By Ricky Rieckert
Thanks to everyone who braved the cold inclement weather to attend the Veterans Day parade in Aurora!
A big thank- you to all of the veterans who fought to protect our country and our freedoms. And thank you Aurora Lions Club president, Randy Brown; his wife Lisa; Lions members, Tom Muth and his wife, Jill; and Tom Voigt, for their dedicated work, of serving approximately 50 cups of hot coffee and pastries, to the approximately 80 dedicated parade supporters, who were on hand, to watch the estimated 175 parade participants.
For everyone who attended, you can only be described as dedicated patriotic Aurorans. Thank you!
The article this week will focus on downtown Aurora to reminisce and reunite with some more of Aurora’s original old buildings.
Old buildings are similar to a loving relationship: You don’t realize what you had, until it’s gone. Which is why it’s important to preserve and honor these structures.
On the northwest corner of Broadway (Route 25) and Galena Blvd. (Main St.), at 2 N. Broadway is the original Hotel Arthur, built in 1905.
Designed by architect Eugene Malmer, the six-story building was made of pressed brick and Bedford Stone. The Renaissance Revival building was once the tallest building in Aurora and one of the tallest in Illinois, outside of Chicago.
Malmer studied with William Le Baron Jenney, father of the skyscraper, when he was a student in Chicago.
In 1915, the building was leased to the Aurora, Elgin, and Chicago, Railroad Company, to serve as that company’s traction terminal station and main corporate offices.
It still is often referred to as the Terminal Building.
The main floor, when I was a kid, was called; The Broadway Restaurant for many years. Today, it is being renovated for a restaurant on the main floor and housing in the remaining five floors.
City of Aurora government photo
The Hobbs Building, was built in 1892, on the northwest corner of River Street and Galena Boulevard (Main Street), 2 N. River Street.
The Romanesque Revival building features intricate brick detailing in the semicircular arches over the third story windows, decorative pressed metal on the piers, and an onion dome. The iconic onion dome was replaced just three years ago.
The four-floor building, with full basement, was built in 1892 and was first a furniture store and loft building.
Years later it was home to Crosby’s Sporting Goods Store.
As a kid, I would go there window shopping. One floor was all fishing equipment and another was all hunting equipment. They sold hunting and fishing licenses and anything and everything sporting. In my opinion, the closest to them was Sportmart or Dick’s Sporting Goods, but neither of the two can compare to Crosby’s.
The Aurora Historical Society Museum has a photo of a man leaping from the top of the dome into a six-foot pool of water as a featured attraction at the 1910 Fourth of July celebration.