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Main
Street Lincoln announces summer concert series
Main
Street Lincoln's annual Concerts in the Park series is set to begin
the first Sunday in June and continue through the end of July. The
free concerts begin at 7 p.m. in Latham Park, north of the courthouse
square in downtown Lincoln. The city of Lincoln, Lincoln Area Music
Society and Main Street Lincoln are underwriting the event.
The
series has expanded to include nine concerts with a variety of music
as well as old favorites. The schedule and sponsors are as follows:
June
4 – IB5 Brass Quintet, sponsored by Logan County Board members –
This group with a big brass sound from Normal will delight the
audience with a variety of new pop sounds and songs you'll want to
sing along to.
June
11 – Heartland Jazz Orchestra, sponsored by Parker Grieme Insurance
– Back by popular demand, this group is led by Doug Tidabeck, who is
well-known in the Lincoln community.
 June
18, June 27, July 2 and July 9 – Lincoln Area Music Society,
sponsored by State Bank of Lincoln and LAMS – The backbone of the
concert series is made up of Lincoln area musicians with a new
repertoire each week.
July
16 – Paul and Win Grace, sponsored by Lincoln Public Library and
Prairie Years – Based near Columbia, Mo., these versatile vocalists
and multi-instrumentalists have performed all over the United States
and Canada. Toes will tap to the folk and old-time music that has been
a part of your life since you were a child. Fiddle, mandolin, guitar,
harmonica, autoharp and accordian are all perfect sounds for a summer
evening.
July
23 – Steely Pan, sponsored by Mayor Joan Ritter – You'll picture
yourself on a tropical island as you enjoy the Caribbean rhythms of
this popular and unique group. Bring your own hurrache sandals and
shades.
July
30 – Second Baptist Church "Voices of Praise," sponsored
by Bob Neal of Edward Jones Investments – This great hometown gospel
group will keep you excited all night long. This is their second year
to wrap up the concert series.
For
more information, contact Wendy Bell, program manager, Main Street
Lincoln, at 217-732-2929.
Bluegrass
concert set for Saturday in Mount Pulaski
The
Looking for Lincoln Committee will sponsor a bluegrass concert on the
square in Mount Pulaski on Saturday, June 10, from 10 a.m. until 5
p.m.
Performing
will be the McGee Creek Connection, the Sonshine String Band, and Ed
and Lois Creager.
Terry
Lease and others have guided the McGee Creek Connection, a band of six
members, through 11 states for 16 years, playing at Silver Dollar
City, great bluegrass festivals, tourist celebrations and county
events. People will be able to buy any or all of their five
recordings.
The
Sonshine String Band is a new name for old fiddlers and pickers who
have been playing together for more than 20 years. They are grouping
again just for this event, dusting off Janice and Art Nirscher’s
fiddle and bass, Jerry Heil’s guitar, Rex Hancock’s banjo and
hopefully others. They have played at Grand Old Opry’s Early Bird
Bluegrass Show and all large contests, either winning first or placing
or judging. They have been backups for many great artists.
The
gospel music of Ed and Lois Creager has thrilled Christians throughout
Illinois for more than 50 years. Their strong, melodic voices, backed
by Ed’s guitar, are uplifting to hear. Their family band has
separated through marriages, grandchildren and new jobs, but Ed and
Lois continue to spread the gospel by music in their retirement years.
The
concert is scheduled rain or shine, and people should bring lawn
chairs. Food and drink will be available all day.
June
programs announced by the Lincoln Park District
- At the Lincoln Park
District, men’s and women’s softball starts the week of June
5.
- A June 8 fishing clinic
will be sponsored by the Lincoln Park District’s staff of
volunteers in conjunction with the Department of Natural
Resources. There will be several displays and hands-on instruction
for youth wanting to learn about fishing. Tournament fisherman
Cliff McCumber will have his competition-equipped fishing boat on
display for everyone to see "what toys the big boys
use." Skills learned in the fishing clinic will be put to
practical use in the fishing derby Saturday, June 10, at the
Beason/Chestnut pond. Both of the fishing programs are free of
charge, and parents are encouraged to be involved.
- The tee ball season and
volleyball camp start June 12.
- Spanish class begins June
19, as well as adult painting with Renee Sisk.
- Tennis lessons start June
20.
- A new style of golf camp
will be offered this summer, beginning Monday, June 26. James
Danovsky, who has taught in the Chicago area for many years, will
be the instructor. Instruction will concentrate on the golf swing,
with a video analysis, rules and etiquette. The week-long camp
will culminate on the last day with a golf outing to Atlanta to
practice what has been learned.
