(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Illinois Stories is brought to you by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Illinois Arts Council Agency, and by the support of viewers like you.

Thank you.

- Hello, welcome to Illinois Stories.

I'm Mark McDonald in Springfield.

You know, many visitors and residents of Springfield are very well aware of the Dana-Thomas House, the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece.

Many are less well-versed in what happened in and around this neighborhood at about the same time that Susan Dana-Thomas was living here.

For that reason, the Dana-Thomas House Foundation members thought, well, you know wouldn't it be great if we could put together a walking tour, which would not only draw people to the house, but also let them know what was going on in the neighborhood.

And that's what I'm holding in my hand.

And that's what we're gonna be doing during this 30 minutes.

We're gonna take a little, a little walking tour around the neighborhood.

Cinda Klickna, you and your fellow members thought, well, you know what, there's a big pandemic going on here, people wanna be outside, we have one of the greatest draws in the state here.

So let's bring them, give them an opportunity to stay outside, enjoy the house and the neighborhood.

- Correct.

- Yeah.

Neat idea.

- Well, it's been an interesting journey, and a lot of research, but you know, Susan Lawrence Dana lived in that house.

In fact, she grew up in a house of her parents.

- Mm-hmm.

- And then hired Frank Lloyd Wright to build this amazing, amazing house.

And yet across the street, we have people who were living here that part of the time.

And so we wanted to highlight some of these people and who they work with.

They were pretty prominent citizens.

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Now, we're talking about this block here across Lawrence, - Yes.

- from the house.

- This walk.

- [Mark] And these houses weren't here before?

- No.

- Yeah.

- [Cinda] These houses are since around 1930, - [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- [Cinda] But originally when Susan was living, growing up, there would have been one house here, - [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- [Cinda] Who was the, on this site.

- [Mark] Okay on the railroad track side?

- [Cinda] Yes, was John King, who was a prominent doctor.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- [Cinda] And he owned most of this block.

And then new houses were built and some really prominent people moved in.

And this house, we had a druggist who Fred Rauth, who runs his own drug store.

There was a state veterinarian at one time who lived here, there was Tiffany Lansing who ran his own, well, he was a state veterinarian.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- There was Laivly who ran his own dry goods store.

So these were people who would have been across the street from Susan.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And watching, - Mm-hmm.

- this being built.

- Yup, this being built.

- Yeah.

- That cottage over there, is interesting too, because that even predates the Dana-Thomas house, isn't it?

- Yes, yes.

That cottage actually stood on the property of the Lawrence family.

And then when the house was being redone by Frank Lloyd Wright, they moved the cottage across, - Oh.

- across the railroad tracks.

- Uh-huh?

- [Cinda] Susan stayed there while the house was being built.

- [Mark] Uh-huh.

- [Cinda] And then later in life, when she was getting much older, it was harder for her to keep up the big house.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- She lived at the cottage, - Mm-hmm.

- [Cinda] Probably the late 20s that she moved in there.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm, legend has it that, you know, she's right on the tracks there.

But she had enough pull that she could just, the train would stop for her with.

- Oh, yeah.

(Mark chuckles) - She had many, many people come to her house.

- Yeah.

- She worked for women's rights.

- Yeah.

- And so, women would come down from Chicago and they'd all get down right there.

- Well we got a lot of territory to cover.

- Okay.

- So let's go down to the next block and see what's going on down there.

- Very good.

- [Mark] Okay.

So we just, we just came down Lawrence, and we turned onto Fourth Street.

And we can see the Dana-Thomas House there on the prominent corner.

And then right across Lawrence is another big, this big house was here at the time, was it?

- Yes it was and as you can see, it's such a great comparison mark, between what people were used to seeing, architecturally.

- Mm-hmm.

- And then what happened, when Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright comes to town.

- Mm-hmm.

- And you can only imagine the uniqueness of what they were seeing unfolding right before their very eyes.

- Yeah.

- So very unusual.

Mathias Bartel lived here with his wife and five children.

