tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45758513059126682472024-03-16T02:36:14.465-05:00The Story of a HouseOfficial Blog of Glessner HouseGlessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.comBlogger363125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-75553002061359164092023-07-18T18:24:00.001-05:002023-07-18T18:32:46.884-05:00Glessner House - July 1948<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDzrdNZFLVOup7AOFW0BV54Y_6kGrFdijkZsKEX8cvn80KS29Civ2iREbCAwIYj4VM0Gt34TwpvU3IX93bro5DTj85-QUIHQjJ9SPiH3pT9VOJ9Y2BrhCVSstKgGJOBqcwwV2sudPJAblb8_G9Kvr8pcdjmtRXD4x8Y8PhoTr3Pebe59Pa2dsG88VoEFo/s1800/GX112.50.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1191" data-original-width="1800" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDzrdNZFLVOup7AOFW0BV54Y_6kGrFdijkZsKEX8cvn80KS29Civ2iREbCAwIYj4VM0Gt34TwpvU3IX93bro5DTj85-QUIHQjJ9SPiH3pT9VOJ9Y2BrhCVSstKgGJOBqcwwV2sudPJAblb8_G9Kvr8pcdjmtRXD4x8Y8PhoTr3Pebe59Pa2dsG88VoEFo/w400-h265/GX112.50.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
July 1948 – exactly 75 years ago – a young photography student at the Institute
of Design, by the name of Robert C. Florian, visited Glessner House to
photograph the iconic structure for a class assignment. Those black and white
images provide a valuable record of the house during its transitional period
between Glessner family ownership and its rescue from demolition in the 1960s, when it was occupied by the Lithographic Technical Foundation.
In this article, we will share Florian’s story and some of our favorite images
he captured the day of his visit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Robert
Charles Florian was born on January 28, 1926, in Cicero, Illinois. He developed
a keen interest in photography during his high school years, enrolling in
vocational photography classes and serving as photographer for the newspaper
and yearbook at Morton High School. One of his photos took second place in a
statewide competition.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhn0GDlwa2qa3x0GjzzF-wyyvtGkUZirOJyzQkFbGqesK6bWoamAFvoG0_tgpoE6v0Pfv3Qvd5OPrnHnz9Q5jF9s9vG-SWxPkHjaEFT18A6W9BWm5LCzp8DR7iiUftidNQXagstK6n_VlXypRTNfwR8zreM-FEf3zTj98CiyqcS5_cuDH7ZSFKyMQUj8/s2052/1944%20yearbook%20Morton%20East%20HS%20Cicero%20IL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2052" data-original-width="1813" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhn0GDlwa2qa3x0GjzzF-wyyvtGkUZirOJyzQkFbGqesK6bWoamAFvoG0_tgpoE6v0Pfv3Qvd5OPrnHnz9Q5jF9s9vG-SWxPkHjaEFT18A6W9BWm5LCzp8DR7iiUftidNQXagstK6n_VlXypRTNfwR8zreM-FEf3zTj98CiyqcS5_cuDH7ZSFKyMQUj8/w354-h400/1944%20yearbook%20Morton%20East%20HS%20Cicero%20IL.jpg" width="354" /></a><br /><i>1944 graduation photo</i></div> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Soon
after graduation, Florian was drafted and was sent to the Great Lakes Naval
Training Station just north of Chicago. His aptitude for photography was
noticed, and upon completion of his naval training as seaman second class, he
was sent to the naval base at Pensacola, Florida, for five months of intensive photography
training, learning to take pictures the “Navy Way.” He completed the course, ranking
second in his class, and immediately undertook further training for movie
cameras. In May of 1945 he was shipped to Hawaii where he served as a Naval
photographer until the close of the war. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGgY4jmK8T9UmGQlpPV811UZktzU8OYRX-f7XN4GbTD_NEnjt2j_5Jt0zTHn9v6EEtdgGm3bhQxzR-Js5FyXherA59BRlrEE9mCa9AqaBwoebmYNZZ2_9upiWJHHmIS_adaegN9WGiqYGOc_Ec0wOzfXwRUoI8E6gN7FGgy2-O0cwy7xGYG7rdDzATLRQ/s1667/1945-07-11%20Photo%20from%20Relax%20article.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1667" data-original-width="1036" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGgY4jmK8T9UmGQlpPV811UZktzU8OYRX-f7XN4GbTD_NEnjt2j_5Jt0zTHn9v6EEtdgGm3bhQxzR-Js5FyXherA59BRlrEE9mCa9AqaBwoebmYNZZ2_9upiWJHHmIS_adaegN9WGiqYGOc_Ec0wOzfXwRUoI8E6gN7FGgy2-O0cwy7xGYG7rdDzATLRQ/w249-h400/1945-07-11%20Photo%20from%20Relax%20article.jpg" width="249" /></a><br /><i>Florian, at left, in Hawaii with his camera</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Florian
was discharged in May 1946. Like many young men returning from World War II, he
took advantage of the GI Bill and the funds it offered for education. He soon
enrolled in Chicago’s Institute of Design which “offered the most important
photography program in the United States and was the seminal place for the
education of the modern artist-photographer from the 1930s through the 1960s.”
(<i>Light and Vision: Photography at the School of Design in Chicago, 1937-1952</i>,
Stephen Daiter Photography, 1994).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Institute of Design began its life in 1937 as the New Bauhaus, developed under
the guidance of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and briefly headquartered in the former
Marshall Field mansion at 1905 S. Prairie Avenue (one block south of Glessner
House). In 1944 it was renamed the Institute of Design, and in 1946 moved into
the former Chicago Historical Society building at 632 N. Dearborn Street (shown below).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcbFNZf_y-8he2_GX80JJzlW93PCn7__OJBzP-PYuigerjkCOA45F_imHn9RubmbU38Dvzy69Ebf2QbdLt7q5jOLhpoXAGJTegrq7zoLyAWnvRBG7TI-rYQWQpwfhKeUN5jxCjaF1y_mQfDvEP8wJaGPcmOGZxpyCXKBBTCi8Q4XQSZ4K0gkvSOQbCayQ/s900/Chicago%20Historical%201963%20HABS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="900" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcbFNZf_y-8he2_GX80JJzlW93PCn7__OJBzP-PYuigerjkCOA45F_imHn9RubmbU38Dvzy69Ebf2QbdLt7q5jOLhpoXAGJTegrq7zoLyAWnvRBG7TI-rYQWQpwfhKeUN5jxCjaF1y_mQfDvEP8wJaGPcmOGZxpyCXKBBTCi8Q4XQSZ4K0gkvSOQbCayQ/w400-h271/Chicago%20Historical%201963%20HABS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Prominent
photographers who served on the faculty included Arthur Siegel (a New Bauhaus
student) who returned to the school in 1946 when Moholy-Nagy made the decision to
separate photography into its own department, and Harry Callahan, who took over
as head of the department in 1949 when Siegel left. Among the students at this
time was a young man who later distinguished himself with his architectural
photography – Richard Nickel.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During
Florian’s time at the school, he was given assignments with a general theme,
and then he would develop the idea and head out to shoot images. One such
assignment from Arthur Siegel was “Cross-Section Middle-Class Chicagoans” for
which Florian decided to shoot a series of photos of people riding the “L.” Florian’s
images for that project survive in the Arthur Siegel archive at the Chicago
History Museum, and two of them (one shown below) were featured in <i>Chicago Classic Photographs</i>,
edited by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams (CityFiles Press, 2017). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVvXLSIRkVR-XKGrZp0cEfelM0-wS8pJ8uVOsazxbOdVxWqohFcosEghcD59T7r5-BHUqYTzXBNrVwapYa138i4XQwknvFVfSITHwuNuFSGweWDlc_RDqQou0xR7IEjn7nUZ6HLFwVN-vgg0Bh-OLH36oium_IKPu2_UKYx8s55KbqXEoFJjsR1ohq1f0/s2424/Classic%20Chicago%20Photographs.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2424" data-original-width="2105" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVvXLSIRkVR-XKGrZp0cEfelM0-wS8pJ8uVOsazxbOdVxWqohFcosEghcD59T7r5-BHUqYTzXBNrVwapYa138i4XQwknvFVfSITHwuNuFSGweWDlc_RDqQou0xR7IEjn7nUZ6HLFwVN-vgg0Bh-OLH36oium_IKPu2_UKYx8s55KbqXEoFJjsR1ohq1f0/w348-h400/Classic%20Chicago%20Photographs.jpg" width="348" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The specific
theme of the assignment that brought Florian to the Glessner house is not
known, although a review of the images would indicate that it was specifically
geared toward architectural documentation. Florian shot 48 negatives comprising
33 distinct views (several were shot at more than one exposure). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimd1ERCDGtLJfiaMzsPPT-K0LNEFrfg-X1aZZh3uliR3rQ_HPY7XYwrvcypNu2LVkB0-cbW_JqMtpOzI1rlmuUMESjLCVDNW5TRQnwzvR91y2JPfEHOdNWJr6r38bds5edsNl3N49kNSi1BUPqBZ8OYkbQthX1jac8no4WOewbjyjL65Kt1R4Bqug7W3E/s1800/GX112.7-9%20negatives.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="943" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimd1ERCDGtLJfiaMzsPPT-K0LNEFrfg-X1aZZh3uliR3rQ_HPY7XYwrvcypNu2LVkB0-cbW_JqMtpOzI1rlmuUMESjLCVDNW5TRQnwzvR91y2JPfEHOdNWJr6r38bds5edsNl3N49kNSi1BUPqBZ8OYkbQthX1jac8no4WOewbjyjL65Kt1R4Bqug7W3E/w210-h400/GX112.7-9%20negatives.JPG" width="210" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The black
and white sheet film negatives, known as 520 film, measure 2-1/4” x 3-1/4,” and
include those made by both Kodak and Ansco. The collection at Glessner House
