Newsletters 1980
Volume 2, Number 1 February, 1980
POWHATAN, RANNEY, GERICK GET CORNELL AWARDS
For the Society's annual meeting and dinner on January 19, Thelma Dahlberg and Betty Davey created some entertaining, amusing (and humbling) historical quizzes, members were brought up to date on the status of the headquarters building renovation project, the new officers and committee chairmen were introduced,'and--highlight of the evening!--this year's Paul Cornell Awards were announced. Here they are:
e TO THE POWHATAN COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, "for the sensitive return to the spirit of Art Deco in the renovation of this classic apartment build ing [4950 Chicago Beach Drive], re-using old fixtures and restoring old features wherever possible."
Meet our new officers: President--Clyde Watkins
A native Hyde Parker, he was one of the founders of the Hyde Park Historical Society. Until recently director of development for the University, he is now with the public relations firm of Charles Feldstein and Co.
Vice-President--John McDermott. He has lived here for 20 years, is editor and publisher of the Chicago Reporter, heads the National Catholic Council for Interracial Justice
Secretary--Margaret (Mrs. Lloyd) Fallers. A faculty child, she grew up in Hyde Park, later became a fac ulty wife, Lab School teacher, U High Principal. She now heads the University's affirmative action program.
Treasurer--Gary Husted. A com munity resident for 3 1/2 yrs., he owns the elegant old Roberts house in Kenwood. He is an accountant
e TO VICTORIA POST RANNEY, "for
organizing and directing the Com mittee to Save the Rosenwald House, thereby contributing significantly to community awareness of the con tinuing importance of the historic preservation effort."
e TO JOSHUA GERICK, "for construc ting a scale model of the Rosenwald House which received commendation in a city-wide competition of high
school history projects and was dis played at the Ancona School Kenwood House Tour and the 57th St. Art Fair." Joshua has just left Kenwood Academy for the Parsons School of Design in New York.
(Categories and rules for the Paul Cornell Awards were printed in our last Newsletter.)□
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!
IT'S TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBER
SHIP in the HPHS--still only $5.00 per family per year. Send your check, drawn to the Hyde Park Historical Society, to Gerhardt Laves 5553
Kenwood Ave., Chicago, IL 60637.
Early Days at the Lab School and U High
"W.e
She sits relaxed in a living room chair--relaxed Carroll Russell style, that is, which means that her back is straight and her feet are on the floor; dancers don't slump. A trim, small woman with fluffy short hair that is still more blonde than gray, her eyes sparkle as we talk about the Hyde Park she knew as a child.
Born Carroll Adelaide Mason, she lived in the house at 5715 Woodlawn (now Hillel House) which Howard Van Doren Shaw built for her tamily, and kept her pony in a barn at the south east corner of 57th and Woodlawn, (now the site of Meadville-Lombard Theological Seminary).
She had entered kindergarten at the University of Chicago Elementary School in 1904, the year that pioneer of progressive education opened. "I get very excited when I remember it," she says. "We had no strict rules and were as free as birds, yet we were self-disciplined and orderly... We didn't study much spelling or much history but we studied electricity and made a dy namo... There were always chairs in the back of the room for parents
or visiting pedagogues."
In attendance at U High after its merger with the Chicago Manual Training School, she remembers how "we sewed and we cooked--boys and girls both--and hammered and sawed things to give to our mamas for Christmas. I still have some of them."
Next: enrollment in the University of Chicago College and in due course a love affair. Paul (Pete) Russell was a Big Man on Campus--
a star athlete (captain of the foot ball team in 1916), and a Deke. After graduation, he went to work for the Harris Bank and Carroll got a clerical job until "my Peter" saved enough for them to marry.
Harold Swift [see item on p. 7], a fellow Deke but seven years Pete's senior, was already a University trustee. "I remember Harold urging Pete to join the Baptist Church so that he too could be a trustee," Carroll says. "By the 1930's, though, when Pete did become a trustee, one didn't have to be a Baptist."
Harold was Chairman of the Board when Robert M. Hutchins became President of the University. Like William Rainey Harper, Hutchins (in Car roll's opinion) was "a daring, in dependent and creative thinker, especially good at cutting red tape
A very warm friendship developed be tween him and the Russells, and both joined the first Great Books group Hutchins and Mortimer Adler led.
Until Pete's death in the early 1950's, the Russells lived at 49th and Greenwood. Their children went to the Lab School and some attended
S.P.I.A. RECORDS FOUND
In the last issue of the News letter we asked help in locating the records of the South Park Improve ment Association. Thanks to Margaret Walters we now have two photographs
c. 1905, a copy of the 1909 amended by-laws and a number of record books. Alan Barlow also contributed a 1951
list of members and their addresses.□
OUR RESTORATION FUND CONTINUES TO GROW
The goal, remember, was $45,000. We recently received $10,000 from the Field Foundation; earlier, $2500 from the Joyce Founda tion and $250 from Draper and Kramer. Generous individuals con tributed $4625 more. But the largest single arnount--$10,500--came from the Charter Members, each of whom gave $100, (in their own names or to memorialize loved ones); we list them below. We also say a warm "thank you" to all and happily announce that we are within $17,125 of reaching our goal. Renovation of our building at 5529 Lake Park Avenue should be underway by Spring.
Beatrice R. Adams Horace J. Adams Polly Adams
Mr. Adrian Alexander
Mr. and Mrs. A. T. Anderson Anderson Ace Hardware
The Douglas Anderson Family Robert Ashenhurst
W. James Atkins
Roland and Helen Bailey Muriel Beadle
Linda Diann Beeler
Mr. and Mrs. John A. Benade
Mr. and Mrs. Don Topkin Blackiston Robert J. and Alta Blakely
Jean Block
Walter and Natalie Blum
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Boodell, Jr. Mrs. Devereux Bowly
Devereux Bowly, Jr. Jesse and Carol Bradford
Congregation Isaiah Israel Mr. and Mrs. Arthur L. Conn Michael and Kathleen Conzen Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Cornell
Mr. and Mrs. William F. Crawford Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Custer Albert and Thelma Dahlberg Kenneth and Marcia Dam
John and Betty Davey Josephine H. Davis Leon and Marian Despres Erl and Mildred Dordal
Anne C. and Allison Dunham Bernard E. Epton
Dr. and Mrs. A. Faller Martha and Stanton Friedberg William Gastineau
Mr. and Mrs. Paul G. Gebhard Louis and Julius Gerstein Ethel and Julian Goldsmith Mrs. Howard Goodman
Harry and Jean Gottlieb
Mr. and Mrs. Chauncy D. Harris Nadine Hild and Richard Hild Mrs. Ruth Horwich
Lester C. and Jean S. Hunt Gary E. Husted
The Hyde Park Cooperative Society The Hyde Park Herald
The Hyde Park Kiwanis Club The Hyde Park YMCA Center Mrs. Ralph C. James
Mr. and Mrs. D. Gale Johnson Mrs. Coleman J. Kelly Winston and Margaret Kennedy Kennedy, Ryan, Monigal and
Associates, Inc.
Mr. and Mrs. Maynard C. Krueger William and Norma Kruskal
Ross Lathrop
Mr. and Mrs. Gerhardt Laves Noble Wishard Lee
Kate and Edward Levi Mrs. Rose Chin Lipson
Philip R. and Dianne C. Luhmann Janet and David Midgley
Mrs. C. Phillip Miller Hans W. Morsbach
Mr. and Mrs. Victor Obenhaus Mr. and Mrs. Richard Orlikoff Dr. and Mrs. Walter L. Palmer Clarence Edward Parmenter and
Jane Parmenter Wilson
Thomas, Georgene and Gigi Pavelec Mrs. Howard R. Peterson
Robert, Rita and Kathleen Picken Louis B. Potter
Mr. and Mrs. James M. Ratcliffe George Edwin Richards and
Grace Buckle Richards
Dr. and Mrs. Henry T. Ricketts Dorothy Ringer
Jack L. Ringer
Mr. and Mrs. C. Roothaan Harriet W. Rylaarsdam
MORE CHARTER MEMBERS
Alice K. Schneider
Frank and Karen Schneider Elena Gould Schorr
Dr. and Mrs. J. Shanley-Brown Mr. and Mrs. Roger D. Shaw Richardson Spofford
Francis and Lorna Straus Mr. and Mrs. H. Strauss
Frances T. and King C. Stutzman Mrs. Gustavus F. Swift
Stephen and Marieanne Thomas William A. Thomas
L. Kristofer Thomsen Richard B. Truitt Patricia D. Walsh Marjorie Wasserman
Clyde and Cheryl Watkins George and Catherine Watkins Marvin H. Watkins
Mary-Ann Wayne
Mr. and Mrs. Warner Wick Milton W. Wright
Times Art Column, Nov. 15, 1979:
Chicago's latest National Histor ic Landmark is St. Thomas the Apostle Church and Convent, 5472 Kimbark Ave. When it was completed in 1925, it was the first American modern-style Cath olic structure.
