Chicago History | Spring 1994

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CHICAGO HISTORY The Magazine of the Chicago Historical Society

ACTING EDITOR

Spring 1994

C L.t\ U DI A L AMM W OOD

Volume XXIII , Numb er 1

ASS ISTANT EDITOR

R OSl:'.MARY A DA \I S EDITORIAL ASSISTANT L YDI :\ 8 . FI EL D

DESIGNER

CO TENTS

Do, 01 S.-\ NTE PHOTOGRAPHY

j O II N A LD ERSON

4

D ENN IS E. HOFF MAN

J AY CRAW FO RD

Copyrigh t I 99·1 b) the Ch icago I li ,.,1orical Society Clark Street al :'forth A\'Cnue Chicago. IL606 1.J-6099

Watchdog on Crime

16 Building a ew Religion PAU L Eu I VEY

ISSN 0272-85.J0 Art icle, appearing in thi, journal arc ab~tratted and indexed in I !illorical tlb.1/rart.1 and , lm;nra: 1/11/ory and Uf,.

Footnoted man uscripts of 1h e art icle~ appearin g in this is~ue arc a\·ai lable from the Chicago I Ii,to1ka l Soc i~l) ·s Pub lication, OfTice.

Co, er: o,,ta,I oj the co1•er illiL1tmt,011 J,0111 the/int 1.1.111, <1 \ \'oriel 's Fair Puck (,\Jay I , 1893). CHS l.ihmr;.

32 Cartoon Commentary JEROLD

J. SAVORY

DEPARTME TS 3

From the Editor

58 Yesterday's City

Chicago Historical Society OFFICERS Philip W. Hummer, Chair Charles T. Brumback, Treastl?'er Richard M. Jaffee, Vice-Chair R. Eden Martin, s·ecretmy Edgar D. Jannotta, Vice-Chair Philip D. Block III, hnmediate Past Chair Douglas Greenberg, President and Director TRUSTEES Lerone Bennett, Jr. Freel A. Krehbiel Philip D. Block 1II Mrs.John]. Louis,Jr. Laurence Booth R. Eden Manin Charles T. Brumback Wayne A. McCoy Michelle L. Collins Robert Meers John W. Croghan Josephine Baskin Minow Stewart S. Dixon Potter Palmer Michael H. Ebner Margarita Perez Sharon Gist Gilliam Arthur F. Quern Philip \V. Hummer Gordon I. Segal Richard M. Jaffee Edward Byron Smith,Jr. Edgar D. Jannotta Mrs. Thoma J. Tausche \V. Paul Krauss James R. Thompson LIFE TRUSTEES Bowen Blair Philip E. Kelley Mrs. Frank D. Marer John T. McCutcheon, Jr. Andrew IcNally III Bryan S. Reid,Jr. Gardner H. Stern Dempsey J. Tr,l\·is HONORARY TRUSTEES Richard M. Daley, Mayor, City of Chicago John W. Rogers, Jr., President, Chirago Park District The Chicago Historical Society is a pri1·ately endowed, independent instiLUtion dcl'CHed to collecting, ime,·preting, and presenting the rich multicultural history of Chicago and Illinois, a~ 11 ell as selected areas of Ame,·ican history, to the public through exhibitions. programs, research coll ection~, and publicatiom. lt must look LO its members and friends for continuing financial support. Contributions to the Society arc tall.-decluctible, and appropriate recognition is acco,·dcd major gifts. r\ portion of the Chicago Histo,·ical Society's gene,·al operating funds is pml'ided by the Chicago Park District.

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From the Editor Historians have long relied on the written word as ev idence from which to draw their conclus ions.

Yet ora l history and oral trad iti ons-from the reminiscences of indiYiduals to the legends handed clown through generations-can also illuminate the past.

The long-held conviction that information transmitted ora ll y is less re li able has, until recenlly, caused historians to use these resources sparingly, if at al l. But memories and stories are somet imes the on ly way of gain ing informati on about segments of soc iety that have been left out of the written record. Some historians argue that re lying upon indi viduals' memories merely points to the problematic nature of all primary evidence; it comes to us with a built-in perspective and, as suc h, can be cons idered on ly as one viewpoint of pa t events.

While oral history has become an accepted historical methodology, the use of stor ies and oral traditions is more problematic. Fam ilies and nations have long used stories to commun icate shared valu es, and these tales, true or not, can tell us much about a culture. Some of our long-treasured national stories have no basis in fact. As historian Alfred F. Young pointed out, the story of George Washington chopp ing down the cherry tree was a creation of an author who called himself Parson Weems; it was eventually transmitted to millions of schoolchildren as a model of honesty and virtue through the McGuffy readers.

It is in telling the history of those cu ltures who, for most of their past, have relied so lely on oral transmission of in formation, that some of the most excit in g-and controversia l- work is being clone. Historian Roger Echo-Hawk has cha ll enged the historical profession to accept these ora l trad iti ons and to reevalu ate assumptions about the transmission of knowledge and fact over time.

He argues that to claim these accounts are invalid is to deny the intellectual traditions that haYe long ex isted, despite the lack of written records. To prove hi point he has compared seYeral ative American legends with anthropological and historical evidence, finding common ground among them. For example, the origin stories of many Native American tribes, commonly thought by most scho lars to be an expression of cu ltu re but not of historical fact, refer to humans com in g out of a place of darkness; when that occurred, clay and night was created. Using anthropo logica l ev id ence, Ec ho-Haw k theorizes that this cou ld refer to the period when these people were traveling across the la nd mass that connected As ia to North America above the Arctic Circle, where darkness re igned. When considering legends as a historical source, one must have a knowledge of that cu lture to adequately interpret them. \Vhat sounds fantastic becomes plausible when illuminated with explanations.

Echo-Hawk has also exam in ed the critica l question to historians: How long can in formation be handed down and remain accurate? Again using anthropologica l evidence, he argues that the knowledge of how to make projectile points for weapons was handed down ora ll y-and accurately-for eleven thousand years. Can not then historical information be transmitted as well? He counters the argument that an extremely detailed text cannot be remembered accurately with the a senio n that because this co llective memory was vital to the society, it was practiced with regularity. Elaborate ystems to hand down these trad iti ons existed; on ly certain individuals, selected on the bas is of their memory, had the r ight to tell the stories. egotiating the historian 's ro le as the defin ition of acceptab le evidence grows will be the challenge in the coming rears. The historian 's job is to provide the context, framework, and interpreta tion of that e,·iclen ce. But letting the ,·oices be heard, letting them stand on their own as an account or the past, remains important to the preservation of the e sources. Oral traditions are a vital part or the historical record ; as Edmund Burke wrote, "H istory is a pact between the dead, the li,·ing, and the )et unborn ." l li storians need to honor that pact.

CLW

Watchdog on Crime Dennis E. Hoffman

As director of the Chicago Crime Commission, Virgil Peterson proved that organized crime was a national blight.

\Vhen Virgil W. Peterson died on February 20, 1989, at the age of eightr-four, the obituaries published in the Chicago newspapers and in the N ew l 'ork Tim es listed the highlights of hi career. They noted how, as an FBI agent, he had worked on the John Dillinger case from 1934 through 1935, and how, as the director of the Chicago Crime Commi sion, he had helped to reorganize the Chicago Police Department in I 960. Omitted from the obituaries, however, was Peterson 's greatest accomplishment: the rediscovery of organized crime in America.

Criminologists define organized crime as a continuing criminal enterprise that profits from illicit activities that are in great public demand. Its existence is maintained through the use of fo1-ce, threats, and the corruption of public officials. Its origins in America predate Prohibition . Chicago's underworld was established in the 1860s. By the 1890s, "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and "Hinky Dink" Kenna had formed a highly lucrative syndicate. Under their cheme, all proprietors of prostitution houses and gambling establishments made regular payments to Coughlin and Kenna in exchange for protection from authorities. Reformers repeatedly thrust organized crime onto the local political agenda in Chicago, but underworld crime continued to prosper.

Organized crime first became an important national political issue in the 1920s. President Herbert HooYer's administration (1929-33) made a serious effort to enforce Prohibition Dennis E. Hoffman is a /Jrofessor of cri111i11aljustice at the University of Nebraska at Onwha . He recently published Scarface Al and the Crime Crusacle1-s: Chicago 's Private War Against Capone.

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and to root out the criminal syndicates established to further underworld interests in bootlegging. Public interest in organized crime peaked in 1931 with the conviction of Al Capone for income tax evasion. Two years later the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified, repealing Prohibition.

Shortly thereafter, believing Prohibition to be the sole cause of organized crime and Capone to be its chief exponent, many crime experts predicted an encl Lo the . inister clays of gang activity. Instead, the heirs Lo the Capone syndicate expanded their enterprises inLo new areas. Gambling, prostitution, labor racketeering, and narcotics became the big moneymakers for Al Capone's successors.

Gambling replaced bootlegging as the syndicate's main source of income. In a 193':I editorial, the Chicago News estimated that seventy-five hundred gamblingjoints existed in Chicago, most operating under the control of the Capone ynclicate. Bookkeeping records of the Capone yndicate for July 19-+ I (relating only to gambling operations outside of the city of Chicago in Cook County) showed gros profits of $320,966 for one month. Graft in the amount of $26,980 was paid to officials, and after the payrolls were met and the graft was paid, Capone bosses showed a net profit of $221,674 for that month alone. On the basis of these figures the annual gross profits of the Capone syndicate for gambling outside the city limits would have amounted to almost $4 million, graft paid to officials would have totaled $323,760, and the net profits for the year would have approximated $2,660,088.

So strong were ties between organized crime and Chicago city officials that by 1942 some officials were publicly denying that a crime syn-

The Chicago Crime Co111111i.1.1io11, a volunleer citizen organizalio11 formed in I 919, serues as an independent "watchdog 011 ai111e. ·· Director l'i1gil IV. Pl'ln\Ol1 (.1/ww11 here in 1952) brought syndical!' crime lo national alien/ion with the help of th!' co1111nissio11 ·s i11ve.1tigative depa rime 111.

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Chirago Hislor)', S)ring 1994

,\la11y crime experts believed tlzat Prolzibitio11 caused mganized ai111e, {/.\Serti11g that th!' 1933 rejJl'a/ of Prohibition en1111NI m1 end lo gang activity. Above, beer barrels being smashed during Prolzibition.

dicate existed there anymore. Tolerance of gambling and other syndicate enterprises deri\'ed, in part, from Cook County Sheriff Thomasj.O'Brien's denial of its existence, the inaction of the Chicago police, and the judiciary's unwillingness to crack clown on the few criminals brought into the couns. Ultimately, howe\'er, responsibility for the nonenforcement of the gambling laws rested with the city's Democratic administration, ll'hich wa controlled by the Kelly-Nash machine. Headed

by Mayor Edward J. Kelly and Patrick Nash, chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee, this powerful organization reached into every precinct and every ll'ard.

Throughout his tenure as mayor from 1933 to 194 7, Kelly refused to acknowledge the existence of the Capone syndicate. Under Kelly's control the police ignored the amuent gamblers, arresting instead only small-time handbook operators who ran illegal off-track betting 6

parlors. ln exchange for thi protection , the Kelly-Nash political machine received twenty million dollars annual!)' in graft. These gambling operations ll'ere probably le% profitable than those in the city. The only body abo\'e reproach and clearly dedicated to the en1dication of S)'ndicate gambling at thi~ time ll'as the Chicago Crime Commission. Formed in 1919

by Chicago's business elite, it began as a volunteer citi1.en organi1.ation with the purpose of serving as an independent "watc hdog on crime" representing public interest. Although ne\'er ,·estecl with any ofliciaJ authority, the high occupational and ocial prestige of its members ga\'e it tremendous unofficial power and authority in Chicago.

In J 9-12 Virgil Peterson took charge of the commission as its operating director. Born in Olds, Iowa, in 1904, Peter on received a JD. degree from Northwestern Universit)' Law School in l 930. Shortly thereafrer, he joined

I Vatchdog 0 11 Crime

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Public interest in 01ga11ized rrime peal!ed in / 93 1 with ,-J/ CajJ011e '.1 co11viction for income lax eva.1io11. DesJ;ite his convirtion , howe11er, th e CajJ0 11e .1y11dirnte continued lo influence 01ganized crime throughout the cou11t1y. Above, 193 1 lithograph of Chirngo 's gang territOI)'. Right, Ca/Jone (right) with his a//omey, 193 1.

th e Federa l Bu reau of In vestigatio n. His ex peri e nce as a n FBI specia l age nt in C hi cago taug ht him th a t o rga ni zed crim e rea ped bi g pro fits rro m gamblin g. Dete rmin ed to ma ke C hi cago offi cia ls ackn ow led ge a nd ad dress wha t he te rme d "protecti ve ga mb lin g," Peterson establ ished the Crime Comm iss io n's first in ves ti gat ive de pa rtme n t. He hi red severa l fo rm er FBI agents as inYest igato rs a nd instructed th em to probe th e crime S)'nd icate and its ill ega l ope ra tio ns in C hi cago. Und e rcove r in vestigators infiltra ted various ga mblin g j oin ts and o ther S)·nd icate-run enterp ri ses. They identifi ed maj o r orga ni zed crim e fi gures, ga th ered 7

Chicago Histo,y, SJ;ring J 994 information about organ ized crim e activities, and gauged the eflectiveness or crimina l justice authorities in dealing with the syndicate.

Peterson and his investigators were not vigilantes, nor were their investigative efforts meant to replace those of oflicia l law enforcement authorities. They were not col lecting evidence for crimina l prosecutions. Rather, their job was to find facts that cou ld be used to compel lax, corm pt, and inefficient police offic ia ls to enforce the law. When these oflic ials were unwilling to cooperate a nd refused to make improvements, Peterson resorted to expos in g problems and publicly denouncing officials.

Peterson realized that the Kelly administration was turning a blind eye to the Capone syndicate. Illega l gamb ling establishments operated openly and nagrantly because or the alli a nces between organized crime figures and corrupt poli tical officials. Peterson and the Crime Commission were deeply co ncerned about the effects this wide-open gamblin g had on the government and the city. Gambling, according to Peterson, affected everyo ne ince it fostered

) Vote for Big Bill the Builder He Cannot Be Bought, Bossed or Bluffeel CUT OUT THIS PICTURC AND H4NC IT ll'f YOUR WINDOW

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more crim e and corruption and on ly benefited the gangsters who made a living this way. ln 1943 the comm iss ion commenced a vigorous fight aga in st open gamb lin g. Peterson stationed an investigator inside the Dorne, a syndicate-controll ed gambling estab li shment located at 7466 Irving Park Road in Chicago. f le dispatched another undercover agent to the Rock Garden C lub in Cicero . Run by a cousin or AJ Capone, the dub had been operating for years wit hout interfere nce from the police. Peterson 's in vestigators reported that both the Dorne and the Rock Garden C lub were gambling operations fully equ ipped with rouleue wheels , crap tables , blackjack games, and handbooks. To estab li sh the complicity of the po li ce, Peterson relayed this information to the Cook County Police who conducted a series or raids. The raids were a sham. Corrupt cops tipped off the proprietors of the gambling estab lishm ents so that the owners cou ld move their expensive paraphernalia to ot her sites, where gamblin g cou ld resume. Police in charge of other raids li ed about what they found , claiming that on ly bookmaking was taking place.