- Painting for kids starts
June 27.
Library
receives $2,000 grant;
plans computer purchase
The
Lincoln Public Library District has been awarded a $2,000
"Equipment to Books" grant from the office of Secretary of
State/State Librarian Jesse White. The grant will be used to enhance
access to information and to promote resource sharing with the
purchase of one piece of needed equipment.
The library plans to use this grant to establish a new multimedia
computerized reference center in its Youth Services Department. The
library will purchase a new multimedia computer system for the
Children’s Department and will make an in-kind contribution of seven
new CD-ROM titles for the computer, including Microsoft Encarta
Reference Suite, 20th Century Day-By-Day, Encyclopedia of
Science and Nature, and Eyewitness Children’s Encyclopedia.
For
more information on this upcoming service, visit the library at 725
Pekin St. or call 732-8878.
Scully
Park improvement project completed
Scully
Park has undergone a $25,000 improvement project and was rededicated Saturday, May 27, at 10 a.m. Main Street Lincoln
invited
the public to attend.
 The
highly visible project includes the restoration of the centerpiece of
the park, the fountain. A dancing plume of water will spray about 15
feet in the air, and the pool area is now surrounded by a three-foot
wrought-ironfence. Contemporary lights on the fountain plaza have been
replaced with single-globe fixtures that are compatible with the
historically accurate lights already in the park. Patriotic banners
will fly for the summer from the taller five-globed fixtures. Eight
heavy-duty picnic tables will be available for family fun, and cleanup
is easy with four new trash receptacles, the same style used
throughout downtown. The elaborate gateway to downtown on the north
side of the park was designed by and contracted to Don Bode of
Lincoln. P & W Pools, also of Lincoln, was contracted for the
fountain work.
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Rain paused in time Saturday morning for Main
Street officials and members of the Scully family to cut the
ribbon at a rededication ceremony at Scully
Park. The ribbon was violet in honor of the late Violet
Scully who originally donated the park.
The park has taken on a new charm after major
revitalization. Most of the work was done by volunteers.
Stop and relax amidst new plantings and the splashing of an
eight-foot water fountain. |
Jennifer
Boeke and Judy Donath volunteered to oversee the many flowers that
have been planted in the beds and at the entrance. Main Street Lincoln
volunteers have contributed more than 200 hours to the project.
Power
from a pole that obstructed the gateway has been moved underground,
and all electrical work has been safely contained in a concrete
blockhouse with a steel lid. The 110 wiring is inside the blockhouse,
with only 12 volts run to the pool for the lighting.
Funds
for the project came from the Logan County Board, the Logan County
Parks and Trails Foundation, and a grant from a private foundation.
Violet
Scully donated the funds for the original fountain and maintained the
flower beds in then-named Washington Park. The county board renamed
the park in her honor upon her death in 1976.
Both
of her sons, Michael and Peter, were present to cut the violet
ribbon at the dedication on Saturday. Eight other family members also
planned to attend. Representatives of the Logan County Board, the city of
Lincoln and Main Street Lincoln will make remarks. A short reception
will follow.
[Wendy
Bell, program manager, Main Street Lincoln]
Lincoln
Public Library keeps its history alive
Although
much has changed since the Lincoln Public Library was completed in
1902, if some of its earliest patrons could step into the main
building, they would probably feel quite at home. At least at first
glance, they would not see much difference between the way the
building looks today and the way it looked almost a hundred years ago.
The
patron of 1902 would walk into the vestibule and see the original
fleur-de-lis pattern of green, ivory and brick mosaic tile. Inside, he
or she would see the same semi-circular wooden main desk with the same
metal stacks behind it. Over the desk is the original mural that
credits Andrew Carnegie and Judge Stephen Foley with providing the
impressive new building to the city of Lincoln.
On
either side of the desk, reading areas with sturdy oak tables holding
lamps with green glass shades would look much like they did 98 years
ago. The wall fixtures would look familiar, too, but the early patron
might expect to see gas lights instead of electric ones. Although all
but one of the lamps and wall lights are new, they were made to
replicate the original fixtures.
The
early 20th century patron would also see the same stained-glass
ceiling dome with the same circular woodwork patterns, which are
repeated in the ceilings of the two wings on either side of the
entrance. The oak wainscot and woodwork would look as it did when the
building was new, thanks to recent restoration and cleaning. The early
patron would see the same oak tables and chairs in both the east and
west wings and in the Scully room, along with some new Mission-style
chairs with leather cushions.
