The Illinois Times

NEWS FROM ILLINOIS COLLEGE
Jacksonville, Illinois
Beecher Hall, the first college building in Illinois, on the campus of Illinois College at Jacksonville, is being renovated to preserve it for future generations. Cost of the renovation, which will be completed this fall, is $20,000.

Vines which had almost the historic structure have been stripped away so that workmen could get at the masonry and provide a more substantial foundation. The original walls, whose bricks were fired on the campus from clay found near by, will be strengthened and a new floor will be installed. Other improvements will make the building more useful and yet preserve its original form.

Erected in 1829 when the college was founded and completed the next year, the building at various times in the early days of the college housed classrooms, a dormitory, chapel, library, a chemistry laboratory, and the first medical school in Illinois (1843-48).

The building was named in honor of Edward Beecher, the first president of the college, who was a brother of Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Citizens of Jacksonville of those days subscribed cash and materials, "smith's work," "plank, produce and hauling to erect the building, and the lumber was sawed from a neighboring grove.

Legend has it that the window glass used came from Germany via New Orleans and the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

In 1935 architects for the Historical American Building Survey viewed Beecher Hall as a model of superior workmanship. Their report has been deposited in the Library of Congress.

Since its erection the building has been closely associated with oratory and forensics, and serves as a meeting place for two men's literary societies, who continue the tradition of having essayists, declaimers and orators from their membership speak at weekly meeting. Each of organizations is over 100 years old.