Chicago History | Fall 1975

Chicago History

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FALL 1975

The Stone Gate of Chicago's stockyards.

Photo by Richard Nickel

Chicago History The Magazine of the Chicago Historical Society

FALL 1975

Volume IV, Number 3

Isabel Grossner, Editor

CONTENTS

Frederick J. Nachman, Assistant Editor

OUR FORGOTTEN STREETCAR TUNNELS / 130

Mary Dawson, Editorial Assistant

by Frank ]. Piehl

BURNHAM & ROOT'S STOCKYARDS CONNECTION / 139

by Louise Carroll TVade

STEAMSHIPS: A HUNDRED YEARS AGO / 148

by A. A. Dornfeld

GREEK REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE IN CHICAG0/157

by D avid Low e

WHEN CHICAGO WAS WHEEL CRAZY/ 167

by George D. Bushnell

Fl FTY YEARS AGO / 176 BOOK REVIEWS : FOUR CHICAGO ARCHITECTS / 179

by John Vinci

CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORT 1974-75/181

Printed by Hillison & Etten Co. Chicago, Illinois Copyright, 1975 by the Chicago Historical Society Clark Street at North Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60614

Co ver: Cyc lists appear to outnumber the Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and America: History and Lite

horses on Michigan Ave. in 1895, during the gorden age of cycling . From 50 Years of Schwinn-Built Bicycles .

Chicago Hislorical Society

Our Forgotten Streetcar Tunnels

BY FRANK J. PIEHL

When the subway plunges underground, have you ever wanted to sit near the motorman? It was a greater thrill - a half-century ago when that subway was a mere streetcar.

since Chicagoans have experienced the thrill of riding a streetcar through one of the old traffic tunnels. Once touted as the solution to street congestion at river crossings, the tunnels are now all but forgotten. Their story is spiced by a frustrated citizenry, political intrigue, and tragedy.

The idea of building tunnels under the Chicago River originated shortly after the city was incorporated in 1837. Commerce grew rapidly, and the thousands of ves els that soon thronged the Chicago River proved a nuisance to Chicagoans who had to cross over to the central business district from their homes on the North and West sides. So in 1844, William B. Ogden, Chicago's first mayor, asked City Surveyor Asa Bradley to estimate the cost of building a tunnel under the South Branch of the river. Ogden thought the project would cost $30,000, and it must have been quite a shock when Bradley informed him that a tunnel would probably cost $130,000. Serious talk about tunnels was not heard again until the 1850s.

Congestion continued to worsen, however and, in 1853, the Common Council called for bids on tunneling under the river. A year later, J. R. Miller of the American Sub-Marine Tunnel Company of New York responded with a plan for a cast-iron tunnel large enough to accommodate teams of horses. He volunteered to finance the project himself, an attractive offer to A

GENERATION

HAS

PASSED

Readers of Chicago History will remember Frank J. Pirhl's "Shall \Ve Gather at thr River," which appeared in an earlier issue.

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a financially strapped city; in return, his company proposed to collect a toll of 1 ¢ from each pedestrian, 3¢ from each wagon with one horse, and 5¢ from wagons with two horses. The Council negotiated with Miller for over a year and then turned him down.

Instead, the city developed a more ingenious method to finance the civic improvement that it couldn't afford. Ogden became the head of a new company, the Chicago Tunnel Company, capitalized at $1,000,000 in r 855, which was to construct and maintain tunnels under the river.

The company, which included such Chicago notables as pioneer John H. Kinzie and merchant and banker Walter L. Newberry, was authorized to issue bonds and collect tolls. The city, in turn, could buy the tunnels when and if it seemed desirable. A year later, however, new bridges were erected. and traffic congestion became less of a problem.

But the number and size of lake schooners continued to grow, commerce thrived during the Civil War. and congestion on the river again became unbearable. In r 864. in response to growing public clamor. the Chicago Tunnel Company proposed to build tunnels under the \fain Branch at Franklin Street and under the South Branch at Lake Street. At the same time, the Pittsburgh. Fort Wavne & Chicago Railroad. predecessor of the Pennsylvania Railroad . offered to build a free tunnel at Adams Street if the city would vacatt' Adams Street between the river and Canal Street to permit construction of a new railroad depot.

Brsieged by alternate plans for tunnels and hridges submitted by citizens' committees and

Chicog o Hist o ricol Society

Ellis S. Chesbrough, from his own calling card.

special-interest groups, the Common Council decided, in January 1865, to have a tunnel constructed at Washington Street, financed by $100,000 in city bonds and a matching amount of private subscriptions. Engineering plans were completed, city bonds were issued, and construction bids were let. But the private subscriptions lagged and, by the spring of 1866, it became obvious that the financial arrangements were failing. The Board of Public Works, already committed to a $5,000,000 capital improvement program to provide Chicago with cleaner water, more sewers, new bridges, and a widened river, again dropped the tunnel project.

The need for the tunnel didn't die, however, and citizens' groups again pressured the Common Council which, in July 1866, passed a new ordinance providing for a tunnel at Washington Street, to be financed by a new tax. Plans were prepared under the direction of City Engineer Ellis S. Chesbrough, a distinguished engineer who had been brought to Chicago in 1855 to solve the city's sewage problems and who later won worldwide recognition for creating the water tunnels into Lake Michigan. A contract for $271 ,646 was awarded to Stewart, Ludlum & Company, and ground was broken in October 1866.

Chesbrough's plan called for construction m two parts-on the east side of the river at Franklin Street and on the west side at Clinton Street - by erecting cofferdams from which the water could be pumped. The contractors worked diligently to excavate these approaches and, by the end of the year, the east cofferdam neared completion.

Progress then stalled. The contracting firm had exhausted its capital. The city refused to pay an additional $1,500, claiming a lack of substantial progress. In May 1867, the contractors stopped work on the excavation. The disputed sum seems trivial, but neither the contractors nor the new Board of Public Works, appointed by Mayor John Rice, would budge.

The Tribune editorialized that the Board's action was "unprecedented, being not only opposed to the universal custom on public works, but in direct opposition to the practice of the old Board of Public Works." On May 31, the Board declared the contract forfeited and settled the ent ire contract with Stewart, Ludlum for $20,500, leaving Chicago in virtually the same position as before.

The hipping season advanced, and the outlook was bleak. The partially comp leted cofferdam cut the river's channel to less than half its normal width. Vessels frequently collided with the piling, threatening to destroy what little progress had been made. On June 14, the bracing on the cast approach gave way and the entire excavation caved in, causing extensive damage to the adjacent Northern Transportation Warehouse and the Kellogg & Gray coal yard . The disaster was attributed to shoddy workmanship, and the beleaguered contractor forfeited his bond to pay for the damage.

Undaunted, the Board of Public Works prepared specifications for new bids, received nineteen and, in July, awarded the contract to J. K. Lake & _C ompany for $328,000. Charles B. Farwell, partner with his brother in John V. Farwell & Company, dry-goods pioneers, proChicago History

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Streetcar Tunnels

The Washington St. tunnel, showing Its use by pedestrians and horse teams alike for the first time in the world.

Detail from an engraving in Harper's Weekly, 1869.

Chesbrough'& name is misspelled.

Chicago Historical Socle1y

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THE CIIICAGO RIVER TUNNEL. 132

Chicago History

vided financial backing for the project, and the work proceeded with despatch if not without problems. The tunnel was flooded three times, once by water flowing in from the scene of a nearby fire. Construction was suspended during one winter for fear that the below-freezing temperatures would result in weakened walls. On J an uary 1, 1869, the Washington Stree t tunnel was fin a lly opened-at a total cost of $5 1 7,ooo.

This engineering marvel, constructed of brick masonry, was the world 's first underwater highway tunnel for both pedestria ns and vehicles.

Its two roadways for wagons measured 1,605 feet, and its 81 o-foot pedestrian passageway was planked with white pine. Its crown allowed the river a fourteen-foot-deep channel overhead, more than adequate for the river vessels of the era.

When the adjacent Madison Street bridge was closed for repairs a few days later, the Evening Journal reported that "passengers availed themselves of the new tunnel. A constant stream of people crowded through and thus demonstrated its usefulness." Late in January, the city tested the grade of the approaches with loaded wagons.

The horses had to work hard to pull their loads up the incline, an inconvenience, but better than waiting at the open bridges. The tunnel was judged a success.

There was one flaw in it, however-it leaked.

Although Chesbrough had specified the best asphaltum to seal the crown of the tunnel, it was a pplied during the winter, which meant the seal was not really watertight. Water continuously dripped into the tunnel-a mere nuisance in summer, but a hazard in winter when icicles dripped from the roof and hillocks of ice formed on the roadbed. Among the casualties was the Long John, Chicago's first steam fire engine.

Racing into the tunnel's approach in response to an alann, the Long John skidded on the ice and smashed into an abutment. Three firemen were injured , one seriously, and the pride of the Chicago Fire D epartment sustained damages

of $ 1 ,ooo. Such incidents aside, the tunnel served well to a lleviate delays during the navigation season of 1869.

A second tunnel was planned for La Salle Street to provide similar relief for those who crossed the M ain Channel from the North Side.

The design, almost identical to the Washington Street tunnel, differed mainly by a reduction in the steepness of the grade, made possible by co nstructing a longer tunnel- I ,890 feet between the entrances at Michigan ( now Hubba rd ) Street and at Randolph Street. It was a lso three fee t deeper under the river and two feet higher. Construction started in November 1869 and was completed in June 1871 at a cost of $566,276. One mishap marred the otherwise model project. During excavation in one of the cofferdams, the chain of a derrick snapped,

"Sectional view of La Salle Street tunnel , showing masonry, etc.," from an 1877 engraving.

Chicago Hisforicol Socierv

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Streetcar Tunnels

Building the Washington St. tunnel.

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Chicago Historical Society

Chicag o H istorical Society

Implacable foes: traction magnate Charles T. Yerkes and Mayor Carter H. Harrison, champion of municipal ownership of transit lines (from a miniature oil painting on porcelain).

dropping over two tons of blue clay in a huge metal box back into the excavation. Two men below died instantly.

In the formal dedication on July 4, 1871, over two hundred dignitaries assembled at the courthouse and rode a procession of carriages. Later, at the Briggs House, the celebrants extolled the passage as "well-lighted with gas, well-ventilated, and as neat, clean and free from dampness as could be desired," and City Engineer Chesbrough commended the contractors for building a "model tunnel" devoid of pesky leaks.

During the ensuing navigation season, street congestion at the river was noticeably less, and public complaints were silenced. As the summer passed, the two tunnels looked like a good investment. That October, the city was to learn their true value.

On Sunday evening, October 8, only four months after the second tunnel was dedicated, a flame flickered in the O'Leary barn on De Kovcn Street, just west of the river. The tiny flame grew, consumed the barn, and spread rapidly to the northeast, driven by a strong wind.

Within an hour, the fire was out of control, and when a flaming brand was borne across the South Branch just before midnight, the entire central business district was doomed. Throngs fled from the heart of the city in all directions.

As the inferno advanced from the southwest, rich and poor alike rushed to cross the river to safety, clutching a few precious possess ions. At first they crossed on the bridges, but one by one

the bridges were engulfed. The two tunnels under the river proved a godsend, providing safe passage for thousands.

At midnight, the gas works burned and the tunnels were plunged into darkness. Still the refugees, driven by necessity, pressed on, each person holding onto the shoulders of the person ahead and moving along in the dark in what has been described as "almost a lock step."

When the fire finally burned itself out in a cold drizzle on Monday night, the North Side lay in ruins along with the business district.

Again the tunnels proved their worth, for seven bridges across the river h ad been destroyed.

People and materials poured through the tunnels as the city was reconstructed.

Thereafter, however, the traffic declined and the tunnels eventua lly fell into disuse. In 1884, the city engineer reported that the "Washington street tunnel is unsatisfactory, the leaking under the river continues and it is not possible to stop it''- even though it had been recalcimined and repaired only three years ea rlier. The old gas jets were replaced by electric lights in r 885, a marked improvement which still did not stimulate traffic.

Public interest in the tunnels was at a low ebb when the advent of the cable car put them back in the headlines. Chicago's commuters were being served by an extensive system of horsedrawn street railways in 1882 when the first cable cars were introduced on State Street.

However, the cars cou ld not run west or north for one simple reason-the cars were propelled by cables 1,vhich drew power from a powerhouse, and these cables could not be strung across Chicago's drawbridges. The only way to bring cable cars into the business district was through the tunnels.

In 1886. an ordinance was passed granting the Chicago Passenger Railway Company the right to build a cable-car line on the \Vest Side and to bring it downtown through the Washington Street tunnel. In exchange, the company would Chicago History

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Chica go H is torical Society

make extensive and badly needed repairs, lower the roof of the tunnel to increase the depth of the river above from fourteen to seventeen feet and thus accommodate the new and larger river boats, and build a bridge over the tunnel for the regular traffic the cable cars would displace.

Although the negotiations aroused little public interest, they did not escape the attention of Charles T . Yerkes, the traction magnate. Yerkes had already made and lost one fortune in Philadelphia and served a short jail sentence for embezzlement. Then, in 1882, he moved to Chicago, where he reorganized the North Chicago R a ilway Company into the North Chicago Street R ailroad Company. In M ay 1886, he m ade his move. Alderman William R. Manierre introduced a n ordinance in the City Council gra nting Yerkes' line the right to install cables on the North Side, and it was rammed through despite bitter opposition. In the early morning hours of the final argument, Manierre introduced another ordinance allowing Yerkes to run his cable cars through the La Salle Street tunnel.

The foll owing morning, the Chicago Tim es denounced the aldermen as bribe takers; the Tribune, ta king a more conservative stand, nevertheless stated that the Council was proposing to make "a present of $600,000 worth of public property to Yerkes' car company in the shape of the La Salle street tunnel."

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Waterproofing a tunnel in preparation for Its use by streetcars. The machinery the workers are using allowed them to apply cement grout under an air pressure of 60 lbs. to the sq. in.

Public furor rose as the newspapers continued their crusade against the ordina nces; moreover, Mayor Carter H. Harrison was not about to sell out to the likes of Yerkes. He vetoed the ordina nces, describing them as "objectionable in law, in form a nd in substance," and insisted upon fair paym ent for the tunnel's use and protection of the city's rights. The revised ordina nces passed on July I g, a nd H a rrison was widely praised for a show of executive skill rare among his predecessors.

The foll owing yea r, Yerkes took over the cable lines on the West Side, consolida ting his grip on Chicago trac tion. Under his direction, both tunnels were closed to traffi c and modified for use by cable lines. The alterations included increasing the depth of the river over the tunnels to seventeen feet. In March 1888, the cable lines on Clybourn, Lincoln-Wells, and Cla rk streets began their downtown runs through the La Salle Street tunnel a nd, in August 1890, the M adison a nd Milwaukee lines went through the Washington Street tunnel. To serve the southwest sections of the city, Yerkes built the Blue Island and Halsted cable lines. Chicago's third tunnel,

located several hundred feet north of Van Buren Street, was begun in 1890 by the West Chicago Street Railroad Company to bring these lines under the South Branch. The tunnel was 1,517 feet long, extending from Clinton Street on the west to Franklin Street on the east, and was placed in service on March 4, 1894.

By the turn of the century, however, the seventeen-foot channel of water over the three tunnels was no longer deep enough for the big new freighters, and Chicago's river traffic began to suffer accordingly. In 1899, local shipping interests convinced the U.S. Congress ¡ that the Chicago River should be designated as a navigable channel and placed under the jurisdiction of the War Department. A depth of twenty-two feet was specified. Subsequently, in March 1900, the City Council passed ordinances requiring the lowering of the tunnels to comply with the federal law and specifying that the entire cost was to be borne by the traction companies whose cable cars had exclusive use of the tunnels. The city fathers waited for a response. There was none.

In July, the city went to court, touching off a legal battle that lasted six years. The traction companies, nearing bankruptcy as a result of Yerkes' machinations, bargained for a renewal of

their franchises in return for lowering the tunnels. But Mayor Carter H. Harrison II and his successor, Edward F. Dunne, were both champions of municipal ownership of the traction lines, and they refused.

In r 904, Congress declared the tunnels hazards to navigation and, in 1906, the U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of the city.

The traction companies agreed to lower the tunnels at their own expense in exchange for the right to replace the cable cars with electric streetcars. The tunnels were taken out of service in the summer of 1906 and, on October 21, the era of the cable car in Chicago ended as the last car headed north through the La Salle Street tunnel to its barn on the North Side. The Van Buren Street tunnel was reopened in 19 ro, the Washington Street tunnel in 1911 , and the La Salle Street tunnel in 1912.

But the new era, which was supposed to belong to the electric streetcar, proved to be brief.

The automobile age was just around the corner. The Van Buren Street tunnel was taken out of service in 1924, but it remained open until 1952 for emergency use and as a training run for new Surface Lines employees. The La Salle Street tunnel was closed in 1939 because it stood in the path of the proposed L ake Street subway.

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Ch ic ago Hi stori cal Soc ie ty

The age of streetcar tunnels came to an end quietly in 1953 when the last Madison Street car ran through the Washington Street tunnel. The only visible remains of the once-proud tunnels are the entrances to the La Salle Street tunnel at Kinzie Street and to the Washington Street tunnel, at Clinton Street.

For those of us who rode the streetcar through the tunnels, there are vivid memories; for example, the trip downtown on a hot summer day. You boarded the red Milwaukee Avenue car and paid your 7¢ fare to the conductor on the back platform. You scrambled past the wicker seats, followed the conductor's rope to the front platform, and maneuvered yourself alongside the open window next to the motorman.

As the car angled toward the Loop, you began to smell the lake air rushing through the open window. The car turned south on Des Plaines Street and then east on Washington Street. At Clinton Street, the gaping black hole of the tunnel loomed beneath the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad tracks.

The car tipped down into the dingy tunnel.

The walls were damp and the lighting came from ancient incandescent lamps, but the air was cool and refreshing. The car plummeted down the steep track, the motorman applied the 138

Chicago History

The west entrance of the Washington St. tunnel, ca. 1878.

This portal still exists, on Clinton St. adjacent to the Chicago & Northwestern station.

brakes by turning his black-handled lever, you heard the hiss of the compressed air, and you worried about whether the brakes would hold.

As the car neared the bottom, the brakes were released- they did hold, after all- and the car picked up speed.

You were at the bottom of the tunnel, under the river, shivering at the idea that the inky black water might pour in on you. Then the car headed up the other side, the electric motor straining and whining to pull the huge load up the steep incline. The motorman pressed a little lever. The air hissed again, this time releasing a stream of sand to the tracks below to provide more traction for the climb. You glanced with admiration at the brave motorman in his navyblue uniform with its metal buttons, staring straight ahead, intent on his dangerous task.

The tiny patch of sky ahead grew larger as you neared the top of the long climb. And the motorman stomped on his bell with his left heel with a clang of authority, for he had the rightof-way on the street above. At last you burst into the bright sunlight and smiled sheepishly at the motorman. Brave as you were, you had been frightened- just a little bit.

