Chicago History | March 1993

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CHICAGO HISTORY The Magazine of the Chicago Historical Society

ACTING EDITOR CLA UDIA L \ ~1, 1 Viooo

March 1993 Volume XX II , Number 1

ASSISTANT EDITOR R OSH IAR\' ADAMS

PU BLI CATION S ASSISTANTS R OBERT P ,\RK ER

Ill

IC II OLAS SL' II

CONTENTS

DESIGNER BILL. V AN

l ~IWECE N

PHOTOGRAPHY

4

J0 1IN At.DERSO \J

"Praying for God 's Help " RI C HARD DIG BY-j UNGER

_j,W CRAWFORD Copyri g h1 199'.l br the Chicago I li ,torica l Soc iety Clark Strec1 a l No rth A,·e nu e Chicago, I L 606 I 4

26

IS, \J 0272-tt; 10

50 A Vision of Urban Social Reform

Paradises Lost STAI

r\rtid c~ appea rin g in thi s journa l ar<: abstrac te d and

B ARK ER

ELLEN C HRI STENSEN

indexed in / h <torirol Abstrar/1 and A111mw: I hi /my 011d U/e.

Foo11 10tcd manu -,cripb of

lhe articl e~ appearin g in thi~ i~-,uc are ma ilable from the Chicago I li sto rica l Society\ Publicatio n, Office.

Co,·er : Po,trnrd uj !hi' E/er/nc Tower (0/.10 wiled the J n,•el Tower) al Whtie C:ilJ 1ln11t1,111(•11/ Park, 1910. Courle<_Y

DEPARTME TS 3

From the Editor

20 Down to Business

oj,!1111 tl bbolr, Nolw110/ . I m11,eme11 / Park lfotonral A1.101w// 011 (P.O. Box 83, ,\/01111 / Prn,Jierl, !1/moi.1, 60056).

62

Yesterday's City

Chicago Historical Society OFFICERS Charles T. Brumback, Treasurer Ph ili p E. Kelley, Secretaiy Phi lip D. Block Ur, /111'/l)ediate Past Chair

Ri chard H. eedham, Chair Richard M. J afTe, Vice-Chair Edgar D. J annotta, Vice-Chair

TR STEES Lerone Bennett, J r.

P hili p D. Block III Laurence Booth C harles T. Brumback Michell e L. Co ll ins Stewart S. D ixon Michael H . Ebner Sharon Gist Gi ll iam Mrs. Duncan Y. Henderson Ph il ip W. Hummer Richard M.Jaffee Edgar D. Jan notta Phili p E. Kelley

W. Paul Krauss Fred A. Kre h bie l R. Eden Martin Robert Meers Josephine Ba kin Minow Richard H. eedham Potter Pa lmer Iargarita PcreL Gordon Segal Edward Byron Smith, .Jr. James R. Thompson Dempsey J. Travis John R. Wa lter

LIFE TR STE ES Bowen Blair Mrs. Frank 0. Mayer Mrs. Brooks McCormick John T. McCutcheon, Jr. Andrew McNally Ill Bryan S. Reid, Jr. Gard ner H. Stern HO O RARY TR STEES Richard M. Daley, Mayor, City of Chicago Richard A. Devine, President, Chicago Park District The Ch icago Historica l Society is a pri\'ately endowed, independent imtitution clc\'otecl to collecting, interpreting, and preseming the rich multicu ltura l history of Chicago and Jllinoi~. a\ well as selected areas or American hi tO I) ', to the public through exhibitions, programs, 1-esearch collections, and publications. It must look to its members and friends for continuing financial support. Contributiom to the Society a1-c taxdeductible, and appropriate recognition is accorded majo1- gifts.

Membership Membership is open to anyone intere;ted in the So(iCt) 's goal, and acti\ itie,. Cla,,e, of annual member,hip and dues are as fol lows: Individua l, $,JO; Family/ Dual, 35; Slltdcnl/Scnior Citi,en. 25. \1ember, 1ccein: the Societ) "s magazine, Chicago Hist01y; Pa.1/ Times , a calendar and newsleucr; im itatiom to ,pecial e\ cnts; free admi,sion to the building a1 all time ; reser-ved seats at films and concerts in our auditorium ; and a IO percent di,coulll on boo!-.., and othc1 men.handi,c purchased in the i\ luseum Store.

Hours The luseum is open daily from 9:30 ,\. ,1. to 4:30 P. \I.; Sunday from I 2:00 ,oo, to 5:00 l'.\t. The Librar; and the Archives and Manuscripts Collection are open Tuesday through Sattu-day from 9:30 \.\t. to .J:30 P.\I. All other re earch collections are open b)' appointment. The Society i closed on Christmas, New Year\, and Thank.giving days.

Education and Public Programs Guided tour , slide lectures, galle1-)' talks, craft dcmomtratiom, and a variety of special programs for a ll ages , from preschool through senior citizen, are offered.

Suggested Admission Fees for Nonmembe rs Adults, 3; Student, ( 17-22 with valid school ID) and Senior Citizens, $2; Chi ldren (6-17), I . Admission is free on Mondays.

Chicago Historical Society

Clark Street at North Avenue

Chicago, Illinois 60614-6099

312-642-4600

From the Editor To children in Chicago's South Side neighborhood of Kenwood-Oakland, a community plagued by poverty, violent crime, drugs, gangs, and hopelessness, studying history is making a difference. Price Elementary School teacher Floyd Butler, a former Chicago Bears running back and an avid reader of history, uses historic preservation to inspire kids to get excited about their education, have hope in their future, and save their community.

Historic preservation has often been at odds with poor urban neighborhoods. Preservationists have long ignored these communities, preferring to develop architecturally significant buildings in areas, usually downtowns or waterfronts, that attract businesses and tourists. When preservationists did focus on poor neighborhoods, the residents saw pre ervation and urban renewal decrease the supply of affordable housing and ultimately displace them and destroy their neighborhood.

While developers and inner-city residents will continue to clash, many preservationists are increasingly aware that not just buildings, but neighborhoods, need to be protected.

Many who work in the field are encouraged by a shift to a grass-roots movement, driven by the needs of the community. Preservation can be used to provide affordable housing and, in the process, give people pride in their community. In addition, preservation efforts have gone beyond elaborate restorations to encompass basic actions such as boarding up an abandoned building. This practice not only protects the building from those who steal bricks and architectural ornaments, but it very likely saves the building from demolition. In desperate attempts to discourage drug dealers and gangs from operating out of these structures, many community groups advocate the destruction of vacant buildings. Floyd Butler's students, the Young Urban Preservationists Society (YUPS), recently worked with some of the city's preservationists to ave the Chicago Bee Building on South State Street from such a fate. A significant building to the neighborhood as well as to the AfricanAmerican community, the building housed the offices of one of the city's first AfricanAmerican-owned newspapers. The students are currently working to convince the city to invest $2.5 million to restore the building as a library and computer center for the community.

In learning about buildings, Floyd Butler's students are developing a knowledge of their community's past, an appreciation for architecture, and a sense of their own importance to further improving their neighborhood. But more important, B_u tler' students are learning not to passively accept the surroundings in which they have been raised. Butler's goal is to break the pattern of dependency he sees as rife and to get kids to choose a career "that will give them energy to get up in the morning."

But Butler is also a realist. He knew he had to replace the allure of gangs and quick drug money with viable options. Through their preservation work, Butler's students are learning about careers as urban planners, architects, construction workers, engineers, landscape architects, and clevelopers,jobs Butler feels will always be needed. He is committed to seeing that these kids do not get lost along the way. ltimately Butler envi ions his students returning a professionals to work with a new class of preservationists and to inve tin the neighborhood themselves.

A knowledge of history can connect us to our past, provide a perspective for the present, and give us faith to inve t in the future . Floyd Butler has proven that historic preservation can save much more than architecturally significant building -it can save people.

CLW

"Praying for God's Help" Richard Digby-Junger

Forced to choose between marriage or inheriting her father's wealth and power,

j essie Bross faced a difficult decision.

On the night or March 28, 1873, Jessie Bross rode the New York to Boston train , returning rrom a \·isit to the fami ly of Henry Demarest Lloyd, the young Chicago journalist who had been courting her for the past six months. As she had expected, Henry had proposed marriage, and as she bad planned, Jessie had postponed her decision. It was not that she did not care ror Henry. But her decision was comp licated by other factors unique to upper-class Victorian women. So, as her train rumbled across the ew England countryside that night, she conressed in her diary that she spent a "wakefu l night thinking, and praying for God's help. " For much of the eighteenth century, marriage was treated as a social transaction among the upper class. Family relationships were defined as formal contracts, and expressions of strong emotion were blunted as a requirement to succe sful negotiation. Courtship was conducted in public with little chance for privacy or intimacy. Lm·e between a man and woman was not necessarily the impetus for marriage. Parents arranged marriage for financial reasons and assumed that most coup les would learn to love each other with time.

Such restrictions often led to rebellion , and the Un ited States experienced an unprecedented rise in premarital pregnancies at about the time of the American Revoluti on. By 1800, the de\·elopment of cities and the dawning of the Industri al Revolution enticed young people to leave their famil ies and live on their own.

In additi on, the role of women changed in society. As this new culture of individualism 0ouri hed, so did the expression of the inner, romantic self. Romance emerged as an important aspect of courtship and marriage, and

I fem)' Demarest Lloyd in I 872, the year /ze arn·ved in Chicago and me/Jessie Bross.

Richard Digby-junger is assistant /Jrofessor in the journalism department at Northern Illin ois Univnsity and is cwTently writing a biography of I fen,)' Demarest Lloyd.

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1870., rn,l'al.1 the religious overtone., given to romance in this /Jeriod.

5

Chicago History, March 1993

couples assumed greater control of the courtship process. For upper-class Victorian men and women, it was this culture that encouraged them to marry for love.

The new courtship practices had a variety of consequences, intended and unintended. The number of premarital pregnancies declined during the nineteenth century and remained low until the twentieth century. More important, the new freedom presented many upperclass women with a difficult choice. Freed of parental control, they could now remain single and exercise an unprecedented amount of control over their lives, or they could wed. The latter choice meant that although women could control courtship rituals, once married, they gave up their independence, including their legal rights to sign contracts or own property.

Few upper-class Victorian Chicago men and women left a record of their thoughts and feelings during courtship. Fortunately, Jessie Bross and her future husband, Henry Demarest Lloyd, did. Their surviving diaries and letters provide a glimpse of the courtship rituals and marriage practices of Victorian Chicago's upper class.

For Jessie Bross, marriage was the most difficult decision she would ever make. By agreeing to Henry Lloyd's proposal, she not only willfully surrendered her independence, but also her opportunities for a career, as well as her inheritance. Although their marriage was a happy one, lasting forty years, Jessie became embittered as she grew old, so jealously protecting her husband's career that it became a substitute for the life she had never known.

Jessie Bross was born in Orange County, New York, on September 27, 1844, to William and Mary Jane Bross. Two years later, the family moved to Chicago, a city of mud streets, smelly stockyards, and rampant disease. During the Brosses' early year in Chicago, all ix of Jessie's siblings died in childhood.

In 1850, Chicago had a population of only 29,963. The small population combined with the newness of the city encouraged a relatively fluid social structure, one in which barriers between classes could be crossed. Most Chicagoans knew and socialized with each other, and William Bross's congeniality and business sense drew the attention of Chicago's business leaders. He became involved in sev6

era! marginally uccessful newspapers during the 1850s. By 1860, Bro s owned one-fourth of the Chicago Daily Tribune . With the success of the paper, Bross's wealth and status increased. Bross expanded his fortune with well-chosen investment in real estate, transportation, mining, and insurance . He also dabbled in politics, serving one term as lieutenant governor. Acting in the absence of the governor in 186:"5, he signed the Thirteenth Amendment, making Illinois the first state to ratify the amendment that abolished slavery.

Jessie's mother, Mary Jane, was frequently ill, so .Jessie often acted as a hostess and escort for her father. As a teenager, she occasionally accompanied her father on business trips, even Lo the White House Lo meet with President Lincoln. Her presence al his business and political activities made her well known among Chicago's elite. As Jessie grew up, she won several recognitions or her own. She was a talented stuclenL, with an interest in science. She frequently traveled to the East to attend the lectures of Ralph \\'al do Emerson, abolitionist Wendell Phillips, poet John Greenleaf Whittier, and others. She won special humanitarian praise in 1871 for relief efforts in the wake of the great fire. By the standards or Chicago in the 1870s, Jessie was an attractive, welleducacecl, traveled, socially conscious, and very marriageable woman.

Yet she shied away from marriage; a Bro s' · only living child, she would inherit his entire fortune. Jessie knew that marriage would mean the los of much of her identity. The stalll · of women in marriage was an especially sensitive issue in the years following the Civil \\'ar; wives were compared to the recently freed slave~.

Feminist Elin1beth Cady Stanton noted that "man-made marriage ... makes man master, woman slave." Historian Ellen K. Rothman has observed that, in the mid-nineteenth century, ''in order to assume her position in the home, a woman relinqui heel her ambition for worldly achievement; while a man had to loosen-without ever cutting-hi ties to home in order to succeed in the world." At the age of twent)'seven, .Jessie had experienced a degree of worldly achievement. She knew that marriage would force her into a secondary role, behind her husband, for the rest of her life.

"Praying for God's Helf/' lineteenth-century Illinois law treated married women differently than single women. Patterned after laws in the South, married women were con idered property until the time of the Civil \Var. Because of the obvious similarities to slavery, which was abolished in 1865, Illinois began to grant married women greater rights beg inning in 1861 , but it was slow in doing so. In 1869, the state legislature gave married women the right to keep wages earned at a job. That same year, however, th e state supreme court denied a married woman the right to practice law because

she could not sign a legally binding contract without the consent of her husband, a decision upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1872.

Bowing to pressure, the legislature al lowed married women to sign contract in 1874 but till forbade them to own or operate a partnership business, the majority of businesses in nineteenth-century Illinois, including the Chicago Tribune. Not until the First World War did women gain the same rights to own and operate businesses as men.

A a result, once Jessie married , she would never be able to inherit her father's one-fourth The Bross fmnily, 1877. Clockwise from right, Moses Bros ; William Bross, editor of the Chicago Tribune and former lieutenant governor; J essie Bross Lloyd, holding her son William Bross Lloyd. Photograph by J. H Crawford.

7

Chicago History, March 1993 ownership in the Chicago Tribune, even though she was his only living chi ld. Regardless of what William Bross's will specified, her husband would automatically become joinL owner and most likely exerc ise grealer control over the enterprise. The on ly way for Jessie to legally control what her father had worked so hard to build was to remain single. Jessie had obtained the right through social custom to choose her own husband, but she would never be her own woman if she married.

Henry, on the other hand, was eager lo marry. Having suffered the untimely death or a Left to right: The Lloyd family, 1877.john Grilley Lloyd, Aaron Lloyd, William Bross Lloyd, and Hemy Demarest Lloyd.

PlwtograjJh by]. Kirk.

8

woman he met after graduating from Columbia Un iversity, he resolved never to procrastinate again in fulure maucrs of love and marriage. "A word, a glance, a touch from her would have awakened me," he admitted, "but she was Loo maidenly Lo give it and I dreamed along like a fool till she died and I awoke."

