Newsletters 1986
Early Days At Vista Homes
It was a fairly warm day for so early in the spring. A good day to walk around the construction site which was to be our new home - ours and 118 other families. This was the spring of 1925, Vista Homes was a-building and we had been promised occupancy by early fall.
This was not our first visit. The visits had begun when there was only a large vacant lot and ground was yet to be broken for the building. Many of the apartments had been sold when there were oniy the architect's drawings to use in making a decision to buy or not to buy.
Once our decision was made we carefully counted up nine floors in the drawing and marked the windows of apartment 9F where we judged them to be.
But on this warm spring day the building towered above us. The stairs were not yet built and ladders provided the only access above the ground. Tired of looking at those markings for our windows, my father and I climbed the nine floors on ladders to see what the view would be from this perspective.
Climbing up was very tiring, but climbing down was infinitely worse. It left my father incapacitated for two days, and I was not much better!
The first view of the empty lot was followed, as I recall, by many meetings of the prospective owners held in the loop offices of the developer, Albert W. Swayne. Many representations had been made as to the individuality of the apartments which were to be based on the tastes of the respective owners. Alas, few of these were met! The two most aggravating deficiencies were the date promised for a great move-in which actually occurred several months later and the Midway Athletic Club which never materialized at all!
Vista Homes --
The Midway Athletic Club was to be one of the advantages of Vista Homes. It was to be located on the corner of 59th and Stony Island and would provide swimming pools, exercise rooms - in fact every facility of a downtown club. Many apartment buyers signed up and paid for memberships in this club. My family's decision to purchase an apartment on the ninth floor was made on the basis of the fact that the Midway Athletic Club would be six stories high, and therefore would not restrict our view. The only concrete evidence any of us ever saw of the Club were the folding chairs in the board room of Vista Homes, duly marked on the back of each, MAC.
There were also objections voiced about the use of the 17th floor considered by the owners to be the most desirable floor of all and designated by the architect and the developer for the laundries and store rooms. Enormous gas dryers were installed, one of which might easily have served four or five families. Mr. Swayne must have envisioned his residents as being most compulsively clean - and dry! The best view from the building was to be had on a small balcony located at the front of the building on the top floor of the south wing. (I understand this has since been enclosed.) The young people soon found a trap door access to the roof and forthwith established a very informal roof garden and views in all four directions.
The various shortcomings of the building, common I'm sure to many new structures, provided ready conversation for neighbors new to each other. We met and conversed most frequently in the freight elevators which seemed to be far more reliable than the swifter, cleaner passenger cars. We quickly learned that if nothing was operating vertically in your tier, it was better to take another tier's elevator to the 16th floor, walk up one flight and cross over to your own stairs and then walk down rather than up.
The homogeneity of those first owners is astonishing to me these many years later. We were mirror images of each other, in backgrounds, education, religion- even in size of family. Only our bank accounts differed, and although some had more, there was none with much less.
The medical profession constituted the largest single group. My father was a doctor and indeed his interest in buying an apartment was stimulated by three of his colleagues. Dr. Ernest E. Irons, Dr. Robert Black, Dr. W.G. Jeffries, Dr.
Lloyd Arnold were some of those early residents. The faculty of the University of Chicago was well represented as was the business world in the person of J.O. McKinsey who was later to become a university professor and then president of Marshall Field's. Perhaps this group represented the "yuppies" of that decade.
In spite of the homogeneity of the owners' group I don't recall particularly any community spirit. The only communal activities I remember are two: the young people's group and the Christmas carols.
The young people's group was made up of high school age people united for two purposes: to outwit the chief engineer, Mr. Points, and to have fun. Mr. Points required perfect decorum in the matter of behaviour in the lobby, staying off the roof, etc. and was seen as a common foe. The "fun" part consisted of weekly meetings in each other's homes with special pleasure found in the meetings in the Swayne apartment, the largest and
most elaborate in the building, and once a month a more adventuresome outing - an evening of dancing at the Venetian Room of the Southmoor Hotel. We went in a group and returned in a group, a practice in great favor with our parents.
The Christmas Carols were initiated by Mr. Harris Vail, then a teacher of music at U-High. It was he who organized them each year and encouraged attendance. Mr. Vail would move to the lobby a small cherry wood organ with foot pedals which he attacked with vigor, singing lustily and encouraging everyone else to do the same. He was supported in this by my mother who had a splendid voice and particularly enjoyed this annual event. My family were of Welsh descent and, as my father said, readily admitted they sang well. Another resident who was Welsh was Mr. H. S. Richards, one of the South Park commissioners, and he lent his voice willingly.
Other random recollections of life•in Vista Homes come to mind - in those days Stony Island was paved with wooden blocks which, when wet, were extremely slippery. On a rainy night one might sit in the south windows watching cars slip and slide as they tried to stop at the Midway stop light. In the I 930's Paul Darrow moved into the building. His father Clarence Darrow lived across the Midway and we would often see Mr. Darrow walking home from a visit to his son.
Our family greatly admired Mr. Darrow and we would comment on how tired and how burdened he appeared to be. Perhaps he was only thinking!
It would be interesting to hear from other survivors of those early years. Their recollections might not be as clouded by the intervening years as I am sure mine have been. I am indebted greatly to Knox Hill and Mrs. Gustavus Swift who have materially aided me with the archival pieces which they made available.
Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe Centennial
by Anita Anderson
One hundred years ago, on March 27, 1886, Mies van der Rohe, considered by many to have been the most important architect of the modern period, was born in Aachen, Germany. In 1929 he designed the German Pavilion for the International Exposition at Barcelona, Spain. The classic chair that Mies designed for the exhibition, known now as the Barcelona chair, is still available for purchase. In 1930 Mies was appointed Director of the Bauhaus in Dessau and Berlin, Germany. The Bauhaus was the school of design which exerted the most influence on industrial design and the techniques of mass production in the 20th century. In the early 30's, with the rise of the Nazi government, the Bauhaus was closed and Mies emigrated to the United States.
Armour Institute of Technology (later Illinois Institute of Technology) appointed
The Ritz On 55th Street Garage
by Lynn Abbie
The outstanding Deco feature of this building is its terra cotta work. The nifty auto of the period and the stop lights and tires worked into the design are distinctive and intriguing.
The building has been used as a garage, for which it was originally built, and a car showroom. It has been rehabed as an office space property with ample indoor parking. A bank and a real estate office occupy the largest portion of the first and second floor. Utilities, the custodial offices, and office space totaling 22,500 square feet comprise the third floor.
The promotional material of 1929 for the Ritz Garage states that it was a three story, fire-proof building designed and erected to give the utmost in modern day garage service. This ad also stated that, "the word 'garage' belies the service we render. More aptly - this is an automobile check room, clean, light and airy, bringing a new standard of garage service to Chicago... a refund can be secured on your insurance by keeping your car in a fireproof garage."
The waiting room and chauffeurs' rest room were features touted at the end of the 1920s. The waiting room had furniture in Red Morocco leather. The chauffeurs' room had leather furniture, a radio, and reading facilities along with showers, lockers, and tiled floor. The managers claimed "nothing has been overlooked." Those days are gone forever.
Mies Director of Architecture. From 1938 to 1958 he developed the university's unique architecture curriculum. While at IIT Mies·devised a Master Plan for the campus. Today there are 20 Mies buildings on the campus including the most important one, Crown Hall, erected in 1956. Chicago has the greatest concentration of Mies' buildings in the world. In Hyde Park there are two buildings designed by Mies. The oldest is Promontory Apartments (1948-49) at 55th Street and South Shore Drive. The other is the School of Social Service Administration Building (1962) on the University of Chicago campus at 969 E. 60th St.
