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Historic
Preservation, Hyde Park-Kenwood History, and Architecture
|
by Gary Ossewaarde
In Memoriam Marian Despres. Fran
Vandervoort, HPHS publ. ed., asks remembrances.
To History and Preservation web index (pages up on the
topic).
To index of historic and preservation organizations and
agencies links (bottom of page)
Kids- see the History Fair page, and
learn about school names in the News
from the Schools page. Announcement of NwnU Press hist'l
publication blockbuster. Services, obit. for Truman Gibson.
June 14-17 2007 Pres. conference. Contest.
Hyde Park Bank on landmark track- in Preservation
Hot.
To index of history, preservation pages up
incl. Harper Theater, Harper Court.
To index of this page. Poll
question. See At
the Society for description of preservation movement background
in conjunction with first HPHS Preservation Award to Marian and Leon Despres.
To calendar
The Midway Plaisance, HPKCC's first interactive neighborhood and historic tour, by Trish Morse. It covers beginnings, the Columbian Exposition today, and the adjacent buildings of the University of Chicago with their history.
HPKCC Preservation Committee. The Board of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference has formed a Task Force to explore and work with other organizations on issues of preservation, redevelopment, and zoning affecting the community. Gary Ossewaarde, Irene Freelain, Trish Morse, M.L. Rantala, and James Withrow are among those so engaged. We are particularly following exploration of a Hyde Park landmark district and survey of historic resources by the Hyde Park Historical Society Preservation Committee and also considering public information and input into application of the new zoning ordinance in Hyde Park and the movement to have an historic district in central-south Hyde Park. Visit Development and Public Policy or Zoning Reform pages.
The Archives are a major part of the work of the Hyde Park Historical Society. The large records of the Society are in Regenstein Special Collections, University of Chicago Libraries and are open. Most ned funds for full cataloguing and future digitalizing. Recent very large additions are: Nancy Hays Collection, Documentation Projects- Hyde Park Urban Renewal Townhouses, Lost buildings of Hyde Park, and Central Hyde Park, and Records of the Hyde Park Cooperative Society. Information on using the Special Collections Research Center is available at http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/. For more information on the Co-op collection contact Michal Safar, HPHS Archivist, msafar@ameritech.net.
Here is letter by HPHS Archivist Michel Safar to the Hyde Park Herald, March 26, 2008
Prior to its closing on January 20, 2008, the Hyde Park Cooperative Society donated a substantial number of records to the Hyde Park Historical Society. The materials that have been preserved include the contents of the Co-op Library dedicated to Leon Despres, over 50 years of Board meeting minutes, Evergreens from 1951, photographs, and annual reports, among other things. The materials donated by the Co-op to HPHS are located at the Special Collections Research Center of the Joseph Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago, and are available to the public. Information on using the Special Collections Research Center is available at http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/. For more information on the Co-op collection contact Michal Safar, HPHS Archivist, msafar@ameritech.net.
While mainly concerned with subjects indicated in the page title (although not a survey of either HP history or built resources), this webpage will occasionally call attention to allied issues or informational opportunities such as civic design, neighborhood and block quality, and planning impacts. Visit Development and Public Policy or Zoning Reform.
History and Preservation
web index
General sub pages on preservation and historical recovery:
History
and Preservation Stories around the Area ("in Depth")
At the Hyde Park Historical Society See also for information on
preservation movement background re: the Preservation Award at the HPHS 2005
Annual Dinner.
Chicago Metro History Fair
Landmark Criteria, Procedures,
Incentives
Landmark District Frequently Asked
Questions (printable)
Landmark District(s) for Hyde Park?
activity underway
Preservation
Beat (watch lists here, and "state of the preservation game" articles)
Preservation Hot Topics
Religious spaces and Preservation/Landmarking
Sprinkler/Life-Safety
Evaluation and potential impact on preservation/viability
Tax incentives for/effects
on preservation
Sub pages on places of historic or preservation interest
Blackstone
Branch Library
(architect: S. Beman)
Columbian Exposition, World's,
of 1893
Deco Arts building and terra cotta
in Hyde Park
Doctors
(Illinois Central) Hospital
Fountain
of Time Basin Committee (L. Taft,
H. VD. Shaw)
Geologic and some architectural
geology history of Hyde Park
(Greenwood Row Houses- see Preservation
Beat and Preservation Hot)
Harper Court Story
Harper Theater/Herald Bldg. future (H. Wilson),
Harper
Theater RFP 2006
Kenwood 40th St. Rail Embankment-
diverse ideas on saving/converting /redev'g old infrastructure
Lake
Park Corridor and Metra viaducts/murals
Landmarks Designation process
and criteria (includes Q and A and Economic
Incentives)
Olympics
and Washington Park
Promontory
Point landmarking status and endangered listing (A. Caldwell)
The Quadrangle
Club Story (H. vd. Shaw)
The Piccadilly Remembered
The Robie House Story (F.L.
Wright), views
of Robie and of Heller (with story) houses
St. Gelasius Church
Shaw (Howard Van Doren) in Hyde Park and Kenwood
The Shoreland
South Campus.
See also University
and Community
Urban
Renewal and Hyde Park redevelopment stories, views, timeline home (HP historic
timeline 1940s-2000s)
Urban
Renewal and Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference
Wright,
Frank Lloyd in Hyde Park and Kenwood- see Robie
House.
Elsewhere on this site and a couple out:
Doctors
Hospital
Midway
Plaisance Virtual Tour by HPKCC Board
member Trish Morse
About Allison Davis, Sr's contribution and the garden named
for him:
Davis Garden, Washington
Park page.
Hyde Park Bank restoration/renovation: Development
page
The Powhatan and other classic apartment buildings as described
by Prof. Neil Harris: www.hpherald.com
Nov. 3 issue, and past HPHS Hyde Park History issue in www.hydeparkhistory.org.
Reviews of
Tim Black's Bridges of Memory and its context
To Carol
Herzenberg's site on the Women in the Manhattan Project
Visit
also the Parks pages, especially including sub pages in Burnham
and Burnham Timeline,Harold
Washington; Midway;
Jackson; Nichols;
Promontory Point Park;
Promontory Point revetment
controversy index page; Promontory
Park page; Washington,
South Shore.
63rd St. Bathing Pavilion
Animal Bridge
Burnham Timeline
Columbian Exposition
Granite beach
'Iowa' building
Jackson History
Jackson Timeline
Jackson Park Lagoon
story
Korean Exhibit at Columbian
Expo
Murals,
Metra Viaducts and Lake Park Ave.
Nike base
Old Oak of Wooded Island
Osaka Japanese Garden
South Shore Cultural Center
(several sub pages on landmark designation, history, historic views)
U-505 Sub Move
Statue of the
Republic
Wooded Island and links there.
Wooded Island tour
2003
About
the Hyde Park Historical Society and its work and programs
Hyde
Park Historical Society website is an invaluable resource with
much we could never cover here including 1893 World's Fair.
HPHS History Fair (look also for HPHSNeighborhoodHistoryContests.pdf
or e-mail administrator for it: information@hydeparkhistory.org.
)
our History
Fair page.
'Your
House Has a History' online.
HPHS Hyde Park
Herald monthly series.
Hyde Park History
articles. Many of the articles in the society's quarterly publication, as
well as from its Herald series are on line, some pdf, others direct.
Other
links (historic and preservation organizations and agencies)
at bottom of this page
A Contest was held by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express. (Some think the contest good publicity for the needs of at least certain historic sites, others called it a commercialized disgrace.) Object was to pick among 25 finalists nationally to determine which monument gets the lion's share of up to a million in preservation funding. Two of the finalists are in the area- Fountain of Time and Robie House. Also nearby South Side Community Art Center. Never mind what should have been in the final 25. One could vote up to once a day through October 10. And the winners on the South Side:
On Leong Merchants'
Association- Pui-Lok Center, Chinatown. $88,000
Quinn
Chapel
Robie
House
South Side Community Art Center
The Viking Ship from the Columbian Exposition
All other local contestants, including the Fountain of Time, - $5,000 each
In the May 9, 2007 Herald, Hyde Park Historical Society newsletter editor asked for reminiscences of Marian for a special issue of the Society's New letter.
"Hyde Park History," the newsletter of the Hyde Park Historical Society, is planning a special issue to commemorate long-time Hyde Park resident, Marian Despres, who died in January.