Unbeknownst to the Cook County Police, commission investigators stat ioned inside the clubs observed their misbehavior. When Peterson presented his proof, the press exposed the police protection of the Dome and the Rock Garden Club. Results of the Crime Commi sion' investigations into wide-open gambling in Chicago and Cook County were presented to a September 194-~~ grand jury.

I I undreds or witnesses testified, including the mayor, the Cook County clerk, the commissioner of police, members of the Civil Service Commission, and several judges. Many organized crime figures were indicted. Eleven Cook County Highway Police officers, in cluding the chief: were indicted and discharged from their duties. Cicero's ch ief of police and several of his officers suffered the same fate. Fourteen Chicago police officers, Left and oj1posite, William f-lale Thompson's first term as mayor was plagued with scandal and allac/1s from the /Jrf'ss. When Thompson ran for a second term in 1927, wrtooni:,t john T. MrCutcheo11 asked, "Will the voters /00/1 at his promises or his record?"

Watchdog 011 Crime

nine of them captains, were also indicted. It amounted to one of the most extensive gambling investigations in Chicago's history.

AJthough nearly all of the indicted law enforcement officers and gamblers won their freedom on legal technicalities, the grand jury had pierced the protective cocoon that surrounded Chicago's political leaders. Politicians sent word to the gamblers that protection would be temporarily withdrawn. Overnight, most gambling establishments in Chicago and Cook County closed down. Some had been operating brazenly in the Loop for years with near perfect immunity. Veteran gamblers reported to Crime Commission investigators that never in the history of Chicago had the lid been clamped on so tightly.

But the underworld had no intention of abandoning Chicago and Cook County permanently. On the contrary, mobsters began to form new alignments and to settle old scores among themselves. In late 1945 a gambling war started. When the bullets stopped flying , Al Capone's Trans-American Publishing and

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News Service, Inc., monopolized the dissemination o[ racing information that illegal handbooks depended on. Capone's gambling news service quickly expanded nationwide.

Virgil Peterson followed this expansion closely, noting the ineffective responses of Chicago and other cities. He soon realized that organized crime was misperceived to be a local phenomenon. Crime control efforts based on this erroneous assumption were doomed to fail because they limited law enforcement operations to particular counties or cities. To make matters worse, America's decentralized political system did nothing to encourage coordination among overlapping criminal justice agencie and jurisdictions. In contrast to the limitations of law enforcement agencies at the city, county, and state levels of government, the Capone syndicate ranged freely. A widespread gambling syndicate, for example, could lay off bets in one city that bad been made in another. (That is, they could insure bets against losses with the take from another city when local gambling organizations were unable to meet their obligations against heavy wagers.) Large-scale organized crime had no more respect for political and jurisdictional boundaries in the 1940s than it does today.

Writing for Criminal justice (the periodical that he edited for the commission) in 1948, Peterson outlined the nationwide implications of organized crime. He pointed out that the influence of the underworld on city governments was nothing new. \Vhat was alarming about organized crime in 1948, according to Peterson, was that it had grown to national proportions.

The Capone syndicate, which had become entrenched and garnered great political power in Chicago and Cook County during the regimes of Mayor William Hale Thompson (1915-23, 1927-31 ), had long since ceased to exert its only influence locally. Its tentacles had gradually reached around the country.

Late in 1949 Peterson gave an address entitled "Barbarians in Our Cities" at the Cleveland convention of the American Municipal Association (AMA), which represented over ten thousand municipalities in the nation.

His speech dealt with the national scope of organized crime, focusing on New York, Kansas City, and Chicago. Peterson stressed 9

Chirngo HislOJ)', Spring 1994

Ab01,e, Patrick Nash, Congressman Adolph j. Sabaih, Mayor Edward}. Kelly ( 1933-47), SherifJTom O'Brien, and 24th Ward alden11an j al1e Ar-uey. Below, Kelly reji1sed lo acknowledge the e>::istence ofthe Ca/Jone sp1dirale, encouraging police lo ignore affluent gmnblen and a1-re.1/ only small-time illegal O/Jf'l'(t/ors. C:ar/0011 by Slwrmalwr.

that o rga ni zed crim e was a se ri ous probl e m with which most loca l poli ce de pa rtm ent were ill-equipp ed to d eal. \Ve il-p rep ared , ho nes t law e nforcem e nt age ncies were need ed to ba ttl e its spread . Aft e r impress in g upon the fiv e hundred co nfe rees th e public's ignora nce of n a mes, place , a nd inte rsta te links in the und erwo rld , Pe te rso n ca ll ed fo r th e d evelopme nt o f intelli ge nce u n its within po li ce depa rtm e nts a nd a syste ma ti zed excha nge of inform a ti o n about o rga ni zed crim e be twee n muni cip a liti es . Fo ll owin g Pe terso n 's suggestion s, the associati o n co mpl a in ed of a myri ad of jurisdi cti ona l proble ms co nn ected with th e co ntro l of crim e o pe ra tin g in intersta te co mme rce, directed its board of tru stees to des ign a compreh e nsive a nti crim e ca mp aig n, a nd as ked for assistan ce fro m th e fed er al governmen t.Togethe r, Pe te rso n a nd the mayors who belonged to th e associa ti o n bega n to in crease publi c interes t in a nd awa re ness o f th e broa d grip of organized crim e.

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Pete rson dep e nded upon th e press as well as th e mayo rs to sprea d hi s message . Lee Mortim er, a feature write r fr.ff th e New York Mi,wr, reli ed on Peterso n as o ne of his main sources in p roducing hi s co lumn "C hi cago Co nfidenti al. " Mortim er oversimplifi ed Pe te rso n's co nce pt o f a loose coopera ti ve be twee n seve ral na ti o nal crim e sy ndi cates into a n o mnip otent, o mniprese nt Mafi a d omin a ted by Itali a ns. Mo rtim e r eve n linked thi s Mafi a to intern a ti o nal communi sm, n a rcoti cs tra ffi cking, and a hom osexua l takeove r of ni g ht spots in Chi cago.

Pe te rson preferred th e te rm "o rga nized crim e" ove r " Ma fi a" beca use he did not wa nt to mi slead th e public into thinkin g tha t o nl y Ita li a ns were in volved with sy ndi ca te crimin al activities.

As j ournali sts excha nged inform a ti on about orga ni zed crim e a mo ng th e mse lves, more o f th e m sta rted lo see na tio na l pa ttern s within th e und e rwo rld . In ea rl y 195 0 Leo So nd eregger, city editor of th e Providence.JoumaLand BuLLetin, e ng in ee red a n agree me nt a mon g fourtee n major newspa pe rs to sha re in fo rm a ti on on o rga ni zed crim e. Virgil Pe te rso n a u e ndecl an orga ni zationa l mee ti ng o f re prese nta ti ves o f th e newspa pe rs in C hicago, bri efed th e m o n crim e syndi ca tes, and guara nteed the C hicago Crime Co mmi ssion 's ass ista nce. Soo n a lt.e r, th e news-

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Wotrhdog 011 Crime

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Vi1gil Peterson and the Chicago Crime Commission sought facts that could be used to com/Jel corrujJI officials to enforce the law. When officials refused lo coo/Jerale, Pete,~,011 sjJo/1e out, revP{l/ing how the "crooks get all th e break.1."

paper pool published a series of articles that focused on "the farnung hoodlum world of local and regional dynasties. " Increasing talk of nationwide crime syndicates and the Mafia titillated newspaper readers. Moreover, this search for criminal conspiracies paralleled the effort to ferret out communists in the United States as the nation nervously watched communist expansion in Czechoslovakia, China, and elsewhere. Such circumstances combined to force politicians to react. In response to pleas by the American Municipal Association for federal coordination against organized crime, Attorney General J. Howard McGrath invited representatives of the AMA as well as the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers and the United States Conference of Mayors to participate in the annual conference of United States Attorneys in the nation·s capital on February 15, 1950.

President Harry Truman addressed the opening ses ion of the conference and urged federal, state, and local officials to cooperate in stamping out organi1.cd crime. The official spokesman for the city of Chicago expressed indignation when reference was made to the

Capone gang, commenting: "I do not know that the Capone syndicate ex ists . I have read about it in the newspapers. I have never received any evidence of it."

Attorney General McGrath stated the Truman administration's position that local officia ls had to carry the burden of contro ll ing organized crime. McGrath maintained that interstate gambling presented the major problem, and he directed attention to legislative remedies. But this passive approach failed to satisfy public demands for leadership and action from the federal government. Hence, attention turned toward Congress where Estes Kefauver, a Democratic senator from Tennessee, introduced a resolution ask ing for an investigation of organized crime in interstate commerce, an inquiry that would focus main ly on gambling. Republican Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin jockeyed with Kefauver to lead the investigation. Kefauver's status as a member of the majority party enabled him to fend off :\lcCarthy's challenge . McCarthy went off to stalk communist instead of gangsters.

The Kefauver Committee he ld its first hearing in Miami on May 26, 1950. For the 11

Watchdog 011 Crime next six months its findings made headline news. The televised sessions rapidly became a media event. Although Americans owned only seven thousand television sets in 1946, the figure had increased to tens of millions by 1950, and many people spent more hours watching TV than they spent at work. \Vhen the independent New York City station WPIX set up its cameras in Manhattan 's Foley Square Courthouse where the Kefauver Committee was meeting and began feeding the video to stations across the country, the potency of the hearings captured viewers' attention from coast to coast. Underworld figures such as Joe Adonis, Charles Fischetti , and Ben Siegal stepped into American living rooms. An estimated thirty million people tuned in. Eric Goldman described the national ob cssion in The Crucial Decade And After: America 1945-1960:

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ON CRIME •••

Through the trlevi.1ed Keji11n1er hrari11g1 and p{l111j1hlets .111ch as this one, the Chicago Crime C:0111mi.1sio11 succeeded i11 mlisti11g /mhlic su/1/1or/ i11 tltejight {lgai11st rrimP.

Merchants complained to the Committee that thei1· businesses were paralyzed. Movie house, became ghost halls during the hours or the prncecdings . . ..

Housewives did their ironing and fed the baby in front of the sel. In many big cities business and home life were noticeably affected . One Chicago depanment store manager took a look at the number or customers in his aisles and ran an ad: "Ten Pei-cent Off During Kefauver Hours. "

On July 6 and 7, 1950, Virgil Peterson dazzled the committee with his encyclopedic knowledge of organized crime. Peterson first identified the leaders of the two "major criminal gangs"-tho e of Capone and Costello.

Next, he showed that most of those in his testimony had intermingled legitimate and illegitimate business enterprises, many of them being involved in gambling in Florida. He presented evidence of occasiona l business transactions between Joe Adonis and Meyer Lansky, of the Costello gang, with Capone gangsters in Chicago. Peterson told how books seized from West Coast gangsters contained names, addresses , and telephone numbers of important underworld f"tgures in Chicago and Miami. By establi hing this web of relationships, Peterson claimed he had demonstrated the existence of a nationwide pattern of racketeering and gambling. This was truly the first exposure of the national extent of organized crime.

Peterson 's view of organized crime gained favor among members of the Kefauver Committee and became the centerpiece of the committee's investigation. This is explainable, in part, by the political environment of the time.

Rampant fears and rumors about politicocriminal conspiracies pervaded American society. Peterson 's definition of organized crime as "a continuing conspiracy that attempts to perpetuate itself through violence or the threat of violence and by making arrangements for immunity through the corruption of officials" had touched a nerve .

In a sense, the Kefauver Committee's investigation of organized crime in Chicago represented more the work of Peterson than of Kefauver. After Peterson regaled the committee with his novelistic description of organized crime, committee staff requested a private meeting with him. At this meeting 13

Chicago History, Sj;ri11g 1994 Pe te rson suggested na mes of peo pl e to be subp oenaed fo r hea rin gs to be he ld in Chi cago o n Octo be r 5-7 a nd 17- 19, 1950. With Peterso n's pe rmi ssio n , a n assoc ia te coun se l of the co mmittee se t up hi s o ffi ce in th e C hi cago C rim e Co mmi ss io n's hea dquarte rs a nd exa min ed th e co mmiss ion 's records with Peterso n a t hi s sid e.

Pe te rso n fonva rd ed lead s to the co mmittee's staff a nd advi sed the m to d evo te 111uch time to th e ga mblin g sy ndi ca te, wire se rvice, a nd survivors and he irs of th e Ca po ne ga ng .

On th e ni g ht o f Se pte mbe r 28, l 95 0, two ga ng killin gs di srupted th e Kefa uver sta ff s prep a ra ti o ns fo r th e sta rt o f th e hea rin gs in C hi cago. A little befo re se,·en o'cl ock th a t ni g ht, \Villi a 111 Drury, a fo rm e r actin g po lice ca pta in, was sho t to dea th ga ng la nd style.

Drury h ad bee n di scha rged fro m th e po li ce force fo r r efu sin g to tes tify befo re the gra nd jury in th e investi ga ti o n of th e ga ng killin g o f

J a mes Rage n, a racin g infor111 ati o n wire service magna te, in 1946. Drury was a n en e my o f Ca po ne's cousin C ha rl es Fische tti , and h e had bee n sc hedul e d to furni sh pre limin a ry info r 111a ti o n to th e Ke fa uve r Co mmiuee o n Septe m be r 26, the day foll o\\'in g his mu rder.

Abo ut three ho urs afte r th e Drury assass in atio n, Marvin J. Bas, a politi cia n a nd a n a ttorn ey who re p rese nted so me of th e ca r North Side ni ght spo ts, was a lso sho t a nd kill ed .

Senator Estes Kef~1uver a rrived in Chi cago in O ctobe r 1950 to pres id e ove r th e first co m mittee hea rin gs he ld th e re . Th o ug h th e tes ti mo ny o r num er ous a lleged unde rwo rld ch a racters such as To ny Acca rd o a nd th e ev idence glea ned fro m mo bste rs' boo ks, reco rd s, a nd inco me-lax returns, the committee learned tha t th e Ca po ne o rga ni za ti o n was o ne or two major crim e sy ndi cates in th e na ti o n. Its o pe ra ti o ns ex tended fro m C hicago lo Ka nsas C ity, Da ll as,

ARE A VICTIM Of ORGANIZED CRIME!