The Civi l War altered Lhe counsh ip rituals of upper-class Chicagoans. Before the war, Chicago's upper class was sma ll enough so that everyone knew everyone else. Socia l events often took on the almosphere of fam ily gatherings, and it was common for young adults

"Praying for God's lleljJ" to have known each other since childhood. ln

such a familiar atmosphere, courtship riLUals were le rormal. With the tremendous influx of immigrants into Chicago during and after the war, the upper cla s became larger and more diverse. Social formalities became more common. Formal courtship rituals became the only mechanism to properly introduce prospective marriage partners and al low them to become acquainted with each other.

In addition, the Civil War took a toll on single, able-bodied, Chicago men. Although exact figures are not a\'ailablc, the city had experienced a surplu or single men ever since its incorporation in 1833. The war killed thousands of those men and crippled still more.

For the fi1'" t time in Chicago hi~tory, women no longer had the luxury or being rewer in number. To secure a marriageable man, women had to enter the courtship fray in a more aggressive way.

As a result of changing social customs, post-Civil War upper-class Chicagoans were required to follow a number of proprieties during courtship. For example, a young man could not \'isit a young woman who he was interested in unless he had been properly imroduced to her. These introductions general! )' took place at group activities such as picnics, dances, and skating or sleighing parties.

Organi,ed by parents, churche.,, or commun ity groups to pre\'ent undue privacy 01· physical intimacy, the gatherings allowed upper-class men and i\CJmen to meet each other under proper .,upen ision. Once an introduction had been made, women took control or the courtship. A man was allowed to call upon a woman only with her acquie-,cence. ff at any time during the court hip ~he decided not to )CC the man anymore, '>he cou ld withdraw her permission, and the courtship would cease. All a man could do was to write her and hope she would chan ge her mind. .Jess ie' formal introd uctio n to Henry Demarest Lloyd came at a party hosted by her fother in their fa hi onab le Michigan A,·enue hom e in early August 1872. Lloyd wa introduced to her by a mutual friend, a yo ung Chicago corres ponde nt for the New }'ork Tribune named He nry Kee na n. Kee nan had bee n a friend of Henry Dem ares t Lloyd in New

York. When Ll oyd traveled to Chicago in search or a newspaper job in 1872, he stayed with hi s friend, and Kee na n he lped him ge t an invitation LO the Bro ses' party.

Jc sie spra in ed her ankle in a fall at the party, a nd Lloyd carried her upstairs to rest.

His gallan try so impre sed William Bross that Bro s arran ged a job for Lloyd as th e new night ed itor of the Chicago Tribune. Lloyd readily accepted the offer. Although he had m e t .Jessie only o nce, he was immediately attracted to her. In a letter to Keenan, who already had a romantic interest in J e sie Bross, Lloyd sen,ed no1ice or his intent ion s, writing, "triangular must be the duel between Miss Bross, yourself and me after this; you two can no lon ger combat a lon e with each other's a ITectio ns. I claim to enter the fray and I will not be second neither."

Datin g, as the term is known today, did not become an accepted practice among 1he upper class until the early twentieth cen tury. Before that time, callin g was the recognized custom.

Ca ll s were the visits made a ma n to the home of a woman he was interested in courtin g. In such a private setting, the prospective couple would talk and get to kn ow each other in a situation that was under the co ntrol of the woman and her parents. Since it was considered improper for a man to ca ll without an invitation, th e cus tom gave women the upper hand. Upper-class coupl es rarely courted in public. Victorian propriety dictated that courtship occur in a semi-private ·etting and that on ly engaged or married cou pl es appear in public.

Serious or hab itu al violations of proper ca llin g procedures cou ld be punished by expulsion from upper-class socie ty, as an incident involving Henry Keenan an d Jessie Bross reveals. When Keenan discovered that Lloyd was developing an interest in Jess ie, he decided to court Jessie as well. At first, Jessie encouraged the competiti on . But Keenan's visit quickl y became annoying to her, and she withdrew her permission. Conscious of the competition with his friend, Keenan presented himse lf uninvited on the Brosses' front doorstep several times and, at least once, evaded the servants and turned up in Jessie's parlor. She reproached him for his actions, but when his behavior per isted, she turned 9

Cliirngo History, March 1993 to Lloyd tor relief. Lloyd scolded his friend for what he called "grievous social faults" and predicted Keenan would be expelled from upper-class Chicago society ir he persisted in his conduct. Embarrassed by their joint reproaches and in trouble with his boss for other reasons, Keenan removed hirnselr from the competition by getting a new job on an Indianapolis newspaper. He stopped writing to Henry afi:er their engagement was announced in 1873, eventually admitting that Lloyd was "the worthier or her great heart."

Shortly atter Keenan's surrender, Lloyd ran into some problems or his O\\·n. As the new night editor of the Chirngo Tribune, he wrote and inserted an editorial contrary to the paper's policy. The paper's day editor demoted him to the literary page. Under normal circumstances, an experienced journalist would have resigned in light of such an insult, but Lloyd recognitecl that he was still learning the profession and accepted his punishment. Working for the Tribune made it ea ier to see and court Jessie. His persistence heartened her, and she reminded him that the obstinate editor couldn't "live forever." To forther show her interest, she gave him her portrait, as well as a copy or George Eliot's latest novel, ,ldam Bede. One passage caught Lloyd's eye in particular, as he noted in a letter to

Keenan: " ay, lad, there's na telling, thee mustna lose heart. She's made out or stuff with a finer gTain than most o' the women. That I can see clear. But if she's better than they are in other things, I canna think she'll fall short of''em in loving."

Still uncerta in or her own reelings about Lloyd's courtship, .Jessie announced an extended stay in Boston to study French in late October 1872, a siLUation created Lo measure the strength of Lloyd's romantic intentions. Such tests were a common feature or Victorian romantic love. Historian Karen Lystra has noted that "the warp and woor of Victorian courtship was a series of crises, created by the participants themselves, which led to the altar if successfully resolved." Since women controlled most courting relationships, they were more likely to use tests than men were. Their parting must have been memorable, for Jessie wrote in her diary one year later: "Our first anniversary. A year ago today my king first crowned me. Through darkness, we have come into the perrect light." Lloyd lamented .Jessie's departure in a letter to Keenan: "I can not be downcast or find drudgery in a path which is lit by the hope which is now my life . . . . All my paths-of pleasures, work, memory and hope, lead, please Cod, to.Jessie."

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Bross Uoycl's diwy, in which she recorded her mixed emotion.1 rrgarding marriage. She aved the classified ad I lenry De111rne.1 l Uoyrl used lo find tfu,irjirst apartmm t.

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Th e love le tters be Lwce n Jess ie and I Ie nry have not been prese rved , but Ll oy d poured out hi s e moti o ns to hi s fo rmer compe titor , Kee nan , in le uers th oughtless ly ca llous or th e hun th ey mu st have infli cted . Lloyd wrote, "My eye~ fill with tea r - I ca n 't te ll wh y: I neve r in my life drea med o r such d ee p, holy, te nd e r, appre he nsive, fee lin g a~ fl ood s my hea n whe n I think o f our a ngel. " Keen a n wa sil ent a t fir ~t, but as th e torture co ntinued , he re minded Ll oyd th a t th e ir re la ti o nship had cha nged foreve r because of.J ess ie. Ll oy d , sti II obli vious o r th e hurl he was ca usin g, respond ed , "Onl y th e hadows o f th ose bri ght summ er days have pa ·sec! away; th e sub La nce remaim a nd will so lo ng as we three are tru e to eac h oth er. " Kee na n respo nded th at Lloyd's letters lacked " pro pe r delicacys" and he ceased wr itin g to his fr ie nd . \\'h e th e r he ca r r ied a grud ge aga inst Lloyd is hard to say but it was not until after H e nry's a nd J e ·ie' d eath s in th e ea rl y 1900:, th a t Kee na n adm itted to a fa mily fri end, "These two people were in ma ny wa ys as near a nd clea r to me as if they had bee n born my kin . I brought He nry Lloyd to

C hi cago . . . broug ht him to J ess ie Bro sand in a se nse gave he r up to him as be in g th e wo rthi e r or he r great heart. " While J ess ie was away from Chi cago , l le nry wo rked to improve hi s prospects of marr iage Lo he r. Eve n th oug h he had bee n informall y introdu ced into C hicago socie ty by Kee na n, he wro Le to p oe t a nd newspa pe rm a n Willi a m Culle n Bryant, wh o m he had kn own in cw Yo rk , a nd a. keel for a formal introdu cti o n.

Such a n introdu cLi o n was co nsid e red a rit e o f passage ror a we ll -bred Vi ctorian youn g ma n . Th e mo L-valu ecl introduction s ca me from old e r, well -known me n. Ln Lloyd 's case, Bryant resp o nd ed with a note wriue n to a C hicago fri e nd , wealth y social leade r Nathani el Fa irbanks, recomm endin g Ll oyd "as a young ma n of merit-or good characte r-a nd good as ocia tio n. " Lloyd established a fri endship with on e of Chicago's leading socialites, Kate Doggett. She operated a French-style salon in he r home as a gath erin g place for the city's intellectual and social elite. On New Year's Day 1873, I le nry j oin ed a group of youn g, sin gle men 11

Jarkson Park Beach, 1890. Walks a 11d picnics were pojmlar arlir•ili<'s for I'iclorian rv11 rling couples. Jessie wrote of several walks .,he and Hen,)' ,,hared along /.,ake Michigan.

Chicago HislOJ)', March 1993 in a tradition of calling on fashionable homes.

Each of these activities strengthened his social position and improved his chances of marriage to Jessie.

Jessie's separation was as much a test for her as it was for Henry. In early January 1873 she wrote in her diary, "thought of 'H' nearly all night." A few days later she complained, "distressed by home thoughts and yet I know I am right to stay, right to have come. ew resolves and earnest prayers under the evening stars." Five days later she lamented, "old thoughts arise in me and I can't sleep." In February, Lloyd 's grandfather died in New York, and the couple used the occasion for a reunion in Boston. They dined, went to church, walked along Newark Bay, and attended a reception for abolitionist Wendell Phillips. Upon his return to Chicago Lloyd wrote, "I would die for her but I cannot live without her."

In March 1873, Lloyd finally convinced Jessie to meet his ew York family and friends. In her diary, she wrote of the trip as "the happiest life I know," yet in the same passage, she also admitted to spending the night "thinking and praying for God's help." Her ambivalence was due to Lloyd 's proposal of marriage, the thrilling yet fearful question for which Jessie had been bracing her elf for some time. In response, she expre sed her love for him, an important threshold in their relationship, but she would not yet commit herself to marriage. To stall him, he pointed to the twoyear gap in their ages. She promised to consider his offer but proclaimed that her acquiescence would come only when it became clear that it was "God's leading and His will" for them to marry.

That Jessie would place her fate in the hands of God was not an unusual act for a Victorian woman. Although neither she nor He111)' were e pecially devout, Victorians frequently used religious allusions to describe love. Pure romantic love was considered a form of salvation. Women often cast themselves as Christ-like figures in their letters, equating romantic love with a man's love for God. Men responded by describing a future wife as a God-substitute, a symbol of life's future meaning. Marriage was typically char14

acterized in terms usually reserved for God or Christ. Some Victorians even described marriage as a substitute for Christian salvation.

Nearly every aspect of Victorian romance was phrased in some religious terminology. Sex became a sacrament, kisses were "holy ," marriage beds "sacred, " and embraces "devoted."

Even though Jessie had avoided a final commitment, Lloyd admitted to a "wild sea of hopes and fears " for their future relationship as he waited for her to change her mind. He confided to Keenan that Jessie inspired him to live "in a broad, generous way so that I seek ... not only the gratification of my own blissful longings but find delight in giving others, all others, the affection I have. " Jessie kept herself busy in Boston traveling and attending lectures, club meetings, and parties. Jessie was apparently so preoccupied with her activities that she had less time to write in her diary.

There were fewer entries and only brief references lo Lloyd or their courtship during the spring of 1873.

In June 1873 .Jessie's parents asked her to return to Chicago to help them move into their rebuilt Michigan Avenue home. J Ienry wasted no time in increasing the pressure, turning up on her doorstep the morning after she arrived.

He visited frequently over the summer.

Although parents supervised courtship practices, older Victorian women had more latitude in their conduct than did younger women. At the age of twenty-seven, .Jessie saw Lloyd as frequently and for as long as she liked. The only constraints on their courtship were their other social and work commitments. Based on Jessie's diary , Henry called on her an average of every three or four days. They took tea, read aloud, talked , walked, went on picnics, and sang around her new piano. Most of their activities were conducted in private. Public appearances by a courting couple, such as parties or social events, were rare.

Although sexual intercourse was usually reserved for marriage, physical intimacy played an important role in Victorian courtship. Victorians considered sex a private matter that was not discussed in public. .Jessie's diary revealed that she and Henry shared more than a platonic relationship. Victorian women were enthusiastic, at times almost forceful, in writing

"Praying.for God's Help" about their physical desires, but their imagery was often restrained. Usually they combined physical and emotional longings into fanciful rhetorical allusions of romantic love. In Jessie's case, her imagery became clearer as their intimacy increased. In mid-August she wrote, "went to a theater with [Lloyd] ... bright play and happy time ... but my happiest, happiest hour in the day was afterwards ." Two weeks later, she wrote of a Lake Michigan picnic, "We have such a happy time and at the end, such wonderful revelations of love." She and Henry rewrned to the same spot a week later with Jessie noting, "God is surely very good to us."

The next day they had "a lovely moonlight walk together and afterwards in the big rockjng chair together. " As their relationship grew over the summer of 1873, Henry came to the conclusion that Jes ie would never marry without the approval of her parents. This practice was unu ual for the late nineteenth century; most couples

made a formality of a man asking for a woman' hand. As her parents' only living child, however, Jessie was more sensitive to their feelings. In early September, she convinced Henry to seek a more formal appro,·al for their marriage from William Bross.

Tolerant, but never fond of his future sonin-law, William Bross responded by launching a major investigation of Herny. He traveled Lo New York and inquired into Lloyd 's past through newspaper and financial connections.

When no damaging information was found, he gave his blessing Lo their union in midSepternber, thirteen months after Henry and Jessie had first met. Bross wrote in his diary, "As we have enlisted confidence in his integrity, and believing them well adapted to and worthy of each other's love, we cheerfully gave our consent and may heaven's best blessings vest upon and even abide with them. We entrust our only one to a man whom may the Lord specially bless and prosper."

llbovl', the ho11.1e where Ilenry and.Jessie U oyd lived after their marriage in 1873, localed at Eldridge Court and Mirhigrw rli,e1111e.

13

Chicago Hist01y, March 1993

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"Praying/or God's I /fljJ" \\'hat made Jessie change her mind between March and September of 1873? In part, Jessie had come LO believe that "God 's leading and I lis will" had been revealed Lo her through the physical relationship she enjoyed with Henry. Many Vicwrian women saw physical inLimacy as a God-like revelation. I Ier parents' approval helped as well, for she held her father in high esLccm, as he did her. BuL mosL important, Lloyd's persisLence paid off. He con"inced Jessie of his gentle, compassionaLe personaliLy and of his true love for her.Jessie may lose her independence LO marriage, buL she would at least have the companionship of a man that loved her.

One final crisis occurred before Henry and Jessie's engagement became official. fn early September, Jessie visited friends in Michigan, and the posL ofTice delayed some of her leuers to Henry. When he had noL heard from her, 1lenr)' feared that she was preoccupied with another man, perhaps a former suitor, and wrote an angry letLer to her . .J e sic expressed her loyalty in a diary entry written during the early morning hour of September 12.