Burnham & Root's Stockyards Connection

BY LOUISE CARROLL WADE

Marrying the client's daughter is a time-honored way to start at the top, but seldom does it leave a city with a heritage of landmark architecture. of 187 r was a disaster for everyone except the city's architects and builders. Hard-pressed to meet the demand for their services in the hectic months that followed, they had to import architects, draftsmen, engineers, and construction workers from other cities. Architect Peter B. Wight came from New York to join the firm of Carter, Drake & Wight in the closing months of 187 1. The following year, that firm hired two young draftsmen- John Wellborn Root and Daniel Hudson Burnham. It was a silver lining in Chicago's otherwise dark cloud of troubles.

Root had left his native Georgia to spend the Civil War years in England. He graduated from the engineering course of the University of the City of New York in 1869 and found temporary employment with several architects, including prominent New York architect James Renwick, who had designed the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Wight knew Root and admired his designs, and he was pleased when the twentytwo-year old New Yorker accepted a job with Carter, Drake & Wight in January 1872. Root was equally happy with Chicago. Interested in music and drama as well as art and architecture, he soon had many friends in the city's artistic circles. Harriet Monroe, for example, best known as editor of Poetry magazine, later wrote a full-length study of Root's life and his work.

THE CHICAGO FIRE

Louisr Carroll Wade, associate professor of history at the University of Oregon, is completing a fulllrngth manuscript on Chicago's stockyards and its surrounding neighborhood.

The firm's other new employee, Daniel Burnham, was already on the scene. He had arrived in Chicago with his family in the 1850s and attended Central High School. His father, a successful wholesale druggist, wanted the boy to attend college but Daniel had little interest in scholarship and preferred to work for short stretches in a mercantile house, as a salesman, and in the offices of architects William Le Baron Jenny and John Van Osdel. In between, there was an unsuccessful expedition to the Nevada gold fields, from which he returned on a cattle train. The elder Burnham suffered heavy losses in the 187 1 fire and, out of patience with his restless son, asked Carter, Drake & Wight to put him to work.

Burnham and Root hit it off immediately, sharing plans and ideas in the office and a strenuous, freewheeling social life outside. One of John Root's friends was a realtor named George A. Chambers. Before the Great Fire, he had laid out a subdivision called Washington Heights about two miles northwest of Lake Calumet on the Rock Island Railroad line. Chambers expected it to grow rapidly, as fire victims sought new homes outside the burned district, and he promised Root and Burnham additional work in Washington Heights. Excited by such opportunities, Root and Burnham resigned from Carter, Drake & Wight in the spring of 1873 and formed their own partnership. Their first office was a 13 x 16-foot room on \,Vashington Street, which they rented for $20 a month.

The firm was no sooner launched than the panic of 1873 descended upon Chicago, slowing the task of rebuilding the city and cra mping the architects' style. "Most of the little plants we had hoped to see blossom," said Burnham, "were Chicago History

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Burnham & Root

Tile

Connection: at top, architect Daniel H.

Bumhtm and hit lalher-ln-faw, John a. Shennan, 111PtrfnltftdeAt of die Union Stock Yard & Tranelt Co.;

-Ntow. pllitlW John W. Root and hi• father-In-law, pMfclel)t'Of lhe Nmt Oltnt company and attorney for the CtllcalO, 8ultlnot(ln & Qufftcy Rallroad.

Chlcogo Hlstotlcol Society

blasted." From the Washington Heights project they salvaged only one building, the Washington Heights Female Academy, constructed in 1874. They also put up a house at Harrison Street and Ashland Avenue . But in order to pay the office rent, they had to take turns hiring themselves out to other architects, and Root picked up extra money playing the organ at First Presbyterian Church and writing music reviews for the Tribune. They purchased drawing paper, Burnham later recalled, "a few yards at a time, just enough by the most economical handling to lay out the immediate plan and an elevation or two. Then with a couple of pencils, a piece of rubber, a few boards, two stools, and a dozen thumb tacks we did business. Between us we had a full color-box and one stick of India-ink." During the first year of the firm's existence, each partner drew a profit of$ 182.38.

It was George Chambers who put them in touch with their first well -heeled client. This was John B. Sherman, who owned a large farm near Washington Heights and had joined Chambers in donating land for Fenton Park, the focal point of the prospective suburb. Sherman was also the general superintendent of the Union Stock Yard & Transit Company, one of Chicago's few thriving businesses during the depression of the 1870s.

Sherman owned a lot on the southwest corner of Prairie Avenue and 21st Street, and he mentioned to George Chambers in 1873 that he was ready to have a house and barn constructed on that property. Chambers, perhaps feeling guilty about the collapse of the Washington Heights idea, urged Sherman to consult John Root and Daniel Burnham before he chose an architect.

Sherman agreed, though he was probably planning to gi\·e the work to Frederick Baumann and Edward Burling. the architects of the stockyards' office building, known as the Exchange, and the Transit Hou e.

When Sherman did get in touch with the new firm , Root ,vas out of town, and it was Daniel

Burnham who kept the appointment. The accident was probably a good thing, for Burnham was as outgoing and self-confident as Sherman -a nd both men had chased gold in the West and ridden on cattle trains. Burnham came away from that meeting with instructions to prepare plans for a $30,000 house, the firm's first important job and a real plum for the fledgling architects.

The Sherman house was Gothic in design, built of brick and sandstone with ornamental columns of blue granite. During the planning stage and the early months of construction, Burnham became acquainted with Sherman's daughter Margaret who-according to Thomas Hines, Burnham's newest biographer-fell in love with him at first sight.* They were engaged before the house was finished and married on January 20, 1876. The ne\,·lyweds lived with the Shermans until 1880, and in the interim John B. Sherman helped keep his son-in-law's firm afloat. Already in 1875, he had helped Burnham & Root secure the commission for a building for the Drovers Journal, a livestock newspaper published at the Union Stock Yard. Three years later, the firm was asked to add a wing onto the Exchange building.

In 1879, the 1.Jnion Stock Yard & Transit Company decided upon two major improvements-one having to do with the water system and the other concerning security at the yards .

The original wooden water tanks were replaced with stone reservoirs and these were connected with a 100-foot standpipe. Burnham and Root enclosed the standpipe in a brick to\,·er with a broad limestone base that circled around the pumping machinery. At the top of the water to\,·er. they added a lookout for visitor and the night watchman \,·ho sounded fire alarms . Between the water tower and the Exchange was

*Hines' book, and a reissue of Charles Moore's biography of Burnham, are reviewed by John Vinci in this issue.-Ed.

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a wooden gate that marked the entrance to the animal pens. For a company handling about eight million animals and transacting over a hundred million dollars worth of business in 1879, this was not a very impressive entrance.

So Burnham & Root was commissioned to design a new gate.

Contemporary newspaper accounts did not mention the architects, and fires in Burnham & Root's office in 1885 and at the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company office in 1934 apparently destroyed the plans and the contract.

Thus the authorship of the Stone Gate has long been obscured and the date of its construction has often been confused.

Burnham & Root retained the idea of three separate openings, but their structure was much larger, being 46 feet wide and 46 feet high. It was built of the same Lemont rough-faced limestone used at the base of the water tower. The center arch had an inside width of 16 feet to allow for passage of teams and wagons as well as livestock destined for the city's slaughterhouses. Above it was a steep copper roof containing an iron grille that was lowered at night to lock the entrance. On either side were smaller pedestrian arches, each of which had a hinged iron gate. Carved into the limestone above the central arch were the words "Union-StockYard-Chartered-1865." In the space between the top of the arch and the roof, the architects added the carved head of a steer which had won the top prize at the Fat Stock Show the year before.

Adjoining the gate on the south side was a two-story brick building shared by company security forces and agents of the Illinois Humane Society. Traffic began moving through the huge center arch in June 1879, and the entire structure was finished by August. The "Stone Gate," as it was soon christened, cost $12,000.

Its symbolic value for the Union Stock Yard & Transit Company was far greater: though the stockyards are now gone and the gatehouse de142

Chicago History

molished, the Stone Gate stands-a proud historical marker.

Daniel Burnham and John Root made a favorable impression on the men doing business in the Exchange. Edward S. Stickney, president of the Union Stock Yard National Bank, asked them to build a house on Huron Street. So did James M. Walker, president of the Union Stock Yard & Transit Company. While the Walker house was under construction at 1720 Prairie Avenue, John Root became engaged to Walker's daughter and married her, though she was ill with tuberculosis and died in 1880. Root's father-in-law was a lawyer for, and former president of, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and during 1881 and 1882 his son-inlaw's fiim was busy designing the Burlington General Office Building in Chicago.

Burnham and Root had also been asked to enter the competition for a new Board of Trade building. They submitted three designs, one of which showed a separate office structure, a connecting corridor topped by a tower, and a separate exchange hall. The Board's five-man committee liked the novel arrangement and decided to hold a second competition based on that principle. Root's detailed drawings for this round of the contest included a decorative sculpture over the entrance facade, to be executed by his friend John Donoghue. A crowned female figure represented the city of Chicago.

Her right hand grasped a stalk of corn, her left a cornucopia, and her foot rested upon a pig's head. When asked about this, Donoghue replied, "Why not? We are always boasting of our corn and of our pork, and the wealth of the city is built principally out of them. Why should we not accept the facts as they are?"

The fact was that Chicago's pork packersmen like Philip D. Armour, John Cudahy, Charles Counselman, George D. Baldwin, Benjamin P. Hutchinson, his son Charles L. Hutchinson, and Sidney A. Kent-were important figures at the Board of Trade. All of them knew

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-

Burnham & Root's work at the stockyards, for their packinghouses were close by. Armour was also a Prairie Avenue neighbor of John B. Sherman and James M. Walker. Young Charles Hutchinson was a contemporary and good friend of both Burnham and Root.

These members of the Board of TradeCharles Counselman was a member of the building committee and an especially staunch supporter-favored the design submitted by Burnham & Root, but other committee members began to waver and lean toward a plan which Root's friend, Harriet Monroe, called "a hocuspocus sort of whispering-gallery affair ... by a local creator of abominations." When it appeared that this design would win if the committee voted, Counselman rallied his friends 144

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Chicago Historical Society

A drawing of the Armour Mission, from The Graphic, 1890.

and drew up a petition asking the committee to settle for an inoffensive plan submitted by William W. Boyington in the first competition. The committee did so in April 1882, without making a cost estimate. When this lavish structure was completed in the spring of r 885, it had consumed $1,800,000.

Inland Architect said the only "architectural purpose" of the Board of Trade's palace was to pave the way for new office buildings in the undeveloped area around La Salle Street and Jackson Boulevard. Burnham and Root lost the competition, but they put up the best of these

Burnham & Root

new tn.icturcs. Between 1883 and 1888, they de igned the Coun elman Building. Traders' Loan and Tru t Building, the In urance Exchange Building, Phoenix In urance Building and the Rookery. Philip Armour and Sidney Kent purchased land directly south of the Board of Trade ite and asked Burnham and Root to de ign an office building for it in 1882.

The a rchitects u ed an H-plan with generou light courts on the east and we t side , and they tactfully added pinnacles at the top to relate it to Boyington's Board of Trade. An iron bridge connected the top floor of the office building with the exchange hall in the Board of Trade; hence. the building wa named the Rialto. Completed in 1886. it oon became the headquarters for many of the city's packers and provision dealers.

The stockyard connection yielded till other benefits for Burnham and Root in the 1880s.

They de igned a house for Sidney A. K ent at 2944 South ~1ichigan Avenue, and Kent influenced the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railmad to elect Burnham & Root to design the railroad' general office building in Topeka an d the ~fontezuma Hotel in ~ew M exico. Burnham & Root built a house for packer George D .

Baldwin at Prairie and 29th Street and one for Charle Coun elman at 51st Street and Greenwood Avenue. Livestock dealer Robert Strahorn came to Burnham & R,oot for two houses in K enwood, and John Sherman's brother, I. Walter Sherman, hired the firm to build a wagon and carriage factory on South Wells treet and a house on O akwood Boulevard.

Their friend Charles Hutchinson commissioned two houses on Prairie Avenue, one for his own family and one for his in-laws. And it was Hutchinson, president of the Art Institute, who chose Burnham & Root for the Institute's first building at Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street. When it opened in 1887, the building received as much acclaim as the art collection. By then, Burnham & Root had also com-

pleted the Armour Mi sion, located at 33rd Street and Armour Avenue ( now Federal trcet ). A $250,000 memorial to Philip D. Armour' brother, the Mi sion was the city's largest non ectarian religious and educational institution.

Daniel Burnham's son und ersta ted the case when he told Charles Moore, hi father's biographer, that many of the firm' early buildings were "identified with the stock yards, or names of men allied with that indu try, and you can under tand from that how much Mr. Sherman helped father get work and estab lish his professional practice."

In an important sense, of course, the firm was on it own once it had weathered the depression of the 1870s. The friendly Daniel Burnham made most of the contacts and supervised construction and office records. John Root, who was more cholarly and introspective, was the ch ief designer. As Peter B. Wight later wrote, " Ilurnham furnished the clients and Root did the work." It was the combination of skills which explains the firm's extraordinary success in attracti ng a nd satisfying so many clients in the 188os. During the latter half of the decade, while they were involved with the widely acclaimed Monadnock Block and the Rookery, the architects found time to do two more buildings at the tockyards and a handsome "Stockyards parish'' church .

When the Union Stock Yard National Bank was rechartered in 1888 as the National Livestock Ba nk, the directors decided to build larger quarters for it on the same site, in the shadow of the Exchange. Burnham a nd Root gave them a three-story building of the red pressed brick used at the Exchange. The entrance arch had terra-cotta figures of a cowboy on one side and Illinois stock grower John D. Gillett on the other. At the top of the arch was a steer's head, reminiscent of the Stone Gate, but this one was surrounded by cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses.

Italian and Belgian marble, French plate glass, Chicago History

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Ch icag o H iH oricol Soci e ty

The new printing plant and office of the Drovers Journal, built in 1889. The large windows, foreshadowing today's "glass walls," allowed passersby to view the printing presses in action.

and electric lighting fixtures made the bank the most elegant structure in the yards. The facade has been preserved, and may be seen at the entrance to the Stock Yard Inn, at 4178 South Halsted Street.

The next year, Burnham & Root designed a new office and printing plant for the Drovers Journal. They used the same red brick and undecorated arched entrances, but expansive windows on the Halsted Street side of the building permitted pedestrians and tourists to watch the printing press in operation. After John Root's death in 1891, Burnham took charge of Dexter Park Amphitheater, a blocklong glass and iron pavillion which dwarfed even the Transit House. From the Halsted Street entrance to the yards to the Stone Gate and water tower, Burnham & Root had shaped the architectural presence of the Union Stock Yard & Transit Company.

The architects were also well known in the residential community east of the stockyards.

They handled the Fallon and Graham elementary schools, and Root met Rev. Maurice J. Dorney through their mutual interest in music and drama. Father Dorney arrived in St. Gabriel's parish in the spring of 1880 and had a temporary frame church, built with the help of parishioners, by the fall. The first permanent building, a brick rectory costing $10,000, was designed by Burnham & Root in 1882. It was a striking addition to the neighborhood, and the Drovers Journal editor quipped that Father Dorney had the best residence in town. By 1885, the priest and the architects were consulting on 146

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plans for the permanent church. They knew they did not want a "little cathedral," one of those "verbose and overdone designs . . . which suggest the anxiety of the architect to tell all that he knows," as John Root put it. Father Dorney wanted an honest parish church, preferably Romanesque. He got a distinguished tructure which met Root's dictum: "The best solution will always be the simplest."

Root's plans for St. Gabriel's Church, at 45th and \,Vallace streets, were revealed in June 1886. Work started on the foundation that fall, and the cornerstone laying ceremony, in May 1887, drew ten thousand spectators. Root modified his original plans to reduce the cost, but he kept the central feature of a low church with a soaring 160-foot tower at the crossing.

The spire was constructed of the same reddishbrown brick used for the body of the church, and it had a stone cross at the top. Root was proud of St. Gabriel's Church. Less than two months before his fatal pneumonia in I 891, he asked a reporter, "Did you know that in all Chicago there is but one church spire of masonry from the bottom to the top?" It is the only "proper thing in the way of a church spire.

It is the breaking of day." Harriet Monroe shared Root's enthusiasm for St. Gabriel's Church. It was one of his best designs, she said, "as personal as the clasp of his hand."

One other bond between Daniel Burnham and John B. Sherman deserves mention. They shared a passion for open spaces, whether it was Sherman's farm in Washington Heights or the lakefront property in Evanston where the Burnha ms ra ised their five children. Sherman introduced Burnham to the challenge of preserving open lands within the city. Already a South Park commissioner when Burnham entered the family, John B. Sherman directed his son-in-law's attention to the physical amenities of public parks. He probably helped Burnham & Root secure contracts in the lean 1870s for a water fountain for horses and a waiting room for

phaeton customer m Washington Park. The architects also competed for the bridge and skating rink in that park. For Garfield Park, they designed the casino and, in 1888, they designed a lakeshore pavillion for Jackson Park.

The firm's work with landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in planning the World's Columbian Exposition was a source of pride and satisfaction to John B. Sherman, marred only by the untimely death of J ohn Root.

In 1902, at the age of seventy-seven, Sherman

died in his Burnham & Root house at 2100 Prairie Avenue. Soon afterward, Daniel Burnham was asked to lay out eleven new parks and squares on the south side of Chicago. They included Armour Square to the northeast of the stockyards, Davis Square to the west, and a large park directly south of the yards. It was appropriately named the John B. Sherman Park, a fitting tribute to the man who had helped Burnham & Root make the initial stockyards connection.

-----St. Gabriel's Church, just east of the stockyards.

Courtesy The Newberry Library

Steamships: A Hundred Years Ago

BY A. A. DORNFELD

Chicago's first great population explosion occurred immediately after its incorporation as a town.

If you think that all those people got here by covered wagon, read on.

that their city was the greatest railroad center in the world. It still is, although nowadays civic pride is more likely to be manifested by a declaration that O'Hare is the busiest airport anywhere.

The truth is that transportation, of whatever mode, has always been of prime importance to this city, situated as it is at the hub of the nation. So it is merely a slight exaggeration to assert that the history of Chicago is the history of :ts transportation.

Back in the third and fourth decades of the previous century, when the inconsequential white settlement at the foot of Lake Michigan was making its first giant stride toward becoming the nation's second city, none of today's sophisticated modes of transportation was avai lable. The predecessors of our expressways-a sprawl of miry roads- were a discouragement rather than an aid to travel. The transport plane was still a century away. No railroad linked Chicago to the highly populated East until 1852, nineteen yc-ars after its first incorporation, as a town.

Despite these handicaps, the growth of the community was swift, so explosively swift that it is hard to grasp today.

A hint is given by Mark Twain, who in the late-nineteenth century needed a telling phrase to empha ize the phenomenal expansion Berlin was experiencing at that time. H e called it "the Chicago of Europe."

CHICAGOANS ONCE BOASTED

A. A. Dornfeld, veteran newspaperman and student of maritime history, 1s a frequent contributor to

Chicago History.

