In our article from June 23, 2014 we examined the history of the first “Chicago
Museum” which opened in December 1874.
In this installment, we shall examine the career of its architect,
Thomas Tilley, as well as the second Chicago Museum.
THOMAS TILLEY
Architect Thomas Tilley was born in Cambridgshire, England in 1834 and
came to Chicago at the age of three in 1837 with his mother, who had been
recently widowed. She remarried, and
Tilley grew to adulthood on a farm at Northfield. By 1856, he had established himself as a
carpenter and builder, headquartered on Fulton Street. He travelled extensively in the South
teaching architectural drawing and stair building until the start of the Civil
War when he returned to Chicago.
In 1862 he enlisted in the Third Board of Trade Regiment, and as a
result of severe exposure suffered months of illness, which resulted in
paralysis and his subsequent discharge and return to Chicago. After he recovered, he resumed his
building business, forming a partnership with J. M. Armstrong known as Tilley
and Armstrong. By 1866, he abandoned
building and focused solely on architecture.
He entered several prominent competitions including those for the War
Department building in Washington D.C., the State Capitols in Illinois and Iowa,
and for the wings of the County Courthouse in Chicago. Among his early works was the Dearborn Street
Theatre, which was lost in the fire of 1871.
Tilley formed a new partnership with William Longhurst in the spring of
1871; they lost everything in the Chicago Fire.
Immediately they moved into the Nixon building, the only building
remaining standing in downtown, and they were quickly inundated with
business. They designed many buildings
constructed in the burnt district prior to the dissolution of the partnership
in 1872.
Late in 1872, Tilley began to work on his design for the new County
Courthouse which was submitted in March 1873 as part of a major competition. Nearly twenty plans were submitted including
those by Burling and Adler, William LeBaron Jenney, Henry Lord Gay, Wheelock
and Thomas, and Armstrong and Egan.
Tilley’s plan, known as the Eureka plan and illustrated above, won third
prize in the competition and Tilley was given the commission over Otto Matz,
who had submitted the winning design. Tilley
however was asked to make significant modifications to his design, which he
estimated would cost $2.8 million. He
drew up specifications for the excavation and supervised the beginning of
construction.
In August 1873, the Chicago City Council adopted Tilley’s plan for their
half of the new complex. In what became
a very complicated ordeal, Tilley was ultimately removed as architect for both
halves of the building. James J. Egan,
whose design did not win a prize in the County competition, was named architect
for the county building, and John Van Osdel was hired as architect of the new
City Hall, which was designed to match Egan’s building. By the time the entire building was complete,
the cost surpassed $4 million. Tilley sued
the city in 1880 and was awarded one-third of his total fees, amounting to
$13,000.
It was in 1874 that Tilley was given the commission for the first
Chicago Museum. Tilley remained active
as an architect for several years following, and in spite of his considerable
output, no buildings of his are known to be standing today. He died in 1908 just before his 74th
birthday.
THE SECOND CHICAGO MUSEUM
The new Chicago Museum was announced in an article in the Chicago
Tribune on November 18, 1883. No
indication was given that it was connected with the first Chicago Museum in any
way other than in a common name. The
opening was scheduled for November 26th, with the enterprise located
in McCormick Hall. That building was
constructed in 1873 from plans by W. W. Boyington and stood at the northeast
corner of Clark Street and Kinzie Street.
The frame structure measured 80 by 120 feet and was four stories in
height, with full basement. (Although it
was built after the Fire, it was a frame structure as the new fire regulations
forbidding frame construction did not extend north of the river until 1874).
The article announcing the opening provided potential visitors with a
view of what they might expect when they visited:
“The new museum which
is to open Monday, Nov. 26, at McCormick Hall, will occupy nearly all of the
building, with the main entrance on the ground floor. It seems that it is not be a low-priced
institution, but a regular legitimate museum, with its own dramatic company and
orchestra, and two regular performances daily.
The auditorium as remodeled is one of the largest and most commodious of
any museum in the world, containing about 1,800 folding opera-chairs, elegant
stage appointments, etc. The means of
exit in case of fire are excellent. The
company has already been secured, the orchestra engaged, and many of the
curiosities are already here, rendering it certain that the opening will
positively take place Monday evening, Nov. 26.
The main entrance is being beautifully decorated. Sixteen electric lights are being placed in
position inside and outside the building, and large pictorial signs will nearly
cover the whole outside of the building within a day or two. Mr. W. C. Coup, who built the hippodrome and
aquarium in New York, and has an established reputation as a circus-owner and
manager, has never been connected with anything but large enterprises, and his
name at the head of the venture indicates that Chicago will have in the new
museum one of character and magnitude.”
A second article, which appeared in the Tribune the day before the
opening provided further information:
“Those people who
have visited old McCormick Hall will be greatly surprised at the change it has
undergone if they visit it when it is reopened as the Chicago Museum by Messrs.
Coup & Uffner. . . The front of this store has been torn out and the
entrance partition set back about twenty feet, while the rotunda thus formed
has been tastefully decorated. In the
centre of the entrance partition is the box-office, and on either side are
swinging double doors leading into the first exhibition hall, which occupies
the entire length of the store and is filled with glass cases of various things
belonging to the collection of Prof. Worth.
“Leading up from this
is a wide is a wide stairway into the second exhibition hall, on the second
floor, where the human curiosities will be shown and the lectures
delivered. Off from this are two other
exhibition halls, a chamber of horrors, and the museum offices. The museum occupies the entire second floor
with the exception of two or three offices on the Clark street side, which will
be acquired in time.
“Two wide stairways,
one on either side of the building, lead up to the auditorium, and here the
changes made are most apparent. The
shallow platform from which local orators have been used to spout politics has
been changed into a roomy stage, fitted up with well-painted scenery and
accessories. A neat proscenium area has
been erected, and on either side of the stage are five dressing-rooms, fitted
up with all conveniences.
“It is proposed to
put upon the Clark-street front of the building a sign, bearing the word ‘Museum,’
which occupies 3,000 square feet of canvas, and to put between the windows all
around the building immense pictures of curiosities.”
The museum was well received by the public, and over 10,000 people
attended performances there during the first week. The newspapers were filled with regular
advertisements for various performances and “curiosities.” An example is the illustration above
depicting “Sir Alex. Cooper, The Great English Giant” with the challenge “Here
I stand, the tallest man on Earth! The
$100 bill is yours if you can reach it.”
In March 1884, one particular curiosity attracted a great deal of
attention:
“Barnum’s Old Woolly
Horse – Manager W. C. Coup, of the Chicago Museum, has secured what is claimed
to be the original woolly horse which did a great deal to build up Barnum’s
reputation as a showman. The animal is
said to be 43 years of age, and certainly looks it. Of a light bay, the horse’s hair all over his
body is from three to seven inches in length, and it curls in a manner which
gives the brute a very bulky appearance.
His mane and tail will be decked out with colored ribbons, and he will
be placed on exhibition at the museum today.
This is the same horse so well advertised and exhibited by Barnum many
years ago.”
Other attractions during 1884 included a baby show, where babies were
put on display and visitors could vote in many different categories. A “Bazaar of Nations” featured people from
remote corners of the world placed on display in native costume for all to see. Advertisements for the Museum continued on a
regular basis through 1885 but it closed soon after and by mid-1886, the building was occupied by the Casino Theater. In October 1889, H. R. Jacobs' Clark Street Theater opened in the building. It was subsequently known as the Kinzie, Star, Victoria, and American Theater, and final Sid Euson's Burlesque House. Euson closed the theater in 1910 at which time he became a Christian Science practitioner. The building was subsequently torn down and replaced with a parking lot.
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