I laJT) 111) da, ling I have written you almost everyda) since I have been here. Letters mailed last Friday morning and a long one on ·1uesday for \\'ednesda) and two sin e then. I 10\·e you with all my life. I have never loved but you.

\\'hate,·er the circumstances, the two reconciled upon her return. Jessie wrote in her diary the following day: A perfectly lmely day with a touch of :\ovember in the air. I la1T) and I ride a horse ... and in the lake shore ,ee the most golden sumet my memory. ·1 he great breakers rolling in . .. and the brightest glo,1 in our hearts . \Ve ha\e a good dinner together. ... A happ)', happy evening afterwards with the dear music of "Home, IIome, Sweet Home" for its blessed ending.

or

The next day, September 14, 1873, was "the glad clay of my betrothal to Harry. \Ve have a walk and a very blessed time Logether." nlike the twentieth century, few formal ritual5 existed for Victorian engagements. Usually the Lime between proposal and marriage

was filled with \elting up a home. Women assembled Lrou5seaus, a custom that began around the Lime of the Civil \\'ar. They would shop for the latest fashions and other items and display them as a sign of Lheir family's wealth . .Jessie's mother and friends helped her shop for her trousseau. As now, an engagement ring signified that a formal commitmenL had been made and LhaL a woman's sLalus was about Lo change. For Lheir beLrothal, Lloyd presented Jessie with a ring and a phoLograph of himself. The couple also went on an engagement vacaLion, a Victorian custom, traveling by Lrain through Wisconsin and Minnesota. .Jessie's rnoLher chaperoned Lhcm, but there was plenty of Lime for Henry and.Jessie LO walk and Lalk in privaLe about their fuLure. The pair even found significance in an emergency LOoth exLracLion that Jessie underwenL in Minneapolis. As she noted in her diary, I lenry had already had the same tooth removed.

Upon their reLurn LO Chicago, the couple turned Lo their wedding arrangements. ntil the middle of Lhe nineLeenth century, weddings were simple affairs, held in homes, wiLh only a few close family members present. As courtship became more privaLe, couples began to use weddings as a way of displaying their social sLatus and wealth. Wedding presents, which sLartecl in Lhe early nineteenLh century as necessiLies for a new couple, became more elaboraLe and were often displayed at Lhe time of the wedding. Some brides wore wedding dresses before 1890, buL they were also used as party dresses after the wedding. Few were saved as keepsakes as they are today.

I fenry found a four-room apartment for the couple not far from the Brosses' home.

Jessie ordered her wedding dress in late OcLober, shopped for "fineries" and other household iLems, and began arranging their home in early December. Invitations were sent three weeks before Lhe event. On the day of their wedding, Jessie and Henry held an open house for their families and friends at their new apartment, presumably to display their wedding gifts.

They were married the evening of Christmas Day 1873. Henry's minister father performed the ceremony, which wa held in the Brosse ' home, in front of a "house full of very 17

Chicago History, March 1993

Jessie Bross Lloyd and lle111y Demarest Lloyd at home, 1893. Throughout their 111arriag<', ]e.1.1ie /il'Oi•ed a /xirt11er lo Hell/)' i11 his caren as a writn a11d reformer.

excellent people." The honeymoon was short, as was the custom, with Henry returning to work t,vo days after the wedding. The day folloll'ing her marriage, Jessie wrote in her dia1y: A\\'ake in Lhe ver)' early light. \\'e awake togeLher and I go into my dear husband 's 1·00111. Our first happy meal Logether. \\'e are a glad as we are shy.

Received our friends and family in Lhe afternoon.

They linger rudely. Harr)' and I tuckered out. We go to sleep and wake up to cold prai,·ie chicken eaten on the tray in bed. We are two really good fellows.

Regardless of what else can be said, Henry and Jessie's forty-year marriage was a love match. No later act of Henry Demarest or Jessie Bross Lloyd was ever influenced by a disagreement in their marriage. Whatever the obstacles they faced, they faced them together. Henry's career as a well-known reformer and writer helped . Their fashionable house in Winnetka, 18

which till stands along the north shore of Lake Michigan, became a stopping place for reform luminaries such as Clarence Darrow, William Dean Howells, and Jane Addams. And their four boys and their friends filled the house with happiness for years, especially at holidays.

In this pleasant picture, h01re\'er, there were shades of sadness. Jessie found raising children troublesome. As she admitted to a friend, "It is a great thing for a mother to run away entirely from her children. It helps her lo live another clay. " She resented the legal implication that a married woman could not operate a business. She told the Chicago Woman's Club in a speech in the 1890s, "It seems strange that in a country whose noble flag of stars and stripes was designed by a woman ... there hould be such a fierce belief in the doctrine that women and idiots have a divine right to the same seclusion and protection." The restrictions on her life forced her to

"Praying.for God's Help" live vicariously through her husband's career.

She became deferential to him, enforcin g "absolute quiet" in the household whenever he wrote. She corrected anyone who tried to contradict or crit icize him.

Such actions probably would not have been necessary had Jessie been ab le to fulfill her own goals. That was not the way of Victorian Chi cago, however, and it is why marriage was such an imp ortant decision for an upper-cl ass woman. II enry and J e sie were only one of many upper-class coupl es to court and marry in late nineteenth-century Chicago, but their experiences reveal how much courtsh ip has changed for the better in the past J 20 years.

For Further Reading For more information on the history or courtsh ip and m,11Tiage practices see Ellen K. Rothman , I lands {Ill(/ llearts: A I list01y of Courlshi/J in Amerira (Cambridge , MA: 1-Jan•arcl niversity Press, 1984); Karen Ly~tra , Searching the lleart: IV0111m, J'vfen, and

H.omantic Love in Ni11eleenth-C:e11t111y America (New York: Oxford Univers ity Press. 1989); Roben L. Griswold, Family and Divorce in Calijim1ia, 18501950: J'iclorian !lfusions and Eve1}'day Realities (Albany: State Un i1·er ity or New York Pre s, 1982);

Jan Lewis, The P11n11it of Haj1pi11e.1s: Family and Values in Jefferson's Vi1gi11ia (Cambridge: Cambridge University P1-css , 1983); and Beth L. Bailey, From Fron/

Porch lo Bach Seal: Courlshi/J in Twenlieth-Cenlll1}' A111erica (Ba ltim o1-e: Johns H opkins Univers ity Press, 1988).

To learn mo1-e about TIenry Demarest Lio) d and the reform movement in America, sec John L. Thomas, Altnnalive America: lle111y George, Edward Bellamy, 1Ie111y Demarest Lloyd, and the Advnsm)' Tradition (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1983) and Chester McArthur Destler, Hem)' Demarest Lloyd and the E111/1ire of Reform (Phi ladelphi a: UniYcrsity or Pennsylvania Press, 1963). The ArchiYcs and Manuscript Coll ect ion or the C hi cago Historical Socict)' has papers or Henry Demarest Lloyd and J essic Brnss Lloyd.

Illustrations 4, C HS, IC Hi -23549; 5, C HS, 23554; 7, C HS, IC l-li23551; 8, C HS, ICHi-23552; I 0, CHS, IC H i-22326; 11, CI IS Archives and Manu cripts Collection; I 2- 13, C HS Prints and Photographs Coll ection; 15, State Historical Society or Wisconsin; I 6 top, C l I · Archives and Manuscripts Collection; 16 bouom, C l IS CosLUme Coll ection; 18, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 19, C HS, ICH i-2 3553 .

Tumb 11j lle111)' Oe111orest Uoyd, 11 1/Jo diNI Sf/1te111ba 28, 7903, andjessie Bross Uoyd, who died Dl'cember 29, 7904, in IV11111l'llw, ll/i11ois.

19

DOWN TO BUSINESS The Tribune Company Rick Kogan

The claim first appeared in the Chicago Tribune edition of Sunday, February 7, 1909. On the front page, above everything but the paper's name, was the bold, brassy headline: "The Greatest Issue of the World's Create t Tcwspaper." It was, by slightly stretched definition, the greatest issue in the newspaper's history: 194 pages, with seven special sections in honor of the centenary of AbraJ1arn Lincoln 's birth. No Tribune had ever been thicker. But the claim of Th e Febnw1)' 7, 1909, t'dition of the Chicago T1-ibune, preeminence among the world's newspapers? com111e111orati11g Lht' Ct'nlena,y o/Abralwn, U11col11 '., birth, Where was the evidence but in a slender book of pronounced ilst'lf "Th e Grea/1•.1 1 Issue of lhl' World's the time, The St01y of Chicago, in which an anonyGrt'a/est Newspa/Jer." mous author wrote, "Those competent to judge concede that the Tn'bu ne a a piece of newspaper familiar as this Ch icago newspaper as being the property has no superior within the limits of the most important cog in a \'ast information and Un ited States and few, if any, equals in the entire field ofjournalism." entertainment company ,·a lu ed at more than three billion dollars , stretching into twelve The catchy phrase stuck. During the next two 111,tjor urban markets and reaching daily into years it popped up frequently in advertisements. more than half of a ll U.S. households.

It was registered as a trademark. And on August ll1e spotlig ht does not fa ll fir t on a newspa11, 1911, it took a regular spot under the paper's per in a company that also includes the Chicago page one nameplate. But was the Chicago Tn'bune ever The World's Greatest Newspaper?

Cubs, a twenty-four-hour cable news operation, electronic media ser\'iccs, other newspapers, teleIt has, to the irritation of some, always vision and radio stations, per onal computer serbehaved as if it had captured and not invented vices, and, with its Tribune Emenainment, any that famous designation. But booming elfconfidence has never been uncommon in number of high-wattage ~tars and personalities.

Chicago, and, like the city itself, the Chirago T/7Tribune Company is an attracti\'e package, and, for all the recent changes that have bune has displayed that quality and other , at en li,·ened the look and feel of the Chirago Trionce admirable and abrasive: a fiercely competitive spirit, a strong sense of pride, and excess bune, the newspaper i the company's old est element, often taken for granted among the of vigor. William Bross, one of the early cocompany's more technologica lly stylish piece . owners of the paper, expressed these attitudes That attitude, however, ignores what the succinctly in his Hist01y of Chicago when noting that the Tribune's policies of the 1870s came Chicago Tribune has most obvious ly been: the economic engine that al lowed the company to from the "matured op inions of four indepentravel into new fields. From the outset, infordent tl1inkers and hence it was always right. " mation has been the compan)"s principal But now, as one sits in Tribune Company's commodity. And those who might wonder Gothic tower on North Michigan Avenue in tl1e how that organ ization might grow Lo encommidst of this increas ingly information-dri ven age, it is often surprising to think of an object as

20

Ric/i Kogan is TV critic for the Chicago Tribune.

Down lo Busi11 es.1 pass a n iLe m suc h as "Ge ra ld o" wo uld be remind ed th a t be fore th e turn o r th e ce ntury th e C:!tirngo Trib un e rea Lured such a ttrac ti o ns as dress pa u e rn s; that in I 9 l 4, it was o ne o f th e p rodu ce rs o f Lh e first rn ov ie se rial , "Th e Adve ntures o r Kathl yn ."

Tribun e Co rnpa ny has neve r bee n shy about ex pl orin g a nd inves tin g in new tec hn o logies : initiatin g inn ova tive methods o r ma nufacturin g newsprint, a nd e mpl oy in g hi g h-s peed presses; pi oneerin g th e use o r co lo r in newspa pers in 1922 a nd fca LUrin g the first colo r ph o to o f a news eve nt in 1939; a nd dri vin g ea rl )' a nd aggress ive ly into radi o, tc lcvi~io n, a nd cabl e.

Loo kin g over Lh e co lo rful , se re ndipito us, and o rte n raucous hi story o r the co mpa ny, it is easy to beco me hype rbo li c, mi sty-eyed , o r mi sguided . Clayton Kirkpa tri ck, th e pa pe r's edito r from 1969 to 1979, re ma rked ea rl y in hi s tenure, "Th ere has bee n a g reat d ea l o r mi sinfo rm a ti o n abo ut th e Tribune a nd its hi sto ry.

What ma ny peopl e kn o1\ about th e Tribune is from seco nd -ha nd source .... We find th ere is a great d ea l peopl e th i11ll th ey kn ow about th e Trihu11r1 . " Myth s, in spired by th e towerin g perso naliti es who for a ce ntu11 sta mped th e paper with its peculi a r cha racter, ca n blind o ne to the inh ere nt probl e ms o r pe rso na l j o urnali sm a nd famil y co ntro l. So, too, ca n nos ta lg ia fo r th e good o ld days-tha t roi sterin g From Page e ra or th e I 92 0s-overshad ow th e fact Lh at newspaper:. a lways have bee n bu sin esses run fo r pro fit a nd power, no t for fun .

T o loo k a t Lh e Chirago Trib11 11e in co 111pres.,ed fo rm- th roug h th e du st o r hi-,w ry and th e fl as h or thi s in(o rm a ti o n age-i~ IO but glimpse th e threa d s th a t have made it such a n esse ntial pa n o f th e city \ fabri c and th e cl OLh of tod ay's Tribun e Co mpa ny. Th e Chirngo Tribu ne wa'> es tabli shed o n .Ju nc I 0, 184 7, by lea ther 111e rcha1H J a m es Ke ll y, fcm11 e r ew Yo rk new~ pa pc rm an J o hn E. \\'hee le r , and Chi cago j o urn a li st J o~e ph K. C. Forres t.

Chicago 1rns a t01n1 of o nl y sixteen th ousa nd peo pl e, most of the m sloggin g a lo ng muddy path s but buoyed by boomtrnrn d rea ms. T he city had two o th er pa pe rs, th e De111ocral, th e city's fir st, fo und ed in 1833 by printe r J o hn Calhoun , a nd thej onmal, which guardedly welco med th e Tribune to " th e ·to rmy seas" o f Chicago j ourna li sm .

Those storm s were ta me compared with whaL would come: de pressions and war ; o fte n-bloody circul ati o n ba ttl es; compe titi o n fro m othe r papers, radi o, and televi sio n; th e chang in g citysuburban-ex urba n landsca pe; and now an era in which news is as immediate a · Chi cagola nd TV and CNN, a nd wh en va t amounts of informati o n arc as near as the keys of a home co mputer.

Operatin g a news pape r in Chicago was never a busin ess for th ose with thin wall e1s or fa int hearts. ' I'he city' · newspa per gr aveya rd is packed : the Democrol, absorbed by the Tribune in 186 1; th e .Joumal; th e Record-!Iemld; th e fnlerOcean; the Time.1-Record (later the Times flerald); th e Even ing Post, which was me rged with th e H n'{/ld , whi ch becam e the I lerald-Exmniner and fin a ll y fo ld ed in J9 39 a fter a fiftee n-month strike by th e C hi cago Newspa pe r Guild ; the America n, whi ch was purchased by the Tribune in 1956, changed its name to Today in 1969, and va ni shed in 1973; and th e Daily News, buri ed in 1978, o n th e city's birthday, March 4.

J oseph Mcdill was no na if when, as a thinytwo-year-o ld lawye r a nd own er of a pape r in Cleve la nd , he came to C hicago in 1855 on the ad vice o f l lo race Greeley . Al o ng with thirty-

J oseph Medill (center) and his grandchildren, March 1899. Clockwise ji-om left: Robert R. McCormick, age 18; Elea nor Medill Pallerson, age 16; Medill McCormick, age 2 1; and J o,1eph Medill ?alter on, age 19.

