Connecting the Windy City

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

December 25, 1969 -- Holy Name Cathedral Reopens after Nearly Two Years

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holynamecathedral.org

December 25, 1969 – Christmas Day begins joyfully as 1,500 people celebrate the birth of Christ at a midnight mass in Holy Name Cathedral, the first service to be held there since it was closed for renovation on April 15, 1968.  During his homily John Patrick Cardinal Cody tells the gathered parishioners that the reopening of the cathedral is a “rebirth of an age-old monument” that stands as “a bridge to our ancestors.”  [Chicago Tribune, December 25, 1969]  The service is not without controversy, and two different protests occur, despite the solemnity and joy of the service.  During the offertory 60 members of the Ad Hoc Committee for Peace on Earth walk out of the cathedral, protesting the “pompous spending of more than 5.5 million dollars to remodel the temple ... when people are hungry at home and starving abroad, when there is no room for many poor children in parochial schools, when there is no room for many poor Christians in the cathedral-palace, and when it is too expensive to have a fair employment requirement on church spending.”  The group marches in the midst of a three-inch snowfall to the water tower where an alternative service is conducted.  Protests are also heard from the more than 400 people who are turned away from the service to which more than 1,000 worshipers are admitted by special tickets.  The cathedral, which opened just four years after the Chicago Fire of 1871, was closed in 1968 for extensive foundation repairs.  In that renovation, overseen by the architectural firm C. F. Murphy, a chapel was added and a re-design of the interior was undertaken to bring the cathedral in line with changes in the mass that arose from the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, which, between 1962 and 1965, made sweeping changes in the church.

Carter H. Harrison, Jr. widipedia.org

December 25, 1953 – Carter H. Harrison, the five-time mayor of Chicago, dies in his home at 2100 Lincoln Park West at the age of 93. Oscar Mayer, 94, one of the former mayor’s closest friends says, “I’ve lost my dearest friend.  He was a great and honest man.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, December 26, 1953]  Mayor Martin Kennelly says of Harrison, who with his father ran the city for 22 of its first 72 years, “He and his father have left an indelible mark on the history of the city’s progress.  His life and works and the principles he stood for will remain as an inspiration to all, and particularly to the young people of this city.”  Harrison and his father each served five terms as mayor. The senior Harrison lost his life to a deranged assassin as the World’s Columbian Exposition closed its run in 1893. The younger Harrison was born on April 23, 1860 at the corner of Clark and Harrison Streets.  At the age of 13 he began a period of study in Altenberg, now a part of Germany, returning in 1976 to enter St. Ignatius College, now Loyola University.  Later he received a law degree from Yale University and practiced law in Chicago until 1888, also working in real estate and as the editor of the Chicago Times after his father bought the paper in 1891.  He was first elected as mayor in 1899, serving that term as well as two-year terms in 1899, 1901 and 1903.  In 1911 he was again elected mayor and served out that four-year term until 1915. Perhaps his greatest battle was with the traction magnate, Charles Tyson Yerkes, against whom he led a fight to keep him from obtaining 50-year franchises for his companies, contracts which Harrison believed were unjust and harmful to the public.  In his autobiography, Harrison answered Yerkes, who had stated, “I cannot understand Mayor Harrison,” with the reply, “Of course Mr. Yerkes cannot understand me – I am an honest man.” 

December 25, 1892 – The Chicago Daily Tribune editorializes once again about the potential use of lakefront property south of Monroe Street and east of the Illinois Central tracks.  Pointing out that the United States government has established a “dock line” 1,300 feet east of the railroad tracks, the paper opines the feds are not “concerned with what is done west of that line.  It is a matter of no consequence to the United States whether the wharves are 1,300 feet from the tracks or 300 … Therefore, without fear of molestation from the United States, the city can proceed to construct wharves or levees in the manner which suits it.”  Since the city has the power to determine the use of the area east and west of the Illinois Central tracks to 1,300 feet into the lake, it can use that space for whatever purposes it chooses, according to the editorial.  Therefore, “… it can fill out solid to navigable water, and use the ground between the landing and the west line of the filling for park purposes.  That portion of the land not needed for harbor purposes necessarily must be used as a park, subject of the same limitations which apply to the strip west of the tracks.”  The editorial cautions against pushing forward without a plan, given the expense of creating parkland out of open water, but the writers assert that there is still a way to put the project into motion … “There is no reason why the shore line should not be pushed forward by the steady dumping of ashes and other harmless refuse, which it is often difficult to dispose of.  All that would be needed would be means of reaching the shore.”  The above photo shows what would one day become Grant Park in 1890.

