Celebrating 100 Years of University Club HistoryOn June 10, 2007 the University Club celebrated 100 years of good fellowship and dedicated service to the University of Illinois and our local community. As a part of that celebration, University Club member Margaret Stewart prepared a summary of the club’s rich history. An Excerpt from her summary is reproduced below. In June 1907 the University Club issued a receipt for the payment of dues for its first member, one of 100 charter members. That began a history of service to the University and the community which has continued through several meeting places, occasional periods of financial distress and controversy, but always with camaraderie and good times. |
For years it was essentially a faculty club, although the first constitution provided that twenty percent of the membership could be unaffiliated with the University. The Club soon found a house on Illinois Street that that could be purchased for $18,000.00. By the end of 1907, they had 129 members. They prepared to serve meals and have sleeping rooms to rent. They hired a staff and ordered items such as “glass fruit, dishes, a blue punch bowl, coffee saucers, and shell ice creams”. In 1917 the Club was serving an average of thirty-two people at each meal but was losing money on its café and house operations. A special committee was appointed to find out how these could become more cost effective. They sent out a questionnaire to get suggestions. One person replied, “Be more liberal and permit undergrads on Friday nights, and senior girls to attend Ladies Night.” Another thought the type of food should be improved because “college professors cannot digest such heavy meals.” Still another idea was to return to the former practice of having “lunch talks, evening meetings, chamber music, and dances”. Although the money problem turned around for a time, financial solvency ebbed and flowed throughout the years. In 1918 the membership reached 264. With continued growth, the Club found its Illinois Street house inadequate and in 1926 passed a motion to direct the new officers to “proceed actively in the direction of building a new clubhouse”. Little came of that idea. In 1939 the University of Illinois Board of Trustees did propose that space be set aside in the Illini Union for the Club, but that was given up because the financial arrangements proved to be unworkable. |
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| In the early 1940’s the University became interested in acquiring the Illinois Street property. Though it had no immediate need for its use, the Board of Trustees did not want it to fall into other private hands. There was some talk of using the land in the future for a biology building. Finally, in December 1943, the University bought the house for $22,500., and the Club agreed to lease it until January of 1945 for $1.00. The Club would operate as in the past, including providing facilities for departmental meetings and social events. Long-time members remember eating in the basement and having parties on the first floor; presumably there were sleeping rooms rented on the second floor. In the agreement between the Club and the University there was to be a trust fund, one of the purposes of which was to help fund a faculty center, and the Club would encourage its members to contribute to the fund. Meanwhile as the next few years came and went, the lease was extended annually because the University did not need the Illinois Street property and the Club had nowhere to go. |
In the agreement between the Club and the University there was to be a trust fund, one of the purposes of which was to help fund a faculty center, and the Club would encourage its members to contribute to the fund. Meanwhile as the next few years came and went, the lease was extended annually because the University did not need the Illinois Street property and the Club had nowhere to go. During that time the Club considered many sites as possible locations for a clubhouse, but nothing ever worked out. One big consideration was that, at the time, space for administration and student use was at a premium because of the great influx following World War II. The situation came to a head in 1955 when the clubhouse had to be razed for the long-planned construction of the biology building, Burrill Hall. (Burrill Hall continues to occupy this original site.) This prompted a merger of the University Men’s Club with University Women’s Club. Fortunately, the University Women’s Club owned a house at the corner of Goodwin and Oregon Streets. Still the intent at the time was for the combined organization to build a facility near the University golf course in Savoy and provide for a swimming pool. Around that time membership was almost 400, with “townspeople” then limited to ten percent. Activities included football parties, armchair athletes, square dancing, ballroom dances, bridge nights, program luncheons and bridge lessons. |
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| A faculty center finally became a reality when Levis opened in October 1972. At the time, the Club was negotiating with the University for the sale of the Oregon Street Property. There were also intense negotiations between the Club and Levis Faculty Center around the rights and privileges of the University club members in the new facility. The sale was finalized in 1975, and the Club, together with the University and the U of I Foundation, entered into the Tri Partie Agreement, which designated the large room in the south end of the fourth floor for University Club functions. It also made provision for maintaining the trust fund created by University Club donations. The money in the fund was to be used for refurbishing or remodeling space at Levis, or alternatively, it could be disbursed, half going to the Club and half to the University if the agreement was amended. These funds were, in fact, released in 1995 and the Club’s portion was added to its investment portfolio. For several years, dances in the fall were held following football games. That changed when the scheduled time for the games became determined by television. Club activities narrowed to playing bridge and dinner dances. The dance location moved from the fourth floor to the third floor of Levis to provide for increased participation of members. More recently some dinner dances have been moved to off campus locations. The newest service to Cub members is the presentation of informative seminars. |
These changes have resulted in a Club that looks much different today than it did in 1907 – or 1957– or even 1977. The proportion of members not affiliated with the University has increased to one-third, and the Club is no longer concerned with owning its own facility. But it is financially sound and the good times and personal friendships remain an important part of our lives.
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