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Chicago had only 28 registered voters in 1833, when it became a town . Twenty years later, the population had swelled to 60,662. How did all those newcomers travel? A few trudged over the muddy roads, an even smaller number rode horses, covered wagons fetched in some, a growing fleet of slow and erratic sailing ships brought others. Add a handful of Indians and pioneers who had been born here, and the sum falls far short of accounting for the population boom which took place before the Michigan Central Railroad reached far enough westward.

One steam locomotive, the Pioneer, had indeed been puffing in and out of Chicago since 1848. But this small engine, now owned by the Chicago Historical Society, ran on tracks reaching only toward Galena, Illinois. The locomotive itself had been brought here on the deck of a ship, rather than on rails. And it was also on ships-mostly steamships-that the first swarms of immigrants came to Chicago.

So heavy was the travel on ships that Knut Gjcrset, a recent historian, declares that five thousand persons embarked on a single day in , 839 from Buffalo for the upper Great Lakes, which includes Lake Michigan. It seems safe to a. sume that many, perhaps most, of these migrants landed here. In that year, one steamship line was already running eight scheduled trips a week between Detroit and Chicago.

It was 182 1 when the first steamer reached Chicago. Before that, an occasional sailing ship, an even more occasional bateau manned by Canadians, and a few Indian canoes carried whatever waterborne commerce the settlement knew. Chicago's first steamship visitor, the Walkin-th e-W at er, was the third ever launched in the

. . t O dock f' t steamship . in Chicago, h Walk-in-the-Water, the l~~e sh ip's bill of lading .

T e he d from a drawing on skate

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Great Lakes. Fitted with masts and sails, it was so weakly engined that it needed the assistance of a "horned breeze" to stem the current when passing through a river. The "breeze" consisted of several yoke of oxen which walked along on shore and pulled the ship onward by a rope.

A round trip from Detroit to Chicago took the Walk-in-the-Wat er thirteen days, including a layover at Green Bay. Not fast, certainly, but a good deal faster than a schooner. It took one sailing ship three months to make the same trip.

Steam traffic boomed in 1832 when the government chartered three steamships to bring troops from the East to suppress Chief Black Hawk, who had taken to the warpath to protest ill-treatment by whites. There were many casualties on one of those ships. Cholera attacked the soldiers on the Thompson as it steamed toward Chi~ago from Detroit, causing forty-four deaths, and several others died after the Thompson anchored outside the Chicago River bar, where the bodies were dropped overside. So gruesome was the sight that the vessel was moved to a different anchorage before the survivors were ferried ashore in small boats.

Another steamship had far better luck. The William Penn arrived with four companies of soldiers, without losing a man to cholera.

The winning of that war freed settlers in Illinois and Wisconsin from fear of further reprisals

by Indians. All that open farmland was a potent factor in luring strangers to those parts. But there were other factors as well: In 1825, the Erie Canal had been opened, providing handy and fairly brisk transit for migrants and their goods from the seaboard states to the lake ships at Buffalo.

The early steamships, commonly called steamboats by the men who built and navigated them, were small by our standards. The Walk-in-theW ater was 140 feet long, 3 1 feet wide, and had a tonnage of 330. All of the early steamships were built of wood, which deteriorated rapidly.

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In a book written ~ome years ago, a veteran Great Lakes shipmaster, Capt. H. C. Inches, said that although framed and planked of finest oak, these ships were "at their best for only 15 years. After that it usually cost all the ship could clear to keep it seaworthy. One winter the ship would need repair on the port bow; soon afterward on the starboard quarter. And then a new deck." Captain Inches also stated that the engines often outlasted two wooden hulls.

Testimony on the quality of travel on early steamers is divided. The ships were not particularly reliable nor speedy, according to many accounts written by people who used them. Their wooden hulls always leaked a little, and often they leaked a good deal. Rainfall and spray from boarding waves could seep down into the passenger quarters, which were usually divided into the Ladies' Cabin and the Gentlemen's Cabin.

One traveler told of a storm during which the leaks forced the ladies to take refuge in the Gentlemen's Cabin. Even there the downpour was so great that umbrellas were raised. In other emergencies, passengers crawled into their bunks to stay dry. These bunks, stacked one above the other, were a relatively safe haven-except for the top ones.

Other accounts give quite a different picture of early steamship travel on the Great Lakes.

One woman passenger wrote that the Ladies' Cabin was "the very climax of comfort and convenience." Another passenger, the colorful New York State lobbyist Thurlow Weed, said that the steamship Empire on which he traveled to Chicago was in every respect comparable to the Hudson River steamboats, which had achieved wide fame for luxury. Expansively, Weed also declared that on the shores of the Great Lakes there was country capable of supporting a quarter of a million people within half a century-a wild understatement, as it turned out.

Other accounts of the splendors to be found on the fancier passenger steamships mention French wallpaper, marble fountains, oil paint-

C hi ca go H is loric ol So ciel y

ings, tall mirrors, barbershops, and nurseries for infants. Each new steamship in its turn became known as the "Queen of the Lakes," only to be surpassed in elegance when the next was launched.

Ironically, the Michigan Central Railroad, which along with several other eastern roads eventually gobbled up the bulk of the passenger trade, built two of the most pretentious of these ornate vessels. The largest was the Mayflower, known as the fastest ship on fresh water. It had eighty-five individual staterooms and could carry over three hundred other passengers elsewhere in its capacious hull. A sister ship, the Atlantic, was almost as large. But in their last years, the Atlantic and Mayflower, shorn of their luxurious appointments and even their engines, became motionless docks because the railroads had taken over their function as passenger carriers.

To our eyes, the very earliest lake steamers appear only a little less grotesque than a drawing which survives of one of the pioneer steamboa ts built by John Fitch on the Delaware River in the late 1 700s. This was propelled by

Its owners boasted that this "Queen of the Lakes," which operated out of Traverse City, Michigan, was "fitted expressly for pleasure parties and sportsmen."

a bank of steam-activated paddles arranged along each side, rather resembling a Carthaginian galley of classic times. Many lake steamers had reinforcing girders which arched from front to back, high above the deck and cabin houses, lending them a somewhat bug-like profile, a bit like the Volkswagen's. The girders served the same purpose as the thick ropes which stretched fore and aft over posts set in Egyptian boats on the Nile centuries and centuries ago : they kept the vessel from sagging too badly.

An equally picturesque feature of the early steamers was the "walking beam," a long, diamond-shaped structure set well above the deck and supported by a pair of "crutches." In use, the beam teeter-tottered on its central pivot as the engine down in the hold pushed and pulled at one end of it by means of a long rod. At the other end o( the beam, another rod rotated a crank on a shaft running clear across the ship.

The side wheels were mounted on this shaft.

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Sometimes the image of a galloping horse or crowing rooster was fastened to the center of the walking beam to pitch forward and backward with it in stately rhythm.

Steam whistles were not introduced for many years, and captains commonly announced their intention to arrive or depart by firing a cannon.

The Illinois, a well-known early steamship, boasted an historic piece of artillery dredged up from the mud near the mouth of the Chicago River-a relic of Fort Dearborn, which had been burned down by Indians during the War of 1812.

Navigating the lakes involved many of the problems of ocean navigation, and a few special ones. Storms could sink ships, shoals could wreck them, and early freeze-ups of northern harbors could immobilize them long before the scheduled end of their operating season. Just as sailing-ship masters had a particular dread of lee shores against which adverse winds could crush their vessels, so steamship crews had their own special specters of fires and boiler explosion to haunt them. The art of safely installing a fiery furnace inside a highly flammable wooden hull which kept rocking about endlessly was not always well understood in the early days of steam engineer-

C hicag o H is torica l Satie ty

John Fitch's Delaware River steamboat, built in the late 1700s.

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ing. One widely accepted practice was to mount the furnace and boiler on short iron legs and then place them inside an iron platform with upturned edges. Functioning somewhat like an oversized roasting pan, the platform was supposed to catch flaming debris from an open furnace door before it could reach the timbers below and start a fire. Passenger steamers carried "cabin watchmen" to patrol the decks at all hours and sound an alarm at the first sight or scent of fire.

Engine breakdowns, which were fairly common in the early days, caused headaches to captain and crew but seldom entailed tragic consequences. Disabled steamers could usually make it to port under the sailing rig they often carried-or thumb a tow from another ship, if one happened along. But boiler explosions, caused by defective material or careless water tending, were ca lamitous. Such explosions were relatively rare in the early years when engines operated at boiler pressures as low as ten pounds per square inch, but they became more common as machinery grew more complex and steam pressures mounted. Explosions finally dwindled after the middle of the last century, when the United States Steamboat Inspection Service was formed to test the bursting point of boilers and the competence of masters, mates, and engineers.

Still, early steamboat mariners on the Great Lakes were spared some problems which beset their oceangoing counterparts, such as carrying large amounts of fuel to feed their inefficient engines on month-long voyages. The early steamers used a great deal of wood: for example, the Empire, which won Thurlow Weed's approval, burned over eight hundred tons of wood steaming from Buffalo to Chicago, just over a thousand miles. On the Great Lakes, wood was available at dozens of ports separated only by a day or two of steaming. And when wood became scarce, coal was substituted. It, too, could be procured readily on the lakes, though not as cheap ly.

C hic ag o H is toric a l Soc iet y

Food was also less of a problem. Tough salt beef and weevily biscuits were staples on oceangoing ships, but the menus of the lake ships, which made frequent stops at ports situated in one of the world's most fertile regions, were limited only by their stewards' willingness to disburse cash and their chefs' talents. Most lake vessels, even freighters and sailing ships, set a good and a mple table.

Another headache which caused engineers on ocean steamships much concern-the shortage of fresh water for the boilers-simply did not exist on the lakes. Seagoing ships were obliged to recycle their fresh water endlessly and often had to replenish their boilers with brine. The Savannah, the first ship equipped with an engine capable of making the Atlantic crossing, consistently used salt water in its machinery-and salt corrodes iron, causes foaming of the boiler wa tcr, and brings in a whole train of other troubles. The la kcrs, for their part, floated on an end less supply of unpolluted water.

The reinforced girders stretching above the deck of this passenger steamer look decorative, but their function was to keep the ship from sagging. Its owners, the Buffalo , Chicago & Lake Huron Railway , promised three-day passage between Buffalo and Chicago.

Ea rly steam engines had an unhappy way of refusing to start up again if the engineer on duty absentmindedly stopped them "on dead center" - that is, when the connecting rod was in direct line with the cylinder bore and the crank arm was directly above or below the cylinder. This is somewhat a nalogous to a bicycle with one pedal missing when the other pedal stops directly below the rider's seat. No amount of shoving on that pedal will start the bicycle because the thrust is in line with the pedal arm.

Dead centering could be embarrassing if it occurred when a capta in was docking his ship against an adverse current with a strong wind blowing. To get the engine moving again, the mechanical staff had to move the crank arm a little past dead center-usually by muscle power, a time-consuming process. Eventually, Chicago History

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improved "moving gear" eased the problem although it did not eliminate it.

Side wheels were the only means of steam propulsion on the lakes for many years. Stern wheels, used on the placid Mississippi, were not practical on the violent waters of Lake Michigan. There were many experiments with screw propellers, but it wasn't until 1841 that the first propeller-driven craft appeared on the lakes.

This ship was the twin-screw Vandalia, whose propellers were of the sort devised by Swedishborn inventor John Ericsson-better known as the builder of the iron-clad Monitor which battled the Confederate ship Merrimac to a draw in history's first clash of iron ships. Those were not the first iron war vessels ever built, by the way: twenty years earlier, two such vessels had been launched on the Great Lakes. In 1843, the Canadians constructed the Mohawk on the shores of Lake Erie and, at the same time, this nation was building the Michigan-later renamed Wolverine-on the opposite side of the lake. Neither ship ever saw combat.

Even as the Vandalia was being launched, the Great Lakes steamships were losing out-at first to the sailing ships which they were eventually to supersede. By 1843, the city's pressing need for building materials and manufactured goods of all kinds, combined with the demand for Midwest farm products in the East, had created a boom in sailing ships. Early steam vessels were not well adapted for heavy trade. Their engines were expensive and their engineers commanded high salaries. The wind, however, was free, and there was a steady influx of European immigrants, many of them Scandinavians skilled in handling sail and ready to work for modest wages. As a result, sailing ships began to eclipse steamers in numbers and tonnage, and they maintained their advantage for almost four decades.

Bo.t h Chicago's need for imported material and the ability of its adjacent countryside to raise and send up food needed in the East in154

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creased dramatically in 1848, when the Illinois & Michigan Canal was opened. A flood of farm products began to pour from downstate Illinois into Chicago, most of it was destined for transshipment. In 1855, when the Soo Canal linked Lake Superior to Lakes Huron and Michigan, the region exported so vast a freightage of mineral wealth that the United States leaped from fifth to first place in world steel production in a span of only twenty years. That same year, 1855, there were r,150 sailing craft on the Great Lakes but on ly 238 steam vessels. Those were lean years for the steamers, but they survived.

In fact, one class of small steamer became very common. Tug boats, heavily timbered and heavily engined, were needed in ever-growing numbers for the growing fleets of sailing ships which had to be forced through narrow rivers and into cramped harbors. As the sailing ships proliferated, so did the tugs. Low-sided and usually less than a hundred feet long, the tugs did not look particularly seaworthy; nevertheless, they regularly steamed out into the open lakes to succor ships beset by gales-for a fee, of course. During calms, tugs sometimes puffed as far north as Wilmette to tow in immobilized schooners. At one time, there were almost a hundred tugs based in the Chicago River.

By 1869, sailing ships were having things pretty much their own way, and their continued prosperity seemed assured. They outnumbered steam vessels by 1,752 to 636 on the lakes, and their tonnage totaled 277,893 versus 146,237 for steamers. The wind ships carried most of the long-haul bulk cargoes which constituted the backbone of the freight traffic-metallic ore, lumber, and grain. Steamers of that time, their decks cluttered with engine houses and passenger cabins, were less than ideally arranged to carry such commodities. To them was left the handling of packages, the excursion passenger business, and a residue of the regular passenger trade which the railroads had not succeeded in gobbling up.

The fate of the Globe, which exploded at Its wharf in Chicago In 1860.

But in that year of 1869, unseen influences were at work. Technological improvements had been quietly going on for sometime-not only the screw propeller introduced on the Vandalia, but also the steady development of the reliability and efficiency of the steam engines themselves.

The first steam engines had had only one cylinder, but later designs were fitted with two or three. In multicylinder steam engines, the weary steam, after shoving one piston ahead

in the first or "high pressure" cylinder, is piped to a second. There more energy is squeezed out of it, against another piston head. After that it is piped to a third cylinder or to a condenser.

The condenser reconverts it to a watery state for another trip through the boiler and the engine. The fuel efficiency made possible by using several .cylinders was largely responsible for the eventual victory of steamships over schooners.

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Chico go H is toric a l Society Photo by John M cCar thy

The Medusa Challenger, a modern freight steamer whose uncluttered lines hark back to 1869, when the R. J. Hackett was launched.

And in 1852, when shipping by steam was still in the commercial doldrums, the first iron freight vessel, the steamship Merchant, was launched. The durability of the wrought-iron hull was an important factor in the later resurgence of the steamship on the Great Lakes. To illustrate, the Wolverine stayed in commission until 1923. The time-worn hull finally reached the scrap pile in 1949, more than a century after it was built and long after the introduction of steel hulls . Another prime example of wrought iron's lasting powers is tied up in Chicago's front yard today. Built eighty-eight years ago as an excursion steamer, the wrought~ iron hull of the Florida now serves as the base for the Columbia Yacht Club on the lakefront, south of Navy Pier. The ancient vessel has been cropped of its side wheels, smokestack, and pilothouse, but it still floats on the waters of Lake Michigan as jauntily as ever.

All these were portents of the future-if anyone was noticing. Then, in 1869, the first true 156

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Great Lakes'-typc steam freighter was launched.

Although only 21 1 feet long and built of wood, the R. ]. Hackett had a continuous stretch of uncluttered deck amidships-easily accessible for the loading of bulk cargo, just like the freight schooners of its day. With its engine in the extreme stern and the pilothouse perched up front, practically over the bow, the Hackett originated a profile which has remained standard on the lakes to this day.

The following year, 1870, the number of sailing craft on the Great Lakes diminished for the first time since such ships were counted. Within two decades their construction practically ceased.

In the decade from 1870 to 1880, Knut Gjerset remarks, "It became apparent that the sailing ship had no future on the lakes."

After 1880 the future belonged to the steamship.

At least until the diesel engine arrived.

Greek Revival Architecture 1n Chicago

BY DAVID LOWE

Before ·the Great Fire of 1871) was Chicago just a muddle wooden buildings waiting to go up in flames?

No) sir. It was "stunning in its architectural purity. n

Tirn 1830s MARKED an important phase in the development of Chicago, for in that decade the once-modest village moved swiftly toward cityhood. In 1830 Chicago was plotted and urveyed, and the following year it was designated the scat of the new Cook County, a name honoring lllinois's first attorney ge neral , one Daniel P. Cook, who most likely never set foot in the place which would confer upon him his on ly lasting fame. Soon a post office was established, a lighthouse and sawmill built, and the first bridge consisting of floating logs was stretched acros the Chicago River al what is now Randolph Street. In 1833 Chicago was incorporated as a town. Charles Joseph Latrobe, a celebrated English visitor to America in thes' years, saw Chicago in the eighteen thirties and recorded in his Rambin in North America: " I have been in many odd assemblag s of my species, but in few, if any, of an equally singu lar character as with that in the midst of which we spent a week at Chicago ... " It seems that they were already doing things on Hubbard's Trail that they didn't do on Broadway.

Th village was teeming with fur traders, land ,peculators n w immigrants, gamblers, horse thieves, Indians, and soldiers. The last two, howc•vcr, were about to depart the cenc. During 1831 and 1832 the ·ettlers had be n frightened by reports of Indian outrages, mostly the work of the Sauk and Fox tribes led by the powerful chief Black Hawk . After Black Hawk's defeat,

Adapted from Lost Chicago, to be published shortly

by Houghton Miffiin Company. Copyright© 1975 by David Lowe.

of

the United States government decided to expel all Indians from the fertile, long-coveted region stretching from the southern half of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. So in 1835, the Potawatomi, some 5,000 in number, gathen-d in Chicago for the las t time Lo r ce ive their governmen t ann uities, bid farewell to their old hunting grounds, and depart for their new homes in the West. The early Chicago historian John Dean Caton was present, and has left a vivid ac ount of that sad, bitter goodbye.

Thry assembled at the council-house, near whrre the Lake ITousr now stands, on the north side of thr river.

All 11'<'rc' <'ntircly nakrd, <'xcrpt for a strip of cloth around thr loins. Their bodirs wrrr covrrcd all ovrr with a grrat varirty of brilliant paint~ .. . The long, coarse, black hair was gat lwrrcl into sca lp-lorks 011 th(• tops of tlwir !wads, and de orated with a profusion of ha11 k's ancl caglc·'s frat hers ... Tlwy advancc•cl, not with a r<'gular march, but a rontinurcl dance.

Thus the Indian danced out of Chicago's history.