Please contribute memories, photographs, comments and stories of any kind about Mrs. Despres to the Editor, "Hyde Park History," 5529 S. Lake Park Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, to Frances Vandervoort at vandersand@sbcglobal.net; or to the society's Website, hydeparkhistory.org. The society's telephone number 493-1893.
Chicago Tribune
Activist was Chicago insider
Wife of former alderman helped found architecture foundation and served on landmarks commission
By Trevor Jensen
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 6, 2007
Chicago Tribune
Photo Source: University of Chicago Magazine
Marian Despres was an architectural preservationist, civic activist, author and art collector who held a doctorate in psychology and an insider's knowledge of Chicago politics courtesy of her husband, former Ald. Leon Despres.The daughter of a prominent architect, Mrs. Despres was a founding member of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and started what has become a popular program to train volunteers to lead architectural tours of the city.
Mrs. Despres, 97, died on Thursday, Jan. 4, at Jackson Park Hospital, several weeks after choking on a piece of food at her Hyde Park home, her husband said. She had suffered a stroke about four years ago but had been in relatively good health until recently, he said.
In 1966, Mrs. Despres was among a group of Chicago architects and citizens who raised $35,000 to buy and thus save the Glessner House at 1800 S. Prairie Ave. The group originally was known as the Chicago School of Architecture Foundation.
"It was the civic community that took it to the next step and she was the key," said Lynn Osmond, the foundation's executive director. "She was brought up with architecture and she loved not only the buildings but also what architecture means to people's lives. She was passionate about the whole subject."
Mrs. Despres' involvement brought immediate respect to the fledgling preservationist group, said architect Benjamin Weese.
"It was a bunch of ragamuffin kids and she had stature and dignity and clout," Weese said. "She and [former Chicago Sun-Times architecture writer] Ruth Moore Garbe could go in to Mayor [Richard J.] Daley and say, `This is what we want.'"
In 1970, Mrs. Despres handed out diplomas to the foundation's first group of volunteer docents. The foundation now has 450 volunteers who lead about 9,000 tours annually, Osmond said.
From 1985 until 2000, Mrs. Despres was on the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, which works to preserve the city's architectural heritage.
"I think it was in her blood," Weese said. "She fell right into the preservation system."
Mrs. Despres was born in Chicago and grew up in Winnetka, the daughter of architect Alfred S. Alschuler. Her two brothers, Alfred and John, followed their father into architecture.
After graduating from North Shore Country Day School she went to Vassar College. At a party in Glencoe over Christmas break her sophomore year, she met Leon Despres, a young man from Hyde Park who soon would become a Chicago lawyer.
She returned to Vassar. He sent her a book, "Jesus of Nazareth: His Life, Times and Teaching," by Joseph Klausner. A correspondence ensued, and she decided to transfer to the University of Chicago.
"We really did fall in love, you could set the date, 1928," Leon Despres said.
The couple married in 1931, a year after she earned a philosophy degree from the U of C. In 1936, she received a doctorate in psychology from the school.
In 1937, a fellow lawyer asked Leon Despres to deliver a suitcase of clothing to Leon Trotsky, the exiled Bolshevik living in Mexico. The Despres traveled south and met not only Trotsky but his ally, artist Diego Rivera. Mrs. Despres sat for a portrait with Rivera while her husband escorted Rivera's wife, the artist FridaKahlo, to a movie.
After receiving her PhD, Mrs. Despres worked as a group therapist at the Jewish Children's Bureau for four years and then was an assistant psychology professor at Roosevelt University from 1946 to 1951.
At Roosevelt, she urged a student who had impressed her in class to run for student council. Harold Washington won the race for council president, and later, as mayor of Chicago, liked to say that Mrs. Despres launched his political career.
Active in Hyde Park community affairs and a founder of the Hyde Park Co-op Society, Mrs. Despres in 1943 circulated petitions and organized supporters in a successful campaign to allow African-American students into the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.
Leon Despres won his City Council seat in 1955 and for the next 20 years and as an independent was a thorn in the side of Daley and the Democratic machine. Mrs. Despres gave up her own career in teaching and psychology to back her husband, he said.
Regal in bearing yet highly approachable, Mrs. Despres moved easily between the hurly-burly of Chicago ward politics and the politesse of the city's cultural institutions and art galleries, said veteran political consultant Don Rose. In Chicago and on annual trips through Western Europe, her discerning eye built a modern art collection her husband said has appreciated nicely in value.
"In her way she was as much of a doer as [Leon] was," Rose said. "She was equally involved in the politics of the city, but very much of her own mind."
Survivors also include a son, Robert; a daughter, Linda Baskin; and a grandson.
Services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 14, in KAM Isaiah Israel, 1100 E. Hyde Park Blvd., a synagogue designed by Mrs. Despres' father.
----------
ttjensen@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Hyde Park Herald, January 10, 2007. By Daniel J. Yovich
"A Woman for all seasons" She was Hyde Park's cultural leader
Marian Despres, the slightly-built wife of the last of Hyde Park's legendary liberal giants who cast her own imposing shadow in intellectual and architectural preservation circles, died Jan. 4 at Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center.
Despres was 97 and was hospitalized on Dec. 19 after having breathing difficulty. No cause of death was available at press time.
Born in 1909 to prominent Chicago architect Alfred Alschuler and his wife Rose, Despres was schooled at Vassar College and the University of Chicago, where she married Leon Despres, who would later become an alderman and the dean of Hyde Park's liberal establishment.
An author, educator, professor, therapist and fearless political activist, her accomplishments in the city and community are legion. At age 34, she helped lead the campaign to open the University of Chicago Laboratory School to black students.
Along with her husband--a fierce opponent of Chicago's machine politics whom former federal judge Abner Mikva once declared the "conscience of the city"--Marian helped coordinate the efforts to preserve historic Glessner House, the only H.H. Richardson-designed building open to the public.
"She was my rock, my partner, my everything," Leon Despres said, who aid Marian's preservation efforts to save Glessner House, which now anchors the Prairie Avenue Historic District, rank among her greatest achievements.
The Despres married in 1931. In addition to her husband, Marian Despres is survived by son Robert Despres, of Westport, Conn., daughter Linda Baskin of Hyde Park and one grandson. Services are scheduled for 2:30 p.m., Jan. 14 at K.A.M. Isaiah Israel, 1100 E. Hyde Park Blvd.
In lieu of flowers, the Despres family asks that donations be made to Glessner House.
A full life
In 1965, she helped lead protests against then Mayor Richard J. Daley's plan to extend Lake Shore Drive south through Jackson Park, a move that still resonates among long time residents.
"Marian was truly a woman for all seasons," said George Rumsey, the president of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference. "She had a very rich and quite colorful life and never ceased to stop making a difference in people's lives."
Rumsey said his "favorite Marian Despres story" involved her help in organizing a protest in 1965 by a group of Hyde Park women who fought the city's plans to extend Lake Shore Drive. When the city began clearing foliage in Jackson Park for the construction project, Despres and her allies festooned branches with ribbons and tied bed sheets to boughs as a way of drawing attention to the city's clear cutting.
Several of the women--including Despres--were arrested after they chained themselves to tree trunks to disrupt the city's construction efforts. "Of course the charges were dismissed, but they made their point and the project was abandoned," Rumsey said.
In 1970, Despres helped found what would later become the Chicago Architecture Foundation, where she organized training for docents and recruited faculty and students. She served on the Illinois Arts Council and in 1985 she was appointed [to the] city's landmarks commission by then Mayor Harold Washington.
She served on the commission until 2000. In 1999, the city's Department of Planning and Development nominated Despres for the Illinois Association of Historic Preservation Commissions for the organization's individual preservation award. In 2005, Marian and Leon Despres were awarded the Hyde Park Historical Society inaugural architectural preservation award, an honor that is now named for them.
Long-time Hyde Park resident and preservationist Jack Spicer credited Marian Despres with founding the city's preservation movement. "Her death is a real loss for our community and for the larger preservation community in Chicago," Spicer said. "If it were not for Marian, there would not have been a preservation movement in Chicago. She really started it."
