The story of the Pekin YWCA – 315 Buena Vista Ave.

By Jared L. Olar

Local History Program Coordinator

Long a pillar of Pekin’s community life, the Pekin YWCA at 315 Buena Vista Ave. was established about a century ago, starting out in 1927 as an affiliate of the Peoria Young Women’s Christian Association. The Pekin YWCA obtained its own articles of incorporation from the State of Illinois on 29 Oct. 1928 — the date that the Pekin Y regards as its “birthday.” The following year, on 29 April 1929 the Pekin YWCA obtained its own charter as an independent member of the national Young Women’s Christian Association, and it has operated under that charter ever since. Manda Brown, executive director of the YWCA of Pekin, says the association is already looking ahead to its 100th birthday which it will celebrate on 29 Oct. 2028.

A close-up of the YWCA of Pekin’s facility at 315 Buena Vista Ave., from an Aug, 2022 Google Street View image.

A Google Street View image of the YWCA of Pekin’s facility at 315 Buena Vista Ave., from Aug. 2022.

Plan of the Pekin YWCA facility at 315 Buena Vista Ave. from the Tazewell County Assessor’s website.

Describing the Pekin YWCA’s mission and community role, a Pekin Daily Times article dated 24 Feb. 1929 says, “The Y. W. occupies a unique position as a community meeting place for hundreds of women and girls, and no less than ten organizations who are in no way connected to them hold their regular meetings there. It is a community organization endeavoring in every way possible to co-operate with other organizations.”

The history of the YWCA on a national level began in 1873, when a student association was established on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Since then, the Young Women’s Christian Association has grown to 194 local associations. Though the YWCA started out as a Christian mission and included chapel services, it is no longer officially or strictly a religious organization. “It’s an organization with Christian roots, but we no longer teach any particular religion or have any religious offerings,” explained Melinda Figge, past executive director of the Pekin YWCA on the occasion of the Pekin Y’s 75th anniversary in 2004. “But I think that our willingness and desire to help people, to empower people, comes out of our Christian beliefs that all people are created equal.”

The YWCA of Pekin’s community programs include an early learning center, physical fitness, swimming lessons, and adult literacy and learning. The association has also long been active in promoting social justice and working against racism, with its Coalition for Equality as one of its prominent committees. In their mission statement adopted in 2009, the Pekin YWCA says it is “dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.” The association has a 14-woman board of directors under the presidency of Hope McAllister, and, as mentioned above, is headed by Manda Brown, executive director, Meredith Kerley, Early Learning Center director, Anna Green, Adult Literacy director, and Maureen Naughtin, Community Outreach director.

Martha (Herget) Steinmetz (1868-1947), founding president of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Pekin.

From its small start in 1927, it did not take long until, by early 1929, Pekin YWCA membership has grown to include 600 adults and 300 members of the YWCA Girl Reserves, with a 70-member Business Girls Fellowship Club and a Blue Tri Club of 30 members. The Pekin YWCA’s founding president was Martha (Herget) Steinmetz (1868-1947), daughter of John Herget (1830-1899) and widow of George A. Steinmetz (1864-1915). The Pekin YWCA in 1929 also hired Mrs. Mary Watt as its first full-time secretary.

Though the Pekin YWCA has been based on Buena Vista Ave. for more than six decades, their first building was the former Stoltz House that used to be located at 612 Broadway. In more recent newspaper reports on the YWCA’s history, however, the address of their first building is sometimes given as 616 or 610 Broadway. Nevertheless, old city directories and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps make clear that the Stoltz House was at 612 Broadway. Demolished decades ago during the construction of St. Joseph Catholic School (the site is now part of the school’s playground/parking lot), for many years it was the home of John W. Stoltz (1825-1899), a prominent Pekin businessman who served a Pekin mayor in 1872. After his death, his widow Emma Stoltz (1845-1923) continued to live there until her death, after which Frank Brown lived there for a few years.

A drawing of the old Stoltz Home that formerly stood at 612 Broadway. Formerly the home of Pekin Mayor John W. Stoltz (1825-1899), this house served as the first YWCA of Pekin building from 1927 to 1931, and housed the Pekin YWCA Tea Room.

This detail from the Sept. 1925 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin shows the Stoltz Home at 612 Broadway. In 1927 the Stoltz Home became the first location of the Pekin YWCA, which operated from that building until 1931.