To commemorate the centennial of his birth, The Mies Centennial Project at IIT will sponsor a major exhibition Mies van der Rohe: Architect as Educator, June 6
Lynn Abbie, current President of the Chicago Art Deco Society, is working on a book, to be published later this year, called Chicago Deco. One of the buildings she is including is at the corner of 55th St. and Lake Park Ave., now owned and occupied on the street level by the University Bank. The building was built in 1929 and the architect is unknown.
through July 12 in ·crown Hall.
The project will also include lectures: Reyner Banham, April 16, 6 pm,
Perlstein HalJ, UT.
Alfred Caldwell, April 23, 8 pm, Graham Foundation, 4 W. Burton Pl.
Fritz Neumeyer, May 14, 6 pm, Art Institute of Chicago.
There will also be exhibits at the Museum of Contemporary Art, May 9 to August 10, and at the Museum of Science and Industry, June 11 to September 1, as well as special tours sponsored by the Archicenter.
For more information contact the
Project office at 567-3955.
For more information on Mies van der Rohe read Franz Schultz's recent biography published by the University of Chicago Press.
Donation to Society
Douglas Wilson and Joseph O'Gara of the O'Gara & Wilson Bookstore at 1311
E. 57th Street have donated a rare lace picture to the Society. It depicts a view of the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair, held on the near south side lakefront. It joins an expanding permanent art collection at the headquarters which includes a drawing of the tiny artists colony that once stood on the northwest corner of 57th Street and Kenwood Avenue, previously donated by Douglas Wilson. Society president Devereux Bowly commented, "We are fortunate to have fine merchants such as O'Gara and Wilson in Hyde Park. Their shop is not only the best used bookstore in town, but is housed in the oldest building in Chicago which was constructed for a bookstore and has been continuously occupied by one."
A Call for Volunteers
To all Historical Society members: Do you enjoy meeting people with a
Hyde Park story to tell? We are already quite sure you are interested in our community history! Why not volunteer to be at the Historical Society headquarters on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4 p.m.?
No particular talent is required. If you wish, we can ask someone else to serve with you.
Call Alta Blakely at 684-2784 for
further information.
Calendar of Events March 8 - Historical Society Annual Meeting South Shore Country Club, 7:00 p.m. March 27 -Mies van der Robe's 100th birthday. (See article for Centennial Lectures) March 29 -Metro History Fair Kenwood Academy April 6 - Hyde Park House (A how-to for Hyde Park home owners) U. of C. School of Social Service Administration 969 East 60th St. Editor's Note:
We are interested in hearing from our readers. Corrections, comments, gossip, new news and old news are welcome.
Write the editors in care of headquarters.
Carol Bradford Lectures on History of Hyde Park Congregational Church
Carol Bradford, HPHS vice-president, lectured Monday evening, January 13, at the headquarters, on the current Historical Society exhibit featuring the centennial of the Hyde Park Congregational Church. Carol was also curator of the exhibit.
Present at the lecture were two groups- the Women's Society of the United Church of Hyde Park (of which the former Hyde Park Congregational Church is now a part) and members of the Historical Society. The house was full, and Carol's enthusiasm and knowledge of the church history elicited many questions and comments from the audience.
Alta Blakely, HPHS board member, served hot cocoa and other "goodies" before the lecture.
A tape recording of Carol's talk has been placed in the Historical Society archives.
Judith Bradford helps decorate tree at Headquarter's Holiday Parry.
This Newsletter is published four times a year by the Hyde Park Historical Society a not-for profit organization organized in 1975 lo record, preserve, and promote public interest in the history of Hyde Park. Its headquarters, located in an 1893 restored cable car station at 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue, houses local exhibits. It is open to the public, Saturdays, 2-4 p.m., Sundays, 2-4 p.m. Telephone: HY-3-1893.
President..................................... Devereux Bowly
Editors......................................... Anita Anderson
Rita Dukette Penny Johnson Theresa McDermott
Regular membership in the Society is $10 per year; contributing membership, $25; sponsors,
$50; benefactors, $100.
Volume 8, Numbers 2 and 3
Open Sat. 2-4 PM; Sun. 2-4 PM July - August, 1986
Annual Meeting Tours Historic South Shore Country Club
by Jay Mulberry
Concerning the History Fair
The Society's seventh annual meeting was held on March 8, at the recently restored South Shore Country Club.
Following a delicious dinner and a hearty welcome from Master of Ceremonies, Leon Despres, Society president Dev Bowly, reported on the year's highlights. He introduced Norman De Haan, architect in charge of the restoration, who described his research which became the basis of its reconstruction.
Anne Stevens, reporting for the Nominating Committee, introduced new board members and presented a slate of officer.s for the coming year. Officers are:
President: Devereux Bowly President Elect: Jay Mulberry Vice President: Penny Johnson Treasurer: Roberta MacGowan
Recording Secretary: Berenece Boehm Corresponding Secretary: Betty Borst
New Board members are: Kim Clement Fill Kitty Picken Winston Kennedy Larry McBride
Paul Cornell Awards were presented
For the third year in a row, the Hyde Park Historical Society Award for achievement in the Metro History Fair has gone to students from Hyde Park Career Academy. Natalie Dussard and Lynne Wilson split a $50.00 prize for their ten minute skit entitled "63rd Street: Then and Now" which portrayed a
grandmother speaking with her not always-very-interested granddaughter about the changes she had seen over the last thirty-five years in Woodlawn.
Natalie, who played the grandmother, spoke of the stores, banks and theaters that had existed along 63rd Street when she and her husband had come North seeking a better life. Lynne acted the part of a distracted teenager who could hardly believe that things hadn't always been the way they are today. After the presentation, the judges quizzed the girls about their research and found they had visited the Chicago Historical Society and the Harsh Collection of the Woodson Library among others to get their information. Although neither of the girls lives in Woodlawn now, it was Lynne Wilson's home for many years.
For the last three years the Historical Society has offered a $100.00 award for the outstanding projects relating to the area encompassed by the original
township of Hyde Park (nearly all of what is now called the South Side). Judging is based entirely on the scores received by participants in the regular judging of the History Fair. This year, because no entry meeting our specifications of being within the Hyde Park area received a score meriting $100.00 and since no others reached the level of meriting a cash
award, the Society's award was kept to
$50.00.
committee chairman Jay Mulberry. (See story this issue).
One of the highlights of the evening was the entertainment Songs Our Mothers Never Taught Us, produced by Elizabeth Wegener with fellow members of the University of Chicago Service League Helen Bailey, Lyn Fozzard, Joan Lonergan, Kitty Picken, Joyce Swedlund, Alice Tolley, Charlotte Vikstrom, Anna Mary Wallace, Carole Browning, and
Jean Meltzer, and written by Barbara Fiske and Judith Getzels - a delightful, nostalgic performance for which we are very grateful.
Another highlight was a tour of the restored areas of the Club led by the architect in charge of the reconstruction, Norman De Haan. (See article this issue.)
by Kitty Picken
Time Travel--Hyde Park Style: A Visit to the Kulla-Kilgore Home.
Some of my friends are surprised that I, an historian, am also a fan of science fiction. I explain that I love
"time-travel"-- flitting from century to century or era to era in imagination.
