Kathy's #Mailbag, July 26, 2024 (2024)

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Need to fill your tires up for free? Grab a bite to eat after a round of golf in Urbana? Hike in Mahomet? Maybe find some sunflowers for a dog-days-of-summer pick-me-up? We have answers — and plenty of them — in this week's 'Bag:

The building that currently houses Anthem, an LGBTQ+-friendly bar and dance club in downtown Champaign, served a much more subdued purpose when it opened as the Price Building around 1915.

Ben Price, a lawyer, and W.E. Price, in the insurance and loan business, were the first two occupants at 302 N. Hickory St. (now 302 N. Neil), according to old city directories. By 1919-20, Twin City Abstract Company was located there, as well.

Nunan Trunk & Leather Co., Central Illinois Mutual Relief Association, and the 33rd Division of the Illinois National Guard joined the original businesses in the building by the late 1920s. American Eagle Mutual Insurance and Champaign County Abstract Co., were there by the early to mid-1930s.

Listings show that a mix of law, insurance, loan and abstract-related businesses continued to occupy the Price Building through the 1950s. Both floors were listed as vacant in the 1960 and '61 city directories. The Western Union Telegraph Office was there from about 1963 into at least the early ’70s.

A couple of readers who commented on this week’s Now & Then posts on social media recalled that the Price Building had housed an adult bookstore/arcade in the early ‘70s. One reader said an architect’s office followed.

Ann Panthen at the Champaign County Historical Archives did a little more digging, and she found that Warners Office Supply was at that address from 1977-1982, and Engineering Consultants had an office there for a couple of years in the late ’80s. An office of the Edward D. Jones investment firm was the anchor tenant there from the early 1990s until at least 2002.

By 2005, the building’s first floor was transformed into Soma Ultralounge, a bar and dance club. CRS Hospitality opened Anthem in late 2023.

“What’s going on with Oskee’s, the new restaurant at the UI’s Atkins Golf Club at Stone Creek? They had a soft opening in May, but no hours are posted online and their Facebook page shows they’re still hiring cooks and wait staff.”

Jim Buyze, the golf club’s general manager, says Oskee’s is open for business and open to the public. He said customer feedback about the golf course and recent banquets/events has been positive — but on the restaurant side, patrons have noted inconsistent food, menu selection and speed of service since the soft opening.

“Our management team agrees with this assessment and we’ve been fine-tuning our operation to correct these shortcomings before we hold a grand opening. While we are really excited for everyone to come out and give us a try, we want to make sure we are fully ready to provide an experience that makes you want to come back time and time again. We are very close and plan to hold our grand opening soon!”

Buyze said both the golf course and Oskee’s rely heavily on students and teachers as seasonal workers. With the new school year fast-approaching, all service positions in both the food/beverage and golf operations are open “as we prepare for our current staff to return to school this fall. It’s going to be a normal cycle in our business to have significant hiring in spring, as the golf season approaches, as well as in the fall, as U of I students return to campus.”

Summer hours at a golf course can be “a little tricky,” Buyze said. “We open the kitchen at 11 a.m. daily and have posted 7 p.m. as closing time. However, during the summer months, when the golfers can stay out later, we have been keeping the kitchen open until 8 p.m.” Beverage service, including snacks and a few grab-and-go breakfast items, begins at 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and 6:30 a.m. on weekends and holidays. Customers who have questions or want to make group reservations may call 217-481-8160.

“I’ve had the pleasure of discovering about eight primitive bridges built across a small stream between I-74 and the paved hike/bike trail at Buffalo Trace in the Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve. Who built them … and when and why?”

Michael Daab, deputy executive director of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District, says those bridges in the wooded areas of Buffalo Trace “were created by our wonderful volunteers who have been removing invasive trees and brush at the site for the past few years.”

He said those volunteers, some with backgrounds in architecture and carpentry, became interested in creative re-use of the trees once they had been cut.  “They also had a need to move themselves and their equipment around the site and needed to cross some of the small creeks found there. They have been using the solid wood of the Osage Orange, or hedge, trees found on site for their constructions to cross the creeks where paths had been previously worn by wildlife.”

