In a past article, I wrote of hotels in Chillicothe. Nearby, the village of Rome also had a significant structure where travelers and locals could stay. It was called the Wassonia Hotel. A Peorian named Harry Wasson, aged 20, was involved in numerous influential business and political groups in 1907 and worked as a Peoria County deputy assessor. Somehow, he was able to lease and later purchase the entire block number 28 in Rome, Illinois. There were ten lots in the block. The five eastern lots extended to the thread of the Illinois River. By 1910, Wasson constructed a two-story frame hotel building near the river’s edge on lot number one. Understandably, he named it the Wassonia. A one-story section on the south side housed the kitchen and bar. Knox Street runs east-west on the north side of lots one and ten. The last business to occupy that site was called Mariner’s Point. 

It is interesting that Wasson chose this location for his hotel, because it was on the gravel stagecoach road running between Peoria and Chillicothe. He had become the Recorder of Deeds and his brother Irvine was an attorney whose office was in the Courthouse. Their sister was a clerk in a county office there also. Harry was very active in the Peoria Republican Party, as its secretary as well as holding the same position with the Stock Yard and Cattle Producers Association. In 1908 he was a member of the Illinois Valley Yacht Club. During the 1908 National Power Boat Association Championships he was a member of the boat handicapping committee for the races. Rolla Truitt and Fred Meixner were prominent Chillicotheans competing in the races. Both won races at the event.

The growth of the automobile industry must have played a part in Wasson’s decision to build in Rome. The Peoria Auto Club (PAC) was growing and promoting the need for a paved road to Chicago. The Good Roads Association also was expanding into the Midwest and Illinois adopted the idea through local county chapters for the same purpose. In 1913, the PAC leased the area known as Columbia Park, now Shore Acres Park. The current Clubhouse was built in 1915 and opened in 1916. The property was referred to as the “North Shore” property within the PAC.

The Wassonia Hotel became a regular business as a hotel and also had a boatyard with rental boats available for leisure time activities. The boatyard and rental boats were operated by Wasson’s father James. Harry Wasson did not operate the hotel himself but leased that portion of the business to several proprietors over time. In 1915, Harry sold the hotel to his brother Irvine Wasson. In 1922, the hotel caught fire and burned, leaving the kitchen and bar area standing. A new two-story concrete structure was built in 1923. 

Chillicothe Bulletins of the 1910–1925 period had very few references or ads pertaining to the activities going on at the Wassonia. The Chillicothe Bulletin had a number of unidentified “agents” who lived in various communities in the surrounding towns who gathered information and submitted material to the paper. The “agent’ who reported in the Rome area was called “Flash.” For the above period, however, the Bulletin did not have anyone covering Rome.

The National Prohibition Act (H.R. 6810) became law on October 28, 1919. Title II of the Volstead Act prohibited the manufacture, transportation, and sale of “intoxicating beverages” and defined “Intoxicating beverages” as drinks containing more than 0.5 percent of alcohol. Title II also set forth the conditions of fines and jail sentences for violations of the Act. It also identified who was authorized to enforce the Prohibition law. The Prohibition Law went into effect at 12:01am on January 17, 1920. The first recorded violation took place a 12:59am on January 17, 1920, in Chicago when six armed men stole $100,000 worth of “medical whiskey” from railroad freight cars.

There were many” exceptions” in the Prohibition Act that allowed the possession and consumption of alcoholic liquors by individuals who possessed liquors prior to the law, and primarily banned retail sales. Section 29 of the Volstead Act allowed personal production of 200 gallons of “non-intoxicating” ciders and fruit juices at home for personal use annually. Two hundred gallons is equal to 1,000 12 0unce bottles.

The death of the bartender at the Wassonia on the afternoon of October 21, 1925 would catapult the Wassonia and the Village of Rome onto the front pages of the Peoria Journal and The Chillicothe Bulletin. 1925 was the midpoint of the “Prohibition Era.” Violations of the National Prohibition Act led to behavior that has been the source of an untold number of stories, novels, and motion pictures, not to mention the creation of notorious and famous personalities.

Watch for Part 2 of Rome’s Rowdy Roadhouse in next month’s Chillicothe Hometown Voice.