Which is what a group of society members did for an inspiring few hours on Saturday, June 14, when we were guests of Michael Kilgore and Roland Kulla. Nine years ago these two intrepid adventurers embarked upon a journey in time and effort, the mere thought of which sends shivers along many spines.
Their house, built in 1890 as a speculation just before the World's Fair, had been in one family for many years; then most recently it was turned into students' lodging. Some of the challenges faced by Michael and Roland include-:-gas and electric fixtures with only a couple of electrical outlets, one bathroom(which once served 10 students), a closed-off third floor black with soot, turquoise paint on wood and wall in the dining room. The before-and-after pictures they've collected tell the story of their project. The fragments of layers of wall paper they've preserved hint at the original, handsome decor.
I'm sure each of my fellow time travelers has his or her favorite room or story. Let me share mine with you.
Helen's Room - the third floor front - was where the previous owner's invalid sister, Helen, spent 35 years of her life. While they were decorating, Roland and Michael received as a present a set of drapes that had once hung in Lincoln's Bedroom in the White House. Though they didn't particularly care for the design, they felt compelled to hang them. Using the paisley pattern in the drapes, they designed their own stencil for a wall border. The effect is rich and warm. By the way-both the sister and the drape donor were named Helen. Haunting!
marvelous wall treatment with a self- designed and executed stencil taken from the border of the rug using numerous colors. Each color had to have its own stencil cut. The fireplace with its display of Rookwood and other Arts & Crafts Movement Pottery is straight from the period.
The Dining Room-Michael and Roland call it their "little gem." This is a room in which to dine-you don't do your homework on this table, no dress
patterns are cut here, no bills paid. True Victorian sense of purpose focuses all attention on the table beneath a real antique 19th century chandelier. The wall paper is dark green highlighted with gold. Michael and Roland had a specialist-an 80-year-old lather-repair the coved ceiling, one of the very few jobs that they didn't do themselves.
The Kitchen and Wine Cellar-Michael, a professional cook, knows how to design a kitchen with a counter that effectively separates busy cook from well-meaning, garrulous guests. AU of this is in the basement with a dumb waiter to the "breakfast room" (i.e. the original kitchen and pantry).
The afternoon ended with treats of cake and skewered fruit while we talked to all our good frierrd-s-who had come to be enlightened and inspired by this beautiful recreation of a house nearly a 100 years old.
I then wandered home to watch Dr. WHO on T.V. Though why, I don't know, when I can time travel so conveniently and delightfully back to the beauties of the 19th century right in my own neighborhood.
Chicago Sinai Congregation Celebrates Historic 125th Anniversary
by Rabbi Howard A. Berman
A Service of Celebration and Rededication initiated a series of ongoing activites commemorating the 125th anniversry of Chicago Sinai Congregation, which has played a key role in the development of American Reform Judaism.
The special service was held on Sunday, April 20, at Sinai Temple, South Lake Shore Drive at 53rd Street. The current exhibition at the Hyde Park Historical Society offers a pictorial overview of
Sinai's colorful history.
Since its establishment in 1861, the Sinai Temple has remained a leading center of Reform Judaism in America. It was the first Reform synagogue in Chicago and counts many other Chicago area congregations among its direct descendants. In addition, its rabbis and
members have played an important part in the religious, cultural, educational, social, and philanthropic life of the city.
Sinai's rich history reaches back to the days before the Civil War. The Congregation's founding rabbi, Bernhard Felsenthal, a native of Germany, founded the Jewish Reform Society in 1858. The major premise of his teachings was that each Jew had the freedom, and the duty, to seek the sources of religious truth in the needs and circumstances of each new generation.
The Congregation's first temple, a remodeled Protestant church on Monroe Street between Clark and LaSalle, was dedicated on June 21, 1861. It was during the Civil War that Sinai's continuing tradition of social activism was firmly established with ardent preaching against slavery. Many of its members fought in the Union Army, some attaining high rank.
Sinai's second temple, at the corner of
Plymouth Court and Van Buren, was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871. While the Congregation temporarily met in rented halls, then-rabbi Dr. Kaufman Kohler began Sinai's distinctive tradition of Sunday worship, supplementing the
traditional Jewish Saturday Sabbath as the major service of the week. Many other major Reform temples in the country followed suit.
The rapidly growing congregation
acquired land and moved into a beautiful new temple at the corner of Indiana Avenue and 21st Street. Romanesque in style, it was designed by Chicago architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, in their first major collaboration. Its interior was embellished with the floral designs and frescoes that were to become a trademark of Sullivan's architecture.
After Dr. Kohler left Chicago to become rabbi of New York's Temple Beth El (and, later, President of Hebrew Union College, training a new generation of American Reform rabbis), Dr. Emil G. Hirsch became Sinai's new rabbi in I 880. A forceful preacher of often radical religious and social liberalism, Dr. Hirsch guided the Congregation for 43 years and left an indelible stamp on the life of the city as well.
Ln 1892 the temple was enlarged to accommodate the crowds flocking to services. Among the Congregation's active members at this time were many of Chicago's leading citizens, including Julius Rosenwald, President of Sears Roebuck & Co., champion of educational and economic opportunity for America's poor and a philanthropist who helped found and sustain the University of Chicago; Hannah Solomon, civic leader and founder of the National Council of Jewish
Women, and Henry Horner, Governor of Illinois from 1932 to 1940.
By the early years of the 20th century
Sinai's membership was centered in the elegant Grand Boulevard neighborhood on the South Side. In 1912 the greatly expanded Congregation moved into its fourth home, at Grand Boulevard (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) and 46th Street. The Temple and Community Center designed by Chicago architect Alfred Alschuler included educational, cultural, and athletic facilities, in addition to a 2200-seat sanctuary.
Dr. Hirsch died in 1923, but his successors continued Sinai's tradition of religious and social leadership. While Dr.
Louis L. Mann was Senior Rabbi
(1923-1962), the Congregation's Samuel Disraeli ("S.D.") Schwartz founded the famous Sinai Forum, which featured prominent thinkers from every walk of life discussing the pressing moral, political, the philosophical issues of the day.
By the mid-1940's with its membership
moving southward into Hyde Park and South Shore, the Congregation began to plan another new home. In 1950 the current Temple on Lake Shore Drive in Hyde Park was dedicated. Combining
South Shore Country Club
by Devereux Bowly
Not far from Hyde Park there exists a magnificent ensemble of early 20th century buildings, open spaces, gardens and sports facilities, basically unchanged for almost 60 years. It is, of course, the South Shore Country Club.
The 65-acre property occupies almost three-quarters of a mile of Lake Michigan shoreline from 67th to 72nd streets, just south of Jackson Park. In 1973 it was purchased, for something under $10 million, by the Chicago Park District.
Since that time there has been a lively debate as to exactly how the property should be used.
The club was established in 1906 on land obtained from the City of Chicago. The architects for the complex were Marshall and Fox, who also were responsible for the Blackstone Hotel, Edgewater Beach Hotel (destroyed), Edgewater Beach Apartments, Drake Hotel, and most of the buildings in the fine row of apartment houses east of the Drake.
The original clubhouse was 2 ½ stories tall, and of frame construction. In about 1908 a ballroom, erected in concrete, was added to it. The buildings as they exist today date to 1916 when the present clubhouse and dining room were erected on the site of the original building, and connected to the ballroom.
