City during the late 1870s and 1880s. If you're interested in reading it - check it out here. It's a great read! And, if you don't follow his Ford County Heritage page on Facebook, you really should! Scan the QR code below and it'll take you right to his site!
As I was looking at the map that Derrick posted showing all of the downtown businesses on Sangamon Avenue, I noticed something very interesting. If you look at the map below (which is a snapshot taken from the larger map), you will see that the buildings labeled 408 and 409 make up the Burwell Building. You may be saying to yourself - wait - the current address for the Burwell Building is 107 North Sangamon. And you would be correct! In 1920 Gibson City passed an ordinance re-numbering the streets with the 100 block starting at 8th Street (as the city was divided by North and South sections starting at 8th Street). So, what was once 408/409 Sangamon Avenue was re-numbered to 107 N. Sangamon Avenue in 1920.
If you look even closer at the photo, you will notice several other things, for example, we knew in the early days of the Burwell Building that the first floor was divided into two rooms - the North and the South room. Each was a separate retail space that had separate entrances - we knew that, right?! Remember this post about the occupants of the first floor? The North room was a furniture store (we knew that) and the south room was a grocery store (we knew that too!). We also knew that the building was lighted (including the stage lights) completely by gas. It was one of the first of it's kind (read this post to learn more about the building of the Burwell Building). Note the location of the gas tank behind the building in the above map (highlighted in yellow).
Now, the original stage in the Opera House was torn down sometime after the turn of the century. However, we never really knew for sure where it was located. This map clearly shows the stage being at the rear of the building (West side). Yay! One mystery solved!
Another part of this map that caught my eye was the staircase. We've often wondered if the current set of stairs going up to the second floor Opera House were original or not. We now know they aren't! The current stairs are on the very North side of the building. As you can see from the drawing, the stairs in the original Burwell Building were in the center, between the North and South rooms. That also explains why the ceiling of the first floor looks the way it does. That is where the original staircase was located! Another mystery solved! Thank you Derrick for helping us solve some of the mysteries that this old building is hiding.
Boy, would I love to have a picture of those stairs. I can imagine in my head a very elegant wooden staircase leading to the upstairs Opera House. It might not have been that way in reality, and the stairs might have been as plain as the current day ones, but boy would I love to see what they looked like back then. I'll just keep imaging them in my head for now, but we hope to someday replace those old creaky stairs with a beautiful, period appropriate staircase worthy of the Burwell Building.
Speaking of the current day photo of the downstairs, will you look at those floors? We've been busy cleaning out the extra large load of items located on the first floor and as of last week - we have completely emptied it out. Thanks to all of the community members, Rotary Club members, and Restoration Association members who spent countless hours clearing out the junk. And a huge thank you to David Hudson for the use of his trailer to help us haul some of the junk away.
With our Spring Hop coming up (more details below), we decided it would be a good time to start our spring cleaning. Who knew those floors could shine like that?
Speaking of our Spring Hop, we are participating in a Spring Sales event along with other Gibson City businesses this Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm. Stop by the building and join us for free wine samples, a wine pull, silent auction, door prizes and sales of our famous Burwell Building T-shirts and Queen of Hearts koozies. I hear the Easter Bunny might even make a guest appearance. So, bring those cameras!!
All money raised will go towards the continued restoration of the Burwell Building. Stop by and see how the 'ole girl is cleaning up. We've got a ways to go, but her bones are strong and she will shine brightly once again!
We hope to see you all Saturday!
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