Daab said CCFPD staff are checking to be sure the bridges “meet standards of safety in order to allow visitors to use these features.  We are thankful for the volunteers, whose efforts have pushed us years ahead of schedule toward our ecological restoration goals for native prairie, savanna and woodland at the site.”

“Is there an ordinance that prohibits ‘parking’ trash toters in the street or using other large objects to (seemingly) reserve on-street parking spaces or block others from using those spaces? Can/do police issue citations for this?”

In the Chicago area, the name for that practice is “dibs.” And mostly, it involves putting objects like ironing boards, dinette sets, sawhorses and empty clothing racks in the street to reserve the parking spot you’ve shoveled-out after a snowstorm.

Here, though? Champaign Code-compliance Officer Tim Spear said “I have not heard of parking spaces being ‘saved’ like this in our community. I would be interested to receive a location from your reader so that we can look into this further. I would also like to note that parking on a public street is available for everyone and is not reserved for the adjacent property.”

He said the city does not allow items such as trash containers to be placed in the street unless a permit is obtained. The Municipal Code says trash containers may be placed in the right-of-way – not in the street or on the sidewalk – on the day before the scheduled garbage pick-up, but they must be removed from the ROW by the evening of the scheduled garbage pick-up day.

“When we receive complaints about trash containers left in the ROW, an inspector will make contact with the property owner and/or tenant to inform them of the city's requirement and seek voluntary compliance. If the problem persists, the inspector will take escalating steps to attempt to gain compliance. This could ultimately end with fines issued, but that is typically not necessary,” Spear said.

“Is there anyplace around C-U where I can fill up car or bicycle tires for free? Most gas stations seem to charge a few dollars for air — when the machines are working at all.”

Since this question came up, I’ve kept an eye out for gas stations that allow anyone to pull in and fill their tires for free. Among them: QuikTrip on North Neil in Champaign and the Haymakers location at Curtis Road and Fields South Drive in Champaign.

Oddly enough, Lowe’s Home Improvement Center on Prospect Avenue also has a free air pump for filling tires. It’s at the north end of the store, just outside the “pro” entrance.

Costco has pumps that dispense nitrogen for tires; they’re labeled “members-only,” and they’re in the parking lot near the auto center rather than at the club’s gas station. Tires filled with pure nitrogen tend to maintain air pressure longer than those filled with air. J.D. Power, the business analytics firm that’s known for its auto ratings, says there are no ill effects from topping-up nitrogen-filled tires with air or vice-versa. Doing so won’t harm your tires, but it is “somewhat less effective than just sticking to nitrogen,” according to the J.D. Power website.

“When did the Champaign and Urbana Flatiron buildings burn down?”

Urbana’s Flatiron building burned down in the late winter of 1948. But the loss of downtown Champaign’s Flatiron building was self-inflicted, as it was demolished in 1969 to provide extra parking. More on that in a minute ...

The Urbana Flatiron, designed by Joseph W. Royer, was built in 1906 at 302 West Springfield Ave. in Urbana — where Springfield and Main Street intersect — according to a blog post from the Champaign County Historical Archives.

“It was the tallest building in Urbana at the time. Over the years it housed the Elks Lodge, law offices, the Veterans Administration Office, Illinois Department of Public Welfare, Flat Iron Department Store, and even Royer's architecture office.” It also housed the offices of Henry I. Green and Associates, which held one of the largest professional law libraries in Illinois.

The building caught fire on the evening of March 11, 1948, amid high winds and near-zero temperatures. The Elks Lodge owned the building at that time. “A heavy snowfall of the previous night was considered the sole protection many homes had against the rain of fire,” said an Urbana Courier article. It appears the cause of the fire was never established.

In the days after the fire, gusty winds blew down the west wall of the Flatiron’s ruins, crushing part of the adjacent Firestone/Texaco service station “and sending 10-foot steel I-beams hurtling across Main Street.” Most of that building survived, and is still open today as Kirby’s Firestone.