December 25, 1934 – What a Christmas for Chicago – peace on earth, good will toward men, and, courtesy of the Chicago Park District, bathroom facilities at Oak Street.  Lake Shore Drive residents approve the plan to construct subway comfort stations beneath Lake Shore Drive and resident Frank G. Logan says, “We believe that this construction will provide a solution of both congestion and sanitation problems at Oak Street.”  [Chicago Daily Tribune, December 26, 1934]  Seems reasonable – congestion and sanitary problems as a one-two combo seem like they should have a high priority.  This is an interesting piece of real estate; in 1884 the property owners along the Lake Shore Drive, at that time a residential street, gave up their riparian rights to the commissioners of Lincoln Park and agreed to pay for part of a landfill extension, including a breakwater to protect the lakeshore (and their street).  In exchange the commissioners agreed that no buildings would be constructed along the lakeshore in this area, which is probably why you see the Oak Street dining facility being assembled and disassembled each year. A proposal for the pedestrian subways was made in July of 1922, but it wasn’t until the fall of 1934 that the Illinois highway commission indicated it was willing to provide $100,000 for the pedestrian tunnels and comfort stations if the Chicago Park District was able to come up with an appropriate plan.  With no bathhouse and as many as 55,000 people flocking to the beach area on a hot summer’s day, the facilities were clearly needed.  The above photo shows Oak Street beach in the summer of 1930.

Posted by Chicago Old and New at 11:45 AM 0 comments

Labels: 1969, Chicago Event, Houses of Worship

Saturday, June 30, 2018

June 30, 1863 -- McCormick Theological Seminary Dedication

June 30,1863 –The cornerstone of the Theological Seminary at the corner of Halsted Street and Fullerton Avenue, takes place in a ceremony which opens with the assembled guests singing “I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord.” Reverend Dr. Matthews of Monmouth, Illinois then presents the past history of the Seminary, after which he lays the cornerstone. Today’s McCormick Theological Seminary is the descendant of this seminary which, according to the McCormick website, “was born in a log cabin” in Hanover, Indiana with a faculty of two and a “handful of students.”  Seeking a Presbyterian seminary in Chicago, Cyrus McCormick provided a $100,000 donation to endow four professorships, allowing the Seminary to move to 25 acres in today’s Lincoln Park.  In 1975 the seminary moved to Hyde Park, a move that allowed the school to share resources with the Jesuit School of Theology and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.  The above photo shows the Halsted Street entrances of McCormick Hall, built in 1883; Ewing Hall, built in 1863, and the seminary chapel, built in 1875.  

June 30, 1941 – Superior Court Judge Ulysses S. Schwartz awards $1,275 to A. F. Cuneo, the owner of two three-story buildings at 933 and 939 North State Street, an amount that covers the cost “of protecting the buildings against possible collapse as the result of subway excavation” [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 31, 1943] related to the 8.75 mile subway we know today as the Red Line.  The case is seen as a precedent, impacting “millions of dollars” that are involved in the dispute between the city and property owners over damages incurred during the construction of the subway.  City officials plan on appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court, but a clause in the Illinois Constitution does not appear to support their case.  It reads, “Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without compensation.”  Already 50 suits have stacked up, amounting to a million-and-a-half dollars, mostly costs associated with underpinning buildings to protect them from collapse as the subway tunnel is bored beneath them.  Construction of the State Street subway is shown in the photo above. 

June 30, 1950 – The formal dedication of Merrill C. Meigs Field takes place on the lakefront.  Although the airport has been open since December 10, 1948, it carried no name.  Speaking from prepared notes, Meigs, who had served as the head of the city’s Aero Commission, said, “When my name was brought up last year before the city council, there were objections that no airport should be named for a living person.  I was honored at the original suggestion but felt that the sacrifice involved—in order to qualify—was too great a price, even for that glory.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 1, 1950]   Special guests were drawn from 30 states—the Flying Farmers of Prairieland and the National Flying Farmers.  It is estimated that 890 of their planes, carrying 2,047 persons, landed at Chicago area airports.   

