Thursday, March 1, 2018

March 1, 1959 -- Wrigley Daughter Tries to Calm Upset Father




March 1, 1959 – Mrs. Dorothy Wrigley Rich Chauncey, the newly married daughter of Philip K. Wrigley, says “the only thing marring her happiness was her father’s ire at her elopement and marriage.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, March 2, 1959] “I have the utmost respect and love for my parents,” the new bride says. “The last thing I want to do or ever intended to do was hurt them.  We both feel badly about the way they apparently feel.  But I’m sure time will heal all of this.”  On February 28 Wrigley Rich Chauncey eloped to Albuquerque, New Mexico with Chauncey “a white haired grandfather,” Phoenix, Arizona radio station executive, and “man-about-town who first arrived in that city on a freight car.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, March 1, 1959] Under Arizona law the new bride’s divorce decree from a previous marriage is still not final, but the elopement and marriage in Albuquerque avoids the technicality.  The perturbed father of the bride says, “I thought I had an understanding with my daughter that she would wait for the year after the divorce before getting married again.  We expected that she probably would go back east with her children this summer and see her old friends.  I know she has been feeling marooned out here.”  Reached at his suite in the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix and asked about reports that he might disinherit the new Mrs. Chauncey, Wrigley says, “That’s a little strong.  Let’s say she will not be considered an active member of the family.”


March 1, 1971 – Piper’s Alley, the big tourist draw in Old Town, is evacuated as fire is discovered in the loft of the Playwright’s Center, a four-story building that forms the west end of the U-shaped commercial center.  Two thousand spectators watch from the streets, and a hundred diners are evacuated from That Steak Joynt at 1610 Wells Street as a precaution.  Fire fighters say that every one of the 15 shops that make up the alley will suffer some smoke or water damage.  Fortunately the glass blower at the entrance to the alley remains unscathed.


March 1, 1872 -- The stockholders of the former Chicago White Stockings Baseball Club meet at Brewster's Hat Store on State Street near Twentieth Street to hear a report on how the earnings from the previous year will be divided among the players. The books for the club were lost in the Great Fire of 1871, which also brought about the demise of the club as the city struggled to rebuild. The White Stockings played their first professional game on April 29, 1870, beating the Louisville Unions, 47-1. Their name played off the popularity of the first successful professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The White Stockings were in contention throughout that 1871 season, and in September were tied for first with the Philadelphia Athletics. Then in October the fire destroyed the team's ballpark, clubhouse and uniforms. In borrowed uniforms the team finished the season just two games out of first place. A new White Stockings team with no connection to the first one was formed in 1874, and that team was the progenitor of today's Chicago Cubs.

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