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| "Regeneration" by Henry Hering |
March
23, 1921 – Two gifts of $50,000 are unveiled, one from William
Wrigley, Jr. and the other from the trustees of the Ferguson Fund, with the
money underwriting a plan “to make the new Michigan avenue bridge with its
approaches one of the show places of the world and a link between the Chicago
of today and the village of the historic past.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, March 24, 1921] Charles H. Wacker, Chairman
of the Chicago Plan Commission, says, “Not only for the direct result, but also
for its influence toward the finest and better city of the future, do we value
these public spirited benefactions. They
cannot fail to point the way to others who will be called upon to aid in
embellishing the improved South Water street.
Decorative features and sculpture must be provided to make the Chicago
river attractive like European water courses, and an object of beauty instead
of ugliness.” The plan is to create bridgehouses on each corner of the bridge
that will tell the story of the history that has taken place in the location
where the new bridge crosses the river.
The bridgehouse at the northeast corner stands approximately at the spot
where the first non-native American settler, Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable,
built his home. At the southwest corner stood
the site of Fort Dearborn. The
sculptures that grace the bridgehouses today are a direct result of the gifts
of 1921. Wrigley’s contribution made
possible the work on the north side of the bridge. The Discoverers by James Earle Fraser shows four early discoverers
who explored the area in the seventeenth century. The Pioneers depicts early settler John Kinzie leading a group through the wilderness. The sculptures on the southern bridgehouses
were commissioned by the B. F. Ferguson Monument Fund and are the work of Henry
Hering. Defense depicts Ensign George Ronan in a scene
from the 1812 Battle of Fort Dearborn, and Regeneration depicts
workers rebuilding Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. As a kick sometime when you are
passing by the Regeneration sculpture
on the southeast bridgehouse, check out that funky salamander nipping at that
stalwart female’s ankles. Symbolism
a-plenty.
March 23, 1963 – An estimated half-million people turn out “in sparkling spring weather” [Chicago Tribune, March 24, 1963] to greet President John F. Kennedy, jamming the route of his motorcade “wherever he traveled during his four hour stay.” Secret service agents and police officers scramble at one point as the president orders his limousine stopped on the Cumberland Avenue overpass and gets out to shake hands with members of a crowd of several hundred people who had gathered at that location. Under the Lake Street viaduct on the expressway workers remove the plastic bubble top of the limousine and haul it away in a city truck. “Then, with the warm spring breezes ruffling his hair, Mr. Kennedy began his entry into the Loop, an entry made almost triumphant as the nation’s biggest Democratic organization turned all-out to greet the President and their mayoral candidate [Mayor Richard J. Daley] in the April 2 election.” Another moment that took the motorcade by surprise occurs on Jackson Boulevard, which is “the domain of the various ward organization delegations.” The bridge tender on Jackson gives the procession a salute by ringing the bridge’s bells and activating its flashing lights. The bridge remains stationary, though, and where “Jackson boulevard slashes thru the city’s financial district, the air was filled with confetti and ticker tape.” With temperatures near 60 degrees and bright sunshine throughout his short stay in the city, the president doubly felt the warmth of his Chicago welcome.
March 23, 1946 -- The United States Navy announces that the 265-foot U. S. S. Willmette will be sold, closing a chapter in Chicago history that began in 1903 when the ship was built as a freighter. It was almost immediately converted to a passenger ship that could hold as many as 2,000 people. The name of the ship was the Eastland, the ship that took 812 people to their graves when it capsized in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915. After she was raised, the Navy purchased the hulk and converted it to a training ship with a new name. Captain E. A. Evers, who lived in Willmette, and other interested citizens, were successful in having the ship named after that North Shore community. The Navy found no buyers for the ship, and it was decommissioned and broken up for scrap in that same year of 1946.
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