The Chicago Crime Commission released the ftrst "p ublic enemy ..

Crime costs Chicago $750.000,000 a year! list a nd branded Al Capone "Public Enemy No. 1." His successors ore tod ay's public enemies, victimizing YOU. They end an ger your fa mi ly; their rockets ore o potential threat to your business, your job.

Cri me tokes from you in countless unseen ways

And thot·s just the cost in money

Everybody is a

not in human resources and lives

victim of crime!

In its ca111JJaig11 lo enfiJrce J;o/ice to 11/Jhold the lm1 the Chicago Crime Co111111i.1.1io11 also so111;ht to convince the jJ11blir that it ,u,eded lo become involved in the fight awiinst crime. This Crime Commission bulletin tells the jJ11blir, "l'uu are a victim o/organized crime."

1 ,

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Wa tchdog 011 Crime M ia mi , Las Vegas, a nd the West Coast.

T h ro ugh out th e h ea rin gs, which closed just before Lhe C hristmas holidays o f 1950, th e com mi ssione r of p o lice co ntinued to ass ure the newspa pers that no syndicated organized crim e existed in C hi cago. Bu t the press, whi ch had fo llowed the Sen a te inquiry close ly, would not acce pt thi s offi cial statem e nt. In a scathing ediLo ri a l, t he Chicago News call ed atte nti o n to the ev ide nce un covered by th e Kefau ver Commi ttee a nd concluded th at the Capon e sy ndicate "is sw indlin g the public out of more mon ey tha n ever before . It is stre n gth e nin g its po li tica l power in th e sta te legislature a nd in th e city coun cil. . . . T he sy ndi cate mu st be fou g h t by every law e nfo rce m e nt agen cy. It ca nnot be fo ug h t by pre te nding it d oes n 't ex ist. " Sh o rtl y a fte r the Kefa uver Co mmi ttee le ft C hicago, m or e press in g issu es pu shed co n cern s a bo ut or gani zed crime in to th e background. T h e co untry's a ttenti o n turn ed to wha t FBI d irector J. Ed gar H oover ca lled th e " me nace of d o m estic co mmuni sts," th e Co ld War with the Sov iet U nion, a nd th e confli ct in Ko rea . C hin a h ad fall en Lo t he commu ni sts, a nd the Sov ie ts p ossessed pl a ns for th e a tomic bomb . T h e n ext cha pter in th e hi story of o rga ni zed crime as a social p rob le m wo uld no t be writLe n unt il 195 7. In Nove mbe r of that year , Am e ri ca ns were aga in ta ke n by surpri se when auth oriLi es ro ute d six ty- fiv e o rganized crim e lead ers fro m a ro und th e coun try from a meetin g a t the h om e o fJ ose ph Ba rba ra in upsta te ew York. T hi s news revi ta lized th e m ove m e nt aga in st the m ob a n d strengthe ned Virg il Peterso n 's notio n th a t orga ni zed crime was o pe ratin g o n a na tio nwide sca le .

Afte r 1950 Virg il Pete rso n publi she d two boo ks: Gambling: Should it be J,egalized? ( 195 l ) a nd Barbarians in Our MicL~t: A Histo,y of Chicago Crime and Politics ( l 952) a nd helped to reorga ni ze t he C hi cago Po li ce De pa rtm e n t. H e hea d ed the C hi cago C rirn e Co mmi ss io n un til 1970. T hro ug hou t hi s ca ree r he ha mm e r ed awa)' at Lhe idea th a t orga ni zed crim e was a na ti o nwide web . H e p roclcl ccl , nagged , investi ga ted, an d tes ti fie d-a n d h e de m o nstrated ho\\' Lo a u ac k o rga ni1.cd crirn e. T hrou gh hi s wo rk as head of Lhe C hi cago C rirn e Co mmissio n Pe te rso n p roved th a t citi ze ns' cri rnc comrni ss io ns could rn a ke a diffe re nce; t hey could

aro use th e pu b li c conscie n ce a nd furni sh the lead ers hip n ecessa ry to o ppose o rga ni zed crim e . Durin g the 1950 ·, Pe te r o n pe rso na lly he lp ed LO start new crim e co mmi ss io ns in Ka nsas C ity, St. Loui s, Da llas, e\\' Yo rk C ity, a nd Phil ad elp hi a. Hi s legacy lives in the p rese nt ge ne ratio n of citize ns' crim e commi ss io ns t ha t ex ist in m o re th a n t,l'e n ty- fiv e ciLi es around t he U nited State For Furthe r Readin g H erbe rt Asb ury's Gem of the Prairie (New Yo rk: Alrred A. Kn op r, 19..J.O) a nd H arry Ga nn es's Craft and Gangsters (New York: \\'orkers Li brary Pu blishers, 193 1) prov ide in fo rmationa l histories of the C hi cago un de rwo rld . J o h n Lan desco a lso p ro,·ides a n in - depth sw cl y of C hicago crime in hi s book O,ganiu d Crime in Chicago (C hi cago : Uni ve rsity o r C hi cago Press, 1929) . For more in fo rma ti on o n Prohi bitio n see All sop Ke nn e th 's The Bootleggers (New Roc he ll e, NY : Arlin g to n Ho use, 196 1). T o learn mo re abo ut Al Capo ne's re ign see Denni s Hoffm a n's Sanface Al and the Crime Crusad!'rs (Carbonda le, IL: Southe rn Illi no is Uni ve rsity Press , 1993) a nd Richard Enrig ht's Al Ca/Jon e 011 the Spot: Th e Inside Sto,y of Chicago 's Alaster Criminal (La kev ille, MN: Northsta r Masche k Books Comm emorati,,es, 1987).

T he C hi cago C rim e Co mmi ss io n is a vo lunteer citize n o rga ni zati on , serving as a n ind epende nt wa tchdog o n crim e. To see how thi s o rga ni zatio n trac ked in fo nnatio n on crim e tre nds, ,·iew the commiss ion's vari ou pam phlets and brochures ava ilable in the Chicago Hi storica l Society' Li brary. For a beuer understand ing of Virgil Pe terson, see his book Barbarians in Our J'vlidst (Bosto n: Liul e, Brown a nd Company , 1952). T he Crime Commi s io n led th e fi ght agains t crime, a iding investigators like Se nator Estes Kefau,·er. For more in fo rmation o n the nation·s attempt to su ffocate crime see Kefauve r's Crime in rlmaira (Carden City, NY: Doubleday, 195 1).

Illustrat io n Credi ts 5, C II S, IC!l i-036 10; 6, CH S, IC H i-2-11 90; 7 top, Cl IS, !C ll i- 17346; 7 botto m , C H S, ON 97,0 IO;

8, C HS, IC H i-24 189; 9, C HS, IC Hi -20 16..J.; 10 top lef't, C HS, IC Hi-20008; 10 botto m ri g ht , C HS , IC II i-0 l 83 I ; 11 , fro m Th e Saturday Evening Post (Septe mber 23, 196 l ), C HS Li bra ry; 12, C HS, IC I I i-2·11 90; 13, C HS Libra ry; 14, C HS Li bra ry.

15

Building a New Religion Paul Eli Ivey

Inspired by the classical revival architecture of the World's Columbian Exposition, Christian Scientists embarked on a monumental church building boom in Chicago.

During the last decade of' the nineteenth century, religion in America 's cities was in crisis. As citi es such as Chicago experienced unprecedented growth and expanded with immigrants, many of them Catholic, traditionally popular Protestant churches faced a loss of authority and social influence. Th is cri is prompted a secularization of' many Protestant denominations. Churches built by these groups were lam ented by architects for abandoning traditional eccles iasti ca l forms, such as the Gothic Revival, characterized by pointed arches and e laborate arch itectura l details . At the same time, uniformity of architectural expression in cities was becoming a positive ideal. Debates in professional periodicals on the appropriate architecture for churches were particularly acute, as a number of important commissions for religiou s structures were being decided at this time. An 1896 issue oCAmerican Architect and Building News reported on the bankruptcy of' style in church architecture:

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It seems to be a widelr accept.eel opinion that, if in the building of a chw-ch every accepted law of good taste is set at naught, eve1-y established ca non of art is vio lated, then , on the mere face of it, that chw-ch must have broeken away from the soul-fettering thoughts of past ages, and stand for advanced ideas and progress.

A Chicago Interior exchange suggested that some denominations had lost sight of' their purpose and that this was reflected in the very "brick and mortar," in the style of new church architecture. During this period, the Christian Science Church, founded in 1879 by New Eng-

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In 1879, 1vla I)' Baker Edd)' established the Christian Scie11re church in Bos/011.

lander Mary Baker Eddy, had grown in size and inOuence. By 1894, the Christian Science denomination was poised to build. Whal sLyle of architecture was appropriate for a new indigenous religion, criticized by the growing medical establishment and other churches, but expanding steadily? In their belief that Mary Baker Eddy had discovered the spiritual laws that Jesus used in healing, the church responded especially to the needs of city dwellers, with promises of spiritual and physical healing and progress. As a new religion, concentrated in cities, the church entered into the cultural debate concerning religion and architecture in American culture: How were churche to integrate into cityscapes increasingly define<l by secular institutions, yet retain their theological sensibilities?

For most of their urban church buildings, Christian Scientists chose a monumental classical architecture, with imposing Greek porches and Roman domes inspired by the classical revival architecture of Chicago's World 's Columbian Exposition of 1893. These grand edifices were not only important departures from traditional church architecture in America, which utilized traditional spires and tended toward the Romanesque or Gothic styles, but they forcefully expressed the theological and 18

social ideals of Christian Scientists. Classical architecture suggested authority and permanence while enabling the religion to distinguish itself from other churches. The City Beautiful movement, which emphasized the importance or social and aesthetic unity and monumentality as a way or constructing civic values, associated architectural style with conscientious civic behaviors. This belief corresponded with Christian Science theology. The Christian Science building movement was perhaps the first time in American architectural history when a primarily urban religious practice appeared, became ernbaLLled and popular, and built its way into the respectable spectacle of the urban environment of the early century. Architecture became a primary aspect of Lhe movement's aspiraLions to meet the needs or urban populations. A unified classical architecture, then, was constructed as an early device of advertisement and as a triumphal proclamation of what was, to the adherents of Christian Science, a new healing gospel Lhat would uniLe humanity.

The Chri tian Science periodicals this period reveal that many Christian Scientists believed that their institution would do more for the unity and progress or humanity than any other institution yet organized. The growth and success of the church in the early part of this century was considered proof enough that the movement would soon O\'ertake the established churches. Therefore a new style that represented the Christian Science church was called for and building became pan of the Christian Scientist ' larger social agenda.

The function or the Chri~tian Science church was to "commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing."

The Oedgling church witnessed sometimes scandalous criticisms from what some observers called their competitors, the established church and medical science. An 1897 editorial in Hmper's Byline stated that Chri tian Science was successful only because medicine was in its '·experimental stage, the doctors of which are in pretty constant disagreement with one another." Though there were intense battles in the courts over the legality or the practice of hiring public practitioners of Christian Science Lo give prayerful "treatments" to the patient,

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Christion Scientists rejected the tmrlitionol Gothic and Romanesque style architecture of other deno111inatio11s in .fcrnor of tlassirnl architecture. Stereogm/1h of St.J ami's Episcopal Church , /He-187 1.

Christian Scientists soo n bega n winning suits, often based o n their right to worship freely without gove rnme nt interve nti o n. React ion by the med ica l fi e ld and atte mpts at legislatio n ll'ere so me tim es ex tre me and restrictive. In 1899, an Albany Morning Press a rticl e reported that phys icia ns in Philade lphia planned "a nation a l war against the Christian Scientists" to co nvince Co ngress to ce nso r th e group. As Mark Twa in , a critic of Christian Science, remarked in 1903 regarding som e of th e legal restri ctions being proposed, " ff the Second Advent sho uld happen now, J esus cou ld not heal the sick in the State of Nell' Yo rk. He cou ld not do it lall'full y; th erefore he cou ld not do it mora l! )', therefore he cou ld not do it at a ll. " Some physicians recognized that Chri stia n Science had the po te ntial to hea l stress-re lated syndrom es, th e "nervousness" that was co nsidered e nde mi c to the dutiful domestic sp he re of \\'Ome n. Christian Scientists a nd their a lli es rejected this proviso, a rguing that Chr istian Scie nce successfu lly healed o rganic diseases as well. The Protestant churches reacted 1\' ith vengeance. In add iti on to being f<> und ed b)' a ll'0man, Christi a n Science cha llenged many traclit io nal theological concepts, including th e rea lity of sin , disease, and cleat h; many claimed it was ne ith er "C hrist ian" nor "Scientific."

Christian Science was not a mystical or traditional faith: its adh erents claimed it was a "demonstrable" a nd "practical" form of Christianity, grou nded in Eddy's axiom that reality was rad ica ll y sp iritual a nd provable in human experi e nce in a sc ientific manner. As such its healing theology and its emphasis on morality in business affairs proved attractive to urban inhab itants, who were challenged by rapid changes in business an d cities that affected economics and culture. By contrast, Chri tian Science offered a stab ilizin g lifestyle and proj ected a unity and rationality onto daily routine. Christian Science was particularly attractive to wom en , conferring social status and providing opportunities to enter in to the publi c practice of Christian Science healing, \\'ith remuneration similarly priced with medical treatment. Some reports put the female membership at 72 percent. Christian Science also appealed to businessmen . As church spokes ma n Septimus Hanna suggested in the October I 896 issue of th e Christian Science j oumal, the "gro\\'t h of Science among the businessmen here in Ch icago is so mething marvelous, a nd a ll of them are able to give a solid reason for their being Scientists." On the occasion of the organ izatio n of the Fifth Church of C hri st, Scientist, in Chicago, the Times-Hemld summ ed up the growth of the move me nt: 19

Chicago HisfOJ)', Spring 1994

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Des/Ji le criticisms from the f'Siablislzed church and medical :,cience, tlzf' C/zri:,tian Sciencl' rhu rr/z allrartl'd 111a 11y followers around the tum of the cenf 1t1)'. The dedication of t/11' Mother Church Extm1io11, Bos/011, onj1111e I 0, I 906.

20

Building a New Religion It must be understood that Christian Science has drawn its following rrom the be t elements or citi7enship. Bankers, substantial busines~men, society people, and men and women or means have been attracted to it, and have cheerfrilly accepted its teachings and are testirying to-da}' of the good it has done them.