In the early 1960s, when Hyde Park and Kenwood were undergoing federally financed urban renewal, Despres helped inventory and document hundreds of significant buildings that were about to be demolished. A published record of this event, "Segments of the Past," which was edited by Despres ranks as one of the early examples of preservation planning in Chicago, said Deputy Planning Commissioner Constance Buscemi.
Despres was equally at ease in City Hall's corridors of power and on the picket line. She marched with protest signs in 1960 to fight the demolition of the Louis Sullivan-designed Garrick Theater and again walked the picket line in 1972 to fight the demolition efforts of the old Chicago Stock Exchange.
"She has helped raise an extended family of preservationists that will survive and grow for many generations to come," said Spicer.
Alderman Preckwinkle on What Marian taught us. Hyde Park Herald, January 17, 2007.
Marian Alschuler Despres had vision. She looked around her child’s classroom and asked where were the African-American children. The United States was fighting a war, she wrote, against racial hatred, couldn’t we do better here at home?
She helped guide a group of white parents not towards accepting integration but requesting integration. This was during World War II before Truman integrated the U.S. Armed Forces, as the Tuskegee Airmen trained in disdained isolation.
Today as we walk around Hyde Park, we remember Marian Despres because of the beauty that remains. An alert clerk in the City of Chicago’s Building Department tipped off her husband, Ald. Leon Despres, to the entry of an application for the demolition permit for the Robie House. He did so because of Mrs. Despres’s well-known interest in what we now celebrate s our architectural heritage. Today as tourist cameras click, it is hard to remember that the Robie House was once seriously at risk.
Marian Despres’s effort on behalf of great architecture went beyond opposing the wrecking ball. With the purchase of Glessner House, the Chicago Architecture Foundation, of which she was a founder, broke new ground. Glessner House anchored Prairie Avenue and became a major teaching tool. Preserving great architecture was understood to be in everyone’s interest and became everyone’s responsibility.
In
2008, Kenan Heise published a memoir of Leon Despres and his life. Heise worked
with Despres on his "Challenging the Daley Machine."
HPKCC Poll Question: Creation of a historic district for parts of Hyde Park, likely centered east/northeast of the University of Chicago 55th 59th and to the Metra, is under serious consideration by several parties including Ald. Hairston, who has convened section meetings between residents and Commission on Chicago Landmarks staff to gauge interest and share information. There is already a small district newly established at 52nd and Greenwood and large districts in south and North Kenwood respectively.. The matter is set forth in the Landmark District for Hyde Park? page. Expect a series of small invite meetings with Landmarks Comm. staff being scheduled for July, 2005.
Do you think there should be a special historic district in Hyde Park? If so, where and with what conditions? Submit your view Attention: Gary Ossewaarde to hpkcc@aol.com. Top
These were South East Chicago Commission, Kenwood Open House Committee, and Commission on Chicago Landmarks. Receiving the Marian and Leon Despres Award were Bob Mason, Diane Gray and Jean Laves, and David Mosena for their respective organizations. Top
Robie House (Wright Plus) not only offers at least two daily and multiple weekend tours of the house and grounds (fee $7 or $9) but a vicinity tour (of the densely-packed block south and half-block north). Note the latter costs $9, lasts c. 45 minutes and just goes half a block up Kimbark, through Ida Noyes, Rockefeller, and to Oriental Institute, but it serves as a good starter with lots of fascinating bits.
Bronzeville Information Center gives tours of Historic Bronzeville every Thursday 12-2 pm. $35. From Supreme Life, 3501 S. King.
Paul Bruce has begun leading a bus and walking tour of HPK. Hyde Park Historical Society received a call from Paul Bruce, former principal of Murray School, requesting additional people to lead tours offered by the Chicago Office of Tourism in Hyde Park. He has been doing them for some time and would like to include additional people as he feels unable to handle all the dates. Guides receive pay, about $75. The tours are usually on weekday afternoons, but some may be on Saturdays. Mr. Bruce has a set route and a very good outline to familiarize guides with the sites along the way. He finds that participants enjoy it more when local people show them around. If you are interested contact Paul Bruce at 773-288-4215.
Robie House 5757 S. Woodlawn. 773 834-1361
Interior Guided tours 11, 1, 3 weekdays, every 20 minutes 11-3:30 weekends $7-9
Vicinity tour of the densely-packed block to the south and half-block north, 2 pm Fridays and Saturdays $7-9
Junior Architecture tour select weekdays and 10 am 2nd Saturday $3University of Chicago architectural tours on request, free 773 834-8006
Student-led U of C campus tours weekdays from the Office of College Admissions, 773 834-3929
Citywide neighborhood tours, many of or stopping in Hyde Park, Kenwood and nearby neighborhoods are given by the Chicago Architecture Foundation and by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. CAF's start at destination if of a particular neighborhood; those of the Dept. Cult. Affairs are by bus from the Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph.
GREAT BUILDINGS/PLACES...
that are nearby but that you may not have noticed
The Cornell Store and Flats - 1232 E 75th St (1908). Commissioned by the estate of Hyde Park founder Paul Cornell and designed by Prairie School architect Walter Burley Griffin, this building sat in the middle of the once-thriving Grand Crossing commercial district. A lot of us think it's a masterpiece and a local "cultural historian" thinks it's one of Chicago's 25 Best Buildings.
The Berkeley Cottages - 4119-69 S Berkeley and 4130-62 S Lake Park (1886). These are what's left of a larger "workers' cottage" development designed by Cicero Hine -- with the kind of wood "simple work," beautiful masonry and sense of respect for ordinary people we may not often see again.5515 S Woodlawn (1894) - By offsetting the two halves of this 6-flat, brothers Irving and Allen Pond solved some of the perennial problems of 6-flat design and created one of the loveliest apartment buildings in Hyde Park. The Pond brothers also did the American School of Correspondence (850 E. 58th) and Midway Studios (6016 S Ingleside) -- both Chicago Landmarks.
The Roloson Houses - 3213-19 S Calumet Av. 1894. Frank Lloyd Wright's only rowhouses. One block west of King Dr. A Chicago Landmark.
The Keck-Gottschalk-Keck Apartments - 5551 S University Av. Another Chicago Landmark. This one's by Hyde Park brothers William and George Fred Keck. If you don't already know, try to guess the date it was built before you look at the plaque.76th & Greenwood (Grand Crossing) - The empty circle in the middle of this intersection was the site of Paul Cornell's watch factory built in 1870. Hyde Park's founder also built workers' housing nearby. The duplex cottages at 7642-50 Greenwood and the Italianate brick rowhouses at 7745-51 Greenwood are lovely examples.
Yale Apartments, 6565 S. Yale just west of Dan Ryan. 1892. John T. Long. 7 story early residential high-rise has a glass-topped interior atrium and apartment entrances from open balconies.
Houghton House, 5410 S. Harper. 1890, Minard Beers. Queen Anne frame with carved "green men" on either side of the front door frame-one oak and acorn and other magnolia. Rated "Orange" in the Chicago Survey. 5411, across the street, was home of Chicago novelist Henry Blake Fuller.
Washington Park Court, 4900-50 S. Washington Park Court (400 E) behind Provident Hospital. 1895-1905, Henry Newhouse and others.
5451 S Hyde Park Blvd, 1907, Frommann and Jebsen, one of the first of the "luxury apartment buildings" that during the next twenty years replaced most of the earlier frame buildings in central Hyde Park. This is a six-flat (three storeys, no elevator) with some of the most beautiful, elaborate limestone carving in the city, including no less than four "green men" near the entrance.
The Kenna Apartments, 1916, Barry Byrne, at 2214 E 69th St. This early modern three-flat was designed from the inside out -- rather than, "what style would look nice?" the question was, "if the interior plan is functional and well designed, then what will the building look like on the outside?" Sculptor Alfonso Iannelli collaborated, just as he did on Byrne's St Thomas Apostle Church, 1924, at 55th and Kimbark.In 1889 Prairie School architect George Washington Maher designed seven "modern houses" in a cluster -- 5518 & 22 Hyde Park Blvd and across the alley 5517, 19, 33, 35 & 37 Cornell, all with simplified but highly original ornamentation.
The Garfield Boulevard "L" Station (the old 55th St Green Line Station on the south side of the street), 319 E 55th St, 1892, Myron Church. This was built to serve the huge crowds coming to the Columbian Exposition. A Chicago Landmark.