The Pekin YWCA first appeared in Pekin city directories in 1928, when it was listed at 612 Broadway as the Young Women’s Christian Association Tea Room, managed by Mrs. Emma Lutz.

The above-quoted 24 Feb. 1929 Pekin Daily Times article says that when the Pekin YWCA sought a building to serve their needs, “The Stoltz homestead was purchased and remodeled. It is situated on Broadway, convenient to the business section of the town.” One of the original services provided by the Pekin YWCA at 612 Broadway was a tea room that provided lunch to guests for a modest fee. Of the tea room, the article says:

“The tea room with its checked gingham curtains and its ever present orange candles attract many who are living temporarily in the city and those who are looking for wholesome food under pleasant surroundings. While it has always paid its own way, yet it is not a money-making proposition. It is there to give service and invites its patrons to ‘bide a wee’ if they so desire.”

Pekin’s YWCA only occupied the old Stoltz Home for four years. Seeking a more spacious building, in 1931 the YWCA purchased of the Otto Koch Home at 310 S. Fourth St., former home of Otto Koch (1849-1920), who was co-founder and later president of the W. A. Boley Ice Company. After Otto’s death, his widow Ida Koch (1850-1929) remained at the home until her death. The YWCA of Pekin was the next owner and occupant of the Otto Koch Home, where the YWCA remained from 1931 to 1959.

An early 1930s photograph of the YWCA of Pekin’s second building, the former Otto Koch Home that formerly stood at 310 S. Fourth St.

This photograph taken in 1941 shows the YWCA of Pekin’s facility at 310 S. Fourth St. The current YWCA facility is located on Buena Vista Ave., behind the site of their former building on Fourth Street.

The Otto Koch Home at 310 S. Fourth St., and the Alice L. Russell Home at 315 Buena Vista Ave. are shown in this detail from the Sept. 1925 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Pekin. In 1931, the Otto Koch Home became the home of the Pekin YWCA. The Russell Home was later the home of the Erven G. Abel family, who lived there in the 1950s just before the YWCA purchased the property to build a new, larger facility.

A year after moving to 310 S. Fourth St., the Pekin Young Women’s Christian Association was listed in the 1932 Pekin city directory with Mrs. Hulda M. Harmel as general secretary.

This photograph from the 3 July 1942 Pekin Daily Times shows the YWCA of Pekin’s then-new Reading and Recreation Room that had just been opened at the Y’s 310 S. Fourth St. facility. The new room was the brainchild of the Y’s Education Committee headed by Mrs. Louise Reuter. Shown at the left are Mary Jean Dimler and Mary Holiman playing a game at the table with Pauline Fox standing behind then. Reading magazines on the couch are Ruth Dennis, Betty Alfs, Billie Jean Allen, Shirley Petrie, and Betty Thacker.

By the mid-1950s, it had long been evident that the Pekin Y needed a new and larger facility. The YWCA then acquired the property at 315 Buena Vista Ave. and moved one block east to a lot behind their former 310 S. Fourth St. building, which has since been demolished. The house at 315 Buena Vista, formerly the home of Erven G. Abel (1918-2010) and his family, was torn down in 1958 and the present facility – which included a swimming pool — was built in its place. Notably, the Y’s next-door neighbor to the south is the mid-19th century historic Gaither-Dirksen Home, home of U.S. Senator Everett M. Dirksen and his wife Louella, and before that the residence of Mary E. Gaither who played a chief role in the plans to build the 1902 Pekin Carnegie Library. Since the construction of the 315 Buena Vista facility, the YWCA’s building has undergone two large expansions, with the second one being completed in 2001. Their swimming pool has also been refurbished.

The same year the Pekin Y’s current facility opened at 315 Buena Vista Av., the 1959 Pekin city directory listed the association, with Mrs. Idalee L. Woodson as executive director.

This swim team group photograph dates from the earlier years of the Pekin YWCA’s swimming pool.

Besides giving program and office space for the Pekin YWCA and its own activities, the facility at 315 Buena Vista continues to provide space for other community groups, with rooms and its pool available for rental. That is only fitting, because the Pekin YWCA building is in fact Pekin’s civic center. The Pekin Y became the city’s civic center in the 1980s, at a time when the association was facing numerous financial challenges, with a decline in donations, a leaky roof, a boiler in need of repair, and a payroll that couldn’t be met.