By I 895 there were about 250 Christian Science organizations nationwide, and by 1910 there were approximately 1100. Since the L880s, Christian Science in Chicago grew rapidly; one newspaper account around 1900 reported that in thirteen years it had attracted fifty thousand new adherents, primarily businesspeople and professionals, to its ranks. By 1893 Chicago had become the geographic and demographic center of the movement, with more adherents than any other city in the nation. How in0uential church members were in society was hotly debated, but the membership demonstrated a commitment to the permanence and status of the new religion by erecting commodious temples that showed a degree of wealth not shared by many of the mainstream denominations.

Historically, in the 1880s and 1890s, urban Christian Science congregations throughout the United States rented spaces in public halls or acquired auditoriums from other denominations.

By the late l 890s, Christian Scientists were ready to build their own churches. The physical needs of the church were simple: a comfortable place to meet for services, which on Sunday consisted of hymn singing, prayer, a solo accompanied by piano or organ, and reading from the Bible and Science and Health, by Mary Baker Eddy.

Wednesday meetings featured readings and public testimonies of healings and remarks on Christian Science from the congregation. A large Sunday-school room and space for offtees were also needed.

The Christian Science Mother Church, the headquarters, had been built in Bo~ton in 1894, with branch churche spread across the nation.

The original edi11ce of the Mother Church followed more traditional lines, a modest but beautifully appointed Romanesque building inspired

by Richardson'~ Trinity Church, located a few blocks from the Mother Church building. The 11rst truly monumental classical branch church

edifice was built in Chicago in 1896. This building, the largest Protestant church ecli11ce in Chicago \\'hen it was completed in 1897, was built in a monumental classical style designed by Solon Spencer Beman, important architect or the town of Pullman and two Columbian Exposition buildings. On November 13, 1897, the eve of the dedication, the Chicago Evening Pos/ reported: Probably no 01 her religious denomination in this city or counll)' has experienced, in recent years, so rapid a growth, and its members are to be congratulated upon the magnificent and imposing edifice . . . . ft ha~ been erected without ostentation and without public appeal to those uninterested in the teachings fo1- which it stands, and it is a welcome and beautiful ornament to the city.

Throughout the next two decades, sixteen Christian Science churches were bui lt in Chicago, with several others built in the outlying suburbs such as Oak Park, Highland Park, and Evanston, all or them classically styled, many of

Porlrail of Solon Spencer Beman , painted in I 911 by O/iiier Denton Croverfor the lllinois chapter of the Americru1 Institute 0(1l rcltitects.

21

Chicago Histo1y, S/Jring 1994 th em d es ig ned by Solo n Spe ncer Be man , wh o had a decisive impact on th e architecture of the new church.

Th e church had no offi cial pos ition on architecture, th o ug h th e issue of a recomme nd ed style of edifi ce so me tim es arose. In 1902, the clerk of th e Mo th er C hmch res po nded to a n inquiry from a bra nch church, writin g th at he kn ew of "no prescribed style of archi tecture fo r co nstructin g churches o f th e C hri sti a n Scie nce de no minati o n," but tha t th ey should be recognizabl e as a church rather th a n as a "city building, library, sc hoo l, or ha ll. " But th e pe rceptio n th at a n offi cia l sty le mi g ht ex ist is signifi ca nt, give n th e numbe r o f publi shed accounts th a t o fte n included ph o togra phs of newly built urba n cl ass ica l chu rch edifi ces. Despite no gu ide lin es fro m church o ffi cia l in Bosto n, most of th e ed ifi ces we re be in g built in th e cl ass ica l sty le . Whil e ma ny styles could suit the need s o f Chri sti a n Scie nce co ng regati o ns, the class ical style was soon be ing suggested a nd defe nded as the style of the move me nt in popular magazin es a nd the a rchi tec tura l press . A

22

sig nifi ca nt reason fo r thi s was th e important p lace o r C hicago to the move me nt, th e success of th e Wo rld 's Parli a me nt of Re li gio n in introd ucing Chri tia n Science to a broader audi ence, and the choice of Bema n, a n impo rta nt C hicago archi tect, to unde rta ke th e d es ig n o r severa l promin e nt church buildin gs.

C hri stia n Scie nce ro und the World 's Co lumbi a n Ex pos iti o n o r 1893 a co nven ie nt stage o n which to a ttract th e a u c ntio n of th e na ti o n. Th e new faith a nd th e ideo logy o f p rogTess in society, comm erce, and reli gion promo ted by th e fa ir had much in co mm o n. T he C hri stia n Scie nce be lie r in th e prese nt spi r itual pe rfecti o n o f God 's crea ti o n, a nd its de ni a l of th e di seased , divisive, or unpl easa nt coa lesced ma rvel ously wit h th e im age, pro mo ted by the fa ir, of a city devoid of di sease a nd poverty, a nd whose a rchi tectu re, th o ug h te mp ora ry in actu a lit y, spo ke of pe rm ane nce a nd a uth ority.

The exposition is best known fo r its White City, a visio na ry stage-set urba nscape. The a rchit ects' cho ice or class ica l a rchitecture fo r the fa ir promo ted thi s sty le fo r mo num e nta l buildin g

Building a New Religion

Left, l'Xlnior of Fi,:,/ Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, modeled afler the Erechlhe1w1, a Greek lem/Jle on the Aero/Joli.I. Below, thl' C hicago Tribune reported 011 the building's dedication in I 897. Above, the Sj)(lcious interior of Finl Church.

ffi AGREEK TEMPLE. Chicago' · Fir:t f'hl'i tian Science ('lrnr('h l)(\1lieat lll.

FOl ~DER. ![ary BakH Etldy, Ahsf'nt, SPntl.' a Ringing 1. ildn s.

StRYICE.' l>.\Y A~D EYE. I. k Colli'rcgation Com s from All Over tlle Country.

throughout the U nited States. With the tremendous success of the architecture and urban idealism of the Columbian Exposition, a prototype for classical Christian Science building proj ects nationwide was provided, and the new religion soon dressed it elf, successfull y, in the architectural forms elaborated in the White City.

At the fair, C hristia n Scientists were given a display space to sell the ir religious literature, even though fair authoriti es at first balked at this idea . The greatest ex posure for Christian Science, however, was at the World's Parliam ent of Religions, hailed by one co mme ntator to be th e "most wonderful event since the time of C hrist." C ha rles C. Bonney, president of the World 's Congress Auxiliary, introduced the Christian Science congress with great aplomb: o more strikin g manifestation of the interposition of divine Prov idence in human affa irs has come in recent year,, than that show n in the raising up of the body of people which you represent, kn own as Christian Scien tists.

23

Chicago His/01)', Spring 1994

SfCond Church of Chris!, Scientisl, al !he comer of Wrightwood and Pine Grorie avenues, was designed by Be111a11 and dedicated in 1901.

The group of Christian Scientists was well received. Their congres , one of the many such gatherings sponsored by religious denominations from around the country for the purpose of presenting speeches and papers about theological issues, attracted over four thousand participants, more than any other congress.

Christian Scientists embraced a central trope of the fair: unity and universality. They claimed that Christian Science was a universal religion, one that would bring all people to an understanding of their spiritual relationship and unity with Goel. Thi compelling message , all the more plausible, perhaps, in the ideal and unified setting of the White City, caused some fair organizers, including everal members of the immediate family of Charles Bonney, to convert to Christian Science.

The impact of the fair's architecture on Christian Science architecture was immediate: soon after the fair, architect Solon Spencer Beman would become an important apologist for the classical style of church edifice. In his early career Beman specialized in private, largely residential commissions, generally in the Romanesque or Queen Anne style. He

24

trained in the office of Richard Upjohn, the leading ecclesiological architect of the midnineteenth century. After leaving the firm , he won a prestigious commission in 1879 for George Pullman, the railroad magnate, to de\'elop his company town on the shore or Lake Calumet, south of Chicago. Beman created the town as a moral statement-a utopia established to insure the morality and efficiency of its residents. His design of the "noble experiment" at Pullman made him famou ·. During the 1880s and the 1890s he built a number of office buildings in Milwaukee and Chicago.

Daniel Burnham cho e him to contribute an exhibition building for the World's Columbian Exposition, the Mines and Mining Building.

But more important, Beman's commission to design the small Merchant Tailors building for the fair was clear!)' a factor in Beman's com·ersion to classicism in the 1890s; this intimate but public space could er\'e well as a church building. The next phase of Bernan's career was intimately bound up with the development of classicism as the appropriate idiom for a series of conspicuous edifices including Christian Science churches. Despite the failure of

Building a New Rr ligion 1

the Pullman experiment after the 1894 trike, Beman continued to seek solutions for urban problems through utopian ideas. He translated his notions of a moral city into a citywide and even nationwide church building movement through the erection of classical churches that Beman felt fitted the moral and spiritual life of the people.

Three years after the fair, the congregation or First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, mo\·ed into the Auditorium Building, which they felt was adequate for their purposes . But Mary Baker Eddy suggested that the Chicago Scientists should own their edifice. A committee made up or members from throughout the city began developing a strategy. The committee selected a site on fashionable Drexel Boulevard near Oakwood, giving as their reasons "the excellent transportation and the fact that it [is] one of the best residence sections on the south side." Tweh·e leading architects were invited to submit plans for a church to bold fifteen hundred people. The building should in-

elude a "large vestibule hall" imilar "to the foyer in the Auditorium." Beman, whose wife had been healed through Christian Science treatment, submitted the plan that was chosen unanimously. Ilis design included a semicircular arrangement of tiered theater seating, perhaps deri\·ed from Louis Su llivan's Auditorium, and a large foyer as requested. In his proposal, Beman wrote that he had chosen the Erechtheion or the Athenian Acropolis as a prototype. He claimed that his studies of the principles or Christian Science led him to a model that would express "elements of dignity, strength, refinement, and beauty by crystallizing these high sentiments that your teaching inculcate in the architectural harmony," rather than to more traditional ecclesiastical forms.

Though the building actually combined a quite eclectic mixture of stylistic references, certain ly it marked a departure from the med ieval sty les popular for religious architecture in Chicago, notably the Romanesque style that Beman himself had favored.

Solon S/i1'11cer 8e111a11 ·.1 de.1ig11 of !he ,\lerc/,anf Tailors Building al !he World's Columbian Exj1osition of I 893 marked lii.1 co1111e1:1io11 to rl(/.\1ici.1m. Be111a11 lain clio.1e tla.1.1ici.1111 as !he mos/ ajJ/1ro/1riate style for the Christian Science church b11ildi11g /J//Jllf'/1/('II/.

Chicago Hisl01)', Spring 1994 The building was completed and dedicated free of debt, a practice unique to the Christian Science denomination, in November 1897. Between eight thousand and ten thousand people attended the dedication services. One Yisitor remarked that the event was "almost like the World's Fair." Chicago papers covered the dedication day with great verve. One stated that the people attending were "brought hither by their enthusiasm and their desire to participate in what to them marked the dawn of a new relig ious epoch." The Times l-ferald included a description of the edifice with the summation that the church structure came "ve ry near to realizing the ideal ofa place of worship , and is certainly surpassed in beauty and qualities of utility by few if any churches in the west. " The report noted that this building was one of the most "artistic, pleasing, and impressive" edifices and "a unique and bold departure from the conventiona l lin es of ecclesiastical architecture ."

The church had cost the congregation or thirteen hundred contributors over$ I 08,000.

By the following year, the congregation had outgrown its building; in response, other branch church es were formed in Chicago.

Beman designed the edifice !or Second Church of Christ, Scientist, built at the corner of \\'rightwood and Pine Grove avenues, which \\'as finished and dedicated in April 190 I. IIugh M. Garden was chosen to build Third Church or Christ, Scientist, at Washington Boule\·ard and Leavitt, which was comp leted in .Jun e l 90 I. Garden, who became famous for designing se\·eral Prairie-St)·lc o!Tice buildings in the area, had contributed competitive drawin gs for a Christian Science church, probably for the original First Church competition. Over four thousand people contributed over $230,000 to these building prc~jects.

Beman's designs for the first two Chicago edifices were soon imitated by other architects for other Christian Science commissions; he was now established as the leading Christian Science architect in the area. Though Garden received the commission for Third Church, the

Christian Scientists saw ralio11al classirnl arrhitec/ure as the e111bodi111e11t riftheir jJrogres.1i11e sorial values. AbovP, the 771ird Church of Christ, Scientist, by II ugh J\I. Gardm (] 90 I). Photogra/J/z by Elaine S. Bat.1011. OjJ/Jo.1ite, Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, by Beman (1904).

26

B11ildi11g a New Religion

conference committee turned to Beman for four other designs in Chicago. Beman also designed the Highland Park and Evanston churches and a number or other Christian Science churches in Wisconsin, lllinois, New York, Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, Penn ylvania, and Colorado. Beman continued to innuence the church by his connection with administrators in the Boston organization , many of whom were fi·om Chicago. By l 905, Beman was asked to help complete the Mother Church Extension in Boston. Construction on the huge extension of the Mother Church, designed to seat five thousand, ,ras begun in 1904 and completed in 1906. The commission had been awarded LO Charles Brigham, but by J 905 when builder E.. oyes Whitcomb died, Beman was called to help complete the plans and correct what he considered engineering and architcnural problems. After Brigham became ill, Beman was e,·entually in charge of1hc project. Cnclcr Bcman's hand, 1hc building, which had been inspired by both By,antine and Italian Renaissance source~, gained e,·cn more classical clements.

In 1907, Beman published a sweeping defense or classical revival church architecture in

The World Today, a Chicago magazine. He opened his article by arguing that "no modern architectural development, not even that of the great office building, is more striking than that seen in the churches of the Church of Christ, Scientist." According to Beman, the classical style of church was not a "pagan temple" but a "vital force" of the "first principles of truth." He stated that the classical style had been the guidance and inspiration for great architecture throughout history. This style was, therefore, appropriate for a religion that concerned itself with the well-being of the individual and the welfare of society. Because of religion's central place in creating national ideals, together with the exalted public nature of church architecture, Beman believed that the Christian Scientists should choose a "straightforward" and "enduring" architectural style. He continued: The Gothic style has been interwo,·en in warp and ll'oof with e1·crything ecclesiastical and the emotional ceremony and forms of what is called the OrLhodox Church. In fact, the Gothic style is the ve1·y outgrowth and cle1·elopment of such ritualisms, and i~ quite the essential artistic frame and background or ecclesiastical rites and ceremonie . ft is, then,

27

Chicago History, Spring I 994

The stained-glas:. wi11do111 (above) and the coll/11111 (below) Jimn Third Ch11rrh show a de/Jar/lire ji-mn the .1/rirtly classiml style. Plwtogra/Jh of window by Raymond T Talllm. Photova/1h of coh111111 by Elaine S. Bal-\011. hardly to be expected tha t Christian Science hould find its expression through its churches to any great extent in Gothic architecture .

