DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Throughout the year the Decatur Club has been celebrating its 140th anniversary. There have been a lot of changes over the years but since the Depression era, the club has been a mainstay in downtown Decatur.
“We’ve been in this building since 1930. We opened up in 1931. Prior to that we had facilities over on the fifth floor of the Barnes-Citizens building overlooking Central Park,” Decatur Club General Manager Jeff Ingle told WAND News.
This week new signage was going up near the front door. It’s not clear when the previous signs were erected but it may have been as far back as the mid 60s or early 70s.
Decatur Club publication dated February 15, 1931
At one point, like many clubs of its time, the Decatur Club was basically men only on certain floors. Those rooms had billiard and card tables. The club is now diverse and women were in included in the official language of legal documents at the facility starting in 1977.
The Decatur Club currently has 230 members and is looking to grow to 250. If you would like more information you can contact Jeff at thedecaturclub.org.
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