The 1830s were a fortuitous moment to begin the construction of a city, for America had embraced a new architecture. If th first century and a half of Chicago's history can be termed th p ·riod of the cabin a nd the fort, the next twenty-five years may be call ed the time of the temple. After the Federal style, with its reflection of the work of the brothers Adam, its avid admiration of the formal squares and crescents of English cities such as Bath and London, America had found another model: Greece.

There were both aesthetic and political reasons for this change. The War of 1 8, 2, with the burning of the President's house and the Capitol, Chicago History

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C hic ag o H is tori cal Society

A model of the wooden balloon-frame house, on exhibit in the Society's Great Chicago Fire Gallery.

had stirred up violent anti-British sentiment in the United States. Second, the Greek War of Independence of the r 820s against the Turks had deeply aroused Americans who identified with ancient Greece's republican traditions. In a thousand villages with names such as Athens and Corinth and Sparta, the citizens of the new republic paid tribute to the old.

Aesthetically, the tradition began with a book, The Antiquities of Athens, by two Englishmen, 158

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James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, the first volume of which was published in London in r 762. By r 770, a copy had found its way to the Library Company of Philadelphia where it was subsequently studied by Benjamin Latrobe, the second architect of the Capitol, who introduced the Greek Revival style into the United States, and other architects of the nation's early years such as William Strickland, Thomas U. Walter, and Robert Mills. It was not long before illus-

William Butler Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago. A New Yorker, he came here to sell off the family's land in Chicago, believing it a rash investment, but remained to make a fortune.

trated manuals by builders such as John Haviland , A her Benjamin, and John Hall had made it possible for any competent carpenter to produce structures with all the trappings of Greek temples: fluted and plain columns, capitals of every order, pediments, pilasters, fasciae, and mctopes. And soon the style, in stone or adapted to brick and wood, swept the country from Montpelier, Vermont, to Frankfort, Kentucky.

The Greek Revival style was ideal for a city only a day or two by schooner away from the seemingly inexhaustible Michigan forests of white pine, one of the finest woods in the world.

Here were millions of growing columns, perfectly straight, selling for a mere $20 per 1 ,ooo board feet. Brick was used for the larger buildings, but for the great bulk of Chicago's new structures, pine was the marble.

The special glory of the style, as practiced in the United States, was that it was readily adaptable to almost every need. It stretched to any size, from modest cottages, with pilasters at the corners and simple Greek-type moldings, to columned mansions such as one built in 1836 by Virginian Archibald Clybourne, Chicago's first constable. Undoubtedly one of the supreme examples of domestic Greek Revival architecture was the house that Eli B. Williams, registrar of the United States Land Office, erected at the southeast corner of Monroe Street and Wabash Avenue. With its splendid portico of six Doric columns and its fine proportions, the Williams house was a temple worthy of the classical towns of New York and New England.

The style served just as well for churches and schools, shops and offices, hotels and public buildings. Thus it was inevitable that Chicago's first courthouse, built in 1835 at the corner of the Public Square at Clark and Randolph streets, should have been a temple-like rectangular brick building ennobled by a free-standing portico of four wooden Doric columns. The Greek Revival was also evident in the Saloon Building at the southwest corner of Lake and

Greek Revival

Chicago's first courthouse, located at Clark and Randolph sts.

Although only one story high, it was complete with Greek columns.

Clark streets, the Faneuil Hall of the early city where, in , 83 7, the young Stephen A. Douglas captured Chicago's heart. It was the manner of the three-story Bank of Illinois on the corner of South Water and La Salle streets, and of the Lake House, the first hotel in town to boast a French chef and a printed menu.

Chicago had need of a vast variety of buildings, for the , 830s were boom times in the Old Northwest. It was a period of one of the greatest migrations in the history of mankind, a migration which ranks with the movement of the Huns into Europe and of the German tribes south into Italy and Spain. At the beginning of the decade the population of Chicago numbered one hundred; by the end it was more than four thousand. The key factor in the city's spectacular growth was the completion, in , 825, of the Eric Canal, linking the Great Lakes with the sea 160

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and making it possible for the traveler to move by water from the Atlantic coast to Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Suddenly, from being almost deserted, the Chicago lakefront became a forest of masts and, by , 843, the city was clearing some seven hundred vessels a year.

Indeed, Chicago was so packed with newcomers, with Yankee settlers, with busines¡men, with laborers who had come to work on the canal that was being built to link Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River, with speculators and passers-through that it was almost impossible to shelter them. If licensing had been in effect, half the dwellings in town would have qualified as boardinghouses. In 1835, more than 80 percent of the population of Chicago had been here less than a year. Charles Butler, a New York realestate broker and railroad promoter, was astonished by what he saw:

John Van Osdel, architect of the courthouse and the second Tremont House , in 1868.

Chico g, H i5f, rlr:ol Societ¡,

Emigrants "¡ere coming in almost rn- ry clay in ,rngons of various forms and in many instancrs families we re livin g in th eir cove red wagons while a rran gements wrrr mack for putting up she lter fo r thrm . It was no un com m on thing for a house such as would ans,,¡er 1hr purpose for the tim e being to be put up in a few days.

This need to erect a house in a few days resulted in the fir t example of that extraordinary inventiveness which Chicago was to display throughout the last two thirds of the nineteenth century. No city in the East had grown so rapidly, and wooden buildings had continued to be "framed" with heavy, slow, expensive post construction, just as they had been in medieval England. A chance to break away from this tedious and wasteful met hod was made possible by the circular steam-driven saw which permitted lumber to be cut into much smaller units, into two-by-fours and two-bytwelves and one-by-tens. Man was thus ready for one of those seminal inventions as important as the arch and dome. U sing these new cuts, Chicago builders began putting up light, strong, and inexpensive "balloon frames." The invention was not only important in itself, but it revealed a new cast of mind, the mind of the prairie, a mind not looking back across the sea to castles and cathedrals, but looking forward to a new world.

One man, more than any other, symbolizes the boomtown of the 1830s. William Butler Ogden's introduction to Chicago certainly did not portend a love affair. When he came out in 1835 from his native New York State it was to attempt to save the family fortune from what he considered the rash investment of a rich brotherin-law. The rash investment was a 182-acre tract close to the river on the north side. Anxious to salvage what he could of the $100,000 purchase price, Ogden ordered the entire parcel auctioned off at once. But then something surprising happened. The $100,000 had been retrieved by the time only a third of the land had

Greek Revival

The second Tremont House, the city's finest hotel, on fire in 1871.

been sold. Ogden halted the auction and decided to take a closer look at the situation.

Ogden looked, and he was not blind. Within two years the newcomer had made a fortune in real estate and when, in 1837, Chicago was chartered as a city, William Ogden became its first mayor. Here was a new type of Chicagoan totally different from the voyageurs and the traders, the Kinzies and the Ouilmettes. Here was a man on a new scale, a businessman with a vision. The vision was to make the city the hub of the heartland, to bring every farm in the Midwest, every ear of corn, every grain of wheat, every hog and steer, within easy reach.

But that would take time. Before then, he would give Chicago a very special gift: its first architect.

Ogden had met John Van Osdel in New York, and after he became mayor he sent for him to build a house worthy of this civic dignity.

Van Osdel arrived, not only with the plans for Chicago's first architect-designed dwelling, but with the necessary windows, stair rails, and trimmings as well. The architect of William Ogden's house was the supreme builder of Greek Revival Chicago. He was also one of those completely sympathetic people: an editor of the American Mechanic, which later became the Scientific American, a dedicated Garrisonian abolitionist, and a man of great social charm. From his office on Clark Street flowed an almost endless stream of houses, hotels, and public buildings. He was responsible for the new courthouse, the dedication of which was marked by a proud procession half a mile in length that included all the grandees of the burgeoning city: the military and fire companies, members of the Mechanics Institute, the political clubs, the Free Masons and the Odd Fellows. Three stories in height, crowned by a tall cupola, the courthouse cost more than $100,000. But the good citizens felt that it was worth it, for the edifice was a proclamation that Chicago was now to be taken seriously.

Of all of Van Osdel's buildings of this period, however, none is more significant than the emperor of early Chicago hostelries, the Tremont House, which he constructed in 1850 on the southeast corner of Lake and Dearborn streets. The first Tremont House, built in the 1830s, had been a simple wooden structure, not very different from the city's old inns where accommodations had often been merely a mat on the floor. Van Osdel's hotel changed all that forever. "The Tremont House," boasted the paper Gem of the Prairie, " ... is one of the chief ornaments of the city .... The house is five and a half stories high and its internal arrangements, including furniture and decorations, are all in the highest style of art, and of the class denominated princely." The significant word here is "princely," for Chicago was already intent upon creating hotels where every man was a king; it is but a step from the Tremont's marble mantels and rosewood furniture to the crystal-filled ballrooms of the great hotels of the post-fire years. In the Tremont's public rooms the early Chambers of Commerce met, business was transacted in its lobby and, in time, history would be made from its balconies.

Van Osdel was as capable of turning out a playhouse as a hotel or a courthouse. In 1851, he had built a splendid one for John B. Rice, the father of the Chicago theater, although the settlement already had a not inconsiderable history of entertainment.

Delight in diversion was characteristic of Chicago from its infancy. At a period when the Midwest was being thickly settled with communities dedicated to high-mindedness rather than to high-living-Oberlin in Ohio, New Harmony in Indiana, Bishop Hill in IllinoisChicago came down strongly on the side of having a good time. It was a city where, in the 1840s and 1850s, a "grocery" meant an establishment that sold liquor as well as foodstuffs, and many of them managed to find room for a roulette wheel as well. Of course there were Chicago History

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Lithograph of Chicago in 1853 after a drawing by George J . Robertson .

Chicago Historicol Society

Greek Revival

those who objected to all this frivolity. But when, on April 2 1, 1855, a number of persons were put on trial for violating Sunday closing laws, a riot ensued in which several policemen were injured. That same year a referendum was held on the question of prohibiting the sale of liquor. The citizens made it emphatically clear where they stood-or staggered. The results: For the prohibition, 2,784; against 4,093.

Yet the city's churches prospered, too. When Father John St. Cyr arrived in 1833 to minister to Chicago's thirty-six Catholic families, he took one look at the log cabin which was to be his chapel and decided to build something more impressive. What he got was better, though by no stretch of the imagination could it be called splendid. St. Mary's, on the corner of State and Lake streets, was an unplastered rough-board structure 36 feet long and 24 feet wide, in which a simple table served as the altar. Its total cost was $400. The next year the Presbyterians and Baptists built churches.

It was left to the Episcopalians, though, to construct Chicago's first important church building. They had staked out a parish in the midst of the wealthy residential sections of the North Side, with no less a personage for senior warden than John H. Kinzie, son of the trader who had settled beside Fort Dearborn. When, in 1837, they consecrated their new St. James Church on the corner of Cass and Illinois streets, it was clear that they had chosen their location astutely. A faintly Gothic building, St. James had the distinction of being the first brick church in town; it also had the first tower as well as the first organ.

If men such as William Ogden were settling in this new city on the island between the lake and the prairie, if actors readily found audience there, if the population was approaching 20,000, if its large hotels were filled, if domes and towers were rising above the cottonwoods, it was because of commerce. And if commerce was increasing at a fantastic rate, it was because of the 166

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island's extraordinary location. No one saw this more clearly than Margaret Fuller, the trancendentalist friend of Emerson and Hawthorne's, who arrived in 1843: There can be no two places in the world more completely thoroughfares than this place and Buffalo.

Th('y arc the two correspondent valves that open and hut all the time, as th(' life-blood rushes from cast to west, and back again from \\'('St to ca t.

The first artery of this gigantic circulatory system was the Erie Canal; the second was the Illinois and Michigan Canal-linking the lakes with the tributaries of the Mississippi and thus with the Gulf of Mexico. One hears time and again of the Suez and Panama canals, but this canal, first prophesied by Louis Jolliet, had effects as profound as either of those. Now it was possible to go by water from New York to New Orleans, and Chicago was the system's heart. The position of the island had been assured when it was a portage; it was now a port; it would one day, for the same reasons, become a harbor for trains.

We have reproduced here a crayon drawing, a bird's-eye view from Lake Michigan; executed in 1853, it shows the Greek Revival city in all its magnificence. It is stunning in its architectural purity. It might be Charleston or Boston of the Federal period or the port of New York when Trinity Church dominated the skyline. But it is Chicago, a Chicago that it is now difficult to believe ever existed, a Chicago, in its own way, as rare and exotic and fabulous as medieval Paris or pre-fire London. It is a city of ample squares and tree-lined streets, of tall-spired churches that look as though they had been built in New England, a city dominated by Van Osdel's proud classical courthouse. In the foreground, on track laid on pilings along the lakeshore, a smoke-belching train moves north. The train is important. It will bring new life, new business, new people, new money, but it will also destroy the green and white Greek Revival city.

When Chicago Was Wheel Crazy

BY GEORGE D. BUSHNELL

Automobiles, buses, and trucks own our roads, and before them there was the horse. But inbetween-during the short golden age of cycling-the scorcher reigned supreme.

began with only a few hardy males in the 1870s but, within twenty years, Chicagoans of all ages and both sexes were indulging in a heady love affair with the bicycle. By the 1890s, the "wheel" had become a means of both recreation and transportation for almost everyone with enough balance to stay on and enough strength to push the pedals. The entire city, it seemed, was caught up in the cycling craze.

In fact, for Chicago as well as the entire nation, the golden age of cycling had begun. In 1895, the norma1ly reserved New York Times ranked the discovery and development of the bicycle as " of more importance to mankind than all the victories and defeats of Napoleon," In April of that same year, a writer for Harj1er's Weekly estimated that four hundred thousand bicycles had been manufactured since the first of January and predicted that production would continue to soar in 1896.

The precarious high-wheeler, or "ordinary" of the 1870s, had a six-foot-high front wheel which inspired little confidence in the observer as it rolled along Chicago's streets or out into its countryside. The smallest stone or rut cou ld pitch an unwary rider forward over the wheel to the ground in a nasty fall, steering was difficult, and a quick turn was almost impossible.

The ordinary and the sport of cycling were the exclusive preserve of the adult male.

THE FAD OF CYCLING

Grorge D. Bushnell , director of public information of th r Illinois Institute of Technology and vicc-prrsidrnt of the Wilmrttc Historica l Society, is a frequmt contributor to Chicago Hist ory.

Developments in England were to change all this and make cycling a sport for everyone. In 1884, an inventor named John Kemp Starley designed the first "safety" bicycle, a machine with two much smaller wheels of equal size joined by a tubular frame. The rider sat on a saddle in the center of the frame and applied foot power to the pedals, which were connected to the rear wheel by a chain. A few years later, John :B. Dunlop invented the pneumatic tire, which provided a far less bumpy, air-cushioned ride. American cycle makers also imported England's lighter hollow steel tubing and, in 1894, the invention of the coaster brake completed the evolution of a bicycle very similar to today's models.

Chicago in the Gay Nineties was an idea l climate for cycling. By 1893, there were a million and a half residents in the city proper, and two thousand miles of roads, many paved.

Cyclists in or near industrial areas had additional incentives to mount their wheels. The air a nd the buildings of their neighborhoods were grimy from the ceaseless pall of smoke which hung like a low cloud, belched forth from factories, houses, and railroad ycards, and from the stubby steam engines which ran the "Alley El" route from Congress Street to the Columbian Exposition's 63rd Street station. But escape was as close as Lake Front Park ( now Grant Park), and to the north and west were tree-lined streets and an absence of industrial pollution, all easily reached by bicycle.

Be t of all, the bicycle was relatively inexpensive. It cost .far less than a horse, and it required little upkeep. In the Ninetic , Chicago's cyclists could buy a Columbia made by the Pope ManuChicago History

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E. A. Erickson, a member of the Columbia Wheelmen , with his ordinary in 1890.

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facturing Company or an A. G. Spaulding bicycle for $ 1oo, ( multiply by about eight for a comparable cost in today's money). An inseparable twosome could buy an American tandem, advertised at $ 150 in the Chicago Int er-Ocean, and bargain hunters could pick up a "good used" Monarch for $50 or a "shopworn" model for $35.

Many customers preferred to buy a Schwinn, a Chicago brand still familiar to cyclists. Arnold, Schwinn & Company was founded in 1895 by German immigrant Ignaz Schwinn and Chicago meat packer Adolf Arnold. At 29, five years earlier, young Schwinn had left a promising job at the Heinrich Kleyer cycle factory in Frankfort-on-the-Main to find opportunity in America.

Attracted to Chicago by the city's promise as a major bicycle manufacturing center, Schwinn worked first for Hill & Moffat, maker of the Fowler cycle, and then began Arnold, Schwinn & Company's long career in rented space at the northwest corner of Lake and Peoria streets.

The enterprise prospered, and the company bought the March-Davis Bicycle Company in 1899 at a receiver's sale, moving to its site on Chicago's western edge. In 1908, a new factory was built on adjacent land at 1718 North Kildare Avenue. It is still used as part of the company's assembly plant.

Accessories were more limited in the Nineties than now. The well-equipped cyclist bought a brass kerosene lamp for $2.25, a tire repair kit for a nickei, and a spare tire for $6.50. For 25¢, Rothchild & Company offered a doublestroke cycle bell. By 1895, nocturnal cyclists were buying the new carbide lamps fueled by acetylene gas to light the roads and ruts ahead.

West Madison Street became Bicycle Row in the 18gos: there cyclists could buy a new or used wheel, have repairs made quickly, inflate tires, and perhaps even meet a young cyclist of the opposite sex.

The women really were there on Bicycle Row, because cycling helped them take a giant step

Chicago Hisforicol Socie ,..,

Two stylish young women show off their bloomers in this photo taken from a tintype .

towards emancipation. Chicago's women, ready to throw off the Victorian restraints of the era, quickly related to the fetching Gibson Girl, a beautiful, self-possessed young woman who could and did join her male friend for a spin.

Modishly dressed in a fetching sailor hat, a shirtwaist with a mannish collar, leg-o'-mutton sleeves, and bloomers or divided skirts, the ladies enthusiastically took to the roads.

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Judy O'Grady and the colonel's lady were equals on the bicycle, as Wh eel Talk testified in 1895. Even Princess Maud of Wales, the magazine reported, "when she mounts a wheel, is no better off than other girls." In May 1897, the Chicago Post reported that young society women were indeed a wheel: "The fashionable girl no longer lolls about in tea gowns and darkened rooms, but stands beside you in short skirts, sailor hat, low shoes and leggings, ready for a spin on the wheel."

Whether bloomers were proper garb, however, was a controversial matter, even among the women. By the late 188os, the drop-frame cycle model was available to them, and the modified design did solve the problem of an entangled skirt, even though a typically brisk Chicago wind might suddenly blow a skirt back to outline the female cyclist's limbs. Two lady cyclists, who prudently used only their initia ls, debated the bloomers issue in the Lake View Cycle Club's monthly magazine Th e Cherry and Black for April 1896. Said the pro-bloomers writer, apparently something of a prophet, "We girls are not always going to stick around the home like they did in olden times."

Outing summed up the bicycle's role in female emancipation in verse: The maiden with her wh eel of old Sat by the first to spin While lightly through her careful hand The flax slid out and in.