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[The black-and-white photo shows
a
view of the Lincoln Public Library, taken
from the west wing, as it looked
sometime between 1913 and 1917.
The color picture shows how it looks today.]
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[The black-and-white photo of the
Lincoln Public Library was taken
sometime between 1913 and 1917.
The well-preserved and maintained
building looks much the same today.]
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Except
for its landscaping and surroundings, the front of the building would
also look much the same. The brick building was designed in the
"grand" or neoclassical-classical architectural style,
popular for public buildings at the turn of the last century, and set
a half story above grade in "temple" style, to make it
visually significant and easily identifiable. It has a portico with
four classical columns and steps the width of the portico. The central
double door of oak and glass is still original.
"A
building this solidly constructed is rarely seen today, and it has
never been ‘modernized,’ so its integrity has been well
maintained," said Richard Sumrall, library director. It was named
to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The
early patron would, however, see some differences. The west wing,
which was the children’s library in early days, is now filled with
adult books. The original wide plank floors are gone, replaced by
carpeting and a walkway of mosaic tile that matches the color of the
original tile in the vestibule. The library board decided to add tile
in the main building when carpeting was removed and they discovered
the original vestibule floor, Sumrall said.
The
patron of the past might be surprised to learn the library could no
longer accommodate all its holdings or serve all its patrons in the
original building and purchased the building directly behind it,
across the alley, to house a very modern-looking children’s
department and the adult popular collection.
Although
the library was built in 1902 (and formally dedicated in 1903), the
city of Lincoln has actually had a library of sorts since 1874. In
that year, a group called the Lincoln Library Association, headed by
Colonel Robert B. Latham, was incorporated for the express purpose of
"averting and counteracting the evils of intemperance,"
according to the book "The Carnegie Library in Illinois," by
Raymond and Linda LaPuma Bial.
Fourteen
Lincoln women sold 144 shares at $10 each. Albert B. Jones was elected
librarian for the sum of $150 a year, and the library opened on August
29 in a building on Kickapoo Street. Stockholders paid $2 a year for
each share of stock they owned, an income which supported the library
in the beginning. Later the school board also appropriated money,
thereby entitling high school students to use the facility, according
to Bial and Bial.
In
April of 1895, the Lincoln Library Association presented all its
property, about 3,000 books, to the city of Lincoln, which would
provide a room for the library in the soon-to-be built City Hall. In
1897 Miss Isabel Nash, a former librarian, "bequeathed the site
of her little home, the sum total of her earthly possessions, to the
city of Lincoln for library purposes," the Bials report. Two
years later, Mrs. Louise Scully gave the library $2,000 to purchase
more books. In 1901 the city council found it necessary to appropriate
$2,500 to support the library.
In the
same year, no doubt because of the hard work of librarian Ida Webster,
Mayor William Jones and Judge Stephen A. Foley, Lincoln became the
sixth city in Illinois to receive a grant to build a new library from
Andrew Carnegie. The sum was $25,000. Carnegie, a former steel tycoon,
contributed more than $41 million to the construction of 1,679 public
library buildings in the United States.
With the
Carnegie grant and a gift of $5,000 from Judge Foley, the city of
Lincoln was able to construct the present library on the site of Miss
Nash’s home. For a time, the library provided materials to the
public schools in Lincoln. Miss Webster, who had served the library
for 55 years, retired in 1950. In 1969 the library joined the Rolling
Prairie Library System in Decatur, and in 1974 opened a children’s
library and community room in the remodeled basement level. The
Library Annex, formerly the Woolworth Building, was purchased in 1993
and opened in 1995.
 The
patron of 98 years ago would be surprised to learn that the 3,000
books from the early years have grown to a collection of about 45,000;
that the cost to support the library has become about $500,000 a year;
and that today there are almost 12,000 people who are registered
members of the Lincoln Public Library.
[Joan
Crabb]
Zonta
Club reports on May meeting
The
Zonta Club of Lincoln met Tuesday, May 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the Elks
Club. Officers and new board members were installed and new members
initiated. New officers are Linda Ruff, president; Mary Thomas George,
vice president; Pat Shay, secretary; and Kay Bauer, treasurer. Marilyn
Armbrust, Marilyn Weingarz and Pete Smiley are new board members. New
members initiated were Joyce Leesman and Lenore Holmes.
Zonta
scholarships winners are Nathan Morrow, Casey Davis, Keenan Leesman
and Heather Holmes.