He owned a boot company downtown.

He was one of the progressive business owners that were helping, was helping Springfield elevate to a large city.

- [Mark] Uh-huh.

- And the five children became very close friends of Susan's.

Susan having no children of her own love to entertain all ages.

- Mm-hmm.

- And so they were quite often invited over to Mrs. Dana's home.

- Oh, that's a sweet story.

That's a nice story.

And then also, as long as we're on Fourth Street here, we can also like, sweep across the street.

And this home, which is still lovingly taken care of, was also here at the time.

- [Allicent] Exactly, that's the Conkling home.

Mr. Conkling was very good friends with Charles Lindbergh.

As a matter of fact, he allowed, invited Mr. Lindbergh to spend the night with him on one of his flights into Springfield.

And this was right before Mr. Lindbergh became famous with his transatlantic flight, - Ah.

- in 1927.

However, Mr. Conkling was what you would call a progressive postmaster in Springfield.

He not only- - Oh that's how he knew him.

- Yes.

- Because he was carrying mail into Springfield - Exactly.

- Okay.

- That was the connection.

But he was also concerned that all of the city businesses were scattered throughout the downtown area, - Mm-hmm.

- in different locations, all connecting to city hall business.

And at these locations they were paying exorbitant rents.

So Mr. Conkling said, why not get everyone under the same roof?

Save the city money, make city hall, something of respect.

- Mm-hmm.

- And so, that's what he had a large hand in doing.

- Ha.

- Also, he was working hard to get the armory built in Springfield.

- Mm-hmm.

- At the same time, he was instrumental.

To me the most important thing that Mr. Conkling has done in Springfield to move it forward, is purchasing 46 acres over were Blessed Sacrament is.

And it was called Hawthorne.

And it was a futuristic suburb at that time.

- Mm-hmm.

- Had its own electricity, its own gas, its own water, its own streetlights, sidewalks, paved streets.

- Mm-hmm.

- And on top of that, he had them run the street car line, not only directly through it, but also one close by.

So it was really a high end, progressive place for people to live.

- Mm-hmm.

- Moving Springfield forward.

- Yeah.

Okay, Allicent, now let's move down towards street, toward downtown a little bit.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Mark] We're looking at what used to be the YMCA.

- Yes.

- Now it's a vacant lot and it wasn't vacant back in Susan's day though, because, Mr. Hickock or Hickox?

- Hickox.

- He had a home here.

- Yes, he did.

- [Mark] And he's the same Hickox that built all these apartments on the corner of Fourth and Cook.

- He was, he was.

Interestingly enough, Mark, he purchased the Ridgaly home that was on this block where the apartments are now.

- Mm-hmm.

- And with that property, came a debt, that took him all the way to the railroad tracks.

- Uh-huh.

- So he decided to erect apartment buildings.

The first section of apartments are the ones you see near the tracks.

- Uh-huh.

- And then in the late 1920s, he built the ones that wrapped around Cook and Fourth Street.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Allicent] What was very unusual about them.

And this is according to interviews of his daughter years later, that they came with five-story structure and cement was used to reinforce the center of the building.

- Mm-hmm.

- I guess his wife used to refer to him as Mr. Cement, because he loved to work with it to the point where he even had his own cement mixer on site, all of the time.

Five stories, an elevator, and they had their own ice producing plant on the property for all the refrigerators in the apartments.

They also had their own boiler system downstairs, under the basement.

- Wow.

- [Allicent] And she likened it as a young girl, remembering it as a small city.

- Mm-hmm.

- But what was unusual, the interiors of these apartments were very similar to a private residence.

And they were really marketing toward middle and upper-middle class people.

- Oh yeah.

- And it brought some kind of a prestige to apartment living.

- Yeah.

- Something Springfield had never seen, especially when it was purchased, built and marketed by a family of high society in Springfield.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- So it was very alluring for a lot of people.

- Pretty ritzy accommodations.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

(Mark chuckles) And right in the shadow of the capital.