includes all of the negatives and one print, with his stamp on the reverse. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHnbQ_HgUpZvOKp9XR2f7gTugz30Ab4FIX_I2UGyzim_Zc2DmtsELSGHJ0f_PQqDyipfqLSVgB4rbDUaSiQNU28i-l9Hu_6TSqVtdHLk_xb8e5Cn-T08ftwmAIdT9ggtolvsNQX_Afvz5WScCbEBauR3UXHroUk-bfsGucu46Lr_BWoPA2hpz2RVT-3MU/s1135/GX112.49%20stamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="1135" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHnbQ_HgUpZvOKp9XR2f7gTugz30Ab4FIX_I2UGyzim_Zc2DmtsELSGHJ0f_PQqDyipfqLSVgB4rbDUaSiQNU28i-l9Hu_6TSqVtdHLk_xb8e5Cn-T08ftwmAIdT9ggtolvsNQX_Afvz5WScCbEBauR3UXHroUk-bfsGucu46Lr_BWoPA2hpz2RVT-3MU/s320/GX112.49%20stamp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Two
original prints (one shown below) are located in the collection of the </span><a href="https://artic.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/mqc/search/searchterm/Florian%20%5bBerwyn%2C%20IL%5d/field/photog/mode/exact/conn/and"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ryerson
and Burnham Libraries</span></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> at the Art Institute of Chicago. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOVo-96Vg-yKnLx0b42NJwhyJSzM2V6PntUG-nL4JvbtCcqHlQD19KwCKOKs6SggGZPh_R1cQvFXwM0p5hDl_aXspVY6CyPH5oMDiGVubn_PLtSgfFtixb0qvrrZ7ebbu5PKb_h1TnkS3ovFTH5sd3nKHGBxvNXW7rJ-hIp2QRFtIwFgqJUQ5RTIWk4nI/s2100/Glessner%20bedroom%20hall%20July%201948%20at%20AIC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1652" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOVo-96Vg-yKnLx0b42NJwhyJSzM2V6PntUG-nL4JvbtCcqHlQD19KwCKOKs6SggGZPh_R1cQvFXwM0p5hDl_aXspVY6CyPH5oMDiGVubn_PLtSgfFtixb0qvrrZ7ebbu5PKb_h1TnkS3ovFTH5sd3nKHGBxvNXW7rJ-hIp2QRFtIwFgqJUQ5RTIWk4nI/w315-h400/Glessner%20bedroom%20hall%20July%201948%20at%20AIC.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Although
the exact camera Florian used is not documented, it is likely he used a
Graflex. In 1947, the company released two new cameras – the Pacemaker Speed
Graphic and the Pacemaker Crown Graphic – both of which used that film size.
They were high quality cameras and were popular with the press. As such, they
would have been excellent cameras for a university level photography program,
introducing students to state-of-the-art cameras.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Nd06W2-ua_2c8xyDbsZOA6HUvU5kL8M0UeFhDaue_4aeUH0uGSnA0eySPfERUQc8MAT6D2U7t-vgS7AJPDRCcZghgcMRITV4v0uc1DWBjOtWJS1L1_qdIq1_j0KhDSC3DGl-756sRyly00R2SUeIX3_xvbTXOw-4BVhlYwVenY1DBszfM8aw3BsWTOA/s2229/Pacemaker%20Speed%20Graphic%20hires.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2229" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Nd06W2-ua_2c8xyDbsZOA6HUvU5kL8M0UeFhDaue_4aeUH0uGSnA0eySPfERUQc8MAT6D2U7t-vgS7AJPDRCcZghgcMRITV4v0uc1DWBjOtWJS1L1_qdIq1_j0KhDSC3DGl-756sRyly00R2SUeIX3_xvbTXOw-4BVhlYwVenY1DBszfM8aw3BsWTOA/w323-h400/Pacemaker%20Speed%20Graphic%20hires.jpg" width="323" /></a><br /><i>Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic, 1947</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Illinois Institute of Technology absorbed the Institute of Design in 1949, and
Florian graduated from there on January 28, 1950 – his 24<sup>th</sup>
birthday. Among his fellow students was a young woman by the name of Virginia
Lockrow; they married in September of that year. Florian worked for a time as a
staff photographer for LIFE magazine and Coronet Educational Films. The couple
settled in Berwyn, and both began their careers as art teachers – Robert at
Main Junior High School in Franklin Park, and Virginia with LaGrange Grade
School District 102. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEltjHYvG2SjTn0GXorzdyd77rROPAuMFFZpFuMXF-2zvS2tI07rXr8cU4v86xSdwPk1bXFC5QSaOiPhHW68CHRTIKXaErex2B3QNdaO6oS_Cv35PJo330ZWzGK_iaR7T-JqboupE_tYF6KgywbSb1mY8MWAHzkZMAts0sKKRhYyq8FkzwXVzfEOqe4WI/s2100/Toledo%20group%20identified.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1670" data-original-width="2100" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEltjHYvG2SjTn0GXorzdyd77rROPAuMFFZpFuMXF-2zvS2tI07rXr8cU4v86xSdwPk1bXFC5QSaOiPhHW68CHRTIKXaErex2B3QNdaO6oS_Cv35PJo330ZWzGK_iaR7T-JqboupE_tYF6KgywbSb1mY8MWAHzkZMAts0sKKRhYyq8FkzwXVzfEOqe4WI/w400-h318/Toledo%20group%20identified.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>1962 Toledo Glass Blowing Workshop; Florian front row, second from right</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Florian
had a deep interest in glass blowing and in 1962 participated in the Toledo
Glass Blowing Workshop, a collaboration between glass artist and educator
Harvey Littleton and the Toledo Museum of Art. The workshop is regarded as the
birth of the American studio glass movement. Florian documented the workshop,
the 1964 workshop at Madison, Wisconsin, and other glass artists in their
studios. His collection of more than 600 negatives and prints now forms an
important archive in the </span><a href="https://cmog.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99782923504126&context=L&vid=01CORNING_INST:01CORNING_INST&lang=en&search_scope=MyInstitution&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=ALWAYS_DISPLAY&query=any,contains,%22Florian,%20Robert%22&offset=0"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rakow
Research Library</span></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning,
New York. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXT3nQXPrTk7FhtnurBqRXXsTBjLY1NrcnFgVToC8QwIDgr7i-ve1BTGLyMPYsqXa54FAcEwrwqdGiQkf6r5D13eH3rwBH0_JQ4T65aGv9v7YJhiBUmvqUYFPb3HLXb3ZDzmHAZlkaYYSVnDoUB6Ww7jP8r-FMIOFHYSs2XrWAjMl_UdvGpeEjmNlSYS0/s2384/Corning%20Museum%20image.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2384" data-original-width="2270" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXT3nQXPrTk7FhtnurBqRXXsTBjLY1NrcnFgVToC8QwIDgr7i-ve1BTGLyMPYsqXa54FAcEwrwqdGiQkf6r5D13eH3rwBH0_JQ4T65aGv9v7YJhiBUmvqUYFPb3HLXb3ZDzmHAZlkaYYSVnDoUB6Ww7jP8r-FMIOFHYSs2XrWAjMl_UdvGpeEjmNlSYS0/w381-h400/Corning%20Museum%20image.jpg" width="381" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Robert
Florian died on January 18, 1989, just ten days before his 63<sup>rd</sup>
birthday. His surviving photographs, ranging from artistic images of everyday
riders on Chicago’s public transportation system to his documentary images of Glessner
House and the birth of the studio glass movement, are a testament to his skill
as a photographer and form an important archive of the mid-20<sup>th</sup>
century as captured in black and white.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPewCWmk1iZEElM2iA6Hm5MpBGhM5X2hsHo-x1iBIfgIjrEWZsbKf5Ert5K-QW3rCjPWJc8-lglGj3RYcm1ndlugTCQRApVRXRhz1CNJJ_S_Xqk9QIoohlVPJiU9l7qQKWCWalzJyky7BpHv5yAeQs_EIpBQWCgu0nq5CQXxov0XVoey0j98SCCz5kAKE/s1800/GX112.1-3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1192" data-original-width="1800" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPewCWmk1iZEElM2iA6Hm5MpBGhM5X2hsHo-x1iBIfgIjrEWZsbKf5Ert5K-QW3rCjPWJc8-lglGj3RYcm1ndlugTCQRApVRXRhz1CNJJ_S_Xqk9QIoohlVPJiU9l7qQKWCWalzJyky7BpHv5yAeQs_EIpBQWCgu0nq5CQXxov0XVoey0j98SCCz5kAKE/w400-h265/GX112.1-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-65646117597737564232023-02-14T11:15:00.002-06:002023-02-15T14:45:18.109-06:00Frances Glessner Lee is married<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWEZAbgGTawYtME_dPGPt0QvZBxBheR38cyalUDn4MZYMSVP0p-_Rq1zIX0GDYYacHmsCZgyJTbSWolqai6FGFfxSruCswTU05kbxzdHJ4Po11J_Fx-oARDk0ZQnk_uY1J59GfSZeGDQJ0zFMEOpNQVFo_GRWkz8jRE-SqtLeJ4r-xxtp5xI4gIt8N/s2541/Frances%20Glessner%20Lee%20bride.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2541" data-original-width="1847" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWEZAbgGTawYtME_dPGPt0QvZBxBheR38cyalUDn4MZYMSVP0p-_Rq1zIX0GDYYacHmsCZgyJTbSWolqai6FGFfxSruCswTU05kbxzdHJ4Po11J_Fx-oARDk0ZQnk_uY1J59GfSZeGDQJ0zFMEOpNQVFo_GRWkz8jRE-SqtLeJ4r-xxtp5xI4gIt8N/w291-h400/Frances%20Glessner%20Lee%20bride.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />This month marks the 125</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
anniversary of the marriage of Frances Glessner and Blewett Lee. The ceremony
took place on February 9, 1898, in the parlor of her parents’ Prairie Avenue
home. It was a small affair attended by family and close friends, but a great
effort went into all the preparations. In this article, we will examine the
event from beginning to end.</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Frances Glessner returned
from her fourteen month Grand Tour of Europe in July 1897 and immediately
joined her family at The Rocks, their New Hampshire summer estate. Soon, she
met Blewett Lee, a friend of her brother George. The relationship developed
quickly and just three months later, on October 17, Blewett asked her parents
for her hand in marriage. However, Frances had not yet had her formal introduction
into Chicago society, so although her parents consented to the union, the
