A HISTORY CLUB SPROUTS
The Clinton History Club was established in September of 2018 , founded on the simple desire to share found information and an enthusiastic interest in the community ’ s past .
“ We ’ re just now the next generation of wanting to talk about our history of our community and of our county ,” Obren says .
The club ’ s first meetings drew crowds of up to 50 to 60 people . They met , weather permitting , at different suggested historic properties where they ’ d tour the buildings or listen to guest speakers . Other times , they ’ d meet at the Ericksen Center and indulge in simply viewing each other ’ s personal collections of historic items and photos .
At one of these early meetings , the club toured the baseball stadium , then sat talking for an hour , joined by Clinton Baseball Club Board of Directors members Eric Van Lancker , Lydia Halback and Jurgen Duhr .
Obren and Rowland began giving presentations at American Legion posts and for Rotary and Kiwanis clubs . They visited numerous nursing homes , taking residents on short bus trips to historically significant sites .
When a larger , three-hour bus tour open to the public was organized , “ the phone was ringing off the wall ,” Rowland recalls . “ I think we turned away 100 people .”
With Obren providing narration of the tour at the helm of one bus and Rowland on the other , the two buses were taken to the historical museum , the railroad depot and the Horace Anthony House in Camanche , then throughout Downtown Clinton to most of the city ’ s buildings listed on the U . S . Department of Interior ’ s National Register of Historic Places , among them , the Curtis Mansion , the Lafayette Lamb House and the Wilson , Ankeny , Van Allen , Howes and Moeszinger-Marquis Buildings .
CURIOSITY SURVIVES COVID
The club ’ s meetings and bus tours stopped with the onset of the Covid pandemic . It was during this time , though , that Rowland came up with the idea of continuing to share pieces of history via regularly emailed newsletters , starting with a list of about 300 people who wanted to receive them .
“ We had a lot of photos to do this ,” Rowland , who ’ s collected thousands of photos over the years , says .
His emails elicited responses from across the nation , forwarded to people in California and the state of Washington who , in turn , offered stories about their connections to Clinton that Rowland had never heard and shared photos he ’ d never seen .
In 2019 , in cooperation with the city of Clinton , local American Legions and AmVets posts , and the Lawrence Van Hook Chapter of the Daughters of the American Legion , the club wrote for various grants to help to fund the $ 37,000 restoration of the war veterans
memorial that sits on the south end of the riverfront , a memorial given national designation by the WWI Centennial Commission in 2018 .
“ Before Covid , the best way I can describe it ,” Rowland says , “ it was meetings and going places , and now it ’ s turning into more projects .”
‘ GATEWAY ’ EMERGES AFTER COVID
The club emerged from the pandemic , announcing in a Clinton Herald editorial published in September 2021 that the group had been rebranded as the Gateway History Club , a name more inclusive of its outreach beyond Clinton to Camanche , Lyons , and Fulton , Illinois .
Obren and Rowland , now , are working on providing photos requested for a celebration of the 135th anniversary of the Clinton Police Department .
They ’ ve also been contacted by the City ’ s Historic Preservation Committee about helping to make updates . Obren poses the question , “ How can we create ordinances and laws and policies to safeguard properties that need to be actually renovated and salvaged instead of torn down .”
Rowland says they ’ d like to get QR codes developed for the historic buildings that do stand ; codes that give visitors stories about the buildings and that would maybe help in the tracking of tourism .
The club is also in talks with Grow Clinton on the possible development of
The John D . Van Allen & Sons store in the original Van Allen Building was in the 200 block of 5th Avenue South before the new building was constructed in 1912-1914 . Photo Courtesy of the John Rowland Collection
Pictured here is the west side of Clinton County Courthouse in 1980 with the former boiler house intact . The tall smokestack has been removed . Photo Courtesy of the John Rowland Collection
CLINTON MAGAZINE | SPRING 2024 23