The Pekin YWCA then worked with the city to obtain a grant from the Department of Commerce and Community affairs. That provided enough money to repair the structure and even build a daycare addition. As part of the arrangement, title to the building and to a large portion of the Y’s land is held by the City of Pekin, which legally designated the YWCA as the official civic center of Pekin. That is why Tazewell County records list the official owner of the 315 Buena Vista property as “Pekin Civic Center Authority c/o YWCA.” Eventually full title will revert to the YWCA.

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Bernard Bailey, Pekin’s first mayor

By Jared L. Olar
Local History Program Coordinator

In our previous installment in our Pekin Bicentennial series we reviewed the story of how Pekin became an incorporated city in 1849. When the residents of Pekin voted to adopt a city charter on 20 Aug. 1849, Pekin opted for a mayor/alderman form of government.

The earliest published history of Pekin is found in the Sellers & Bates 1870 Pekin City Directory. On page 28 of that volume, we read, “The election for city officers occurred on the 24th of September, 1849, and resulted in the election of the following named officers: Mayor – Bernard Bailey. First Ward – John Atkinson. Second Ward – David P. Kenyon. Third Ward – Wm. S. Maus. Fourth Ward – Jacob Riblet.”

The Bailey name is an old one in Pekin – part of Pekin is known as Bailey Addition, and Lake Arlann (Meyers Lake) formerly was called Bailey’s Lake. However, Bernard Bailey does not appear to have been a member of that Bailey family. The 1880 “History of Peoria County” says he was born in Maryland on 26 March 1812, the son of Vincent and Susanna (Bernard) Bailey. He first came to Tazewell County, Illinois, around 1830, where he worked as a school teacher and worked at his father’s ox mill. Settling in Pekin, he went into the grocery business and did some wagon making, saving enough money to become a lawyer.

Shown are the federal letters patent signed by President Andrew Jackson confirming the purchase of land in Tazewell County on 15 April 1833, by Bernard Bailey of Pekin, who later was elected Pekin’s first mayor on 24 Sept. 1849. IMAGE FROM U.S. GENERAL LAND OFFICE ARCHIVES VIA ANCESTRY.COM

Bailey then left Pekin, moving to Mercer County, Illinois, and then south to Louisiana, the native state of his wife Arabella Gilmore. In East Baton Rouge Parish, he tried his hand at sugar and cotton planting, until in 1848 he returned to Pekin, being elected mayor the following year.

Originally Pekin’s mayor and aldermen were elected to serve one-year terms, with elections taking place in the spring. Because the first mayor and city council were elected in the autumn, however, they could only serve about seven months before the next election. The 1870 City Directory says the second city election was on 15 April 1850, and Mayor Bailey and three of the four aldermen were reelected (Atkinson losing his reelection bid to Peter Weyhrich, who later would serve a term as Pekin’s mayor in 1858-1859).

Before Pekin could vote to incorporate as a city, a hasty enumeration of the town’s inhabitants had to be conducted to verify that Pekin had at least 1,500 residents. However, immigration and prosperity was fueling a population boom during Mayor Bailey’s two terms. The 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial says, “Only a year later, Pekin’s population had increased by more than 20% to 1,840, many of the new arrivals being German immigrants. Bailey was re-elected Mayor (the terms then being one year) and all seemed to be going well.”

“That did not last long, however,” the Sesquicentennial continues.

It was at this point that the fledgling city government experienced its first “hiccup.” The 1887 Pekin City Directory, page 30, briefly explains:

“On the 9th of October, 1850, it was resolved by the Council that the Mayor be requested to resign his office, that the city may elect a Mayor who will attend to the duties of his office. On the 25th of October, Mayor Bailey sent in his written resignation which, on motion, was accepted.”

It should be noted that the 1870 City Directory mistakenly switched the calendar dates of the council resolution and Bailey’s resignation. That error was corrected in the 1887 edition, but the 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial repeats the 1870 City Directory’s mistake.

The standard reference works on Pekin’s early history do not tell us why Mayor Bailey was not “attending to the duties of his office,” but Charles C. Chapman’s 1879 “History of Tazewell County,” page 723, includes a brief reference to Bernard Bailey that may or may not shed some light on that question:

“In the month of October, 1848, the Tazewell Mirror was purchased from John S. Lawrence by John Smith, now of Princeton, Ill. In 1850 Smith sold to Bernard Bailey, but repurchased the Mirror in 1851 in company with Adam Henderson.”