announcement was withheld until after her debut took place in late November. (Click
<a href="http://glessnerhouse.blogspot.com/2022/10/frances-glessner-is-introduced-into.html">here</a>
to read an article about the debut). The engagement was announced to the
extended family over the Christmas holiday. On the last day of the year,
Frances’s mother wrote in her journal that she had spent much of the day
writing letters to friends announcing the engagement. The letter read as
follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We have a very precious bit
of news which we wish to share with you and Mr. ___. Our Frances is engaged and
to be married early in February to Mr. Blewett Lee. We should rather have her a
little older than she will be then, but Mr. Lee is so nearly everything in the
world that is good and perfect that we cannot find it in our hearts to
interfere with their complete happiness. Mr. Lee is a well established
practicing lawyer and is also a professor of law in the Northwestern
University, is a man of very unusual parts, character and education. He comes
from old and distinguished families, the Lees and Harrisons of Virginia. He and
Frances are heartily in love with each other and if we must lose our only daughter,
he is the one man in the world to whom we are willing to give her. So, we ask
you to congratulate the young people upon their happiness and us too because
our daughter loves so good a man and one whom we cordially love and approve.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The letter noted the bride’s
young age – she was just 19 at the time; her husband-to-be was 30. Chicago
newspapers announced the engagement on January 2, 1898, the <i>Chicago Tribune </i>noting
this about Blewett:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Mr. Blewett Lee, whose
residence is at the Chicago Club, was educated at the Universities of
Mississippi and of Virginia, studied at Leipsic and Freiburg, graduated from
Harvard, and, besides his practice here, is professor of constitutional law and
equity in Northwestern University, and has recently been asked to take similar
positions at prominent Eastern colleges.”<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDY7QGlrgYX4B4qtQAt56lT1jdN-i7DUeqPy2RJtuXhsggUHD9S9Ny9yv8RsIPQR-W5-HOhU6lnBg0pK_e8Pdttkn7IZ_GJTPPv79rl8IC38FZ-WP3rVeuP4sWlq8pPjD8MeP8VD7Bd191eIOXrO_WFoYQa3gK5Hh9kfc5ifVyd93mfBtSvAxq4vNM/s1909/Blewett%20Lee.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1909" data-original-width="1228" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDY7QGlrgYX4B4qtQAt56lT1jdN-i7DUeqPy2RJtuXhsggUHD9S9Ny9yv8RsIPQR-W5-HOhU6lnBg0pK_e8Pdttkn7IZ_GJTPPv79rl8IC38FZ-WP3rVeuP4sWlq8pPjD8MeP8VD7Bd191eIOXrO_WFoYQa3gK5Hh9kfc5ifVyd93mfBtSvAxq4vNM/w258-h400/Blewett%20Lee.JPG" width="258" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The <i>Inter Ocean</i>
provided a few additional facts including the fact that Blewett had been in
Chicago for four years, and that following his graduation from Harvard in 1889,
he “began his practical legal experience” with Justice Horace Gray of the U.S.
Supreme Court. None of the articles provides any information about Frances
Glessner herself. In mid-January, the date of Wednesday, February 9 was
announced. By coincidence, it was the same date as the wedding of Elizabeth
Henderson, daughter of the Glessners’ neighbors who lived three doors to the south
at 1816 S. Prairie Avenue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the next month, the
journal is filled with entries relating to the wedding planning, including
multiple visits to Madame Weeks at 1521 S. Michigan Avenue. She was Mrs. Glessner’s
preferred dressmaker and made both the wedding dress and most of the trousseau,
with items such as the lingerie coming from Schlesinger & Mayer’s. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqPhyK0MCkgjdE8a98vIcs5iqFZbLJsF_z2w6EtaJHhUWI0FcVybNM26ONXEHdZiGxhbgQpPmTeJXtoBGpnxO6VpZXuU7vfz9WLnDzx58rSclKU2bTinXzq_7DI9d0Vw9lz8RrU1hbo9GligRvYZRHwUZbEzXdpEq63h79VMf0wh24xZQlmXm-tdJd/s2400/Wedding%20corset.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="2087" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqPhyK0MCkgjdE8a98vIcs5iqFZbLJsF_z2w6EtaJHhUWI0FcVybNM26ONXEHdZiGxhbgQpPmTeJXtoBGpnxO6VpZXuU7vfz9WLnDzx58rSclKU2bTinXzq_7DI9d0Vw9lz8RrU1hbo9GligRvYZRHwUZbEzXdpEq63h79VMf0wh24xZQlmXm-tdJd/w348-h400/Wedding%20corset.jpg" width="348" /></a><br /><i>Wedding corset, embroidered cotton coutil<br />(Collection of the Chicago History Museum)</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As presents began to arrive,
a third floor room was converted into an area to display the variety of costly gifts,
and Mrs. Glessner notes many occasions where she took friends up to see the
gifts and the trousseau. A notebook was purchased in which to record all the presents
and from whom they were received, with sections for silver, china, glassware,
embroideries, bed linens, household linens, and table linens. The image below
shows a portion of the silver on display in the third floor room. The chest of
silver flatware, with service for 18, was made by Gorham in the Antique
pattern, and was a gift from the Glessners, as was the hammered silver tea and
coffee service at left. The silver platters came from Frances’s favorite uncle,
George Glessner, and the silver trays from her brother George. All the pieces
have been donated to Glessner House by the family.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSE69av3JTVTYEBwGUJ8gUQBwkAMhb09a_SVrTp2DfGrg2w0NRFzpb-HzeSEZyhDn3u8hH42nYKWodlXF4xi5duJjhSgD3OF3xLDKMF9DiXFqdThxc1nrZpNBHUVnd90cPG35M3x4FJvpSpubvDOd3ef07eMlunfWiOF64jrfvBu-S72x1MvdKmoZe/s2400/Wedding%20gifts.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1182" data-original-width="2400" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSE69av3JTVTYEBwGUJ8gUQBwkAMhb09a_SVrTp2DfGrg2w0NRFzpb-HzeSEZyhDn3u8hH42nYKWodlXF4xi5duJjhSgD3OF3xLDKMF9DiXFqdThxc1nrZpNBHUVnd90cPG35M3x4FJvpSpubvDOd3ef07eMlunfWiOF64jrfvBu-S72x1MvdKmoZe/w400-h198/Wedding%20gifts.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On Saturday, February 5, the
900-pound Steinway grand piano was moved up to the second floor. The cook, Mattie
Williamson, baked the cakes, and they were taken to Charles Smiley, Chicago’s
premiere African American caterer, for icing. Mrs. Glessner noted that the
“little brides which were on our wedding cakes” were taken in for repair, and
that some of the preserved orange flowers from her bouquet were to be put in
with Frances’s fresh flowers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The day before the wedding,
men came in to lay white muslin on the floors, and the florist came to decorate
the rooms. White lilies adorned the music cabinet, and the parlor mantel was
filled with a bank of ferns and orchids. The northeast corner of the parlor,
where the ceremony was to take place, was hung with wild smilax and white
orchids, tied back on either side with small wreathes of lily of the valley. The
stairway was decorated with palms and azaleas, and a group of these stood in
the hall in front of the door to the courtyard. An immense bunch of American beauties
stood on the sideboard.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Out of town guests began to
arrive, and presents were sent all day. Rev. Philip H. Mowry, who had presided
over the wedding ceremony of John and Frances Glessner in 1870, traveled from
Chester, Pennsylvania to perform the ceremony for their daughter. More
out-of-town family arrived on Wednesday, some staying with the Glessners’
neighbors, the O. R. Keiths, at 1808 S. Prairie Avenue.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi99sBKa_64IKWOTPGCujPJxZ6fmlQDOfol6uW2XbUz53nwsS9flOGbxEdULw8hReBSGdQk-2a-PcAUUki4Db4adPsdCEnsnq9SIPTZztheF-I4hWmqitFMmLw2J8C-4GApf1869AlxrA8rMAK9zBF5hjVWvWG2Oziovt1BTGfcvIGFwetAHotzCujs/s675/Reverend%20Mowry.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="455" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi99sBKa_64IKWOTPGCujPJxZ6fmlQDOfol6uW2XbUz53nwsS9flOGbxEdULw8hReBSGdQk-2a-PcAUUki4Db4adPsdCEnsnq9SIPTZztheF-I4hWmqitFMmLw2J8C-4GApf1869AlxrA8rMAK9zBF5hjVWvWG2Oziovt1BTGfcvIGFwetAHotzCujs/w270-h400/Reverend%20Mowry.jpg" width="270" /></a><br /><i>Rev. Philip H. Mowry</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The ceremony was scheduled for
5:00pm. Madame Weeks and two assistants arrived at 3:00pm to dress Frances. The
wedding gown was made of white satin with a deep flounce of double rose
Venetian point lace which Mrs. Glessner had acquired from Rome. Frances wore a
tulle veil and carried a bouquet of lily of the valley (which was preserved,
see image below). She wore a handkerchief and point lace in her sleeves that
her mother had worn when she was married. She borrowed a pearl headed pin from
