{"id":237,"date":"2016-11-17T15:29:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T21:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/?p=237"},"modified":"2019-02-05T09:08:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T15:08:20","slug":"the-charles-gravius-memorial-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/the-charles-gravius-memorial-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Gravius Memorial Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Charles Gravius Memorial Library in Marine, Illinois<\/a>, located on 202 E. Silver St., provides local residents with a free public library ranging from books for children and adults to\u00a0local history books. Open two days a week, Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings, it is a non-tax funded, volunteer-run library. This building has a rich history dating back to women\u2019s suffrage, progressing with the town and its needs throughout the twentieth-century.<\/p>\n

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\"Photograph<\/a><\/p>\n

The Charles Gravius Memorial Library, 2016
\nPhoto by Jessica Mills<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The building was originally built in 1910 as a chapter house for the American Woman\u2019s League (AWL).\u00a0 Of the 258 chapters created for the AWL, only 39 buildings were constructed before 1911 when Edward Lewis, the founder of the AWL and publisher of women\u2019s magazines, developed money problems. The intended purpose of the organization was to provide a space for social, educational, and culture activities that promoted women\u2019s suffrage.((Pauline Meyer, Keep Your Face to the Sunshine: A Lost History in the Chapter of Woman Suffrage<\/em>. (Edwardsville, Illinois: Alcott Press, 1980). 8. ))\u00a0Madison County was in a unique location because the AWL originated in St. Louis, Missouri, resulting in Marine, Alton<\/a>, and Edwardsville<\/a> gaining knowledge of the AWL and building their chapter houses quickly. While many houses were built in Missouri, the closeness of St. Louis, especially with train access, made constructing chapter houses quick and less expensive. \u00a0There were five classes of chapter houses erected:((Graph taken from Meyer, 8.))<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Class<\/th>\nTotal Cost<\/th>\nPopulation<\/th>\nNumber of Paid Members Required<\/th>\nLot Size<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Class I<\/td>\n$1,200<\/td>\n500-1,500<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n50×100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Class II<\/td>\n$2,500<\/td>\n1,500-3,000<\/td>\n60<\/td>\n50×100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Class III<\/td>\n$4,000<\/td>\n3,000-5,000<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n60×100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Class IV<\/td>\n$5,000<\/td>\n5,000-10,000<\/td>\n140<\/td>\n75×100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Class V<\/td>\n$7,300<\/td>\n10,000-15,000<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n100×100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The different chapters depended on the town\u2019s population and how many members of the AWL the town had. The larger the town the bigger the chapter house was built to accommodate a larger population. Edwardsville, a Class II Chapter House, was built in 1909 along with Alton, a Class III Chapter House, and Marine followed in 1910.((Meyer, 21-24.))<\/p>\n

Marine was a Class I house, which was the smallest membership. The Jeffress Chapter of Marine was named after A.W. Jeffress, who donated land for the building.((Meyer, 23.))\u00a0Members of this chapter included:<\/p>\n

President: Mrs. J.R. Farthing<\/p>\n

First Vice President: Miss Maria Keller<\/p>\n

Second Vice President: Mrs. E. Shepherd<\/p>\n

Treasurer: Mrs. Mary E. Richardson<\/p>\n

Secretary: Miss Marie Zimmerman((American Woman’s League Chapter House, Marine, Illinois<\/em>.<\/a> 2003. Lewis Photograph Collection, University City Public Library, accessed December 28, 2016.))<\/p>\n

Other members included: Mrs. Wm. Pence, Miss Katie Deibert, Mrs. L.C. Heim, Miss Mary Rawlings, Miss Kate Parker, Mrs. M. Brooks, Miss Caroline Deibert, Miss Fern Shepard, Miss Verona Weber, Miss Catherine Hentis((Meyer, 23; Earl E. Shepard, D.D.S., Marine, Illinois: An Historical Review, 1975, 52.))<\/p>\n

The AWL borrowed their organization colors from the British suffrage movement of purple and white because their vibrancy made them easy to recognize.((\u201cSymbolic Suffrage Colors.\u201d<\/a> National Women’s History Museum<\/em>. 2007, accessed December 28, 2016.))\u00a0The buildings were based on a Prairie School design with Mission furnishings. Art was also a main part of the AWL, so the building came with a kiln to encourage ceramic pottery.((\u201cGravius Memioral Library.\u201d<\/a> Marine Historical Society<\/em>. 2011, accessed December 28, 2016.))<\/p>\n

After the American Woman\u2019s League disbanded in 1912 when Edward Lewis\u2019 publication empire failed due to financial problems, the League continued working for their right to vote.((Mary Henderson Gass, \u201cThe American Woman’s League,\u201d<\/a> Preservation Issues 5, no. 2 (1995), accessed December 28, 2016.))\u00a0 In 1935, the Works Progress Administration, under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, transformed the chapter house into a library. After the leader of the library Charles Gravius died in 1938, his sister Emilia Gravius donated the building and funds to maintain it as a library.((Meyer, 24; Shepard, 35; Ronald W. Loos, A Walk Through Marine, From the Past to the Present: A History of Marine and Marine Township, Madison County State of Illinois, 1813-1988<\/em>, June 1988, 277.))<\/p>\n

By 1975 Emilia Gravius\u2019s donation was running out and the community kept the library open through various projects until Miss Ella Henze endowed the library, allowing it to remain open.((Meyer, 24.))\u00a0The building was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1980 after it was remodeled with updated modern technologies such as plumbing, indoor electrical heating, and lighting.((\u201cGravius Memioral Library.\u201d<\/a>))\u00a0The library hosted various events throughout its history, from 4-H meetings to school band practices.<\/p>\n

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\"Marker<\/a><\/p>\n

National Register of Historical Places Marker on the Charles Gravius Memorial Library, 2016
\nPhoto by Jessica Mills<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Charles Gravius Memorial Library in Marine, Illinois, located on 202 E. Silver St., provides local residents with a free public library ranging from books for children and adults to\u00a0local history books. Open two days a week, Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings, it is a non-tax funded, volunteer-run library. This building has a rich history […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"article.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,16,8,22,34],"tags":[],"coauthors":[53],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-20th-century","category-21st-century","category-alton","category-culture","category-edwardsville","category-marine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2299,"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/2299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madison-historical.siue.edu\/encyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}