The Champaign Flatiron building was built in 1901, where Neil and Hickory streets intersected at the time. Early in its history, it housed The Champaign Daily Gazette, one of our predecessor newspapers; it was called the Gazette Building into the 1930s, according to historian Jeffrey Kinkley. And in fact, the area just south of the Flatiron Building was called Gazette Square. (City leaders: If you’re looking for a historically accurate name for the new downtown plaza, Gazette Square would be a dandy one!)

Back in the 1950s and ’60s, automobiles were getting bigger, and making the downtown area car-friendly was a priority – so much so that mayoral candidates bought full-page newspaper ads explaining their plans to increase availability of parking. Local leaders delivered, according to a 2011 News-Gazette article by Patrick Wade:

“When Market Place Mall was built in the 1970s, an entire city flatiron block at Neil and Washington streets (had been) demolished to make way for parking at what was then Sears and Roebuck,” just a few doors south of the Orpheum Theatre. “City officials were trying to convince the owners to stay in downtown Champaign. Not long after, Sears moved anyway to the mall, where parking was virtually unlimited.”

“I often see flags at half-staff on government buildings and have no idea why. Is there a central place where those reasons are listed? I’d like to know who’s being honored.”

As readers likely know, the American flag flies at half-staff when the country or a state is in mourning. The president, a state governor, or the mayor of the District of Columbia can order flags to fly at half-staff, according to the usa.gov/flag website. In most cases, an American flag flying at half-staff marks one of three observances: 1) the death of a government official, military member or emergency first-responder, 2) a national tragedy, or 3) Memorial Day or another national day of remembrance.

The State of Illinois’ official Flag Honors webpage says “The Office of the ​Governor has ordered all persons or entities covered by the Illinois Flag Display Act to fly the flag of the United States of America and the Illinois flag at half-staff for every Illinois member of the armed forces, police force, fire service and other groups covered by the Act killed in the line of duty. The flags shall fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on the day of the funeral and the two days immediately preceding that day.”

That webpage, at www.illinois.gov/about/flag-honors.html, includes a “sign me up for Flag Honor alerts” link. If you click on that link, note that the default option for email alerts is “all subjects/agencies.” To minimize spam – er, I mean a preponderance of news alerts – about topics you’re not so interested in, click on “specific subjects/agencies,” and then click in the box next to “flag honors.”

The online flag retailer AmericanFlagsExpress.com also offers an opportunity for people to

sign up for free “half-staff flag” alerts at https://flagsexpress.com/signup/. If you don’t want alerts relating to flags in all 50 states, it’s possible to select one or more states that are of interest to you.

(Here’s a fun fact: According to the U.S. Navy, if you are on a ship, that pole on which the flag flies is called a mast. So for ships lowering their flags to honor the death of a government official, it's appropriately called “half-mast.” However, if a flagpole is stuck in the ground or attached to a building, then it is “half-staff.” Among civilians, the two terms often are used interchangeably.)

“On State Street in Champaign, south of Bradley, just past the tracks is a lovely sunflower patch on the west side of the street. It really brightens my day as I drive by in the morning going to work. What can you tell me about it?”

Sesquicentennial Neighborhood renewal developer Michael Markstahler and his wife Janice Juraska own the property. For two decades, he and other members of the Sesquicentennial Neighborhood Association have been working to beautify this part of Champaign. The group created the Queen Smith Garden on the northeast corner of Maple and State, and this spring added a new patio and walkway to it.

The sunflower patch sits about a half-block north of that garden, on the other side of the street. “809 N. State had a house on it when it was purchased,” Markstahler said. “There was nothing redeeming about that house. And it had been the scene of a murder; bad karma. We had it pulled down in 2023.”

With the house gone, the site looked better, “but it still was a rugged weed patch. This spring we fenced the lot, planted evergreens along the north property line, and put in, for the season, a mixed variety of sunflowers.”

Markstahler has renovated multiple properties in the 800 block of North State, and he says he and Juraska are still thinking about what to do with the lot at 809. On his Facebook page a few weeks ago, he wrote “perhaps next spring a new smallish house? A chance to build a super energy-efficient house, perhaps. Overall, the 800 block of north State is nicely transforming.”