her mother and wore a diamond necklace given to her by Blewett’s mother, whose fragile
health prevented her traveling from Mississippi to attend.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3cKgXnvZ-NyDY4XpnTvVpEL93zVyejYpzKsInobVBUB-FTxbwyk1avRu-NmIEHYUxlH9b8Y_fhFtKMKHVMs7DEUshI1q4cqMH2a1Zb0nJo5AMVKe2Z0UM8fwKQL1E3Wb2JGeyyimUA6VWOwE08wMH6v_mgnZV4UjR3suCwn2koPsZ0F-J0D5mnDQ/s2400/Wedding%20bouquet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1474" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3cKgXnvZ-NyDY4XpnTvVpEL93zVyejYpzKsInobVBUB-FTxbwyk1avRu-NmIEHYUxlH9b8Y_fhFtKMKHVMs7DEUshI1q4cqMH2a1Zb0nJo5AMVKe2Z0UM8fwKQL1E3Wb2JGeyyimUA6VWOwE08wMH6v_mgnZV4UjR3suCwn2koPsZ0F-J0D5mnDQ/w246-h400/Wedding%20bouquet.jpg" width="246" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The bridal party:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Helen Macbeth, maid of honor, was the bride’s
aunt. She was Frances’s traveling companion during her Grand Tour of Europe in
1896-1897. Helen had served as the maid of honor when her sister Frances married
John Glessner in 1870.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Alice Hamlin of Springfield, Ohio. Her
engagement to George Glessner was announced later that evening.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Frances Ream of 1901 S. Prairie Avenue, a
childhood friend. She went on to marry industrialist and coal mine operator
John Kemmerer.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Marion Ream, Frances’s oldest sister. Her
first husband was Redmond Stephens and together they owned what is now the
Charnley-Persky House. Her second husband, Anastase Vonsiatsky, was a founder
of the White Russian Fascist movement in the United States and was imprisoned
for espionage during World War II.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">George Glessner, the best man, was the brother
of the bride.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dwight Lawrence was Blewett Lee’s partner in
the law firm of Lee & Lawrence, and a friend of George Glessner. Lawrence
initiated the introduction between Blewett and the Glessners. He later became a
leader in the National Roosevelt Committee when Theodore Roosevelt ran for
president on the Progressive ticket in 1912.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Leverett Thompson was a banker and later
served as mayor of Lake Forest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfG_E6_iRErkDMZI_TAYZrElodRKxloin3L1a9JLjMwdZMwlv1FndDQuBO2sCJFy6UCYvzWw3gi6f8m3rC7ZTCVHPwhQrUJraR6RiqJcf5T7gujS5_HUR0QbwugxXetDcamVY5GcAq1782Zb0QJs5YpmZ5on02X3ohh1JBxGiOw9JVzDaDdP9k3mUG/s1273/Wedding%20party.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="1273" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfG_E6_iRErkDMZI_TAYZrElodRKxloin3L1a9JLjMwdZMwlv1FndDQuBO2sCJFy6UCYvzWw3gi6f8m3rC7ZTCVHPwhQrUJraR6RiqJcf5T7gujS5_HUR0QbwugxXetDcamVY5GcAq1782Zb0QJs5YpmZ5on02X3ohh1JBxGiOw9JVzDaDdP9k3mUG/w400-h296/Wedding%20party.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Alice Hamlin, Marion Ream, Helen Macbeth, and Frances Ream</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Madame Weeks received a pin
in thanks, as did each of the servants. The bridesmaids received brooches of
stones and pearls, and wore white organdy, with Valenciennes lace, pink sashes
and bows, and carried pink carnations. Helen carried white roses. The men each
received three pairs of sleeve buttons. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The bridal party formed in
the hallway outside of the Glessners’ bedroom. Close friends formed a passage
in the main hall for them to pass through, and then followed them into the
parlor. Members of the Chicago Orchestra were seated on the main staircase on
platforms that had been made especially for them by the Auditorium stage
manager. Theodore Thomas selected and arranged the music but was unable to be
present due to another commitment. They played the “Swedish Wedding March” by
Söderman followed by “Call me thine own” from the opera <i>L’éclair</i> by Halévy.
Of the ceremony, Mrs. Glessner wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Mr. Mowry stood with his
back to the corner – and read the full Episcopal ceremony. The young people
made their responses clearly and without hesitation. They were married with a
ring. Helen removed the veil, Blewett kissed his bride. John, General Lee and I
congratulated them, then George, then the grandparents, etc.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At the conclusion of the
ceremony, the orchestra played Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.” After
congratulations were offered all around, George stood by his mother, and Alice
Hamlin by John Glessner, and their engagement was announced. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYLRJpi7G0-3dZOQCJl6XiCH4sx8VFyoURAm7FUfUU__no9cj4x26aq90nlS98eBJKVN0Kgrv5TiFT2xpIUYJT5awjKw_Dl5WnkIyHxxY8SWCiWIg6X_OQZjTn1GEH55JuOE87R1nFYN18U0ttIdR-xQkNa5H01JloYLWcMTke49eS8oJswU48dQ8/s1502/Guest%20list%20wedding.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1502" data-original-width="1163" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYLRJpi7G0-3dZOQCJl6XiCH4sx8VFyoURAm7FUfUU__no9cj4x26aq90nlS98eBJKVN0Kgrv5TiFT2xpIUYJT5awjKw_Dl5WnkIyHxxY8SWCiWIg6X_OQZjTn1GEH55JuOE87R1nFYN18U0ttIdR-xQkNa5H01JloYLWcMTke49eS8oJswU48dQ8/w310-h400/Guest%20list%20wedding.jpg" width="310" /></a><br /><i>Signatures of the bride and groom, parents, and wedding party from the guestbook</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The reception followed:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Our tea table was set in the
library. We put a fine damask cloth and then our old Maltese lace cloth. We had
two pyramids of cake, white and black, one on each end. On top of these were
the little brides used on our wedding cakes. We had a splendid basket of pink
and white roses and ferns on the table. Then there were cakes the shape of a
heart – candies with little white bow knots on top of them. We had frozen egg
nog in the hall – tea and coffee in the alcove.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(For cake recipes, see the "<a href="https://www.glessnerhouse.org/cooking-with-mattie">Cooking with Mattie</a>" column posted February 1, 2023)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The reception was followed by
dinner for 32 – the bridal party, family, Mr. and Mrs. Moore, Mr. and Mrs.
Lawrence, and Governor and Mrs. Bushnell. The bridal party was seated in the
dining room, the others were seated at three tables in the parlor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The menu:<br />
Oysters on the half shell, brown bread and butter, olives and celery<br />
Chicken cream soup<br />
Fish with cooked cucumbers and potatoes<br />
Fillet of beef with brown sauce, with chestnuts, creamed mushrooms, celery, and
jelly<br />
Salad with sliced ham and hot crackers<br />
Ice cream in the shape of four-leaf clovers<br />
Cake, fruit, bon bons, coffee<br />
Champagne throughout<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">John Glessner gave the toast
to the bride:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“A toast for the bride – a
good and loving daughter, a sweet and lovely bride who is to be a good and
thoughtful and loving wife, whose joy is not in riches but in home making and
the affection of husband and friends.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“To us old fogies these seem
over young to marry yet and start out for themselves – but we old folks did it
when we were young. The future is rose colored and rose scented for them as the
looking forward was rosy for us and to us the color and the fragrance of the
backward glance – the realization – is sweeter still.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“May it be so with these our
dear children. Here pledge with me the health of the bride and the peace and
comfort and joy of this new household.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(The toast was later written
out by Isaac Scott, and framed, as seen below)<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ywh_lPVnEVZU3tP3CORJqP6eS67Kua3Jr0MbfPR1A4ihWI9_3cl2fH8iGkUyxuEI6yRLpQ93htbEQ3nLIzBWHkgrIxNLpisPqNfT9brSf8aAHMM-mrBYI9vk2PTRIDTtMndGBdtLgv9iv28XDhMDRCJcKACMYeC1UoDO99-Jmn2fUcwvgDF_lnDQ/s2813/Wedding%20toast.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2813" data-original-width="2258" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ywh_lPVnEVZU3tP3CORJqP6eS67Kua3Jr0MbfPR1A4ihWI9_3cl2fH8iGkUyxuEI6yRLpQ93htbEQ3nLIzBWHkgrIxNLpisPqNfT9brSf8aAHMM-mrBYI9vk2PTRIDTtMndGBdtLgv9iv28XDhMDRCJcKACMYeC1UoDO99-Jmn2fUcwvgDF_lnDQ/w321-h400/Wedding%20toast.jpg" width="321" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The guests left at 9:00pm.
