Wow!! 140 years old. If you recall back to one of our early blog posts about the construction of the Burwell Building, you will recall that the first floor opened in November of 1883 and the Opera House, upstairs, opened in December of 1883. The dedication of the building was celebrated on December 14th, 1883 with a large party upstairs in the Opera House (you can see that blog post here). So, this Nov/Dec marks the 140th birthday for Ole Lady Burwell. And, we intend to celebrate that!!
We thought it would be fun to look back on life in 1883 and see what was happening back then. What was going on in the world in 1883? Our research reveals it was a very eventful year:
Chester A Arther was President of the United States in 1883. Interestingly enough, the office of the vice-president was vacant. Why, you may ask? (I know I did, but I'm inquisitive that way). Chester Arthur became President in 1881 following the assassination of President James Garfield. At the time, Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks had died in office and the position had not been filled by the electoral college. Arthur served as President without a Vice President until the end of his term in 1885.
January 4 – Life magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States.
On Jan 19th of 1883, the first overhead electric lighting system employing overhead wires was installed in Roselle, New Jersey. (it would be many more years before electricity came to the rural areas of Illinois)
February – The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi is first published complete in book form, in Italy.
February 28 - the first vaudeville theater opens in Boston, Massachusetts
May 24 – the Brooklyn Bridge is opened to traffic after 13 years of construction.
May 30 – Just 6 days after it's opening, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes 12 people. Seeing an opportunity, P.T. Barnum hatched a plan to put the public’s mind at ease about the bridge. He took his troop of elephants, led by the famous Jumbo, for a walk across the bridge’s expanse. Barnum’s ploy was a success. The sight of twenty elephants as they crossed the bridge quashed rumors about the bridge and was a great promotional opportunity for Barnum’s circus.
July 4 – Rube Goldberg, cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor was born (died 1970)
August 21, 1883 - a tornado rips through Rochester, MN where William Worrall Mayo and his son, Wiliam James create a makeshift hospital to care for the wounded. His other son Charles would later join their medical practice in 1888. In 1919, the brothers and their wives donated land, buildings, and equipment, as well as the majority of their life savings, to transform the private partnership into a not-for-profit organization dedicated to an integrated mission of patient care, medical education, and medical research. That organization would be named the Mayo Clinic.
August 26-27 – 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, Indonesia. The eruption was one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history. 36,417 deaths are attributed to the eruption and the tsunamis it created.
September 27 – The Boston Red Stockings clinch their First National League pennant with a 4–1 win over the Cleveland Blues. The Chicago White Stockings were also a team during the 1880s...
October 22, 1883 - the New York Metropolitan Opera House opened its doors. The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1883 as an alternative to New York's old established Academy of Music Opera House. The 'old money' families who held the limited boxes at the Academy of Music Opera House were not very 'accepting' of the 'new money' families becoming very prominent during that time. Seeing to remedy that, 22 men from 'new money' came together to form the Metropolitan Opera House. Do you know who those 'new money' families were? Oh, just the J.P. Morgan, Roosevelt, and Vanderbilt families. Ever heard of them? The Academy of Music Opera House folded 3 years later.
November 1883, the first floor of the Burwell Building opens. N. S. Johnson and Company occupy the South room. The retail space becomes a grocery store. The North room was rented by G.W. Morris. Morris was a furniture maker and had recently added a hearse to this stock. His plans were to add a fine line of burial cases.
December 14, 1883 the second floor of the Burwell Building ‘was packed with a dense mass of humanity’ when the formal dedication to the new Opera Hall was held. The Lott Post No. 70, G.A.R. hosted their Camp Fire to dedicate and formally open the new Opera Hall. Mr. C.H. Yeomans delivered a dedication address in which ‘he called attention to the new Hall, one of the best in the State, and finer in its appointments than many towns of five times the population of our can boast”.
I hope you enjoyed that stroll down memory lane. Now, on to our celebration! We have many fun events planned for the Burwell Building's Birthday. We are going to start out with a fundraising campaign. Why? Because we want to make sure Ole Lady Burwell is around for another 140 years and we can't do that without some much needed restoration.
Please considering joining us in our 140 Men and Women Fundraising Campaign. We are challenging 140 men and women (and organizations) to join us in commemorating the history of this wonderful building. We've created different sponsorship levels, each giving you additional 'perks' for your donation.
If you want to help us ensure this historic building stays around for another 140 years, please use the following form to commit to your sponsorship level. We offer several options for sending us your payment, including Venmo and PayPal. Ole Lady Burwell will be forever grateful for you donation (and so will we!).
Remember that Gibson City Restoration Association is a 501c3, so your donation counts as a charitable contribution and we will provide you with a charitable donation letter. Giving Tuesday is coming soon...please consider sending your charitable donations our way.
Then, join us on November 4th for our Fall Wine Walk. This event will be a fun day of shopping, wine, food and fun! Tickets are on sale at A Renee Decor, 202 N Sangamon Ave, Gibson Variety Liquor at 113 W. 8th Street and The Peppered Pig at 124 E. Main Street, Colfax, IL. See this link here for additional details.
We have several other events up our sleeve, including a float in the Gibson City Lighted Christmas Parade. So, stay tuned and join our Facebook Page - Gibson City Restoration Association for more details on future events.
Happy Birthday Burwell Building!!
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