June 7, 1924 – President Calvin Coolidge signs 105 Acts of Congress, including an
act that will permit Chicago to construct a new channel for the south branch of
the river between West Polk Street and West Nineteenth Street, straightening the
river so that it will meet the demands of the city’s future transportation
plans. This is a huge project that will
finally get rolling in September of 1928. A May, 1929 article in Popular
Mechanics Magazine evaluated the massive project in this way, “Railroad
yards on one side of the river had to be sold to rival railroads on the other
side, as they changed locations when the stream was moved. The
readjustment also took a kink out of all the railroads entering two big
terminals, the LaSalle and Grand Central depots.” It took just 15 months for the huge project
to be completed. For more information on
the straightening of the river, you can turn to this section of the blog.
June 7, 2000 – The Chicago Tribune reports that as the Coe mansion awaits the wreckers on Dearborn Street, the Daley administration proposes landmark district status to protect buildings along a half-mile stretch of Dearborn, all of which were built in the 1870’s and 1880’s in the decade or so after the Chicago fire. The proposal would grant the structures preliminary landmark status, triggering a year-long process of public hearings if new construction or alterations are proposed. “Once a demolition permit is granted, our hands are tied,” says a spokesman for the city’s Planning Department, Becky Carroll. “Getting these buildings on the docket gives the city the ability to save them.” [Chicago Tribune, June 7, 2000] The threat to the Coe Mansion, which housed a popular Renalli’s Restaurant and which actually did end up being torn down, generated a new unity among various preservation groups. Out of the struggle to save the building Preservation Chicago was born.
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