Frances went to her room to change into her traveling costume – blue serge
skirt, blue green and yellow plaid silk waist (swatch shown below), blue serge Eton
coat, black velvet hat with scarlet roses, and a sealskin cape. Mrs. Glessner
recorded how the evening drew to a close:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Then we five sat down in our
bedroom until time to go to the station. Then they – the two – went out alone
together never to enter the home in the same way again.”<br /><br /></span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyuc_STdYW5Jr-pCyH17kaNuDXj_SRxu4Dt0VqtYrKQRCAdtU4WHyn5ETHVyTcZFRBNBRiqZgT8Ev5bYlOETd_78vzJ9l32cZcpk7IK06kTwSOGTPPT6yyiiar-5KA_xQNI9UFKJuvr4HJpvk0hHHNnlnav1UvbMCJUMyPR0yZ4x3SK4Cwk0rA7hN3/s1970/Waist%20fabric%20traveling%20suit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1372" data-original-width="1970" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyuc_STdYW5Jr-pCyH17kaNuDXj_SRxu4Dt0VqtYrKQRCAdtU4WHyn5ETHVyTcZFRBNBRiqZgT8Ev5bYlOETd_78vzJ9l32cZcpk7IK06kTwSOGTPPT6yyiiar-5KA_xQNI9UFKJuvr4HJpvk0hHHNnlnav1UvbMCJUMyPR0yZ4x3SK4Cwk0rA7hN3/w400-h279/Waist%20fabric%20traveling%20suit.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Waist fabric from book containing swatches of Frances's wedding dress and trousseau</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The <i>Elite News</i>
published an extensive account of the wedding, also noting the pedigree of the
couple, a complicated issue given the role Blewett’s father played in the Civil
War:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Miss Glessner, through
Madame Anna Bayard, who came to this country with her brother, old Peter
Stuyvesant, the first Dutch governor of New York, and settled on Bohemia Manor,
partly in New York and partly in New Jersey, traces her lineage to the family
of the Chevalier Bayard, the knight sans peur et sans reproche, and Mr. Lee,
through both the Lees and the Harrisons, goes back to Colonial Virginia and old
established English families. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Mr. Lee’s father,
Lieut.-General S. D. Lee, was the Confederate officer detailed to demand the
surrender of Fort Sumter at the breaking out of the war, and his grandfather,
Hon. James T. Harrison, was selected by the whole of the Southern bar at the
close of the war to defend Jefferson Davis if action should be brought by the
Federal government against him for treason. Happily, this was not necessary,
and both sides of Mr. Lee’s family accept the logical results of the war and
are true and loyal citizens of our united country.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Frances Glessner notes in her
journal that on Saturday she felt her “first severe reaction” and could hardly
get through the day. Serious illness was fast approaching, and on February 20<sup>
</sup>she underwent surgery in the corner guestroom and was confined to her bed
for several weeks. Frances and Blewett Lee returned to Chicago on February 29 after
spending their honeymoon in the South, and took rooms at the Hotel Metropole,
located at 2300 S. Michigan Avenue. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLuk2mVZhUMiRdXvuyPQN32ueQYqgpxaU0mKMG8RabIp6qPtna079c7XutVY1PKPHk1C6ptNvht92zZwHYvh3yrTRMmD9POHerMdLnEBTwk79BjzmwJn1vCA2Dxp3lFTCcfMZGVrcy486_3ER0tlWvUW7GhcvH0GYr7EYSmlmW9Tk8OlpIv07fO84G/s2550/Hotel%20Metropole.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1734" data-original-width="2550" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLuk2mVZhUMiRdXvuyPQN32ueQYqgpxaU0mKMG8RabIp6qPtna079c7XutVY1PKPHk1C6ptNvht92zZwHYvh3yrTRMmD9POHerMdLnEBTwk79BjzmwJn1vCA2Dxp3lFTCcfMZGVrcy486_3ER0tlWvUW7GhcvH0GYr7EYSmlmW9Tk8OlpIv07fO84G/w400-h272/Hotel%20Metropole.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Lees held their first
post-nuptial reception on April 12<sup> </sup>at the Glessners’ home. On the
same day and at the same hour, the former Elizabeth Henderson and her new
husband, William H. Merrill, held their first reception at her parents’ home
three doors away. This was no doubt carefully arranged, as the two families
would have shared many of the same friends, making it convenient for them to
visit both receptions at one time. John Glessner noted that 252 people attended
their reception, but that his wife was not well enough yet to come down from her
bedroom. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In early May, the young
couple set up housekeeping in a first floor apartment at 120 E. 21<sup>st</sup>
Street, just a few blocks from the Glessners. On December 5, 1898, their son
John Glessner Lee was born. It had been a whirlwind eighteen months since
Frances Glessner returned from her Grand Tour.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSU8hdoh42h2VXSSN4w1RBvbjV75oIS_XzAjBrqx3kNMi9stuytK7eyonfBL8-JIH7t7OlcOFO0Fqoz3_i7TPazBxmxA64JSrhd6XdOqvNySmF9fj87dKNLIX7qOWweBJPQZm00yLI02Q5V8TgHRSSJ3YJmZYKtwHOsIypJmJbESM995pCK0C7dkGA/s2993/Bride%201898.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2993" data-original-width="1974" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSU8hdoh42h2VXSSN4w1RBvbjV75oIS_XzAjBrqx3kNMi9stuytK7eyonfBL8-JIH7t7OlcOFO0Fqoz3_i7TPazBxmxA64JSrhd6XdOqvNySmF9fj87dKNLIX7qOWweBJPQZm00yLI02Q5V8TgHRSSJ3YJmZYKtwHOsIypJmJbESM995pCK0C7dkGA/w264-h400/Bride%201898.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-13583015341916774532023-01-17T15:22:00.001-06:002023-01-17T15:24:32.295-06:00Early Modern Architecture: Chicago 1870-1910<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1QIHcS3KIul7yW6c32JdQgFA0vQ1uTMTA8CH15bM2sL5PbD1uXKsqSPY_-P8FNXVdeD4J6TV6EpeTGh1ih1QhvO3I_4SLwDpHAL98-O9RUsKqqWcsEieVZBY4JNwffx2vxMXvW7za2yl8QkhLH8uCtpJt5vhWWOCEHTLVnXptBLpaa0Stv10TDDrj/s2550/MOMA%201933%20-%20Early%20Modern%20Architecture.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1772" data-original-width="2550" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1QIHcS3KIul7yW6c32JdQgFA0vQ1uTMTA8CH15bM2sL5PbD1uXKsqSPY_-P8FNXVdeD4J6TV6EpeTGh1ih1QhvO3I_4SLwDpHAL98-O9RUsKqqWcsEieVZBY4JNwffx2vxMXvW7za2yl8QkhLH8uCtpJt5vhWWOCEHTLVnXptBLpaa0Stv10TDDrj/w400-h278/MOMA%201933%20-%20Early%20Modern%20Architecture.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Exhibition with photo of Glessner House at far right</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />On
January 18, 1933 – exactly 90 years ago – the Museum of Modern Art in New York
City opened its second architectural exhibition. Entitled </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">Early Modern Architecture:
Chicago, 1870-1910</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, the exhibition was curated by architect Philip Johnson,
who noted in the official press release that, “Chicago, and not New York, is
the birthplace of the skyscraper.” Thirty-one Chicago buildings were featured,
including three of H. H. Richardson’s four Chicago commissions – the Marshall
Field Wholesale Store, and the Glessner and MacVeagh houses. In this article,
we will explore how Johnson came to curate the exhibit, how the buildings
included demonstrated the development of “modern architecture,” and how the
exhibition helped to restore Richardson’s legacy.</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Museum of Modern Art and Philip Johnson</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) had its beginnings in 1929, when a group of seven
collectors and patrons decided to challenge the conservative policies of
traditional museums, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in particular. Founding
director Alfred H. Barr, Jr., had a vision that it would soon become “the
greatest museum of modern art in the world.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">MoMA
started out in six rooms in the Heckscher Building at Fifth Avenue and 57</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
Street. Within months, 1,500 people a day were visiting the galleries, so in
May of 1932, the museum moved into a six-story house at 11 West 53</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
Street owned by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller was
one of MoMA’s founders). Five years later, the site was cleared for
construction of the present building.<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqHSSzwpFsTGUd8a5teCuda9nOSLGmFy0gHkmnrpqOXrGCQiLsv0Jy_A6Y0ZtNWQUJMAQFciqm0iuEunfMRyJKAcdzXLET8ObM3dY-Ga6S-s0wLJfcmo1PlPeLx64qXQaRfuQPJmrXgFFUHylhw_9j7yL5VAYi5sVJsPGUsp8wInu05eNTWEeUC8x/s1710/MoMA%201933%20building.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1710" data-original-width="1073" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqHSSzwpFsTGUd8a5teCuda9nOSLGmFy0gHkmnrpqOXrGCQiLsv0Jy_A6Y0ZtNWQUJMAQFciqm0iuEunfMRyJKAcdzXLET8ObM3dY-Ga6S-s0wLJfcmo1PlPeLx64qXQaRfuQPJmrXgFFUHylhw_9j7yL5VAYi5sVJsPGUsp8wInu05eNTWEeUC8x/w251-h400/MoMA%201933%20building.jpg" width="251" /></a><br /><i>Museum of Modern Art in 1933</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Architect
Philip Johnson (1906-2005) attended Harvard University after which he traveled
extensively in Europe, becoming exposed to the work of Le Corbusier, Walter
Gropius, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In 1930, utilizing a considerable
fortune from his father, Johnson financed the architecture department at MoMA.
