PAXTON — The Ford County Chronicle officially opened its new office this week on the second floor of the 138-year-old Commandery Building in historical downtown Paxton.
While there is still some interior decorating to do, including hanging up a couple of dozen Illinois Press Association award plaques, and moving in a few additional items such as a mini fridge, microwave and a couple of televisions, the weekly newspaper’s co-publishers, Will Brumleve and Andrew Rosten, have their computers set up at their desks and wi-fi service installed and are ready for visitors.
Publisher Will Brumleve’s desk at the Ford County Chronicle’s new office in downtown Paxton.
The public is encouraged to stop by the new office, which is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 153 N. Market St., Suite 1, in the Commandery Building’s northwest corner.
“Both Andrew and I have been working out of our homes ever since we established the Chronicle on July 1, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” Brumleve said. “To finally have an office to call our own — in a grand building with 12-foot ceilings and 8-foot windows overlooking downtown’s Market Street, no less — is definitely an adjustment, but a welcome one, for sure. I know that I personally have missed visiting with our readers and advertisers.”
Brumleve said he plans to host a “coffee hour with the publisher” at the new office on a regular basis.
“It would be an opportunity, perhaps once a month or every few months, to meet with readers to discuss their ideas to improve the paper or our coverage — or to talk about anything at all, really,” Brumleve said. “I really like my coffee, too, so there will be plenty, along with donuts. It’ll be a very casual deal.”
To get to the Ford County Chronicle’s new office, visitors can use the door between the Prairie City Wine Room, 155 N. Market St., and Paxton Mercantile Co., 151 N. Market St., that has “Masonic Temple, 3rd Floor” on its glass window. Visitors using that entrance should be advised, however, that they will need to climb a steep set of stairs — 24 of them in all — to get to the second floor.
To get to the office, visitors can use the door between the Prairie City Wine Room, 155 N. Market St., and Paxton Mercantile Co., 151 N. Market St., that has “Masonic Temple, 3rd Floor” on its glass window. Visitors using that entrance should be advised, however, that they will need to climb a steep set of stairs — 24 of them in all — to get to the second floor.
Those with disabilities or who would otherwise rather not navigate the stairs can instead use the small elevator in the lobby within the entrance to Paxton Mercantile Co.
“While the elevator is very slow,” Brumleve noted, “it works.”
Visitors will see many of the first-place plaques the Chronicle won last year in the Illinois Press Association’s annual Excellence in News contest, plus the David B. Kramer Memorial Trophy, which was awarded to the Chronicle in last year’s contest recognizing it as the best small, nondaily newspaper in Illinois.
A grand opening and open house are being planned for this spring in conjunction with a Paxton Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting event.
While the office is now open, any mail sent to the Chronicle — including subscription payments and letters to the editor, for example — should still be mailed to the Chronicle’s former address of 336 E. State St., Paxton, IL 60957, which is Brumleve’s home. The Chronicle’s telephone number — 217-781-4607 — also remains unchanged.
Besides the Ford County Chronicle, on the Commandery Building’s second floor are the new office of the Paxton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Dr. E.T. Grove Civic Room, which features a large dining room and kitchen available for rent for events. The third floor continues to be used by local masonic organizations as it has been for 138 years.
The Ford County Chronicle’s new office is located at 153 N. Market St., Suite 1, Paxton.
Prior to its sale to brothers John and Jeff Grove, both Florida residents and Paxton natives, in December 2021, the Commandery Building was owned by the Masons since 1885. Selling the building became necessary as a result of the costs of maintaining it.
“The building itself is very similar to what it’s always been,” Max Guthrie, the Paxton Masonic Lodge’s past worshipful master, said in fall 2021. “For being built back in 1885, certainly the storefronts here (comprising the first floor) have changed quite a bit on the interior as tenants have come and gone, but as you go upstairs in those second- and third-floor areas, that is very much as it’s always been.”
