C. U. Williams & Son Automobile Showroom, Bloomington, Illinois
A closer look at the C. U. Williams & Son Building located on the south side of the 200 block of E. Washington St. in downtown Bloomington. Completed in 1911, the four-story building was constructed as an automobile showroom, garage and lodge hall. Of particular note are the large second-story showroom windows designed to display twice as many cars from the street.
According to the McLean County Museum of History, C. U. Williams and his son Walter sold the latest models from early automakers, including E-M-F, Chalmers, Moon, Stearns, Studebaker, Willys-Overland and Woods (the latter known for its electric cars). "The manufacturers that we are representing are all old and well-established houses - there cars are long past the experimental stage," was a C. U. Williams & Son promise.
The McLean County Museum of History article on C. U. Williams goes on to say that Williams & Son offered not only sales and maintenance, but auto painting, "livery" service (car rentals by the hour or day), storage (when home garages were few) and even a place to charge battery-powered cars.
In later years an office equipment company by the name of Paxtons occupied the building. The building is now the home of the legal offices of Wylder Corwin Kelly LLP, trial lawyers specializing in medical malpractice.
The C. U. Williams & Son Building, along with the Castle Theatre next to it and also owned by Williams, were designed by architect A. T. Simmons. Simmons designed the Lafayette Apartments posted earlier in this series, but is probably best known for his more than 71 Carnegie libraries in Illinois and a dozen other states, along with numerous courthouses, schools, churches and other public buildings. Simmons also designed most of the houses in the Cedar Crest Historic District of Normal, Illinois, the other half of the twin municipalities of Bloomington and Normal.
Both the C. U. Williams & Son Building and the Castle Theatre next door are contributing architectural properties in the Bloomington Central Business District listed in 1985 on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The district includes roughly twelve square blocks of the city and encompasses 140 buildings, 118 of which are contributing buildings to the district's historic character.
Bloomington is the seat of McLean County. It is adjacent to Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington is home to State Farm Insurance, Country Financial and Beer Nuts. Illinois Wesleyan University is located here, while the neighboring city of Normal is home to Illinois State University and Heartland Community College. Bloomington is 135 miles (217 km) southwest of Chicago, and 162 miles (261 km) northeast of St. Louis. The estimated population of Bloomington in 2019 was 77,330, with a metro population of 191,067.
C. U. Williams & Son Automobile Showroom, Bloomington, Illinois
A closer look at the C. U. Williams & Son Building located on the south side of the 200 block of E. Washington St. in downtown Bloomington. Completed in 1911, the four-story building was constructed as an automobile showroom, garage and lodge hall. Of particular note are the large second-story showroom windows designed to display twice as many cars from the street.
According to the McLean County Museum of History, C. U. Williams and his son Walter sold the latest models from early automakers, including E-M-F, Chalmers, Moon, Stearns, Studebaker, Willys-Overland and Woods (the latter known for its electric cars). "The manufacturers that we are representing are all old and well-established houses - there cars are long past the experimental stage," was a C. U. Williams & Son promise.
The McLean County Museum of History article on C. U. Williams goes on to say that Williams & Son offered not only sales and maintenance, but auto painting, "livery" service (car rentals by the hour or day), storage (when home garages were few) and even a place to charge battery-powered cars.
In later years an office equipment company by the name of Paxtons occupied the building. The building is now the home of the legal offices of Wylder Corwin Kelly LLP, trial lawyers specializing in medical malpractice.
The C. U. Williams & Son Building, along with the Castle Theatre next to it and also owned by Williams, were designed by architect A. T. Simmons. Simmons designed the Lafayette Apartments posted earlier in this series, but is probably best known for his more than 71 Carnegie libraries in Illinois and a dozen other states, along with numerous courthouses, schools, churches and other public buildings. Simmons also designed most of the houses in the Cedar Crest Historic District of Normal, Illinois, the other half of the twin municipalities of Bloomington and Normal.
Both the C. U. Williams & Son Building and the Castle Theatre next door are contributing architectural properties in the Bloomington Central Business District listed in 1985 on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The district includes roughly twelve square blocks of the city and encompasses 140 buildings, 118 of which are contributing buildings to the district's historic character.
Bloomington is the seat of McLean County. It is adjacent to Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington is home to State Farm Insurance, Country Financial and Beer Nuts. Illinois Wesleyan University is located here, while the neighboring city of Normal is home to Illinois State University and Heartland Community College. Bloomington is 135 miles (217 km) southwest of Chicago, and 162 miles (261 km) northeast of St. Louis. The estimated population of Bloomington in 2019 was 77,330, with a metro population of 191,067.