Its architect, Francis Barry Byrne, was the only apprentice mentioned by name in Frank Lloyd Wright's An Auto biography. "This boy stayed four years and turned out better than many who had many years the start of him in ev ery way."....
Alfonso Ianelli, who designed ab stract sculpture for Wright's Midway Gardens, worked closely with Byrne on terracotta decorations for the building. Inside, Alfeo Faggi created distinguished Stations of the Cross and a Pieta. D
In archival materials from one of the United Church of Hyde Park's predecessor churches, Carol Bradford found these minutes of the Friday Evening Club (men's literary society), February 18, 1895:
The literary program consisted solely of a debate on the ques tion "Resolved that the extension of the right of suffrage to wo men would be advantageous and expedient." Mr. Rugg opened on the affirmative and the secretary in the negative. Miss Helen Russ followed on the affirmative, but the secretary had been unable
to find any lady to assist him on the negative. A pathetic appeal to the ladies present failed to touch their sympathies and the discussion was thrown open to the house. The members of the club rallied nobly to the support of the secretary. Some of their re marks stirred the righteous indignation of the ladies and from that time on the discussion was quite animated. The President was unable to decide the question and had sufficient gallantry to re frain from putting it to a vote.
The club then adjourned and the members and guests remained to indulge in social intercourse and crown the animosities of debate in some of Mrs. Bender's hot chocolate.
J.C. Russ, Secretary
Historic Sites Council Meets in Hyde Park
By Lesley Bloch
The gracious old Windermere was the perfect spot for December's pub lic meeting of the Illinois Histor ic Sites Advisory Council.
There, for two days and a night, members of the Council listened to presentations, viewed carefully cho sen slides and discussed the merits nets and transports money to its balcony cashiers in baskets swung on pulleys. It is hoped that Na tional Landmark designation will prevent demolition of the building and its replacement by the State
Office Building proposed for the North Loop Redevelopment Project.□
of 43 properties in Chicago and elsewhere in the State. While own
ers, lawyers and interested others awaited the final vote, specialists in the history of nails, woods, saws and Illinois testified as expert witnesses to the worthiness of the nominations.
At the morning session I attend ed, there were about 20 people in the audience. Heated discussion centered on the nomination to the National Register by Devereux Bowly (wearing his Landmarks Preservation Council hat) of the Brooks Building at Jackson and Franklin.
The presence of a court reporter and a request by the building's law yer that action be deferred predict ed a continued fight for the life of the Brooks Building. Since National Landmark status means that proposed changes in the property are subject to Federal review--a situation which may work to the disadvantage of the owner--the owner of the Brooks Build ing wanted time to find an architectural historian who would dis credit the building. But the re quest for a delay was denied and the nomination was approved.
So too was the nomination of the Clark and Barlow Hardware Store, which has been located at 123 w.
Lake St. for the past 85 years. In days gone by, it was famous for its showcase windows on the second floor, their displays directed to the passing parade of El riders.Clark and Barlow still dispenses its wares from grand old wood cabinets
NEW OFFICERS
with the legal firm of Hubachek, Kelly, Rauch & Kirby.
Of new chairmen of standing committees, two in particular should be mentioned:
Membership--Gerhardt Laves. It is his home address--5553 Kenwood- that now appears as the return ad dress on this Newsletter and it is to him that your dues should be sent. Born and raised in Hyde Park, he was a civilian employee of the police department until retirement.
Program--Tom Pavelec. A Continental Can Co. research technician specializing in plastics, he has lived in East Hyde Park for 3 1/2 yrs. and is active in St. Thomas parish.
Their outgoing counterparts- Jean Block, Devereux Bowly, Jr., Christine O'Neill, Richardson Spof ford, Betty Davey and Thelma Dahl berg deserve sustained applause
for their performance in office.□
IN 1905, THE S.P.C.A. MUST HAVE COMMENDED THE S.P.I.A.
By Devereux Bowly, Jr.
The Society has installed a gran ite horse trough, dating from about 1905, on the parkway at 1301 E. 57th St. {near Kimbark).
The trough, which has the letters
Still the best buy in town: Membership in the Hyde Park Historical Society--only $5.00 er year, which covers all members o a household.
Send your $5.00 check NOW, drawn to the Hyde Park Historical Society, to Gerhardt Laves, 5553 Kenwood Ave., Chicago 60637.o
SPIA carved in it, was originally in stalled on 57th St. a little east of its present location by the South Park Improvement Association, to serve the many horses in the area.
Last fall, Mrs. E. Hector Coates
The renovation of the Blackstone Branch Library proceeds more or less on schedule.
spotted the t ough_b hin a building The repairs and additions that n 57th St., ide tified it, and brought will make it function better--the i to he atte tion of the Hyde Park tuckpointing, the re-set masonry,
Historical Society. the new furnace, the air-condition-
The owners of the building, long time neighborhood realtors Margaret and Winston Kennedy, donated it to us. We cleaned it and installed it on a new concrete base in front of Staver Booksellers, itself a Hyde Park insti
tution.□
... from p.2 CARROLL RUSSELL
U High and the University. Carroll herself, now a North Sider, has wide interests and many talents. A dancer and actress of near-professional caliber, she was an enthusiastic participant in the Revels and the Faculty Wives shows. She has been a member of University visiting com mittees and many off-campus cultural and civic organizations.
When she had to give up dancing a couple of years ago and sought another mode of personal expression, she decided to attempt a biographi cal account of Harper and Hutchins. Friends urged her to make it a mem
oir of her own long association with the University and its people. She has found it difficult to write in the first person, however, and she still wants to talk with anyone who has anecdotes of Harper or Hutchins to share. Call her at MO 4-6271.D
ing throughout, the new fire alarm and smoke detector system, the new stage lights and other equipment in the auditorium--are in place or soon will be.
Now the focus has shifted to the ornamental details--to restoring the original beauty of the fabric. Items:
► The Tiffany glass dome {the on ly one in the library system outside the downtown Cultural Center) has been cleaned and backlighted.
► A professional marble cutter has been hired to clean all the in terior marble.
► An expert wood refinisher is undertaking the restoration and re waxing or varnishing of the mahog any wainscoting and library stacks.
► In the Circulation room, the handsome old drinking fountain has been reactivated. The solid mahog any Circulation desk has been dis mantled and the wood saved to use in repairing the wainscoting in the Periodical room.
► The mezzanine, believe it or not, is almost all bronze. {Go see
... to p.8
FROM THE WORLD"S FAIR TO URBAN
RENEWAL: what a nostalgia trip!
By Gladys Finn
"Hyde Park History on Show," held at Hyde Park Federal Savings on Sunday Nov. 11, brought such an outpouring of memorabilia that 3 to
5 p.m. was long enough only to glimpse the collection and leave a longing to see or read more. A sampling:
♦ A copy of the Nov. 1, 1893, Daily Inter-Ocean, headlining "The Story of The Midway Plaisance"; tinted lithographs of the World's Colwnbian Exposition; a colored photo of the 57th St. Art Colony and paintings of the same by Emil Armin and Marcella Lewin.
♦ A collection of photographs of the first-generation Swift family, recording reunions, graduations, an niversary parties, and such, which were collected by the youngest of Gustavus Swift's sons, Harold. In an 1899 family group, Harold him self is seen as an adolescent.
♦ A large and fascinating display of 19th and 20th century postcards of the community and the city; the Lab School Correlator of 1928 (when Janet Bowly and Edward Levi were in the graduating class); the Harvard School Review of May 1906 and an alumni re cord of 1880-1905; a handsome photo of the old, and now vanished, Winder mere West Hotel (first in the United States to have telephones in every room) alongside a photo of the Win dermere East ground-breaking.
♦ Exhibits by St. Thomas the A postle Church, by St. Paul and the Re· deemer and by the United Church of Hyde Park. The latter showed regis ters from the Hyde Park Presbyteri- an Church (founded 1860), the Hyde Park Congregational (1885) and the Hyde Park Methodist (1889), all now merged into the United Church.
An old Methodist ledger record ing a survey of neighborhood church preferences put the Presbyterians in the lead. One family responded to the poll, however, by saying that their preference was "nobody's bus iness," and the pollster dutifully reported the comment verbatim.
♦ A scrapbook documenting Hyde Park-Kenwood urban renewal from its inception; the Feb.25,1959,Hyde Park Herald headlining "Clearance Sched ule Imminent" and in lesser type, "750 Families Hit"; a collection of color slides recording decline and fall and rebuilding; sketches by Vi Fogle Uretz and Muriel Van Sweringin of the rows of doors that became the fencing for demolition areas.
