A Sublime Local Treasure
St. Clair Memorial Hall was a gift to the community bequeathed by highly successful wholesale grocer Henry St. Clair and nurtured into existence by his beloved spouse Ella Van Dyke St. Clair, a gift that has served its community very well for over one hundred twelve years. Generations of Darke Countians hold significant memories of events and ceremonies held in the hallowed space which houses the administrative staff of Greenville City Schools, who own and operate the building, and where Darke County Center for the Arts presents its Artists Series and Family Theatre Series performances as well as art shows in the Hall’s Anna Bier Gallery, which along with the Civic Room is named for a hallowed local art teacher. Many other local groups and organizations also utilize the space, presenting shows, holding worship services, and sometimes hosting weddings, receptions, and other festive events.
Visiting artists as well as new visitors to the space are often impressed and sometimes awed by the wonder of St. Clair Memorial Hall, from its beautiful stained glass windows in the main entrance to the amazing acoustics of the cozy auditorium which seats over 600 people. Those windows beautifully symbolizing the values held by the St. Clairs were not designed by Tiffany, but the opalescent glass used to depict clouds was manufactured in the Tiffany studios. And the values depicted–Literature, Labor and Art –reflect the values revered and honored by Henry and Ella throughout their lives.
Henry, born in New York on May 7, 1852, came to Darke County at the age of three, where he lived with his parents for seven years before they moved to Cincinnati, where Henry received his education. Beginning at age 16, Henry worked as a bookkeeper in a large wholesale house, also taking classes at the Commercial College following high school. He and Ella then moved to Greenville, where he became one of the community’s most successful businessmen. Additionally, he served on the school board, was a city councilman, and contributed generously to the Greenville Public Library, built in 1903 with a donation from Carnegie. However, Carnegie funds were insufficient to provide for interior décor, which Henry donated.
Henry’s plans for Memorial Hall included art rooms, music rooms, and a full stage with an auditorium; he also wanted a shop classroom for the boys and a home economics classroom for girls, believing that learning those skills would give the children chance for success. Henry hoped to see this building dedicated to cultural and educational purposes built during his lifetime, but when he died at age 56 in 1908, the task of seeing that dream come to fruition fell to his widow; Ella saw to it that Henry’s desire that “a Memorial Hall for the use and betterment of the public schools” be erected was fulfilled. However, all did not go smoothly in completing Henry’s vision. The school board wanted to build the hall next to the library, a spot occupied by the old high school. So, a bond issue was proposed to pay for erecting a new school. When residents defeated that bond issue, the board, undeterred from their mission, decided to move the old high school building to the site that eventually housed the junior high school building that was demolished in 2017.
Excavation work for the new St. Clair Memorial Hall began in the spring of 1910, and the cornerstone was laid with much ceremony on June 30, 1910. Howard and Miriam of Columbus were the architects for the building, and the main contractor was E. E. Bope, also from Columbus. The building, modeled after the now demolished Maxine Elliot Theatre in New York City from which Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town TV show was televised from 1948 til 1953, is constructed of Bedford stone and gray pressed bricks. Vermont marble adorns the vestibule and lobby. The entire project cost $135,000, which Ella paid, with $7,000 of that total going for the Molar pipe organ, which is no longer operable.
St. Clair Memorial Hall is truly a local treasure. May it continue to thrive!