Bernan 's article champ ioned the classical style and then turned to practica I considerations such as acoustics, lighting, comfortab le seating, and sight lines. Beman also suggested that the foyers in Christian Science churches shou ld be spacious, capab le of handling 70 percent of the auditorium's capacity. The foyer became the chief place for gathering after the services.

The publication of th e article e li cited many opinions. Some pundits felt that Christian Science architecture was setting "an examp le that every denomination should follow "; one con cluded that "if Christian Science does no more than reform church architecture it will assured ly not have lived in \'ain. " Others, such as Milwaukee architect Elmer Grey, a fo ll ower of Louis Sullivan, debated with Beman in the popular press, rejecting the unifi ed classical style. One particularly strong criticism of the

28

- - . -l

-l

Building a New Religion

Detail of the term-co/la relief 111erlal/io11 011 the .frieze of the 111ai11 facade of f-lugh M. Gorden'.1 Third Church.

Garden later designed Prairie-style oUire buildinr;s.

Photor;m/Jh by ElainP S. Batson.

new buildings was leveled by Reverend A. C. Dixon, who wrote: "Christian Scientists lavish their wealth upon buildings of stone and adorn them , that they may gratify their own aesthetic tastes. And why not? ... (They believe) the sickness, the pain, the impure atmosphere ... arc illusions. " Other architects such as Leon E. Stanhope, Carl Barkhausen, Charles Hodgdon, and N. Max Dunning continued the classical re\'i,·al in other Christian Science church commissions in the Chicago area. While Prairie School elements can be detected in Garden's Third Church, Chicago, as well as in Howard Cheney's Riverside Church, the Prairie style never attained the popularity that monumental classicism e1tjoycd. Christian Scientists chose rational classical architecture as more progres~ive, which coincided with ideas being developed in the City Beautiful movement.

City Beautiful, Daniel Burnham's urban renewal 1110,·ernent based on the success of the fair as a model for the dignified civiliLcd city, suggested that urban spaces were to be defined by wide boulevards lined with grand classical buildings, flanked b)' gardens and open spaces. Chri~tian Scientists aligned themselves

with the projected unity of the public cityscape, suggesting that their churches houlcl raise the moral and aesthetic standards or urban dwellers and contribute visually 10 the cit)' as a whole- other City Beautiful ideals. Their architectural solution posited placing classical buildings in middle-class residential suburbs, on fashionable boulevards and parkways.

Christian Science goals of improving the urban environment were to be accomplished through many or the same values as the City Beautiful movement- values o[ business efficiency, commitment lo purpose, patriotism, and confidence, though the Christian Science approach was theological rather th a n secular.

Man)' enthusiastic members iclentiliccl the classical style as an architecture that could embody progressive ideals consonant with their religion's social and metaphysical values.

As the Christian Science Joumal reported in 1903, where a Christian Science church is built, the community feels both the "blessing" and "rebuke" or the building's uplifted character and responds by becoming more honest and sincere. Church edifices also ga,·e the Christian Science community a "visible expression to the world of the power, might, majesty, and stability or (divine) Mind, and its applicability to human need. " Earlier in the nineteenth century the classical sLyle was associated with wealth. This bourgeois connotation fit the teachings or the Christian Scientists of the encl of the century, who believed that material succe s was often a sign of spiritual growth. In addition, the classical style related the church to secular authority through its association with the architecture or government, particularly the new monumental buildings devoted to judicial, civic, and administrative functions. Even though a few critics and members compared the churches to banks and post offices, classicism connected Christian Science to secular institutions that emphasized substanti,·e civic and social values.

Another rea on for the popularity of the cla~sical tyle was ca t in theological terms.

Some Christian Science apologi ts asserted a rapport between Mary Baker Eclcl)"s teachings and the forms of classicism. Christian Science was non-symbolic: the congregations generally 29

Chicago History, S/ni11g 1994 esc hewed the use or overt ecclesiastical symbols, preferring a simp li city or surroundings.

The ed ifices provided a community setting for the reassuring reading or the Bible and Eddy 's Science and Health. To many, this reading, tbe centra l focus of the services, was a simpl e rational articu lation. These principles of simplicity and rationality cou ld be recognized in the state ly classical arch itecture. The classical style also embod ied the ab tract and ideal qualities of Christia n Science discourse, which emphasized rationality and logic as science . As Beman reiterated, Christian Science 11"as "scientifi ca ll y true, rational, and natural. " Un like the Gothic style, the classical , "ll'ith its sense of calm proportion, its sincerity and refinement, and ... its rationalism , seems to represent the faith of those who emp loy it in their houses of worship." Even prominent Goth icist Ralph Adams C ram, who in 1905 condemned all classical forms in church buildings for denying the rich two-thousand-year history or C hri stianity, later asserted that the Christian Scientists had chosen classicism properly, because it was a sincere and suitable architecture for their theological position .

Increasingly, by the middle teens , Beman 's conceptions of the timelessness of cla sical values were challenged, ch iefly by architect Elmer Grey, who a lso designed severa l Christian Science churches. Grey belie1·ed that the "pagan" classical represented merely a rejection of traditional church architecture and was not of positi\'e value in the promotion of Christian Science. Grey slated that the classical revival was pejoratively the "Chicago architectural id ea." Grey responded with an approach much like an earlier response by Cram-that C hri stian Science shou ld not ·'exclude from its architecture anything worthy in the Chri tian arc hitecture of the past." He fervently supported a regional site-specific approach to building and believed in de1·eloping a liberated "New-World " architectural form. The debates over the religious and social value of sty le continued in the 1920s. But certainly ror a lmost twenty-five years the classical style seemed indicative of Christian Science theo logy and its socia l position, which wa negotiated through architecture with its socia l, cultural, and civic connotations.

30

Building / I New R eligion Lefi, .1/wllow dome, re111i11isc1'11/ of the a11rie11/ Ho11w11 Pa11theo11 , i11 Eighth 0111rth 0/Chri.1!, Scimtist.

P/zotogmj)h by Timothy Wil/111011.

For Further Read in g For inform atio n on Gothic architecture in C hi cago sec J ess \\'. Brodnax's "The Cath edral Church o f' SL. J a me~ of'C hicago and the Gothic RcYi\'al " (unpubli shed paper, 1962), CHS Library. To unclcrstancl the resurgence or classical a rchitecture, one mu st exam in e the impact of the arc hitectu1·e o f the \\'o riel \ Columbian Exposition. Hube n H. Bancroft's The Booh of the Fair (C hicago : The Ban cro ft Compa ny, I 895) in cludes informa ti o n on th e fair's arc hitecture, a well as information on th e \\'oriel 's Parliament of Re li g io n .

For a hi sto ry of th e Church of Christ, Scientist, sec Step he n Cottschalk's The E111ergence of Christian Scie11cP in 11111erican Religious Life (Berke ler: U nive1·siL)' of California Press, 1973) . Mary Baker Eddy, the fo und er of the church, was inte res ted in co nnecting the mind a nd phrsical hea lth. To lea rn more abo ut the difficulties Eddy ex perie nced in seek in g this connectio n view Robe rt Pee l's JHary Baher Eddy, The !'ears of Trial (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Win sto n, 1971 ). The 1992 staff summaries o r the Commission on Chicago Landmarks offer more informati on on the Third Church of Christ, Scientist, and Eig hth Church of Christ, Scientist.

Illu stratio n Credits 16-17, The Art Institute of C hicago; 18, CHS, IC Hi - 10187; 19, CHS, lCHi-22 327; 20, Church Hi sto11·, Di"ision o f the Church o r Chri st, Scientist; 2 l , CI IS , ICHi-0950 I ; 22, fro m Some Christian Scimce Church.es ( 19 11 ), Church Hi story, Division of th e Church or Christ, Scientist; 23 top, Church History, Dil'i,ion o r the Church of Christ, Scie mist; 23 bouom, from Chicago Tribune (Nol'ember 15, 1897), C HS Library; 24, Chu1·ch Hi story, Dil'i , ion o f the Church or Christ, Scientist; 25, CHS, IC Hi-1 3690; 26 , Comm is ion on Chicago Landmar ks; 27, C hurch I li,to1-y, Dil'i sio n of the C hurch o r Christ, Scicnt i,t; 28 . Commission on Chicago La ndma rks; 29 top a nd bottom, Commission o n Chicago La ndmarks; '.HJ-'.) 1. Commi s ion o n Chicago Landmarks.

31

PUCK BUILDING, Jackson Park, Chicago, May

No. x.

t,

1893.

PRICE 10 CENTS.

Copyright, ,893, by Keppler & Schwar,m,rnn.

l

h=

l )

.,,_.' --_ ...-,- - '-.-.::......

- ,. .,,.

,.

-

GREETING. wall into my w,\rL:shop! Do not pa-.-. it ,n I h e fl y Folr t~o~:e ~ow Puc!( is r,1 int<·d will dd1~hc you1 u11nd .mu t·)'r

,v·11

,l II <\n it, ntc.,'t h~ oi A

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,,n. l,.

..t-. 11. rt\

•S

( 111" w:lrhl v. I1 Ive l t,

, ""rl1 me

)

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I

-

CARTOON COMMENTARY JEROLD J. SAVORY

AT

Editor's Note: During the

EXPOSITION,

World's Columbian Exposi-

CHICAGO'S

1893 WORLD'S COLUMBIAN

PUCK

AND

OTHER

MAGAZINES

USED CARTOONS TO COMMENT ON EVERYTHING

tion of 1893, journalists from around the world wrote arti-

FROM ADMISSION FEES TO WOMEN'S RIGHTS.

cles about their impressions of the fair, which were published in newspapers from Paris, Illinois, to Paris, France. In the July 1993 issue of Chicago History we reprinted such an article, written by journalist Marian Shaw. Another genre of

GRAND M

ll!USIONS:

CHICAGO's WORLDs FAIR OF 1893

ass-produced cartoons for carica ture,

social satire,

and political

commentary began to flourish in England and France during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In America, it

was not until the late nineteenth century that cartoonists, led by Thomas Nast in the 1860s, began to enliven the pages of weekly magazines. Puck, America's first

American journalism blossomed during the fair: edito-

successful cartoon-illustrated weekly magazine devoted to

rial cartooning. As Jerold

satire, political lampooning, parodies, puns, and varying de-

Savory explains here, with

grees of light comic verse and commentary, published its

the establishment of comic

first issue in 1877. Judge followed in 1881 and Life in 1883.

magazines such as Puck, po-

Although some daily newspapers in America's larger cities

litical and editorial cartoons

started including political and editorial cartoons in the 1880s,

became popular with Amer-

not until the late 1890s did more advanced production tech-

ican readers. In this "cartoon

niques and growing public interest make cartoons a regular

essay," Savory discusses

feature in numerous magazines and newspapers of the twen-

how the fair provided car-

tieth century. It is arguable that Puck's coverage of the

toonists with endless oppor-

World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 significantly stimulated

tunities to illustrate, satirize,

this growth.

lampoon, and parody related issues and events.

Puck, its masthead featuring the impish sprite from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and the famous line,

The Chicago Historical

"What fools these mortals be," was partially, if not primarily,

Society's exhibition Grand

responsible for today's widespread use of cartoons in the pop-

Illusions: Chicago's World's

ular press. As Frank Luther Mott, historian of American maga-

Fair of 1893, has been ex-

zines, notes: "Puck of the eighties and nineties was an

tended through January 15,

institution sui generis. American journalism never had anything

1995.

quite like it . . . in spite of imitations." The early Puck

Jerold J. Savory is a dean at

cize excesses and abuses by unions as well. The cartoons

delighted in attacking monopolies but was quick to critiColumbia College of South

satirized all religions and struck at political injustices wherever

Carolina.

they occurred. Puck poked fun at women suffragists with 33

CHICAGO HISTORY, SPRING 1994

much lighter wit and humor, and at times, especially in the

Visitors to Chicago should not fail to call at the

nineties, yielded to essentially noncomic illustration of popular events.

The New York - based Puck, boasting a circulation of one hundred thousand in 1893, opened its own building on the World's Columbian Exposition fairgrounds to cover this most spectacular fin de siecle event. Numerous other American periodicals covered the exposition, some devoting entire issues to the fair. Judge, sometimes in imitation and sometimes in competition with Puck, lagged behind with a circulation of about fifty thousand in 1893. In regard to the fair, however, Puck's

PUCK BUILDING, World's Fair Grounds,

location,

its

building

sandwiched

between

the

Woman's Building, the White Star Steamship Pavilion, and the massive Horticulture Building, gave the magazine a distinct advantage over its competitors.

Above: The Puck building,

"Make it bigger and better than any that have preceded it,"

advertised nationally in the

wrote P. T. Barnum in "What the Fair Should Be" in the March

magazine both before and

1890 issue of North American Review. Barnum urged planners

during the fair, was the only

to make it the "Greatest Show on Earth," even greater than

building on the grounds

his own. Fair officials produced an extravaganza. Entertain-

occupied by a "comic" or

ments and industrial promotions, combined with educational

"popular" publication .

exhibits, prompted New York's satirical Life to say that "other

This gave the magazine a

exhibitions are to this one as Jersey City is to Imperial Rome."

distinct advantage over

Judge, another New York comic journal, praised the fair, while

a growing number of

also marshaling some of its New York parochialism to exploit

competitors .

stereotypes of the rapidly emerging "Second City. " Puck, despite occasional devilishness and poking fun, also celebrated and documented the marvels of the White City.

At ten cents a weekly copy, the special editions of World's Fair Puck, published during the fair's May-to- October run, were affordable souvenirs for those who found the two-dollar-

Page 32: On its first World's

a-day fee for private camera use too much in a slipping na-

Fair Puck cover, publisher

tional economy. Puck made a clever advertising move in

and chief cartoonist Joseph

offering the fair on newsstands "from Maine to California for

Keppler presented Puck

every man and woman who has 'fair thoughts , '" as promised

greeting visitors with the

in the magazine's ad. An opening day editorial on May 1

invitation:

stated that the purpose of the world's fair editions was to

Will you walk into my work

and the humorous sides of the Great Exposition." Some car-

"establish an offshoot, devoted to the social, the picturesque, shop?

toons, neither humorous or satirical, would be merely illustra-

Do not pass it on the fly.

tive, but all would comment on the amazing spectacle of the

For to see how Puck is

great "White City." Furthermore, since the magazine was

printed Will delight your mind and eye: And I only hope the people of the world wi/J give to me

A welcome half as hearty

34

printed on the fairgrounds, visitors could see Puck's five-color presses and other marvels of modem printing technology.

Most of the following cartoons have been taken from the special World's Fair Puck, with a few from Judge and from H . R. Heaton's series in the Chicago Tribune, and one from London's venerable superstar of comic magazines, Punch, es-

As their welcome here will

tablished in 1841 and published continuously until 1992. Some

be.

cartoons simply poke fun, some celebrate, some document.

