by Mike Bailey
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Kim Blickenstaff is giving another $1 million to the Peoria Women’s Club for renovations on the landmark building that houses the historic organization, bringing his total contribution to the effort to more than $1.5 million.
The San Diego-based, central Illinois-born-and-raised Blickenstaff made the announcement on Tuesday to a standing ovation – following an initial gasp -- at PWC headquarters, 301 NE Madison. In 2019, he donated $500,000 toward the restoration of the nearly 130-year-old building, while simultaneously issuing a challenge for others to step up.
The Club – the second oldest of its kind in the nation -- has been raising funds and boosting its membership since, with success on both counts.
“I knew there would be a little bit more. I had no idea it would be so much more. Unbelievable,” said PWC Blickenstaff explains vision President Kim Mitchell.
“We are so appreciative. We are on a mission to restore not only the building but our membership.”
What this infusion of funds means is that PWC can begin restoration work yet this calendar year, first with tuckpointing and window projects, then with a new roof. The centerpiece, of course, will be the 432-seat theater, which Mitchell reminded attendees is “the oldest theater in the Peoria Theater District” that Blickenstaff has set his sights on helping to develop, and which once was home to Peoria Players. The Club is already receiving inquiries as to its future availability for concerts and the Peoria Women’s Club members welcome the news like.
There are still multiple opportunities for the public to participate, starting with PWC’s adopt-a-theater-seat fundraising effort. New windows are up for grabs, too.
Blickenstaff’s interest in the neighborhood has grown. Besides his $7 million restoration of the Scottish Rite Theatre, his latest vision for the area includes InterPlay Park, an elevated green space that would be constructed over I-74. Indeed, the idea for the park first came to him at the Peoria Women’s Club, during a conversation with former Congressman and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a story he shared with PWC members.
“When I look at an empty lot” in Peoria’s Downtown, “it makes me sick to think what was once there,” said Blickenstaff. “That’s how I feel,” and that’s what is, in part, fueling this latest bout of generosity.
The $1.5 million is “enough to get going” on PWC’s restoration, he said. “Let’s start scraping paint.”
The Peoria Women’s Club was founded by some of the most prominent women in Peoria history in the late 19th century, a full 25 years before they even had the right to vote. They included Clara Parsons Bourland (the club’s first president), Lucie Brotherson Tyng (the first female elected to Peoria’s School Board) and Julia Proctor White (first president of Peoria’s League of Women Voters and a major player in what became the former Lakeview Museum).
Those founders had a significant hand in getting the first kindergarten established in these parts, in efforts to care for and educate blind children, in the development of a pioneering mental health hospital. Community service remains a vital part of the group’s mission, said Mitchell.
Peoria, of course, has a long and proud history of pioneering women, perhaps most notably Lydia Moss Bradley and Betty Friedan, both in the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Few such clubs remain.
The cornerstone for PWC’s red-brick, 11,000-square-foot headquarters was cemented into place in 1893, and the building was formally dedicated on Jan. 15, 1894. The facility received historic landmark status in 2014.
For more information, please visit the Women’s Club website and its Facebook page.