Today her distaff, rock and reel Far out of sight are hurl ed And now the maiden with her wheel Goes spinning round the world.

But the old guard died slowly. In June 1895, Gyda Stephenson, a teacher at Humboldt School, put on knickers, cycled, and then wore the same garb into her classroom. In the ensuing skirmish with the school board, Stephenson made it clear that what she chose to wear while cycling or teaching was entirely her affair. Sur170

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prised by her resolute stand, the board dropped the matter.

Bloomers were a boon to the homely girl, according to a poet writing on the subject for the Sunday Int er-Ocean. He averred that although her face stopped not only clocks but streetcars as well, she found a solution: And so she got some bloomers And now with eager zest She rides a cycle daily And looks like all the rest Not only the apparel manufacturers benefitted from the craze. Cosmetic manufacturers were also quick to seize an opportunity. To sell a variety of beauty aids-creams, pomades, and soaps- the merchants advertised their concern about the effect of wind and weather on delicate skin. One unguent, not content to advertise that it was "a sure and pleasant protection against the flying particles of sand, cinders, grit and other abrasives," also informed readers that it was an effective shield against the "destructive rays of the sun."

The male cyclist had a simpler time dressing tha n his opposite number. The proper male a ttire for a spin consisted of knickers, a sack

"Annual certificate" for the League of American Wheelman for 1885 belonging to J . R. W. Sargent of the Hermes Club.

Chic ago H is torical Society

The Lake View Cycling Club at 401-403 Orchard St. (Now 2224-26 No. Orchard), ca. 1890.

coat or sweater, a shirt and tie, high-top shoes, and a cap with visor. As spring approached, the city's newspapers advertised sales of cycling garments, among them Frederick M . Atwood, the proprietor of a clothing store at Clark and Madison streets who featured "extra strong knee pants with reinforced seats."

Touring to new places became popular by the mid-189os, and a timely article by James B. Townsend in Harper's W eekly in 1896 listed the materials needed by a cyclist making an excursion. Considered essential was a copy of the road book published by the League of American Wheelmen, because of "the absence of sign posts and the impossibility of depending, as a rule, upon information as to the condition of roads, distances, etc. from the average person one meets . .. " In addition, the author suggested that the touring cyclist should take a waterproof coat, a

change of underwear, and toilet articles. And to be fully equipped, he should pack court plaster, needles, thread, safety pins, a bottle of Pond's Extract ( the Universal Pain Extractor ), and salve. Last, but certainly not least, he should carry a small flask of whiskey or a bottle of Jamaica ginger, to be added to water from roadside wells or pumps. The whiskey was to be used sparingly: Townsend admonished the touring cyclist never to indulge in liquor "except perhaps at the end of the day at dinner."

Champagne, apparently even more dangerous, was to be "shunned as poison."

The cyclist out for a shorter spin could simply wheel to the Saddle and Cycle Club, Fisher's Beer Garden on the north end of Lincoln Park, or to the Auditorium Hotel for dinner. And whatever the mileage, cycling received the physician's stamp of approval. As one doctor wrote, although "the bicycle has come Chicago History

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The bicycle was no longer the exclusive property of the American male when this photo was taken in Lincoln Park in 1891.

among us with such volcanic suddenness as a new social force . . . it is inducing millions of people to take regular exercise who could never be induced to take it by any means hitherto devised."

After buying a wheel, most Chicago cyclists joined one of the city's cycle clubs. By 1895, there were five hundred clubs of varying size, each with its own colors and a distinctive uniform for endurance rides and competitive events.

Club members could enjoy reading rooms, group outings, and a variety of social events from conventions and banquets to dances.

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The Chicago Cycling Club, founded in 1879, was the nation's largest and oldest organization.

At first, the club shared the quarters of the Racquet Club at 185 Michigan Avenue, but in 1888 it moved to a three-story flat at 57th Street facing Jackson Park, "convenient to both steam and cable cars." The club's 1895 prospectus lured prospective members with the statement that "Our runs are on the beautiful boulevards and avenues of the South Park System."

Other Chicago clubs active in the decade were the Aeolus, at , 74 Evergreen Avenue; the Columbia Wheelmen, at West Division

3,,

Street; the Lake Park Cycling Club, which met at the Post Office; and the Atlas Cycling Club, at 244 Lincoln Avenue. North Side cyclists joined the Lincoln Cycling Club and West Siders belonged to the Illinois Cycling Club.

Typical of Chicago's large cycling organizations was the H ermes Club, which charged a $5 initia tion fee and monthly dues of 50¢. The club's colors were blue and silver gray; its uniforms consisted of a light brown corduroy coat buttoned to the neck, breeches of the same material, a white flannel shirt with blue lacing, dark blue stockings and belt, low blue shoes with yellow leather trim, and a dark blue hat with a visor and two ornamental bands around the crown. The club's badge depicted Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods, engraved on a gold disc the size of a quarter.

Although the clubs were primarily dedicated to cycling and social activities, at least one proposed to use its political influence in the cause.

The Viking Cycling Club's prospectus announced tersely that "This club and its associates control 1,800 political votes and will support those candidates favorable to wheelmen and wheeling."

A variety of publications served the city's cycl ists. In 1896, a nickel bought a copy of the small but jam-packed Chicago Cycler's Guide, which li sted fifty of the principal clubs, their

\' o l. I\ .

CHICAOO. rE IIIHIAR \ . ,xvi\,

addresses and colors, and the names and addresses of repair shops throughout Chicago and in such popular suburbs as Evanston, Joliet, and Geneva. The Guide's list of low-priced hotels included Miller's Hotel in Downers Grove, which charged 25¢ for a meal and $ 1 for lodging. The remarkable little book also included mileage from the city courthouse to forty ci ties and suburbs, named the best routes to take and the streets to avoid, and reminded its readers of the two most important rules of the road for cyclists-riding single fi le and not exceeding eight miles an hour. Several pages covered first-aid procedures for sprains, fainting, shock, and broken legs and arms.

Wh eel Talk, another publication, included articles and diagrams showing the do-it-yourself cyclist how to repair bent handle bars. And it paid $ 1 o to readers who sent in helpful articles, a generous sum for those days. The Lake View Cycling Club's handsome monthly Th e Ch erry and Black was filled with cycle-shop advertisements and included letters, news of coming road races, brief reports of cycle shows, paragraphs a bout members' accomplishments, minutes of club meetings, and profiles of its officers. A yearly subscription cost only 50¢.

Chicago's cycling boom also created a new kind of riding academy. Beginners signed up for a series of seven lessons. They began on a cycle

, o. ,.

UP -TO-DATE W1iEELS ·

The masth ead of The Scorc her-" A Hot Pape r For Hot Cyclists"- publi shed by the Sout h Sid e Cyclin g Club.

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with training wheels, progressed to a "duplex"two cycles joined side by side-with a front steering wheel and, finally, rode a safety. A half-hour lesson cost 50¢, but the academies charged a lower rate for the full series.

Bicycle racing attracted huge audiences. In Chicago, the principal event was the Pullman Road Race, held on Memorial Day from the Leland Hotel at Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street to the Pullman community on the South Side. From two to three hundred racers, mostly members of clubs, took part.

Racing produced its own athletic heroes, as well known then as any modern-day football or baseball star. A leading Chicago racer was Joseph F. Gunter of the Lincoln Cycling Club, who won 95 gold bars and secured for his club the 1,000-mile record. At first, the Chicago cycle racers were amateurs, sparked only by the thrill of competition and the glory of winning for self and cycling club. By the late 1890s, however, the top-ranking racers were full-fledged professionals, subsidized by bicycle manufacturers. Among the best were Arthur A. Zimmerman, Harry C .

Tyler, and Willie Windle, who ranked with the fastest riders in the world.

The races were so popular that in 1893, during the Columbian Exposition, a track was built at South Side Ball Park, 35th Street and Wentworth Avenue, for a week of cycle competition.

By the spring of 1897, the Inter-Oc ean included a regular cycling section in its sports pages, and other Chicago newspapers were giving the sport regular and full coverage. Nor did the immense popularity of racing escape aspiring politicians.

In 1897, a young candidate named Carter H. Harrison II, making his first try for mayor of

Willie Windle, one of the world's fastest cyclists, as he appeared in the program for the International Cycling Tournament held at South Side Ball Park during the Columbian Exposition.

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Chicago, launched his campaign by riding his first "century"-one hundred miles-from his West Side home to Waukegan, Wheeling, and Libertyville, and back-in just nine and onehalf hours.

Chicago maintained a squad of cycle police, ostensibly to protect cyclists from heedless carriage and wagon drivers but more probably to catch fast cyclers, or "scorchers," in the act.

Offenses brought prompt penalties. In May 1897, for example, E. W. Ballard of the Chicago Cycling Club was arrested and whisked away in a police wagon to the closest station house. Ballard, who protested that he was only riding at the rate of two miles in eighteen minutes, was released after an hour, but the knowledgeable Inter-Ocean, which had predicted that the city's special patrol would "soon be a feature of every police system in the country," observed that Ballard's claim of so modest a speed "raised a laugh among his brother wheelmen."

In January 1896, a hundred thousand Chicago cycle buffs flocked to the city's third annual cycle show, an event which testified to the profitable aspects of the wheel. Potential customers inspected the products of the show's 225 exhibitors and collected brochures, catalogs, and souvenirs, including pins, buttons, spoons, watch chains, and tiny knives. Show visitors marveled at a bicycle built for an American millionaire, complete with a name plate set in diamonds, lugs covered with gold inlay and precious stones, a frame decorated with boat racing, horse racing, and hunting scenes, and encrusted with rubies, diamonds, and pearls.

There were even bloomer girls, employed by the Fowler Bicycle Company to tout its cycles and accessories. On the final night, January 11, the city's cycle clubs turned out en masse, with the skirl of bagpipes, the blare of trombones, and enthusiastic club yells.

Chicago cyclists had at least one clash with the power structure of the time. In 1897, the traction moguls wanted a city franchise to lay

streetcar tracks down the center of Jackson Street. The cyclists hurriedly organized against the proposal, which had already been introduced by two aldermen, urging instead that Jackson Street become a boulevard, that streetcars, wagons, and trucks be banned, and that traffic be restricted to cycles and pleasure vehicles.

They flooded the city with yellow ribbons, inscribed "Jackson Street Must Be Boulevarded," and the city fathers bowed, adopting what was called the "Yellow Ribbon Ordinance" and, at least temporarily, making Jackson Street into a boulevard for cyclists.

Chicago's cyclists had a powerful ally in the League of American Wheelmen. Founded in 1880, at Newport, Rhode Island, the League had fifteen thousand members and chapters in every principal city in the nation by 1890. Besides fostering the sport of bicycling, the League was an effective crusader for better roads, respect for the cyclist, and special hotel rates for touring riders. Early in the 1890s, the League's Chicago and Illinois chapters helped shelve an Illinois bill which would have compelled cyclists to dismount when they came within a hundred yards of a horse-and, adding insult to injury, to stand off the road until the horse had passed.

The League also fought back when, in 1897, the Lincoln Park commissioners declared that the bicycle had become a threat "to the peace of mind and safety of body necessary to the pursuit of happiness."

Even as the cycling craze reached its peak, experiments with the gasoline-powered horseless carriage were foreshadowing the era of the automobile. By the first decade of the twentieth century, the automobile had displaced the bicycle as the citizen's means of transportation.

The newfangled vehicle, however, freely acknowledged its debt to the wheel, which had pioneered not only the pneumatic tire, differential gear, and chain drive, but had fought for better roads and created new vistas for the home-bound citizen.

Chicago History

175

Fifty Years Ago

As recorded by newspapers in the collection of the Chicago Historical Society 1925 Sept. 8. Chicago's public schools open for 600,000 children, the largest enrollment ever.

Because of a shortage of 30,000 seats, go grammar schools are running on a double shift and portable buildings are being pressed into service.

Sept. g. "Too often it is the man who enters cleanly shaven, wearing clean linen, and moving briskly, who will evade jury service," declares Judge Jacob Hopkins after nine days of selecting a jury to try two men accused of murdering a clerk at the Drake Hotel. Of the 333 men called, the best-heeled testified that their minds were already unalterably made up, thus making themselves ineligible for jury service.

Sept. 1 o. Junior high school teachers oppose the introduction of intelligence tests in Chicago's schools because, explains Margaret Haley, business agent of the Chicago Teachers' Federation, the tests "have resulted in an aristocracy of intellect . . . and are conducive to a caste system."

Sept. 12 . Eleven special-delivery mail messengers are arrested for looting the mails to help finance their dice games in the stockyards substation. Pools of $40 for one throw are common among the youths, whose pay for a three-mile trip is 8¢.

Law-enforcement officials charge that local police, politicians, and sheriff's deputies made their own kind of killing during Hawthorne's racing season, which closed last week. The most popular ploy was to "arrest" licensed bookmakers, take them under the grandstand to a "police station," and "fine" them. The 176

Chicago History

Chicago Historical Socie tv-

Margaret Haley, business agent of the Chicago Teachers' Federation, scored the city's introduction of intelligence tests on Sept, 10.

situation came to light only when the grafters began poaching on each other's " territory."

Sept. 17. Mayor William Dever notifies the South Side railroads that they will have to pay the $4,200,000 needed to straighten the Chicago River south of the Loop . The city has other more urgent projects, states Dever, and it is primarily the railroads that would benefit from the improvement.

Sept. 25. U .S. Commissioner Henry Beitler rules that the valuables found at the apartment and warehouse of Col. Will Gray Beach, a federal narcotics agent, were unconstitutionally seized and must be returned. The property was confiscated as evidence that Beach swapped drugs for stolen merchandise.

Sept. 26. Walter Hagen captures his third Professional Golfers' Association championship before 3,000 fans at rain-soaked Olympia Fields Country Club. The victory is Hagen's first since the 1924 PGA tournament.

Sept. 27. Gov. Al Smith of New York kicks off his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1928 by attacking high federal taxes before a hundred thousand revelers at

the Cook County Democratic Party picnic; Mayor Dever uses the occasion to inform the audience that "no scandal has attached to any public office during my regime."

Oct. 1. Chicago's bakeries cut the price of bread by 20 percent: A small loaf now costs 8¼ ¢; a large loaf, 12 ¼ ¢.

Dr. William Hickson, head of the psycopathic laboratory of the Municipal Courts, classifies Joseph· "Yellow Kid" Weil, passer of numerous bad checks, as a "hyperbolic dementia" case, and Weil complains to the judge that "a prominent lawyer once gave me a bum check and I didn't have his head examined."

Oct. 9. The Chicago Board of Trade, responding to Secretary of Agriculture William Jardine's second threat to revoke its license, adopts regulations designed to stem price manipulation and wild speculating. The Board's directors may now set limitations on daily price fluctuations.

Yellow Kid Weil, finally in jail, loses his Shenandoah Hotel for failure to pay the mortgage. Chicago's foremost eccentric philosophizes that " Life is a funny proposition after all: we are born, we live a while, and then-someone forecloses the mortgage."

Oct. 13. Joe McCarthy, manager of the Louisville Colonels of the American Association, is named manager of the Chicago Cubs, his first major league assignment.

Oct. 14. Cook County Sheriff Peter M. Hoffman is sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $2,500 for the "outrageous flouting of the processes of this court" in a case involving favors granted to beer runners Terry Druggan and Frankie Lake at County Jail. Former warden Wesley Westbrook, to whom Druggan claims he gave $20,000 for occasional vacations from jail without getting his money's worth, is sentenced to four months.

Oct. 16. The Bethesda Baptist Church at 53rd St. and Michigan Ave., reputedly the home of the richest black congregation in the U.S., is totally destroyed by bombing. Several local "protective associations"-homeowners' groups known to resent the presence of the $250,000 building-are under suspicion.

Oct. 22. The South Park Board turns down the Smithsonian Institution and votes to present an anchor from Columbus' Santa Maria to the Chicago Historical Society. The anchor has been stored in a replica of the ship built for the Columbian Exposition and now moored in Jackson Park.

Oct. 30. The Sanitary District decides to close the locks at Lockport to raise the level of the Chicago River after six tugboats fail to dislodge the Calcite, a steamer carrying 6,000

All appears peaceful at Hawthorne Race Track. On Sept.

12, the public found out what was happening underneath the grandstand.

Daily News Collection Chicago Historical Society

50 Years Ago

Daily News Co l lection Chicago H istorical Society

Beer runners Frankie Lake and Terry Druggan, who traded cash for special favors and got some Cook County Jail officials into trouble on Oct. 14.

tons of crushed stone which ran aground in the river between the Clark and Dearborn street bridges.

Nov. 2. Reformers agree about the immorality of the younger generation, but not about its causes. Mrs. Charles E. Merriam, national president of the Film Councils of America, claims that "films are breaking down the standards of civilization, and have become a serious threat to the moral standards of our youth." Only last week, Billy Sunday blamed the "looseness" of today's youth on the automobile, warning Chicagoans that "We've put the red-light district on wheels."

Nov. 3. Angered by Ring Lardner's published statement that he stays at the Sherman House while in Chicago so he can view the County Building and see "how the other half lives without working," the Municipal Court issues a warrant for Lardner's arrest for a six-yearold speeding ticket.

Nov. 6. Movies in Chicago this week include Don Q, with Douglas Fairbanks; Graustark, with Norman Talmadge; The Freshman, with Harold Lloyd; The Merry Widow, with Mae 178

Chicago History

Murphy and John Gilbert; and Below the Line, with Rin-Tin-Tin, the Wonder Dog. On stage are Ed Wynn in The Grab Bag, Eddie Cantor in Kid Boots, Mary and Florence Nash in A Lady's Virtue, Desire Under the Elms, and What Price Glory. Other attractions are John McCormick at the Auditorium, Ruth Page in the Bolm Ballet at the Goodman, and the first Chicago appearance of the Greenwich Village Follies.

Nov. 26. The Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals battle to a o-o tie as 36, 000 fans jam Cubs Park to see Red Grange's professional football debut. The Galloping Ghost, who signed with the Bears the day after his final game with the University of Illinois, will reportedly receive $2,000 a game plus a percentage of the gate receipts and will pay his well-known agent, "Cash and Carry" Pyle, 25 percent of his total take.

Nov. 28. Judge Denis Sullivan, ruling that peaceful picketing legalized last year by the Illinois legislature is unconstitutional, declares that union picketing deprives the employer of his right of contract and sale of his goods without due process of law.

Red Grange made his professional debut on Nov. 26 for the Chicago Bears.

Doily News Collection Chicago Historical Society

Books Four Chicago Arch itects makes a valid contribution toll'ard understanding Chicago's unique architectural heritage.

Mies van der Rohe at IV ark by Peter Carter is a comp!C'x book which attempts to document the creative proce· scs of one of this century's greatest architects. Carter studied under Mies at Illinois Institute of Technology ( IIT), worked in his architectural office for many years, taped di cussions with Mies, and assembled data, plans, and photographs of the work produced until Mies' death in 1968. This volume is the result of those years of dedication.