CARTOON COMMENTARY

Below: H. R. Heaton,

Others editorialize on such matters as admission prices , visitor

cartoonist for the Chicago

accommodations, Sunday closings, the impermanence of some

Tribune, covered the fair

of the sculpture, and "Colored People's Day, " an effort to make

in his regular editorial

up for the virtual absence of black citizens from employment

strip, "Events of the

and participation in the fair. Some cartoons present stereo-

Week." President Grover

types current in the late nineteenth century that offend today.

Cleveland pressed the

These are included here because they provide a perspective on

button turning on the

American life and attitudes a century ago . As with editorial car-

fair ' s electricity, thus, in

toons today, it is difficult to say whether those of a century

Heaton's illustrative

ago simply reflected readers' values and perceptions, or helped

metaphor, releasing the

to shape them; they probably did both. At any rate, there

American eagle from its

is little doubt that the cartoonists for what is broadly labeled

brood of squawking

the "comic" press played a role in the dramatic success of

eaglets.

Chicago's "midsummer night's dream" of 1893.

THl F'J /ft

r

35

Left; Nevv York's Judge devoted its May 6 issue to the fair vvith a cover acknovvledging Chicago as "The Queen of the May," carried by ladies representing the earlier competitors for the fair: Nevv York, St . Louis, Philadelphia, Washington , D. C., and Cincinnati.

T H E QU EE N OF T HE MA Y

Left: Although the English Punch made a fevv lighthearted jokes about Chicago and some of the "excesses" of American vvays, it depicted its famous cartoon character Mr. Punch as ambassador to "Lady Columbia" vvith a lengthy poetic greeting extolling the virtues of the city by Lake Michigan that "outsoars Xanandu" and "eclipses Shedad's Paradise. "

OUR OWN AMBASSADOR. Pvwc:u (lo Cour• •u ), "co~·ollATU U .TE \°011, llY DE..I.R l---0:Ul t'H 'THE BI00EBT 811'0W OS EARTH,

36

CARTOON COMMENTARY

Below : In a satirical stab at

forts to attack the fair

rival members of the press

through " shaky editorials, "

in New York's so-called Daily

for their sometimes critical

"pig- headed hostility," and

Stabber, Fault Finder, and

cov e r age of the fair, Puck ' s

" ape-like malice . " Although

Daily Bigot. Indeed, the

Fred Opper created a gath-

the press , comic and other-

sheer spectacle of the great

ering of editors, largely rep-

wise, and primarily from

White City claimed substan-

caustic as Opper suggests

resenting New York papers

New York and other rival

tia l attention in numerous

giv en fictitious names . He

c itie s , often did criticize the

periodicals, even those

suggests that awards

fai r and its organizers, by no

located in the cities that

should be given for the most

means were all the com -

had lost their bids to host

obnoxious journalistic ef-

ments and cartoons as

the fair.

THEY

WORLD'S

FAIR PUCK

HAVE

EARNED

IT.

Pun, St:ccr.~n THAT \\'Hts THf' Pan:1.S Alt! AWAllOCD, T H( A ..~1.woa1..o·s F,UR PRUS SHOULD ?\C·T Or. FORGO'TTEN

37

CHICAGO HISTORY , SPRING 1994

Belo\N: Although the

voyager \Nelcomed b y hosts

Columbian Exposition brought

Potter Palmer, Mayor Carter

numerous international

Harrison, and Harlo\N Higin-

celebrities to America, one

botham , president of the

\Nho could come only through

fair ' s Administration Council.

the imaginative pen of the

All bo\N in a\Ne of his " miracu-

illustrator \Nas Christopher

lous " arrival as if they \Nere

Columbus himself. Kepp ler's

among the aboriginal hosts

cartoon depicts the ghostly

of 1492.

WORLD

J-..-, .... , ... _____

...

THE

NEW

·s FAIR PUCK

LANDING OF

COLUMBUS.

\\"hen ·rcat Columbus' duui;hty ghost DC\\' wtkomcd to Clu :o':i. ,horc, 1-lc 'II hnd hi:. prt"Stnt \\\)r!d'c F'air hu~ts ~ copyin);'. th~ or <Lt)'S or ,-ore-_ Though somewhat ba.m~n.'ru n thur mo\.·c.mcnts Uy wh:i.t the)' think 3.tc modrl.: impro,·c.mcnts.

38

CARTOON C O MMENTARY

Below : Not to be outdone b y

forty years later when

the extrav agant praises of

Chicago ' s second fair, the

its rivals, Puck put Chicago

1 933- 34 Century of Progress

(and , by implication, itself) at

Exposition, was opened by

the center of the universe,

electrical power generated

eclips ing the rings of Saturn ,

from the light of the star

the canals of Mars , and the

Arcturus, which had been

m o ons of Jupiter. Interest-

emitted during the time of

ingly, t his theme was echoed

the Columbian Exposition.

N o.

12 .

P UCK BUI L DING, Jackson Park, Chicago, July :i4, 1893 ,

PRICE 10 CE NTS .

CoprrlJht, 1S9J, by Kq:,pkr A. Schwamua11n

THE

BIGGEST

ATTRACTION

OF

THE

UNIVER SE.

THE Ch'.I.ES1'IAL SIDF.•SHOWS AR& T01'ALT.\' Ec;LIrsIm IIY T l!~. WOIO.l)'S LII R.

39

CHICAGO HISTORY , SPRING 1 994

taurants, Costs of res t ance fees nd en r housing, a ubjects dictable s were pre , . kes, given onists Jo d for carto rket crash an the stock-ma depression ternng the threa f 1893. mero of the sum e visitor d picts on Judge e mergency d for any e prepare thers (right) (above) and o . goans had . that Chica . learning ·dences ,n their res, vacated . on rental order t o cash ,n fees from fairgoers.

the Chic a go · t H R. artoorns .

Tribune , c h con d picts t e Heaton e . of fair . ocation stant equi v k cele one w ee officials, . . to open dec1s1on brating the h 'le the next day s , w 1 on Sun . on " another ek deciding " we . he program. change in t . was eventhe fair Actually, but four non a 11 tually ope two Sundays twentyof the tober run . of its May-to-Oc Left : In

40

CARTOON COMMENTARY

WORLD'S FAIR PUCK

WE

DON' T

GIVE

UP

T HE

FIGHT.

T!HT '$ WHAT W[ W\ST Tu H(-TH.t fAlll !'/OT 0:,,'LY O1'L'f 7CR nu; Pt:Ql'Lli. 0!'1 s1.:-.oAY IUT .AT A P0Pt.lLUt P11.1,;:£.

Above : In a cartoon less com -

included in Congress's ap-

ical than editorial, Keppler

propriation for the fair. Fair

contrasts the popular percep-

officials, facing mounting

tion of Chicago as a smoke-

economic problems, needed

polluted industrial city with

the revenue and fought for

the glorious surroundings of

Sunday openings. The car-

the White City. The drawing

toonist at Puck, along with

features Columbia and Puck

other satirists, generally

welcoming the poor into the

sided with fair officials

e x position for a reduced price

against the religionists,

on Sundays . Largely because

especially the clergy .

of opposition from the clergy, a no-Sunday clause had been 41

CHICAGO HISTORY , SPRING 1994

WORLD'S FAIR PUCK

-!!:..~=~~t!=~-=:.-"' .. .._._...,..~----

-~~t.::;. :...~·!:",t..-_:;,.:~..:-~---:~~:-;.-1,.-

"HUMAN

NATUR'."

Above : Puck 's cartoon entitled "Human Nature " is in keeping vvith its customary attacks on vvhat it consid ered religious bigotry . Clever Midvvay entrepreneurs entice the churchgoers into their "moral shovvs " by advertising them as dreamy scenes of sultry harem diversions .

42

CARTOON COMMENTARY

Left : Debates over the Sunday closings took various forms in the cartoons. Judge featured the "Rev. Mr. Humbug" and a Chicagoan who suggests that a closed fair might mean open saloons in towns and makes the mistake of assuming that his pompous friend must be "one of us" after all.

Below: Judge was hardly subtle in presenting a jubilant and varied crowd of fairgoers defeating Sunday-closing supporters or "blue-nosed hypocrites." The cartoon caption, by one "Bishop Potter," declares that the fair wil l co n A NATURAL MISTAKE CaK_., .-,.~-•· 's'n. I.<

II"••• howling 1h•>11t of M~· ,lc,11·1 kur de W~rld"• f"a•t

R•t M._ II ~J<,11<.-' ' \1: ,lr•• otr.1 ~-

c,u:r.oc• "--~vc,

.,-~t.a,to

h~nn• 111

1 • ...._

•41 Y<>" npr.-.1 •n•·

rL••••' 1, 11 ',tl• mr.r

,,.,, 1111 Sotn•!Ayo. •

nt ,nth.It

,h,a1Jo11wa,

tribute to man's "spir itua l

,<·.M• .,.,tu, t!y ••!~ ffly nwa Y>~w,.

eQ(1&1. Whl,1 ... 1.-.oadoy~1&h•pr·

education," not corrupt it.

43

CHICAGO HISTORY , SPRING 1 994

Right: Although Puck and other comic journals had often satirized suffragists, such satire was not common during the fair. Perhaps Puck's location next to the Woman's Building impressed Keppler with the remarkable achievements of American women, or perhaps he decided that the more vulnerable subjects of satire would be those opposing women's struggle for equality. At any rate, this drawing, "On with the Dance," celebrates the leadership of the American woman, represented by Bertha Honore Palmer, presi dent of the fair's Board of Lady Managers, reigning over international celebrants in a May Pole Festival in the main hall of the Woman's Building.

44

CARTOON COMMENTARY

ORLD'S FAIR PUCK Wi '

'

\\. -

_ _ ·1,

,,,,--- ------;

_,,.---; I /

'

~/· -------.

.. --........ '

THE DANCE! ON WITH TUE WORLD .

A~tf.RKAN. WOMA.'> LEADS

THF

45

CHICAGO HISTORY , SPR I N G 1994

. d FE. "'""·\"~·-

-¼••· _,<,:::

.I t ,.

,t; ;,'.-:

SKETCHES AT THE

¥

FAIR

· LIFE · /

.,..

'

v;~ ~~~-

•,

46

CARTOON COMMENTARY

Opposite and left: Life,

·LIFE ·

another comic magazine inclined to satirize \Nomen prohibitionists and suffragists, follo\Ned Puck 's lead in celebrating \Nomen in noncomic illustrations covering the fair in a series of "Sketches from the Fair." These sketches, featuring an attractive young American \Noman as serene, self-reliant, and refined, are significant because they are the dra\Nings of Charles Dana Gibson, \Nhose famous "Gibson Girl" in the decades fo llo\Ning the fair epitomized the "Ne\N American Woman."

WITH

Lift,

FOURTH

Of

JULY

COMPLIMENTS

TO

fHl

AMERICAN

IRL

47

CHICAGO HISTORY, SPRING 1994

Far right: Occasionally,

£)<t11t31T or TE~s

cartoons depicted late

IN t~t WO~tAN'S Btll~I"<;

nineteenth-century stereotypes of both \NOmen and men in relation to the \NOmen's movement. Heaton, in the Chicago Tribune , poked fun at the Board of Lady Managers, suggesting that \NOmen's interest in fashion, gossip, and domestic matters did not suit them for the formal settings of business meetings, \Nhere controversy led to tears rather than tough decisions. This \Nas hardly the case \Nith the board, led by the impressive Bertha Palmer.

Puck's cartoon of the man in drag \Nith the screaming baby (right) reflects the notion that as the "Ne\N Woman" evolved by taking on male characteris tics, the "Ne\N Man" became an effeminate creation of his liberated \Nife.

AN

EXHIBIT

Opposite: In \Nhat \Ne \NOUld

48

the early 1 890s had a

today see as blatant anti -

gro\Ning ethnic population,

semitism, Puck's Ne\N

approximately 2 percent of

Yorker "Cohen" laments

\Nhich \Nas Je\Nish, most

missed financial opportuni-

readers of the comic press

ties at the fair. He \Nould

did not object to jokes fea-

likely have been seen by

turing ethnic minorities. Even

many nineteenth-century

magazines \Nith Je\Nish edi-

readers as a comical char-

tors. cartoonists. and \Nriters

acter type , clearly a stereo-

occasionally featured this

type, of the Je\Nish business-

same type of character,

man concerned \Nith making

along \Nith those repre-

money. Although Chicago of

senting other ethnic groups.

CARTOON COMMENTARY

No. 8.

PUCK BUILDING, Jackson Park, Chicago, June a6, 1893.

Copyrlghl, 1893, by Keppler & Schwnrzruoan.

PRICE 10 CENTS ,

£nt.cred a.t the Chicago P.O. u Sttond-cl.Au Mllil Maller.

VAIN

REGRETS.

<:mo-:N fr,/ {t./1Cn 6-- CfJ., l/;nlo Str~d, \' l .; \"a 1 1n dcg:rnt obbC"rtunily t lose to do hissncAS. Jr I only hail a stock of clo 1· trn.: toll,H, nil vool bants, 1 could 111.,ig mr Vorlt':; 1-. r m,pt.:nscs. t.:nJt I du.l n't bring :'Li much as :l S:\mvtc J

49

\--

'I \

'I Hla e«oru at llcbdng his clptan. fn.ih.1ca

"Ta.Ill a.baout comfon ! Ou r county f ••n ca n 't come

knee-h,Kh l ~ n fer a1ylc •·

UNCLE JOSH

DOES THE FAIR

CARTOON COMMENTARY

Opposite and below: Like

of jokes. Judge featured

Jews, American southerners

regular layouts of Texas

were stereotyped as various

hayseed "Uncle Josh ," an

characters, such as the

anachronism in the White

country hayseed and the

City with its futuristic tech-

bourbon-drinking Kentucky

nology and culture. "Col.

colonel. Although the states

Bluegrass" from Kentucky

of the traditional Deep South

was a frequent comic sub-

(the Carolinas, Geor gia, Mis-

ject, as was the Louisiana

sissippi, Alabama, and Ten-

farmer with h is ill-fitting

nessee) d id not officially

clothes, dirty boots, and pair

participate in the fa ir, repre -

of hounds. To many northern

sentatives from Louisiana,

fairgoers, the South was still

Kentucky, Arkansas, and

relatively unkn01,vn, almost a

Texas were often the brunt

nation apart.

Following page: Many carN o. 15 .

PUCK BUil.DiNG , J 11ck,011 .,ark, Chu:110, Auru11 14, 1803.