The clubhouse is massive, over 500 feet long, and broken into the 5 story-high central section, ballroom wing, and dining room wing. It has a skeleton of reinforced concrete columns and girders, and is finished on the outside with cement stucco. The roof is shingled in clay tile and the gutters and down spouts are copper.
The building is in the Mediterranean Resort Style, the last good example of it in Chicago if not the Midwest. Its style and enormous interior spaces are 'reminiscent of Newport and Palm Beach.
The clubhouse building cost $450,000 in 1916. The furnishings had a very light feeling to them. The floors are white tile, and the windows had transparent curtains. There were originally oriental rugs and a lot of rattan furniture.
Charles E. Fox, the architect in charge of the project, located the clubhouse on a
diagonal axis between the main gate at 71st Street and South Shore Drive, and a small cove in the lake at about 70th Street. The grounds also include tennis courts, lawn bowling greens, a golf course, horse stables and a small boat harbor.
The original staff proposal of the Park District in 1974 was to demolish all the buildings except the stables (which house the Chicago Police Department horses) and maintenance buildings, and redesign the grounds for intensive park uses such as a smaller golf course, baseball diamonds and a playground. The outcry from the South Shore and Hyde Park communities was so strong that the Park District decided not to demolish the structures, but years of controversy followed involving what the use of the clubhouse building should be, and who should be in charge of the programming there.
In the early 1980's the clubhouse building was rehabilitated on the exterior, and the main floor and mezzanine were restored at a cost of several million dollars. The upper floors, which originally contained 90 sleeping rooms, have been gutted and await a new use. The golf course is popular all summer, the three large rooms in the clubhouse booked almost every weekend evening, and the South Shore Club Park has become a crown jewel in the Chicago Park District system.
Editor's Note:
We are interested in hearing from our readers. Corrections, comments, gossip, new news and old news are welcome.
Write the editors in care of headquarters.
both traditional and modern elements, its distinctive contemporary design reflects the modern religious spirit that is the heart of Sinai's identity.
In the past two decades many of the Temple's Jewish families have moved from the South Side to suburban or other city neighborhoods, and Sinai today is a metropolitan congregation of 700 families from the entire Chicago area.
Dr. Mann's successors, Samuel E. Karff (Senior Rabbi, 1962-75), Philip Kranz (1975-80), and Howard A. Berman
(1982-present), have all sought new ways to help the Congregation adjust to these changing demographic realities, at the same time intensifying the members' religious and educational experiences with creative new programs and styles of worship and study.
Looking For A Space For Your Next Party?
The Hyde Park Historical Society Headquarters is available to rent for parties, meetings, and sirniliar gatherings. lf you are looking for space to hold a graduation party, a historic birthday or a meeting of the Midnight Mystery Readers' Association, consider the Headquarters. For further information and reservations contact Dev Bowly at 638-2343 (days), or send him a note at the Headquarters.
A Step Forward
As part of a bond issue which passed the City Council last year, the curbing, gutters and sidewalks on the east side of Lake Park Avenue from 55th to 56th streets are scheduled to be replaced this summer. This portion of the construction work was designed to enhance the appearance and accessibility of the Historical Society.
Today, Chicago Sinai Congregation marks this milestone anniversary with a commitment to its historic liberal religious ideals. New programs of community service and Jewish-Christian cooperation, and a unique Outreach Program of support for interfaith families, are part of Sinai's response to contemporary needs and the challenges of the future.
Sinai and its members have long played an active role in the civic and cultural life of Hyde Park. Rabbi Hirsch led many temple members, including Julius Rosenwald and Leon Mandel, in supporting the establishment of the University of Chicago in 1892. Rabbi Hirsch joined the first faculty at the invitation of President William Rainey Harper as Professor of Rabbinic Literature. His grandson, Edward Levi, carried on the family tradition and served as President of the University. ln more recent times, the Regenstein family has also exemplified the long-standing support of the U. of C. by Sinai's members.
Rabbi Berman currently serves as Vice President of the Hyde Park Interfaith Council, and is deeply committed to continuing Sinai's distinguished record of community service in our neighborhood.
Glamorous Hyde Park m Tampa, Florida
by Maggi Bevacqua
Additions
When Hyde Park Historical Society member, Bee Boehm, visited me after I relocated to Florida, it was only natural that we would visit the Latest attraction - an elegant, chic shopping center and condominium community under construction in Tampa, with a most familiar name - Hyde Park. The new development is on the site of and surrounded by "Old Hyde Park," a century-old settlement, founded and so named by a former Chicago Hyde Parker,
0. H. Platt.
Platt, so the story goes, moved to Florida in the 1880's and settled in a sub division of Tampa which he developed extensively. Platt, however was so homesick for his hometown of Hyde
Bee Boehm and Maggi Bevacqua in Old Hyde Park Park, Illinois, our village which had not yet been annexed to Chicago, that he named his settlement, "Hyde Park." By 1910 many lovely homes were built and the area became one of the most glamorous and desirable neighborhoods in Tampa. In later years it became known as "Old Hyde Park." This name still stands.
The Tampa Historical Society last year erected a memorial plaque in the local park to mark the 100th anniversary of the residential settlement.
Once again, with the appearance of elegant new condominiums and glamorous shops in the community, Old Hyde Park of Tampa is considered a very special place to visit and to make one's home.
to the Archives
by Jean Block
Two additions to the archives of the Hyde Park Historical Society will be of particular interest to our members. The first, a biography entitled This Was My Grandfather, Philip Stein 1844-1922, is compiled from recollections, old letters, and historical research by Babette S. Brody. It is a lively, warm account of an important figure in our history. Born in Germany, Philip Stein left his widowed mother at the age of nine and emigrated to Wisconsin to help an older brother on his farm. The story of his development into a highly respected lawyer, a two-term Judge of the Superior Court of Cook County, a man of intense feelings of social responsibility, particularly for his fellow Jews, is interlaced with anecdotes of the family and social life of his time. A man of highest ideals and probity, it was he who made the judicial decision to keep the Columbian Exposition open on Sundays so that workingmen and their families could enjoy it. The book will be at the Headquarters over the summer for those who enjoy reading truly interesting and well-researched family history.
Completely different, but equally valuable, are the Urban Renewal records of Hy Fish. These include papers and pamphlets relating to the Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference, the original Conference report on the community issued in June 1951, the University of Chicago Planning Unit's Preliminary Project Report (1956) prepared for the Community
Conservation Board of Chicago, the Hyde Park-Kenwood Renewal Plan (1966), the
Johnson, Johnson and Roy Report on Jackson Park (1966) and a number of maps of Hyde Park-Kenwood made
About Maggi
Hyde Park Historical Society member,
Maggi Bevacqua, was the former editor of this newsletter. Maggi's career in writing began at the University of Wisconsin where she earned a degree in Journalism and a master's degree in Political Science. She has maintained an interest in journalism throughout her life. While she was in Chicago she not only edited the Historical Society's newsletter but also worked as Director of Public Relations
for the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club and edited their newsletter.
As a member of the Women's Army Corp in WW II, Maggi served as editor of their newsletter, WAC-APO. Later she was a reporter for Pacific Stars and Stripes in Tokyo. In her most recent position as a Public Affairs Officer for the US Army Corps of Engineers, Maggi directed a public relations program in a
12-state area.
Maggi's professional credits extend to
the area of music, and jazz in particular. While on a five year assignment as an International Relations Officer in Europe, Maggi organized a "History of American Jazz" concert tour in Germany and a "Salute to Glenn MilJer" concert tour of Great Britain. She also introduced American jazz to young people in German communities.