Carter's unique contribution is that he is able to give extensive information on Mies' later buildings and projects. With the exception of a few major projects and buildings ( Barcelona Pavilion and Tugcndhat House), he concentrates on work designed after Mies' arrival in Chicago. Carter presents his material according to building types, structural solutions, and urban spaces. Comparisons of building and projects arc often made; the technique of repeating important illustrations and diagrams in different contexts helps the reader to grasp the consistency of Mies' approach. This is also the first book to illustrate Mies' teaching methods by including the work of students at IIT, where his curriculum is still used.

The biographical notes, compiled from conversations with l\Iics and his associates, and from previously published information, arc informative and \1·cll written. The list of buildings and projects is accompanied by a chronological chart of building types and a short bibliography.

Despite the care and dedication Carter has obvious ly investee! in documenting Mies' contribution to tll'cnticth century "structural" architecture, he unfortunately provides little insight into the antecedents of and inOucnccs on Mies' aesthetic. The clcfiniti\·c book on l\ I ics is yet to be \Hitten .

EACH OF THE FOLLOWING BOOKS

Daniel H. Burnham: Architect, Planner of Cities by Charles Moore is a reprint of the 1921 tll'o-volume edition combined into one volume and omitting the original's color reproductions.

Moore was secretary of the U. S. Senate's District of Columbia Committee. He met Burnham when the architect undertook his unsuccessful p lan for Wash ington in 1901; they became friends and \1·orked closely together until Burnham's death in 1912.

Mies van der Rohe at Work, by Peter Carter, Praeger, 1974, 30; Daniel H. Burnham: Architect, Planner of Cities, by Charles Moore, reprinted by Da Capo, 1968, 27.50; Burnham of Chicago: Architect and Planner,

by Thomas S. Hines, Oxford, 1974, 19.50; The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, by William Allen Storrer, MIT, 1974, S11.95; ill the Cause of Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright, ed. by Frederick Gut heim, Archi tectural Record, 1975, 17.50; H . H. Richardson and His Office: Selected Drawings, by J ames O' Gorman, Godine, 1974, $25.

l\1oorc based his biography on personal recollections, and he had access to Burnham's letters and diaries; nevertheless, historians have considered his book one-sided . There is an emphasis on unimportant personal relationships and several factual errors, especially about the important years before 1901, which included Burnham's partnership ll'ith John \\lellborn Root and his role in planning the 1893 Columbian Expo. ition. These errors are not corrected, nor are the illustration or building lists updated. ( i\ reprint of John Wellborn Root by Harriet Monroe, published by the Prairie School Pre s in r 966, also make no attempt to update the original edition . ) Iloll'C\'Cr, this new edition, which appeared in 1968, may ha\'e contributed to the renewed interest in Burnham.

The new biography, Burnham of Chicago: Architect and Planner by Thomas S. IIines, is we ll researchrcl, thoroughly documented, and intelligently ll'ritten. Each chapter heading is folloll'ecl by quote ll'hich set the mood for what follows.

In his very worthwhile biography, Hines details the shortcomings of Moore's earlier biography. He also attempts to rcmold the negative image of Burnham offered by Louis H. Sullivan in his Autobiography of an Idea, contributing a concise framework for evaluating the contributions of these two oppos ing arc hitects.

Many of his views about the working relationship bet\1·ccn Burnham and J ohn Root arc clearly inOuenced

by Donald Hoffman's The Architecture of J ohn Well born Root.

In his introduction, Hines states: In this study, I will attempt to assess the positive and the negative aspects of Daniel Burnham's contributions to American life. '\'hile characterizi ng and describing the essence of his architecture and his city plans, I will focus on the successes and failures as a cultural spokesman and entrepreneur. I am concerned here ch iefly with Burnham's character and his persona l make-up as a key to h is ac hie,·ements as a cultural leader because I bclie,·e that Burnham was more important and more interesting as a man and as a leader of men than he e1·er was purely as an architect, city planner or aesthetic philosopher.

True to his word, the author concentrates on Burnham the achiever rather than Burnham the architect.

Burnham ll'as a planner of cities and massive projects, and received international recognition as the manager of a huge architectural and planning office. Burnham's often quoted "make no small plans" was not an understatement of his work.

By the same to ken, the book offers little as an architectura l history. The reproductions are often too small to be clearly read. But as biography, it is defini tive.

William Allen Storrcr's The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is an important book. It is the first to list in chronological order all the work , projects, and rcmoclelings in \ Vright's seventy•tll'O year-long career ( 1887- 1959). The book attempts to be a catalog, a handbook, a guide, and a source of e sentia l informa tion . Included at the bac k are eleven typical p lans, listings according to zip code, and U.S. maps show ing the concentration of Wright's work according to Chi cago Hi story

179

Books periods and types. In most cases, the author succeeds in giving concise descriptions of each work, but what is lacking is the accompaniment of more than a few typical plans. Plans of the major works are readily available, and their incorporation, with an indication from which point the book's photographs were taken, would have given the reader a clearer idea of the architecture and made Storrcr's book more nearly the perfect catalog and handbook that seems to have been intended.

One also questions the quality of the photographs; in many cases they seem little more than snapshots.

The use of sketches where one assumes no photographs were available is adequate, but disappointing, especially when one is aware of the wonderful renderings produced in Wright's Oak Park studio or later in Taliesin.

In the Cause of Architecture, Frederick Guthcim's collection of seventeen essays by Wright reproduced as they appeared originally in Architectural Record, also contains "A Symposium on Architecture with and without Wright by Eight Who Knew Him." Among the eight arc Elizabeth Kassler, author and former curator of The Museum of Modern Art; Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., professor of art and art history at Columbia University; and Bruno Zcvi, editor of l' Architectura. Also included in the book arc a st>lection of drawings published po thumously in Architectural Record, October 1960.

These Architectural Record texts arc now part of history; to see them published in one binding is illuminating. Wright's early texts ( 1908-1928) expound his theories on a wide range of topics, from "The Architecture of the Machine" to "the l\feanings of [Architectural] Materials." In Wright's last essay, "Organic Architecture Looks at Modem Architecture," he nai:vely dismisses the international style as the "old box stripped and trying to assume forms originated by organic architecture."

The Emmanuel Methodist Church at 1401 Oak St. in Evanston, the last church designed by John Root of Burnham & Root, unaccountably overlooked by both Thomas Hines, Burnham's biographer, and Donald Hoffman, Root's.

Chicago H istorical Socierv

Storrer's book spans all of \,Vright's architecture; this compendium spans forty-four years of his writings. Together, they give us the privilege of examining the total lifework of a man of genius. The excitement of his many triumphs is tempered by the sadness of decline.

H. H. Richardson and His Office: Selected Drawings by James F. O'Gorman is a most handsome catalog elegantly laid out with more than a hundred black-and-white illustrations plus eight color plates of softly tinted renderings. The exhibition was organized by the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Harvard College Library, to commemorate the centennial of Richardson's move to Boston. The catalog is divided into types of buildings: ecclesiastical, residential, commercial, public, and educational. Also included arc his railroad commissions and work in the drcorativc art . Each section is amply illustrated with skC'lches, plans, and renderings, and small photographs help to gi,¡c a sense of reality to the preliminary drawings.

Most important, O'Gorman's Introduction, "The Making of a 'Richardson Building,' 1874-1886," contains a brief biography of Richardson, a history of his office in Brookline, Massachusetts, and a percepti,¡c analysis of his design procrsscs. O 'Gorman's extensive research and documentation arc a welcome addition to the work of Richardson's earlier biographer, Mariana Gris\\'old Van Ren sclacr, \\'ho wrote H e11ry [lobson Richardso11 and his ll'orks ( 1888 ), or I I. R. Hitchcock's critical study The Architecture of [!, H. Richardson and his Times ( 1961 ) .

This is the second fine catalog compiled and edited

by O'Gorman. His first, The Architecture of Frank Furness, published by the Philadelphia :-Iuscum of Art in 1973, is equally impressive.

John Vinci John Vinci is a Chicago architect, architectural historian, and lecturer.

Annual Report 1974-75

CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

President's Report

Theodore Tieken, president. fun ctioning as acting director before the appointment of Harold K. Skramstad, Jr .

182

Chicago History

THE PAST FISCAL YEAR, one of change, was also one of solid accomplishment. On October I, 1974, Harold K. Skramstad, Jr., was appointed director of the Society. Mr. Skramstad, a Ph.D. in American Civilization, has taught at George Washington University a nd was associated with the Smithsonian Institution for seven years, most recently as chief of exhibition programs for the National Museum of History and Technology. We look forward to the important work he will do in Chicago.

The renovation of a major exhibition area, the Jean Cudahy Gallery, is now complete. This handsome new gallery was made possible in large part by a donation from The Guild of the Chicago Historical Society; in particular, Mrs. Edward Byron Smith and Mrs. Chauncey Keep Hutchins, past presidents of The Guild , were closely involved in its realization.

Careful consideration has been given to the first special exhibit to be mounted in the Cudahy Gallery.

This exhibit, which will be the Society's major contribution to the Bicentennial celebration, will focus on the period from 1885 to 1925, years in which Chicago a nd Chicagoans made leading contributions to American life in a wide variety of fields. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will help defray planning costs, and the Society is now actively seeking financial support for the exhibit itself from the Chicago community. The Guild, continuing its close interest in the Cudahy Gallery, will co-sponsor this exhibition.

In previous years, we have announced the upgrading of some of our museum storage facilities.

Other museum collections are still scattered, however.

Last year, the trustees decided to rehouse them in one central location in the new wing, readily accessible to the museum staff and to visitors. This large move. which should be completed before the end of 1976, is made possible by a generous gift from Philip K. Wrigley and matching funds from the Chicago Park District.

In future, by the trustees' decision, the Society will follow a policy of collecting in the areas in which we a re already strong: Lincoln. the Civil War, American costumes , Chicago and Jllinois history, and certain aspects of American history. A positive but prudent deaccessioning policy was also implemented, to ensure the continuous upgrading of the collections.

Another important step taken this past year was the formation of the Costume Committee. an advisory group that will advise the professional staff in the development of the Society's costume collection.

Under the leadership of Mrs. Gardner Stern, the

Committee is already playing an important role in maintaining the collection's preeminence.

Over six hundred new members joined the Society last year, and two special programs were provided for members: a Christmas party for members and their children , and an Open House in April which gave members and their guests an opportunity to go behind the scenes and to meet the staff. Our members attended in record-breaking numbers, and these events promise to become annual affairs .

There is one sad event to record , the death of our friend Paul M. Angle. A renowned Lincoln scholar, prolific author, and an effective former director of the Society, Paul will be sorely missed. The trustees have established a Paul Angle Lecture to be held each year. We hope that it will be a living and worthy expression of our great respect and affection for him.

As you can see by the format of this year's annual report, the past year has meant belt-tightening as well as change. Our Treasurer's Report reveals all too clearly how we have been plagued by inflationary costs: the result is that for the first time in history. the Chicago Historical Society ends the year with a significa nt deficit. And this despite a number of substantial contributions from our friends and members during the year, which are gratefully acknowledged in the listing at the end of the report.

The trustees and the director have been working to assure that each dollar of the Society's operating budget goes as far as possible. Even with such stringent measures, we are expecting a deficit of $258 ,820 next year.

We have raised our contributions goal and are aggressively seeking new sources of income. We hope in the coming year to convince many of you that now is the time to endow or support special acquisi tion funds so that the extraordinary quality of our holdings can be maintained in the future. We also hope that several of our members will wish to endow fellowships that will permit the kind of scholarly reearch that should he generated from our collections.

T particularly want to thank our entire staff for their cooperation , and for the continued excellence of their performance. J also want all our members to know how much it means to the trustees to have their continued support and encouragement. Confident of these resources, we move forward with a strong sense that we will be able not only to maintain our standards but also to continue to build our collections and our programs .

Paul M. Angle and Carl Sandburg.

THEODORE TIEKEN

Chicago History

183

Treasurer's Report

FOLLOWING is a summary statement of the Society's operating income and expenses for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975. The auditors' certified report of the Society's financial condition is available upon request.

GARDNER H. STERN

CHlCAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY ST A TEMENT OF GENERAL FUND INCOME AND EXPENSES For the Year ended June 30, 1975

INCOME: From securities$ 659,403

Endowment Funds General Fund

4,625

Gilpin Trust Fund

3,476

Interest on real estate loans

5,957 673,461

From Charles B. Pike Rental properties-net Membership dues

7,298 35,350

Mary Louise Pike Trust

4,526

Charles Burrall and Frances Alger Pike Trust income distribution

53,801

Chicago Park District museum tax

132,219

General contributions .

119,630 352,824

OtherGeneral admissions (including $31.00 Docent fees)

21,275

Sales of cards, books, etc.-net

27,313

Photoduplication fees

23,491

Miscellaneous-net

.

1,311 73,390 Total income

184

Chicago History

$1,099,675

EXPENSES:

Administration Museum

$ 295,315

151,750

.

Library .

174,453

Education

65,324

Publications and printing

139,145

Guards

74,440

Building maintenance

224,292

Insurance

13,266

Employee benefits

77,459

Miscellaneous

1,070

Total expenses .

Excess of expenses over income

.

$1,216,514 $

116,839

Chicago History

185

The Treaty of Greenville, 1795, a rare first impression purchased with the assistance of The Guild of the Chicago Historical Society.

Director's Report

IN MY FIRST YEAR at the Chicago Historical Society, I have felt very lucky in the tradition of excellence left to me by previous directors and in the wholehearted support ot the Society's trustees. Moreover, I have had the pleasure of working with an extremely fine staff.

Yet, as Theodore Tieken has already noted, the last year has been one in which the Society has begun to feel the severe consequences of the unsettled economy. This situation, which has now begun to cut into our program activities, has also had the healthy effect of forcing us all to re-examine our every activity and to measure it against our responsibility to collect, preserve, study, and interpret our history. By any such measure, I feel that the past year has been one of achievement.

Collections: Almost all our important acquisitions in the past year are related to the history of Chicago.

The most significant single item is a rare copy of the first printing of the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. This treaty, now on exhibit, provided for the ceding by the Indians to the United States of the future site of Chicago, making it one of Chicago's most important documents. The purchase was made possible in part by a donation from The Guild of the Chicago Historical Society. The Society was also able to strengthen its Chicago. holdings in other ways during the year.

An especially significant addition was a set of personal journals kept by Mrs. John J. Glessner from 1879 to 1921, the gift of Mrs. Charles F. Batchelder and John G. Lee. At the auction of the Mary Ann Dicke collection of Chicagoana. we were able to purchase a number of treasures, including early Chicago photographs , some heretofore unknown lithographs of the Chicago Fire, and an excellent collection of Chicago trade catalogs.

The Society is now also aggressively collecting Chicago decorative arts, and our holdings in this area grew during the year. We added several important pieces of metalwork executed by Robert Jarvie, including a silver trophy (1916) , the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Potter in recognition of Mr. Potter's long association with the Live Stock Exposition; and a brass humidor, a three-branch candelabra , and two candlesticks, given by the Roy Evan Barr Fund. Six napkin rings, a small bowl, earrings, and a jewelry set made in the Kalo Shops were purchased . Two pieces made by Julius 0. R andahl were given: a cream

Copper bowl lin ed with silver, made by the Kala Shop, Chicago, after th e rum of the century.

ladle, by Mr. and Mrs. John R. Thompson; and a napkin band, by Mrs. Paul J. Darling, Sr. Because of the importance of this growing collection, Sharon Darling of the museum staff has been appointed to the newly created post of curator of Chicago decorative arts.

Other important Chicago acquisitions during the year include four Navigato posters made for the Ch icago Elevated Lines during the 1920s, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Hahn; a collection of photographs of black entertainers in Chicago and related material ( 1910-1970), the gift of Scotty Piper; the aldermanic files of Leon M. Despres; the records of the Chicago Community Trust; a nd a portrait of Chicago banker Leverett Thompson by Louis Betts, the gift of Paul Magnuson . A miniature portrait of Carter H. Harrison, the gift of Mrs. E. Harrison Manierre, is reproduced in the issue of Chicago History of which this report is part, in the article on streetcar tunnels.

Several important additions were made to the costume collection. Of special interest is apparel belonging to the Pullman family, including dresses worn at the wedding of Florence Pullman to Frank 0.

Lowden and vests worn by Governor Lowden, given

by Mrs. C. Philip Miller and Mrs. Albert F. Madlener.

Conservation: Our program of conserving our paintings continued throughout the year, supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts which permitted the restoration of our Rembrandt Peale portrait of Lafayette, several of our important Alonzo Chappel paintings, and a portrait of Louis Sullivan by Frank Werner. We were also Chicago History

187

able to purchase a small fumigation chamber which will allow us to treat all of our library and many of our museum acquisitions.

Utilization: Our library was heavily used during the year. Among the projects researched were doctoral dissertations and monographs on the Chicago public schools, the American labor movement, public health in Chicago, the dairy industry, music in early Chicago, and the New Deal. Our graphics collection was used for such important productions as a WBBM-TY series on the Depression; a film on Prohibition for ORTF, the French broadcasting system; a British Broadcasting Company television series on the Age of Uncertainty; and a filmstrip on the Jews in Chicago produced by the Jewish Board of Education.

Exhibitions: No historical society's program is complete without the public exhibition and interpretation of materials from the collection. This year saw a number of new exhibitions. Chicagoans in Paris, devoted to the story of a century of pilgrimages made to French couturiers by Chicago women , allowed us to disp lay some of the finest Paris costumes executed for Chicagoans.

A continuing exhibition, America n Sporting Arms, explores the artistic and technological development of sporting arms through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in America. Another continuing exhibit on The Chap-Book features a complete set of posters issued by the publishers of that periodical as well as a number of issues of the magazine itself. The posters, made by such artists as Will Bradley, J. C. Lyendecker, and Toulouse-Lautrec, are fine examples of the flowering of poster art in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

Chicagoland-in-Pictures, co-sponsored by the Chicago Area Camera Clubs Associ ation, was a display of some of the best contemporary photographic documentation of the changing cityscape of Chicago. A Chi ld's Christmas showed many of our most charming a nd important miniature items, including models, toys. games and dolls, as well as other appropriate materials. The Chinese Connection focused on Oriental influences in the design of American clothing.

Several other small exhibitions were mounted in conjunction with special events. An exhibit on Chi cago's labor history coincided with a meeting of the Ill inois Labor History Society held at the Historical Society. An exhibit of library materials from our 188

Chicago History

Chicago Commons Collection celebrated the eightieth anniversary of that organization, one of the earliest and most important social welfare agencies in America . The Chicago Commons Association, it should be mentioned, used the Society's collections to prepare a pictorial history commemorating its anniversary.

A series of small exhibits. From the Collections, was introduced during the year. These allow us to display some of our new acquisitions or interesting objects which are not normally shown in our interpretive galleries.

By the time you read this report, we shall be almost finished installing our new Civil War exhibit in the A. Montgomery Ward Gallery, and we shall be well into planning our major Bicentennial exhibit, to which Theodore Tieken has already referred. We feel that this exhibit, along with a number of smaller exhibitions focusing on Bicentennial themes, will be a full and exciting contribution to Chicago's commemoration of two hundred years of our national life.

