Decatur
Club Founded in 1883
 On
Wednesday evening, May 23, 1883, the Decatur Daily Republican
reported that on the previous evening charter members
of the recently incorporated Decatur Social and Business
Club met in the grand jury room of the courthouse. They
elected tJune 3, 2008
President
– Charles A. Ewing
Vice President – Lowber Burrows
Secretary – S. J. Bumstead
Treasurer – William H. Linn
Directors – L. L. Haworth, J. E. Bering, B.
K. Durfee, R. P. Lytle, T. A. Buckingham, and W. C.
Johns
It
was also reported in that paper that the Club would
soon be fitting up a suite of rooms that would be elegantly
furnished. These rooms were to be open to all 100 members,
each of whom would hold a share worth $30, the total
of the capital stock being worth $3000. This first meeting
place was a suite of rooms on the third floor of the
Haworth Building located on the northeast corner of
North Water and North Park streets. Mr. James Haworth,
a member of the Club, had erected this building.
The
organization of this group was obviously seen as a positive
move even at that time, as the following evening’s
paper reported that Danville citizens were meeting to
organize a social and business club, copying after Decatur.
It was predicted that Paris and Bloomington citizens
would probably shortly follow suit because their attention
had been attracted by Decatur’s actions.
The
men who founded this organization were doctors, lawyers,
merchants, and industrialists. They were far-sighted
and enterprising; the type who saw a need or a challenge
and met it. What the saw in Decatur in 1883 was opportunity.
They saw opportunity to build a rather small town with
potential into a thriving city, with good jobs and an
outstanding social life. They were the builders of modern
Decatur.
for
more information on the history of the Decatur Club
see the club history written by Dayle Cochran Irwin:
The
Decatur Club 1883-2003: Our 12oth Anniversary
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