21

Chicago History, March 1993 four-year-old Charles Ray, owner of a paper in Galena, together they purchased a one-half interest in the nedgling Tribune. At the time, newspapers were generally issued in response to the impulse or political agenda of their owners rather than to public de ire. The Tribune subscription list comprised those who adhered to its temperance and anti-immigration leanings. But MediJl and Ray slowly began moving the paper away from that path and increased coverage of and commentary on the struggle against slavery.

editorJames Keeley. In l 914, after Patterson' death and Medill McCormick's move to poli tics (he subsequently served as Illinois legislator, U.S. congressman, and U.S. senator), the paper fell under the control of Medill's two other grandsons, Roben Rutherford McCormick and Joseph Medill Patterson.

The young cousins doubled Tribune circulation and advenising during World War I and, using Tribune funds, started the New York Daily News in 1919. The huge success of that tabloid-its circulation was nearing one million by 1925-<:ompellecl Pauerson Lo leave Chicago Lo manage the News. The same )'Car, ll'bile the paper's thirty-six-story home was completed on Michigan r\\'enue after a highly publicized, worldwide design contest, McCormick was fully in charge of the Tribune, with its 700,000 daily and l. l million Sunday readers.

To the city, McCormick was the Colonel-a commission received from the Illinois ational Guard in order lo gain battlefield access as a foreign con-e pondent in \'\'oriel \\'ar I-and for three decades the paper bore his personal, often eccemric, and alwars opinionated stamp.

But be was a brilliant businessman, eager to invest in new ventures and technologies. From

Medill, ofi.en credited as the first person to propose the name "Republican" for the new free-soil, antislavery party, was irrefutably responsible for bringing the 1860 Republican convention to Chicago and for succe sfully lobbying for Abraham Lincoln's nomination, though he risked bankruptcy in doing so by alienating many subscribers. The president never forgot, often giving the paper exclusive stories that bolstered its reputation and influence. When Medill visited the v\'hite House as head of a committee prote Ling a call for additional Chicago soldiers during the Civil \\'ar, the president told him, "You and your Tribune ha\'e had more influence than any paper in the Northwest for making this war."

Medill's strong convictions sec the paper's tone, and as various partners came and wentincluding Bross-Medill was always it driving force. In this era of per onal journalism, he was never outshouted. And he could often be belligerent as he championed nationalism, conservatism, civic progress, and a free hand for •111 .; • business. After completing a term as Chicago's mayor during the two chaotic years following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, MediJJ gained control of the paper's stock in 1874, using funds borrowed from department store Oll'ner Marshall Field. Though the paper's circulation for most of the next decade was a relatively modest thirty-fo·e thousand, by the end of the 1800s it had doubled and it kept swelling. By the time Medill died in 1899-wich, Tribune legend has it, the word , "What's the news?" on his lips-he built the Tribune into a prosperous, powerful newspaper.

In I 925, the Tribu11e Com/HIii_)' co11.1tnicted the Gothic Lower 011 lvliclzigc111 A.r,enue. It remains one of the most After Medill's death, the newspaper was run easi(\' recognized buildings in Chicago and a symbol of the by his son-in-law Robert W. Patterson and company. Right, the mr(,· Tribune offices, 1849 (lo/J) grandson Medill McCormick, with the aide of and 1852 (bollom).

22

,..

--

Dorun to Business

Robert R. McCormick a11togmjJhed Tribune copies ru11101111ci11g the end of World IVar II.

an iniLial 1913 invesLrnenL, Lhe company's newsprinL business had boomed (selling to a number or papers, it would evenLUally grow into Nor1'1 America's sevenLh largesL), and citizens were impressed by Lhe sighL or huge freighters unloading paper on the banks or Lhe Chicago River, where iL was used on presses arranged in an innovative layout McCormick developed for new printing faciliLies behind the Tower.

McCormick was paternal to his employees, buL his word was law. There are st ill those in the Tower \\'ho recall with a shudder the impact or memos signed "R.R.Mc. " A. J. Leibling, the greatest press critic or his clay and a graceful writer, !ell inLO an uncharacteristic tiuy describing McCormick in a series ofanicles in The New Vorker as 'The town 's tutelary deity ... who hurls clelighLrully reverberant thunderbolts, 0avorecl with sassafras."

Those thunderbolts and the very stature or Lhe Tribun e helped fuel the cornpeLitive fires among Chicago newspapers. In his wonderfully informal , anecdote-laden Deadline:; and 1\,fonkey.1hi11es, the great reporter John f\lcPaul 1\TOte: " In the old clays most Chicago 11e\\'sme n had on their work ·hee ts a stint with the Tribun e.

And even when the parting was amicable the ex-Tribunitc almost i1wariably carried to his

newspaper Lhe yearning to wallop the Trib, above all others, on the banner stories .... Its lordly air has been a hotfoot stimulating the opposition to trickery, mischief and herculean feats above and beyond the expected coverage of the news."

Through the 1920 and 1930s Lhe company thrived, moving inLo radio in 1924 by starting WGN (the call letters signifying, naLUrally, "World 's Greatest ewspaper"). It was a sLation of many technological firsts: introducing microphones into the courtroom with it co1·erage of the Scopes monkey trial in Tennessee, pioneering the coverage of political conventions and or the World Series, lndianapoli 500, and Kentucky Derby. It also provided a new forum for the Colonel, who would give speeches-on topics ranging from Mata Hari to the U.S. Navyduring hour-long Saturday night broadcasts called "The Chicago Theatre of the Air." But McCormick's increasingly shrill campaign for isolationism started causing noL only controversy but also inLense criticism of the man and the company that loudly reflected his views.

In a 1936 poll of Washington correspondents, the Tribune was voted second only to William Randolph Hearst's papers as "least fair and reliable. " "The sheer dominance of the Tribune is one cause for its unpopularity, no doubL," commented Fortune magazine in 1936. ''People question its motives because it is so powerful.

They read it for the same reason , perhaps."

McCormick was assailed from all comers, with mounting enmity. "McCormick's Tribune is like a malicious, half-witted brat with a stick, striking out with indiscriminate fury and venom at anything that moves, anything that shines, anything that stands up straight," said mystery v-Titer Rex Stout, who traveled from New York Lo speak in front of a Chicago gathering in 1940. "I ma)' not regard the inhabitants of Chicago as absolutely the salt of the earth, the cream of the American milk, but one tJ1ing is sure, you do not deserve McCormick and his Tribune and the nasty little men who write this trash."

More reasoned sentiments were responsible for spurring Marshall Field III, grandson of the department tore founder and friend and supporter of Franklin Roosevelt, to provide an a lternative editorial l'Oice to the Tribune' s.

(When HearsL folded his H erald-Examiner in

23

Chicago Histmy, March 1993

WGN pioneered broadcasls from local ion, such as Jack Brickhouse' December 17, 1942, broadcast ji-0,11 the control deck of a B-17 Flying Fortress, the plane in the background.

1939, the Tribun e was the city's only morning paper.) Field rented space from a sympathetic Frank Knox, the owner of the afternoon DailyNews (which ran a comic strip called "Col. McCosmic") and later Franklin Roose"elt's secretary of the navy. On December 4, 1941, three days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Field entered the morning paper arena with his Chicago Sun. And the invective flew , McCormick calling Field "a hysterical effeminate," and the Sun describing the Tribune as a "poison pump," accusing it of fostering "the Hitlerian technique of the big lie."

But during and after the war, views of McCormick began to soften, in part due to the energy he exhibited in World War II coverage, with farflung c01Tespondents and international editions.

Even as he continued to exercise his particularly conservative brand of politics in the Tribune and on WGN, the Colonel began LO be regarded as an icon. On June 9, 1947, the one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Chicago Tri24

bune, the Chicago Daily News, for almost seventyfive years a ferocious rival, contained a lead editorial appearing over the signatme of the paper's new editor and publisher,John S. Knight. It read in part, "Few American newspapers have fought so vigorously to preserve our traditional freedom of expression. o other American newspaper publisher has been the target of so much abuse and charaCLer assas ination."

When the Colonel died in 1955, with him died an era of American journalism. Like so many figures in Chicago's history-Big Bill Thompson, Richard J. Daley, Harold Washington, Mike Ditka-he was an outsized character who stirred great emotions. On April 2, the day after his death, a tribute appeared in Field's paper. It read in part: "He has paternal affection for tl1e city and its surrounding area, for which he coined the name Chicagoland .... Up to the day of his death Col. McCormick wa a much a part of our daily life as the beautiful tower he built to house his newspaper is a part

/)r111 111 lo /folll/ 1'11

of the city\ skyline .... I I<: \1ill long be reme lll ber •d as a, irile and contro,·ersial figure."

But the Tribun e had begun to lme cirrnlation during th · last year'> or the Colonel\ tenure , in part becaw,e of' the strength or the Sun and T1111e1 111e1 gcr in 1918. ·1lte com pan) , which since: 1918 had included the increasingl y popular WCN-TV in Chicago (the fin,t station 10 broadcast movies), was still prosp ·rous, but the paper was becomin !-{ dull and politicall y predictable.

Thc company itsclf\vas expanding under the leadership ·1 ribune president Ch ·-,sci M. Calllpb •II and his chi •r aides .J. I loll'arcl Wood , Walter C. Kur1., and Harold F. Crulllhaus. In 196'.~ it purchased the .')1111-.",m/111el in Fort Lauderclal • and two ) cars later the Orlrwdo ,\'l'lltinel, prescient decisions; in ·oming years these papers would be among the fastest 1-,11·011 ing in the United States. In J9G1 rribune Company acquired radio station WQCD in '\ell' York and in I %5 purcha eel KWCN-' IV in Dcn\'er.

Bui i1 was not unt ii the 1969-79 editorship of Clayton Kirkpatrick that the paper began to remake itscll . With the enthusiastic batking of' Stanton R. Cook, \1 ho joined the< om pan; as a produttion •nginecr in I 951 and moved into the publi,her\ oflice in 1972, cdi101 ial policies broadened and began to appeal to a wicl ·r range of readers.

I hc 11101 c to a µublicl ; held company was s ·t in motion b, tltc expiration or th · llConnickl'atlerson ·1 nisl in 1975. Cook and executi\'e .John\\'. Madigan , a former ime<,tmcnl banker, began making tm\11} ckt i'>ions in preparation for changing the cornpan} from an unwielcl; famil} cn1e1pri-,e into a mod ·111 , multila(cted corporation. I hat " 'a', the wm it had begun to look, having added 10 the !old in the I 97(h new'>papers and radio ~tations in California. In 1981 tlte Cub'> were purcha-,ecl from the Wrigley famil), and the I ribunc Broadca">ting group""" created. The next year Tribune Entertainment was formed to produce, syndicate, and acquire fir t-run television programming.

In 1983, after 136 years of pril'ate ownership, the company and selling shareholder made the first public offering of stock. Valued at 206 million, it was the largest initial public offering by an industrial company in a quarter-century. That value would triple by decade's encl, as its face

or

changed with each yea r: thc addition ol "-.c,, Orlcam· \V(.r'\O- IV in 198'.\, ,\tlanta\ \\'(,I\X T\ ' in 1981 , and Kl L\- 1"\' in Lm ,\ngde'> in ID8:'"i; th · acqui-,ition of the Dmly 1'1'!'.\.\ in l\cll'pon ews, \ 'irginia, 198G; 1hc 1991 ">alcol'tlll' faltering le1.11 l'mk l)m/y Nrw1; and the I \J\)'.\ '>L,lll or Chicagolancl ·1clevision, the ti\ ·nt) -lour-hour cable inl<>nnation operation drall'ing i11 pat I on th · re'>ouru:'> of"the (;hirn1;0 Tribw1r', \VCN radio and tclcl'ision , and the Cubs. ·1 h · Chirngo Trib1111r' still plays a l'ital rol · in th e life or the tity and it~ C\'Cr-cxpancling Cll\'irom and i'> lirml) a member of'thc top etlwlon or 1\111 ·rict1n newspapers. But it 110 longer feel., the need 10 toot it'> own horn. On .January I , 1977, "The \\'orlc.l\ Crcat<.:'>l l\cw<,papcr" '>topped appearing on tlte paper\ nameplate , an inclical ion not or dim inishecl self~conlidcnce but perhaps of' more complex and cl ·corous, if" 1101 a'> boorningl y brassy, time'> .

Today\ Tribune Company bear<, no one per'>0n \ '>tamp. Cook retired a'> CEO in I ~)90, hi-, role filled by Charle'> r. Brumback, fcmncr pre'>idclll and CEO or the Orlo11do Se11ti11el and, since 1981 , president and CEO orthe C:himgo Tnb111u', where he improl'ed production and 1011ing ca pabilitie'> and changed the paper\ hom ·dclive1y S)''>lem. ·1oday, under Brumback-w ith 1adigan heading Tribune New'>papcrs and .James C. Dowdle in charge of rribun · Broadcas1ing- tl1c compan)' b pushing into ne1, technologies that are helping to define the way'> in which information and elllertainmcnt arc being, and 11ill be, delivered.

The Chicago Tribune is online at 8:00 .u1. each day Lhrough Chicago Online. llluslrations courtesy of the Chicago Tribune.

Paradises Lost PAUL BOYTON'S

Stan Barker

Water Circus

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Above, ad for Boyton·s Water Circus .

New York Clipper, July 30, 1893.

Below, ad for America's first modern amusement park, the Water Chutes.

New York Clipper, July 2, 1894.

Below right, forest Park, 1908. forest Park Historical Society.

/

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Open

July

Stan Barker, a local writer, editor, and lecturer, is writing a history of Chicago's amusement parks.

26

oney Island and the amusement park have become synonymous in American legend. Even cultural historians have credited Coney Island with having the first modern amusement park, opened by Capt. Paul Boyton in 1895. But, like the spiel of a sideshow barker, this ballyhoo obscures the facts. Before he hit the beach in Brooklyn , the good Captain opened his first park in Chicago. where he lived a century ago. Chicago, not Coney Island. is where the amusement park was born.

Boyton. a nineteenth-century version ofTommy Bartlett. came to Chicago in 1886 to give an exhibition of swimming feats and aquatic tricks at Cheltenham Beach. Seventy-ninth Street and the lake, the site of Chicago's first amusement park. The Cheltenham Beach venture failed after only one season, but Boyton , having seen Chicago, returned to settle two years later.

In 1893, Chicago's World 's Columbian Exposition became the first world's fair to feature a separate amusement zone-the mile-long Midway Plaisance.

The Midway's gathering of diverse amusements in a single enclosure with an admission charge established the essential concept of the amusement park.

Every fair and carnival since has had its own Midway. The following year Boyton used that concept to open America 's first modern amusement park-Paul Boyton·s Water Chutes at Sixty-first Street and Drexel Boulevard. near the site of the former Midway.

Its success led the Captain to open a park at Coney Island, a top entertainment spot, in 1895, and he later franchised the Water Chutes in San Francisco.

Boston. and Philadelphia. Boyton·s enterprise inspired George C. Ti/you, owner of various amusements then scattered all about Coney's beachfront, to open the island's second park, Steeplechase, in 1897. By that time. Chicago had a second park; George Ferris had moved his giant wheel to its own park on North Clark Street. The amusement park idea spread rapidly across America in the next decade. At its peak, Coney Island had three major parks; Chicago, in the same period. boasted no less than five.