Two years later, he was named curator, and soon arranged for Gropius and Le
Corbusier to visit the United States. He also negotiated the first American
commission for Mies van der Rohe.<br /><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK0g16c7euYa__buuYnHfE18ZK_Rt56LH9eCmkD7k0pOkfVSPTbZU-spIZh2JNSFdM_W22jTKQO7EPRlk9aaTCdEdaAyxE7SdIs9HYJJLdrae08PJpLwnEoTz7tx30Hb5FeHD5r0q1AhwDUDG-Eq3W2AdF_lUvhqUe_7O5MeBPSTXYIpZ_ym-cPaa_/s975/Philip%20Johnson%20taken%201-18-1933%20by%20Carl%20Van%20Vechten.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="653" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK0g16c7euYa__buuYnHfE18ZK_Rt56LH9eCmkD7k0pOkfVSPTbZU-spIZh2JNSFdM_W22jTKQO7EPRlk9aaTCdEdaAyxE7SdIs9HYJJLdrae08PJpLwnEoTz7tx30Hb5FeHD5r0q1AhwDUDG-Eq3W2AdF_lUvhqUe_7O5MeBPSTXYIpZ_ym-cPaa_/w268-h400/Philip%20Johnson%20taken%201-18-1933%20by%20Carl%20Van%20Vechten.jpg" width="268" /></a><br /><i>This photograph of Philip Johnson was taken on January 18, 1933, the day the exhibition opened.</i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />In February
1932, working with architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr.,
Johnson organized the first exhibition of modern architecture at MoMA, entitled
</span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Modern Architecture: International Exhibition</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">. They simultaneously
published the book </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">International Style: Modern Architecture Since 1922</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">,
which introduced modern architecture to the American public.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Early
Modern Architecture: Chicago 1870-1910</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Johnson’s
second exhibition for MoMA was announced in early January 1933. The press
release quoted Johnson:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Chicago,
and not New York, is the birthplace of the skyscraper. Few people realize that
on the ashes of the Chicago fire of 1871 there was built the only architecture
that can truly be called American. The great names in the building of the
frontier city were three architects, H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan and Frank
Lloyd Wright, who, with their followers, made the end of the nineteenth century
the greatest epoch in the architectural development of our country. They
created a native product not indebted to English or continental precedent.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“To
these men goes the credit of bridging the gap between the Crystal Palace of
steel and glass in London in 1851 and the skyscraper of today. They were the
first to take advantage of the shift from masonry to cast iron and from cast
iron to steel. This independent American architecture finally succumbed to the
wave of classical revivalism which the World’s Fair first brought to Chicago in
1893.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The press
release went on to note that Johnson and Hitchcock had spent the summer of 1932
in Chicago collecting information and photographing important buildings. It
also noted that the exhibition would be “the first record of a great
architecture which is vanishing rapidly under the sledgehammer of the housewrecker.”
This was a poignant statement given that five of the buildings included in the
exhibit had already been demolished.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Johnson
felt that there were two main reasons why Chicago became the center of
architectural development in the late 19</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century. The first was
its inland location which “removed it from the influence of traditional
architecture active on the Atlantic seaboard.” The second was the fire of 1871
which brought countless architects to the city to assist in the rebuilding and finding
ways to construct taller structures. </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
exhibition consisted of photographs of 31 Chicago buildings, and one from New
York, included to show how backward thinking the latter city was at the turn of
the century. Each photograph was accompanied by an explanatory wall label prepared
by Johnson and Hitchcock:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We
don’t want people merely to look at this show, we want them to study it and
carry away with them a conception of what went into the making of the greatest
epoch in our American architecture.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Glessner
House was the only building included for which the plan was displayed, clearly
demonstrating how its innovative floor plan was central to the significance of
its design. The Auditorium building was the only one for which an interior view
was included, which revealed “Sullivan’s power of original design.”<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGIhlRgOr127qZtRDDKauOWzDkHGadUOK2OUZADTUyFspmA68mvRVCe_rJWYXOkZmLYfSjB8IaTva2SLFE5FV8eX0O_PbNv86k-T4cIK4N33390jeVwLyO-I5GK2xHGshjnzesSarbQvJRmtaCw49eUvZ6jiAPrudJjfJteBogSyGa6fcRXSncPIjC/s868/Philip%20Johnson%20at%20exhibit%20GH%20over%20his%20right%20shoulder.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="868" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGIhlRgOr127qZtRDDKauOWzDkHGadUOK2OUZADTUyFspmA68mvRVCe_rJWYXOkZmLYfSjB8IaTva2SLFE5FV8eX0O_PbNv86k-T4cIK4N33390jeVwLyO-I5GK2xHGshjnzesSarbQvJRmtaCw49eUvZ6jiAPrudJjfJteBogSyGa6fcRXSncPIjC/w400-h293/Philip%20Johnson%20at%20exhibit%20GH%20over%20his%20right%20shoulder.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Philip Johnson with the building models; Glessner House is partially visible at far left</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The
only three-dimensional items included in the exhibition were three models
showing the progression from masonry to steel:<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-The
All Masonry Building<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-The
Masonry Building with Metal Skeleton<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-The
Steel Skeleton Building<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
models were built by Alfred Clauss (1906-1998) a German architect who, in
collaboration with his wife, architect Jane West Clauss, is credited with
designing one of the earliest examples of the International Style in the United
States. (The development of distinctive split-level homes was known as “Little
Switzerland” and was located outside of Knoxville, Tennessee.)</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
exhibition catalog included chronologies of both the technical and aesthetic
development of the skyscraper, along with selected architect biographies.
Johnson’s comments are brief but telling. Of William LeBaron Jenney, he credits
him with the first use of steel skeleton construction, but notes he was “a
technician rather than a designer.”<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNjkpHtH4Rw38cdFqVl0BtnQdsKBggVFxa2xXuO4gB93lg2HFYy5nbkc3rb9SPtiBd9OLxzMrbISYcqHL15yMTK7t1qb3emkmpbbC0RpRxAKZxG2ZGjOKSmIt8T9aE-0Q6-KsPZA5B5bOVybZSB0hPyv7vSymRz67EG_ghpio93KE9rInk2fzP25R/s900/Richardson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="670" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNjkpHtH4Rw38cdFqVl0BtnQdsKBggVFxa2xXuO4gB93lg2HFYy5nbkc3rb9SPtiBd9OLxzMrbISYcqHL15yMTK7t1qb3emkmpbbC0RpRxAKZxG2ZGjOKSmIt8T9aE-0Q6-KsPZA5B5bOVybZSB0hPyv7vSymRz67EG_ghpio93KE9rInk2fzP25R/w298-h400/Richardson.jpg" width="298" /></a><br /><i>Henry Hobson Richardson</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />He
praised H. H. Richardson:<br /></span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“In his later work the importance of reminiscent elements of design grew
less and less, but his originality as an architect was based on the integrity
of his use of traditional construction rather than on technical innovations. To
the new national architecture, he contributed not methods of building but a
formative spirit.”</i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Louis
Sullivan was clearly a favorite:<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Applying
the basic stylistic discipline of Richardson’s Marshall Field Wholesale Store