- [Allicent] Exactly.

- Okay Cinda, we're at that same vacant lot where the Y used to be.

And when Susan was getting up in years, she found it necessary or wanted to auction off the property that she had obtained throughout her life.

And that's what she did on this lot?

- Yes.

Well, by then, Susan was very elderly.

She wasn't in good health.

- Mm-hmm.

- And actually an executor was assigned and decided to have an auction.

I mean, Susan own a lot of property, downtown, - Yes.

- but it was all on paper.

- Yeah.

- So funds were needed.

So there was an auction here in July of 1943.

It was about as hot as it is today.

- [Mark] Yeah, yeah.

- [Cinda] Six days, two auctions a day for three or four hours each time.

It was during the war.

So there was an air raid one night.

- No kidding.

- All the lights are turned off in the city.

So there was a minister here and he started singing and they all sang, - Wow.

- for the time the lights are out.

- Yeah?

- And the auction started up again.

- Wow, so these huge tent, one or more tents were put up.

- Yes.

- There were two big tent.

- Yeah.

- [Cinda] One huge tent with 1,500 chairs - [Mark] Wow.

- [Cinda] Hung with red lanterns.

And then there was a smaller tent that had her carriages, - Mm-hmm.

- [Cinda] that were auction off.

But we are talking jewelry like you can't believe, you know.

- Well jewelry, - Tiffany- - like nobody in Springfield had probably seen before.

- Right, right.

A Tiffany necklace with diamonds, christening gown that she had bought during her honeymoon with her second husband.

- Mm-hmm.

- You know, she was 49 when she married her 26-year old second husband.

- Mm-hmm.

- And unfortunately, he died a year later, - Yeah, he passed away quickly, didn't he?

- Yes right.

But anything you can think of was sold here.

- Mm-hmm.

- And some of the things just didn't bring what they were worth.

- Yeah.

- People came from all over the state and, you know, for instance, her library had something like 2,200 books.

- Wow.

Our Crocker Brand tunnels in Chicago came.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- So it drew a large, large crowd everyday.

But interestingly, all that wonderful Frank Lloyd Wright furniture, the dining room chairs, - Yeah.

- couldn't even bring 50 cents.

- [Mark] Oh man.

- So they're all left back in the house.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- And really that's why we still have them today.

- [Mark] It's a blessing, it's a blessing.

- Yes, 'cause the Thomases, who then use the house - Yeah.

- for their publishing company took care of all of the furniture.

- That's wonderful.

Thank you.

- It was quite the week here on Springfield.

- Okay.

Cindy, we moved a few lots north of the Hickox Apartments.

- Yes.

- And there's a very old, one of the oldest houses in Springfield, was moved here some time ago.

It's in private ownership and it's being restored.

That's kind of nice.

It's a very, truly restored home.

- Yes, this is, the John Condell house.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Cinda] He owned a shop downtown, where Marion, Abraham Lincoln shopped.

And this house was actually at the United Methodist Church and he moved it here in 1852.

- Mm-hmm, so it was down there probably, maybe the person was, or the reverend was living there maybe, something like that.

- I don't really know but, - [Mark] Yeah, but that's where it was?

- That's where it was.

- Yeah okay.

- And now it's being restored.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Cinda] It has its original glass and fireplaces and, - Sweet.

- [Cinda] its had a lot of work done to it.

- [Mark] Yeah it still got a lot to go, - Yeah.

- but I mean, it looks like it got some bones anyway right?

- [Cinda] Oh yes.

Okay.

Now this stretch from here, and of course the Governor's Mansion is over across the street here, but here on down to the Baptist Church.

- Yes?

- There was all kinds of building and changes going on weren't there?

- Yes.

- Now it's called, the Mansion View Inn and Suites, but what was here before?

- [Cinda] Well, throughout the years, it changed.

First of all, Joel Matteson, who had been the governor, lived on the Governor's Mansion and he didn't like it.

He thought it was ugly.

