The Des Plaines Community Bandstand

It was 1892, and Des Plaines was swelling with civic pride. It had installed its first plank sidewalks that year, and on September 22, the first Village Hall would be dedicated (where American Mattress now stands at Ellinwood and Lee). At the same time, the treasury dwindled to $64.82 in 1893. In August 1892, an octagonal bandstand with a 6' platform was built for the Des Plaines Band on that otherwise useless triangle of land; it was a place the community could gather. It stood there until the 1920s.

The landscape has changed a lot since then; each of the streets has dramatically changed. Park Place was then run through to meet Jefferson Street; that street no longer exists, replaced by Metropolitan Square's Market Street, which feeds into Lee Street. Lee became a state highway, was widened, and turned one-way; lanes were curved to eliminate hard turns.

A bandstand would no longer fit at Lee & Jefferson, but maybe the past citizens of Des Plaines were on to something. We have parks and plazas downtown, but no outdoor focal point. Whenever an outdoor concert or gathering is planned, it needs a stage rented. That's a big impediment. With a bandstand like this, you get a permanent focal point, a place for speeches, and another feature to define a space. It was an idea whose time had come in 1892, and as we look for ways to enhance our downtown, perhaps its time has come again.