Showing posts with label 1986. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1986. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

July 21, 1986 -- Page Brothers Building, Loops Oldest, Undergoing Renovation

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July 21, 1986 -- The Page Brothers building on the southeast corner of State and Lake Streets, a project that is being done in conjunction with the renovation of the Chicago Theater just to the south, a structure that wraps around the Page Brothers building on two sides.  The idea is to redevelop the Page Brothers building so that it can help subsidize the expense of operating the theater.  The commercial building was designed just after the Chicago fire of 1871 by John Mills Van Osdel as a tannery and warehouse.  It is one of only two buildings in the Loop to have a cast-iron front, which faces Lake Street, harkening back to a time when Lake Street, and not State Street, was the prominent high-end business address in the Loop.  Unfortunately, over a century after it was built, it is in bad shape.  The basement had an earthen floor, which conducted water into the theater next door.  Floors were sagging, timber framing was rotting, and years of neglect gave rehabilitation architect Coffey and Associates a real challenge.  The architects came up with a plan with 20,000 square feet of retail space on the first and second floors and 44,000 square feet of offices above, including 7,200 square feet in a penthouse to be constructed on the roof and set back so that it is not visible from the street.  If you are in mind to gaze at what is arguably the oldest building in the Loop, stand on the corner of Lake and State Streets and look up as the elevated trains go screeching and rattling past.  That cast iron façade is quite a thing.  The black and white photo above shows the Page Brothers building when it was relatively new. The second photo shows the building as it appears today.
July 21, 1963 – In a pictorial essay, the Chicago Tribune highlights the “building boom” that is under way in the city, highlighting five big projects: (1) Carl Sandburg Village on North La Salle Street; (2) the Outer Drive East apartment on Randolph Street near the lakefront; (3) the new federal office building (now the Dirksen Federal Courthouse) on Dearborn Street between Adams and Jackson; (4) the new Midwest headquarters of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States on Michigan Avenue between the river and Tribune Tower, and (5) the Civic Center (now the Richard J. Daley Center) just beginning to rise east of the City-County building on Clark Street.  These were heady days in the city, as bold new structures rose throughout the decade in the city that worked.  The model for Sandburg Village, minus the brick walls that hide everything from view, is shown in the above photo.

July 21, 1919 – The Chicago City Council passes two huge ordinances that will, together, have an immense impact on the future of the city.  One is the lake front development ordinance, adopted by a vote of 66 to 2.  This decision ratifies an agreement between the city, the South Park Commission, and the Illinois Central Railroad, restricting development on the lakefront from the Chicago River all the way to Forty-Seventh Street.  The other act submits bond issues for street improvements totaling $28,600,000 that will be on the ballot for approval in November.  Charles H. Wacker, head of the Chicago Plan Commission, says, “This is the greatest day, barring none, in Chicago’s history. It means more to the growth, development, and greatness of the city than anything which has heretofore happened . . . When these improvements are completed this city will have passed from the provincial town class to a real metropolitan city.”  The photo above shows the lake front five years later in 1924.

July 21, 1919 – The lead in today’s Chicago Daily Tribune packs a powerful punch, “Not since the disastrous fire of ’71 has the city council at any one meeting considered improvement ordinances of such far reaching effect.”  This is the day that the City Council votes on a budget package that will potentially lead to more than $195,000,000 in city improvements, including the completion of a bridge across the river at Michigan Avenue.  There is apparently no opposition to the plans.  “So anxious are the large majority of the aldermen to make Chicago go ahead that it is proposed now that plans be considered at once for initiation of improvements next year,” the Tribune reports.  [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 21,1919]  Bond issues will lead to the widening of Ogden, Ashland, Western, Robey (now Damen), and South Water Streets.  Two million dollars will cover the cost of finishing Michigan Avenue.  Up to $30,000,000 will cover “reclaiming and improving submerged lands between Grant and Jackson parks.”  Aside from the money involved, the council will ask for an investigation of civic improvements in Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis and St. Paul because “Charles H. Wacker of the Chicago plan commission has repeatedly stated that these cities are attempting to become real rivals to Chicago in trade, commerce, manufacturing and municipal improvements.”  The above photo shows the proposal of the Chicago Plan Commission for eliminating the South Water Street markets and improving the area just south of the river.
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July 21, 1861 – The longest train ever to enter the city arrives on the Illinois Central Railroad as 80 cars, stretching over a half-mile, bring nearly 900 tons of wheat to the Chicago market.  It would be three more years before the Chicago Board of Trade is organized as a means to establish standardized futures contracts in a setting where buyers and sellers could exchange commodities.  Given the size of the train that arrived on this day in 1861, and, considering the fact that over 180 more cars arrived during the two days that followed, it is not difficult to understand how quickly the power of the Board of Trade grew once it was established.  The above illustration shows the lakefront and the Illinois Central operation in the 1860's, looking north from what is today Roosevelt Road.
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Monday, December 2, 2019

