Ellen Neupert has devoted a huge chunk of her 93 years to education.
The former social studies teacher, who worked at both East Aurora and West Aurora high schools, is long retired. But she’s certainly not finished acquiring wisdom and information.
That’s why she was in the classroom at Waubonsee Community College’s Sugar Grove campus on Wednesday as a member of the Lifelong Learning Institute, listening intently as independent historian Tracy Duran talked about “The Early History of the Leland Tower – Aurora’s Tallest Building.”
Back by popular demand, this class had an overwhelming response when it was presented in the fall, noted Lifelong Learning Institute facilitator Karen Christensen. And as a spectator in the back of the room I can see why.
Who doesn’t want to know more about this historic Aurora landmark that opened as a hotel on Feb. 8, 1928?
Who doesn’t want to learn about the reason the Leland came into existence at a cost of $1.75 million, or why its name was changed from the Illinois Hotel?
Or how it earned a reputation as fireproof?
From the time she was a kid listening to the stories of her father, 52-year-old Duran has considered the Leland “mysterious and intriguing.”
While urban legends contend that Al Capone, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson were guests at the Leland, those stories will always be rumors rather than fact because of the low profiles these gangsters kept.
But Sally Rand, Gene Autry and Hedy Lamarr did stay at the swanky Leland. Likely Henry Fonda was a visitor as well, when he was dating an Aurora girl.
Oh, and it’s definitely haunted, according to Duran, who has a few fascinating paranormal experiences to share from when she lived on the fifth and 19th floors for a couple of years.
Not surprising, a chunk of this two-hour session focused on the grandiose Sky Club that capped this 22-story skyscraper – a high-end ballroom and restaurant that attracted local socialites as well as Chicago’s elite because of its sophisticated menu, live music, glitzy decor and ritzy ambiance.
The Leland also earned its rightful place in history when, in 1937-38, the Sky Club was used by RCA Victor as a recording studio for its Bluebird label, turning out some of the most influential blues music in the prewar Chicago area.
The building had its share of owners over the years. The same can be said of foreclosures,14 in all, Duran noted. It was after the Teamsters Union purchased it in October of 1968 (as a home for the elderly) that it fell into disrepair because promised renovations were never done.
Duran described it as “condemnation by neglect.”
Others, however, saw “something beautiful in it,” she noted, which led to a class discussion about a grassroots effort to preserve historic buildings in Aurora that made it possible for the Leland to survive when other cities were demolishing abandoned sites.
The Leland Tower (the name changed from the Leland Hotel in the early 1970s when it became apartments) and its history is what drew current owner David Karademus in 2014 to Aurora. He not only renovated the 121-unit building but also the nearby Graham Building and former Elks Club building renamed The Mayan. All are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Base rent at the Leland ranges from a little over $1,000 for a studio to nearly $2,000 for a two-bedroom unit.
Having lived her 90-plus years in Aurora, Neupert could contribute significantly to the history class herself. She recalls, for example, the Plantation Room as a far more affordable restaurant in the basement of the hotel, whereas Duran thought it was a more expensive place to dine.
Neupert also talked about the large party her family hosted in the Sky Club when relatives were visiting from San Francisco. She remembers the live bands, the wonderful food and the elaborate decor and furnishings that set this venue apart.
“That was,” she said, “THE place to go in the whole Fox Valley.”
Later, as a West High social studies teacher, Neupert designed a curriculum for struggling students around Aurora history and took them for tours at the Leland.
She also did broadcasts with her Sunday School class from the top of the tower, which for several years served as a transmitter site of WAUR-FM. The class, she recalled with a smile, “mimicked meetings of the United Nations Security Council.”
What makes this presentation so special, Duran said later, is how memories are stimulated in longtime Aurorans who, in turn, add to her knowledge of the community’s history.
For example, she learned from an attendee in her fall class about a notorious gangster kidnapping in Aurora in the summer of 1934 that, six years later, was made into the movie, “Queen of the Mob.”
According to an archived Beacon-News article, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had declared Alvin Karpis as the nation’s public “rat” number one at the time of his arrest. Just how long he and Arthur “Doc” Barker – son of the infamous Ma Barker – made the house in the 400 block of Claim Street in Aurora their home is uncertain.
“I’m having so much fun,” insisted the local historian, well aware of how valuable as sources those sitting in the classroom are to her.
“I’m not just learning from my own research but also from their stories.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com