Maggi has continued to pursue her interest in writing in her new home in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is working as a free-lance reporter for the St. Petersburg Times. Among her other "retirement" plans, Maggi intends to learn jazz organ, to work on a family history and to become computer proficient! We miss you Maggi and wish you well.
before, during, and after Urban Renewal.
These materials, with the exception of the large pre-Renewal map which is unboxed, will be found in Box 14 of the Hyde Park Historical Society's collection, which is housed in Special Collections in the Regenstein Library of the University of Chicago. Information about the collection is contained in its inventory, obtainable at the Special Collections desk. Pages will bring the materials to the Special Collections Reading Room for those who are interested in seeing them.Paul Cornell Awards
Michael Sweeney, an English professor of Saugatuck, Michigan, has asked for help in finding information about Maxwell Bodenheim. Bodenheim, a close friend of Ben Hecht and a major literary figure in his own right, is believed to have lived at 431 E. 46th Street during the first decade of this century and to have graduated from Hyde Park High School sometime between 1908 and 191 I. Professor Sweeney has thoroughly studied the literary career of Bodenheim and has exhausted the resources of both the Newberry Library and the Chicago Historical Society, but he is short of information about the writer's early life and family. The records of Hyde Park High School are incomplete for this early period when the school was still located at 5629 Kimbark (now Ray Elementary School.) Those having information about Bodenheim or suggestions for further research are urged to write Professor Sweeney at P.O. Box 1064, Saugatuck, Michigan, 49453 or call 616-857-4777.
Awardee, John McDermott
by Jay Mulberry
One highlight of the Annual Meeting was the presentation of the Society's annual Paul Cornell Awards to the Kenwood Commuters' Association, the Murray Language Academy, Norman DeHaan, and Roland Kulla and Michael Kilgore.
John McDermott received the award for the Kenwood Commuters' Association which was presented in recognition of its attempts to save and revive the Illinois Central station at 47th Street and Lake Park. The historic signifigance of this activity lies in the fact that Hyde Park owes its existence to fact that Paul
Cornell granted lake-side property to the
I.C. on the understanding that Southbound Ulinois Central traffic would run through and stop at Hyde Park stations. At the peak of its service, the LC. averaged one stop in Hyde Park every ten minutes and carried thousands of commuters to the Loop each day.
Receiving the Award for the Murray Language Academy were P.T.A. representatives, Geri Marvel and Joyce Butler, and teacher, Frances Dawson. The Academy was recognized for its splendid work over the past two years in organizing a Black History Fair involving nearly
every student in the school as well as many parents and interested community members. This year the Fair was open to the public for two days during which an impressive range of projects by both students and teacher was on display. The Fair ended with a musical presentation under the direction of Oscar Brown, Jr. Aside from the historical significance of the Fair, the Society especially appreciated
the involvement of parents in its organization. The presence of Mrs. Marvel and Mrs. Butler who had major responsibility for overseeing the Fair, along with Mrs. Dawson who represented all the teachers of Murray, was indicative of the level of community support for the project.
Norman DeHaan, who received the third Cornell Award, was in a way responsible for the Annual Meeting itself since it was he who oversaw the magnificent restoration of the South Shore Country Club. With seven million dollars from the Chicago Park District, DeHaan actually went beyond the orig_inal for he was able to incorporate in the restored building elements such as murals and air conditioning which were deemed too expensive to complete in the original. After the meeting Mr. DeHaan consented to lead anyone interested on a tour of the Country Club.
Roland Kulla and Michael Kilgore received the Award which the Society gives annually for restoration of homes by non-professionals. The work of Kulla and Kilgore involved the complete reconstruction of a one-hundred-year-old Queen Anne style house in the 5400 block of Harper which had previously been converted to accept boarders. The two men had the job of removing many layers of paint from walls and woodwork, re wiring the entire home, replacing
delicately made elements in stairways and window frames and repairing the copper roof. The Award committtee considered the Kulla-Kilgore home one of the best examples of historic preservation on Hyde Park and was pleased to find such a worthy recipient.
Volume 8, Number 4 Headquarters: 5529 Lake Park Avenue Open Sat. 2-4 PM; Sun. 2-4 PM December, 1986
Looking Back on Thirty Years of the Chicago Children's Choir
The Chicago Children's Choir was founded in 1956 as a program of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago. Over the past 30 years it has grown from a small church chorus of two dozen enthusiastic youngsters to a choral training and performance program with an active enrollment of over 650 elementary and high school students and a staff that includes 10 professional musicians, three employed full time and seven employed part-time.
The Choir remained a program of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago until 1982. In the late 1970s, it gradually became evident that the Choir bad outgrown the management and financial capacities of the Church. In 1982, the Choir became formally independent of the Church, with its own board and administrative staff .. However, the Choir still has its headquarters in the Church building, where it leases rehearsal and office space.
The current program of the Choir has several oomponents. At its headquarters, the Choir offers a training program for approximately 250 children of whom over 110 (the "Concert Choir") perform regularly. Members of the Concert Choir give over 120 public concerts a year; typically, a singer will participate in between 25 and 30 of these concerts. In addition, the Choir operates school choruses for approximately 400 third and fourth graders
in 11 Chicago public schools who otherwise would have no formal musical education in school.
The Choir has always seen itself as having both a social and a musical mission. Its founder, Christopher Moore, is a Unitarian Universalist minister who saw the Choir as an opportunity to bring together young singers of different social, racial and economic backgrounds in a common attempt to achieve musical excellence, performing a repertoire much more diverse and challenging than children generally attempt.
Over the years the choir has performed with Lyric Opera, The Chicago Symphony, the Joffrey Ballet, and at Ravinia. It has been featured on national PBS, CBS, NBC, and ABC programs as well as on local stations. lt bas toured in Denmark, England, West Germany and regularly tours in the United States and Canada. The choir has produced five albums of its own and five more with folksinger Ella Jenkins.
Members and friends are invited to the opening of the
Hyde Park Historical Society's new exhibit, "Architectural Terra Cotta:
Ornament of Hyde Park/Kenwood Buildings" Lecture and Slide Show by
Edward A. Campbell, Architect AJA Sunday, January 25, 1987
4:00 p.m.
Refreshments
Today,the Choirhas achievedrecognitionasan integralpartofthe city'sculturalfabric.In1982, FoundingDirectorChristopherMoorereceivedthe lllinoisGovernor'sAwardfor theArts. In1984,the ChoirreceivedaBeatriceAwardforExcellenceinNonprofit
Management (with a check for $15,000). Whether singing for the King and Queen of Sweden at Mayor Byrne's reception in 1982, at the inauguration of Mayor Washington in 1983, or with major musical institutions, the Choir has achieved recognition as a symbol of Chicago's ethnic diversity and cultural pride.
Dominican Sisters Celebrate JOO Years at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish
by Sister Bennet Finnegan, O.P.
Sister Bennet was born in Hyde Park at 5433 Ellis and grew up at 5543 Ken wood, next door to Amos Stagg. She was a student at St.
Thomas the Apostle School for grades I through 12, graduating in /932; al/ended the University of Chicago, graduating in 1936; and entered the Dominican order in 1940. Sister, currently working on a history of her order, is still an enthusiastic Hyde Parker.