The 265-foot tall ferris Wheel on the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 world 's Columbian Exposition. CHS, !CHi21713.

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Chicago Hist01y, March 1993

T

Above, a fire show at forest Park, 1909. Jim Abbate, National Amusement Park Historical Assoc. Below, a 1907 Riverview ad. Chicago Tri-

bune, June 26, 1907. Bottom, World War I-era chorus line at forest Park, 1917. forest Park Historical Society.

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28

On an average summer weekend in 1907 or 1908, some five hundred thousand Chicagoans- roughly one-quarter of the city's population-poured through the gates of the city's parks for much the same reason their grandchildren flock to Disney World today. Then, as now, they were drawn by more than just Shoot-the-Chutes, merry-go-rounds, and roller coasters. Chicago's parks were the Epcot Centers of their day, offering education that entertained.

Historical events were reenacted, and different cultures came to life in Japanese gardens and villages of lgorot natives from the Philippines. When automobiles were still toys of the rich, the parks gave patrons chauffeured rides for a dime.

At White City, dirigibles took people aloft, and rides simulating submarine and space travel prepared Chicagoans for the century ahead.

But the early parks were also fundamentally different than today's. Modern parks are corporate autocracies. The image of Walt Disney (and the corporation that carries his name), for example, is that of a more benevolent Sun King ruling a livelier Versailles. Management is firmly in control. By contrast, the people ran the show in the early parks.

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urn -of-the-century popular entertainment-vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, beer gardens, the new motion pictures- was generally suspect. Many upper middle-class Americans condemned the amusement parks, which brought all these pastimes together, as vulgar, superficial, and morally corrupting. But for millions of Americans, shortened work hours had increased their free time, and amusement parks were preferred over more respectable forms of recreation , such as museum visits, lectures, concerts, and other high-culture activities.

Amusement park entertainment was always rich and varied. John Phillip Sousa, Giuseppe Creatore, and a dozen other bandleaders played classical airs. and Gus Edwards sang the latest rags. W C Fields juggled on Ferris Wheel Park's vaudeville stage, and Lon Chaney got his start in Sans Souci's summer stock theater. Young Annette Kellerman shocked White City with her radical new one-piece bathing suit. Before nickelodeons, the parks kept the fledgling, flickering moving pictures alive.

At a time when Jane Addams and others saw pressing need for small neighborhood parks, amusement parks provided oases of green space throughout the city. One needed to pay only ten cents admission to stroll, watch, and listen. The bands were free, as were the speeches. The parks offered a forum for political viewpoints from the Industrial Workers of the World 's (IWW) "Big Bill " Heywood to the Republican "Big Bill" Thompson. When Eugene Debs turned socialist. he went to the people. holding one of his first rallies at Ferris Wheel Park.

Paradises J,osl ost important, amusement parks were, for the most part, democratic and inclusive in character. Everyone was welcome and everyone came. Drawing diverse ethnic groups out of their neighborhood enclaves. the parks, in the belief that everyone laughs in the same language, mixed them together. Or, as Harry G. Traver, builder of Riverview 's legendary Bobs, put it: "Everybody's equal on a roller coaster. They all shriek at the same time."

Although whites threw baseballs at black men in the dunk tan ks of the African Dip "game," the parks did not practice segregation along racial lines to the same extent that other amusements did. No parks barred or restricted African-Americans from entering the grounds as did Loop theaters and other city entertainments. In fact. at a time wh en social reformers worked for increased democracy, the parks were more democratic than society as a whole.

Dimes were the ballot. and people voted daily for what they wanted to ride, see, hear. eat. and drink. When ticket sales fell for a ride or show, the public had spoken ; next season a new attraction would occupy the spot. In the democracy of dimes, everyone voted-even women and children denied franchise elsewhere.

The parks helped create the mass culture of twentieth-century America, but in doing so, they brought on their own demise. As the century progressed, the pop music and movies the parks had nurtured found new venues that undercut attendance. The automobiles and aircraft the parks had introduced enabled the next generation to roam far from the end of the streetcar lines, where the parks were located. And as the working class became middle class, inner-city Riverviews were replaced by suburban malls and corporate-run amusements.

The homogeneity of mass culture eventually recoiled from the rough edges of the old-time parks.

In recent years, people have begun to realize what was lost. In the midi 950s, Walt Disney's vision had no room for thrill rides. Public demand brought a resurgence in roller coasters in the 1970s and 1980s; Disneyland now has three. Old parks that survived, like Sandusky's Cedar Point and Denver 's Elitch 's Gardens and Lakeside Park, are finding a new lease on life. Coney Island's Cyclone coaster, Pittsburgh's Kennywood Park, and carousels throughout the country are now designated National Historic Landmarks. Sadly, in the city where it all began, only memories and old photographs are left of Chicago's paradises lost.

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Author's collection. Below left, Sinking of the Titanic show at Riverview, 1913.

CHS, ICHi-16039. Below right, The Panorama of the Bernese Alps at the 1893 World 's Fair. CHS, ICHi-23584.

29

Chicago Hist01y, March 1993

How Chicago Created Coney Island If Europeans loved shooting the chutes, Paul Boyton figured Chicagoans would too, especially after the world's fair Midway had whetted their appetites. Using the Midway concept, he opened the first modern amusement park, Paul Boyton's Water Chutes, at Sixty-first Street and Drexel Boulevard on July 4.

1894. Chicagoans soon took to the new park-the cool wet ride was the perfect amusement during the hot summer months when the city's theaters were closed. Success in Chicago led Boyton to open a second park at Coney Island in 1895, which inspired George C. Tilyou and others to follow with their own.

In August 1895, four people were killed in an accident at Boyton's Chicago park. The Captain decided to stay in Coney Island, and in 1896, the Chicago Chutes, under new management, moved to a new West Side location, Jackson Boulevard and Kedzie Street.

Right, in 1896, the f erris Wheel was moued to a new location at Clark Street and Wrightwood Avenue. CHS, ICHi-00027. Below, ad for the ·49 Mining Camp . CHS, ICHi-2JSJJ.

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Pioneers Boyton had no rival at Coney Island until George Tilyou 's Steeplechase Park opened in 1897. The amusement park idea had caught on faster in Chicago, and the city's second park opened in 1895. The ·49 Min ing Camp, which opened at Sixtieth Street and Cottage Grove Avenue to compete with the Chutes, had been a feature of California 's 1894 Mid-Winter Fair. Although it lasted only one season, it introduced the world's first "theme " park, presaging the nostalgia of latter-day frontier/ands. The interest in this theme is all the more remarkable considering only two years had passed since Fredrick Jackson Turner declared the American frontier extinct.

Slightly more successful was the moving of the Ferris Wheel to its own park at Clark Street and Wrightwood Avenue in 1896. The initial plan was thwarted when local residents blocked the park 's request for a liquor license. By the time Mayor Carter Harrison II granted one in 1897, the park was in receivership, and George Ferris had died.

Associate Luther Rice kept Ferris Wheel Park going until 1902, but it was unable to expand beyond its limited site. Unable to compete with Chicago's new, larger parks, the great wheel was sold in 1903, moved to the 1904 St. Louis world's fair, and finally dynamited into scrap in 1906.

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The Golden Age of Chicago Parks From 1905 to 1915. Chicago could claim to be the nation's amusement park capital. with at least six parks Chutes Park. Sans Souci . Riverview. White City. Luna Park. and Forest Park (which opened when Chutes Park closed in 1907) vying for the public at one time.

Chutes Park. Captain Boyton·s original park. relocated on the West Side and featured Chicago's first miniature railroad and first loopthe-loop coaster. among dozens of other rides. When it went out of business in 1907. park president Charles R. Francis was granted the concession to build Riverview Park's colossal Shoot-the-Chutes.

Sans Souo was one of the many parks that traction companies around America built near their streetcar lines. Chicago's City Rail way Co. opened Sans Souci on the former site of the '49 Mining Camp in 1899. The first of the city's "gar den parks" drew crowds from the Washington Park racetrack across the street. When the track closed and magnificent White City opened nearby, Sans Souci went into decline.

In 191 5 Frank Lloyd Wright built Midway (later Edelweiss) Gardens. an urban concert garden. on part of the former Sans Souci grounds. Prohibition kil led the new venture: it was razed for a gas station in 1929.

Left, postcard of Chutes Park,

c. 1896. CffS, /Cffi -19795. 1896.

Below, Sans Souci, c. 1908. C/15, ON 6357.

33

Chicago Hist01y, March 1993

Riverview. located on Western Avenue along the Chicago River. was formerly a picnic grove. where a German gun club had practiced marksmanship in the 1880s and 1890s. About 1900, baker William Schmidt bought the old Sharpshooter's Park. and on July 2, 1904, Riverview Park opened its gates Outlasting all its city rivals. it grew in size over the years and eventually could claim to be the "world 's largest amusement park. " Certainly it had the most roller coasters. built by top designers such as Homewood 'sJohn Miller. inventor of the clanking lift chain and safety underwheels still in use today.

34

Silent films and vaudeville shows {above) were popular attractions at Riverview, c. 1910. CHS, !Ctti-22268. Below, undated panoramic scene of Riverview. Ct!S, !Ctti-23577.

Paradises Lost

Riverview attractions, clockwise from left: the Pair-O-Chutes, c. 1939: the Derby racing coaster, 191 O; and the Marine Causeway, c. 1908. CffS Prints and Photographs Co/lection.

35

Undated pllotogr

view's magnificent carousel. Made by the Philadelphia

Toboggan Company in 1908, it was one of the la1gest ever built. CHS, lCHi-23570.

Chicago Histoiy, March 1993

White City, for many years, was Chicago's most spectacular park, overshadowing all other amusement parks in the city. Taking its name from the 1893 world 's fair and its design from Coney Island 's Dreamland Park, White City's landmark was its Jewel Tower, the tallest building south of the Loop. Fire destroyed the tower in 1927, and the Great Depression and competition from the Century of Progress Exposition closed the park in 1934.

Rigi1t, Daily News delivery boys at White City, c. I 920. CHS, ON 81, 073. Below, White City 's funhouse, c. 1920. CNS Prints and Photographs Collection.

38

Paradises J,osl

Above, White City's Great American Racing Derby ride, c. I 920. Below, the Human Roulette Wheel in Wl1ite City's fun/10use. CHS Prints and Pl1olographs Colleclion.

39

Crowds watching elephants pe1form at White City during its opening year, 1905. CHS, !Ctti-23568 .

Luna Park, a former picnic grove at Fiftieth and Halsted streets, was taken over in 1908 by James O'Leary, gambling czar of the city (and son of Mrs. O'Leary of the Great Chicago Fire fame). Big Jim promised the park would be a strictly legitimate business, but he closed it in 191 I after making a fortune in the 1910 Jack Johnson vs. Jim Jeffries championship fight.

Then again, the park's proximity to the Union Stockyards, and the smell that rose from the yards on hot summer days, may have caused its demise.

Above, Luna Park program. CHS library. Below, forest Park's Terror of the Ocean ride, 1918. forest Park Historical Society.

42

Forest Park, which opened in 1908 in the suburb of Forest Park, drew crowds from Chicago's West Side to experience its giant roller coasters, the area 's only steeplechase ride, and a unique trip in cars that shot through underground pneumatic tubes. The park's first amusement director, Thomas W Prior, was Flo Ziegfeld 's assistant during the 1893 world 's fair and a veteran of Ferris Wheel Park and White City.

Moving to Venice, California , in 1912, Prior and designer Fred Church formed a legendary ridebuilding company. Riverview's famed Bobs roller coaster was a Prior and Church creation.

Paradises Lost

forest Park's Iron Maze (above), 1909. Below, the 1909 Dentzel merry-go-round at forest Park. forest Park Historical Society.

43

.

. ...

I

" forest Park featured the only steeplechase ride and the tallest roller coaster known outside of Coney Island in 1910. Jim Abbate, National Amusement Park ttistorical Association.

EPLE CHAS

Chicago Hist01y, March 1993

The People's Forum

I I

I

Politicians of all persuasions used the parks to reach the people.

Although Republican "Big Bill" Thompson was most identified with Riverview, the Cook County Democrats threw their yearly picnic there, too. Even so, it was the annual Socialist gathering that set the park's high attendance record many years in a row. Riverview, which traced its Germanic heritage back to Sharpshooter 's Park, showed pro-Kaiser war films in 1916: when the United States entered the war the next year, the park quickly switched to the patriotic American stance already embraced at Forest Park.

48

a

Above, ad for a socialist rally with Eugene Debs at Riverview, 1912.

Chicago Daily Socialist. Below, the African Dodger and Dip games at forest Park, c. 1910. forest Park Historical Society.

Racial Paradox Perhaps the most inhumane amusement ever devised was the African Dodger game: patrons threw baseballs at a black man's head. Although more popular in the South, the dodger was found, at times, in Chicago. Public outcry forced the game's replacement by the African Dip, where African -Americans were not struck but dumped into tanks of water- less injurious, perhaps, but no less racist. On the whole, though , Chicago's parks were less segregated than the rest of society.

African-Americans and whites mixed freely in them from the beginning.

Paradises

They Still Go Round

cial events czar, Col. Jack Reilly, to Riverview's auction , but Reilly said the final bid of forty thousand dollars "for that thing is nuts." Purchased instead by the city of Galena, it was resold in 1971 to the Atlanta theme park Six Flags over Georgia. The pride of the park, the carousel Al Capone once rode, is today valued in excess of two million dollars.

1976 for Libertyland, a new theme park, the Forest Park carousel has been restored and is today listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When Riverview closed in 196 7, sentiment ran strong for the city to keep its landmark 1908 Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel; with rows of five horses abreast, it was one of the biggest ever built. Mayor Richard J. Daley sent the city's spe-

Far from their original locations, two survivors of Chicago's long-lost parks still turn today. When fire ravaged Forest Park in 1918, its classic 1909 carousel was badly damaged.

Sent to carousel maker William Dentzel for repair, it had no home to return to when Forest Park closed in 1923. It was sold to the Fairgrounds Amusement Park in Memphis , Tennessee. One of two rides preserved when the Fairgrounds was razed in

Lost

Riverview's merry-go-round, 1915. CHS, /Cffi-20256.

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A Vision of Urban Social Reform Ellen Christensen

In designing the Abraham Lincoln Centre, a combination church and social settlement house, the young architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Dwight Perkins tested their vision of a new, democratic Amencan architecture.

I I

II

When Jenkin Lloyd Jones, the radical Unitarian minister of All Souls Church in Chicago, began planning a new church for his congregation, he envisioned more than a mere st1T1cture in which to hold Sunday services. Instead, he im ag ined a multipurpose building that would fulfill the functions of both a church and a social settlement house, a structure he described as "a social hall, a work shop and an oratory for the soul in one."

The result was the Abraham Lincoln Centre, which was dedicated in 1905 and named to reflect Jone 's admiration of Lincoln as a great humanitarian. During the eight-year period between the conception of the building and its dedication , several architects, including Prairie School architects Frank Lloyd Wright Uones's nephew) and Dwight Heald Perkins and Hull-House architects Allen and Irving Pond, were involved in designing the building. Throughout the planning process, the architects' vision of the building clashed with Jones's and that of William Kent, J ones's financial advisor and treasurer of the planning committee formed to see the project through to completion.

