From Chicago Tribune Sep. 5, 2008.
"Activists say dorm filled with history: Woodstock (Illinois) structure on path to demolition hosed students from 1848 to 1954--including big names." by Robert Channick.
A young Orson Welles attended prep school at the Todd School for Boys and could really tell impromptu stories. and would write scripts for radio shows in the basement sound studio of Grace Hall dormitory where he lived.
Grace Hall, now offices for the Woodstock Christian Life Service, is planned to be demolished to make room for independent living duplexes for seniors.
Caryl Lemanski, 67, and others are trying to save the 88-year-old structure which is built in Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie-style. The original Todd School had an expansive campus featuring a farm, airstrip and sailboats and was where the sons of wealthy business and industrialist were educated.
ORSON WELLES
Welles arrived in 1926, a Kenosha native who had moved to Highland Park. The school's progressive, hands-on philosophy encouraged to students to pursue their interests and Welles pursued his with passion, directing plays and producing radio shows until he graduated in 1931. Of course, there was that famous War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938 and the classic movie "Citizen Kane.".
Other famous alumni were physicist Robert Wilson, founder of fermilab in Batavia and Gahan Wilson whose macabre cartoons appeared in the New Yorker.
After the school closed, the airstrip became Marian Central High School which opened in 1959.
TODAY
Hearings have been held. Christian Life Services says the building is structurally sound but it would cost $700,000 to bring it up to code. They were given permission to raze the building, but as of this month, it is still standing. Let's hope they find a way to keep it standing. It is a beautiful building.
Don't Tear It Down. --Cooter
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