HPHS Bulletin: Spring 2022
We have so many great events coming up this spring and summer! We hope you can join us!
Hyde Park Book Club – Monday, April 18, 2022, 7:30pm via Zoom. William Swislow, author of Lakefront Anonymous: Chicago’s Unknown Art Gallery will join us. Register here.
The Hyde Park History of the Chicago Children’s Choir – Saturday, April 23, 2022, 2pm via Zoom. With Sarah E. Dennis, PhD author of an upcoming book on the early history of the Choir. Register here.
Hyde Park Book Club – Monday, May 16, 2022, 7:30pm via Zoom. Dawn Turner, author of Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood will join us. Register here.
International Promontory Point Day Events
Thursday, May 26, 2022: The Promontory Point Conservancy will hold a press conference to announce the May 26th birthday of the Point's renowned landscape architect Alfred Caldwell as International Promontory Point Day.
Saturday, May 28, 2022: International Promontory Point Day celebration at the Point. All day events.
Sunday, May 29, 2022: The History of Promontory Point and Nancy Hays Promontory Point photograph exhibition, with Jack Spicer. 2-4pm at 5529 S. Lake Park.
May 28-29: Tours of Promontory Point and the Point revetments by Jack Spicer and Bill Swislow. For more information check the Conservancy web site.
Hyde Park Book Club – Monday, June 20, 2022, 7:30pm in-person. Location to be announced. June Sawyers, author of Chicago Beer: A History of Brewing, Public Drinking and the Corner Bar will join us. Details to follow.
Hyde Park Book Club – Monday, July 18, 2022, 7:30pm in-person at 5520 S. Lake Park Avenue. Betty Hechtman, HPHS member and author of Murder Ink: A Writer for Hire Mystery will join us. Details to follow.
Hyde Park Book Club – Monday, August 15, 2022, 7:30pm via Zoom. Deborah Cohen author of, Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on a World at War. will join us. The idea for the book was conceived at Special Collections Research Center and features two UChicago alumni journalists. Details to follow.
Hyde Park Book Club – Monday, September 19, 2022, 7:30pm via Zoom. Our book selection is Time for Frankie Coolin by Bill Granger. We will be joined by Bill Savage for the discussion. Details to follow.
Book Club Contacts: Carol Vieth, ultra5300@earthlink.net; Michal Safar, archivist@hydeparkhistory.org, Dottie Jeffries, dottiejeffries@gmail.com
Special Events – Celebrating Olmsted in Chicago 2022
April 26, 2022, marks the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, author, conservationist, social reformer and America’s seminal landscape architect. Olmsted and his successors designed some of Chicago’s most beloved and important greenspaces including Jackson, Washington Parks and Midway Plaisance and the University of Chicago campus.
To celebrate Olmsted's birthday and his core belief that parks are democratic spaces for all people, Hyde Park Historical Society and Washington Park Camera Club are pleased to announce that they have teamed up to present Olmsted in Chicago 2022. The celebration is part of Art Design Chicago Now, an initiative funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art that amplifies the voices of Chicago's diverse creatives, past and present, and explores the essential role they play in shaping the now.
South Park Then and Now
On April 26, 2022, the Washington Park Camera Club will launch an online photographic essay, South Park Then and Now, a celebration of Olmsted’s iconic Chicago greenspaces. One of the oldest camera clubs in the Chicago area, the Washington Park Camera Club is predominantly composed of African American members from the city’s South Side. The online photo essay weaves together historic and contemporary images of Olmsted’s South Park: Jackson, Washington Parks and the Midway Plaisance. With recent photography by twelve members of the club, the project documents continuity and changes over time while also highlighting the importance of Olmsted’s landscapes in the past as well as the vital role they play in the lives of Chicagoans today.
HPHS has a New Web Site!
The Hyde Park Historical Society has a newly redesigned web site. See below for some of the exciting new features – please take some time to explore. Many thanks to Mallory Price, HPHS board member, for implementing this amazing resource.
We welcome comments! info@hydeparkhistory.org
March 2022 Hyde Park Book Club: No Ivory Tower
On March 21, 2022 Davarian L. Baldwin met with 40 book club members via Zoom. Dr Baldwin is author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities which includes a chapter on UChicago and its relationship with the surrounding communities. A native of Beloit, Wisconsin, Dr. Baldwin has long been familiar with Chicago’s South Side through numerous visits to family who live here.
