Bailey Buildings/Bailey’s Hall

Illustration of the Bailey Building from the 1858 Bowman Map.

Advertisement for new Grocery Store in Bailey’s Block published in the Central Illinois Gazette, October 5, 1859.

Daniel Rugg (1830-1888) was the proprietor of the first shoe store in Champaign County and served as a city alderman for several terms. In honor of his service to the city, all downtown businesses were closed during his funeral service.

Bailey Buildings/Bailey’s Hall
Corner of N Neil St/W Church St, Champaign
Building is no longer standing
Its replacement the Metropolitan Building burned in 2008

The Bailey Building was originally a large-frame commercial building constructed for David Bailey in 1857. Mr. Bailey was a pioneer settler of West Urbana settling here after moving from New Hampshire as a young man. He had general stores in Champaign, Vermilion, Piatt, and DeWitt countries. In addition to his general store, the Bailey Buildings hosted Daniel Rugg’s boot and shoe store, a first in Champaign County.

In I871, Bailey and Rugg worked together to create a three-story brick building in the Italianate style on the same site. This impressive building with its elegant round-headed windows, limestone trim, and twenty-foot ceilings hosted stores on the first floor, offices on the second, and a meeting hall on the third. This new building became known as the Metropolitan Building. Tragically, the Metropolitan burned to the ground on November 7, 2008. The Hyatt Place Hotel currently occupies this space (2022).

The Metropolitan, built in 1871, stood at the corner of Neil and Church in downtown Champaign for 137 years, housing numerous drug stores, countless small businesses, shops, and lodge halls. It was also the original site of Robeson’s Department Store. A descendant of Daniel Rugg, Robert Hamilton Tilden successfully applied for the building to be included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.