The Santa House

The Santa House on the Square was a small cottage used to house the seasonal yearly visits of Santa Claus and later the Easter Bunny.

Prior to the dedicated house for these visits, both Santa and the Easter Bunny had visited the Square. In the 1930’s the American Legion started sponsoring appearances by Santa, who would appear in the center of the Square or at Casper’s Grocery Store to visit with the children and hand out little gifts.

In 1946, the Chamber of Commerce sponsored a short-lived traveling Christmas program put on by promoter Jay Gould on the Square. Gould performed his mini-circus (pictured below in 1946 in the Square) with Santa and other acts from 1945-1948 throughout Central Illinois.

After the one-year Gould experiment, the Legion returned to sponsoring the annual Santa visit through the 1960’s, many times in conjunction with the Tazewell Theater.

In 1968, the Easter Bunny was added in the spring, riding in on a horse-drawn carriage and visiting the children in a large fiberglass egg.

When the Texaco Station at 100 N. Main closed in 1973 (current property of Jim Maloof Realtor), the Santa Claus visits were hosted in their building until Martin Barber Shop moved into that location in 1975.

Needing a new spot, a new structure was built on the empty lot on southwest corner of the Square for the purpose of hosting the annual Santa Claus visit. The lot had sat empty since 1967 when the J.J. Roehm building was torn down. This little cottage became an extremely popular spot for the Christmas and Easter visits from 1975 until 1988.

For a few years the cottage would be moved in the off-season and stored in a barn, but as time went on it became a permanent fixture on the Square.

After 1988 the cottage was removed and moved to the backyard of the home at 116 S. Elm Street, where it remains to this day.