On December 6, 1886, four Dominican sisters from Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, journeyed to Hyde Park to open a new school for the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle. The parish, which had been a mission of St. James Church (29th and Wabash) in the mid-1860's, had assumed permanent status in 1869 and, by the mid-1880's, was ready to open a school.
The four founding sisters, Gregory Kelly, Louise Hayden, Simplicius Gallagher, and Cephas Tully, opened the school in 1887 with fifty-eight students meeting in two rooms which had been prepared for them in the church basement. The school grew quickly and soon the whole building was used for classrooms.
The St. Thomas Hall was added in 1895 in order to have a suitable place in which the children could assemble for programs and monthly reports.
In 1893 the school was given an "award of merit" for school work exhibited at the World's Fair. Mother Emily Power, provincial director of the Dominican order, advised the sisters to go to the Fair. "It will make you better teachers," she told them. During the Fair, the convent accomodated hundreds of our sisters who had come to the city to visit the Exposition. Mother Emily herself spent several weeks at the convent.
Visiting priests also found the little convent convenient for their morning masses; some mornings as many as ten masses were read in the small chapel. The church, too, was crowded to capacity and was called by Archbishop Francesco Satolli, Papal Nuncio
(Ambassador from the Vatican), another visitor to the Fair, "The Little Church of the Midway."
On the fifth of June, 1914, public school accreditors visited the school, taking over the seventh and eighth grade classes. When asked, after their classroom visit, if our school children stood any prospect of affiliation, they responded: "Affiliate the children! We would like not only to affiliate the children, but the teachers also!" And in a short time the letter of affiliation was received. (Affiliation gave a private school the right to send children on to public high school without an entrance examination.)
By 1915 there were twelve sisters, four lay teachers, and 235 pupils in the school. ln 1916, when Father Thomas V. Shannon was named pastor, improvements began quickly. A twelve room house at. 573 l Kenwood was rented for a temporary convent and the school was transferred to a sixteen room schoolhouse on the northeast corner of 57th and Kenwood.
Built in 1885 by Henry F. Starbuck, the school had housed Hyde Park High and then the Ray school. (When St. Thomas school moved to 55th and Woodlawn in 1929, the building again became a public school but has long since been torn down).
The building was repaired and put in
splendid condition for opening day when 500 students registered and the first year of our high school was opened. Elocution, art, instrumental and vocal music received special attention. A lunchroom managed by women of the parish provided a substantial lunch at a modest price. Girls wore blue serge uniforms, older boys wore khaki and little boys wore a suit and Eton collar. In 1917 a very early moving picture machine was purchased and used successfully for education and entertainment.
The war years brought many sorrows, especially a terrible epidemic of Spanish influenza which broke out in Chicago in 1918. Nine of our sisters and many of our children were infected but, thank God, we had no deaths. Schools were closed, indeed all public places were closed and our sisters helped to care for influenza patients among the poor.
On May 11, 1920, our sisters moved to a new convent built for twenty-five sisters and
designed by Barry Byrne, a student and protege of Frank Lloyd Wright. This building, as well as the church and rectory, also the work of Barry Byrne, have been designated National Landmarks because of their beauty and innovative design. In 1929 a new school building was completed housing both the elementary school and a four year high school for girls.
From the Dominican Annals 1943: "Practically every Monday morning, we watched the gathering and departure of men at the draft board across the street. The spectacle was harrowing, especially so because of the early hour (6 a.m.), the womenfolk there to say good-byes, and our souls were rent the day that the first contingent of teen-agers set out on the tragic adventure. Characteristically, they covered up their feelings with much banter and noise."
September 27, 1947 was a great day when we welcomed the new buses on 55th in place of the 100 yrs. - (Continued from Page 2)
noisy cars. A spectacular parade of floats, bands, veterans groups, and soldiers celebrated and, at the same time, comemmorated the Diamond Jubilee of village government in Hyde Park and the formal opening of the modernized East 55th Street. Mayor Kennelly visited with our sisters.
ln 1949 the old paper barn and the Scout Castle were demolished. We had always heard the paper boxes with the roller skate wheels run down the incline early in the morning. All the store buildings and apartments between Woodlawn and the church were demolished to provide space for an addition to the convent and to enlarge the school grounds.
Throughout the years our sisters enjoyed the richness of the community of Hyde Park, studied at the University, were visited by many diverse and interesting guests, and also did many works of mercy, from caring for the sick and elderly to teaching at the County jail.
Their dedication to education and to the children of St. Thomas continues today under the leadership of school principal Sister Reginalda Polk, nine other Dominican sisters, and more than twenty lay men and women. Parish priests teach regularly in the school as well. There are two classes at each grade level and over 400 students. We are full of hope for our second century.Among the new archival acquisitions is a history of the Midway of Chicago Chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons, written by one of our own members, Howard Jackson. The history describes the founding of the chapter, its activities over the pa t decade, and its officers and members. It will be a valuable addition to our collection of organiza tional histories.
Ozzie (Oswelda) Badal, long involved in community work, an early block organizer, and for a time Executive Director of the Hyde
Park-Kenwood Community Conference, has given us a number of items related to Urban Renewal. The collection includes "A Report to the Community," prepared by the Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference in 1951; the "Community Appraisal Study," published by the Conference and the South Side Planning Board in 1952; "The Hyde Park-Kenwood Ur ban Renewal Survey," 1956; "The Central South Area Plan," 1960, prepared by the
Department of City Planning; "The Hyde
Park-Kenwood Urban Renewal Project," 1961, issued by the Community Conservation Board; "The Community Measurement Survey," prepared by Leo J. Shapiro and Associates in 1962; the "Development Plan of the South West Hyde Park Neighborhood Redevelopment Corporation," I 956; "A Report on the North Kenwood-Oakland Community Development Project," I 964; and the 1965 and 1970 reports of the Chicago Department of Urban Renewal.
These materials are being placed with the other papers of the Hyde Park Historical Society that are currently housed in Regenstein Library in the Department of Special Collec tions. Because of their size and the need for them to be stored flat, the Pre-Urban Renewal maps have been placed in one of the University Archives file drawers. lnterested students should contact the University Archivist to see and study these maps.
EARL B. DICKERSON AND HYDE PARK
By Robert J. Blakely
"The victors are soon conquered by the vices of the vanquished." The Northern states il lustrated this aphorism after the American
Civil War. They rapidly adopted the Jim Crow laws or practices that the Southern states had invented after the defeat of Reconstruction. In 1907-1908, when Earl B. Dickerson was work ing his way through a semester at the Universi ty of Chicago High School, he found in Chicago a situation that in ways did not differ from that in Canton, Mississippi, from which he had fled in I907, shortly before his I6th birthday. The white citizens of Hyde Park had driven out the few Negroes remaining in the community. In evenings, when the youthful Dickerson was returning to his room in the Negro ghetto from mowing lawns or shoveling walks in Hyde Park, policemen would often stop him and ask, "What are you doing in this neighborhood, boy?"
Beginning in 1927, white residents in Chicago had found a way better than violence to keep Negroes from owning and renting in "threaten ed" areas. That was the race restrictive housing covenant (invented on the West Coast against Orientals and adopted in St. Louis against Negroes and other minorities as early as 1910). Such a covenant is a mutual agreement entered into by a group of property owners not in any way to convey a property to Negroes or other specified minorities. The agreement was made to "run with the land"--that is, to be binding on subsequent owners even though they might not know about it.