For long-time community residents, the afternoon was an emotional as well as an historical event. One vet eran urban renewal activist was over heard to say, "This stuff makes me absolutely teary-eyed."
Among the exhibitors were these donors of historic materials: the Albert Dahlbergs, Alan and Jane Bar low, Bob and Molly Hauck, Eleanor Swift, Ted Anderson, Clyde Watkins, Alta Blakely, the Charles Borsts, Mrs. Lee B. Carrel, Howard Jackson, Herbert Ehrfurth, John McReynolds, Elizabeth Woellner, Anna Gwin Pick ens, Rosalia Isaacs, and Joe Marlin.
Eventually, these donations will be kept at our headquarters build ing. For now, they are stored else where. Thanks to all! D
Mrs. Miller Honored
Florence (Mrs. C. Phillip) Miller has received one of only 24 awards given nationally by the Interior Department's Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, this for her work on behalf of restoration efforts in Historic Pullman. Mrs. Miller, a long-time Hyde Parker, is a grand
daughter of George M. Pullman.□
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BLACKSTONE LIBRARY IS REGAINING ITS ORIGINAL BEAUTY
from p.6
for yourself.) It was cleaned by hand, a job that took over three weeks. Now, in the words of Librar ian Emma Kemp, "It looks gorgeous."
► Above the mezzanine, extensive water damage to the plaster (from a formerly leaking roof) has been re paired and awaits the delivery of a casting from a section of the orig inal ceiling molding.
The Oliver D. Grover murals in the Rotunda may be restored later. The mosaic floor below them has been well looked after and is in fine condition. When the renovation is complete, this floor will be the only uncarpeted area in the library, so users will continue to enjoy its beauty.
Mrs. Timothy Blackstone, who gave the building to the city's library system in 1904, would be pleased by the loving care that is being given
to the renewal of this memorial to her husband.□
NEXT ISSUE: A report on the ren ovation of the Children's Wing.
--from notes by Irma Strauss
This Newsletter is published quarterly by the Hyde Park Histor ical Society.
Muriel Beadle, Editor Corinne Seither, Typing
Michael Conzen, Graphics
Volume 2, Number 2 May, 1980
We Publicized Hyde Park and Made Money, Too
By Carol Bradford
The Hyde Park Historical Society was one of over 35 community groups represented at the CITY HOUSE Home Improvement Fair at Navy Pier on March 21, 22, and 23. Our booth featured photographs of historic Hyde Park homes and a grid map of the neighborhood. A variety of merchandise was on sale, including several books on Hyde Park and Chicago houses and architecture, note cards, T-shirts, and buttons. A flyer describing the Society and its
activities was available, and new members were solicited. Gross sales
Art Fair Founder Will
Speak at May Meeting
It's been 32 years since Mary Louise Womer organized the first 57th St. Art Fair, which returns again this year on June 7-8.
Mrs. Womer, now a resident of Valparaiso, Ind., is returning to Hyde Park, too--on Sunday, May 11, when she will share her recollec tions of Art Fair beginnings with members and friends of the Hyde Park Historical Society.
Did you know, for example, that the first 57th St. Art Fair (1948)
--which was also the first outdoor art fair in Chicago--occurred in Oc tober? That 50 artists exhibited?
That, as a group, they sold $500 worth of art and were astonished and thrilled to have done so well?
Since May 11 is Mother's Day and many of you will be dining out at noon, we've scheduled our meeting and program for 3 PM. The place, most appropriately, is the Hyde Park Art Center, 5236 s. Blackstone.
COME! Bring friends!
at the booth for the three days ex ceeded $375.
The purpose of CITY HOUSE, now in its second year, is to stimulate interest in and encourage the main tenance and restoration of the older homes (pre-1940) which make up the majority of Chicago's housing stock. The commercial exhibits at the Fair as well as the programs concentra ted on these purposes.
CITY HOUSE 1980 was a huge suc cess; about 40,000 people attended. Two Hyde Parkers were among those who spoke on relevant topics in the auditorium. Eliza Davey read Jean Block's paper on how to research the history of your home, and Alma Lach spoke on planning a workable kitchen in any kind of space.
* * *
As chairman of the CITY HOUSE Booth Committee for the HPHS, I want to thank all the Society members who worked to make our participa tion enjoyable and successful. Other
committee members were Emma Kemp, who set up the display; Lesley
... to page 2
Headquarters Renovation May Be Done by Fall
NOTE: May 11-18 is National Histor ic Preservation Week. This article is therefore especially apropos.
By Devereux Bowly, Jr.
This spring will see the start of renovation of the 1893 cable car station at 5529 Lake Park Ave., our future headquarters. We purchased the building in 1978 but postponed renovation until funds were raised to do most of the work.
The Hyde Park Historical Society will act as its own general contrac tor. We have engaged the Roy Ander son Company to clean and tuckpoint the exterior, repair interior and exterior foundation walls, and build a new chimney at the location of
the original one.
Robert Wolfe has been chosen to do the carpentry work, which is at least half the total job. A plumber has also been se ected and other tradesmen are being contacted. The major sequences of the work will be:
1) demolition of unusable interior components; 2) masonry repair; 3) rough carpentry;4)plurnbing;5)heat ing; 6) finished carpentry; and 7) furnishing.
Work is expected to be done by October, if our continuing fund raising efforts are successful. We are already gathering furnishings.
IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO DONATE a
rolltop desk, wooden file cabinet, or old office chairs, call Dev Bow ly at 667-2244.
HYDE PARK HOUSE TOUR
The Ancona Montessori School sponsors its second annual house tour on Sunday, May 18. Ten Hyde Park houses will be open to vis itors. Costs: $10. ($5 to senior citizens, students with ID, and children over eight. No children under eight will be admitted un less carried.) Get tickets in advance at the school, or at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club on May 18 between 1 and 5 PM.
This is one of many programs, tours, lectures, seminars and ex hibits scheduled between May 11 and May 18. For a complete list, call or write Greater Chicago Preservation Week Committee, 407
s. Dearborn, Suite 1705, Chicago
60607. Phone: 922-1742.
CITY HOUSE ... from page 1
Bloch, who assembled the photos; Phyllis Levin, in charge of the merchandising; and Jo Davis, who contacted volunteer workers. My special thanks to all of them.
In addition, the following mem bers of the Society worked at our booth: Gary Husted, Clyde Watkins,
CITY HOUSE was also of special val ue to this Newsletter. In addition to this article, you will find oth ers from the same source on pages 4, 5, 6 and 8.
Troy Baresel, Alta Blakely, John McDermott, Berenece Boehm, Paul and Dorothy Johnson, Marie Anne Thomas, Ann Boldenweck, Jesse Brad ford, Sue Davis, Michael and Kath leen Conzen, Bertha Kokurna, Dev Bowly, Betty Davey, Carol and Bert Benade, Ann Stevens, Adrian Alex ander, and Ken Levin.
Growing Up in Hyde Park Before World War I
"The Lake Was Our Constant Companion"
NOTE: Relative newcomers to Hyde Park may find it hard to believe that our popular former alderman wasn't always as awesomely erudite and politically sophisticated as he is today. But in fact, and as this memoir attests, Len Despres was once a child.
By Leon Despres
We were the first tenants in the beautiful new apartment build ing at 5488 Everett Avenue, built in 1911. When my parents took me at age 3 to inspect our new home,
I was disturbed at the prospect
of living in bare rooms with noth ing but carpenters' sawhorses in them. Somehow, though, while I was stowed with my Aunt Jennie, the familiar furniture was moved
from 4127 Michigan, and my parents, sister and I began four glorious years on Everett Avenue.
The shores of the Lake, which had not yet been filled in, reached as far as the present-day alley be tween Everett and South Shore Dr.
East of our home was open space with a few cottonwoods and, near 55th, the fisherman's shack where Captain Stephenson and his family lived. Captain Stephenson made his living from fish, which were still in good supply. In winter, he let his fellow captains beach their commercial fishing boats on the east side of Everett Avenue. The Lake was our constant companion.
All during the shipping season we heard the ore boats' ever-sounding fog horns, now replaced by radar.
For most of the day, the alley back of our building teemed with the movement and sounds of scissor grinders, umbrella menders, hurdy gurdies, German bands, peddlers, and horse-drawn wagons delivering groceries, milk, ice, coal, and de partment store purchases. The mail
came two or three times a day, de livered by Mr. Alexander Kemp.
A year or so after we moved in, East View Park opened, with only the apartment buildings on its west side. It was so attractive that on summer Sundays there was a guard at each sidewalk gate to block stran gers who wanted to use the East View Park beach. Proudly, I had the right to pass through because my aunt and uncle lived there and took me to their beach, where I learned to swim. They kept a canoe in the basement, which was portaged to
the beach.