Could Mayor Bailey have been distracted from his civic duties in 1850 by his efforts to operate a newspaper? Whatever the answer to that question, after Bailey’s resignation, a special election was held on 25 Nov. 1850, and Abram Woolston (mistakenly called Woolstein in the 1879 “History of Tazewell County”) was elected to serve the remainder of Bailey’s term. Since Mayor Bailey’s election in 1849, a total of 49 men and two women (Laurie Barra, 2011-2015, and Mary Burress, 2023-present) have held the office of Mayor of Pekin. There have been three mayors in Pekin’s history who have served more than one term: Charles Diusdieker (1895-1996, 1911-1915), J. Norman Shade (1939-1954, 1959-1966), and David Tebben (1995-2003, 2007-2008).

After owning the Mirror for six months, Bailey sold out and moved to Peoria. There he bought an interest in the Peoria Republican newspaper, later going into the boot and shoe business. In 1856 he was elected Justice of the Peace. He and his wife had 11 children. Pekin’s first mayor lived to the age of 91, dying at Peoria Hospital on Aug. 22, 1903. He was buried in Springdale Cemetery in Peoria.

Mayors of the City of Pekin

Bernard Bailey	1849–50	First mayor under the Aldermanic system. Resigned at City Council’s request
Abram Woolston	1850–51	Won in a special election
James Harriott	1851–52
Middleton Tackaberry	1853, 1857
Merrill C. Young	1854–55
Leonard H. Wilkey	1856
Peter Weyhrich	1858–59
Isaac E. Leonard	1860–61
Benjamin S. Prettyman	1862
Samuel E. Barber	1863
Thomas C. Reeves	1864
William W. Sellers	1865–66	Resigned to accept an appointment to the state legislature
J. Cohenour	1865–66	Elected to the state legislature
Columbus J. D. Rupert	1867–68	Appointed
William T. Edds	1869	Appointed
David T. Thompson	1870–71
John Stoltz	1872
John Herget	1873–74
Columbus R. Cummings	1875–76	First mayor to serve under a new two-year term length
Abial B. Sawyer	1877–78
Herman W. Hippen	1879–80
Thomas Cooper	1881–84, 1891–92
John L. Smith	1885–86
Albert R. Warren	1887–88
Ernest F. Unland	1889–90
Everett W. Wilson	1893–94, 1899–1900
Charles Duisdieker	1895–96
Daniel Sapp	1897–98, 1905–07
William J. Conzelman	1901–04, 1909–11
Henry Schnellbacher	1907–09

Name	Term	Notes
Charles Duisdieker	1911–1915	First mayor elected under the Commission system
Charles Schaefer	1915–1919
William Schurman	1919–1923
Benjamin F. Michael	1923–1927, 1931
L. B. Kinsey	1927–1931
L. Russell	1931–1935	Appointed to fill vacancy until next election
W. E. Schurman	1935–1939
John Norman Shade	1939–1954	Resigned in April 1954
John J. McGinty	1954–1955	Appointed to fill vacancy until next election
Norman E. Wolfer	1955–1959
John Norman Shade	1959–1966	Resigned in October 1966
William L. Waldmeier	1966–1979	Appointed in 1966 and later elected in 1967
Willard E. Birkmeier	1979–1987
Larry Homerin	1987–1991
Don Williams	1991–1995

David Tebben	1995–2003	First mayor elected under the Council-Manager form of government
Lyndell Howard	2003–2005	Removed from office upon felony official misconduct conviction
Frank Mackaman	2005–2007	Appointed to fill Howard vacancy
David Tebben	2007–2008	Died in office 12 Dec. 2008
Rusty Dunn	2008–2011	Appointed to fill Tebben vacancy
Laurie Barra	2011–2015	First female mayor in Pekin’s history
John McCabe	2015–2019
Mark Luft	2019–2023

Luft resigned 23 Jan. 2023 after losing his reelection bid to the Illinois General Assembly in the fall of 2022. Council member Becky Cloyd was then appointed as Mayor pro tempore. In the April 2023 mayoral election, Mary Burress, former Tazewell County Treasurer, defeated Cloyd and took office in May.

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