Story Flat Buildings - SE Corner of 55th and Cornell (the Snail Restaurant bldg), 1928, Newhouse and Bernham, with a gorgeous terra cotta facade made to look like granite (fooled me for 20 years) and the SE Corner of 55th and Hyde Park Blvd, 1909, Henry Tomlinson (Frank L Wright's only partner, ever), the yellow brick building with the flared cornice and basement storefronts.
2 The Garfield Boulevard "L" Station (the old 55th St Green Line Station on the south side of the street), 319 E 55th St, 1892, Myron Church. This was built to serve the huge crowds coming to the Columbian Exposition. A Chicago Landmark.First Presbyterian Church, 6400 S Kimbark, 1927, Tallmadge and Watson. This is the "new" home of the congregation founded by four women and twelve men in Fort Dearborn in 1833. In the exterior cloister (facing east on Kimbark) of this English Gothic style building, embedded in the walls, is a collection of building material from the congregation's earlier homes -- the better Tribune Tower. And to the south is a solar greenhouse and community garden. As always, please respect private property and do not enter the church grounds (that is, leave the public sidewalk) without asking permission.
4914 S. Greenwood, 1898, Waterman and (Dwight) Perkins. A steel-structure house (4 years after the first). For iron and steel manufacturer Robert Vierling. Important architecturally and structurally, this is one of several in the vicinity undergoing what Jack Spicer calls "loving" restoration.
Groveland Park, 33rd Place and S. Cottage Grove, 1870s. This was part of a large post Civil War, post Fire development on the 60 acre Stephen Douglas lakefront estate. Near it is the Stephen Douglas Monument State Park (the smallest state park in Illinois) with a tall plinth with a statue of Douglas on top. The park has been lovingly maintained over the years.
Ida B. Wells Homes, 37th to 39th on Cottage Grove, 1937. CHA "project" in last stages of demolition.
Bertrand Goldberg in Hyde Park-Kenwood:
48th and Drexel, 1954. A low-cost integrated development ahead of its time.
4820 Greenwood, 1955.
5801 S. Blackstone. Helstein House, of glass, once floated on concrete pillars--it's been moved back on the site, placed on the ground.
Thanks, Jack Spicer, for these tips! See more in Hyde Park-Kenwood built environment, below.
Nov. 9 2005 Preservation Chicago named its "Seven Most Endangered" including Promontory Point.
__________________________________________
By Georgia Geis, Hyde Park Herald
Real estate developer Danny Acunas struck architectural gold when the 1898 Queen Anne home at 4914 S. Greenwood Ave. he purchased came with all the original, detailed blueprints. Acunas' 14-month restoration of the 6,000-square-foot home designed by Waterman and Perkins will be honored at the City of Chicago Landmarks Commission's annual Preservation awards on Sept. 6.
"I was able to restore the entire house according to the original blueprints," said Kenwood resident Acunas.
Acunas, who has won the preservation award in the past, said he started rehabbing to take advantage of the tax freeze available for working on landmarks, but soon it became a passion. He opened the company Vintage Homes five years ago. "There are such horror stories of what people have done to these homes," said Acunas. "It is such a pleasure to bring them back to their original prominence."
Acunas is one of 25 recipients of the award, which, according to Chicago Landmarks Commissioner Ernest Wong is a way to highlight exceptional restoration. "It's a celebration of projects that have been outstanding in renovation and rehabilitation of landmark buildings," Wong said. "We hope this encourages that kind of care and integrity in the future."
According to Acunas, Robert Vierling, a pioneer in the iron and steel industry, built this limestone home as a showcase of how steel could be used in houses. The steel frame is supported by poured concrete, one of the few examples of his technology, which is normally associated with skyscraper construction, being used for single-family residential construction. "This house was built like a high rise," said Acunas. One of the most unique features of this home is the eight faces carved into the front columns. Acunas said the faces are called "green men" who ward off different evil spirits.
Another Queen Anne-styled home in the Kenwood area, at 4580 S. Oakenwald Ave., will also be honored.
Hyde Park Art Center's new (or rather adaptively reconstructed) building on Cornell in early 2007 won 2nd place Neighborhood Development Award in the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation's Architectural Excellence Awards. Garofalo Architects. Speaking of this group of awards, 14th Annual juried Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards (CNDA) are up again. Up to $20,000 grants. Local Initiative Support Corp (LISC) sponsors. Categories: Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Initiative of the Year, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation award for Architectural Excellence, Outstanding For-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project, and Special Recognition Award.
Orientation August 3 Harris Bank, 115 S. La Salle St. RSVP LISC/Chicago 312 697-6150 or cnda@lisc.org.
Two Kenwood families won awards from the Commission on Chicago Landmarks for restoration of mansions in the landmark district. Among the more recent recipients of awards are Hyde Park Bank, receiving the American Institute of Architects highly prized award, for renovation of the 53rd St. bank's interior. See article of Blair Kamin Feb. 24, 2005 in Development page. Meanwhile, the Landmarks Commission honored, inter alia, Jamie and Anita Orlikoff and Daniel and Stephanie Acunas for restoration of home in the Kenwood Historic Landmark District-- see in Preservation Beat.
Honored by Hyde Park Historical Society were the founders of the Kenwood Landmark District ( Kenwood Open House Committee, South East Chicago Commission, and Commission on Chicago Landmarks), Mary Ryan Schlesinger for her documentation of lost Hyde Park structures, Chicago Children's Choir for helping create and live the dream for unique Hyde Park, and Northwestern University Press for publication of 4 books on Hyde Park and South Side history.
In September 2006 a heartbreaking occurrence: destruction by total white-out of the 47th Street viaduct murals, done by artists from around the city and under management of public art groups, especially Higher Gliphs, and in excellent shape and high quality. Details of why and how this happened have not emerged publicly, but Ald. Preckwinkle directly apologized to parties, including out of state, and said she was committed to a restoration or new murals. See details and the bigger picture in Viaducts-Murals-Lake Park homepage. This includes description of a major streetscape mural plan that could leave us with no murals except on 47th and 56th.
Culture News page. Note the book on Earl B. Dickerson: A Voice for Freedom and Equality by Robert Blakely. Watch for a program at the Historical Society with Tim Black, Kale Williams and co-author Marcus Shepherd October 22 and one at the Woodson Library November 5. Thanks to Jay Mulberry.
Robie House likely got some more state help. News from Nov. 22 2005 press conference at Robie House with the governor and mayor.
Join the Wright Team, the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. Lead tours, help visitors in Oak Park of at Hyde Park's Robie House. Fall training class forming. wrightplus.org, volunteer@wrightplus.org, 708 848-1976.
Landmarks Commission has initiated a new project to landmark several historic bank buildings including the Hyde Park Bank at 1525 E. 53rd St.
Restoration continues on Rockefeller Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave. Work includes exterior, tower, interior, organ and carillon. See in University and Community.
How much of the Harper Theater facade and Herald building will be saved in a new development is uncertain.
Sad
losses: Pilgrim Baptist, cradle of Gospel Music, at Wabash and 33rd and Indiana,
of fire.
Truman K. Gibson, pioneer fighter for racial justice and among the first black
fight promoters, whose book Knocking Down Barriers was released in
2005. Top
Paul A. Cornell, grandson of Hyde Park founder Paul Cornell, died at age 89 in Naples Fla. on May 24, 2007. He was born in Chicago and held property in Hyde Park. He was an inventor, economist and businessman in oil shale, gold, manufacturing and technology, holding many patents. A WWII veteran, he ad his wife restored a historic Irish great house in County Waterford. He was a Knight of St. John of Jerusalem and a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants. A service is planned for the burial site of the original Paul Cornell in Oak Woods Cemetary, 1035 E. 67th St. July 23 at 2:30 pm.
Students
and faculty of the U of C have been inventorying, creating website for researchers,
on archives of South Side and African American history and on arts, poetry,
jazz in various archives. The archives include U of C Libraries and
Special Collections, DuSable Museum, The Chicago Defender, and Vivian
G. Harsh Collection of Afro-American History at the Woodson Regional Library.
The grants are from Mellon Foundation and others and expands a Mapping the Stacks
project into Uncovering New Chic gao Archives Project (UNCAP). The project will
for the first time make what's available on what accessible and usable. Work
at most of the sites is wrapping up, next are the Jazz Archives and poetry manuscripts.
