News-Gazette.com: Memories of the Metropolitan Building

Memories of the Metropolitan Building

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Newman's Fashion Center

In 1952 when Newman's, a women's fashions store, was located in the building I purchased my wedding dress for $50. It was a "keeper." We've been married for 56 years.

By: June Reifsteck of Sadorus, IL

Yom Kippur 1895

Jewish families have lived in Champaign and Urbana since at least 1855, but up to 1895 their religious services were conducted in their homes. The first known public Jewish religious service was an observance of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonenment) held on September 28, 1895, on an upper floor of what is now known as the Metropolitan Building. A description of the event from the period tells of the group of townspeople and university students, huddled together under the illumination of a single gas light, with prayers read from a single prayer book that was passed from reader to reader.

By: Allen Avner

Growing Up

My 3 sisters and I grew up in Champaign, and spent many Saturday afternoons downtown. Mom worked at Sears, and Dad worked for the Illinois Central Railroad as a switchman. He spent alot of Saturdays playing rummy at The Congress, a great time for us girls to hit him up for some change. My sisters and I spent hours downtown shopping, going to movies at the Rialto, the Orpheum, and the Virginia theater. I remember well the popcorn truck that was parked outside the Metropolitan building, and window shopping at Newman's. I loved the way the entrance to the store was set back in a small enclave, a great place to hide. It saddens me to hear about these great old buildings being damaged or torn down. Before malls and even Country Fair Shopping Center, downtown had it all, and it was Saturday paradise for us girls.

By: Marcia Casebeer-Lanum of Huntington Beach, California

Christmas Shopping

In the 1960s and the early 1970s my grandparents (Henry and Lucille Sansone)"The popcorn man" would babysit me and my siblings. We would work the popcorn wagon for a while and then we would take our earnings and go Christmas shopping downtown. I remember going into a ladies store in the Metropolitan Building but I never purchased anything as being a young child I couldn't afford anything. We would shop Robeson's, Kresge and many other shops and then go back to the Popcorn wagon and help our grandparents close it up and ride back to their home. It truly was the "Good Ole Days".

By: Toni Sansone Lemmon of Champaign, IL

Newman's Dress Shop

I think the dress store was "Newmans", back in the early 60's when I was in grade school. Then later into the 70's maybe (?), it was a restaurant, like "King Henry's (or George's ?) Pub". It's a shame all has not been documented over the years.

By: Mary Jane Blixen of Champaign, IL

1963 Clothing Store?

In reference to Kathy Dilley's memories of the Metropolitan Building. . . was the store you remember called Lanes Youthful Fashions?

By: Rebecca Reid of Champaign, IL

A great loss

I lived a few blocks from downtown in the early 80's. My then boyfriend lived above the Art, so we spent lots of time downtown. In those days, Neil was blocked off to create a pedestrian mall, though the concept had not been all that successful, and mid-eighties was returned to a street. We had Lox, Stock and Bagel, Rexalls, Dottie's Dolls, Downtown Food and Beverage Company, Robeson's, Great Impasta and Jane Addam's Bookstore(still there). Rafalles was a bar located in the Metropolitan, and the place had great music and some killer sandwiches. The Orpheum was still showing some first run and old movies, and we went there all the time and sat in the balcony. Downtown, though, at that time, was definitely experiencing hard times like so many others were(and still are) when all the bigger business(like Sears and Penney's)had moved out to large malls.

In the late eighties and early nineties, I worked with DSC as their Thrift Store Manager located in the Metropolitan where "Ralf's" had been before. DSC had opened the thrift store in the same space, and the walls were painted black with smoked mirror accents. The original thrift store manager left, DSC repainted the walls white, and I began there with a crew of folks trying to make a go of selling donations. Goodwill was located in the other half of the building, so there were tons of regular customers that would come down and shop for our unusual merchandise. Moy's Chinese Restaurant closed, and when Carrie's Antiques moved in their old building and remodeled it, downtown started picking up. Chris Knight would pop into the Thrift Store on occasion, and I remember him telling me plans to open a "coffee shop" which then became the first Blind Pig, and a big part of the beginning of the turnaround downtown.

Of all the memories I have of that great old building, one of the most bittersweet I think of now involved the other burned out buildings downtown. The Main Street fire had claimed some cool old buildings where One Main now stands, but the city hoped something could be salvaged, and the carcasses stood for quite a few years, supported by scaffolding and surrounded by barricades. When the city was finally ready to see what could be saved, construction crews came in and removed the scaffolding. I was sitting in the Metropolitan watching as those old buildings crumbled in a matter of minutes and filled the street with dust. It was heartbreaking, really. My husband is a newsman, and when he called me around 6:00 am the morning of the fire to tell me the Metropolitan was burning, I knew the outcome.

I still have not been downtown to look, probably won't go for a long time.

I read last Sunday in the News Gazette the developers would like to rebuild in the Metropolitan's likeness...I hope they do. We lost a grand lady that hosted all kinds of business and remained a proud cornerstone of downtown Champaign. We should honor her service.

By: Melisse Trentz of Champaign, Illinois

Into the 21st Century

I only knew of the Metropolitan building in more recent times, when I worked on the 1st floor as a System Administrator for a former ISP, Soltec. That position, however, afforded me the opportunity to see the entire structure of the building from the basement to the 3rd floor. To this day, the 3rd floor had the tallest ceilings I have ever seen, they had to be 20 feet, probably more!

I found it very interesting that our company had seemingly brought new life to an old building. We housed all kinds of company and customer owned equipment, including servers to provide e-mail, web pages, and countless other applications to users. It seemed a fitting way to bring that building into the digital age.

I have heard that some basketball teams use to play/practice on the 3rd floor and from what I recall there were boards with player names and records still visible at certain locations on that floor. It seemed the 2nd floor might have one time been home to office space, but appeared to not have been touched since maybe the 1950s. The 3rd floor, even longer, by the looks of the wiring and decor. I had taken pictures of the 3rd floor, I will try to locate them and notify the NG.

I am not sure what it was about that particular building, maybe it was just from working there, but the simple, sleek architecture always seemed the most appealing to me of all the downtown buildings. I do hope the owners get the opportunity to rebuild and maybe they can recreate that look once again in the heart of Champaign. It will be missed!

By: Josh of Champaign, IL

Elite Sweet Shop

Between 1927 and 1937, the Metropolitan Building housed the Elite Sweet Shop owned by Thomas John Lessaris.

Adjacent, on the corner at that time, was Sholem's Shoe Store.

The Elite was a popular place to eat lunch and dinner, as well as providing homemade candy and ice cream. It featured a trio of musicians to entertain the patrons.

As a young child, I remember riding my tricycle around the store, much to the chagrin of the employees.

When it first opened, in preparation for the grand opening, my dad had loaded the candy case. The weight of the candy caused the case to collapse, which caused quite a delay in the grand opening.

The candy kitchen and ice cream manufacturing were housed in the basement.

One story told to me was about a day when Mr. Sholem noticed my dad transferring goods from his car parked at the curb. Dad would put on his hat to go to the car and when returning to the store, would remove his hat when entering. After this happened several times, Mr. Sholem asked dad why he kept doing this with his hat and dad replied, "When you show respect to the store, the store will respect you."

In 1937, the Elite Cafe was relocated to 116 Neil, where it remained until the mid '80s.

By: Peter Lessaris