to the new skeleton construction, Sullivan first found a dignified clothing for
the skyscraper. In his work of the late eighties and early nineties, his
designs emphasized the vertical. Soon, however, he found a more logical
expression of the underlying construction with a scheme of wide windowed
horizontality. Sullivan led for two decades a considerable group of architects
known as the Chicago School, but he alone made of the early skyscraper an
aesthetic invention.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Burnham
& Root received mixed reviews, Root being noted as “one of the more original
Chicago Richardsonians.” But after his death in 1891, “the prolific work of the
firm, beginning with the general supervision of the World’s Fair, was rarely
original or distinguished in design.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Johnson
made several comments in the catalog noting the negative impact the World’s
Fair of 1893 had on the development of modern architecture.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Buildings
included in the exhibition</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
exhibition included 31 buildings in Chicago, ranging from the 1872 Field
Building (architect not identified) to Carl Schurz High School, a design of
Dwight Perkins completed in 1910. Most were tall buildings located in downtown,
but the range included a synagogue, an armory, a park pavilion, a school, and
five houses.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Louis
Sullivan was represented with eight buildings, designed in partnership with
Dankmar Adler, or from his independent practice. Four buildings represented the
work of Burnham & Root and D. H. Burnham and Co. Richardson, Jenney, and
Richard E. Schmidt each had three buildings, while Holabird & Roche had
two.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
short paragraph described each building. Among the more interesting entries are
the following:<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9DvSjLmkfrIxouqq4B_Mr6mJOgZ1j96gpvql_lnmc5qtuEnfCYTmVhr_k9goBeh_Y5zxFWwYwupFJ0cbQomEtnQfdOUmw-ewzNNVRRW9bNyPBQj-teolJzK3kkhpkJrIIDxsYS1y1mgwCX_3COCt7yxGCg8lEO9j-PRzeV90uW4A_v8P3QO7vznD/s2116/Leiter%20building.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2116" data-original-width="2033" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9DvSjLmkfrIxouqq4B_Mr6mJOgZ1j96gpvql_lnmc5qtuEnfCYTmVhr_k9goBeh_Y5zxFWwYwupFJ0cbQomEtnQfdOUmw-ewzNNVRRW9bNyPBQj-teolJzK3kkhpkJrIIDxsYS1y1mgwCX_3COCt7yxGCg8lEO9j-PRzeV90uW4A_v8P3QO7vznD/w384-h400/Leiter%20building.jpg" width="384" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Leiter
Building I<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">William LeBaron Jenney, 1879<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“An
important step toward the skyscraper: the use of cast iron posts between the
masonry piers introduces more light. The design is crude, but the general
horizontal ordering foreshadows the more finished designs of the later steel
skyscrapers.”<br /><br /></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEAmnE0ZESIVcAdyvkl93hDkGQA52SbdRQQ1cqKtQnZFX3tRCrW82-VOcAM6ITSO6_oXu2rMRcA9v0pHtAdo58qTn8QKYlaDK56Cl_jibS5vHRSN6k-OsVLB5y6jmY3RHtD6Y3eTYRu6do7eOxUmM7dmd4Sqi28LECYzKhYmT7dITcvPUG4G3oggj/s985/Home%20Insurance.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="985" data-original-width="722" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEAmnE0ZESIVcAdyvkl93hDkGQA52SbdRQQ1cqKtQnZFX3tRCrW82-VOcAM6ITSO6_oXu2rMRcA9v0pHtAdo58qTn8QKYlaDK56Cl_jibS5vHRSN6k-OsVLB5y6jmY3RHtD6Y3eTYRu6do7eOxUmM7dmd4Sqi28LECYzKhYmT7dITcvPUG4G3oggj/w294-h400/Home%20Insurance.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Home
Insurance Building<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">William
LeBaron Jenney, 1884-85 (demolished 1931)<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
crucial step in the creation of the skyscraper. The metal skeleton supports all
the weight of the building except the exterior walls which are partially self
supporting. . . In principle, the building has ceased to be a crustacean (chief
support by masonry shell) and is already implicitly a vertebrate (chief support
by skeleton). Jenney did not yet realize the revolutionary quality of the
device he had employed above the second floor.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBpdgCCKTgc4cDMkpioUVyv6xOuQLRsVh-_VMSGvDIaMTR2-UwjKcD1j3gvKHkyv7F8wdB8uJ2tfBx06WP815vJJQc0ZzjGFQl9nfEd1J7YBMXumpGNwEySFpsLdJVCZ0dRuuaGmidlxgkEqKieEUPR2y3DLES1HkQcf4jwxHIBr4iPVJq9RDo4Ld/s2343/Marshall%20Field%20Wholesale%20in%20exhibit%20from%20HHR%201936%20book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1905" data-original-width="2343" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBpdgCCKTgc4cDMkpioUVyv6xOuQLRsVh-_VMSGvDIaMTR2-UwjKcD1j3gvKHkyv7F8wdB8uJ2tfBx06WP815vJJQc0ZzjGFQl9nfEd1J7YBMXumpGNwEySFpsLdJVCZ0dRuuaGmidlxgkEqKieEUPR2y3DLES1HkQcf4jwxHIBr4iPVJq9RDo4Ld/w400-h325/Marshall%20Field%20Wholesale%20in%20exhibit%20from%20HHR%201936%20book.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Marshall
Field Wholesale Store<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">H. H.
Richardson, 1885-86 (demolished 1930)<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
masterpiece of commercial architecture in masonry, and the strongest single
influence on the design of Chicago commercial architecture of the next
generation. Even when this influence was no longer direct, the aesthetic
discipline of regular and simple design continued.”<br /><br /></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheJimMsCL_vEMOrCdU24HKQ4ZqnPp1x1w45Kjc26z9rDGbXKDIgjIQNUY26FHVGiFHUvOZ-7P-Sp4UgSlIXUcyI_jMuyzElhiEy9vIl0N5LYKX27JCFJ1dHK-tHd4e0Mdg5AN78r9XQmpX09B51ezC9DHGACSHQAnOlSEitEuIZh0OJq0tWfZAB3_o/s2140/Glessner%20House%20photo%20in%20exhibit%20from%20HHR%201936%20book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1329" data-original-width="2140" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheJimMsCL_vEMOrCdU24HKQ4ZqnPp1x1w45Kjc26z9rDGbXKDIgjIQNUY26FHVGiFHUvOZ-7P-Sp4UgSlIXUcyI_jMuyzElhiEy9vIl0N5LYKX27JCFJ1dHK-tHd4e0Mdg5AN78r9XQmpX09B51ezC9DHGACSHQAnOlSEitEuIZh0OJq0tWfZAB3_o/w400-h249/Glessner%20House%20photo%20in%20exhibit%20from%20HHR%201936%20book.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiKiXnlN_tqtnfg9mHHictFlDNh0cXhMb7gAMEzsfJhRnVY_FquBnFSVz5T7WAMVLPR8uaXtvRPN7Zr0ckzcJWa_h2U7foz-m6E1V3TC7w_EBisRDwQV_XVO0oKM0i03KFrraWjH5AjbOV5DApFvgSmDcoY90S8dT5Y4RPN7s3W5hTDrf3ByvusdYe/s1932/Glessner%20plan%20in%20exhibit%20from%20HHR%201936%20book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="999" data-original-width="1932" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiKiXnlN_tqtnfg9mHHictFlDNh0cXhMb7gAMEzsfJhRnVY_FquBnFSVz5T7WAMVLPR8uaXtvRPN7Zr0ckzcJWa_h2U7foz-m6E1V3TC7w_EBisRDwQV_XVO0oKM0i03KFrraWjH5AjbOV5DApFvgSmDcoY90S8dT5Y4RPN7s3W5hTDrf3ByvusdYe/w400-h206/Glessner%20plan%20in%20exhibit%20from%20HHR%201936%20book.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Glessner
House<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">H. H.
Richardson, 1885-1886<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Here,
as in the Marshall Field Wholesale Store, Richardson generalized and recreated
the traditional elements of design which he had earlier borrowed directly from
the Romanesque. The disposition of the plan with the main rooms opening toward
the court rather than toward the street is unusual in America.”<br /><br /></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDntDnbS0KoEm6zGOyDsV-gPNETF_OiLnAEJ0qrCjrXBNSc2_vzXjGKhShxU5dE4DPQ_Yk3tzh1UQem2nhux7DC54HhEG1Ohw3VR50N74dMPzqO1zhkkrmZnW6ZGwzIJEUhY6oxFReuTUfQgYnsANqMtElRiQvyFtTxmujvcZCO-cG4_zOLbnP7o5/s1329/MacVeagh%20House%20photo%20from%20HHR%201936%20book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1185" data-original-width="1329" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDntDnbS0KoEm6zGOyDsV-gPNETF_OiLnAEJ0qrCjrXBNSc2_vzXjGKhShxU5dE4DPQ_Yk3tzh1UQem2nhux7DC54HhEG1Ohw3VR50N74dMPzqO1zhkkrmZnW6ZGwzIJEUhY6oxFReuTUfQgYnsANqMtElRiQvyFtTxmujvcZCO-cG4_zOLbnP7o5/w400-h356/MacVeagh%20House%20photo%20from%20HHR%201936%20book.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />MacVeagh
House<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">H. H.