The effort is highly collaborative. Top
| Truman
K. Gibson, Jr. 1912 - 2005 Obituary / Memorial Services Memorial Services The Memorial Services will be held at 11 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2006 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 125 E. 26th Street Truman K. Gibson Jr., who fought racial discrimination in the Army in World War II as a high-level adviser in the War Department and later became a powerful pro boxing promoter, died December 23, 2005 in Chicago. He was 93. Over sixty years ago, when Truman Gibson reported for duty at the War Department, Washington, D.C. was a southern city in its unbending segregation as well as in its steamy summers. Gibson had no illusions, but as someone who'd enjoyed the best of the vibrant black culture of prewar America, he was shocked to find the worst of the Jim Crow South in the nation's capital. What Gibson accomplished as an advocate for African American soldiers-first as a lawyer working for the Secretary of War, then as a member of President Truman's "Black Cabinet". Gibson was chief adviser on racial affairs to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson from 1943 to 1945. He sought to persuade the Army to use black troops in combat and investigated complaints from black soldiers facing indignities and sometimes violence during their stateside training. In December 1946, Gibson was named to President Harry S. Truman's nine-member civilian commission studying the future of universal military training; he was the panel's only black member. In May 1947, when it issued its report, the commission urged an end to segregation in the military. Fourteen months later, Truman issued an executive order that led to desegregation of the armed forces. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Gibson took his fight for racial justice to the corridors of powers, arguing against restrictive real estate covenants before the U.S. Supreme Court, opposing such iconic figures as Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George C. Marshall in campaigning for the integration of the armed forces, and challenging white control of professional sports by creating a boxing promotion empire that made television history. Truman K. Gibson Jr. is survived by his daughter, Karen Kelley; two grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. His wife, Isabelle, died in 2001. In August of 2005 Northwestern University Press published Gibson's memoir Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America. A firsthand account of the nitty-gritty of twentieth-century race relations in the worlds of law, the military, sports, and entertainment, Gibson's memoir is also an engaging recollection of encounters with the likes of Thurgood Marshall, W. E. B. DuBois, Eleanor Roosevelt, George Patton, Jackie Robinson, and Joe Louis, among others. As a historical record and as an intimate look at a bygone era with all its charms and hardships, the book is an essential chapter in our nation's story. For more
information on Truman K. Gibson Jr. please contact Parneshia Jones, sales
and subsidiary rights manager, at 847.491.7420 or P-Jones3@northwestern.edu Hyde Park Herald, January 18, 2006 Author, professional boxing promoter, lawyer and final survivor of President Harry S. Truman's "Black Cabinet" Truman K. Gibson Jr. dies on Dec. 23, 2005. He was 93. Gibson was born on Jan. 22, 1912 in Atlanta. His family relocated to Columbus, Ohio to flee race-related violence in the South. Moving to Chicago, Gibson pursued a political science degree at the University of Chicago. He graduated in 1932. Two years later, he earned a law degree from the university. Between 1935 and 1940, Gibson practiced law in Chicago. As an advocate for African-American soldiers, Gibson was hired by the Department of War to investigate complaints by the black troops stationed overseas during World War II. He was first hired as a civilian aide for the Secretary of War in 1940 and then as the Chief Advisor on Racial Affairs for the War Department between 1943 and 1945. In 1946, he was named to Truman's nine-member Advisory Committee on Universal Military Training. One year later, Gibson urged Truman to end segregation in the military. Within two years, Truman issued an executive order that led to desegregation of the armed forces. In 1947, he became the first African American honored with the Medal of Merit Award for Civilians. After working with famed boxer Joe Louis, Gibson became director and secretary for Joe Louis Enterprise, Inc. in the 1950s. He was the first African-American boxing promoter and secretary of the International Boxing Club. In 1959, Gibson became one of the three original directors of the Chicago-based National Boxing Enterprises--the company that made television history with the legendary Friday Night Fights. In August 2005, Gibson's memoir, "Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America" was published. His wife, Isabelle, preceded him in death. Gibson is survived by his daughter, Karen Kelley; two grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.
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Meetings and Learning opportunities
There is a new guide to the University of Chicago campus, by Jay Pridmore.
Contact Jack Spicer to be put on the Preservation Calendar Listserve of the Hyde Park Historical Society Preservation Committee- lists a rich harvest of lectures, tours and exhibits on history all over the city and beyond!
Bronzeville Information Center gives tours of Historic Bronzeville every Thursday 12-2 pm. $35. From Supreme Life, 3501 S. King.
The Preservation Committee with Alderman Hairston continue to host well attended neighbors informational meetings on the possibilities and interest in a historical district east of the University. Neighbors have overwhelmingly supported the idea. The last sectional meeting was held in January 2006. Further steps are dependent, we believe, on the approval of UC President Zimmer. Visit the Hyde Park Landmark District page.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks meets in open session 1st Thursdays (sometimes Wednesdays) at 12:45 pm, 33 N. LaSalle room 1600. All are welcome.
The Landmark Commission's Program Committee Meets 1st Thursdays. The Program Committee meets twice a year to accept nominations for Chicago Landmark designation from the general public June, December). All are welcome. Contact the Commission at 312-744-3200 for more information.
The Chicago Historical Society now has on line the digital version of the encyclopedia of Chicago. The electronic encyclopedia (available at www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org) includes photographs, essays, art, music, maps and documents on all things Chicago.
IIRPA. Illinois Initiative on Recent Past Architecture. IIRPA is a new partnership of organizations and is dedicated to identification of Illinois' recent-past architecture (1930-present.) Spearheaded by Preservation Illinois (was Landmark Preservation Council of Illinois), IIRPA is initiating a test survey of Chicagoland's recent architectural resources.. so the public may learn more about these often overlooked but important buildings. Visit the IIRPA page at www.landmarks.org. And, if you are aware of a threatened recent-past building, call 312 922-1742 or email Lisa DiChiera.
The Civic Knowledge Project of the UC Div of Humanities has a South Side Oral History Project- to be involved contact Elizabeth Babcock. Also has a listserve. see below for their Washington Park/James Farrell programs in May-June 2006.
And now Anne Stephenson (with UC Civic Knowledge/Enhancing Assets) will present to groups and neighbors who contact her a module on how to research your home, its eligibility for landmarking/registry or inclusion as a contributing structure in an historic district. ams@uchicago.edu.
Among the more recent recipients of awards are Hyde Park Bank, receiving the American Institute of Architects highly prized award, for renovation of the 53rd St. bank's interior. See article of Blair Kamin Feb. 24, 2005 in Development page. Meanwhile, the Landmarks Commission honored, inter alia, Jamie and Anita Orlikoff and Daniel and Stephanie Acunas for restoration of home in the Kenwood Historic Landmark District-- see in Preservation Beat.
Hyde Park Herald, January 14, 2007. By Daniel J. Yovich
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is helping to fund research by the Hyde Park Historical Society, which is studying the neighborhood's earliest working-class homes. The project encompasses the inventory and documentation of wooden homes built in the late 19th century between 55th and 53rd streets along and near Woodlawn and [to] Harper avenues. These are some of the neighborhood's first working class homes, and include what might have been Hyde Park's last working farm, said Jack Spicer, the historical society's preservation committee [chairman].
"This is basically the oldest built-up section of Hyde Park," Spicer said. "Many houses of these types were lost during Urban Renewal, and our goal is to document those that remain, interview the residents that live in these homes, photograph the buildings and seek out any artifacts from the time they were built."
The National Trust provided $2,200 in start-up money for the project and the historical society is in the process of trying to raise the same amount in matching funds. So far the historical society has received $1,200 in donations and [is] seeking another $1,000.
Hyde Park real estate tycoon Paul Cornell founded Hyde Park in the the 1850s and the area underwent a dramatic transformation from a semi-rural and industrial area into an urbane village in the 1890s when John D. Rockefeller founded the University of Chicago and the World's Columbian Exposition was staged.
Carol Bradford, the president of the historical society, said those events drew what would become a burgeoning middle-class to the neighborhood. "The community was very much up an coming at t hat time," Bradford said. "And it underwent a housing boom."