(Mark chuckles) - [Mark] He thought it wasn't big enough for him either.

- So when he finished as governor in 1857, he built his own, they called it a palace.

- Yep.

- Actually, Mary Todd Lincoln called it a palace.

- [Mark] Uh-huh.

- [Cinda] It burned to the ground in 1873.

- [Mark] Well, that's horrible.

- Yeah.

- That's terrible.

Because it probably was a palace.

- [Cinda] Yeah, it was.

And we only have a drawing of it.

There are no pictures, - Yeah.

- [Cinda] that we can find.

And then along this block, John Todd Stewart, who was Lincoln's law partner, - Yeah?

- lived here.

And when you get down to the end of the block, across the street, Christopher Columbus Brown, - Yeah?

- who was an attorney, actually married the daughter of John Todd Stewart, Betty.

And Betty died in 1869.

So he turned the house, his house, into the Betty Stewart Institute.

Which was a school that existed for 70 years.

- In this block?

- In this block, - but right across the street of Jackson.

- [Mark] Uh-huh.

- And Susan Lawrence Dana attended there.

And several of the gals growing up in this area attended there.

- Mm-hmm.

- So it was a very prominent, the Betty Stewart Institute.

- [Mark] Yeah.

I guess the fires were happening all the time unfortunately.

And the fire departments, weren't very good.

- Yes.

- Is that what happened to Stewart's home?

Did it burn down or do we know what happened to it?

- I'm not really sure.

I think it might've just been torn down.

- Yeah, and as long with the institute, it may have burned or been torn down, we don't know, right?

- I'm not really sure.

- Yeah, okay.

- More research that we need to do.

- That's right, another book.

- Yeah, I guess so.

(Mark laughs) Yes, because you know, we pointed out the houses on Lawrence that burned in 1916 and it started in one of the houses - Yeah.

- and just spread.

And the operator thought, she was to send the firetrucks to Fourth and Monroe, - Oh for my goodness.

- instead of Fourth and Lawrence.

- Aw, not even close.

- So there was a bucket brigade and I mean, - Yeah, aw.

- I mean, it destroyed all of those.

You know, the men started their own, the bucket brigade and, but yeah, they had fires back then.

- Oh, yeah.

- And supposedly 10,000 people walked by that site.

I think that was you know, 1916, yeah.

- [Mark] Well Cinda, the governor's mansion was a, whoa, it was here long before Susan would have lived here.

But course it's been here continuously all that time.

She was a friend of governor's, wasn't she?

- Yes.

- [Mark] She liked politics.

She liked causes.

She liked to be involved in civic causes.

So she probably spent a good deal of time here.

- She was friends with several governors and friends with their wives.

Often was a host along with the first lady.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- Yes, because she was very active in education and women's rights, Daughters of the American Revolution.

You know, one of the things we're trying to do in our booklet and this walk is to, try to connect the people, not just to Susan, but to each other.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- Because many of the women who lived along Fourth Street and Lawrence were in the Daughters of the American Revolution.

- Yeah.

- And Susan was very active in that.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- In fact, some of the women who lived along Fourth started DAR, - Mm-hmm , mm-hmm.

- here in Springfield.

So Susan would come here, but she often would host the governor and his wife at her house.

There's one where she had a Valentine's dinner, very fancy Valentine's dinner, with a lot of people, - [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- and the governor would come.

- Yeah.

- [Mark] Well, okay.

So this was built if my recollection's right, 1858.

It's been, you know, renovated many times.

It's this newest generation right now.

It's finished just a couple of years ago.

- Right.

- But, but you interesting when you said, Governor Matteson, he lived here and didn't like it very much, - Right.

- He even thought it was kind of small and ugly.

- Right.

- So that's when he built his palace right across the street.

- Right.

- Which is kind of interesting, kind of insulting too, when you think about it.

- Right.

He had actually gotten the legislature to authorize money for this mansion and he still didn't like it.

