Mary E. Busey & Joseph W. Royer's History of Collaboration

Joseph W. Royer and Mary E. Busey were not strangers to one another. They worked together on at least three structures in Urbana, two of which still stand today. They collaborated on the First Presbyterian Church in Urbana, The Samuel T. Busey Memorial Library, now The Urbana Free Library, and the Urbana-Lincoln Hotel (The Landmark Hotel). The three buildings display very different styles from Royer’s career. For Busey, they represent some of the greatest milestones of her longstanding and impressive support for the Urbana community as an advocate, member, and supporter of numerous groups and projects. 

First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, 602 W. Green Street (1901-1902). This Romanesque Revival style church was built as the second sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church of Urbana. The church was demolished in 1963 to be replaced by the present sanctuary.

First Presbyterian Church, Urbana, IL

In 1900, Busey’s sister, Etta Bowen, passed away and left $1,000 in her will toward the construction of a new church. Busey became the president of the finance committee and chairperson of the building committee for the new church. Along with her sister’s bequest, Samuel T. and Mary E. Busey donated $4,000 to jump-start the donations needed to build a new church. In May 1901, Royer was hired as the architect and superintendent. When funding was needed to finish the building, Busey motivated churchgoers to donate by promising to buy a new organ for the church. When the church was completed in 1902, she donated the promised organ and dedicated it to her children.

Twenty-five years later, in 1926, Busey made another large contribution to the church. When the church sought ways to obtain funding to build a new Sunday school, Busey stepped in and donated $12,000 to build the needed annex. The new Sunday school was dedicated as the Mary Busey room. After her death, Busey made one final contribution to the church, leaving a trust fund of $4,000 in support of the church.

The Urbana Lincoln Hotel, 209 S. Broadway Avenue (1922). A Tudor Revival style five-story brick building, the hotel was built by a group of about 100 Urbana stockholders. It opened on January 30, 1924. In September 2006 Lincoln Square Mall, together with the Lincoln Hotel, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Urbana-Lincoln Hotel

In fall 1921, Mary E. Busey was selected as the chairperson and only female member of a nine-member board dedicated to constructing a new hotel in Urbana. After a series of small setbacks, the board determined the hotel would be located at the northeast corner of Green and Market (now Broadway) Streets near the library. In spring 1922, Royer was awarded the contract for the new hotel. He designed the building with the needs of a community near a large university in mind. Along with 100 rooms, he included a ballroom, a dining hall, a beauty parlor, a barbershop, and several other shops. The building was done in the English Tudor Revival style.

In November 1923, Busey organized and led the inaugural evening of the new hotel, which was set up to accommodate a total of 200 guests. The hotel was named after Abraham Lincoln because it was the former site of Kerr’s Tavern, also known as the Urbana Inn, a location Lincoln regularly visited as an Illinois circuit attorney. The Urbana-Lincoln Hotel still stands today as the Landmark Hotel.