It also meant the end of Hyde Park's working farms, though at least three farm houses from that period remain in the neighborhood, including one owned by Leaman and Pamela Ames at 5411 S. Ridgewood Ct. The couple bought their two-story wooden home in 1972 from a University of Chicago professor, who still heated the house with a coal furnace. It has a brick foundation, something the couple's home inspector said is a Chicago rarity. "These old farm houses have great deal of old charm," Pamela Ames said. "We like to joke to our friends that when we bought it, we had to bring the plumbing inside."
Spicer said the historical society hopes to have the study completed by September, when it plans to host a public presentation of it findings. The exhibit will include original building permits, Sanborn fire maps, early street photos and current photographs and written and videotaped stories from current homeowners.
Spicer said the historical society hopes to begin guided walking tours of the area in October and to host an exhibit of the project at the Hyde Park Historical Society building in November. In early 2007 [2008?], Spicer said all the material from from the project will be collected and presented to the University of Chicago's Regenstein Library as a study collection for researchers.
Top
Burnham Plan of Chicago Study Group. Repeat series at the Monadnock Bldg. downtown, by Sam Guard and a Great Books Foundation facilitator. Group readings and discussions of Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago. Meets at Hyde Park Art Center Wednesdays, September 19> for six weeks. 6:30-8 pm. and are free. RSVP essential with jackspicer@earthlink.net.
White City Tours centered on Jackson Park and the World's Columbian Exhibition/White City. Office of Chicago Tourism. Apr. 14, June 17, Aug. 10, Oct. 7. With famed tour leader Bill Hincliff. Tours leave Chic. Cult. Ctr. 77 E. Randolph at 10 am. $50, with red. Lunch incl. 312 742-1190 to reserve. Book on line at City site, Office of Tourism-Chicago Neighborhood Tours.
Also occasional tours of Bronzeville and Hyde Park by Office of Tourism from Cultural Center.
Chicago Architecture Foundation gives tours of the Columbian Exposition footprint in Jackson Park (no transportation provided)- $10 nonmembers. Doug Anderson is the usual tour guide, with several others.
May 17, Saturday, 8:30 am- 12 pm.- Tours of Hyde Park by Chicago History Fair Committee in conjunction with Hyde Park Historical Society. Raises funds for Chicago Metro History Fair. Walkers are needed for whom people pledge money. From Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, 5480 S. Kenwood with hospitality stops at Lab School and Hyde Park Historical Society headquarters. http://www.chicagohistoryfair.org/hikeforhistory/
June 21, Saturday, 1 pm? Hyde Park Historical Society presents a Tour and presentation at first Presbyterian Church by Dianne Luhmann. The church is celebrating its 175th year (not all of it at that location). 6400 S. Kimbark.
September 13, Saturday, time? Historic Oak Woods Cemetary - walking tour with Director Mr. Shelton. arranged by Hyde Park Historical Society. Details, meeting place to be announced. The cemetary runs south of 67th from Metra to Cottage Grove.
October 19, Sunday, 2 pm? Hyde Park Historical Society presents Mary Ann Johnson, chief editor of an encyclopedia and history of women who made a mark in Chicago up to 1990, will give a power pint presenttion on "The Women's Movement in Chicago," highlighting Hyde Park women." Headquaters, 5529 S. Lake Park.
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Re: announced arrangements between a Norwegian American society, the Park District, and Museum of Science and Industry to turnover to MSI for restoration and display the Viking ship replica that was sailed across the ocean for the Columbian Exposition. It is unlikely to go to the Museum even if money were found. The Museum says its mission is new and future technology and they don't have room. There are people working hard to make something happen. The Viking Ship wlll share in the American Express/National Trust grants at some level above $5,000
Conservator presents mural preservation at Blackstone Library
Hyde Park Herald, July 18, 2007. By Eric Kasang
Blackstone Branch Library staff and supporters are revving up for restorations of the historic murals adorning the interior of its domed entrance. People walking into the Hyde Park library at 4904 S. lake Park Ave. and tilting their heads upward will notice four faded murals depicting angels and artisans gracing the ceiling's dome.
And on July 18 an 20 at 7 p.m., Peter M. Schoenmann, head conservator of paintings and murals for Parma Conservation, Ltd., wil give a free presentation on the restoration. Schoenmann has been tapped by the Blackstone to undertake the project.
Branch manager Ann Keough said this conservation is urgent. "The murals needed attention rather quickly," Keough said. "[Schoenmann] will go over some actual conservations that he's done and he'll provide a critical analysis of the murals."
The murals, with themes relating to labor, literature, the arts and agriculture, were painted by Oliver Dennet Grover, an artist who created many important murals in Chicago buildings and who was a major presence during the Word's Columbian Exhibition in 1893.
Keough said she tried to get funding for the mural conservation through the Chicago Public Library Foundation, but did not receive any money. However, she received funding for the murals from Hyde Park State Rep. Barbara Flynn Curie (D25). "We were very happy that she secured this money because the murals need restoration quickly," Keough said.
Currie said she was ferry happy to help Blackstone. "I know that they have been trying to secure funding for some time," Currie said. "And I was happy to make sure libraries in my district get the help they need."
The Blackstone murals have problems like discoloration from a previous coating on the paintings and a loose canvass, according to Schoenmann. He hoped that the presentation would rekindle interest in the project. He also explained that conservation is preserving the original murals and not repainting them. "Conservation has less to do being an artist than it has to do with being a chemist and technician," Schoenmann said. "What we focus on is getting to the truth, which means never adding anything, but in fact removing all unoriginal materials."
Schoenmann said these "unoriginal materials" included various old varnishes and grime. He said the goal is to return to the artisan's original creation. "We want to get to what the artist had intended for the viewer to see," Schoenmann said. "And that never involves interpreting or painting."
Started in 1902, the Blackstone Library was originally a gift to the City of Chicago from Isabel Norton Blackstone in memory of her husband and railroad magnate Timothy Beach Blackstone. The building was designed by noted architect Solon S. Beman and is a shining example of the Classical Revival style of architecture. For more information, please cal the Blackstone Branch Library at 312 747-0511.
EVANSTON, Ill. --- With a $165,000 grant from The Chicago Community Trust, Northwestern University Press is set to publish the first three books in its new “Chicago Lives” series. The series begins with the spring publication of a memoir by long-time liberal Chicago Alderman Leon M. Despres. Despres crusaded for decades to ban discrimination, preserve landmark buildings and gain equality for African Americans.
Despres, now 97, will be honored May 5 at the Chicago Historical Society with an event marking the launch of the new book series. The event will feature a discussion on social activism, ethics and justice with Abner Mikva, former federal judge and U.S. congressman. Open to the public, the 7 p.m. event is free for historical society members, $10 for others. Call (312) 642-4600 or visit www.chicagohs.org for information. The celebration will continue with a reading and reception May 19 at the DuSable Museum of African American History. Call (847) 491-5315 for details.
The other “Chicago Lives” books supported by The Chicago Community Trust grant and set for publication are a memoir of Truman K. Gibson Jr., the last surviving member of President Harry Truman’s “Black Cabinet,” and a biography of Earl B. Dickerson, the late civil rights activist and attorney known as the “Dean of Chicago’s Black Lawyers.”
“These books honor inspiring Chicago role models that everyone should know about,” said Northwestern University Press editor-in-chief Susan Betz. They are:
• “Challenging the Daley Machine: A Chicago Alderman’s Memoir” by Leon M. Despres and written with former Chicago Tribune reporter Kenan Heise and with a foreword by Mike Royko
• “Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America,” by Truman K. Gibson Jr. and written with Chicago Sun-Times journalist Steve Huntley, which will be published this summer [Now out.]
• “Earl B. Dickerson: A Voice for Freedom and Equality,” by Robert J. Blakely with Marcus Shepard, to be published in late 2005. [Now out.]
Future books in the series will feature Chicagoans who have had an impact on the city, nation and world and also non-Chicagoans who have left their mark on the city.
Celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, The Chicago Community Trust provides more than $62 million annually in grants to not-for-profit organizations. Northwestern University Press has produced important scholarly works in a wide variety of disciplines and quality regional and Chicago books, fiction, poetry, literature in translation, literary criticism and books on drama and the performing arts. For a complete list of titles, visit www.nupress.northwestern.edu. Top
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At a major lecture by Ab Mikva at the Chicago Historical Society May 5, Northwestern launched its Chicago Lives series with Leon Despres' book, and the Society inaugurated the Despres lecture series. Much of the legwork for the book, Challenging the Daley Machine: A Chicago Alderman's Memoir, was done by Tribune writer Kenan Heise, who also prodded the now-97 Despres to write the book. Despres shows how Daley held both his patronage army and the aldermen together over 20 years. He describes his many battles with the Mayor, the intricacies of Urban Renewal, preservation battles and the turnaround of Jackson Park, the U of C and nearly a century of Hyde Park living and change. There were several reading and signing sessions. Despres also received the Benton medal from the University of Chicago and UC Press. Top
HPHS board member Alta Blakely with help from many others has shepherded publication of the book by her late husband, Robert J. Blakely, written with Marcus Shepherd: Earl B. Dickerson, A Voice for Freedom and Equality. Northwestern U. Press will release the book in the fall.
At age 15, Dickerson stowed on a train bound from Mississippi to Chicago and worked his way through school, college, officers' training, and the University of Chicago Law School. He served as general counsel then CEO to African-American owned Supreme Liberty Life Mutual Insurance and first Democrat elected to Chicago City Council. He shepherded Hansberry v. Lee through the Supreme Court decision that started the voiding of restrictive covenants in housing and, in its wake, was a pioneering integrator of Hyde Park.
Jay Mulberry wrote the following:
Background on Earl B. Dickerson:
Dickerson has been called "the last of the great civil rights leaders to have a book length biography written about him."
Born in Canton, Mississippi in 1891, Dickerson's extraordinary brilliance was recognized at a very early age and he was encouraged to go North for greater opportunity when he was only 14 years old. He completed his high school education in Evanston and earned a college degree from the University of Illinois where he was also a founder of the school's first black fraternity (Kappa Alpha Psi) and became Grand Polemarch of its national organization. He was an officer in France during World War I and upon his return was accepted to the University of Chicago Law School and in 1920 became its first black graduate. Each of these things “college graduation, officer in the American Army, acceptance by and graduation from the University of Chicago law school“ would be signs of some distinction now but in the early 20th century they were almost incredible achievements.
Dickerson's later life proved that early distinction was no fluke. He was a founder of the American Legion and the NAACP legal defense fund, the first black Democratic alderman in Chicago and a stunningly aggressive member of Franklin Roosevelt's Fair Employment Practices Commission. He was a fervent and principled fighter for civil rights at every level, from insistence that he be given a chair in a segregated Chicago restaurant to the administration of justice to workers in American defense plants whether in the North or the South. In 1938 he made a crack in the massive structure of segregated housing when he successfully challenged South Side restrictive covenants before the United States Supreme Court. And, he led the Chicago Chapter of the Urban League through its most productive years and was on the national Board of the NAACP for thirty years. In Chicago he first joined and then battled the Dawson machine for a more far sighted and responsible use of its political power.
Dickerson carried on his epoch making civil rights and political activities while managing a massively successful professional career. He maintained a private law practice in which he took nearly every kind of case, and, at the same time, he was for many years the chief counsel for the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company. His activities in and out of court made him known as the "Dean of Chicago's Black lawyers"; his work at Supreme Liberty Life brought him its presidency in 1951.
Dickerson knew and was respected by all of the great civil rights figures of his lifetime. He was a close colleague of W.E.B. DuBois and friend of Paul Robeson; he stood behind Martin Luther King at the Lincoln Memorial as he delivered the "I have a Dream" speech.
In later life he developed a fast friendship with the Robert Blakely, a writer of national stature who then lived in Hyde Park. The outcome of their friendship was the book "Earl B. Dickerson: A Voice for Freedom and Equality."
Also released in the Chicago Lives series is Truman K. Gibson, Jr. book Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America.
For over a year, poet Ron Offen, social historian Ellen Skerett and others, according to the Sun-Times, have sought naming for Ferrell, who wrote about the mid South Side and beyond, especially Irish-Americans, of the early 20th century. June 1, 2005, Aldermen Arenda Troutman and Edward Burke will dedicate the 5700 block of South Indiana and hope later to place a plaque at 5704, the only home still standing that Ferrell lived in (1915-17). Of 50 works of fiction, criticism, and memoir, some noted ones that feature the neighborhoods west of Hyde Park and also Hyde Park and to the South as well as the Southeast Side are the Studs Lonigan trilogy, The Dunne Family, and Nora Ryan. Like Nelson Algren and Saul Bellow who followed, Ferrell showed in marvelous if sometimes extremely minute detail how people lived their daily lives and what they thought about. The Lonigan series shows class and racial turnover and how it was resisted, including (in passing) by Hyde Parkers and the University of Chicago in the 1910s through 20s, and by the new St. Anselm parish at 67th and Michigan from 1925 until it turned over in 1932. Actually, Ferrell's alter ego was not Lonigan (based on a Studs who lived a block to the west) but Danny O'Neil, who like Ferrell turned into a writer in the apartment on Indiana and made the journey across the park to study at the University of Chicago.
The May 4, 2005 Hyde Park Herald carried a story and reminiscences by Dorothy Latiak about Ferrell's novels and accomplishment.
A recent biography of Julius Rosenwald's grandson Peter Ascoli was recently published by Indiana University Press and has garnered praise reviews. The book is Julius Rosenwald: The Man Who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South. Mr. Ascoli on June 17, 2006 discussed Rosenwald's life and philanthropic projects and the book at the Hyde Park Historical Society. Rosenwald from the turn of the 20th century lived in Kenwood, at the famous, largest-in-this-side-of-town mansion at 4901 S. Ellis. The biography was reviewed in the Tribune and Sun-Times. This is from the Hyde Park Herald of June 14, 2006, by Nykeya Woods, with interpolations and a transposition by Gary Ossewaarde]
Despite never having the chance to meet his grandfather, Julius Rosenwald, one Hyde Park resident recently wrote a 400-page book about how Rosenwald spearheaded construction of the Museum Museum of Science and Industry and helped build Sears, Roebuck and Co. ....
"I wrote the book because once I started doing research on him I realized that his story was one the really needed to be told," Ascoli said. A trained historian, Ascoli said he previous biography of Rosenwald was published in 1939. Ascoli said he wanted to set the record straight about his grandfather's life and provide the first scholarly examination.
The son of first generation German Jewish immigrants, Rosenwald was born in Springfield, IL in 1862. Rosenwald never graduated from high school and a 17 moved to New York [to work himself up in the firm of wealthy relatives in the garment/clothing business and try his hand at his own business.]
He then moved to Chicago six years later and teamed with his cousin, Julius Weil to create at men's [low-cost] clothing line. [Weil had earlier located a "lost" boxcar of goods for Marshall Field; Weil's reward was the soft drink concession at the World's Columbian Exposition.] One of their clients was Richard Sears, who began to sell the line in his popular catalogues. Sea srs [had] partnered with Alvah P. Roebuck to create Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1887. [Roebuck eventually bailed out, with good reason--the business was a physical and financial mess that could not meet orders. Sears needed new partners--and a turnaround artist--and turned to Rosenwald and Weil.]
By 1900, Sears, Roebuck and Co. was the largest merchandise establishment in the world. Rosenwald was picked to be vice president of the growing company and and took over as president after Sears resigned. To keep Sears from going bankrupt, Rosenwald became a key investor in the company and even gave $5 million of his own money. "Rosenwald was largely responsible for making sure that orders got out in a timely fashion.
[Sears stock grew in value from just a few dollars at the start of the century to about $197 just before the 1929 crash. The money came in faster than Rosenwald could use it; Rosenwald's philanthropy started in the early years of the century and amounted to $63 million (unadjusted) over thirty some years. By Rosenwald's death in 1932, the value of a share was $10, and the estate and foundation payouts were not settled until the stock recovered later in the 1930s.]
According to Ascoli, Rosenwald showed compassion for his employees [providing innovative facilities] and promoted a culture of teamwork throughout the company [based at the innovative, forward-looking campus at Homan Avenue, designed by the architect of Rosenwald's house. Rosenwald was not a saint, and often hard to get along with and sometimes naive about how structures and their cultures work. The famous employees stock purchase program for employees was introduced because there was bad publicity about low wages for females and Rosenwald wanted to stave off unionization. Rosenwald retired from Sears in 1924 at age 62.]
