Federal facility was built for the ages

To most longtime Danville people, its still the Old Post Office, but its really the Federal Building.

The handsome limestone structure has been a Vermilion Street landmark since 1911, but nobody seems to know what its future might hold.

Everything was fine until the late 1970s. Thats when the boundaries of the local U.S. court district were changed. At about the same time, the boundaries of the local congressional district were changed, too, and Champaign-Urbana was added to it.

Remapping the congressional district brought the election of a congressman with no Danville ties. That resulted in funding for a satellite U.S. district courthouse in Urbana, which eventually replaced the one in Danville.

After years of complaints about congestion at the post office loading dock and a lack of off-street parking, construction on a new Danville Post Office began in 1984 and ended in 1986. This spring, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court is moving to Urbana, too.

That doesnt leave a whole lot in the Federal Building Social Security offices, some law offices, and the Danville office of U.S. Rep. John Shimkus.

When the building opened in 1911, it was the pride of the city. For the first time, Danville had a true Federal Building, with all federal offices, federal courts and the U.S. Post Office under one roof.

Construction took two years and cost $500,000 big money 103 years ago. It was built for the ages: solid stone, solid oak, solid bronze, solid marble. It spoke to the power of U.S. Rep. Joseph G. Cannon or Uncle Joe who lived two blocks up Vermilion Street. He was House speaker from 1903 until 1911, and one of the most powerful House speakers ever.

In 1905, Cannon got a bill through the House that created the U.S. Eastern District of Illinois. The Danville section stretched from Kankakee to Cairo, and west to East St. Louis.

Danville was smaller than most cities with federal courthouses, but Danville was Uncle Joes town, and that was enough. In 1909 construction began on the site of the old Mike Kelly mansion. Kelly was an Irish immigrant who made a fortune in coal.

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Federal facility was built for the ages