Publications: An important part of our responsibility for communicating the information researched from our collections and other resources is an aggressive publications program. The past year has been no exception. Chicago History continues to be one of the most informative yet lively historical publications in the nation. Although printing costs have risen substantially, we have had no second thoughts about the decision to publish the magazine as a quarterly. However. we are taking steps to substantially reduce its publication costs.

Two special publications also appeared last year under the Society's imprint. A collection of Paul Angle's writings. On A Variety of Subiects, was published jointly with the Caxton Club. Fortun ately. the critics' glowing reviews appea red while Paul was still able to read them. For the opening of our American Sporting Arms exhibition. we published an illustrated catalog of our sporting arms collection. I hope that this handsome publication. made possible in part by the Weapons Advisory Committee, will set a precedent and that all of our interpretive exhibitions will have an associated publication which will serve as a permanent record. We are now exploring the possi bility of printing and distributing our catalogs and books through established publishers so that we can be sure that they receive the promotion and wide distribution that they deserve.

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Education and Public Programs: Over 104,000

schoolchildren toured the Society and attended our weekday assemblies last year. Younger children were able to learn about history at first hand in our Please Touch Room, where they are encouraged to handle and experiment with a variety of historical artifacts.

A fine yardstick of the children's reactions to our educational programs can be seen in our Crown Memorial Lunchroom, which is newly decorated with a sampling of the hundreds of letters and drawings from chi ldren who have visited the Society.

Our Sunday film programs continued to expose thousands of Chicagoans to history through the medium of film, and the Chicago Chamber Orchestra offered a variety of musical programs.

The outreach of our educational staff is greatly extended by dedicated, enthusiastic, and talented volunteers. Focused in our Illinois Pioneer Life Gallery, this group of loyal supporters dyed yarn, dipped candles, and demonstrated a wide variety of early American ·c rafts and other activities. A total of 188 volunteers devoted almost 10,000 hours of work to the Society, an impressive total and one for which we are extremely grateful.

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One of Mrs. John J. Glessner's journals, in which she recorded the personal activities of her family. Shown is the invitation her husband received to a dinner honoring Secretary of the Treasury William Windom at th e Union League Club in 1881 , as well as the formidable menu offered. Gift of Mrs. Charles F. Batchelder and John G, Lee. Other actzvztzes: Our Fife and Drum Corps has been diligently practicing each week and, by the time you read this report, will have a large number of public appearances under its belt. Other changes will hardly be visible from the outside, but I hope will add to the efficiency of the Society. During the past year I have made some organizational changes to help ensure that in this time of economic strain the Society is able to operate in the most efficient and businesslike manner.

It would be foolish to paint too rosy a picture of the next fiscal year. At best, it will be a year of severe economic strain. Nevertheless, the Society is determined to continue to live up to its traditions of scholarship and its responsibility to interpret our history to the Chicago community as well as to visitors from throughout the world.

HAROLD K. SKRAMSTAD, JR.

Chicago History

189

The Staff

Harold K. Skramstad, Jr., Director Margery Melgaard, Assistant to the Director Frank J . Panian, Comptroller Theodora C. Olsen, Bookkeeper Charles Percic, A ccounling Clerk Christine Rose, Membership/ Special Events Coordinator Patricia Ingram , Membership Secretary'''

LIBRARY Robert L. Brubaker, Chief Librarian Eleanor Kanik, Secretary Grant T. Dean, Assistant Librarian for Acquisitions and Technical Services John C. Sanders, Cataloger Phyllis Helm, Cataloging Assistant Larry A. Viskochil, Reference Librarian Neal Ney, Assistant Reference Librarian Richard Piekarczyk, Virginia Hinze,,:, Sandra P. Olsen ,"' Reference Assis/ants Archie J. Motley, Curator of Manuscripts Linda J. Evans, Assistanl Curator of Manuscripts Gail F. Casterline,'' Molly A. Cole,"' Jean Frymire,"' Lillian Janjic, * James Sanders,"' Michele F. Stenehjem,* Terese Tiernan,"' Ma11uscrip1s Assistan/s John Tris, Curator of Graphics Collection Julia Westerberg, Assis/ant Curator of Graphics Col/ectio11 Linda Sanford, Grap/1ics Assistant

MUSEUM Joseph B. Zywicki, Chief Curator Elizabeth Jachimowicz, Curator of Costumes Elizabeth· Krause , Assistant to th e Curator of Coswmes Herbert G. Houze, Curator of \Veapo11s and Military History Sharon Darling, Curator of Chicago Decora1i1·e Aris, Acling Registrar Teresa Krutz, Secretary Edward Stashinski, Chief Preparator Charles C. Carlson, Preparator H. Lanny Green , Preparator

EDUCATION OFFICE Sarajane Wells, Chief, Educalion Programs Jill Jeskin, Assistanl to the Chief, Education Programs Frederic Gotham. Educa1io11 Associale Donald Park, Education Associate Nancy Lace, Volunteer Coordinator Mary Escriva, School Tour Receptionist Mary Benson,"' Mary Jane Newsom,"' Andrea Usher,"' Sally Walker,"' School Tour Controllers

EDITORIAL OFFICE Isabel S. Grossner, Editor Frederick J. Nachman, Assistant Editor Mary L. Dawson, Editorial Assistant

GENERAL SER VICES Thomas C. Watson , General Services Administrator Don R. Sack, Ad111inistratil·e Clerk Frank Sanew, Building Supen·isor (weekends),:,

Maintenance Otis Thomas, Housekeeping Supen ·isor Paul J. Ray , Assistant Housekeeping Super1·isor Steve Jonov, Peter Motz, Manuel D. Sarabia, Filip Todorov, Raymond F. Wapole, Janitors Ellen Bradley, Rebecca McMurray, Jessie Stamps. Maids Doyle Sidie, Building Mec/wnic Stephen Revak ,"' Engineering Consultant

Security Willie Bettis, Security Caplain John Banks, Leonard Bondurant. John Butler/' Hercules Burch. ,:, Irving Friedman. ,:, Raymond Glorch, ,:, Edward Gorski,* Freddie Harris, William Keenan ,"' John Madden, Durett Matthews, Roy McMicken ,"' Horace Mealing, Clarence Moton, John Shannon ,"' Patrick Sigerson , Hubert Smith, Guards

Museum Sales Laura Brown , Lorraine Kehoe , Alice Miller,* Marion Peterson ,"' Barbara Zgoda ''' Frank J. Schmitt, Shipping and Receil'ing Clerk Alfred Blunt, Cloakroo111 Attendant Peter Matzer. Printer Walter Krutz, Photographer Paul Petraitis, Assistant Photographer Marlene Faught, Harriet Kaczorowski,"' Geraldine Rider,''' Receptionist-Switchboard Opera/ors '''part-time

190

Chicago History

Staff Activities

HAROLD K. SKRAMSTAD, JR., director, was appointed to the Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks and served on the board of trustees of the Chicago School of Architecture Foundation and as a member of the Joint Committee on Landmarks for the National Capital. He spoke at the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums on The Limits to the Use of Media in Museums, at a Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) panel at the Evanston Historical Society, and at the Jllinois Libraries Association Bicentennial Meeting.

Mr. Skramstad also spoke to the Midwest Antiques Forum on the Collections of the Chicago Historical Society, to the Junior League of Chicago on historic preservation, and was the annual luncheon speaker for the Ladies Guild of the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture.

Robert Brubaker, chief librarian, was elected to the council of the MAC and served on an American Library Association (ALA) subcommittee that drafted a standard form for transfer of title to manuscripts, a Society of American Archivists (SAA) Committee on Archives-Library Relationships, and the nominating committee of the Chicago Library Club.

Grant Dean , assistant librarian , continued to serve on the Architectural Advisory Committee of the Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks as well as attending meetings, in the director's absence, of directors of museums in the Chicago Park District on possible uses of the South Shore Country Club. Mr. Dean also was the local representative for the Museums. Arts, and Humanities Division of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Conference, in which capacity he planned many of the activities of its Chicago conference.

Larry Viskochil , reference librarian , received a B.A. in photography from Columbia College. He was also appointed chairman of the local arrangements committee for the 1976 Chicago meeting of the ALA's Reference and Adult Services Division ey, assistant reference liHistory Section. Neal brarian , received a Master of Arts in library science from Rosary College and addressed library science classes at Rosary and the University of Illinois on library work in historical societies. He was elected to Beta Phi Mu, the international library science honor society, and appointed to a subcommittee of

Mr. and Mrs. R. Ford Bentley at the opening of Chicagoans in Paris.

Conversation during a lull at the Midwinter Council Meeting of th e Midwest Museums Co11fere11ce, held at the Society.

Chicago History

191

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One of the many letters from children adorning the walls of the Crown Memorial Lunchroom.

Photo by Edward Lace

Kenneth Liggett and Herbert G. Houze, curator of weapons, at the opening of American Sporting Arms.

192

Chicago History

the Local Arrangements Committee planning the ALA's 1976 convention. Richard Piekarczyk, reference assistant, was awarded a teaching assistantship in the Department of Classical Studies at Loyola University for the 1975-1976 academic year.

Archie Motley, curator of manuscripts, was appointed to a two-year term on the Illinois State Archives Advisory Board and served as a visiting instructor at the Ohio Historical Society's ArchivesLibrary Institute in Columbus. Mr. Motley, who this year completed his term as president of MAC, gave a presentation of ephemeral materials at its spring meeting in Chicago and chaired a session on the role of the local historical society. He also served on the SAA's Committee on Urban Archives. Linda Evans, assistant curator of manuscripts, completed the twoweek course in Modern Archival Administration given by American University in Washington, D .C., in conjunction with the National Archives and the Library of Congress. She also addressed the annual conference of University and College Women at the College of DuPage on resources for women's studies in the Chicago Historical Society. Gail Casterline, manuscript assistant, spoke before the MAC spring meeting on women's history sources in the Chicago Historical Society. Michele Stenehjem, manuscript assistant, received a Ph.D. in American history from the State University of New York at Albany. Lillian Janjic, manuscript assistant received a B.A. in history from De Paul University.

Elizabeth Jachimowicz, curator of costumes, continued to serve on the board of directors of the Costume Society of America and attended the 1975 Irene Emery Roundtable on Museum Textiles at the Textile Museum in Washington , D.C. She also spoke at a costume symposium at the Phoenix Art Museum, to the Chicago Women's Club, and to the Midwestern Antiques Club. Elizabeth Krause, assistant to the curator of costumes, received a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute where she majored in fashion design. Herbert G. Houze, curator of weapons and military history, wrote "The Medium Frame Colt Lightning Cutaway" for Arms Gazette and "The

Chicago Historical Society's Arms Collection" for Gun Report. He was also appointed to the advisory board of Gun Report.

Sarajane Wells, chief of education programs, served as vice-president, representing Illinois, of the Midwest Museums Conference (MMC) and as a member of its President's Advisory Committee and the American Association of Museum's President's Committee on Education. Jill Jeskin, assistant to the chief of education programs, represented the Society at the Hyde Park Community Task Force Child Care Program, where she gave demonstrations of Please Touch Room activities, and at the Chicago Area Association for the Education of Young Children conference. Nancy Lace, volunteer coordinator, completed an eight-session workshop on natural dyeing at the Botanic Garden of Chicago.

Isabel Grossner, editor, was named to the board of directors and to the nominating committee of the Chicago Book Clinic and served on the faculty of the American Association for State and Local History's week-long publishing seminar in Nashville, Tennessee, where she addressed an invitational audience on editing and publishing of the historical magazine and advised the participants on their problems as editors. She also addressed an oral-history seminar of the MAC, speaking on the Nature and Problems of Oral History, Based on the Experience of Columbia University, and spoke to the Off-Campus Writers Workshop in Winnetka, on the editorial needs and requirements of Chicago History. Mary Dawson , editorial assistant, completed an eleven-week course, Introduction to Publishing, co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Extension and the Chicago Book Clinic. She also received a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University.

Doyle Sidie, building mechanic, attended the General Electric Maintenance Seminar. Paul Petraitis, assistant photographer, prepared photographs for the Pullman Civic Organization's reprint of The Town of Pullman and served as manager of the Society's Fife and Drum Corps. He and Otis Thomas, housekeeping supervi sor, are the Corps' bass drummers.

Visitor taking notes during the showing of The Chinese Connection .

At the Society's Christmas Party for members and their families.

Chicagoana: Booklet cover from Specimen Book 1900; sheet music cover; 1864 broadside; and Arn;our & Co. poster by Albert Guillaume.

PHUNNY PHEllOW

194

Chicago Hi story

The Guild GUILD has enjoyed an active and productive twenty-seventh year. The membership stands at 446.

At the Society's annual meeting in October, The Guild co-sponsored the program at which Payson Wild spoke on !he history of Northwestern University. Mrs. John R. Weiss was tea chairman. In November, The Guild co-sponsored the opening of the costume exhibit Chicagoans in Paris, which was followed by a reception. The Guild also participated in the Society's Open House: twenty-five members acted as hostesses, greeting visitors, helping to direct traffic, and pouring coffee and punch in the Crown Memorial Lunchroom.

At our annual meeting in January, new officers and directors were elected. Art critic and professor Franz Schulze reported on 100 Years of Ch icago Architecture and Mrs. John Q. Adams, Jr., served as tea chairman .

To better inform our members about the Society's collections, The Guild inaugurated a new series of programs. Three programs were held during the year: A discussion of Chicago Silver and Ceramics 18711914, by Sharon Darling, curator of Chicago decorative arts; a gallery talk in the Chicagoans in Paris exhibit by Elizabeth Jachimowicz, curator of costumes, followed by a behind-the-scenes tour of the costume collection; and a general review of and visit to the graphics holdings conducted by John S. Tris. curator of graphics collection. This popular and informative series will be continued.

The Museum Store Committee, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Frank D . Mayer, has already made several shopping excursions and is now working closely with the Society's Museum Store Advisory Committee.

Mrs. Edgar J. Uihlein and Mrs. Paul Quenzel conducted this year's spring tour, a six-day visit to San Francisco. On June I, another group flew to Kansas City to view the exhibition, The Archeological Treasures of the People's Republic of China.

The board of directors of The Guild has approved a change in the by-laws requiring all future members to also be members of the Chicago Historical Society.

During the past year, individual members contributed $9,345 to The Guild. We are deeply grateful for their generosity, which this year enabled The Guild to make a bicentennial contribution to the Society. Our gift helped defray the cost of a rare copy of the Greenville Treaty, circa 1796, currently on display on the ground floor of the museum.

The Guild welcomed Harold K. Skramstad, Jr .. the new di rector of the Chicago Historical Society, and is looking forward to working with him.

THE

BARBARA B. ROWE

Mrs. A. Loring Rowe, president of Tl,e Guild, Mrs. Edmund J. Doering, and Mrs. Cl,auncey Keep Hutcl,ins , past president, at tl,e annual meeting.

The Guild of the Chicago Historical Society OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS Mrs. A. Loring Rowe. Chairman Mrs. George S. Isham , Vice Cl,ainna11 Mrs. Gerald A. Sivage, ViCC' Chairman Mrs. Frank D. Mayer, Secretary Mrs. E. Ogden Ketting, Treasurer Mrs. John Quincy Adams, Jr. Mrs. Philip D. Block, Jr. Mrs. Harry B. Clow Mrs. Edward M. Cummings Mrs. Elliott Donnelley Mrs. Robert Hixon Glore Mrs. Paul W. Guenzel Mrs. William 0. Hunt, Sr. Mrs. Chauncey Keep Hutchins Mrs. Andrew McNally Ill Mrs. Charles F. Nadler Mrs. Charles S. Potter Mrs. Sanger P. Robinson Mrs. Len H. Small Mrs. Edgar J. Uihlein HONORARY DIRECTORS Mrs. Mrs. Mrs. Mrs. Mrs. Mrs.

Howard Linn John T. McCutcheon C. Phillip Miller William F. Petersen Edward Byron Smith Philip K. Wrigley Chicago History

195

CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

List of Donors July 1, 1974-June 30, 1975 Gifts of Money and Securities GIFTS OF $1,000 OR MORE

GIFTS OF $100 TO $1,000

Mr. and Mrs. Jon Anderson Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. William T. Bacon Mrs. Roy E. Barr Bellebyron Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Bowen Blair William McCormick Blair Borg-Warner Foundation Inc. DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr. Buchanan Family Foundation A. G. Cox Charity Elliott & Ann Donnelley Foundation Gaylord Donnelley Foundation R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Donnelley II Mrs. Harry L. Drake The Guild of the Chicago Historical Society H B B Foundation Hales Charitable Fund, Inc. Mrs. Robert Hixon The H. Earl Hoover Foundation Illinois Bicentennial Commission International Harvester Foundation Jewel Foundation The Joyce Foundation Mrs. Richard W. Leach Frances G. Lee Foundation Otto W. Lehmann Foundation Mrs. Howard Linn Marshall Field & Company McGraw Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Frank J. McLoraine Mrs. C. Phillip Miller The Sterling Morton Charitable Trust Geraldi Norton Memorial Corporation Dorothy Wrigley Offield Charity Fund The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company Robert H. Reid Sahara Coal Company Mrs. Frances Paullin Schneible Estate of Anne G. Shakman Sun-Times/ Daily News Charity Trust Mr. & Mrs. Edgar J. Uihlein The Vilas & Reid Foundation Estate of Elizabeth Price Welch Medard William Welch Mrs. John P. Wilson, Sr. Mr. & Mrs. Frank H. Woods Philip K. Wrigley George H. Zendt Charitable Trust

Cyrus H. Adams III Mrs. Carnot R. Allen Amsted Industries Foundation John E. Angle A. Watson Armour III Mr. & Mrs. A. Watson Armour IV Mrs. Laurance H. Armour Laurance H. Armour, Jr. Estate of Joseph J. Augustus E. M. Bakwin Mrs. George A. Basta Mrs. Benjamin Leslie Behr Mr. & Mrs. John P. Bent Mr. & Mrs. R. Ford Bentley Mr. & Mrs. Joseph L. Block Mary & Leigh Block Charitable Fund, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Philip D. Block, Jr. Arthur Blome Mr. & Mrs. Carleton Blunt Mrs. William A. Boone Mr. & Mrs. John Borland Mr. & Mrs. Arthur S. Bowes Mr. & Mrs. Gardner Brown Dr. & Mrs. Murray C. Brown Mrs. DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr. Eugene Diven Buchanan Mrs. Britton I. Budd Ferdinand A. Bunte C. E. F. Foundation CNA Financial Corporation Callaghan & Co. (E. I. Cudahy Foundation) Mrs. Michael Cantacuzene Arnold Marcus Chernoff Cherry Electrical Products Corporation Chicago Area Camera Clubs Association Eleanor Chirpe Mrs. Charles F. Clarke Mr. & Mrs. Jo:m W. Clarke Mr. & Mrs. Harry B. Clow Helen Clow Marion Clow John L. Cochran Mrs. David P. Cordray Mr. & Mrs. William A. Cremin Edmund S. Cummings, Jr. Mrs. Albert B. Dick, Jr. Mrs. Joan A. Dix Mr. & Mrs. Stewart S. Dixon Mrs. Pauling Donnelley Dolores M. Dorman Robert T. Drake Mrs. Harry J . Dunbaugh Mr. & Mrs. Louis C. Duncan Gilda & Gerald Edelstein Mrs. R. Winfield Ellis Mrs. Henry Faurot, Jr. William F. Fink!