Soon my parents enrolled me in Miss Thirza Riggs's kindergarten, and each morning a carriage driven by Mr. Brown came by, picking up children and transporting us to the Chicago Beach Hotel, at about 5050 East End Avenue. I have one of Miss Riggs's bills to my parents, which reads: "Kindergarten tuition (with carriage) for Sept. 24 to Oct. 18, 1912--$8.00."
In the fall of 1913, I entered the primer class of Elmwood School, a private enterprise operated by Miss Annie Fellows. Elmwood School boarders lived in an enormous white house at 5491 Cornell. But the day school was on the second floor at 1643 E. 53rd (where the IVI-IPO re cently concluded a successful elec toral campaign? I was taught to
... to page 5
THE HPHS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
thanks Michael Conzen for his contributions to the appearance of the Newsletter, and welcomes Cameron Poulter, who has taken over the setting of headlines and paste-up. Muriel Beadle continues as editor and Corinne Seither as typist. The Newslet ter is published quarterly.
Absent-Minded Dr. Egan Muddles a Prescription
PANES AND PLEASURES
From the 1916 Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Soci ety and via Jean Block, here's an anecdote about Dr. William B. Egan, the first great Kenwood landowner:
"Although by profession a phy sician, he was more given to real estate than to pills and potions. Once when prescribing for an old lady she asked him, 'How often am I to take this, Doctor?' The doc tor, who at the moment was think ing of his real estate, absently replied, 'Oh, a quarter dpwn. The balance canal time, one, two and three years'--the terms then much in vogue for land deals."
By Paul Johnson
Glass--bevelled, leaded, etched, in medieval rose and in late-Victor ian yellow--illuminated the darkened auditorium at Navy Pier and enchant ed hundreds of viewers at the CITY HOUSE exposition in March.
Displaying dozens of remarkable doors and windows, H. Weber Wilson drew on a lifetime of work in Arch itectural Ecology, leaving minds a glow with images--from the Middle
... to page 6
Sorry It Took So Long, Mrs. Dickey
NOTE: When Hyde Park celebrated its 50th Jubilee, a historical exhibit was created by Alice Manning Dickey. She also wrote the following editorial, which was published in the Hyde Park Herald. The date? September 14, 1939.
"Celebrating a community Jubilee turns one's thoughts back ward, and out of Hyde Park's intensive celebration has been born a vivid interest in our beginnings. Our Historical Exhibit ... is being displayed, through the fine and public-spirited cooper ation of the University of Chicago, in the Reynolds Club, Uni versity Avenue and 57th Street ... People have come forward with
... pictures of the first homes, the first church, the first bank, the first post office, the first school, the first store, with furniture of the period, music books, china, costumes, por traits, all of which should bring us a better understanding of the kind of people who were Hyde Park's ancestors, of the fine neighborly responsible life that was lived here and which be queathed to us a progressive growing community ....
"The spirit which has been aroused during this week of cel ebration and reminiscence we hope may result in the formation of a permanent Hyde Park Historical Society in which.......................................... our
knowledge of ... the first residents of Hyde Park, and of all who have come after to work for fuller opportunities and advantages for all its citizens, may be available to the generations which shall follow us. A Historical Society can take and preserve the picture of each phase of a community's life, commemorating its notable citizens and events ... building up a strong civic in terest and a relationship which should be like that of a big but close-knit family. May it come into permanent being."
Dick and Jane Will Like New Children's Wing
By Lesley Bloch Blackstone Library Renovation Nearing Completion Come summer, a spacious, shelf-lined, yellow-walled, air-conditioned
environment will greet the children of our community when they enter the newly refurbished Blackstone Branch Library.
Although only the deacon benches, display cases and the fine oak paneled ceiling remain from the Children's Wing as we have known it, the renovation has retained a feeling of respect for the architects and their conception of a public building.
AT CITY HOUSE, awards were given for noteworthy restoration or adap tive re-use. In the multi-unit build ing category, The Powhatan (4950 Chicago Beach Dr.) received a Merit Award. The HPHS made the nomination, having already given its Paul Cor nell Award to the same project.
The Children's Collection began in 1904 as a non-circulating one. It was located in what later be came the Periodicals Room. Within its first four years, however, a circulating collection and a read ing club came into being.
In 1939, the Children's Wing was added--thanks to the Public Works
DEPRES ... from page 3 Administration and Charles Hodgdon and Sons, architects. Until 1959,
read there, where others have just been taught to vote for Braun, Cur rie, Dobry and Washington.) Grades from primer to third were in the south room under Miss Ryan, while grades four to eight were in the north room under Miss Fellows.
In February, 1914, I transferred to the "Little Ray" school at 56th and Stony Island, a branch of Ray School now supplanted by Bret Harte. It was a four-room school, built for exhibition at the 1893 World's Fair. Since it was not equipped with buz zers, it gave me my first experi ence with the peals of a school bell. How I wished I might be allowed to ring the recess bell, but that nev er happened. The Little Ray gave
me something far more valuable--my first contact with black children as peers. The 1917 residential seg
regation pattern had not yet been im posed on Chicago, and black families who had settled on Lake Park Avenue sent children to public school.
In 1915 we moved to 5509 Hyde Park Boulevard. I missed Everett Avenue, especially the beautiful winter sun rises that streamed into our sunpar lor from the unobstructed horizon over my Lake.
this existed as a separate facil ity for children, with its own en trance, circulation system and li brary cards.
When the current renovation is finished, old programs such as the Buddy to Buddy Reading Program, Sto ry Hour and Children's Films will
be reactivated. Sharon Gunn, the new Children's Librarian, is in the process of rebuilding the collec tion for pre-schoolers, replacing well-worn favorites and stocking new titles.
Armed with books, plans for community outreach, a variety of pro grams and a modernized facility, Emma Kemp and her staff expect to revitalize the community's faith in the Blackstone Branch and make reading a habit for everyone.
FINALISTS in the Chicago Metro History Fair--a program encouraging high schoolers to do research on fam ily or community history--will be on display at the Public Library Cultural Center from May 14 to 18.
A HARD WAY TO MAKE $100
Betty Davey has been reading
T.W. Goodspeed's History of the Hyde Park Baptist Church.(1924) Here's how they raised some mon ey in 1882:
"Someone suggested we open an ice cream parlor on the lot [northeast corner of Lake Park and 53rd]... A large tent was leased for a month and Mrs.R.R. Donnelley, a member of this church and well known in Baptist circles, agreed to take charge of the enterprise. Every afternoon, excepting 'sun days, for a month, she, with the help of other ladies of the church, attended to this business. Some of the men looked after it evenings. Mrs. Donnelley turned over $100...as the net profits of this business."
Ages to Frank Lloyd Wright's "Mission Modern."
For some, the program was a trip in fantasy to what their own house could become. For others, it was a primary education, as Wilson noted that "jewels" are small circles of intense color; distinguished the rectangular "nee-classical" from the flowing and leafy Art Nouveau; differentiated between true stained glass and "silver-stained" glass; and explained the acid-etching pro cess.
For many, it was a first encoun ter with the neglected history of native American residential glass, from 1860 to 1930. Weber is an au thority on that topic and has writ ten Your Residential Stained Glass, A Practical Guide to Repair and Maintenance. For information about its cost and availability, write Mr. Wilson at 447 E. Catherine St., Chambersburg, PA 17201, or call Chicago's Landmarks Preservation Council at 744-3200.
Beware Synthetic Siding Materials on Old Frame Houses
By Bert Benade
Inasmuch as appreciation of old er styles of architecture is more and more reflected in higher real estate appraisals, it pays to know the effects of using modern syn thetic materials on outside walls.
The following notes are from in formation garnered at CITY HOUSE- much of it from a talk by John My ers of the U.S.Interior Dept., an architect with the Technical Pre servation Services.
Siding or sheathing has been a round a long time. Frame buildings normally used only wood covering and in only two ways: long narrow boards mounted either horizontally or vertically, or shingles over lapped in rows. The shapes of the boards and sringles were chosen to complement the architectural fea tures of Lhe building.
When considering what to do with a frame building more than 30 years old, there are two choices: restor ation or rehabilitation. Restora tion means replacing with exact du plication and no compromise; it is the difficult and expensive way to go. Rehabilitation means fixing up as best you can, keeping your aes thetic sensitivity alert. Without sensitivity you will likely lose some economic value. You will also sense the imbalances introduced by ill-considered changes, even if you can't pinpoint them.
Aluminum, vinyl or other syn thetic materials are often used as siding. These come in many differ ent forms, some trying to copy the
THE CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE FOUNDA
TION (phone 782-1776) offers occa sional Loop tours for children 6 to
12. The inspired title: "Put Your Arms Around a Building."
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE ...
NOTE: Robert Todd Lincoln was the eldest and only son of Abraham Lincoln who lived to adulthood. He was an important man in his own right: a successful Chicago lawyer (he was the "Lincoln" of Isham, Lincoln and Beale) and public servant (U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James) and a millionaire.