Highly regarded in liberal upper middleclass circles, Jenkin Lloyd Jones was a brilliant orator and a prolific writer on religious as well as social, literary, and artistic issues. Two centers of activity absorbed his energies: All Souls Church, with a congregation of over five hundred parishioners, located at the corner of Oakwood Boulevard and Langley Avenue just north of Hyde Park, and Tower Hill, a summer camp, school, and rural retreat located Ellen Christensen is a doctoral candidate in American history al Northwestern University.

50

near Spring Green, Wisconsin. From these two centers Jones preached a broadly liberal religion free from doctrine and ritual, emphasizing freedom , character, fellowship , and social service in religion. Frank Lloyd Wright and Dwight Perkins and their families were members of All Souls and spent many summers at Tower Hill.

J ones's plans for a new building coincided with his reinterpretation of Unitarianism and the expanding scope of his congregation's philanthropic and educational activities. As early as 1892, he moved away from mainstream Unitarianism, which he associated with sectarianism and dogmatism. In 1894, All Souls joined the newl)' founded American Conference of Liberal Religion, which Jones had helped (orm, whose purpose was to "fo ter and encourage the organization of non-sectarian churche ... by developing the Church of Humanity, democratic in organization, progressi\'C in thought." Although A.II Souls remained in the Western Unitarian Conference, Jone led the church to nondenominational status.

At the same time, Jones became involved with the social settlement movement in Chicago, an interest enthusiastically shared by his congregation . The movement, which originated in England, stemmed from the idea that members of the middle class could help all ev iate urban poverty by living and working in the poorest working-class neighborhoods. In the late 1880s, social settlements, modeled on Toynbee Hall in East London, appeared in Boston, ew York, and Chicago. These social settlements, such as Jane Addams's HullHouse, battled poverty worsened by rapid industrialization and immigration, providing

The Reve ren d Je11kin Lio d the Abraham Li11col11 C y Jo11es e11visio11ed church; he described ·t e11tre as more tha11 a h I as a" · s op, a11d an oratory fi h social hall, a work _ __ or t e soul i11 one."

Chicago History, March 1993

many services to the neighborhood. HullHouse offered a kindergarten and playground, classes in homemaking and manual training, and a variety of university extension courses sponsored by the University of Chicago. Allen B. Pond, one of the architects for Hull-House, explained that it "drew the eyes of many who were eager to lend help lest the modern city should become in very truth that vision of the poet, a 'city of dreadful night."'

Jones was an active participant in HullHouse activities, particularly as a lecturer in extension courses, and All Souls Church became increasingly involved with the social settlement movement. In 1895, inspired by Addams's example, the congregation financed the construction of a small settlement house, the Helen Heath House, at 831 West Thirtythird Place. Undertaken as a memorial to All Souls parishioner Dr. Helen Heath after her untimely death in 1894, the settlement functioned as a community center, reading room, and kindergarten. By June 1904, however, Jones had withdrawn financial support from Heath House to help finance his new building.

According to Jones, the ever-expanding scope of All Souls' activities and its independent status necessitated a new structure that combined the features of a church and a social settlement house. The structure, to be built across the street from All Souls Church, would feature a spacious auditorium for church services, meetings, and lectures, supplemented by classrooms, a gymnasium, reading room, library, and residential living space. In addition, the building would lease commercial space to generate revenue [or the operation of the church and the maintenance of the buildings.

Although some church members criticized Jones for building an institutional church so far away from the urban poor it was intended to serve, he continued with his plans.

J ones's first task was to find an architect sympathetic to his scheme. Dwight Perkins was involved in the earliest stages of planning, either as a consultant or potential architect. In 1892, when Perkins wa working for Burnham & Root, Jones apparently olicited Perkins's opinion or another architect's plan for the building, to which he replied, "I of course

Jones was inspired by the work of social reformers such as Jane Addams, who established H11ll-Ho11se 011 Chicago's Near West Side ill 1889.

52

A Vision of Urban Social Reform want to be the architect of that building, doing it through Mr. Burnham .... It is hardly right for me to examine another architect's plans while I am a possible competitor." The other architect referred to may have been Joseph Lyman Silsbee, who had constructed the Lloyd-Jones family chapel, Unity Chapel, in Helena, Wisconsin, and All Souls Church. By 1894, Jones was also considering his nephew Frank Lloyd Wright for the commission.

Wright wrote to his uncle on May 15: "How about the plans for the new building? Arn I to get a chance with the rest of the boys, or is it an open and shut walk away for Silsbee?"

By 1895, however, the task of planning the building was not Jones's alone. A building committee, which comprised three All Souls members-Edward Morris, L. J. Lamson, and William Kent-was formed to share the responsibility. Kent was a young Chicago real estate agent, who with hi father ran the firm A. E. Kent and Son, managing land and building interests throughout Chicago, the Midwest, and the West. Kent acted not only as financial advisor for the pr(!ject, but also played a central role in the process of designing and constructing the Centre. Although Jones made the final decisions, Kent supervised the development of the designs and functioned as critic and advisor to Jones on the economic, structural, and aesthetic aspects of the scheme.

Kent simultaneously considered the problems of hiring an architect and raising money for construction or the building. Emphasizing the importance or finding contributors, he wrote to Jones in January I 895: "the building is going to cost [two hundred thousand dollars] and we must pull every string .... You can not be modest now." In preparation for a building committee meeting to consider preliminary sketches, he again stressed to Jones the urgency or finding donors: "Please send Silsbee's sketches by bearer. Want to do some figgering [sic] prior to meeting . . . . Keep thinking of victims."

By February 1895 the committee had invited Perkins and Wright to collaborate on a design. It i unclear why the committee rejected Silsbee; perhaps they selected Wright and Perkins on the strength of family ties and

church membership. In proceeding with the designs at this stage despite the lack of funds, however, Kent put the architects in a difficult position. Kent informed Jones in February 1895 that he "wrote Perkins and Wright making proposition .... The only thing left unsaid was that they should bear at least part of the risk of our not being able to build." Apparently, Wright and Perkins, eager for the opportunity, were willing to assume the risk.

Indeed, between 1895 and 1903, Wright and Perkins lavished a considerable amount o[ time and energy on the project, attesting to the importance they attached to it during a period when both were establishing independent practices and were beginning to work out their ideas of a new architecture. By 1896, both had offices in the office/loft spaces of Steinway Hall, an eleven-story office and theater building (designed by Perkins) located south of the Loop on Van Buren Street. Here and in Wright's Oak Park studio, a growing circle of young architects followed Louis Sullivan in developing theories of building that stre sed that a democratic society required an organic architecture that had the power to reform society.

Following Wright's lead, the Prairie School architects linked these philosophies to a system of design elastic enough to accommodate any building type. They designed structures fashioned mainly from traditional materials such as brick, wood, and stucco, featuring angular geometric massing, hovering horizontal planes contrasted with short vertical elements, and minimal ornament. Since most Prairie School designs were domestic commissions, the Lincoln Centre project provided the young Wright and Perkins with a critical opportunity to test their architectural ideas in a different arena: the institutional church.

Furthermore, it gave them the chance to build for an "ideal" patron: as Jones, Wright, and Perkins shared many of the same ideas concerning social reform, the project must have appeared to promise a neat alignment of progressive ideas with radical architectural form.

The scheme was an opportunity for the young architects to demonstrate the flexibility of Prairie School architectural philosophy outside the realm of domestic design.

53

Chicago History, March 1993 To resolve the financial problem, Kent and Jones considered many solutions, including combining with another religious group in Chicago, the People's Institute. Kent, however, considered the group too conservative. He wrote to Jones, "I have feared it would be impossible for us to combine with the People's Institute and hardly believe that anything short of a large and well advertised plan on their part would contribute the necessary dollars for our building." Wright and Perkins, perhaps in their zeal to complete the project, also sought funding for the building. Wright consulted a loan agent who insisted on overvaluing the structure at $180,000. Writing to his uncle, he stressed that he and Perkins were "carefully preparing a prospectus for him, so as to let no opportunity escape no matter how slim." Kent never found a rapid means of acquiring funding. Instead, he eventually raised the money by subscription from members of All Souls on the condition that $100,000 would be pledged before Kent would call for the money.

In the meantime, Kent continued to consider architects for the building. Although invited to submit a design, Wright and Perkins were not commissioned for the project at this point because Kent was not convinced that they would produce an appropriate design. Instead, Kent tried to convince Jones to hold a competition between Wright and Perkins and New York architect Ernest Flagg. At some time between February and July 1895, Kent traveled to New York City to inten iew Flagg, whose work he viewed as economical, efficient, and beautifully proportioned in a conventional manner. Flagg, who had studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, maintained a successful New York practice, producing buildings based on French classical architectural principles.

Perhaps Kent was also aware ofFlagg's involvement in the ew York housing reform movement, for which he had designed innovative tenement housing. Kent was interested in such model tenement schemes for philanthropic reasons as well as economic gain; at the time, he was working with Jane Addams to develop a similar plan in Chicago. Flagg responded to Kent's inquiry about a design for All Souls with preliminary plans and notes, specif),ing that he 1

54

would not undertake an elevation until Jones settled on the plans.

Although Kent had approached Flagg concerning preliminary sketches, there were as yet no requirements for a competition. Writing to Jones in July 1895 on th is issue, Kent cautiously voiced skepticism concerning Perkins and Wright: I LrusL you are keeping . . . Perkins and Wright posted as Lo your idea ... so LhaL there can be no qucsLion of fairness in the ulLirnate compeLiLion or Lhe skeLches. r am al most sorry LhaL Lhey are al all mixed up in the transacLion, as it will be very difliculL LO set Lerms to a competiLion which will necessarily so la1·gely involve adaptation to our ideas ....

On your return from vacation we will have to discuss this matter . . . and gel up a set of requirements which Lhe conLesLanLs must recognize. \Ve can have no fair compeLiLion otherwise.

Jones, apparently not reconciled Lo Kent's idea of a competition, suggested a different course of action: "My own idea is to let Flagg and P and \V work out their ideas ... including elevation the more different the better, and then ll'e can use the good in each and satisfy both for their trouble. I spent three hours with Wright on the way out or town .... He will have ideas we can not afford LO do without."

Jones's de ign requirements changed many time between 1895 and 1905 to accommodate the precariou , constantly shifting financial situation. During this period, \\'right and Perkins produced at least four different designs for the building. If Flagg also produced designs during this period, they remain unknown. A letter from Kent to Jones in July 1895 indicates that Perkins and Wright had begun sketches based on the client's requirement that the building generate income: "Perkins called in to sec me this morning ....

Perkins and Wright have figured on two schemes one of which involves using the rear end of the lot east of us. . . . From what Perkins says it would appear that their plan would involve more revenue than Flagg is figuring on." Indeed, four different sets of development plans exist, each indicating a separate type and arrangement of rental spaces such as offices, apartments, or lofts.

A Vision of Urban Social Reform

Above, arrhitectural drawing of Hull-Hou e, 1900. Below, the reception hall al Hull-House, c. 1910. Among the sernices the settlement house offered were a kindergarten, playground, and courses in domestic and manual training.

55

Chicago Histmy, March 1993 with the commercialism of the time for the sake of more intimate cultivation of a higher and better co mm erc ialism ; the art th at recognizes in commerce a natural dignity.

Frank Lloyd Wright projJosed various designs for the Abraham Lincoln Centre but resigned from the project before its co111pletio11.

By 1898, Wright and Perkins had completed plans for an eight-story building. ln 1899, a perspective drawing for a nine-story building, accompanied by plans, appeared in architectural journals and exhibitions. Here the building appears as a rectangular brick box rising from a broad base with strongly accented corner piers, capped by a plain cornice. Inside, the first three floors hou e church activities, while the remaining five floors contain office space. This design , modeled after the tall office buildings of Sullivan, received high praise from Wright and Perkins's friend Robert Spencer in The Architectural Review: An institutional church is housed in a building which is carried high enough to insure a compact housing of varied educational, social and phila nthropic interesls on high-priced ground at a centre of commercial activit)' .... The building as a whole is characterized by an austere repression of decorative detail. ... It will stand like a great rock as a landma1-k of progress in practical Christianity and art. The pranical ChrisLianity that could fraLernize

56

These designs are in Wright's hand , which raises the question of Perkins's contribution to the scheme. A letter from Wright to Jones , dated February 25, 1898, sheds light on his working relationship with Perkins: "If I can be or service to you in further promoting the interests or the 'C hurch Scheme' let me know what l can do and it shall be done. Perkins has no complaint as he has done nothing but the talking, so far the expense has been born by me ." This suggests that Perkins's main role was dealing with the client and public relations, but considering Wright's well-known knack for exaggeration, it is difficult to judge.

Considering that Perkins had designed both tall office buildings and social settlement houses , he most likely contributed to the design of the Centre. His exact contributions to the project, however, remain ob cure.

Jones and Kent rurther complicated the development of the scheme in March J 90 I , requesting that Wright and Perkins send their drawings to Flagg for criticism . The architects wrote to Flagg, describing their work in the rhetoric of the Prairie School: "The plan shows a housing for a practical educational institution in this Machine Age, and tries to make something dignified of it honestly. We, as architects of the building, would be glad or your candid opinion or it merits , or demerits, upon that basis." Flagg's reply is unknown, but Wright and Perkins's response to it suggests that Flagg was critical or their work: "We are at opposite ends of the question, it is true, and not entirely able to get your view as you must necessarily fail of' ours. We struggle toward the same end, doubtless, ... architectural integrity and beauty ... but by widely different paths."

At J ones's suggestion and in response to Flagg's criticism, Wright and Perkins produced a design for a six- tory building, a more elaborate and expensive building than indicated in previous drawings. In this plan , Jones's vision of social reform is restated in the architectural vocabulary that Wright was developing in his domestic commissions. The designs display an

A Vision of Urban Social Reform

ti .1ketch by 11'right and Perkins for the building from 1900.

57

Chicago History, March 1993

even playfully including a reworded line from Gilbert's and Sullivan's The Mikado to support his argument: The loggia is anything but dark .... IL will not be dirty, for the whole building, you will notice is detailed to clean itself completely summer and winter. No dirty streaked walls for usl The cleanliness that's next to Godliness. The loggia is essential to the life and character of the building, the featLll"e calculated 'to lend veri imilitude to an otherwise bald and uninteresting narrative.' The committee insist upon it. Don't raise the question again unless you simply can not help it for it will only thmw sand in the bearings .

William Kent's official role on the J1roject was financial advisor. In addition, /ze influenced the design of the building, advocati11g a tradilio11al, classical architecture.

increased spatial complexity interwoven with a richly symbolic ornamental treatment of surfaces. On the exterior, tall ornamental glass windows encompassing the second and third floors reveal the presence of the second-floor auditorium and act as screens between internal and external pace, while a loggia boldly opens the fifth floor to light and air. On the interior, the auditorium's spatial divisions are emphasized through color: a brown wooden organ loft set between massive red brick piers hovers above a raised platform; a flat plaster ceiling is painted yellow and trimmed with brown wooden molding strips; and the balconies on three sides of the room are painted green.