The first case to challenge the enforceability of a restrictive covenant was Hansberry and Others v. Lee in 1940. Carl Hansberry was the father of Lorraine Hansberry, who later wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun. In 1937 he had bought and occupied a property at 6140 Rhodes, south of Washington Park, in an area covered by a race restrictive covenant. The "others" with Hansberry included Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, which had loaned Hansberry money to buy the property, and the president of the company, who also had bought a property in the restricted area. Earl Dickerson represented the company and its president. C. Francis Stradford represented Hansberry.
Anna Lee and others, members of the
Woodlawn Property Owners Association and signers of the covenant, applied to and received from the Circuit Court an injuction against Hansberry, Supreme Liberty, its president, and others. Dickerson, Stradford, and their colleagues appealed the injunction to the nlinois Supreme Court, which, without hearing, affirmed the in junction of the Circuit Court and denied the attorneys' appeal for a rehearing. Dickerson and Stradford and their colleagues applied to the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari (an order from a higher to a lower court to send up the records for review). The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari of Hansberry
v. Lee on April 22, 1940.
During the progress of the case, Dickerson, Irwin C. Mollison, and Loring C. Moore, all graduates of the University of Chicago Law School and all on brief in the Hansberry case, talked with Robert M. Hutchins, president of the university, trying to persuade him to keep the university at least neutral, but, according to Dickerson, the university paid, at least in part, the fees of the attorneys for the association. In 1983 Dickerson said:
Hutchins expressed the fear that if blacks moved into that neighborhood, the value of the property of the university would depreciate and the whole university would suffer. I have no grudge against Hutchins for this. In fact, I ad mire him for much that he did. But I can 'I give him any bouquets for the position he took on the restrictive covenant.
The case was argued before the full U.S. Supreme Court on October 25, 1940. Dickerson argued for Hansberry and the others. He established that the covenant of the Woodlawn Property Owners Association had been signed by the owners of only 54 percent of the front age, not the 95 percent required to be effective. Dickerson argued also on the larger point that all race restrictive covenants were unen forceable because they violated the guarantees of due process and equal protection of the law in the 14th Amendment.
On November 12, 1940, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided for Hansberry against Lee. It decided that the covenant had not met its own conditions. The court left unresolved the basic issue of due process and equal protection. '
One immediate effect of the Hansberry deci sion was to open up to Negroes all properties between 60th and 63rd Streets and between South Parkway (now King Drive) and Cottage Grove; the area soon became almost entirely Negro-owned and -occupied.
Another immediate effect was panic among the whites in Hyde Park and southeast Chicago. Race restrictive covenants multiplied and were shored up to meet their own condi tions to be valid. For example, the percentage of neighborhood improvement associations in Chicago having race restrictive covenants rose from about 75 per cent in 1940 to 100 per cent in 1945.'
The Hyde Park Property Owners, Inc., of Chicago, in its 1943 report, devoted an entire section to the justification of racial restrictions. Two years later it led the fight to exclude Negr.o WAC's, on duty at Gardiner General Hospital, from residence in the army barracks situated at 49th and the lake. The neighborhood newspaper, the Hyde Park Herald, propagandized against the presence of
the Negro WAC's, and a formal protest, joined in by several other improvement and merchant associations, was sent to the War Department.'
(Bruce Sagan bought the Hyde Park Herald in 1953, announcing that it would support in terracial community development).
The number of terroristic attacks on Negro homes in Chicago--many in Hyde Park and southeast Chicago--during the two years from
May I, I 944, to July 20, 1946, was 46; this number was almost double the 24 such attacks occurring within the two-year period--July I, 1917, to July 27, I 9 I 9--preceding the Chicago race riots of 1919.'
In 1948 the V.S. Supreme Court, in three cases, decided that no race restrictive covenant was enforceable because all violated the guarantees of the 14th Amendment.' Dickerson participated in all three cases. As a member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, he was "on brief" in the first; as a member of the ex ecutive committee of the National Lawyers Guild and president of the National Bar Association, he was "friend of the court" in the other two.
Nationwide panic among urban whites followed the complete removal of the en forceability of all race restrictive housing covenants, particularly in Chicago.
Based on extensive studies in Chicago, two authors put forward the concept that all whites were replaced by all Negroes in a particular area through a process of four successive stages: (I) "penetration," (2) "invasion," (3) "consolidation," and (4) "piling up" (this last stage becoming a prelude to the extension of the process to adjacent areas.) The authors carefully wrote:
There is no implication that the sequence, once begun, necessarily continues to comple tion ... As a matter of definition, there is nothing to preclude the halting, or even the reversal of the cycle of succession.
However ... this is unlikely to happen.•
But this is exactly what did happen in the area known as Hyde Park.
Dickerson, who had been the foremost figure in breaking race restrictive covenants in Chicago, was a leader in this "deliberate at tempt to create interracial neighborhoods with high community standards in Hyde Park." He did so in several ways.
One was to become a member of a commit tee chaired by Henry Heald, then president of the IUinos Institute of Technology, to persuade the policy-makers of the major institutions of the South Side to stay where they were and to cooperate in building interracial, stable, high quality neighborhoods.' This committee went to the policy-makers of such institutions as the University of Chicago, George Williams Col lege, Mercy Hospital, and Michael Reese Hospital. These pivotal institutions were seriously considering moving away. The Heald committee pointed to an alternative: On December 12, 1949, representatives of fifty civic and religious organizations signed the first policy statement of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference; its goal was to create a "stabilized, integrated community of high standards."' Deciding to stay, Michael Reese joined 1.1.T. in leading the formation of the South Side Planning Board and working with city officials. The New York Life Insurance Company was induced to invest in a large pioneering project in middle-income racially in tegrated housing and business facilites, the Lake Meadows enterprise. One result was the similar Prairie Shores project, just to the north. East of that, Michael Reese's expansion, eliminating many slum structures, produced a "campus" of new hospital buildings. I.LT. transformed its neighborhood into a showcase for the talents of Mies Van der Rohe. Mercy Hospital expanded and rebuilt its plant. The other major institutions responded in various ways. [n 1962 George Williams College decided to move to the suburbs. The University of Chicago, on May 19, 1952, led in the founding of the South East Chicago Commission. Even tually the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference and the South East Chicago Com mission cooperated in implementing a com prehensive plan for the entire lakeside area
from 47th Street to 60th Street and from Cot tage Grove to Lake Michigan.
Dickerson was a charter member of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference and a board member of the South East Chicago Commission from its beginning. As Chairman of the planning committee of the Drexel Boulevard Block Organization, he urged its members to support the Hyde Park-Kenwood Conference. He became an original board member of the Hyde Park Savings and Loan Association, incorporated in 1963, whose prime purpose was to be a catalyst in the community for interracial development.
He gave leadership in many ways through the Supreme Liberty, now Supreme Life In surance Company. ln 1942 he had become its vice-president in charge of loans and invest ment, while remaining its general counsel. He was president of Supreme from October 1955 to April 197 J, chairman of its board from I97 I to 1973, and honorary chairman of its board
and financial adviser from I973 until his death. In 1957 Dickerson, then president of
Supreme Life, accepted membership on the board of the South Side Bank and Trust Com pany, at Cottage Grove and 47th Street. He was the first black to be elected to the board of any white banking institution in Chicago. He explained that one reason he had accepted membership was that the bank "has assured
me it will concern itself with the problems of mortgage loans in the community."