The discussion following Dr. Baldwin’s thought-provoking remarks was lively, local and poignant. Longtime Hyde Park residents, as well as newcomers, shared their own experiences of interfacing with the university and their perception of its ongoing development. Nothing stoked the conversational fires more than exchanges about UChicago’s Emergency Room – but a stepchild to its Level 1 Trauma Center.
The author made clear who benefits from unchecked university power--and who is made vulnerable. The recording of the Meeting as well as the text of the Chat can be found here.
Preservation News
Promontory Point
Promontory Point Makes Preservation Chicago’s 7 Most Endangered!
The following is taken from the Preservation Chicago web site.
Promontory Point
Alfred Caldwell, 1937, Chicago Lakefront between 54th and 56th Streets
Overview
Last year, Preservation Chicago named the Chicago Lakefront as one of Chicago’s 7 Most Endangered sites, noting the threats facing the city’s many heritage sites along Lake Michigan. This year, we have selected Promontory Point, one of last year’s highlighted lakefront sites, as one of 2022’s 7 Most Endangered due to the continued threat facing The Point’s historic limestone revetment. The City of Chicago, along with the Chicago Park District, intend to replace The Point’s natural limestone with a mass of concrete, destroying not only the historic stepstone revetment, but also the naturalistic aesthetic of this Alfred Caldwell-designed park. This irreversible alteration will adversely affect the open and diverse community culture that has thrived for decades at Promontory Point, moving this historic site further away from its original design and setting a precedent for future unsympathetic alterations.
Threats
Even after 84 years, the existing limestone revetment at Promontory Point continues to protect the parkland behind it, serving as a beloved place of recreation for park visitors. The revetment does, however, need major repair as well as rehabilitation to allow better access for all to the lake and to the water. Twenty years ago, the community paid for its own independent engineers, architects, and mediators, and discovered that preservation, repair, and rehabilitation of The Point’s historic limestone revetment is feasible and cost-effective. Although a preservation approach to repairs and rehabilitation is still viable, the City has recently revived its plan to demolish the historic limestone revetment and to reconstruct a concrete revetment in its place.
Recommendations
Preservation Chicago calls on the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District to consent to the designation of Promontory Point as a Chicago Landmark, decisively ensuring the protection of The Point’s historic revetments for all time. In 2018, Promontory Point was put on the National Register of Historic Places, making it more difficult to destroy the historic revetment – but not impossible. Designating Promontory Point an official Chicago Landmark, and specifically highlighting The Point’s limestone revetments as an integral part of the designation, would make demolition almost impossible and would make certain that repair and rehabilitation of The Point’s revetment preserves its historic integrity and beauty. Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston has supported preservation in the community’s fight to save The Point since 1996. U.S. Congresswoman Robin Kelly and State Senator Robert Peters have also recently spoken out for preservation at The Point.
Preservation Chicago sees no reason for demolition of the original structures and does not support the use of textured concrete as a substitute for the existing limestone. We also support the Promontory Point Conservancy’s wish to hire its own independent engineers, architects, and community organizers to prove once more that preservation is doable, cost-effective and desirable. We are confident that this is an opportunity for the City to work cooperatively with a passionate community to find the best preservation plan to protect and preserve a beloved public landmark. In doing so, they can enhance lake access with creative ADA compliance, avoid environmental hazards by repositioning the original limestone material instead of concrete, and invest equitably in South Side parks overall. Preservation Chicago urgently recommends the City of Chicago and the Chicago Parks District seize this opportunity to preserve the remaining original features of this historic park.
HPHS Memberships
The Hyde Park Historical Society strives to make programs and activities as accessible to the community as possible, which means that the website, newsletter, archives, open houses and nearly all programs are free and open to the public. To make this possible- we need your support!
To Become a Member or Renew a Lapsed Membership:
1. Visit www.HydeParkHistory.org
2. Go to “Support Us” and then “Become a Member”
3. Choose whether you would like an Individual or Family membership
Or go directly to: https://www.hydeparkhistory.org/become-a-hphs-member