October 19, 1971 -- The final attempt to save the
old Chicago Stock Exchange building fails as Judge Edward J. Egan of the
Circuit Court rules against a petition to force City Council action on the
recommendation of the Chicago Landmarks Commission that the building be
designated a landmark. When the decision
is announced, the president of the Landmarks Preservation Council, Richard
Miller, says, “if we do not have any encouragement from the mayor’s office, we
will not appeal.” [Chicago Tribune,
October 20, 1971] The building, located at the corner of Washington
Boulevard and Monroe Street, was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. It
will be gone by the end of 1972 although its entrance arch and trading room are
preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago. Preservationist and photo-journalist Richard Nickel took this photo of the Stock Exchange trading room, now preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago. It would be 22 days before his body would be found in the rubble of the demolished building.
October 19, 1890 – In an editorial the Chicago Daily Tribune takes on the Illinois Central Railroad over its use of lakefront property. As the city prepares for “its grand building which is to house art treasures” [Chicago Daily Tribune, October 19, 1890] the battle over lakefront property, long occupied by the railroad, becomes more and more heated. The paper declares, “When the time comes for filling the submerged lands out to the dock line and making a park for the benefit of the city and State the Illinois Central should be required to do the work and foot the bill, and it need not cost Chicago a cent.” At this time the Illinois Central operated on a trestle built above the lake, running parallel to Michigan Avenue. The paper’s argument is to let the railroad fill in the space between the trestle and dry land, create new land east of the trestle, and fill in the space between the existing tracks and the land to the west. It says of the arrangement, “If a fair arrangement were made between the road and the city the latter would get much-needed room for new tracks, depots, warehouses, and elevators. Its receipts from leases and from its regular business would be increased. The State would be a gainer, for its 7 per cent on the gross income of the road would be larger. Chicago would be a gainer, for it would have on the front of the city a fine park two miles long. The Art Building would look all the handsomer for the broad open space to the east of it. By raising the surface of the park a little above street grade and depressing the tracks on the new right of way a few feet only the tops of the cars and engines could be seen from Michigan avenue and the esthetes would rejoice.” The trick is to get the railroad to find the $5,000,000 and the civic generosity to agree to the plan. The above photo shows the Illinois Central lakefront trestle at the right and the lagoon to the west, somewhat north of where today's Art Institute stands.
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