The Genealogy & Local History Library is partnering with Alton Area Landmarks Association (AALA) this winter to bring back our three-part Saturday lecture series in January, February, and March. AALA is dedicated to educating, promoting, and saving the architectural heritage of the Alton area. Feel free to register for one talk or all three. All three lectures will take place at the Genealogy & Local History Library, 401 State Street, Alton.

Reimagining Places of the Past: Historic Preservation Lecture Series, Part 3 Architect Theodore Link 

Presenter: John Magurany

Theodore C. Link is best known as the architect of Union Station Railroad Depot in St. Louis, Missouri, but he also designed the Jennie D. Hayner Memorial Library Building, our current Genealogy & Local History Library. Speaker John Magurany will concentrate on Theodore Link and the St. Louis Union Station, but will also discuss some of Link’s other works, both residential and commercial, in the Alton-Godfrey area. Seating is limited. Please register at 1-800-613-3163.

John Magurany was born in Alton and attended Marquette Catholic High School. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and his master’s degree from Saint Louis University. His master’s thesis focused on the architecture of St. Louis Union Station. He worked at the Samuel Cupples House at Saint Louis University and then served in various capacities at the Tucson Museum of Art before leaving as Head Curator in 1988. Magurany worked at Washington University, St. Louis, from 1988 to 1991. He was hired by the St. Louis County Parks and Recreation’s history division, where he served from 1991 until retiring in June 2022. He began teaching as an adjunct instructor in art and architecture at Lewis & Clark Community College in 2005 and continues teaching in this capacity today.