Posted by Chicago Old and New at 2:30 AM 1 comments

Labels: 1863, Halsted Street, Houses of Worship

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

May 2, 1909 -- Bahá'í Temple Is Introduced to Chicagoans

May 2, 1865 – The body of President Abraham Lincoln leaves Chicago, bound for Springfield. The city has grieved for two days as the fallen president’s remains lay in state at the Court House, allowing 125,000 people to pay their final respects.  The Chicago Daily Tribune reports, “The appearance of the body had not sensibly changed.  There was the same holy, calm expression, and the same placid smile resting upon those marble features.”  [Chicago Daily Tribune, May 3, 1865] At 7:30 p.m. 15 “young ladies, each dressed in white waists and black skirts, with black scarfs thrown over their left shoulders” throw white roses over the lid of Lincoln’s coffin.  An honor guard than lifts the coffin and carries it to a funeral car drawn by twin black horses furnished by the American and United Express Companies.  The procession proceeds down Washington Street to Market Street, then to Madison and along Canal Street to the terminal of the St. Louis and Chicago Railroad where the coffin is placed in a railroad car as a choir sings solemn music. As the funeral procession passes the corner of Washington and Market about 20 feet of the sidewalk gives way under the weight of spectators and a number of mourners are thrown seven or eight feet to the earth below.  A few minutes later another sidewalk at Madison and Market gives way, and over a hundred mourners are thrown down with “nearly everyone who stood on the broken sidewalk … more or less injured, some quite seriously.”  Frequent enough for the paper to note the problem was the rush for “relics” of the event.  The Tribune reported, “Ladies eagerly picked up the leaves of flowers which had been strewn on the coffin, and put them carefully in paper for preservation.  Scissors were pulled out to clip pieces from the drapery, and positive roughness had to be used in many cases to prevent the complete demolition of everything that had been used in the funeral obsequies.”  At 9:30 p.m. Train No. 58 leaves the station with the Master Mechanic of the St. Louis Railroad, J. Jackman, in the engineer’s seat.  An engine precedes the funeral train by ten minutes taking “every precaution … to avoid accidents.”  It had been a deeply moving 48 hours, as the Tribune solemnly reported, “Our father, our friend, our deliverer, is dead; the first outthrust of grief, great, overwhelming, though it were, was yet broken by the excitement of the occasion, and our subsequent wailings even have not been without sad interest.  But now that the form is forever departed, naught save the memory of the man remains, now comes the rank desolation and sorrow, which though not so demonstrative, is more affective.  The head of the nation, of the race, is gone from among us – even his form has departed.  We mourn him now as indeed gone; the place which knew him so long, shall know him no more forever.”  Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession as it arrived in Chicago is pictured above as it begins at Twelfth Street and the lakefront.

May 2, 1909 – The Chicago Daily Tribune extensively reports on “a wonderful temple” [Chicago Daily Tribune, May 2, 1909] to be built in suburban Wilmette on a plot of land at Ridge and Linden Avenues, near Lake Michigan.  According to the paper the grounds will support “in one corner a home for cripples; in another a school for orphans; in a third a college of higher sciences and in the fourth a hospice for the entertainment of visiting believers.  In the center of the lot “the dome of the nine walled house of worship” will rise.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, May 2, 1909] The project will be undertaken by members of the Bahá’í faith and the buildings will be “a unique combination of western and oriental ideas in architecture, thus emphasizing the universal nature of the Bahá’í revelation.”  The announcement of the grand achievement may have been a bit premature.  Louis Bourgeois, the temple’s architect, who had become a Bahá’í in New York City in 1907, did not begin his work on the project until 1920 when he moved to a building across the street from the chosen site.  According to the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s summary of the plan of Bourgeois, “The building combines neoclassical symmetry, Gothic ribbing, a Renaissance dome, a Romanesque clerestory and Islamic arabesque tracery with the suggestion of minarets.  The carvings on the nine exterior pillars reference various world religions with symbols like the Star of David, crucifixes and the Islamic star and crescent.  The gardens contain both rectangular approaches and circular gardens, reflecting Eastern and Western influences.’ [www.archictecture.org] Completion of the temple took five decades and was made possible by contributions from Bahá’ís from around the world.  Although the cornerstone was placed in 1912, the temple was finally dedicated before 3,500 people on May 2, 1953.  It is the oldest surviving house of worship of the Bahá’í faith in the world. An interesting architectural sidelight related to the Bahá’í Temple is that the George A. Fuller construction company was responsible for erecting the superstructure of the magnificent building.  That company was responsible for some of the great buildings of the early era of skyscrapers in Chicago and New York City.  The Rookery building, the Monadnock building, and the demolished Rand McNally building, the first building in the world to be supported by an all-steel frame, were Fuller projects, as was the Flatiron building off Madison Square Park in New York City.  More on the Fuller Company can be found in this Connecting the Windy City blog.

May 2, 1923 – The announcement is made that the American Furniture Mart building, currently under construction on Lake Shore Drive between Erie and Huron, will be the largest building in the world when it is completed. Lawrence Whiting of Whiting and Co., the agents for the property, discloses that a careful check has revealed that the Mart’s 1,500,000 square feet will exceed its nearest rival, the recently completed General Motors building in Detroit, which supports 1,321,000 square feet. Between 1979 and 1984 the massive building became one of the first great old buildings in the city to complete a successful program of adaptive reuse. Today it has 415 condominiums divided between three separate condominium associations and 420,000 square feet of office space, dedicated primarily to medical offices associated with the extensive Northwestern medical facilities that form a large part of the neighborhood to the west.

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Labels: 1909, Chicago Architecture, Houses of Worship