The 126-year-old red brick building at 301 N.E. Madison Ave is a new restoration project.
To highlight restoration efforts, an Open House will be at the Peoria Women’s Club Friday June 28, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Central Illinois born, California biotech entrepreneur, Kim Blickenstaff will be hosting the Open House and assisting in the restoration efforts, including the 432 seated theater previously home to the Peoria Players.
“It’s an important historical building … part of the women’s movement before women had the right to vote,” said Blickenstaff in a press release.
Blickenstaff said it deserves to be restored just like the Scottish Rite Cathedral, one of Blickenstaff’s Peoria area purchases.
The cornerstone of the building was laid in 1893, more than a quarter of a century before women had the right to vote.
Its founders include Peoria’s Clara Parsons Bourland (the clubs first president), Lucie Brotherson Tyng (first female elected to the Peoria School Board, and Julia Proctor White (first president of Peoria’s League Of Women Voters).
The Peoria Women’s Club believed service to the community was the mission. The club was one of the oldest operating clubs in America.
The club had a hand in developing the mental health hospital, known as the Bartonville State Hospital, in efforts to care for and also educate blind children.