December 2, 1986 -- White Sox Stadium Deal Goes into Extra Innings

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December 2, 1986 – Executives from the Chicago White Sox, joined by Chicago city officials, meet with Governor James Thompson concerning their plan to build a new baseball park near Comiskey Field, the current home of the White Sox.  Thompson is less than enthusiastic, saying before the meeting, “It’s a nice try, but it’s the product of a negotiation between the mayor and the White Sox without the presence of the state, so we’ll have to modify it a little bit.”  [Chicago Tribune, December 3, 1986]  The plan, a product of prolonged negotiations between Mayor Harold Washington and White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, has a number of key provisions.  First, it leads to the construction of a 50,000-seat, open-air complex built by a city-state authority with a seven-member governing board.  The mayor would appoint three members, and the governor would do the same with a chairman agreed upon by both.  Secondly, the authority would be given the authority to sell up to $120 million in municipal bonds.  Third, the White Sox would pay the authority at least $4 million a year in rent along with a sliding scale percentage of attendance dollars whenever that attendance exceeds 1.5 million people.  Fourth, the Sox will operate and maintain the stadium, paying all costs, including insurance.  The governing authority would have the ability to book other attractions as long as they did not interfere with the schedule of baseball games.  Fifth, the authority would have the power to levy a 2 percent tax on the rental of city hotel rooms with at least $1 million of the proceeds going for improvements in the area around the stadium.  Finally, if stadium rental and the hotel tax fail to cover the governing authority’s obligations, the city and state would each pay $5 million of the shortfall.  Thompson objects to several of these provisions, saying, “That would be the first time to my knowledge that the city would be ever able to impose those kinds of controls over a state authority, and I don’t think that’s appropriate.”  Failure of the legislature to approve the measure before the end of the week would result in a setback of months since legislators will not meet again until January 14 in a shortened session.  It was a close call.  In the first vote on December 5, the measure falls six votes short of the 60 votes necessary in the Illinois House after the Senate had earlier approved it, 30-24, the exact number required.  The measure is re-introduced in a parliamentary maneuver and is approved by four votes in the second attempt.  Reinsdorf says, “We don’t know a lot about politics, but we know a lot about winning close ballgames in extra innings.”  [Chicago Tribune, December 6, 1986]  The above photo shows the new home of the White Sox rising as the old Comiskey Park sits in the background, waiting to be razed.

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December 2, 1962 – The Chicago Daily Tribune reports that the J. S. James and Company has plans to build a $6 million, ten-story co-operative apartment building on the site of the Vista del Lago Beach Club. In razing the club in what came to be known as “No Man’s Land,” between Kenilworth and Wilmette, the end comes for a project that was “the north shore’s symbol for the soaring optimism of the 1920’s – and the crushing disillusionment of the depression years.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, December 2, 1962]  Vista del Lago was the brainchild of Commodore J. Stuart Blackton, who spent $1.5 million in 1926 to build “the envy of Lido and the despair of southern California and Florida.”  At $330 per year members would be able “to avail themselves of a clubhouse, patio, ballroom, terrace, theater, Turkish bath, dining room and grill.” [Chicago Tribune, December 28, 1986]  By 1930 the club, “painted in vivid reds and yellows,” had more than 500 members, but the Great Depression put an end to plans that had the club rising to ten stories, “the tallest building for several miles around and visible from nearly all points along the North Shore.”  The posh beginnings deteriorated to the point where a state legislator called the area “a slot machine and keno sin center where college students were being debauched with beer, hard liquor and fireworks.” [livinghistoryofillnois.com]  Fire destroyed much of the building as the 1930’s came to an end.  In early January of 1942 Wilmette annexed “No Man’s Land.”   It took some time for the area to shake its tawdry reputation, but in the mid-1960’s development began, and Plaza del Lago was born, “a robust mix of on-trend and classic with its diverse mix of leading retailers, one-of-a-kind boutiques, distinctive restaurants, grocery and services.” [plazadellago.com]  In January of 2018 Retail Properties of America purchased the shopping center at Plaza del Lago for $48 million.  The top photo shows the area in 1965 just after development began.  The photo below that shows the same area as it appears today.


December 2, 1967 – The New York Central Railroad’s Twentieth Century Limited pulls out of the LaSalle Street station for the final time.  No ceremony is held to mark the occasion as the 250 passengers on board settle in for the overnight trip to New York City.  Dale Hoffman, a conductor on the train for 15 years, says, “There was no announcement made of the last run, and no ceremony is planned as far as I know.  The Limited is just making another run as far as the railroad is concerned.” [Chicago Tribune, December 3, 1967] The Limited made its first run 64 years earlier, carrying 27 passengers on atrip that took 20 hours. The train will be replaced with a slower train that makes more stops.  The romance will be gone from a train that inspired plays and movies … the new train will be known simply as Number 28.



 December 2, 1945 – Before it falls to the wreckers, the mansion of Cyrus Hall McCormick at 675 North Rush Street is opened to Chicago Daily Tribune reporter Edward Barry for one last look.  Barry writes, “To a person entering the old house suddenly from the busy streets of the near north side the impression was strong that he had stepped into a more tranquil, a more spacious age.  Before him heavy walls of mellow walnut converged toward the fireplace set into the far wall . . . In an austere room to the right of the entrance hall were found the objects of art which the McCormicks brought back with them from their trips to Europe, and had sent to them from the ends of the earth.  China of every imaginable design huddled under dust cloths . . . The deserted rooms were empty and cold.  Where open fires formerly crackled and laughter resounded there was nothing to be heard but the hushed voice of the traffic outside.”  [Chicago Daily Tribune, December 2, 1945]  The 35-room mansion, reportedly patterned after a wing of the Louvre, took five years to build and was finished in 1879.  After World War II ended, though, the old world order, at least as far as elaborate urban mansions for the rich were concerned, began to give way, and the McCormick mansion was finally demolished in 1955.
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