Wright vigorously defended the spatial and ornamental aspects of this design to his uncle, 58

While conflict over the designs continued, Kent had Linally acquired one hundred thousand dollars, which meant that the committee was obligated to break ground and begin construction. On June 14, 1902, Jones presided over the ground-breaking ceremony. At the small gathering, Kent announced that "the building will be four- ided and honest, brick, iron, and cement. It should be under roof by September, 1903 . . . . \Ve are building to house our ideals .... The walls affording shelter from the elements are permeable and will be permeated by those invisible rays of human sympathy that attest the unity of humankind."

Shortly after the ceremony, Kent took Perkins and Wright's designs to New York to consult with Flagg and his partner \\'alter B. Chamber . Upon returning to Chicago, Kent wrote to Jones: "I am entirely convened to the belief that Wright's building is a nightmare and is wasteful in cost of construction and maintenance." Writing separately to Wright and Perkins, Kent suggested that they pursue a fresh solution to the problem. To Wright, Kent wrote generally and diplomatically of Flagg's and Chambers's criticisms: I took your plans ... clown east and showed chem Messrs. Flagg and Chambers .... In a much as their criticisms \\'ere radical and much alike and appealed to me as reasonable I feel we have good rea on to doubt our past judgement as far as we have expre sed it. No stretch of the imagination could contort their criticisms into professional jealousy as they are overloaded with the biggest kind or LO

A Vi.1io11 of' l} r/){111 Somil !fr/om1 wo 1k. ·1·aking all tirin g~ into anrn1111 ,111cl IH11nlJl y rcali1i11g my ow 11 inadcq11acy i11 tire lack of" k11owlcdg<' of ;11<hit<'tllll'l', I feel 1h;i 1 111 y dut y 10 thi , ,< ht·111<· dt'rm111cb I he rnn·f'ul co 11 sicl cra t io11 of' a11othcr pla n of buildi11 g and tl1 c rcfon· would give yo11 f;1i1 1101in· o f"tlrl' prcsc.: 111 s1at11,.

Kent 's letter 10 Perkins is more 'ilraightl"orw.inl, clarifying Kc11t 's ol~jections to the d ·sign: Tire ,t·'>'>io11 . . . with Chamber, and Flagg .. . rn1ll'i11r<.:cl 111t· 1lra1 011 ,111 <;11tirdy clifh·1T11t sys 1<.:111 wt· rnn b11ilcl a four-stcwy b11ildi11g o r mu ch mo r<.: bcau1iftil proportiom and, what i, of 11101 <.: impor1,111«· , pt·r fvc il y lighted and vt 111ila1<:d 11a1urnll y and, by <·co110111y of arra11gt·111 ·111 , rnn obt a in prnc1irally tlw '><1111 <.: floor ,pan·, for Jes, 111011t·y. . . I f°l-l·l 1ha1 ,ill of u, h<·re hav<: bct·n cir ivc 11 i1110 a rut fro111 wl1icl1 i1 i, hard 10 c,rnp<: by 1hc 111<:1hod of deVl'lop111c111 which the plans have u11d<:rgo11c .... I a111 now full y cor1vi11ccd th a t th · <:lcva tion pla1111<:cl is u1111c<<'ssa 1il y expcmiv<.: a11d though ,1riki11g and 01 igi nal , i, 1101 a, good a, could be obtain<:cl by 11101T co11,<:rvat ivc a nd co11vt·11t iomtl t r<.:,l111H.:11t.

Kent rnncludcd his letter to l'c rkim by offcri11g him the chance to '>upcrintcnd the build ing sho1ild Flagg and Charnbcrs rurnish an appropriate clcsign . Kent wrote runhcr to _jo11cs: " I suspect Wright will bc intensel y disgusted. I I<: is not alLOgcthcr to blame for the present plam though ltc is to blame to a larg · extent."

In .Jul y I !)02 the huilcli11 g committee agreed to pa y one thousand dollars 10 l'crkim and Wright to begin again. Kent wrote LO _Jones aski11g- him to set specific requirements upon whid1 to has · a comp ·tition: Yrn11 li,1 of piT,<.:111 rcquirc111l·nt, is ,11ggestivc and 11othi11g mo1T . For Ill)' part I ,lrall ncvt·1 ta lk to any 111mt· a1clri1cct, 1111til wt· ha ve ,0111c1hi11g ddinit<: i11 the war o r 1·equircments upo n which Lo base competitive sketches . .. . This auditorium hould not be . .. a gi mcrack affa ir that can Lum Oip-llops and be used for a n aquarium or a corn-husking bee ....

Pl ca~e write Lo me soon as LO what you can and will do in the way of working thi thing out.

Looking for advice, Kent consulted another architect associated with the Prairie School ,

Irving Pon<.!. Pond , with his brother /\lkn,

cl ·signed I lull -1 lousc , making ltim a logical c ltoi c<.:. K ·nt wrote to .Jones i11 mid -.Jul) of Po11d 's sugg-cstions , which lm11sed 011 economy: " l'ond is ext rem ·ly di-,tru,trul of' t ltc es t in1atcs ·itltcr of' Wright or of Sollitt lthc co ntra<.torl and says he docs not believe it pmsible to pul up tltc Wright building f'or less than 20¢ per cubic f'ool or $ I (H) ,000 a11d bcli ·v ·s it will cost more ." Pond '>uggcstccl that Kent invite two or three architects of' standing to compete. Kc11L later explained to .Jones that Flagg and Cha111bcr, "" well as Perkins and Wright would submit clcsigm.

On.Jul y 21, Kent invited Perkins and.Jones to submit a new set or designs: " Mr .. Jones , taking yo ur word as to cost, wishes a six-s101y building . . . . 11 · is or tile opinion that your six-story and basc111c11t building- would answer rcquircm ·nts under certain condi1io11s."

Th ·sc co nditions were: remove the corner piers and the loggia ; in ·luck windows with balanced sas hes ; and reduce the cost or the building to $ 110,000 . Further, K ·nt stated that th · revised designs would be judgcd by "o ne or two clisintcrcstccl and cxpen men, " mentioning William Ware , or th · journal T//11 A111l'rirnn Jlrchil l'CI, as a possibilit y. Kent wrote lo .Jone:-, concerning Perkim and Wright: " I believe th ·y will try LO do tltc work . I abo bcl icvc they wi II ra iI. Ir th 'Y succ · ·cl I shall swnd by the proposition .... rr the y fail, ... I shall h ave nothing runhcr to do with their plan .... You and Perkins and Wright arc all d 'cc iving yo un,clvcs, about cost."

Kent continued to cons1dt with Pond, writing to .Jones: " We have [$] I 00,000 and arc obligated to spend it. ... Pond and I lowarcl Shaw both f'ricncl s or Wand P say ... that ~ ·cond story auditoriums arc conspicuous fail ures .... Please don ' t talk about spending five yea rs or any other time beyo nd ,1 kw nHJntlt'i raising more money ." Furthermore, Kent stressed that Howard Van Doren Shaw, a society architect whom Kent called "an ardent adherent of Wright," also supported the competition idea, suggesting that Boston critic Russell turgis judge the competition rather than Ware , whom he thought would be a "severe critic of 'western virility,' which may or may not be art."

59

Chicago History, March 1993

By October 1902, Kent was prodding Jones to help him obtain cost estimates for Perkins and Wright's revised plans: I wish you would collect and send me the latest e levation, plans and specifications of the Wri ght and Perkin s proposition . . .. 1 do not wish to get mixed up with Mr. Wright in the tran saction any more than I would ask you to take part in a discuss ion with Flagg and Chambers until this pre liminary

work is clone a nd the ground cleared. I sho uld like to have you go with me lo Mr. Mayor a nd to cooperate with me in lay ing oul the basis o r hi s re la tive estim ate.

It is uncl ear whether a n actua l competiti on wa ever held. Des pite Kent's mi sgivings, .Jones accepted Perkins and Wri g ht 's revised pla ns on February 4, 1903. By J un c, however, a disgusted Wright resigned fro m th e project, leav-

The !Vestem Unitarian Confermre, November 30, 1 909. At left is lhe Abraham Lincoln Centff; at right, lhe original All Souls Church.

60

A Vision of Urban Social Reform ing Perkins to oversee the completion of the building with the help of Pond. Perkins, equally frustrated, wrote to .Jones in July stating thaL he took no responsibiliLy for the final design.

Although a final design was accepted, funding remained a problem. In September 1903, Kent encouraged Jones to approach Andrew Carnegie for a donation, suggesting a well that "the Morris tribe are making money at a rnosl alarming rate and are also legitimate prey." While Carnegie did not donate, elson Morris, a German immigrant who made a fortune in the Chicago meat-packing industry, conLributed a substantial sum to Lhe project.

Apparently to accommodate the tight budget, the design was substantially altered once again. The 11nal structure, completed in 1905, is a red brick box with chocolate brown brick trim that breaks up the mass of Lhe building into horizontal layers.Jones justified the starkness of the building: 'The severest simplicity has been aimed al; no money will be spent on exterior embellishments because all will be needed to furnish the interior with the tools and life that will justify the expenditure."

Jn 1905, after years of conflict and financial problems, Jen kin Lloyd Jones dedicated the building that provided him with a base for his involvement with progressive social reform, including work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), women's suffrage, prohibition, and world peace. The architects, however, were not atisfied with the end result. Maginel Wright Barney described her brother Frank's reaction at the dedication ceremony when he saw on the printed announcement, "Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright": "I will never forget Frank's white, furious face . . . . I think Uncle Jenk thought he was doing Frank full justice. After all, the original plans were his. He didn't reali1.e ho\\' Frank's integrity was "iolated by what he considered a monstrous betrayal of his plans." Wright's \\'Ork on the Abraham Lincoln Centre \\'as not wasted, however, as these design held the germinal ideas for the Larkin Building (1904) and Unity Temple (1906).

The conllict among Jone ·, Kent, Wright, and Perkins might be considered an extreme case of noncooperation between client and

architect not likely to be met again during any architect's career. Kent's adverse reaction to Wright's radical architectural ideas may not have been so unusual, however, and hi obvious preference for East Coast ideas of construction and aesthetics may be suggestive of the type of problems these young architect faced while developing their conception of a new organic American architecture.

The Abraham Lincoln Centre stands today, although it is now situated in one of the most economically de/Jressed areas in the city. The building was saved from demolition by public demonstration and acquired by Northeastern lllinois University in 1969-70. Restored in 1973-77 by Andrew Heard and Associates, the building currently houses the university's Center for Inner City Studies, continuing today the Lincoln Centre's vital connection with progressive social reform in Chicago.

For Further Reading For more information about the Prairie School and its architects, see H. Allen Brooks's The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and his Midwest Contemporaries (New York: W.W. orton, 1972) . The social reform movement of the late nineteenth century is the subject of many books. One good source is Allen F. Davis, S/Jearheads for Refonn: The Social Settlement and the Progressive Movement, 1890-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967). For more on the teachings of.Jenkin Lloyd Jones, see The Agricultural Social Gospel in America: The Gospel of the Fann by Jenkin Uoyd Jones, Thomas Graham, edit0r, (Lewiston/Queenston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1986).

James Weber Linn's Jane Addams: A Biography (New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1937) tell the story of one of America's most famous social workers.

Illustrations 51, The University of Chicago Archives; 52, CHS, ICHi-20044; 55 above, CHS, ICHi-17829; 55 below, CHS, JCHi-01548; 56, The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation; 57; from Work Exhibited in the Chicago Architectural Club Thirteenth Annual Exhibition, CHS Library; 58, William Kent Family Papers, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale Unive,-sity Library; 60, -n1e University of Chicago Archives.

61

YESTERDAY'S CITY Chicago's Geography Johann Georg Kohl Translated by Craig T Reisser

Translator's note: When J ohann Ge01g Kohl came to Chicago in 1855, he had an international reputation as a writer and an inteipreter of jJlaces. In a scant fourteen years, he had authored twenty-four books, primarily travel writings. His three Russian travel journals, published in 1841 , launched his extraordinary career. Translated here is an excerpt from Reisen im Nordwesten der Vereinigten Staaten (Journeys in the orthwest United States).

After university study in Gottingen, H eidelberg, and Munich, Kohl, who was from a prominent Bremen merchant family , went to Latvia to work as a private tutor for German aristocrats. He traveled throughout Russia and other countries on the continent and the British Isles, publishing seventeen books based on these travels. By his own admission, he was "born to be a writer." "For years at a time . ... I wrote down everything that went through my head, and luwe-so to speak-spun the soul from my body like a silkworm spins its silken thread."

By 1850, Kohl had become fascinated with European discovery and ex/Jloration of the Americas. H e systematically visited state archives in England, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Portugal to copy the original maps of the "Age of Discovery. " With a p01tfolio of more than four hundred facsimiles ofthese ma/Js, Kohl boarded a stearnshijJ for Philadelphia on September 7, 1854. The surviving ma/Js from the Kohl collection became the seed for the Geography and Map Collection of the Library of Congress.

Kohl settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, quickly becoming part of the intellectual elite. H e lectured at the Smithsonian and obtained a federal grant from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to chart Craig T. Reisser earned a doctorate in geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the European Program Director at SCOLA (Satellite Communications for Leaming).

62

the coastlines of the United States. He delegated the actual cartographic drafting to capable assistants, allowing him time to travel and write. While some of his travel accounts of North America were translated into English, his 534-page account of a tenmonth journey in what was then the northwestern United States, Reisen im ordwesten der Vereinigten Staaten, is available only in German.

In 1857, Kohl returned to Germany and became chief librarian of his native Bremen. Chicago, how-

l.

Chirngo i11 l 853. Kohl was intrigued by the city's meteoric growth and predicted I/wt ii would become the 111elropolis of th1' J\lirhue.11. £11gravi11g published in Ladies Repository. 1856. CHS, ICHi-05650.

ever, cv11li1111erl lo fascinate !his gregarious urbanite.

Kolzl-be.11 known to modern arnrlemic geographers jiJr his writings on urban rlevelojJ1nenl, city struct11 re, and tmnsporlalion theory-was excited by Chicago's co11wzercial bustle and meteoric rlevelop111e11l. C!tirngo's situation cmnmrmding rnil and waler lrn11sporlalio11 routes intrigued him. He affec-

tionately referred lo this commercial dynamo with the feminine pronoun, and, unwilling to break the old Continental habits, figuratively spoke of its gates and battlements. Although Kohl personally preferred Milwaukee, he emphasized that Chicago was destined to become the premier city of the American interior.

63

Chicago Hist01y, March 1993

It must be clear to anyone who glances at a map that somewhere at the southern end of the great Lake Michigan a large city would develop. At the end of a long lake, the opportunity to travel by ship ends. There traffic must shift to another mode or transportation.

This requires a harbor and a place where water and land transport can be handled.

Mother ature has not blessed any one position at the wide southern end of Lake Michigan this way; nowhere is there a good harbor, a place where everyone could say, as at Constantinople or Messina: this is the one and only correct spot. Everywhere there is a sandy bank, and every few miles there are small rivers, but none make a ignificant breach into the interior. Certainly the small mouth or the Chicago River was a favored spot for the Indians and the French . But why should not the mouth of the neighboring and equally small Calumet River, or indeed, any other water course through the dunes at the south end of the lake have been called to greatness) Why the Chicago? Why didn't any other stream take precedence? All o[ these orrer as good a spot as Chicago in relation to the entire lake, and each one serves a wide expanse of fertile land.

Engraving of Chicago's lakefront in 1850. CHS, JCHi-05647.