PRICE 10

CENTS.

toons addressed AfricanAmericans' participation- or lack of it- at the fair. The fair planners excluded AfricanAmericans from nearly every aspect of the fair- from its organization to employment opportunities- but they attempted to recognize them by sponsoring "Colored People's Day," or "Jubilee Day," which echoed the special days devoted to different ethnic groups throughout the fair's run. There was disagreement among African-Americans about this; Ida B. Wells, for example, urged a boycott of the fair, while Frederick Douglass used the occasion to deliver an impassioned speech highlighting the achievements of African-Americans. The cartoons published in the popular press reinforce nineteenthcentury white Americans' stereotypes of AfricanAmericans. "Darkies' Day at the Fair," published in Puck,

SOUTHERN \ '1 I n}; 4 •l \kl•

METHOD S,

\\ h.ti It. l,,.1 111,111, ,!v,r;:: ,<1th I! u h•o f. r "' 11'> I I' :f II, ' 1·~1 u l,.,u J.111,,. 11J • .l~ Lt ... t.c 1e kl u.11r1! ,~ ,1 I, I 1111

reinforces the stereotype of lir

II I 1,l th 11 :n .i. k w nunutn

African-Americans· passion for watermelon.

51

TIIY.1111 ••

fPART 1 o the- Great\ prcssivc "en h . Vorld's f,ir m~l• rolled around t I e1r way .

1 he Colored p , at bst It was The Sons of J { eoplc's Day! A d am from fr n Congo's Sab - ar Soudan Came to th f le K.mgs Th . e air w1d fr cir wives, their \ 3 II their hosts, ~m d1St3nt :-/ub' , p umes, their ring T rro m far.famed•;: torrid sands, s. l~\'F.:STS

T

~ftcherDJrk,cs w1th their \~,s:tbar,. all ee friends were dar!

The pbns ar PART IIJ. Of • c Lud fo t a b.1 gn::'\I 1mpre; b parade \V1th hand!:!, so g;~:;;nc-.s And ~or~eQusn .. on C\"cry hand K ess m ,Ires, ' o eye to nght

_Each head mu::ust show the whi1e, poise erect.

His dignity . . reserve each m ust prP.serve circumspect.

\\ 1th proud

ButaG ,

PAKTIL

named M aJor . ~l oon BeResol:;~s:1a to coon, mar the d cause to lead ay, ' HC! had the whc.le affa' five hund nu; had his way tr (The ua:.ek :,·ater-melons ripe He la'd . Y s theme and d ' i on ice so co ream ) To aid him . h. ol and nice ' an is scheme.

With PART V. one loud whoo .

They swarm downP1 with one fell swoo Th°,~°'" of Ham in on the stand : p, \\ 1th a big srice m . each lhc foremost. hand. Jam,

DAR KIES' DAY', (A TALE OF

Pot. R

L'£m,"i.

But ~fajo r :i.toon is a sad<lt!ned Coo n ; For his melons he i;ot no par, .

His successful spite w:u .t boomera nc quiteBut it busrn<l up Darkic.s' D:iy.

THE 'R I BUTTON . )

FAIR.

CH I CAGO HISTORY, SPRING 1994

Il

Ji.

\

LI

'\l<

n I •k

'

.

"

(.'t,

l(J

"l\J~,\~~ )~,\\---

I

,1,1,)

"I'll,

~ \~~~

Because the fine arts were so prominent at the fair, the comic press inevitably dealt w ith them. Heaton's "Musical War at the Exposition" (below) comments on the occasional battles between temperamental performers from America and abroad , all seeking prominence in the Music Hall. The young pianist Ignace Paderewski Cleft) caused the women to swoon at his inaugural concert, less because of his musical virtuosity than because of his massive mane of hair.

"There's music in the hair," punned Puck. The talented

\ r

, rt

...ml

r

I

but flamboyant musician caused some consternation among officials because he insisted that he would play only if Chicago produced a Steinway for his talented hands . Puck recommended the "peaceful solution" of having him play on all of the pianos at once. Another Puck drawing, "Harmony Reigns at the World's Fair," (opposite) features Paderewski in questionable centrality, surrounded by new American ensembles such as the Chicago Choral Society, the Cincinnati Symphony, and the new military band just

~ MUSIC~L

WAR

.___ _ _ _ _ A_T_T_K£_!°)('f0$1 TIO I'(~

assembled and conducted by a young march composer, John Philip Sousa.

54

CARTOON COMMENTARY

-·~ - -.... .......

HARMONY

REIGNS

AT

THE

WORLD ' S

FAIR.

55

REVOIR .

·ks, !011,nt<I,

A11d t·'t·1·l thlf 1~~1 111111,1 llll 1 ... l p ii ol \\ h1,,,. ' n,, t.:rcn , , r l'.trt trom J'l t .h. ;, I ,i.t"1 he-' nd A th(' rnh -:nil,

t/,

Opposite: In its final World's Fair Puck cartoons, the

,,

mythic mascot Puck bid "Au Revoir. "

Right: As the fair prepared to close its gates, Puck paid one last tribute to its summer host: The triumph hers- Art, Science, Skill Their treasures yield as she hath bid Change, then, today. the proud"/ will," Unto the prouder words, "/DID!" CH ICAOO'S

DA V r ,-1

I~

I

Illustration Credits 32 , from World's Fair Puck

(July 29, 1893) , CHS Library; 40

1893), CHS Library; 49, from

(May 1. 1893) , CHS Library; 33.

bottom, from Chicago Tribune

World's Fair Puck (June 26,

from World 's Fair Puck (May 1 5 ,

(May 31 . 1 893), CHS Library; 41 ,

1893), CHS Library; 50, from

1893). CHS Library; 34 , from

from World's Fair Puck (June 19,

Judge (July 8, 1893). Columbia

World 's Fair Puck (May 1 , 1893),

1893), CHS Library; 42, from

College of South Carolina; 51,

CHS Library ; 35, from Chicago

World's Fair Puck (September 4,

from World's Fair Puck (August

Tribune (May 7 , 1893). CHS

1893), CHS Library; 43 top, from

14, 1893), CHS Library; 52- 53,

Library ; 36 top, from Judge (May

Judge (June 24, 1893). CHS

from World's Fair Puck (August

6, 1893). Columbia College of

Library; 43 bottom, from Judge

21, 1893). CHS Library; 54

South Carolina; 36 bottom, from

(June 1 0. 1 893), Columbia Col-

bottom, from Chicago Tribune

Punch (May 29 , 1893). New-

lege of South Carolina; 44-45.

(May 7, 1893, CHS Library; 54

berry Library; 37 . from World ' s

from World's Fair Puck. CHS

top, from World's Fair Puck (May

Fair Puck (August 16. 1893) .

Library. 46 top and bottom. from

15. 1893), CHS Library; 55, from

CHS Library ; 38- 39 , from

Life (July 27. 1893), Newberry

World 's Fair Puck (July 10,

World 's Fair Puck (July 1 7 .

Library; 47 , from Life (June 30.

1893). CHS Library; 56, from

1893) , CHS Library ; 39 right,

1892), Newberry Library; 48 left,

World's Fair Puck (October 30,

from World 's Fair Puck (July 24 ,

from World's Fair Puck (May 22,

1893). CHS Library; 57, from

1893), CHS Library; 40 top left

1893). CHS Library; 48 right,

World's Fair Puck (October 9,

and right. from World's Fair Puck

from Chicago Tribune (May 7,

1893), CHS Library.

57

The eroding stone(acade of the Chiwgo Coh,l'Wll al Fij/eenlh Siffel a11d Wabash Avenue, A/Jril 1983.

The i/luslrion, and i11jr1111011s pas/ of this min includes polilirnl ro11ve11tio11s, ball,. sporting games, 11111sP1w1 Pxhibitions, a 11d a vast munber of olhn t'11e11ls. Phologm/Jh

by Randall T.

IVi/1.

YESTERDAY'S CITY Conventions and Curiosities Adam Langer The sign in front or the crumbling castle walls on South Wabash Avenue warns that all trespassers and souvenir hunters will be prosecuted.

In the confus ion of broken glass, pebbles, and dirt, it is difficult to im agine that any valuable treasures wait to be unearthed. But if memories were souvenirs, this foreboding ruin would be filled with them.

It has been said that this land is haunted.

From the moment a lmost one hundred years aao when the immense castell ated structure that t, occupied it collapsed accidenta ll y in a cloud of rubble to the time less than twenty years ago when the building's last denizen tumbled to his death through the rotting wooden noorboards, the plot has had an ignominious history. The

ghost of gangsters, prostitutes, and crooked politicians now crowd this barren landscape, si lent witnesses to an illustrious and infamous past. By the early 1980s, most of this past had been destroyed. Only vestiges remain.

All that is left of the old Chicago Co liseum at Fifteenth Street and Wabash Avenue is the eroding stone facade. Only a vast expanse of nat earth covered with trash can be seen through the holes in the towering turrets. o politicians or presidents come here to speak anymore, nor debutantes to dance, nor world-class athletes or decorated so ldiers to meet their fans.

Adam /.,anger is a writer/or the Reader and an editor for SubnaLion.

Chicago History, Spring 1994 The word coliseum suggcsLs something ancient and Roman. This place does indeed recall some antique ruin that concea ls a history of revelry and mischief: vice and triumph, behind its walls. As the ruins of Rome's Coliseum encapsu late the history of a fa llen empire, so too does thi ruin of Chicago, for Lhe part it played in the glory and the shame of the city.

This building was one of three co li seums in C hicago's history. The first was a beer hall a nd theater on South Clark Street in the Loop. T he second, a convention hall at Sixty-third Street and Stony Island Avenue, hosted one of the most famous Democratic conventions in American history. It was here in 1896 that a littl eknown ebraska congres ·man by the name of William J ennings Bryan rose to national prominence when he declared oppos iti on to his party's bimetallist plank with the statement, Below, the Libby Civil War Prison in Richmond, Vi1giuia, housed forty-five thousand fednal lroojJs. In J889, Charles F. Gunther (right) devised a /Jlrm lo di.rnwnlle and move the prison lo Chicago for use as a 11111se11111 .

60

"You shall not crucify mankind upon the cross of go ld ." The Chicago Daily News described the reaction at the South Side co li seum: There was a pause, a break in the sma llest fraction of a second. The orator turned and made ready Lo leave the stand . Then from the rear-most wall to the speaker's stand, from encl Lo encl or the gigantic hall , came like one great burst or artil lery the answer of the convention: "You shall not crucif-y mankind upon the cross of gold." Roar upon roar, cras h upon crash or fierce, del irious app lause.

/.

J

-

l'esterday's City

Above, the Libby Prison Museum's fortress-like outer walls in 1891. Below, thi.1 1893 Chicago Tribune advertisement claims that the museum was "thf' 1110.1/ interesting and wonderful exhibit in ;J111erica."

Despite such fervor, the ticket of Bryan and Arthur Sewall was ultimately defeated by the Republicans and William McKinley in the 1896 presidential election. McKinley also proved victorious over Bryan in 1900.

Chicago's third coliseum began life in Richmond, Virginia, as the Libby Civil \Var Prison.

The prison, which was originally erected by Luther Libby in Richmond in 1845 as a ship's chandlery and was later used as a tobacco warehouse, housed forty-five thousand troops during the Civil \Var. The place was notorious for its squalid conditions and the inhuman ways in which its inmates were treated. Following the war, it stood vacant. In 1889 four Chicago investors devised an eccentric scheme to dismantle and rno,·e the prison to Chicago for use as a museum.\\'. H. Gray or the Knights Templar Assurance Association, sporting goods mogul and baseball star A. C. Spalding, superintendent or the Chicago Towing Company John Crawford, and candy magnate and col-

DON'T FAIL TO VISIT

LIBBY PRISON. THE UREA'!' N'A'l'IO'iAI. WAR MU!iEU)(.

The most lnter~tlnj!: and wondt'rtul e:ihlbll 1,.

AmMlca. Open rr<>m 9 " · m . t.n 10 p . m. d1&1ly and bund,u. Wab&1b -11Y .. l,etween 1-ltb and lt1Ul-1ta.

lector Charles F. Gunther supervised the removal of the building from Richmond and its subsequent reconstruction on South \Vabash Avenue in Chicago.

The prison was taken apart piece by piece, shipped to Chicago by 132 twenty-ton freight cars on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, and reassembled. It opened in 1889 as a museum .

To adorn the prison 's dull architecture, the founders or the Libby Ci,·il War Prison Museum surrounded it with fortresslike walls in the style or a medieval castle. Some of that facade still stands LOday.

61

Chicago Histmy, Spring 1994

Above, stereograjJh of the U bby Priso11 1\ I11seu 111 's i11terior by I I. 11. 8e1111et. Br/0111, a/ai•orite al/me/ion of th e war 111u,1eum, the secret tunnel through u•hich U11io11 troo/Js were .1aid to li mw 111ad1' daring esca/JPs jio111 t/i1, /Jri.1011.

C hief am on g th e ex hibits a t the mu seum was th e collection of Ci,·iI War arti facts do na ted

by Charl es Gunther. Gunth er had ga in ed something of a reputation for hi s coll ection of curi os a nd kni ck-kn acks, whi ch he di splayed on the second fl oor o f his South Sta te Stree t ca ndy shop. Alo ng with Civil War co rresponde nce, weapons, and uniforms, he mrn ed \\'ha t he claimed to be th e skin of th e serpe nt from the Garden of Eden a nd the murnm )' of Moses' surroga te mothe r. All o f thi s, plus a towe l used to soak up the dying Abra ham Lincoln 's blood and th e shoe of J ohn Wilkes Boo th 's steed were moved to the museum , wh ere a noth er fayorite attracti on wa the secre t tunn e l th rough whi ch beleaguered Uni on troo ps we re sa id to have made da ring escapes from Libby Prison.

Th e Libby Civil Wa r Priso n Museum reached the p ea k of its popul ari ty in 1893 durin g th e World 's Co lumbi a n Expos ition . In th e foll owin g years, as interest in Civil \Var nostalgia subsided , wha t was o nce a mo ney-ma ker for its owne r beca me a li a bility. In 1899, the mu seum shut its doors a nd was di sma ntled shortly thereafter. In 1920, the Chicago Hi storical Society purchased much of Gunthe r's vast

62

\'e.1/errlay's City

Some of the artifar/.1 exhibited in the 111usew11 include Civil IVar correspondence, wea/1011s, and uniforms donated b)' Charles F. Gunther. Cw1ther also collected curious knick-knack,, which he dis/1layed al his candy slw/1. One such object was what he claimed to be the skin of the se1jm1t from th e Carden of Eden (left).

collecLion. 1mr an alderman, Lhe opponunisLic GunLher planned Lo transform Lhe siLe or his former museum inLo a profit-making concern once again. Because Lhe coliseum at Sixty-third and Stony Island Avenue had been destroyed by fire on Christmas Day in 1897, Chicago needed a new com·emion hall where political and business events could be held. To meet thi need , Gunther organi1.ed the Chicago Coliseum Company to build a fifLeen-thousancl-seat stadium within the confines of the surrounding castellated 5>tructure that had bee n the Libby Prison Museum. Architects Charles Frost and Alfred Crangcr were e nlisted li.>r the pn~j ect a nd took upon themselves the task of' designing an irn-

mense sLructure supported by twelve mass ive steel arches.