Even so, he watched his expenditures carefully--as the letter below makes clear. For permission to quote it, we are indebted to James T. Hickey of the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield. The letter was dated Nov. 28, 1899, and was writ ten to H.O. Nourse, Superintendent of Chicago's Water Department.
*
My Dear Sir:
I think you know that I have been much annoyed by what I think is a great over-rating of the consumption of water at my house, No. 60 Lake Shore Drive. I have had the matter most care fully gone over. In August last, a leak in the supply pipe be tween the meter and the house was discovered and closed. Since then, although my house until recently has not been occupied, ex cept by a care-taker, my monthly bills indicate a consumption of
... about 100 barrels a day at 50 gallons a barrel. This, of course, is impossible.
This morning I had the plumber come again. He carefully saw that all the faucets in the house were closed and ... observed
the meter for fifteen or twenty minutes, during which time it reg istered no flow. He then, under my supervision, filled a bath tub with water. During this operation, the meter was going vigorously. When the tub was filled and the faucet closed, the meter stopped working. It had registered 47 cubic feet, or 352 1/2 gallons. I then measured the bath tub with a foot rule, and calculated that it contained 6 1/2 cubic feet, or 48 3/4 gallons of water. I then
had the water dipped out ... and it measured in this way 48 gallons. This seems to show clearly that the meter is registering about seven times the amount of water passing through it, and its record cer tainly shows that it has been doing the same good work, at least since August.
I will be obliged if you will send an expert to my house, say tomorrow morning at half past eight, ... to repeat the same ex periment I had made this morning. If a similar result is reached,
I suppose that a new meter should be put in, and that I should be given a rebate on my recent bills....
Yours very truly, ROBERT T. LINCOLN
SYNTHETIC SIDINGS MERELY POSTPONE FINAL DAY OF RECKONING
look of wood. They all have draw backs when applied to frame houses. None should be used to cover weak nesses and bad spots in an existing wall, because the basic problems- though temporarily hidden--remain.
Vinyl sidings get very brittle in cold weather and break easily. Aluminum sidings dent easily and soon look banged up. None of the synthetics are cost-effective in insulation value. If you use a va por barrier just inside the new covering, humidity will wreck the interior walls and allow fungus to grow and rot to develop. The much touted new venting techniques are not effective, especially during the winter.
Guarantees should be gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Who honors them, the dealer or the maker?
Volume 2, Number 3 August, 1980
New Publication Debuts
By Lee H. Morgan
Hyde Park History No. 1, an 84- age paperb und volume of essays and excerpts·from primary source materials, made its_debut at he_57th St. Art Fair in June. It is the work of a HPHS committee consisting of Michael Conzen (chairman), Kathleen Conzen, Rory Shan ey- rown, and Albert Tannler. Its objective--and that of other public ti ns planned for the future--is "to further understanding and appreciation of our community's historical development and present character."
In "Electric Commuting and a Cleaner Hyde Park," Paul Stanford notes that the 1926 electrification of the IC (which eliminated from the air the smoke and cinders belched out by steam engines) in creased real estate values in East Hyde Park as much as 500 percent. By 1928 the average rental was more than $50 per month (as opposed
to the citywide average of $17 per month).
*
In "Hyde Park Versus the Tavern," Damon Darlin introduces the reader to the Hyde Park Protective Association, founded in 1893, its purpose being to get rid of the tav erns that were proliferating in
the community.
The Protective Assn. was canny; it appealed to self-interest rather than morality. It said, "The saloon in residence streets cuts down the market value of our homes [and] en dangers their security. [It] fur nis4e nine-te,pths of the work of our police and justice courts, increases our taxes, is and always has been the center of official corruption."
"HYDE PARK HISTORY NO. l" TELLS OF FIGHT AGAINST TAVERNS; ALSO VOTE ON 1899 ANNEXATION TO CHICAGO
This watchdog group didn't accomplish much more than to contain the taverns within the area on Lake Park between 54th and 56th Streets. There, in the 1920's, a thirsty man could choose among 15 to 20 bars in each block.
Does this have a faintly famil iar ring? It should have, for the South East Chicago Commission [see story elsewhere in this Newsletter]
also took a dim view of taverns. In from Clara Louise Burnham's Sweet Clover: A Romance of the White City (1894). It is part of a long r excerpt, one of several from different sources. Tucked between the essays by Stanford, Darlin, and Markun (all of them recent graduates of the University of Chicago College) these inserts leaven the scholarly prose of the essays.
To order Hyde Park History N
1 by mail, send i:.:1e coupon below, with your check, to our treasurer. If you don't want to cut into the Newsletter, make a facsimile.
To Gary Husted, 4900 Ellis, Chicago, IL 60615
I am enclosing a check for
due course it rid the community of ,drawn to Hyde Park 46 bars.
Historical Society. Please send me copies of Paul Markun's "Village Problems and City Solutions" analyzes the forces at work in 1889, when Hyde Park voted 5-3 for annexation to the city of Chicago.
"Hyde Park" was then composed of 20-odd hamlets under one governmental umbrella. Its area stretched from 39th St. on the north to 138th St. on the south, from State St. on the west to Lake Michiqan on the east. Present-day Hyde Park-Kenwood, then called the Village Center, was a rich suburban enclave, and its res idents voted against annexation.
At opposite social and economic poles were the industrial towns of South Chicago and Grand Crossing, and the agricultural towns of Rose land and Kensington. Hoping they'd get better municipal services if they were part of Chicago, they vo ted overwhelmingly for annexation.
--thereby "placing [the Village Center's] reluctant hand in that of mother city."
*
The phrase in quotes above is
Hyde Park History No. 1 (at
$3.85 to members of the So city, $4.85 to others).
eral Chicago foundations: a $10,000 challenge grant from the Field Foundation of Illinois (payable when we reach our goal), $5,000 from the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Foundation; and $2,500,from the Joyce Foundation.
We are grateful to all supporters of the Hyde Park Historical Society and look forward to celebrating the successful completion of both the fund drive and the renovation project in October. In the meantime, keep an eye on work in progress at 5529 Lake Park Ave.
By Muriel Beadle
"In 1905, all four of us Lowden children had the measles, and I had pneumonia as well. The doctor urged Mother to take us to Lakewood [New Jersey] to recuperate. Lakewood was part resort and part spa; it was fa mous for its pure air. That's where I first saw Dr. Harper. I remember him sitting in a rocking chair on the veranda of a Lakewood hotel, con valescing from his first cancer operation."
The speaker is Florence Lowden Miller {Mrs. C. Phillip Miller), grand daughter of industrialist George M. Pullman, daughter of a Governor of Illinois, wife of a distinguished scientist and physician, and in her own right one of Hyde Park's {and Chicago's) great movers and doers.
Harper
HEADQUARTERS PROGRESS REPORT
Devereux Bowly, Jr. advises: Don't just drive past our head
quarters building at 5529 Lake Park. Walk there, so you can stop and look and appreciate the restoration of the brickwork to its original color, a lovely coppery rose.
When the building was a hash house, its owners painted the exterior fire-engine red, several thick coats of it. To strip the stuff off required 64 man-hours of hand labor. That job was completed in June, as was the tuckpointing and the replacing of several courses of brick.
By the time this Newsletter is printed and delivered, the back and side windows and the new floor will be in place. When the project is completed, the handsome arched win dow frames will still be there, but the sash will be new and the doors will have been rebuilt.
We're anticipating an· official opening in October and.hope that members and friends will help us furnish the place. We'd like to have, as of the 1890's or early 1900's:
. A roll-top desk
. Wooden office files
. Wooden office chairs
. Wood-burning stove
. Drinking fountain
Her reference above to "Dr. Harper" is, of course, to William Rainey Harper, the Univesity's first President, who died in 1906. Now 82, Mrs. Miller has first-hand recollections of all but one of the University's chief executives. Below, from a recent interview, are more memories:
Judson
Eight or nine years after the Lakewood visit, Florence met Harr·y Pratt Judson, Harper's successor and that meeting wasn't in Chica- go either. It occurred at Pullman Island, in the St. Lawrence River, where the Lowdens were vacation ing. {Their home, earlier.on Prai rie Ave. in Chicago, was by 1913 at Sinissippi Farm on the Rock River.)
Bear in mind that Florence's father, Frank 0. Lowden, was about to run for the governorship, and that Judson was a political scien tist. His wife did not accompany him to Pullman Island, which sug gests that Judson's visit was es sentially a "working" holiday.
But there was time for relaxation too. Judson went fishing one day, and Florence kept him company. Their conversation, as was appropriate for a schoolgirl and a professor, centered on geometry. She remembers Judson as a medium-sized man whose sparse hair was almost
MASON WAS "CHARMING," HUTCHINS "INTIMIDATING," KIMPTON "WARM AND KIND"
white and whose mustache drooped over his upper lip "and sometimes had to be puffed out of the way."
