Day of Infamy - April 29, 2010

Take one last good look at the east end of the magnificent Grace Hall. Notice the elegant entrance, where horsedrawn carriages would have pulled up to this building, in the days before every vehicle was gas-engine powered.

This morning the Demolition Permit for Grace Hall was issued at Woodstock City Hall. A few minutes later (literally), the first blow struck. Wrecked from the inside first (by WCLS and the Woodstock City Council), Gavers Excavating struck the first physical death blow to the fine old building at 318 Christian Way, Woodstock, Ill.

There had been talk by some that, if the City Council could have been persuaded to designate Grace Hall as a Landmark, an attorney could have been ready to jump all over that project with an injunction. It was clear that the timing would have to be carefully monitored, in order to prevent the first blow.

Next, take a look at the east end of the former Grace Hall, as it appeared about 4:00PM today.

Had the money and the efforts of many people in Woodstock shown up, it might have been possible to be in front of a judge this morning as the rubber stamp at City Hall hit the permit (figuratively speaking, of course, because it only took ink in a pen to validate the Permit), and place a cell phone call to halt the operator of the implement of destruction. But none of that fell into place.

Through the cooperation of the City Council with WCLS, Grace Hall bit the dust. And bit it all day.

How did the City Council "cooperate" with WCLS? It has been written about before, and it will be written about again.