Anne
Sagins was the top fund-raiser at the recent Relay for Life of the
American Cancer Society, and the Zonta team placed third. Team members
were Mary Thomas George, Vera Thomas, Janet Dahmm, Janet Klockenga,
Anne Sagins, Jan Sielaff, Sharon Awe, Kay Bauer and Mary Bruns. Ann
Elliott, daughter of Zonta member Kathy Elliott, recorded a CD,
"All is Well," to honor her mother, and donated all proceeds
from sales to the American Cancer Society.
The
next Zonta meeting, the annual potluck picnic, will be Tuesday, June
13, at 6:30 p.m. at the home of Susan Harmon. Scholarship winners will
be special guests. Secret sisters from last year will be revealed, new
secret sister names drawn, and there will be a white elephant auction.
High
school volleyball meeting scheduled
There
will be an informational meeting Wednesday, May 31, for ninth to 12th
graders interested in playing high school volleyball. After the
meeting at 6 p.m., the girls will scrimmage until 8 p.m. The parents
and players will have a chance to meet the coaches and ask questions.
For more information, call Charissa Howe, head coach, at the high
school. Leave a message on her voice mail at 732-4131, extension 345.
June
blood drives scheduled
Faith
Lutheran Church, 2320 N. Kickapoo in Lincoln, will host an American
Red Cross blood drive Thursday, June 1, from 12 to 6 p.m.
Two
blood drives in June will be at the Lincoln Sports Complex. The drive
Wednesday, June 7, will be from 12 to 6 p.m. Another will be
Wednesday, June 21, from 12 to 5 p.m.
St.
Peter’s Lutheran Church in Emden will host a blood drive Friday,
June 16, from 2 to 6 p.m.
Donors
have the opportunity every 56 days to touch someone’s life by giving
blood – the gift of life. If you wish to make an appointment for any
of these drives, you may call 800-728-3543, extension 1441.
During
May, the following persons reached goals in their blood donations:
Richard W. Reiners and Georgia Zeisneiss, five gallons each; L. Anders
and Diane Campbell, two gallons each; and Curtis Sutterfield, Julie
Albers and Patty Huffer, one gallon each.
United
Way announces golf outing
The
fourth annual golf outing for United Way of Logan County will be
Friday, June 2, at Lincoln Elk’s Country Club. Tee-off time for the
four-person best ball scramble is 12:30 p.m. Only soft spikes are
allowed. Fees are $75 per golfer, $300 per team and $50 to sponsor a
tee. The entry fee includes beverages, dinner and prizes. For an entry
form or further information, people can contact the United Way office
at 735-4499 or Ron Hall at 735-4072. The deadline to enter is May 31.
Diabetes
and congestive heart failure support groups offered
Anyone
interested in joining a diabetes or congestive heart failure support
group is invited to attend an organizational meeting for the two
groups on Monday, June 5, in Conference Room A at Abraham Lincoln
Memorial Hospital. Family members are encouraged to attend.
Both
support groups will establish regular meeting schedules during the
initial meeting. The support groups will discuss various topics
including medicine information, lifestyle changes and other topics
decided on by group members. For more information about either support
group, please call Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital at 217-732-2161,
extension 199.
ALMH
accepts applications for summer teen volunteers
Applications
are currently being accepted for this summer’s teen volunteer
program at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital.
Teen
volunteers work throughout the hospital, performing a variety of
duties in many different departments. To be eligible for the
program, teens must be an eighth grade graduate and must complete
an application form that includes personal references. All teen
volunteers must also complete the training session scheduled on
Friday, June 9, from 9 a.m. to noon at the hospital.
Applications
are available at ALMH from Barbara Dahm, director of volunteer and
special services. Applications should be filled out and returned
in person to the volunteer office as soon as possible. A brief
interview will be conducted at that time. For more information,
call 217-732-2161, ext. 184.
Fore-ALMH
Golf Outing scheduled
The
sixth annual Fore-ALMH Golf Outing will be Friday, June 23, at the Elk’s
Country Club golf course.
The
outing is a four-person scramble with a morning and afternoon shotgun
start. The $75 entry fee includes greens fees, cart, lunch and great
prizes. Proceeds for the event benefit the Care-A-Van non-emergency
transportation system of Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital (ALMH).
Special
guests at this year’s outing include Denver Johnson, ISU football
coach; Sandra Dehner-Wheeler, State Farm Rail Classic LPGA director;
Jenny Yopp, ISU women’s basketball coach; and Lynn Baber, ISU
assistant women’s basketball coach.
For
registration and sponsorship information, please contact the Abraham
Lincoln Healthcare Foundation at 217-732-2161, extension 405.
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