The period just before World War I was quite an era. If, like the Lowdens and the Pullmans, one belonged to Mid-America's aristo cracy, life could be sweet. That
summer, the Lowdens rented a house boat which their yacht (manned by a crew of seven) towed on a cruise
around the Rideau Lakes in Ontario. The children lived on the house
rolled in 1929 as a special stu dent. "I found the collegiate life very exciting," she says, remem bering with pleasure the football luncheons that the Hutchinses host ed before the Maroons' home games. (President Hutchins' antipathy to football developed later.)
The Millers were married in 1931 and became Hyde Park householders in 1937. They dined occasionally at the President's House, but Mrs.
Miller was.not as .comfortable in
boat: the adults, including Pres ident Judson, on the yacht.
Burton
Judson served from 1907 to 1923, the second-longest tenure of any of the University's presidents. His successor, Ernest D. Burton, had
one of the shortest terms (1923 to 1925). He was the only president whom Florence never met. That's odd, for her father was a Trustee and she had wide acquaintance in University circles. One of her best friends was Elizabeth Wallace1 who taught French literature.
Mason
Max Mason also had a short term (1925 to 1928). Mrs. Miller remembers him well, for she "fell vic tim to his charm." He was a dynamic man, "alive-looking" and personable; "he made you feel that University life was fun." He charmed the fac ulty too, by approaching any table at the Quadrangle Club with an emp ty place, saying, "I'm Mason. May
I sit here?"
Hutchins
The president with the longest tenure--22 years--was Robert May nard Hutchins, who was 29 when he took office in '29. Florence Low den was not only his contemporary in age but in formal affiliation with the University, for she en-
4
Hutchins' company as she might have wished. "He was an intimidating man," she says. "Always ten jumps ahead of you. He made so many quips you felt you had to keep up with him and you tried to be equally clever
yourself. But no one could match him."
Kimpton
Then, in 1951, Hutchins resigned and Lawrence Kimpton became presi dent. As with Judson and Burton be fore him, Kimpton was a member of the faculty and a sometime adminis trator--and this may be why he did not stir people up as Harper and Hutchins had done. Mrs. Miller was fond of him ("He was a warm person, and kind.") and is one of those who feels that local lore doesn't give Kimpton as much credit as ·is due to him for his role in stabilizing the College and safeguarding the Univer sity and the community through the· urban renewal·project.
*
The presidents who served from 1961 onward are all alive, so this account of Mrs. Miller's recollec tions will end with Kimpton
THIS NEWSLETTER appears quarter ly. We have lost Cameron Poulter1s help with the graphics, but have ac quired the services of Ruth Grodzins. Muriel Beadle continues to edit it and Corinne Seither to type it.
Community Marks End
of Eta as Julian
Levi Leaves SECC
Since 1952, Julian Levi ha been the executive director of the South East Chicago Commission, founded in that year by Hyde Parkers concerned about the deterioration of the neigh borhood. He was a designer of the subsequent urban renewal project and the person most responsible for its success.
Now he has retired from his law professorship at the University (to accept a similar appointment at the Hastings Law School in San Francis co) and from the SECC. His departure is more than Hyde Park's loss. To quote a Hyde Park Herald editorial:
"Levi, one of the most colorful and controversial figures on the public scene, will be sorely missed. He may be one of a dying breed: a man who put his formidable talents and his larger than life personality at the service of the community,
the university and the city without thought of profit."
To pay him homage was the reason for the huge turnout at the SECC's annual dinner on June 9. It would have been impossible to have crammed one more person into Hutchinson Com mons. Among them were city officials, judges, aldermen, leading businessmen
--a significant sampling of Who's Who in Chicago.
A representative of Gov. James Thompson announced that the Governor had proclaimed June 9 "Julian Levi Day" in Illinois. A representative of the Richard J. Daley family read a letter of tribute from the late Mayor's widow. SECC Board member Norman Mac Lean reminisced wittily about the Levi years. Lewis HilL now head of the RTA, claimed Hyde Park as his Second home because of
his former chairmanship of the De partment of Urban Renewal.
The Rev. Arthur Brazier of The Woodlawn Organization, co-recipient with Julian Levi of the 1977 Rockefeller Public Service Award but his bitter foe at one time, spoke
movingly of the growth of their mutual respect and friendship. Bruce Sagan, whose Hyde Park Herald often "fought pitched battles" with Levi, quoted some of his harsher words and symbolically ate them.
In responding to all this, Jul ian Levi charmed the audience with family anecdotes. For example:
"I will never forget Mayor Daley's smile when he recalled that he had learned to swim at old Sinai Community House at 46th and (then) Grand Blvd., when Emil Hirsch [Julian Le vi's grandfather] was the Rabbi. And I was surprised at his knowing that the same Emil Hirsch, as President
of the Chicago Public Library Board, had placed the corner3tone of the building at Randolph and Michigan .'1
Finally, the guest of honor told the crowd that in the late summer of 1952 he and his wife had bought a large trunk in anticipation of
their moving to San Francisco. "That trunk has sat empty for 28 years in a closet on the third floor of our house," he said. "But now t e time has come for it to fulfill its des tiny."
'Twas a grand farewell.
-- Muriel Beadle COMINGS AND GOINGS
After Tom Pavelec resigned as Program Chairman, Thelma Dahlberg and Betty Davey stepped into the breach. Now a new Program Chair man has taken over: Berenece Boehm, known to many of you for her long devotion to the Hyde Park Neigh borhood Club through its Business and Professional Women's Auxili ary. At her office, she1s the Administrative Assistant to the president of Northwest Industries.
5
October showing planned
United Church Finds 1910 Lantern Slides
By Carol Bradford
In early May 1910, the Hyde Park Presbyterian Church observed its 50th anniversary. Numerous special events were planned, among them several his toric addresses which were illustrated with specially-prepared lantern slides. These slides were recently rediscovered in the archives-of the United Church of Hyde Park.
The church is again planning commemorative activities, this time to celebrate its formation in 1930 as a merger of the Presbyterian Church and the University Congregational Church and the 10th anniversary of its merger with the Hyde Park Methodist Church. The 1910 slides will be shown at the church on Saturday, Oct.4, at 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM,along with highlights of the historic ad dresses they originally accompanied.
Both the slides and the talks include valuable information about ev eryday life in early Hyde Park. In the 19th century, churches were centers of village social activities and the Presbyterian Church and St.Paul's Episcopal were the first churches organized here. They shared a s all
wooden chapel located in a grove of oak trees near what is now 53rd and Lake Park.
DO YOU HAVE a friend or neighbor who might like to join the Hyde Park Historical Society and support our activities?
Membership forms are available at the Blackstone Branch Library or from our Membership Chairman, Ger hardt Laves, 5553 Kenwood Avenue, Chicago 60637.
And if you haven't yet sent him your $5.00 dues for 1980, DO IT NOW. Make checks payable to the Hyde Park Historical Society.
6
The Presbyterians met on Sunday mornings for worship service, the Episcopalians in the afternoon. In the winter, each group provided its own supply of wood for the stove.
Legend has it that one cold Sunday the Episcopalians were forced to cancel their service because the Presbyterians had burned all their wood. A mock trial was held later, with a prisoner brought in dragging a log to which he was chained.
Every year on the Fourth of Ju ly, there was a picnic·at the foot of 53rd St., at which the Presbyterian Ladies Aid sold lemonade. Once, when the weather was very hot and the supply of ice ran short, the women took some of the ice used to make ice cream to cool the lemonade. Though they washed the salt off as best they could, the lemonade was salty enough to make every one thirsty. So they sold more lemonade than ever before.
Perhaps it was a twinge of con science that motivated the women to alternate the lemonade sale with the Episcopal ladies in following
years.
*
If you make entries ·on your social calendar two months in advance, jot down Oct. 4, for the historic slide show at the United Church.
Good Show: ''Old House Works''
By Lesley Bloch
To accompany your lunch of a Saturday, there is a half-hour program on Channel 11 at 12:30 called "Old Houseworks" that people interested in do-it-yourself rehabbing might enjoy. The series is produced by the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting and will be on the air through mid-October.
The host, Bob Callahan--appropriately dressed in work clothes and placed in a dusty "projects to be finished" environment--is very effec tive. He mixes feigned ignorance of remodeling techniques with the knack of asking just the right questions. Here's a summary of one prog am, No.
11 in the series: It began with the questions: Are
there waterproof wood fillers?" and "How do Georgian and Federal archi
A Sharp Man,
Mr. Gray!
