The origin of the fire that caused extensive damage to the Woman’s Club of Wilmette remained under investigation Wednesday as members of the club lamented what’s been presumed lost or damaged, including artwork and historic documents.
While the building’s caretaker said Tuesday that he suspected a space heater in his apartment might have started the fire, Wilmette fire Chief Michael McGreal said investigators are still seeking to determine where and how the fire started, and that nothing so far has been ruled out.
The chief said the frigid weather, which transformed the historic building into an ice-shrouded edifice after authorities needed 1.5 million gallons of water to douse the flames, has also complicated the investigation.
McGreal said it was too early to determine whether the building — constructed in the 1910s, with a major addition built around the original structure in the 1920s — will have to be demolished or if parts of it might be salvageable.
“The cause of the fire is still being determined, but right now, the structure is unsound, and to go back inside would be dangerous, as safety comes first,” the fire chief said. “This is going to be a pretty daunting project, because the building is now covered in ice.”
More Top Picks Best Lava Lamps For Calming
He added that 75 to 80 percent of the building is “badly damaged” and that only its northeast corner remains intact.
“The building was very well put together, but the volume of the fire and the large open spaces contributed to the collapse of the truss roof,” McGreal said.
Much of the club’s historic art collection, including a pair of bas-relief sculptures from the 1920s that flanked the mahogany entryway, appeared to be heavily damaged by smoke, McGreal said.
Debbie Burdick, the club’s unofficial historian, said much of the club’s historical material went up in flames. Thankfully, she said, some extremely important records, such as papers connected to the club’s original land deed, were in an off-site safe deposit box.
“And, fortunately, we’d written an extensive history of the club at the time of our 100-year anniversary,” she added.
Burdick called the blaze a disaster, though she and other club members said they were grateful that no one had been injured.
“It’s amazing to see 125 years of history go up in a couple of hours. But the building is not the club,” President Barbara Bischoff said late Tuesday.
That history began in 1891, when the group was established by 20 local women who originally met in each other’s homes to read and discuss “history, literature and art to promote … the moral, intellectual and social culture of its members,” George D. Bushnell wrote in “Wilmette: A History,” citing the group’s charter.
Later the group took on more of a social service function, with several local service organizations founded within the club’s walls. The Family Service Center of Wilmette and the village’s first Parent Teacher Association were organized at the club in the 1910s.
The local League of Women Voters was launched in 1924 at the club, and in 1939 a local Red Cross branch was organized, Bischoff said.
“It’s not hard to imagine, as we grew as a community, that this was a space where women also grew unhindered,” she added.
Today the club’s roughly 90 members play host to an annual antiques sale, and its building has been used for Scouting events and the environmental group Go Green Wilmette’s annual Going Green Matters showcase, as well as private weddings, bar mitzvahs and other events. New Trier High School’s extension service has regularly held classes in the club building for many years, Burdick said.
The club also donated $20,000 to Wilmette to help it plant new trees after the 2008 emerald ash borer infestation; before that the group bought defibrillators for Wilmette ambulances, Burdick said. More recently, Bischoff said, it helped pay for Romona Elementary School’s new auditorium theater curtains.
“We’ve done our best to help this community,” Burdick said.
Some members, like Bischoff, are second-generation.
“I grew up in the club, working at the rummage sales and going to the shows,” she said.
Bischoff praised other Wilmette organizations like the Wilmette-Kenilworth Chamber of Commerce for quickly reaching out to the woman’s club to offer help and space for already-scheduled events.
Some groups, including the Wilmette Park District and Go Green Wilmette, quickly found new venues.
The Park District’s annual Daddy-Daughter dance, scheduled for Friday, will take place at the Michigan Shores Club instead.
District Executive Director Steve Wilson expressed gratitude to Michigan Shores but added: “We also feel terrible about the fire at the woman’s club. They have helped us host several of these dances, and other Park District events, in the past. We are going to miss working with them this year.”
Meanwhile, Go Green Wilmette, whose annual environmental fair was scheduled for March 8, “is already working on Plan B,” Bischoff said.
Even the club’s own Wednesday luncheon was successfully moved to the Park District’s Mallinckrodt Center, Bischoff said.
“We will find places to meet, until whatever arrangements can be made (about the property are made). … We will go on. Of course we will go on.”
Patrick Leary, curator of the Wilmette Historical Museum, said: “We’re all just keeping our fingers crossed that the building can somehow come back from this. It’s not just historical. It’s still the center of the community.”
More Top Picks Best Office Chairs For Tall People
Cullotta is a Tribune reporter; Routliffe is a Wilmette Life reporter.