Building an arena on this land was not as simple as its builders mighL have anticipated and, perhaps as an omen of even ts to come, the nvelve arches tumbled to the earth during con struction, killing eleven workers and i1-uuring fourteen. iron Age magazine declared Lhe event an avoidable tragedy. "To say that Lhe falling of the Coliseum in Chicago last week wa an accident that ne\·cr should have happened is to express a very mild criticism," observed a writer for the rnaga1ine in its September 7, 1899, issue. Reporter Arthur 'ears Henning was present at the site and described the unspeakably grim scene: 63

Chicago History, Spring 1994 ·n1e caLastrophe Look place late in Lhe aflernoon a nd a t midni g ht th e p o lice we re sLill un cen a in whethe r Lhe bodi es o f a ll th e d ead had bee n acco unted for . . .. \ Vha t increased Lhe uncen a inty was a huma n leg I fo und in Lhe d eb,-is. I ca rri ed Lha t leg aro un d m ost o f Lh e ni g hL tt·y ing to m a Lch it to o ne o f th e bodi es . \Vh eth e,- 11 o r 12 had been killed d ep ended on wh eth e r LhaL leg be lo nged to a bod y a lready recovered 0 1· a body ye t Lo be fo und. I fin all y maLched it to a bod y in o ne o f th e und e rta kin g roo m s, con firmin g th e count o f e leve n d ead .

Despite the tragedy, wo rk co ntinu ed until th e building was co mpl e ted in 1900. Th e fini shed structure boasted a ma in fl oor of 92, 000 squa re feet a nd a balcon y of 2 1,700 squ are fee t. T h e ma in hall had a sea ting ca p acity of 12,000, while th e adj acent north ha ll acco mm od a ted 4,000. The ball room o n th e seco nd-fl oo r balcony could hold 1,000. On Au gust 26, 1900,

Closing its doors as a musrnm in 1899, the Libby building re-opened in 1900 as th e Chicago Coli.1e11111 .

Among the most noteworthy events held here were numerous /10/itica! conventio ns. Pictu red here are a Taft button fi'om the 1912 convention a11d a pin ji-om the 1908 convention .

64

Pres id e nt William McKinl ey d edi cated the C hi cago Coli seum to th e acco mpa nime nt of a giga nti c milita ry band co ncert, usherin g in a lo ng a nd colo rful era of use for th e stru cture.

Amo ng the m ost no tewo rth )' events to occur a t th e co li seum we re th e num erous political conve nti o ns that ca ta pul ted many a politi ca l fi gu re into na tio n a l p ro min ence. Every Republi ca n pres id e ntial no mina tin g co nve nti o n be twee n 1904 a nd 192 0 was he ld th ere.

Th eodore Rooseve lt rece ived hi s pa rty's nomina ti o n he re in 1904, as did Willi a m H oward T a ft in 1908 a nd 19 12, C ha rl es flu g hes in J 9 l 6, a nd Wa rre n G . H a rdin g in 1920. In 19 12, Rooseve lt, fa ilin g to succeed T a ft as the Re publi can no min ee, stormed out o f th e co nventi o n o nly to re turn lo th e coli eum six wee ks la te r fo r the convenLi o n o f hi s p rogress ive Bull Moose pa rty, whi ch was cha ired by Medill McConni ck a nd suppo rted by J a ne Adda ms.

O ver th e years the co li seum hosted a ll ma nner of eve nts. Durin g th e twe nties, ma ratho n d a nces las ted lon g into th e mo rnin gs, leavin g swea t-sodde n parti cipa nts crumpled in heaps upo n th e co liseum fl oo r. In 1929 th e Chicago Blac k H awks pl ayed th ere, as did th e C hicago Zephyrs baske tba ll tea m . .J . Pi e rp ont Mo rgan a nd Ali ce Rooseve lt Lo ngworth , d aug hter of T eddy Roosevelt, atte nd ed a 1903 ho rse show.

Willi a m " Buffa lo Bill " Cod)' frequ e ntl y presented his Wild West shows a t the coliseum, and Chicago's early auto shows Loo k pl ace th e re. In 1907 th e first a uto show di spl ayed Pac kards, Da iml e rs, a nd Pi e rces, as we ll as e lectri c a utomobiles a nd othe r electric ite ms. Unde r th e coliseum 's roo f; vi itors ma rve led at th e ca r, the te lep ho ne, a nd o th er wo nd e rs o f' th e new cen1ury. In 1935, a pi ece in th e Chicago Auto Show progr am reca lled the eve nt 's a ntecedents a t th e co li seum a nd th e hes itati o n with which mo to rca rs we re regarded .

Abo ut th at fi rst show, th ere wa, no pa rLi cula r op Li mi sm , no p redicti o n~ th at Lhe day wo uld com e when th e m o tor ve hicle wo uld re pl ace th e h orse o n city streeLs, no thin g but a visio n o f a hand ful of en thusiast~ th at here was someL11in g Lhat somehow o r oth er would make good . .. . AL th e first auto m obile show th e re were 3 1 ex hibiti ons o f comple Le GffS and 20 of p an s a nd accesso,-ies, th e la tte ,· mostl y la mps a nd Li res . .. . Determined LO p rm·e th at th e ir contrapLions

resterday's City

. lhmw, /Jli.llrnrd/irn11 !hi' 1907 Ffr/J11hhrn11 National C:011ve11lio11. Between /90..J and 1920, eI1e1y Re/Jllb!iran presidential 11011111wli11g rom11,11lio11 H'(II held al the rol1ww11 . In the I 9 I 2 w11I1e11tio11 , following /Jage, I Vi/limn /-Iowa rd Taji won

t/11, R1'/mhlirw1 110111i11alio11 01 1er T/11,odol"I' Roo.1e, 1elt. Slon11111g 011/ of the ro11venlio11, Roosevelt re/uml'(/ lo the colise11111 011/y 11\ week, luter lo be 1w111i11all'!i hy i/11, Rull /\/oo.,e /xtrl)' .

65

Chicago History, Spring 1994 would actually run, the pioneers built a flat oval track, crossed at one point by a bridge for tJ1e use or tJ1e more timorous spectators. On this track, demonstrations were given, as well as on a wooden hill, short and not too steep, but it served the purpose and helped clinch a majority of the few sales that were made at the show.

The coliseum also made a spectacular venue for the massive parties of Chicago's rich, famous, and intellectual. The coliseum was not as famed, however, for these innocent gatherings as it was for the lewd balls hosted every year by the infamous lords of the First Ward, "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and john "Hinky Dink" Kenna. During the early part of the century, Hinky Dink, so called for his diminutive stature and Bathhouse, who earned his moniker because of his earlier employment as a masseur at a Turkish bath, invited the veritable dregs of society to Lake part in evenings of lascivious cavorting and drunken mayhem.

The entertainment often included the pleasures provided by those legendary ladies of the evening, Mina and Ada Everleigh, described by

68

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Among lite even/; held al the Cofoewn were the 1906 horse show, opposite bottom, and numerous auto shows, beginning in I 907, o/JjJosite top. Above, /Jrogmm from the I 935 aulo show.

69

Chicago H~1to1),, Sjmng , . 1994

70

Yesterday's City

Beginning in the late nineteenth rm/Ill)', reformers sought lo put an end lo drinking, da11ci11g, gambling, and other vitl'.1 . 117 1908, refon11e1:1 bombed th e coliseum in an a/Inn/JI In di.mt/JI !he annual First Ward ball. Pictured 0J1/1nsilr' i.1 the cover of T. A. Faulkner's From the Ball Room to Hell (1894 ). Above, "Bathhouse" Jo/111 Co111;lili11, Fi1:1t Ward alderman.

historian Lloyd Wendt as symbolic of the brothel era just as Al Capone became symbolic of organized crime.

Many a figure of ill repute, including noted gangster James "Big Jim" Co losimo, turned up at this annual event. Virgil Peterson wrote in his book Barbarians in Our Midst that the balls were "auended almost exclusively by gamblers, pickpockets, safe-bloll'ers, thug~, drug addicts and the madames, inmates and procurers attached to the ball'd)' hou~es of the district." Historian Lloyd Wendt described the crowd, 1rhich included '\hocking ll'Omen in bloomers and bathing suits, slit skirts and peak-a-boo waist. " This mot ley crowd would carouse until dawn, for as [ link)' Dink liked to say in his 0ll'n artic-

ulate f~1shion, 'The ball don't el'er get good until 3:00 in the morning."

On December 13, 1908, some indil'iduals referred to by the police as "fanatical reformers " exploded a bomb in the coliseum to disrupt Bathhouse and Hinky Dink's annual celebration. Two days later, howel'er, the First Ward ball went on as planned.

The l 908 ball ended in a mad nurry of destruction as the drunken throng la id waste the coliseum, lending ammunition to the arsenals of the reformers who sought to end the embarra sment of the balls. A 1908 Vice Commission report concluded that "those who attended ll'ere for the most part immoral women and men who are engaged in social evil business, the sale orliquor and gambling . . .. lt is the opinion of this commission that this and any other similar affair shou ld never be allowed again."

Although Bathhouse John asserted that the 1908 ball was "the best derby we ever had," a public outcry arose when he and Hinky Dink Kenna applied for a liquor license for the 1909 ball. When Mayor Fred Busse refused to issue the license, the planners went ahead anyway with a dry ball. Fewer than three thousand attended. The era of the First Ward ba lls had come to an end.

Throughout its history, the Chicago ColiseUJn was no stranger to both controlled fisticuffs and all-out rioting, sometimes a ll in one evening. A boxing match in 1929 ended with a wild fracas among its spectators. A March 25, l 929, report in the Chicago Tribune recounted the incident: Eleven men were in hospitals today, three not expected to lil'e, and many other men and women were recovering al their homes from injuries suffered last night in a riot al a boxing show in the Coliseum when a panic gripped 9000 fans. More than 3000 chairs were broken.

Such skirmishes foreshadowed one of the final el'ent to take p lace in the coliseum.

In March 1971, when technical difficulties interrupted a closed-circu it television broadcast of a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Fraz ier, one last chair-hurl ing, fistthroll'ing fiasco broke out among boxing fans in attendance.

71

Chicago Hislo1y, S/Jring 1994 During the Second World War, the army took over the coliseum Lo use as a radio lraining faciliLy. Following Lhat, sports promoter Leo Seltzer and First Ward commiueeman Freel Morelli acquired Lhe property. Morelli succeeded Hinky Dink Kenna in office and, perhaps following the lead of his predecessor, was invesLigatecl by Lhe UniLed Slates Senale Rackets Commitlee in the 1950s for his role in a scanda l involving the jukebox industry.

Seltzer and Morelli also owned the Arcadia Roller Rink at Broadway and Lawrence Avenue and the Armory Rink at Sixleenlh Street and Michigan A\'enue. With thal experience under Lheir belts, the two held rollerskating marathons al the coliseum, in addition to numerous sporting events, conventions, concerts, and circuses. In keeping with Lhe Lraclition of some of Lhe entertain men Ls Lhat had been held al Lhe coliseum, Leo Seltzer produced a musical extravaganza entitledA/as/w11 Stam/Jede, featuring characters like "Gold Rush Annie" and "Klondike Kale" lounging aboul Eskimo vil lages and scaling the heights of Mount McKinley while singing "Eskimo Jive" and "Aurora Borealis."

Gradually, as larger and more modern arenas and convention halls were buill in Chicago-mosL notably McCormick Placethe coliseum fell into disuse. 1 o longer large enough to house auto shows or many of the trade shows, il was used primarily during Lhe 1960 as an alternative venue for rock concerLs by musicians such as The Doors and James Taylor, who was the last performer to trod Lhe coliseum's stage. Among the more i11Lriguing events held there during its waning clays were meetings of Studenls for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Black Muslims. Malcolm X was slated to speak there during the early 1960s, but a bomb threat canceled the evenL. Cesar Chavez addressed his supporters and organized his grape boycott there. During Augusl 1968, demonstrators against the Democratic ational Convention and the Vietnam War, who had been barred from taking part in the convention, held a sarcastic "Happy Birthday, Lyndon!" party in the coliseum for the country's lame-duck pre ident.

The coliseum shut its doors in 1971 and until recently remained in the hands of Lhe 72

families or Leo Seltzer and Fred Morelli. Plans for its sale never came to fruiLion. As the structure began Lo crumble, neglect ended in Lragedr when Lhe caretaker who kept \\·aLch over the building fell Lo his death through the rotting wood. AJLhough Iisled on the aLional Regisler of Hisloric Places, Lhe coliseum was never approved for landmark sLaLUs, which Lhe owners opposed vehemently, rnainlaining thal Lhe building had become a while elephanl thal they could neiLhcr sell nor maintain. Finally, landmark stalus denied, much of Lhe coliseum wa~ destroyed, leaving only Lhe stone facade.

Over Lhe ensuing years, a number or uses incorporating the remaining facade were discussed for the coliseum. South Side land developers proposed using the land as a training facility l'or Lhe Chicago Bears and Chicago Bulls. One plan called fc)r rebuilding an arena on Lhe site Lo house events during the proposed 1992 world's fair. After Lwenty years of trying, the owner~ finally sold the land. The current owner is Soka-Gakkai International USA (SCI-US;\), a controversial Buddhist secl wilh a checkered history or scandals Lo iLs name, including allegations of money laundering, poliLical corruption, and abuse of iLs follower .

SCI-USA plans to build a new cultural center on the property that, if approved pending ;:oning and engineering concerns, would desLroy the remaining wall or the coliseum. A temple would replace the haunting memories of a peculiar past wilh Lhe specter of a peculiar future.

IIIustration Credits 58-59, CHS, ICI!i-2--1181: 60 top, CHS , IC!li24185; 60 bouom, CIIS, !Cl I i-22083; 61 top, CllS, ICHi-2.J 183; 61 bottom, f'rom Chicago Tribune ()ulr 1893), CHS Library: 62 top, CJIS, TCHi-24182; 62 bottom, CIIS, JCHi-08:t'i7: 63, CIIS Decorative and Industrial Ans Collection; 6.:J, CHS Decorative and Jndusu·i,tl Arts Collection 65, CHS, Gl980.186.67; 66-67, CHS, ICHi-2066.J; 68 top , CHS Library; 68 bottom, CHS, IC! li-2--l 192; CHS Libra,-y; 70, from From the Ballroom lo !Jell ( 1894 ), CHS Library; 7 I, CHS, ICHi-23935 .