(both laughs) So, and you know, this is the third oldest, continuously lived-in executive mansion in the United States.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- And on the National Register of Historic sites.

- Yeah, and it is gorgeous.

And like I said, I don't know if it's still open for tours.

It always has been open for tours and I assume it will be again, but it's something that people should try to get in to see if there's, - Yes.

if there's a way to do it.

- Its beautiful.

- Yeah.

- Mm-hmm.

- Well, let's move on.

- Okay.

- [Mark] Okay Allicent now we've moved over around the mansion to Fifth Street.

- Yes.

- And as you can see now, we're on the same block, just next to the mansion.

And there's another house of interest here, which have ties to Susan's life as well, the Vachel Lindsay home.

Course he was a historic figure on his own, wasn't he?

- Yes, he was an Illinois poet.

And before he lived here though Mark, Mary Todd Lincoln sister, and she and her husband CW Smith, - Mm-hmm.

- lived on this property.

And then the Vachel Lindsay's family purchased it from the Smiths and he spent the rest of his life here.

- The only home he ever lived in?

- The only home.

- Oh, of course, he did a lot of traveling.

You know, he's known as the Prairie Troubadour, - Yes.

- [Mark] And he would take these cross country jaunce.

- [Allicent] Mm-hmm.

- [Mark] And he would just take his, a musical instrument and his writing utensils.

And he would just like perform, - Exactly.

- across the country.

People would bring them into their home.

- Exactly.

- He would stay there, he'd perform and move on.

Fascinating.

- And he also performed locally because he was a regular visitor entertainer per se at Susan Dana's home, right around the corner.

- Mm-hmm.

- So he was well-known and well-respected in our community, - [Mark] Yeah.

- and worldwide.

- Yeah.

He, like you say, his parents, I think his dad was a physician.

They bought this home from Mary Todd Lincoln's sister's family.

- The Smiths.

- The Smiths, right.

And then they moved their family.

And I guess he was born here.

And like you say it's the only place he ever lived.

And he died here.

Now, during that period, I guess there was must've been a mushrooming of culture because you had Frank Lloyd Wright working on a house over there, you had Vachel Lindsay writing poetry over here, and you just had kind of a renaissance, huh?

- Exactly, and I'm still going to go back and credit Susan Dana for spearheading this and providing a venue for this, because her home was never expected to be for family, it was always art and entertainment.

- [Mark] Mm-hmm.

- And whether it be locally or statewide or nationally, she brought it to Springfield.

- Mm-hmm.

The pictures that we've seen throughout, there's not a video, but the still pictures we've seen, have been part of, you've done a lot of work on that.

And you had some help of course.

- Yes.

- But you intend to have a team working on it.

And those pictures are available because people helped you.

Right?

- Yes, definitely.

And I'm going to credit Doug Carr, for doing the photography on all of these venues, because without his volunteer and his assistance and his knowledge and expertise, they wouldn't look as good as they do.

- And grant money as well.

- And grant money, the Illinois Historic Society, Sangamon County Historic Society, excuse me, provided monies for a grant to carry this out.

- Mm-hmm.

- And we are extremely grateful for that.

But during this time of COVID, it was a perfect fit.

Get people outside, - Yeah.

- get them back in their own towns and understanding what went on.

- Yeah.

And there is, I mean, people know about Vachel Lindsay, people know about Susan, but to give them a chance to put it all in a context is a valuable thing.

- Yes.

It's a step back into time.

- Yeah.

- Well thank you though, to you and Cinda for helping us out with us.

- Our pleasure.

- Okay.

The self-guided walking tour booklet that I showed you early is available, if you wanna take this tour on your own.

And you can get it by downloading it from the Dana-Thomas Foundation website or at the visitor center at the old state capitol here in Springfield.

Just walk in and you can, you can pick one up and enjoy your tour.

With another Illinois story in Springfield, I'm Mark McDonald's, thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Illinois Stories is brought to you by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Illinois Arts Council Agency, and by the support of viewers like you.

Thank you.