Tuesday, July 1, 2008 6:03 PM CDT
Historical aspects of Effingham's audio tour
By DAWN SCHABBING, Features Writer
dschabbing@jg-tc.com
Effingham Audio Driving Tour offers 15 points of interest. Here is a snapshot of what the tour includes:
-- Bliss Park
The park, located at Park Street and Lawrence Avenue, is the city’s first and last park. Other parks in Effingham are within the park district.
Historians say that the Rev. Alfred Bliss and his wife gave the full city block to the community in 1884. In May 1885 it was placed in a trust. Legalities won’t allow the park to be transferred into the park district.
Locals say the park is nice for a picnic, with plenty of shade and a pavilion. Bliss Park offers a flower garden and some play equipment.
It is used for reunions and gatherings and family picnics.
-- Sears homes
From 1903 to 1940, Sears sold homes from its catalogs. About 75,000 of these homes were delivered to the nearest rail site in a kit for the homeowner to construct.
Effingham has several of these houses, and most of them are in the Bliss Park area. Homes located at 1007 and 1009 S. Park are two examples.
At just under $1,000, the kits included nails, paint, putty, windows, and even a door bell. The kit included a 75-page manual to help complete the construction.
Each piece of lumber was numbered in the kit. This numbering system helps historians today know that it is an authentic Sears home.
-- The Kepley monument
On Banker Street is a monument in honor of Ada Kepley. It is now on the site where the three-story Kepley Building once existed.
Kepley was the country’s first woman to obtain a law degree and she practiced law in Effingham.
Reportedly, she put up two large billboards reading, “Welcome to Effingham, the heart of the United States.” She marketed Effingham for industry and wholesale businesses. The locals at that time considered her a one-woman marketing firm.
It is believed that the town used her words long after that. The words “heart of the U.S.” are believed to be how the town selected its name for its sports teams later. Still today, it is the home of the Effingham Hearts.
-- Austin mansion
The Calvin Austin mansion — a three-story brick home — was built in 1892 at Fourth Street and Wabash Avenue.
Austin owned a variety of enterprises including an opera house, fruit orchard, and a milling business in the late 1800s.
The family lived in the home for eight years before it was sold to L.H. Bissell.
Bissell renamed it Garnett Hall, after his deceased son, James Garnett Bissell.
History tells us that the building and grounds served as the site of Austin College and Bissell School of Photography. The colleges were located in the original home and other structures, now gone, that were to the north of the home. By the early 1900s the schools were closed.
Students came from all over the U.S. and from several other countries to these schools.
The home was later an apartment building, a bed and breakfast, and a private residence, most recently.
Source: the Effingham Convention and Visitors Bureau Audio Driving Tour
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