Rosenwald, a former Kenwood resident, was also a philanthropist, donating $63 million throughout his life to a variety of organizations and causes [much to the University of Chicago, from bringing future School of Social Service to U of C to housing and expanding the department of geology and geography to 40% of Burton-Judson dorm and establishment of the Medical School. Rosenwald preferred timed and sunset spend downs or challenge grants to locking funds up in endowments, and his approach was unusually hands-on. Where did the inspiration come from? Rabbi Hershel of Sinai Congregation, friends, and the many experts he was never afraid to call upon, including Booker T. Washington. He did not like things named after himself, and would not take an honorary degree since he had not gone to college.]
"He became aware of the plight of American blacks. And he realized that they should be treated equal to whites," Ascoli said. Rosenwald was asked to donate money toward building a YMCA for African Americans around the turn of the 20th century. He pledged $25,000 to any YMCA in the country that could raise $75,000 to build a black YMCA. Funds were raised for the Wabash Avenue YMCA in Bronzeville, which is now designated a Chicago landmark [and beautifully refurbished]. Twenty-six more were built around the country.
"Through this (effort), he met Booker T. Washington and he was invited to join the board of Tuskegee University [which he did after a visit that greatly impressed him]. Washington suggested that Rosenwald help schools for African Americans in rural areas of the south [private and public]. More than 5,300 "Rosenwald Schools" [the public ones] were built in [the] 15 [southern] states. [Rosenwald's cost was $4.6 million, matched by $4.8 from the black communities.] "There were whole generations of African-American kids who got their only chance at an education in these schools," Ascoli said. [And a highly superior education it was. Rosenwald was also highly interested in affordable clinics and built what was to be an affordable middle-income but profit-making mixed-use housing complex for African Americans at 47th and Michigan--whose fate is uncertain.]
Rosenwald never lived to see the transformation of the old Fine Arts Museum of the 1893 World's Fair into the Museum of Science and Industry.
The idea for the museum came after visiting the Deutsches Museum in Munich with his son William in 1911. William was enchanted by the museum, and when Rosenwald returned to Chicago he wanted to create a museum just like it. [Serious attention began after Rosenwald's retirement from Sears in 1924 and as the South Parks Commission warmed to the idea--although they first wanted a more eclectic facility, including history of art through the ages.] "There were many roadblocks that ended up being put in is path," Ascoli said. "The name of the building originally was to be called the Rosenwald Museum [which was sneaked through], and he took his name off of it" [when he found out. The compromise is reflected in the tag on its letterhead et al, "Founded by Julius Rosenwald"].
Other issues surrounded use of the land and use of the old Fine Arts Museum for anything other than art [and there was a lawsuit on the issue that dragged on for years].
Rosenwald died in 1932. The Museum of Science and Industry opened in 1933.
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Also out in late 2004- Montgomery Place resident's book about the MP experience, Putting It Together. And in 2005 Ronne Hartfield's Another Road Home, story of her family in the South and in Chicago. Also Neil Harris's Chicago's Luxury Apartments. See a list of recent general-public books by Hyde Parkers in Arts and Culture News. About half are basically about history.
To Preservation Bulletins and Hot Topics
See At the Historical Society for their programs.
We have received the following
request from Michael Austin, who is a writer working on a story for Chicago
magazine about famous people who went to Chicago area high schools. If you have
any information regarding Seymour Hersh who attended Hyde Park High School from
1951 to 1955, please contact Michael Austin at his contact information listed
below.
Thanks for your help.
EMAIL MESSAGE from Michael Austin
I am currently looking for people who knew Seymour Hersh at Hyde Park HS from
1951 to 1955.
To refresh your memory, I am a writer working on a story for Chicago magazine about famous people who went to Chicago area high schools. The story is focusing on what these people were like when they were teenagers back in high school.
Therefore, I need to track down former faculty, staff and classmates who knew them back then, and can offer some sense of what these people were like. Some anecdotes would be especially helpful.
Any help you can offer is most appreciated. And anyone who receives this email is welcome to contact me directly at any time.
Thank you sincerely,
-Michael Austin
austory@yahoo.com
312-337-2835.
Bill Barnhart has
asked the Hyde Park Historical Society to announce that a Justice
John Paul Stevens biography is underway, in case anyone has material or anecdotes
to offer.
Update - Mr. Barnhart is especially interested in talking to persons who are
familiar with Justice Stevens' mother, Elizabeth Street Stevens (died 1979).
Mrs. Stevens, a writer, was active in a wide range of Hyde Park political and
cultural activities.
Mr. Barnhart's contact information is listed below for anyone who could provide
some new light on these subjects.
Mr. Barnhart has been working a great deal at the Special Collections facility
of the Regenstein Library and will continue to do so when the collection becomes
available again next spring. He has asked us to thank our membership for their
consideration and encouragement. He will keep us informed of his progress.
If you have any materials, anecdotes, or need additional information, please
contact:
Bill Barnhart
2115 West 107th Place, Chicago, IL 60643
773-233-9806
bbarnhart1@comcast.net
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The owner of the restored Grand Ballroom, 6351 S. Cottage Grove, is looking for old photos that will help in accurate facade restoration. A. Schcolnik, 773 324-6000, fax 773 784-3141, www.thegrandballroom.net.
Any information on the old Coast Guard Station in Jackson Park is welcomed by the local head of the Coast Guard, Hyde Park Historical Society, and Jackson Park Advisory Council.
The Grand Ballroom at 64th
and Cottage Grove. Noberto Zas an Dominic Fervbasio, former proprietors of Piccolo
Mondo restaurant, have remodeled the Grand Ballroom at 64th and Cottage. They
want to hear from any who have past reminiscences or knowledge of the ballroom,
such as a proms, listening to jazz. Call 630 864-8105 or nzas@sbcglobal.net.
More information-
see in Preservation and History
in Depth.
Now on line at the U Chicago Internet Digital Library:
Pacyga's book of walking and riding tours of Chicago: Chicago, City of Neighborhoods: www.lib.uchicago.edu/ecuip?digital/social/cityofneighborhoods/index.html
also there: Jean Block's Hyde Park Houses and the original pic book of World's Fair...
An essay on Paul Douglas by former Hyde Parker John Koehane with information from HPHS members is on line from U of C: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/phdouglas.html
_____________________________________
Visit At the Hyde Park Historical Society. HPHS website
_______________________
As given by Hyde Park Historical Society to Hyde Park Herald, March 16, 2005. See in HPHS page a different writeup used in the program of the HPHS Feb. 2005 Annual Meeting.
By Jack Spicer
For more than fifty years Marian and Leon Despres have nurtured the movement to save Chicago's architectural treasures. Truly they are the parents of preservation in Chicago. It is often said that the Chicago preservation movement started in 1960 with the public, and unsuccessful, battle to save Adler and Sullivan's Schiller Building. Built in 1892 to serve as a cultural center for the city's German community, the Schiller was tall and narrow with retail stores and an acoustically perfect opera theater below and a soaring tower of offices above -- a dramatic example of Chicago's new breed of skyscrapers. It sat on Randolph Street across from where the Daley Center is now. In 1960 the new owners,the Balaban and Katz theater chain, announced they would tear the building down to make way for a parking garage. Citizens reacted to the news with organized outrage led by a group called the "Chicago Heritage Committee."
This group had its beginnings in 1957 when Marian Despres, her husband Len (newly elected alderman from the 5th Ward), and their friend Tom Stauffer adopted the cause of rescuing Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House as it sat unwanted and threatened by its legal guardian, The Chicago The logical Seminary. The group organized the community using the "3p's" formula -- petitions, picketing and publicity, with the Hyde Park Herald providing a huge dose of the latter. This successful effort to save "American's first modern house" gave birth to the Chicago Commission on Architectural Landmarks, established in February 1960 by a city ordinance introduced by Alderman Despres. The Commission then chose 39 building as "honorary" Chicago landmarks -- one of them was the Schiller building. And a few short months later it was demolished.
Clearly something stronger was needed. Alderman Despres introduced a new city ordinance, finally passed in 1968, to create the Commission on Chicago Landmarks with the power to select and protect 12 important buildings as our first official Chicago Landmarks. Three of these original designations were in Hyde Park -- Robie House, Heller House (5132 Woodlawn), and the site of the first controlled nuclear reaction, ma
