Lyrecrest - The Road To Evansville: Boston, Chicago, Murray

The Road To Evansville: Boston, Chicago, Murray

For many years, the headquarters of the Fraternity was essentially wherever the national secretary-treasurer made his home and office. As of 1914, The Phi Mu Alpha Annual was edited by Harry D. Kaiser, who was also listed as business manager, with an address at 1645 East Passyunk Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Phi Mu Alpha Annual, October 15, 1914).

Chicago (1919?-1949) As of 1937-1939, the Fraternity was based at the Lyon & Healy Building at 64 East Jackson Boulevard in Chicago, Illinois (also the headquarters of Lutton Music Personnel Service and for a time the Music Educators National Conference), less than eight blocks east of the present site of the Sears Tower and about two blocks west of Lake Michigan. It is likely that the headquarters had been in Chicago as early as 1919, when Charles E. Lutton became supreme-secretary treasurer. As of the 1922 national convention held in Chicago, the national office was located at the Lyon and Healy Building in Chicago, which is now a part of the DePaul Univeresity campus. In 1930, the national office of the Music Supervisors National Conference (now known as the Music Educators National Conference) moved to the same building, another indicator of a close association between the two organizations during that time period.

Murray, Kentucky (1949-1967) From 1949 to 1967 (a total of eighteen years), the headquarters was based in Murray, Kentucky (approximately one-hundred-forty miles southwest of Evansville), the home of Price Doyle and Murray State University.

In 1964, the executive committees of the Fraternity and what was then known as the Sinfonia Foundation voted to accept an offer by the City of Evansville to locate its offices in a facility known as America's Music Hall of Fame. This project was part of the work of two urban renewal groups: Evansville's Future, Inc. and the Central Evansville Improvement Corporation. The plan was for the Fraternity and foundation to occupy the entire lower level, and the Hall of Fame to occupy the entire ground floor level. The building was to be located next to the Civic Auditorium under construction at that time. According to the March 1964 issue of the Sinfonian, hotels, shops, and recreational facilities were also to be included in the comprehensive civic center.

One of the rationales given for the move to Evansville was that at that time, with a population of 220,000, it was the largest city nearest the population center of the United States.

LeRoy P. Offerman, a 1937 initiate of the Gamma Delta chapter at Murray State University and an Evansville community leader, was appointed Director of Development for the proposed hall of fame.

Plans for the hall of fame never materialized, but the Fraternity moved to Evansville anyway in 1967. The Fraternity was based from 1967 to 1970 in the Southern Securities Building, with Alan E. Adams serving as Executive Secretary. The Fraternity occupied Lyrecrest itself in 1970. Some years later, in 1997, the Fraternity discussed partnering with a proposed Classical Music Hall of Fame in Cincinnati, Ohio.