An open house is being held at the William Jennings Bryan Birthplace Home to showcase recent renovations.
Salem City Councilman Jim Koehler has championed improvements to the home since taking office after there was some talk of tearing it down due to its poor condition at the time.
Since then a number of improvements have been made, most recently the repainting of the outside of the home last year and now renovation of the kitchen.
“The kitchen was trashed. The walls needed painted and everything was in terrible condition. When people came in they all wanted to see the kitchen…embarrassing. We got to work on that and a lot of people got involved in that. It’s just amazing how things fell into place. Myron Lloyd got on Marketplace and found all these pieces of stuff and its been a great time and a lot of people putting in a lot of time to bring Mr. Bryan’s home back into graces.”
The open house is set from noon to three on Sunday. A program by Dr. Christopher Oldenburg, a professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Illinois College in Jacksonville, will follow at three at the Salem Presbyterian Church at 201 East McMackin. Dr. Oldenburg has studied the life of Bryan, who is a graduate of Illinois College.
Koehler feels Bryan can become a tourist attraction for Salem and says plans are underway for a special event next July.
“It will be 100 years since the Scopes Trial. Most people know Scopes graduated from Salem High School and William Jennings Bryan spoke at his commencement so they knew each other before then and were looking to the event to show off Bryan’s life. Besides running for president 3 times, he was very instrumental in women’s rights, child labor laws, Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, he was a congressman and involved in a lot of things that got going. He was a real statesman.”
Koehler is also happy school classes are now touring the home and historical museum to teach the history of the community. The museum in the 100 block of South Broadway will also be open from noon to three Sunday.
Salem Historical Commission members Myron Lloyd and Diane Eller along with City Councilman Jim Koehler inside the recently renovated kitchen of the Bryan home. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