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Many were puzzled by this for quite some time, and there were several attempts to establish neighboring towns, which were promoted as on their way to becoming great. A few attempted to settle at the mouth of the abovementioned Calumet River, twelve miles south of Chicago. Indeed, this river rorms large swamp in its hinterland, which doubtlessly hinder access to a city. At the same time, this river course simultaneously winds back and forth. One might have thought that restricting its course via a canal and giving the swamps a faster-flowing outlet would completely eliminate the second problem. But berore such a plan could be executed, Chicago had already made rapid progress. She sat firmly in the saddle and consequently [those on the Calumet River] had to abandon the competition.

But rarther to the south and west [along the Calumet] is another harbor-like opening in the bank and dunes, diametrically west or the center line of the lake. Here, a few eastern speculators thought this was the true site on which the large "world city of Chicago" would arise.

They bought a lot of land here and built thirty to forty houses on the bank, and erected large hotels. They called their establi hment "City \Vest." They publicized their new colony

l,. l1' 11/n °I I 1/ \

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ti 111<11 11111.il I 11111111 ,1 J 111 1111 Ill tt.; lilH1I '''K sll'ampy regions earned away w1ncloll'S, doors, and an)'thing else that cou ld be removed from these large two-storr buildings. Fina ll)', in order to salvage somethin g from the remaining ruin , they sold ofT the entire city. The buyers had the foresight to load the houses on sa ili ng shi ps to carry them across the lake to Ch icago li ke articles o r commerce. Before they could carry thi s through , holl'cvcr, a pra irie fire

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bors, Ch icago has a longer hi story, a h1 ston cal name, re lat ive ly swamp-free env iro n , a nd a better, more access ible harbor. T he p r imary reason, however, was eas ier access to th e Illino is Ri ver, and th rough it, the Mis iss ippi .

T he last ractor th rew th e dec isive we ig ht on the ca les. T he upper Illino is River, th e socall ed Riv iere aux Pla in es, co mes very close to the C hi cago, and even wit ho ut a ca na l

65

Chicago Histmy, Marrh 1993

The Lake Street Bridge, loo/iing north. Carte de rrisile. CJIS, JCl!i-00142.

this must have always been the spot where goods going farther south, or those coming upstream from the Mississippi, could have been exchanged. From the Illinois River to the lake, a water connection using a canal was easiest to attain at Chicago. Once this fact wa recognized, building a canal was decided upon. When it was finally finished and opened in 1848, any competition with nearby localities was history. It was clear that at the southern end of Lake Michigan, which nature indicated to be the preferential spot, Chicago would command all the advantages of this position and must come to fruition.

Ask only what the splendid, wide-reaching advantages of this position were and are and we will want to divide and group this grand topic. Let us begin by looking at the water routes from Chicago through the CanadianAmerican lakes. . . . Lake Michigan is four hundred mile long and stretches from south to north in the form of a long sack, with Chicago in its lowermost corner. Even if this lake did not o/Ter any connections to the wider world, Chicago would still play an important 66

role as a pole of its commercial axis. Everything that the coastal towns and their adjacent lands need from the south would come most easily from Chicago over advantageous water routes, and the travelers and goods headed to the south would most naturally go over the sack-shaped lake, land in Chicago, and from there push inland.

That Chicago's significance has become much greater than simply that of the main emporium of Lake Michigan is already clear from the fact that the existing steamship lines go from here to notjust Milwaukee and other Wisconsin coastal towns but to Mackinaw at the other end of the lake as well. The gate at the other end of Lake Michigan alone is open, creating many other distant and wonderful connections. One of these, a more than a onethousand-mile-long chain of lakes and navigable streams, swings from here to the Atlantic, forming one of the most notable shipping passages with an east-west orientation that the American continent possesses ....

On the west, Lake Michigan fronts on a wide expanse of land; it does not come to a

)',.1/1•1tl11J \ ( .'ity point like the ea,tc111 end of Like Elie . I here ail' nun1no11, oppo111111itin along the 1111cc ltu11d1ed -111ik roa-.tlinl' to t,lp the c,pamiH' i111nio1. I hcrclon:, one could con,1dl'r an1 point 01 harbor along thi'> ,l101elinc, 101 c,alllplc, \lil11aukcc 01 ShclJO\ gan, ,1, the 11l''>tcrn tc1 rni1111, 101 ,!tipping. 1o a large degree , thi, i, the rn,e. Mih1 ;1uktT and the othc1 port, along the 11c,tc111 ,horcli11c do (t>llljJt'I<: 11itl1 Chicago, and (·,Hh bc11dits in pa1 t lrolll it, pmitio11 a, tlH· 1110'1 ll'e,tct I) point of a long ea,t-11l',t tran,portation route .

I hat Chirngo take, the pi ecrni11en1 pm1t1011 ,111.t) liolll them i, largch htTau,t· ofht·1 1111,,1 Im oralilc pmi t ion i11 that ,he Ii kc111,e t 0111 111,llld, ,011tht·1 h 10llll''-, ....

It i, a gn·at ad,antage 101 the tit, ol Chit,1go that he1 lake c-...tc11d, ju,t bd,m tilt· lort) -,e(o 1l(I parallel, the same p.ir,dlcl th.it pa11itiom l .c1 kl' bic and that is the nH'dian of thi, gre,11 11c,tll'ard hig-lmay. S11 l'lt hing lrnm 1101 th to ,outh , Lake \litl11ga11 Ii;" thl' elk( t ora 11ide ditch 011 all the overland traflit (0111 ing from the c;i,t, and all arc fo1ccd to clctou1

R.ush Street BridgP, c. 1869. Stereogra/1hic view byj.Carbutt. CHS Prints and Photographs Collection.

67

Chicago History, March 1993 around the lake 's southern tip. ot until Chicago, where the land spreads out on every side, can the bundle of routes pre sed together spread out and reach toward their specific destinations. In doing this, Chicago benefits from this entire bundle, as well as their subsequem division and expansion.

Before we attribute all the weight of the western side of these constellations to Chicago, however, we must first do exactly what we did in looking at the system's opposite pole. New England and the Atlantic coastal regions act as counterweights on the long axis to the interior lands, and the \Ve t; Chicago's hinterland does the same. Here, we are primarily considering the territories of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, and secondarily those of Iowa and Minnesota. They are all grouped around the southern and western shores of Lake Michigan. They are the final destinations of activities set in motion back East, for which the splendid Great Lakes route serves as the most sensible expedient. These states are in a most splendid position for reciprocal trade because their assets contrast most advantageously with those of the East. While nature has given them poor, infertile soil, so the West comprises the most luxuriant, fertile farm lands in the world.

There stony soils are practically unknown and every region pays its thanks with field after field stretching to the horizon.

Even if a few districts are already overpopulated, the entire region is hungry for new workers. ow [1855], three states, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, produce almo t one-quarter of the wheat and corn harvests of the entire United States. Likewise, they are without equal in their plentitude of horses and beef cattle.

Indeed, this region is either traversed or bordered by two excellent natural routes, the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, on which its inhabitants first received necessities and exported their products. In earlier times, before the Great Lakes route was clearly expressed and developed-we must not lose sight of the fact that this relationship is a completely new phenomenon-they used these two rivers almost exclusively. They received most of their population and necessities via the Ohio and shipped their products down the Mississippi. During the infancy of the western states, the first settlers in 68

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Indiana, Illinois, and even Wiscon in came almost exclusively from Virginia and Kentucky.

Since then, it cannot be overemphasized, the Yankees have come with the development of the lakes route. Indeed, for this difficult undertaking, more time was necessary for its development after work began. The situation changed enormously once New York State constructed the Erie Canal, after channels or canals were cut through the isthmuses between the lakeswhich were required to reach the coast via the St. Lawrence, and finally railroads were built

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foll ow in g the la kesh ores. Th e states on th e upper Mi ss issippi , and to a lesse r degree th ose on th e O hi o, turned towa rd the la kes, a nd this has artifi cial!)' reduced th eir link wiLh the lower Miss is ippi and redirected th e m to a mi ghti er magnet, the eastern la kes an d the St. Lawrence.

T here is one area wh ere the \ Vest does not con trast with the East; it has simil ar physical a nd politica l cl im ates. An d it is prec isely thi s similari t)' that binds the two so closely together, just like th e differe nces betwee n the ir products a nd th e ir needs. For thi s reaso n, Wi sco nsin ,

Explorer Louis J oliet's 1675 map of the Great Lakes region. From the Kohl Collection, Libm l)' of Congress.

Iowa, a nd Minnesota are envi ed by ew England 's fa rm ers, because there a completely different so il lies under a similar sky. Likewise, the econd most important group of colonists, Germ an immigrants, are moving there-it reminds them of their homeland. Although the latitudes a re not the same, th e isotherms are almost th e sa me. From Germany and Ireland, across th e ocean to ew York a nd Boston, and

69

Chicago History, March J 99 3 via the lakes to Chicago and the northwestern states alluded to-this is the great migration route for the farmers and those associated with them. But they invariably remain in the same climatic region. And it is just as valuable to them that this entire zone maintains a sympathetic political climate. It remains within the Germanic element; it never turns up within Africanized America where the climate is indeed semitropical. The Yankee, and in alliance with him the German, have made their acquisitions in the West, which they already dedicated to themselves, rather than to the South. In those states where an intermittent, widely scattered population from Virginia and Kentucky had already begun to introduce their slavery laws, they wrested these away. The southerners are disappearing while the Yankees and Germans are increasing.

In all of the above-named western states, Illinois holds first place in fertility of the soil and the value of its products. One can say that its entire expansion has been an uninterrupted march of fat and productive settlement. And indeed this state, to which Chicago belongs, has preferred to direct its exports through Chicago, its great export harbor on the lakes .... Chicago, therefore, is favored by her position in the rich state of Illinois, which has fed her splendidly via the Illinois River and the canal. Likewise, she has grown large because of streams of migrants and all

70

the overland routes that push near the southern tip of the lake in coming to this vicinity from the East. She has become a great distributor of routes for railroad builder Lo the West, orthwest, and Southwe t. She has achieved such a preponderance that she has been elevated to the commercial capital for Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, and distant circles beyond.

Early on, Chicago-led by intelligent men -jelled as a small colony of easterners from cw York and Boston. Then geographic position alone has not done everything. With astonishing energy, railroads spread out across the prairie in all directions. Every important point on the Ohio-Mississippi route from Cincinnati via Louisville to Galena and Dubuque ha been reached by a railroad from Chicago. St. Paul , the major city commanding the sources of the Mississippi, has also been caught up in thi development.

Every city on the Mississippi and the Ohio between St. Paul over St. Louis and on to Cincinnati lies within a half-circle around Chicago. This half-circle of the upper Missisippi and lower Ohio has a certain parallel with the shoreline of Lake Michigan. All of the above-mentioned cities lie at approximately equal distances from Chicago, and almost all are within one day's journey of Chicago.

The Pioneer engine, which ran on the Chicago and Norlhwestem Railroad. CHS, JC! li-2354 5.

Yeslerdoy's City

REDUCTION OF ARE !

American Lake Shore Railroad, v,a Niagara Falla and Buffalo, to Cleveland, Toledo, Chio ago, and the W eat

CREAT AMERICAN U. S. MAIL AND EXPRESS ROUTE. THROUGH TICKETS, FIRST & SECOND CLAS ;, BY LAKE SHORE RAILROAD, FR.01\/.1: BOSTON" TC> C~IC.A.G-0, ARRIVING J-----=-1./

IN ADVANCE Of'

VERY OTHER ROUTE.

TICKETS BY THIS ROUTE GOOD UNTIL USED. f'a,,c11,:1'.r~ \\ti, }'Nl'Pl\l', 1 u gl mce 1h:it tin, l:11111,• po,,c,,c~ htl'ilitic!-' 1h.1t an• 11111 11 !h" l'"""r nf r,tlwr lloutc,. pa-..,rn;: a-; it do•,, frmn thf' ,a111(' !)('pot 11i the XI<;\\ YOHK l'F\'TI~ \ I. KAIi.ROAD in BITF.\LO tl11•11rc l'ro111 Continuou-, Dcpnt, to rIIICA(;O, ('l~l 1.·:-,. \Tl :i11cl :--T. l,()[·1s; tliu-. //('•11',/,',,,, ,;,, r.,p,11,1 of /{,lf•/.-lu,·~ ,rn,/ /1°(/l!SJlf1r/i11!/ and rcdnr/,111:1 uf 1;,,.,:,11.']r "" )•l"f'\'il IP-nl f•n othf'I' l{r,ntc·-.. ~Pa;-scngcrs "j.._J,ing to go hy the way of Kiagarn, Falb to any of the aho\'n point;.., can do "" withn11t an~· adclicional f'har~c. anrl remain a,- long as thcv wish, ai:: the 'I'ickch arc not dater!.

KASSON & SON'S PATENT NIGHT 04.RS A re nrm in n--c 11pon this Ho11t f', which, 1'01· ca...,c, co111lort and splendor, :we 1111~urpu,-secl E, l'r_r train Rupplicd with WATER CAHRIER . whot-,eduty it i» a.tall times tn wait npon the Ira Yeller

N. 8.·••To Jlercltauts, Forwarders. and Shippers of i~reight. this llontr C>F"F"EFl.S G-Fl.E.A.T IN'DUOE:M:EN'TS !

THROUGH TICKET OFFICE, oSTATE STREET, BOSTON, DAILY TIMES BUILDING. Any fartbnr iJ form at1on

III

regard to Through Tiell:ets or :t•reight.. may be had at the Company'3 Office

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Q. A. BIDAN, Agent.

By 1856, Chicago was the wor/d '.1 la1gesl railway ce11/er. CHS, IC!li-06672.

7l

Chicago Histo1y, March 1993

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grain elevators al th e lalufronl , 1858. Photogra/Jh by Alexa11der 1-frsln. CIIS, IC/ fi-052 I I.

Chicago is the center point of this grouping.

This circumstance is suited to giving Chicago a dominant position, which now is just commercial mastery. If these lands were ever to group themselve as large sovere ign countries, Chicago would undoubtedly present herself as the center of a large political power. vVhat the future will call into existence at this speck on the Earth is hidden by the shortsightedness of our vantage. When we consider what has been created here in the short span of the most recent past, we can indeed expect a lot. This city is the youngest among America's large cities. Although American cities, compared with those in other countries, shoot up with the speed of comets, Chicago alone among these comets is a meteor. I did not discover even one reason that should slow dmvn this meteor. Her course is a perpendicularly ascend ing lin e that will continue at the same velocity. This entire organism of water and rail routes, whose western head is Ch icago, is, as I said, either a comp letely new invention or a 72

very young creation. The country, in whose middle Chicago has a lready assemb led onehundred thousand residents within her gates, has just begun to be populated and to develop its resources.

She is indeed capable of increasing her population tenfold. And this will happen if all the gates on the Canadian-American seaway are opened as wide as they can be, as is to be hoped for, and if every harbor on the lakes is developed as it cou ld and shou ld be, and if the water route from Chicago to Quebec is freed of every other barrier to hipping; this would allow the reciprocal traffic between England and the nion to take this route. One need not do much if he holds the conviction that this city's prospects for the future are as free , far-reaching, and unbounded as the view offered from her battlements across the surround in g prairies. There eve1-ything is flat and level, and the land presents no obstacles for an unlimited unfolding of streets, blocks of houses, suburbs, and railroad lin es.