Editor's note: Anna (Mrs. Howard) Goodman, when recently sorting fam ily papers, found a manuscript copy of a business history by Bernard Drill. Dated 1939, it is entitled "Herbert Goodman and the Goodman Manufacturing Company." She en joyed this excerpt and so should other HPHS members.
Bear in mind that Herbert Good man was Howard's father; that the "vacant lot" mentioned below is the site of the Robie House; and that Herbert Goodman's house was one of two on the land where McGiffert Hall now stands.
*
"In the autumn and winter of 1906, Herbert Goodman endured an experi ence that demonstrated the extent
of his community spirit.
"The house which he had recent ly purchased from Charles L. Hunter stood adjacent to a vacant lot on the northeast corner of 58th and Woodlawn Ave. In order to protect his purchase, Mr. Goodman had se cured from Mr. Hunter a pledge that no apartment building would ever be erected on the vacant corner lot.
... to page 8
tecture differ?" These inquirles were thoroughly answered, using demonstrations for the first and photo graphs for the second.
Then Bob Calahan was joined by Gil Brooks, a master carpenter, who knocked out a wall in an older home. If this is something you have been thinking about doing and have put off because it is just too much, be reassured. The job is manageable
if done thoughtfully with the right tools, time and patience in your pockets, and an eye out for salvage able remains.
The concluding minutes of the half hour were given over to a discussion of the dangers of lead poi oning. Lead is found in·90 percent of houses built before 1950. Lodged in paint, varnish and putty, it ap pears in the dust surrounding the exterior of a painted house and can fill the air of a room in the pro cess of being sanded.
Symptoms of lead poisoning can be mistaken for the flu or exhaus tion from a job finally done. A test for lead in the blood is the only way of really knowing. So the best approach is to wear a mask, remove all furniture from the room, ven tilate it well, keep pregnant women and young children away, and never eat on the job.
DID GRAY SERIOUSLY INTEND TO BUILD THOSE SHOPS, OR WAS MONEY HIS GOAL?
"Hunter subsequently sold this land to Mr. John M. Gray, of Chi cago, subject to this restriction. Abiding only by the letter of the proscription, Gray decided to build seven small shops on the property. For this purpose the material was delivered and work on foundations was begun.
"Thereupon the whole neighbor hood became aroused, and Gray, if that had not been his original purpose, sensed the opportunity to make a good thing out of his ven ture. To thwart the consummation
of these plans, Herbert Goodman and one of his neighbors, Mr. Charles Mason, finally bought up the property, though at a price consider ably in excess of its real worth.
"He wished that he could take permanent title to the entire vac ant tract next to his own house but, as he wrote to his brother in-law, 'I am hardly yet able to cultivate a neighborhood park for the benefit of myself and the ad jacent property holders.'"
URBS IN HORTO AS OF 1899
In their 1899 Annual Report, the South Parks Commissioners included these notes: "Owing to the increasing demand for great er lawn area for visitors to Washington Park, the territory on which hay is made is reduced somewhat each year, so that this year the crop yielded only 46 tons of hay.
Volume 2, Number 4 November, 1980
WHAT A PARADE! WHAT A DEDICATION!
By Lesley Bloch
The Hyde Park Historical Society/Community Halloween Parade pulled itself together on the chilly afternoon of Oc tober 26, in the vacant lot adjacent to the Mu'rray School, and marched off in more than 30 groups of participants. Cub Scout den flags fluttering, Children's Choir conductor arms flapping, cold coming through the soles of our shoes, and all
a bit out of step, we paraded behind a fine pair of Police De partment horses and officers.
The Spiritual Reader/Advisor on 53rd near Dorchester looked down from her second floor window to see:
oAn elegant lady of yesteryear in a robin's egg blue chif fon gown, white fur cape, sequined and feathered hat, fan dangling;
oThe familiar meat department man from the Coop in real moustache, white hard hat and apron, accompanied by a little girl in face paint and Halloween costume;
oAn assortment of clowns miming, unicycle riding, waving; and a double-decker bus from McCormick Inn;
oThe School of Hard Knocks in academic robes;
oLoose balloons soaring high, others still attached to wrists; oThe UNICEF man clothed in a violet Moroccan caftan,
capped by Uzbekistan, pursed by Greece, beaded by India and an undefined nation;
oDogs-dogs riding backwards on a three-wheeled bike, sauntering along, waiting on a corner to join up with small sheeted ghosts and black plastic caped and masked witches;
oTwo somber antique automobiles, and a marching band; oThe hardiest majorettes ever, in abbreviated white sleeve
less tops and short red-spangled skirts, twirling, stepping high; oAnother lovely lady all in black and beads;
oThe Gilbert and Sullivan Players regal in stature, yet ever so neighborly in reality;
oAII the rest of us bringing up the rear.
Dedication Ceremonies
When the patriotically crepe-papered and ribbon-barred front door of the HPHS Headquarters came in view, the parade made an easy turn at 56th and Lake Park, protected , from auto traffic by three Kenwood Academy Porn Porn girls at the barricade. The crowd soon grew to 400 cold but cheer ful people, moving closer to that proud little building, once again in good shape.
Speeches by Clyde Watkins (in an impressive derby), by Jean Block and by Leon Despres placed this event in the history of the community. Thanks were given to John Vinci, the restoration architect; to Jane Hood of the Illinois Human ities Council, which financed the current exhibit, and to the people who researched it, assembled the material and mounted it [see story p.3] . Greetings were offered to Larry Bloom,
Carol Moseley Braun, Barbara Currie and Alan Dobry-all present and wearing smiles.
A University of Chicago student purposefully wandered through the crowd selecting persons to be part of a class pro ject in-family history, slipping index cards with a phone num ber and "Please call tonight" into chilly hands on their way to the pockets. The popcorn wagon stoked up its fire. The cider was poured. The sales table (mostly HPHS publications) was set up. People said, "Greetings! greetings! ", "Isn't this ex citing?" and "Let's see what they have with the popcorn."
"Much Good Humor"
The ribbon across the building's door was cut. A group photo of the Society's Board of Directors, and whoever else wanted to be included, was taken. Mrs. C. Phillip Miller, in pink, joined the line to view the building and the exhibit. Bill Veeck dropped by. In the sun-filled main room, the paneling looked splendid. The windows sparkled. The ticket seller's cage appeared to be authentic. And the 36-star Ameri can flag looked just right on the south wall.
Authenticity the Keynote
Headquarters Carefully and Lovingly Renovated
By Muriel Beadle
"It's a little jewel", said one participant in the October 26 dedication of our headquarters at 5529 Lake Park Avenue. Indeed it is-and the credit goes primarily to HPHS President Clyde Watkins, who "found" the place, secured it, and headed the fund-raising campaign; and to Board member Devereux Bowly Jr., who acted as general contractor. His insistence upon authenticity of design and excellence of craftsmanship
is everywhere apparent.
An earlier Newsletter reported on the cleaning of the ex terior brickwork. Here now are some notes on the interior of our renovated 1893 cable car station:
About 10,000 linear feet of 4-inch tongue and groove paneling was used on the walls. Because the or.iginal paneling was fir, seldom used now, ours had to be specially ordered. However, pine was used for the trim. It wasn't easy to blend maple and walnut stains so the two woods would match; in fact, Dev says, it took 12 tries. The effort was more than successfu I.
HEAR YE!
Here are announcements of particular importance to Hyde Park Historical Society members:
DUES ARE NOW PAYABLE. The Board of Directors re grets the necessity but must now ask $10 per year. (The rise in cost of mailings and of Newsletter production is primarily responsible.) Your HPHS membership is still a good buy, how ever, since it includes everyone in your family. Send your check, drawn to the Hyde Park Historical Society, to our membership chairman, Gerhardt Laves, 5553 Kenwood Ave., Chicago 60637. And why not give a membership to a friend?
Incidentally, we have used Gerhardt's address rather than that of our headquarters as this Newsletter's return address. Since the headquarters building is staffed only on weekends, there are bound to be delays on forwarded mail.
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MAKE A NOTE on your calendar now: Our Annual Din ner meeting is set for January 17, 1981. Full details will be sent to you later.
Some Things Old, Some Things New The new floor (a beauty I) is red oak.
The rear windows, frames and sash, are custom-made re productions of the originals, but the frames of the front win dows were salvageable and only the sash is new. Thermopane was installed, however, and since it weighs more than glass the original sash weights were too light. Therefore, supple mentary weights have been added.
The light fixtures combine wrought iron parts correct for the 1890s but newly made to our order, plus antique white globes purchased locally. An antique dealer also provided the metal grille (from an old post office in Indiana) which divides the ticket office from the waiting room.
The bathroom includes a toilet with a wooden tank, numerous nice old wall fixtures (lovingly repaired by Board member Ted Anderson), and a marble-decked wash basin.
. he furnace is in the attic. It will be turned low, main taining temperatures in the forties, when the building is not in use. Under the same circumstances, the electric hot water heater will be turned off.
