Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society Meets

The Whiting/Robertsdale Historical Society held its first meeting of the 2018-2019 year on Thursday, September 27 at the Mascot Hall of Fame Museum. The meeting was held on the third floor of the museum, which offers a breathtaking view of Lake Michigan.

Whiting Mayor Joseph Stahura welcomes the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society to the Mascot Hall of Fame Museum. The Historical Society held its first meeting of the 2018-19 year in the third floor meeting room of the museum.

A total of 40 members and guests were present, including Mayor Joseph Stahura who welcomed everyone and gave a brief summary of the purpose of the Mascot Hall of Fame Museum. Our sincere thanks to Mayor Joe for allowing the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society to meet in this beautiful place free of change for all of our Thursday meetings.

The main speaker was John Hmurovic, a member of our team of hard-working Tuesday volunteers at our present museum. John explained the workings of our new website, www.wrhistoricalsociety.com to all our members.

Our Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society officers, Priscilla McCarty Reed, Frank Vargo, Gloria Dosen and Pat Zygowicz provided delicious treats and baked goods for all to enjoy.

We hope to see everyone at our next meeting on Thursday, October 25 at the Mascot Hall of Fame Museum at 12 noon.

A Look Inside the Old Illiana Hotel

A new building may go up where the Illiana Hotel once stood. The Times reports that the city has “received a proposal to put up a multiuse building at the site.”  

It was 90 years ago this year that the Illiana Hotel opened. Although the building stood at the corner of 119th Street and Atchison Avenue for 89 years, until it was torn down in 2017, it had been empty and the hotel had been closed for years. In fact, today, few Whiting-Robertsdale residents remember what it looked like in its prime. Fortunately, the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society has a copy of the program distributed at the Grand Opening of the Illiana on March 19, 1928. Inside that program are four drawings which show what the hotel’s earliest guests saw when they stepped into Whiting’s best hotel. Those drawings accompany this article.  

 The Grand Opening program also provides a little information about how the hotel came about. “In October 1926,” the program says, “a small group of local men, headed by Judge T. Joseph Sullivan, purchased the site of the present hotel and toward the end of January 1927, procured a lease of forty years for the present building with the syndicate of which the principal holders are the Stamos Brothers, who have operated hotels and restaurants in and around Chicago for the past quarter of a century.”  At its opening, the Illiana Hotel had sixty-six rooms, as well as seven stores on its ground floor.

 At the grand opening event, speakers included Chamber of Commerce President Francis D. McNamara, Mayor Walter E. Schrage, and Lake Superior Court Judge Claude V. Ridgely. Other speakers were Mrs. Ross Gambril, president of the Whiting Women’s Club; T. Joseph Sullivan, president of the Whiting Hotel Building Corporation; and John Stamos, the lessee of the Illiana Hotel.

 

Broiled tenderloin steak was served as the main course at the opening dinner. Other items on the menu included spring vegetable soup, buttered California asparagus, young celery hearts, Idaho potatoes, and a deep sea shrimp salad. There was a special layer cake and ice cream for dessert, served with “Illiana Special Coffee,” as well as cigars and mints.