The Sangamo Club, a private dining establishment founded in 1890, is closing its doors as of June 16.
A June 10 letter from James Ackerman, president of the board of directors, notified members of the closure and outlined the challenges faced by the Sangamo Club. He noted that unlike country clubs, the Sangamo Club cannot rely on golf, pool or other social activities and that the downtown area has experienced “an exodus of office workers, along with their expense accounts, exacerbating the impact…”.
Ackerman said that as recently as 2016, the club had close to 1,000 members, while current membership stands at just 250 people, 144 of which did not spend any money on food or alcohol at the club in the past month.
He also noted that the board had tried to implement several different strategies to stay open, including selling shares in an LLC which functioned as a loan to the club from the members, but only three shares were sold. Numerous membership drives in recent years have focused on outreach to families and younger professionals, but Ackerman wrote, “..the board concluded that we would have to roughly double our membership to stay in business, which was thought to be incredibly unlikely, if not impossible.”
Rumors of an impending closure have been circulating since the property at 227 E. Adams was listed for sale nearly a year ago. The approximately 28,000-square-foot building is listed with Hurwitz Enterprises for $1,450,000, although Ackerman told SBJ that there is no sale pending and there hasn’t been much interest in the building.
The Sangamo Club initially opened at 523 S. Sixth St. but has been housed at its current location since 1963, with half a dozen other addresses in between, including the top two floors of the Illinois Building.
“The club was a significant part of Springfield history; it’s been in business since 1890 and had a lot of notable people as members over the years,” said Ackerman. “It’s sad to see it go.”