Unobtrusive Meters
Because of the historic nature of the building, the Peoples Gas Co. bent its rules and installed its meter in the attic in stead of on the face of the building. Commonwealth Edison, similarly cooperative, installed its meter on the north wall of the building, higher than is usual.
One of the most appropriate touches is the telephone num ber: HY 3-1893.
The building will be open (at least for now) only on Satur days from 10 a.m. to noon, on Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m., and by appointment. To make an appointment, call Emma Kemp at the Blackstone Library 624-0511.
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P.S. We went a bit over our budget. If you can contribute, or know someone who might, call Clyde Watkins.
WINNERS of the Third Annual Paul Cornell Awards will be announced at that dinner. Nominations are now open, and we hope you will make some. Anyone except a currently serv ing HPHS Board member is eligible. During 1980, he or she must have "significantly furthered knowledge, appreciation or preservation of Hyde Park's historical heritage". ["Hyde Park" is defined as the territory encompassed by the original village.]
Such knowledge, appreciation or preservation may have been fostered by authorship of books or articles; the writing and giving of lectures; the creation of exhibits or student pro jects; the restoration of exterior or interior public spaces of commercial, civic or residential buildings, or of buildings which have been sympathetically renovated and successfully adapted to new uses.
HPHS members are invited to submit short written state ments in support of their nominees. Send statements to our secretary, Mrs. Lloyd Fallers, 5840 Stony Island Ave., Chi cago 60637.
VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED to staff our headquarters on Saturdays, 10 a.m. to noon, and Sundays, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. If you can help, call Mrs. John Davey at Ml 3-5943.
HYDE PARK HISTORY NO. 1 was published in June. Its 84 pages contain articles about the effect of IC electrification on Hyde Park, the community wars against the Demon Rum, and background on the annexation vote of 1889. Included too is amusing material from original sources-for example, Chicago's 1926 parade and pageant of railway progress, at which a Hyde Parker was crowned "Miss Transportation". HYDE PARK HISTORY NO.2 is reviewed on the next page. Why not give both to ex-Hyde Parkers on your Christmas list?
Each booklet is $2.50 and may be ordered from Gary Husted, 4900 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago 60615. Make your check payable to the Hyde Park Historical Society. Or pick up the booklets at our headquarters on a Saturday or Sunday.
EXHIBIT TRACES HYDE PARK'S POLITICAL ROOTS
By Lee H. Morgan
Hyde Park's early residents, detesting and fearing the corruption characteristic of urban government in the mid-1860's, persisted in maintaining a political structure featuring a town meeting, elected trustees, and part-time officials. As the village grew, the work-load became too great and the system broke down.
Even splitting the village into three districts didn't help.
The result? By 1885, as Andrew Yox says, Hyde Park had be come "an overgrown and ungovernable village" which "drifted into its only real political alternative-annexation to Chicago." Yox is the University of Chicago graduate student in his
tory who did the research for Hyde Park Politics, 1861-1919: Suburban Protection and Urban Progress. That's the title for both the current exhibit at HPHS headquarters and of the catalog for that exhibit. The latter is the second of the So ciety's 1980 publications under the series title of Hyde Park History.
From the Chicago Tribune, July 14, 1889-one of over 100 items in the HPHS exhibit, Hyde Park Politics: 1861-1919
Of Boodle and Bosses
Yox's article runs to 40 pages and may be more detailed than all readers would demand, yet it is consistently in teresting and informative. (Do you know what a "boodle fighter" was? The early definition of a "gangster"? Of a "boss"?) The appendix, listing Hyde Park Trustees and Al dermen from 1868 to 1919, makes one realize better than a statement of the bald fact that Hyde Park Village in the 19th century was a very large geographic entity.
(Instructions on how to order a copy of the booklet appear elsewhere in this Newsletter.)
Over 100 Items on Exhibit
The exhibit based on Yox's research· was prepared by a committee headed by Jean Block and·including Kathleen Conzen, Jean Gottlieb and Emma Kemp. It contains about 110 items, some under glass (various early documents col lected by the now-defunct Woodlawn Historical Society and normally stored at the Woodlawn Public Library) and others on burlap-covered panels which hang on the walls of our headquarters building.
The viewer progresses from pictures and mementoes docu menting the early suburban character of Hyde Park Center to the trauma of annexation to Chicago [see story at right]
to the ways in which leading citizens thereafter "brought their suburban concern for honest, efficient and economical govern ment into Chicago's political arena, in an effort to reform the city whose embrace they had been unable to evade."
Memorable Photos Included
Among the memorable photos is one of a young Paul Cornell with the painfully fixed gaze typical of mid-19th century Daguerreotypes; a Jackson Park lawn tennis scene, circa 1900; and an unusual picture of William Rainey Harper at his desk in Cobb Hall. Fascinating too is Charles Merriam's campaign literature addressed to Greeks, Italians and Germans, and to "the colored voter of Chicago."
For this opening exhibit, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners loaned us an old wooden ballot box. Hanging on the wall above it are ballots on which visitors may vote for or against annexation to Chicago. Although a good many ballots were cast on October 26, the polls will remain open for a few more weeks. Our next Newsletter will report the 1980 outcome of a question originally asked-and answered-in 1889. The vote then, incidentally, was 5212 for annexation, 3357 against.
HYDE PARK TOWN HALL
... which has been the scene of so many noted contests and encounters between the taxeaters and the taxpayers. While nearly all the village officials have fallen in with the march
of progress and recognize the inevitable, there are a few who sulk in their tents and submit with sullen but hopeless pro test. In the acquisition of Hyde Park, Chicago gained a terri tory and people of which any city might well be proud.
The Town of Hyde Park was created and separated from the Town of Lake on March 3, 1861, and the Village of Hyde Park [39th St. to 138th St., State St. to the Lake] was or ganized under its last charter in August, 1872. Enthusiastic and patriotic Hyde-Parkers have for several years claimed that their village was the largest in the world, and the present popu lation of the annexed territory is computed at 75,000....
A TRIP THROUGH HYDE PARK
A trip to Hyde Park is full of interest and novelty to the visitor, who may go by the Cottage Grove avenue cable cars, the swifter moving steam cars, or charter a yacht or small steamer and take a sail along the attractive lake shore and disembark at the old pier at the foot of Fifty-third street, populous always with fishermen and youth who tempt the shiny perch or white herring with a forest of rods and laby rinth of lines and hooks.
Pioneers of Park Design
ECKHART AND JENSEN: A WEST SIDE STORY
By Malcolm Collier
How many South Siders have visited Chicago's great West Side parks: Humboldt, Garfield and Douglas, which lie be tween Sacramento and Crawford Avenues? These parks are connected with the South Side (and with Lincoln Park) by a series of boulevards, some hardly deserving the name but none theless linking the North, West, and South parks in a way the early city fathers envisioned and in a way unique to Chicago.
The boulevards are not the only link between the South and West parks. Although originally surveyed, planned and developed in the 1870s by Chicago's famous architect-engineer, William Le Baron Jenney, the parks were later renewed and somewhat redesigned by Bernard A. Eckhart and Jens Jensen, two men with ties to Hyde Park.
Hyde Park Ties
Eckhart, successful and respected business man and civic leader, funded the University of Chicago's mathematics building, Eckhart Hall. Jensen was a close friend of the Univer sity's professor of botany, Henry C. Cowles and, later, of George Fuller. Although Jensen's landscape work was mainly in the parks and on the North Shore, he did also plan East
End Park and the grounds of the original Chicago Beach Hotel.
Starting as a street sweeper, Jensen began to work for the West Parks in 1886. By 1890 he was superintendent of small but prominent Union Park. By 1894 he was superintendent of large and prominent Humboldt Park. In 1900 he was fired for daring to question the weight of coal delivered to the West Parks greenhouses, an action consistent with his character but a political mistake. He turned then to private practice and soon his reputation was firmly established by jobs under taken for prominent Chicagoans and the best architects of
the Chicago School. 4
In 1905, when Bernard Eckhart became president of the West Chicago Park Board, he found that the bookeeping, landscaping, and reputation of these parks were in such dis array that he managed to secure a $4,000,000 bond issue to set things right. He asked Jensen to take charge. The results were beautiful: the spirit and the intention are visible today despite current neglect and abuse of the park lands.
Jensen's Vision
The new park buildings, lighting fixtures and park fur niture were designed by the city's best architects. In Hum boldt Park, Jensen was able to carry out to the greatest extent his vision of the Midwest landscape in a park setting: a "Prairie" river with its natural flora, a "natural" garden with acres of native plants, masses of hawthorn and other native trees. Later, in 1918, he carried this vision even fur ther in Columbus Park, the one park which he planned from the beginning.
All these parks are well worth a visit. All could use our attention and support.