Fishbein & Frisch Ruth E. Forbes James B. Forgan Mr. & Mrs. Robert H. Gardner The Gaylord Foundation Inc. James R. Getz Oscar Getz Mr. & Mrs. R. H. Giesecke

Silver cream ladle made by Julius 0. Randahl, Chicago, mid-twentieth century.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John R. Thomson.

Silver trophy made by Robert R. Jarvie, Chicago.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Potter.

Mr. & Mrs. Howard Goodman George J. Grikshell Kenneth M. Grubb Mrs. A. Paepcke Guenzel Mrs. Paul W. Guenzel Charles C. Haffner IIJ Haffner Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Corwith Hamill Mr. & Mrs. John M. Hands Harris Bank Foundation Mortimer B. Harris Walter E. Heller Foundation Dr. & Mrs. Paul Holinger Dr. Helen Holt Herbert G. Houze Howell H. Howard Mrs. Otis L. Hubbard Mrs. William 0. Hunt Mrs. Chauncey K. Hutchins Illinois Tool Works Foundation Mrs. George S. Isham Mr. & Mrs. Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Mrs. Hubert Kampp Mrs. Spencer R. Keare Mr. & Mrs. Thomas A. Kelly Mrs. Meyer Kestnbaum Mrs. E. Ogden Ketting Wallis P. Kilzer Keith Kindred Mrs. Garfield King William S. Kinkead John S. Knight Carl A. Kroch Mr. & Mrs. Sigmund W. Kunstadter Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd Alan Laflin Mrs. Foreman M. Lebold Mr. & Mrs. John H. Leslie Mrs. Glen A. Lloyd Mrs. Edward J. Loewenthal P. Robert Lombardo Mrs. Arthur M. Long Earle Ludgin Mrs. Albert F. Madlener Donna Marie Malnati John F. Mannion Mildred McCormick William B. Mcilvaine

Andrew McNally III Joseph D. McNulty Mrs. Durham Mead Mrs. Henry W. Meers Mr. & Mrs. Ronald McK. Melvin Charles A . Meyer Midwestern Antiques Club Montgomery Ward Foundation Mrs. George W. Moxon Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Nebenzahl Mrs. Lawrence E. Norem Mrs. Conway H. Olmsted Mr. & Mrs. W. Irving Osborne, Jr. Wendel Fentress Ott Lloyd C. Partridge Mr. & Mrs. Richard S. Pepper Mrs. David D . Peterson The Albert Pick, Jr. Fund Mr. & Mrs. Charles S. Potter Mr. & Mrs. Robert C. Preble, Sr. Myron F. Ratcliffe Foundation William M. Redfield Mr. & Mrs. John S. Reed Mrs. David M. Rhodes Mrs. John Ritchie Mr. & Mrs . Sanger P. Robinson Mr. & Mrs. Theodore W. Robinson, Jr. M. A. Rosenthal Mr. & Mrs. Samuel R. Rosenthal Mrs. A. Frank Rothschild Mr. & Mrs. A. Frank Rothschild Fund Mrs. Maurice L. Rothschild Mrs. Clive Runnells Rutgers Gun and Boat Inc. Sax Family Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Norman Schlossman Mrs. Franklin B. Schmick Mr. & Mrs. Walter E. Schuessler Mrs. Charles Sethness Mrs. Sherman Sexton James G. Shakrnan Arch W. Shaw Foundation Jeffrey Shedd Mrs. Clyde E. Shorey Mrs. Gerald A. Sivage Mrs. Len H. Small Edward Byron Smith Harold Byron Smith, Jr. Hawley L. Smith, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Solomon Byron Smith Mr. & Mrs. William M . Spencer Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Spiel Gardner H . Stern Russell T. Stern Joseph L. Strauss, Jr. Mrs. John Stuart Frank L. Sulzberger Mrs. Frank L. Sulzberger Mrs. Harriet A. Swanson John E. Swearingen Mrs. A. Thomas Taylor John R. Thompson, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Reuben Thorson Mr. & Mrs . Theodore Tieken Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby Mr. & Mrs. Chester D. Tripp Mrs. Errett Van Nice Mrs. Frederick G . Wacker Mrs. Douglas Warner Mrs. John Weber Mrs. Donald P. Welles Mrs . Thomas L. Williams, Jr. Mrs. Burke Williamson Mr. & Mrs. Benton J . Willner Mrs. Henry H aven Windsor, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Arnold R . Wolff Mrs. Arthur M. Wood Mrs. J. H. Wood Arthur Young and Company Winfred H. Zurfli Mr. & Mrs. William R. Zwecker, Jr.

GIFTS UNDER $100 Mrs. Eugene M. Adler Robert S. Adler Family Fund Mrs. Thomas H. Alcock Mr. & Mrs. Jimmie R. Alford William E. Allen Mr. & Mrs. John E . Angle Mrs. Ralph Applegate Mrs. Vernon Armour Robert L. Ashenhurst Edwin C. Austin Mrs. John P. Ayer Mr. & Mrs. Gustavus Babson Mr. & Mrs. David Badal Mrs. Arthur R. Baer Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Baker Florence L. Baker Rosecra ns Baldwin Mrs. Avis Barrett Mrs. George Wells Beadle Ross J. Beatty Dr. & Mrs. Alvin Becker Mr. & Mrs. S. Max Becker, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. John L. Behr Dr. Helen R. Beiser Mrs. Spencer Beman Edward 1-1. Bennett, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Roger Bensinger Garret L. Bergen Mrs. Edward G. Berglund Mrs. Edward J. Bermingham Mr. & Mrs . Adrian D. Beverly Mr. & Mrs. Robert Biggert Mrs. Joseph H. Biggs Gladys Blackma n Mr. & Mrs. Edward McCormick Blair Mrs. Samuel W. Block Mrs. Max S. Bloom William S. Bodman Melvin Boruszak Joseph T. Bowen, Jr. Mrs. A. B. Bradley Robert H. Brannan Beckw ith R. Bronson Mrs. Dillon Randall Brown Mrs. William A. Brunsvold Mrs. Charles W. Bryan, Jr. Donald P. Buchanan Robert Buehler Mrs. Robert H. Burnside George S. Burrows Mrs. John Meigs Butler Carl Buttita Emily Cady Mrs. Charles H. Caine Mrs. Charles T. Campbell Arthur & Janet M . Carlson Willia m J. Carney Mr. & Mrs. Walter S. Carr Gerald H. & Lettie Carson Levering Cartwright F. Strother Cary, Jr. Mrs. James L. Cate Josephine Ceithaml Mrs. Roswell H . Chaisman Leslie L. Chandler Mrs. William C. Childs Jo hn J. Cichon David G. Clarke Mrs. Philip R . Clarke Mr. & Mrs. Samuel M . Clarke Dr. & Mrs. Gerhard P. Clausius Robert Parker Coffin Elston C. Coleman, Jr. Julien H. Collins Mrs. Kingsley B. Colton Mr. & Mrs. R. F . Colwell Mrs. Arthur W. Consoer Margaret L. Constantine Dr. James J . Conway

Mrs. Leo Paul Corcoran Mrs. William S. Covington William D. Cox Mr. & Mrs. William A. Crane Mrs . Benjamin Crawford Dr. & Mrs. Robert R. Crawford Stanley E. Cronwall Samuel A. Culbertson II Tilden Cummings Virginia Dalton Mr. & Mrs. William W. Darrow Mrs. Nathan S. Davis III Mr. & Mrs. Lester B. Dean Thomas A. Dean Mrs. Leo Deitch Peter P . DeMay William B. Derby H . E. Devereaux Mrs. William R. Dickinson Richard A. Dimberg Conrad Disabato Mrs. Edmund J . Doering II Dr. Marilyn A. Domer James F. Donovan Mr. & Mrs. Charles H. Dornbusch Clara Douglas Mr. & Mrs. Donald 8. Douglas Colleen B. Drew Mr. & Mrs. John Drish Arthur D. Dubin Mrs. John Dubrovin Sherwyn L. Ehrlich John B. Elliot Helen B. Entenman Mrs. T. G . Essington Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Estes Fred W . Fairman, Jr. Stanley P. Farwell Ann C. Field Mr. & Mrs. Robert Fireman Dr. & Mrs. Morris Fishbein Mr. & Mrs. Robert Fitzgerald John R. Flanagan Harold E. Foreman, Jr. Mrs. Ida Mae Fosse Edmond R. Foster Jerome A. Franklin Mrs. Charles Daniel Frey Mr. & Mrs. Herbert Friedlich Mr. & Mrs. E. Montford Fucik Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. Gale Mrs. A. Gawtbrop Barbara J. Geiger Mr. & Mrs. Joseph L. Gidwitz Catherine D. Giraldi Mr. & Mrs. Robert Hixon Glore Sidney S. Gorham Mr. & Mrs. Julian N . Graff Mr. & Mrs . Gerald Grant, Jr. Mrs. Earle Gray Dr. Roy R . Grinker, Jr. Harriet Gulis Mrs . Fred G. Gurley Helen K. Gurley Samuel L. Haas J. Mark Hale Mr. & Mrs. Chalkley J . Hambleton Mrs. Jack Cookman Hand Georgiana MacArthur Hansen Frank Harding William H. Hartz, Jr. Ellen C. Hauth Mrs. L. Hall Healy, Jr. Mrs. William D. Hechler Walter W. Heinze Howard E. Hight Hinsdale Embroiderer's Guild Mrs. Russell Drake Hobbs Mrs. W. Press Hodgkins Philip Holliday Mrs. Dement Holloway

Chicago History

197

Mr. & Mrs. Wright Howes Mrs. James E. Howie James P. Hume Lemuel B. Hunter Mrs. Edward N. Hurley Mr. & Mrs. William G. T. Hyer Mrs. Henry P. Isham Ralph N. Isham J. B. Charitable Trust Charles C. Jarchow Mr. & Mrs. Christian E. Jarchow Stella Jenks George R. Jones Mrs. George R. Jones Owen B. Jones Mrs. Merritt L. Joslyn Phyllis Jydstrup K-M Company Mrs. Arthur S. Kahn Mrs. Charles R. Kaufman Mrs. Taylor L. Kennedy Mrs. August Kern Charles C. Kerwin Mr. & Mrs. Charles W. King Mrs. Ansel M. Kinney Dr. Garland P. Kirkpatrick Dr. & Mrs. Samuel C. Klagsbrun Miss A. M. Klaprat Augustus Knight, Jr. Miss Adele Kofink Mr. & Mrs. Martin J. Koldyke Mrs. Marion Konishi The Rev. & Mrs. G. Kono Stephen C. Koutsogianis Mr. & Mrs. Walter Krutz Robert E. Kulasik Mrs. Walter J. LaBuy LaFarge Learning Institute Mrs. Louis E. Laflin, Jr. Mrs. Gordon Lang Mr. & Mrs. R. Heath Larry Nobel W. Lee Mrs. Emiie U. Lepthien Miss Louise E. Lewis Mr. & Mrs. Richard M. Loewenstein Thomas H. Long Stuart & Estelle Loven Mr. & Mrs. Leslie A. Lund Robert S. Macdonald Mr. & Mrs. Walter M. Mack David 0. MacKenzie Mr. & Mrs. Otto Madlener Mr. & Mrs. Harry W. Malm Anthony L. Marino Rocco J. Marrese Mrs. Frances Maul Martinek Mrs. Vojta F. Mashek, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Mason Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. McCann Inez McDonald Mrs. Reginald McFadden Mrs. Charles Morgan McKenna Mrs. Hollis McLean Eileen A. McNulty McShumwill Foundation Helen L. Meine Margery Melgaard Josephine Mesha Dr. & Mrs. Harold L. Method Mrs. Blackman Moffatt Henry I. Monheimer Janice M. Moriarty Mr. & Mrs. Van Cleve Morris E. Kimball Mersman Mrs. Henry Mostosky Mr. & Mrs. Arthur T. Moulding Charles F. Murphy William F. Murray Philip R. Murtaugh Dr. Wilmore Neiditch Charles M. Nelson

198

Chicago History

Harvey G. Nelson Mrs. Jeremiah J. Nolan Mrs. John Nuveen William R. Odell DeWitt O'Kieffe Dr. Eric Oldberg Old Town Triangle Association Arthur M. Oppenheimer Mr. & Mrs. Walter H. Osterkamp, Jr. Mrs. Ralph C. Otis Russell Packard Charles Page Mrs. Gordon Palmer Frank J. Panian Charles D. Peacock III Philip F. W. Peck Russell J. Pester Mrs. William F. Petersen Mr. & Mrs. Kent F. Peterson Mr. & Mrs. Morris A. Pfendler Philip G. Pfister Frank J. Piehl Mrs. Gordon L. Pirie Mr . Fred A. Poor Mrs. James W. Pope John A. Prosser Walter Christoph Ramm Miss Ruth Regenstein Regensteiner Publishing Enterprises, Inc. Robert D. Reilly Marie K. Remien Mrs. Robert W. Reneker E. P. Renstrom, Jr. Mrs. G. William Reynolds Thomas A. Reynolds Mary Frances Rhymer Tobin M. Richter Burr L. Robbins Mrs. Edward E. Robbins David M. Roderick Christine Rose Harvey Rosen Mrs. Sidney Rosen Martin Rosenthal William Forshaw Rosenthal Cary Ross Melville N. & Mary F. Rothschild Fund Mr. & Mrs. John J. Runkel Ralph H. Rusco, Jr. Mrs. Paul S. Russell Mr. & Mrs. Frederick L. Salmon, Jr. Sidney G. & Hedda P. Saltz Mr. & Mrs. Lothar L. Schaffner Mr. & Mrs. R. T. Schenck Mrs. Albert Schlipf William J. Schoeninger Walter H. Schwebke Mr. & Mrs. E. J. Seeboeck

Edwin A. Seipp, Jr. Mrs. Paul A. Semrad Mrs. William J. Shea Timothy P. Sheehan Mrs. Frederick Sheley Mrs. Warren Shoemaker, Jr. Sidney N. Shure Fund Mr. & Mrs. Charles A. Silberman Mrs. Walter F. Slocum Mrs. C. Lysle Smith Mrs. Raymond F. Smith Ms. Virginia Sparr Mr. & Mrs. Edgar B. Speer Mrs. Nicholas Starosselsky Mrs. K. H. Stein Adlai E. Stevenson III Joseph J. Strasburger Mr. & Mrs. Herbert R. Stratford Mr. & Mrs. William Swartchild, Jr. Mrs. Gustavus F. Swift, Jr. Dr. Louis Szathmary II Mrs. Otto John Teegen Mrs. D. Robert Thomas Mrs. John Thomson Dr. I. D. Thrasher Mrs. A. H. Tippens Mr. & Mrs. E. A. Twitchell Nelson M. Utley Mrs. Paul Van Auken Dr. Theodore R. VanDellen Mr. & Mrs. Charles H. Vial Robert E. Vollum T. J. Wagner Mrs. Samuel J. Walker Reed Wallace Thatcher Waller Mrs. Paul Ware W. A. P. Watkins Elizabeth & Eva Watson William S. Wedeem Mr. & Mrs. Francis D. Weeks David M. Weil Mr. & Mrs. A. Albert Weinberg Julie A. Welch Mrs. John Paul Welling James M. Wells Mrs. Christian Wenger Mr. & Mrs. John A. Werner Mrs. Owen A. West Mr. & Mrs. Paul Westerberg Avers Wexler Mrs. Arthur E. Wigelsworth Mr. & Mrs. Charles R. Wilkins Mrs. John S. Wineman Women's World Tour Margaret Woodworth Mrs. Kenneth M. Wright Nathan Yellen

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Chicago History

199

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Wooden bowls and plates by James Prestini, Lake Forest, ca. 1930.

200

Chicago History

Linda Sanford Patricia Ann Schenck Hedwig Schinkel Frank Schmitt Adelaide Schoeppel George S. Schwerin Ronald E. Seavoy Seven-Up Company Rodney V. Shankland Mrs. Saul Sherman Philip L. Shutt Marjorie Silverman Mrs. Max Simon Six Flags Over Georgia Ellen Skerrett Harold K. Skramstad, Jr. Victor Skrebneski Smithsonian Institution NCFA/ NPG Library F . R. Snyder Socialist Workers Mayoral Campaign Committee Society of American Archivists Hazel Mae Sohn Mrs. John E. Spann Mrs. F. A. Spence Mrs. Ralph W. Stansbury Robert Staples Mrs. Gardner H. Stern Helen Strauss Edward T. Sullivan Elsie R. Swartz Talman Federal Savings & Loan Assn.

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I

THE CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY Clark Street at North Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 606 [4 Telephone: M fchigan 2-4600

OFFICERS Theodore Tieken, President Stewart S. Dixon, 1st Vice-President James R. Getz, 2nd Vice-President Gardner H. Stern, Treasurer Bryan S. Reid, Jr., Secretary DIRECTOR Harold K. Skramstad, Jr. TRUSTEES Bowen Blair Emmett Dedmon Stewart S. Dixon James R. Getz Philip W. Hummer Willard L. King Andrew McNally ITT Mrs. C. Phillip Miller

Bryan S. Reid, Jr. Nathan A. Scott, Jr. Gilbert H. Scribner, Jr. Harold Byron Smith, Jr. Hermon Dunlap Smith Gardner H. Stern Theodore Tieken Mrs. Philip K. Wrigley

HONORARY TRUSTEES Richard J. Daley, /\favor. City of Chicago Patrick l. O'l\lalley. P,:esident , Chicago Park District

MEMBERSHIP The Society is supported almost entirely by income from its endowment. by contributions, and by memberships.

Membership is open to anyone interested in the Society's activities and objectives. Classes of membership and dues are as follows: Annual, $15 a year: Life , $250: Governing Life. $500; and Patron, $1.000 or more.

Members receive the Soc iety's quarterly magazine.

Chicago History; invitations to special programs; free admission to the museum at all times; free reserved seats at movies and concerts in our auditorium; and a I 0 % discount on books and other merchandi ·e purchased in the museum store.

MUSEUM A

D LIBRARY HOURS

The museum is open daily from 9: 30 to 4: 30. Sundays from 12:30 to 5:30. Our research library is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:00 to 5:00 (Monday through Friday during July and August). The Society is closed on Christmas, New Year's, and Thanksgiving.

THE EDUCATION OFFICE offers guided tours. assemblie,. slide talks. gallery talks. craft demonstrations. and a variety of special programs for groups of all ages. from pre-school through senior citizen.

ADMISSION FEES FOR NO -MEMBERS Adults, $1; Children ( 6-17), 50¢; Senior Citizens, 25f'.

Admission is free on Mondays.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Single copies of Chicago History. published quarterly. are $1.15 by mail , $2 at newsstands and bookshops.

Subscript ions are $IO for 4 issues.