The Hyde Park Herald devoted much of its January I, 1969, issue to a series of articles on "Urban Renewal Since 1949." The editorial of that day began: " ... what's most im-
pressive ... is how much remains to be done." The same words could be used to introduce a survey in 1986. And to his end Dickerson did what he could to realize his goal of equality of liberty, justice, and opportunity for all people- in the world ("I am a citizen of the world," he often said), in the United States, and in Hyde Park. He and his wife, Kathryn, lived at 5027 South Drexel from August 1949--as soon as they could "invade" the previously restricted area--until 1963, when they rented an apart ment in the just opened Newport, 4800
Chicago Beach Drive. There they lived until Kathryn was confined to a nursing home, where she died in 1980. That year Newport went condominium, and Dickerson bought his apartment, where he died on September I, 1986, at the age of ninety-five.
In I 984 he established an endowed scholar ship fund at the University of Chicago Law School. On August 10--three weeks before his death--in a speech to the national convention of his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, he an nounced the establishment of an endowed scholarship fund in the Kappa Foundation.
Further documents concerning these en dowments, which he had instructed his office at Supreme to mail, reached his relatives and friends the day after they learned of his death.
The story of Hyde Park between 1948 and today--the contrast between what it had been and what it aspires to be--is a case study in leadership. The questions are: Who takes the lead? Toward what goals? Earl Dickerson led, first, against racism and injustice; then he join ed with others of all races in leading toward in terracial cooperation and equality of justice and opportunity.
He was a paradoxical combination of a suc cessful businessman, a history-making lawyer, an effective radical, and an uncompromising integrationist--one who opposed both segrega tion enforced by the whites and secession by the blacks, who considered assimilation or voluntary separatism matters of freedom of in dividual choice within our pluralistic society.
'However, in proving that the Hansberry case was not res judicata (already decided) in a previous case, Dickerson raised the issue of the limits to class suits. The U.S. Supreme Court devoted one-third of its discussion to this point, and their decision on the limits to class suits has become widely applied in many cases other than those dealing with covenants. As of September 1983, the Hansberry case had been cited as a controlling authority in 665 other cases, as shown by Shephard's Citations--a legal service used by lawyers and judges.
'Herman H. Long and Charles S. Johnson, People vs. Property: Race Restrictive Covenants. Nashville, Tenn.: Fisk University Press, 1947, p. 43. The number of such covenants in Southside Chicago rose from about 180 in 1940 to about 220 in 1945. Ibid., p. 13.
'Ibid., p. 50. Other organizations protesting the presence of Negro WAC's included the Wooc:Uawn Property Owners Association, the 53rd and 55th Street Business Men's Association, and others.
'Long and Johnson, with source, pp. 73-74.
'These were Shelley v. Kramer, Sipes v. McGhee, and Hurd v. Hodge. The first two involved state courts. The third involved federal courts. All were decid ed on May 3, 1948. Race restrictive covenants as private agreements were not declared unconstitutional.
'Otis D. Duncan and Beverly Duncan. The Negro Population of Chicago: A Study of Residential Succession. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957, p. 11.
'This committee was formed in 1950, after Lawrence Kimpton succeeded Robert M. Hutchins as president of the University of Chicago.
'For details, see Julia Abrahamson. A Neighborhood Finds Itself. New York: Harper, 1959. Abrahamson was the first director of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference.
Hyde Park Historical Society Oral History Project leads to Dickerson Biography
(Editor's Note)
On July 19, 1983, the Hyde Park Historical Society Oral History Committee--with Victor Obenhaus as its chairman and Robert Blakely and Jay Mulberry as members--taped an inter view with Earl B. Dickerson. Mr. Blakely was deeply impressed by the stature and ac complishments of Mr. Dickerson and asked if his biography had ever been written. "No," said Mr. D. "No one has ever wanted to write it. ,,
Blakely felt it was imperative such a project be undertaken, and, since Dickerson was at that time already ninety-two years old, he decided he should take on the task immediate/} himself. (Dickerson was at first suspicious of Blakely's motives, but gradually came to trust him.)
Subsequently there were thirty-eight taped formal interviews with Dickerson, thirty-nine with colleagues, associates, and friends, also letters and countless telephone conversations.
The two men became fast friends. Dickerson liked to call Blakely his Boswell. At a dinner party in the home of Dickerson's daughter, Diane Montgomery, and family on June 22, in celebration of Dickerson's ninety-fifth birth day, Blakely 's gift to Dickerson was a photo of himself, inscribed: "To the older brother I never had, from the younger brother you never had."
The biography, tentatively titled Earl B. Dickerson: Uncompromising Voice for Freedom and Equality, is under consideration for publication by the University of Illinois Press. It is the first full-length book to grow from a Hyde Park Historical Society project.
Dickerson had been eagerly looking forward to the autographing party.
About the Author
After undergraduate studies at the University of Iowa and graduate study in history at Harvard, Robert Blakely has had a varied career. He was editoria.l writer and editor on the Des Moines Register and Tribune, the St. Louis Star-Times, and the Chicago Daily News. He was head of the Bureau of Special Audiences in the Office of War Information and forward observer for artillery in the U.S. Marines during World War II. He was vice president of the Fund for Adult Education, a subsidiary of the Ford Foundation. He was professor and dean of extension at the University of Iowa and adjunct professor at Syracuse University. He has written for many professional journals and several general magazines, including Foreign Affairs, The New Republic, and Travel. Among his published works are a history of public broadcasting, a philosophy of programming for public television, and a set of four studies on continuing education for health manpower. He and his wife, Alta, have travelled widely. He has delivered papers at several international conferences, including UNESCO. He lived in Hyde Park from 1952 to 1956. Since 1963 he has lived at 5418 S. Blackstone Ave.
Hyde Park Place Cafe Opens ...
by Devereux Bowly
The interior reconstruction of the building was done by Marsha and Julius Thomas, to house their Hyde Park Place Cafe, which will be operated year-round. The restaurant opened recently, and has been doing a good business. An Open House for our members will be held in the Spring.
We take pride in the fact that the Society acted as the catalyst for this highly successful park preservation effort. As you remember, the building was burned-out and slated for demoli tion when we began. There are already indica tions our work will be emulated by other groups in other parks.
This Newsletter is published four times a year by the Hyde Park Historical Society a not-for profit organization organized in 1975 to record, preserve, and promote public interest in the history of Hyde Park. Its headquarters, located in an 1893 restored cable car station at 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue, houses local ex hibits. It is open to the public, Saturdays, 2-4
p. m., Sundays, 2-4 p.m. Telephone: HY-3-1893.
President..................................... Devereux Bowly
Editors......................................... Anita Anderson
Rita Dukette Penny Johnson Theresa McDermoll
Regular membership in the Society is $10 per year; contributing membership, $25; sponsors,
$50; benefactors, $100.
We are pleased toreport on ourprojecttorestoretheformerlawnbowlingclubhouseat5312CottageGrove Avenue,inWashingtonPark.As youknow, the Society undertooktheexteriorrestoration ofthe building. The workwascompletedduring thesummer,onbudget.We raised $10,710 fortherenovation.Wethankthose who made the projectpossible,especiallythe 130 contributors. The fund raising effort was spearheadedby our vice president, Jay Mulberry,andby TimGoodsell,president ofthe Hyde ParkBank and TrustCompany.Alsoinvaluablewereourarchitect,MarkFrisch, and anothervolunteer,LarryTerp, who worked on the constructionjob eachSaturdayfortwomonths.Theendeavorhasreceived complete cooperationand supportfromthe fine new administration attheChicagoParkDistrict.