Richardson, 1885 (demolished 1922)<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Less
original than the Glessner House this house by Richardson is nevertheless
superior to most work of the Richardsonians of the eighties.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8nzkXhTiVIdq9s_RbHhOzvkg_fuKab8Mgqr_IjbFMfaYpPbkpZu6NtbXIzowHBm_JRJ51ESB5FC_fdb7A7X7Wea5rVy9KLfvB9jKWI7z8akseV9E-m2vmkOrksmpZxoG5KqIcD-XfZnlym2Y69Wa_WQlMm6t75Nl2eCci6XIH_MLih8mJG8mazPtl/s1800/Armory.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1393" data-original-width="1800" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8nzkXhTiVIdq9s_RbHhOzvkg_fuKab8Mgqr_IjbFMfaYpPbkpZu6NtbXIzowHBm_JRJ51ESB5FC_fdb7A7X7Wea5rVy9KLfvB9jKWI7z8akseV9E-m2vmkOrksmpZxoG5KqIcD-XfZnlym2Y69Wa_WQlMm6t75Nl2eCci6XIH_MLih8mJG8mazPtl/w400-h310/Armory.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />First
Infantry Armory<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Burnham
& Root, 1890<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note:
located just four blocks from Glessner House)<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
contrast of tiny windows and colossal portal, the avoidance of fussy detail,
and the fortress-like scale of the whole, illustrate the possibilities of the
free traditional design which existed in Chicago before the World’s Fair. The
medievalism is hardly Richardsonian but rather that of the projects of the
early nineteenth century in France.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6EPaAfEpO55xnNQb8OgR7DgXLxsvnmo-N2OJL_LE_Uyv8_X9873Ab9-96BdLXGFomB-FBHp1jpTrPVH_B0CUMUQ3as0ICEP9ylLSfXmm8y5LJO6YEQEMxtSftoEr6jxZEorpp-NjB8o3OjLYls0-9jVi2BQXddsQZ-xJ8VYwTGrbggKIufpdszEs/s1800/Auditorium%20from%20west.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1626" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6EPaAfEpO55xnNQb8OgR7DgXLxsvnmo-N2OJL_LE_Uyv8_X9873Ab9-96BdLXGFomB-FBHp1jpTrPVH_B0CUMUQ3as0ICEP9ylLSfXmm8y5LJO6YEQEMxtSftoEr6jxZEorpp-NjB8o3OjLYls0-9jVi2BQXddsQZ-xJ8VYwTGrbggKIufpdszEs/w361-h400/Auditorium%20from%20west.jpg" width="361" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Auditorium
Building<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Adler
& Sullivan, 1887-89<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
treatment here of the masonry bearing walls shows strongly the direct influence
of the Marshall Field Wholesale Store. The lower portions have been influenced
by the Marquis de Vogüé’s publications on early Syrian architecture. Only in
the tower appears the beginning of Sullivan’s more personal style.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghK0wM9inHzqcO8guUmtaV1SmBnkVlLmWXJRiRG83mO64Nz-K_ZzsVP1MMrD6dXrGb_7-y-Il-u3RkpeEXMoeLwsFMNJTNXOEcvjMs8dprKMyocEtX1o79N-cJo3R3mbl9QBIgUbFHuMhFsmoDkZiKGBfSG5zOsOS3HtuBF0RH_4nMt6dYFOWh7AZP/s823/Walker%20Warehouse.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="823" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghK0wM9inHzqcO8guUmtaV1SmBnkVlLmWXJRiRG83mO64Nz-K_ZzsVP1MMrD6dXrGb_7-y-Il-u3RkpeEXMoeLwsFMNJTNXOEcvjMs8dprKMyocEtX1o79N-cJo3R3mbl9QBIgUbFHuMhFsmoDkZiKGBfSG5zOsOS3HtuBF0RH_4nMt6dYFOWh7AZP/w400-h349/Walker%20Warehouse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Walker
Warehouse<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Adler
& Sullivan, 1888-89<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Here
the flatter surfaces and the more vertical grouping indicate the direction
Sullivan’s manner was to take as it freed itself from the influence of Richardson.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXv7v2PCuEjO7Au5_BfYk0c3QT0BUHhvIeaRPHNqmxDpsTrdSg47OdnvwGDeJZRj0LpgjJWUUgYbzxJOkkDFyHfOBvbH5bp7cYswWABWoDzzhlUumxbWu8rdNAbOf8piRgdG99an9mkDE7Y_F0ph6H2j57EksZASJHFEjpwUhZZ3zvMmziFjvAkqUE/s1350/Schurz%20High%20School.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1350" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXv7v2PCuEjO7Au5_BfYk0c3QT0BUHhvIeaRPHNqmxDpsTrdSg47OdnvwGDeJZRj0LpgjJWUUgYbzxJOkkDFyHfOBvbH5bp7cYswWABWoDzzhlUumxbWu8rdNAbOf8piRgdG99an9mkDE7Y_F0ph6H2j57EksZASJHFEjpwUhZZ3zvMmziFjvAkqUE/w400-h274/Schurz%20High%20School.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Carl
Schurz High School<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dwight
H. Perkins, 1910<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“This
building owes little specifically to Sullivan. But it indicates the ability of
the members of the Chicago School to find a new type of design for new
problems. Especially in such a school is the superiority of their inventions
over the archaeology of the stylistic revivalists clear.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6oSGncdigit8y9vDdEpiGef4AOpdpnXyMzLAVgbls-j6OFNMCRswCp52J3qKOvAx9m5Q3xdQdDyxaJeEVrpwMWRWtiJbFpvgtKq5_FYVQ_3NXNgEwXp7r4ZLmX9vXhab2NZvzL3GLXXJChw3oB_0SSTZ-ujQUymhY5SaH--voZieU6gaUhPDZAZY/s1800/Pulitzer-World%20Building.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1343" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6oSGncdigit8y9vDdEpiGef4AOpdpnXyMzLAVgbls-j6OFNMCRswCp52J3qKOvAx9m5Q3xdQdDyxaJeEVrpwMWRWtiJbFpvgtKq5_FYVQ_3NXNgEwXp7r4ZLmX9vXhab2NZvzL3GLXXJChw3oB_0SSTZ-ujQUymhY5SaH--voZieU6gaUhPDZAZY/w299-h400/Pulitzer-World%20Building.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Johnson
included one New York building in the exhibition – George B. Post’s Pulitzer
Building (also known as the World Building), completed in 1890. He was clear in
his disdain for the design:<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Although
at its completion the tallest building in the world (349 feet), this New York
tower is progressive neither in structure nor design. It has masonry bearing
walls on the exterior, 12 feet thick at the base, and only the interior is
supported on wrought iron columns. Yet the Home Insurance and Tacoma Buildings
had been completed several years earlier.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
conventional scheme of academic Renaissance design (the dome of the Invalides
has been placed on top of the Louvre) is characteristic of the Eastern
architecture of this period and is inappropriate and devoid of scale.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Chicago’s
awareness of the exhibition</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Despite
Johnson’s praise of Chicago’s architecture, it appears that the exhibition,
which ran for five weeks, received little attention in Chicago. The <i>Chicago
Tribune</i> carried a brief article entitled “Chicago Architecture in Gotham”
two weeks after the exhibit opened.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However,
Chicagoans were given the opportunity to see the exhibit for themselves, when it
traveled to Chicago that summer. In a move that would be considered unusual
today, the exhibition was installed not in a museum, but in the interior
decoration galleries at Marshall Field & Co. This was a smart move, and
probably resulted in many more Chicagoans being exposed to it than if it had been
installed in a traditional setting. Additionally, that was the first summer of
the Century of Progress World’s Fair and, for many visitors to Chicago, a trip
to Marshall Field’s was an absolute must.<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-Yr6W5DVwConNCxygNtZTT2cscqSi72Z56kxnP6MjG0kCcAnFAxK5LAzbFyCsUvOQHdwztuZ0BJ3m0JCyESyXUEOmmRyDw8RKGubiiCgvnXARJdbxpnsElcN_L1KMU7a7VDvLL5TMSGA5JPt8dFC11VvdXs-P95kzw_ciYGLscjdLQ6al-aWFlqD/s2256/1933-07-12%20Marshall%20Field%20ad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1865" data-original-width="2256" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-Yr6W5DVwConNCxygNtZTT2cscqSi72Z56kxnP6MjG0kCcAnFAxK5LAzbFyCsUvOQHdwztuZ0BJ3m0JCyESyXUEOmmRyDw8RKGubiiCgvnXARJdbxpnsElcN_L1KMU7a7VDvLL5TMSGA5JPt8dFC11VvdXs-P95kzw_ciYGLscjdLQ6al-aWFlqD/w400-h331/1933-07-12%20Marshall%20Field%20ad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />It was
an ironic twist of fate that the exhibition ended up at Field’s. Clearly one of
Johnson’s favorite Chicago buildings was the Marshall Field Wholesale Store by
H. H. Richardson – a structure Field’s had razed just three years earlier.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Conclusion</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
1933 exhibition is the earliest to have brought attention to the innovative
design and plan of Glessner House. Richardson had slipped into obscurity by
this time, and with Prairie Avenue in significant decline, few would have an
opportunity to see the house in person. If they had, they would have seen it blackened
with soot and surrounded by empty lots, shuttered houses, and factories.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Three
years later, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr. curated <i>The Architecture of H. H.
Richardson and His Times</i> at MoMA, to commemorate the 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of Richardson’s death. (Johnson had abruptly resigned as curator in
late 1934). The exhibition opened on January 14, 1936, just six days before
John Glessner’s death at the age of 92. Hitchcock’s accompanying book was
instrumental in restoring Richardson’s legacy, and even made the case that the
distant roots of European Modernism were actually found in the United States.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Of
the 31 Chicago buildings featured in the exhibition, five had been demolished
by 1933. An additional 13 have since been razed, leaving 13 survivors (listed
in chronological order):<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Glessner
House<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Auditorium
Building<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Leiter
Building II<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Monadnock
Building<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Anshe
Maariv Synagogue (Pilgrim Baptist Church, some exterior walls remain)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Charnley
House<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Winslow
House<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Reliance
Building<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Schlesinger-Mayer
Building (Carson, Pirie, Scott)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Gage
Building<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Nepeenauk
Building (Chapin & Gore Building)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Humboldt
Park Pavilion<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Carl
Schurz High School</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjH8bdiZ_A_FZn4CZkj_8MYoHHiOu5jd03SoQOT3sJj2xy7rHGSwjCSS8WT7M-SsRbL9FMgBy7ChW0YwPg0RYC4Clxy87annE5seuMtKhCauBxm7vYCYirTHeK4BsmVhqwa41HkJ2rMhkWqjIIlnOcI3y6tczIcpzPAz-Bqm9O1-uaDfgUxCYdfdZ/s1035/Philip%20Johnson%20at%20Glessner%20House%201995.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="808" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjH8bdiZ_A_FZn4CZkj_8MYoHHiOu5jd03SoQOT3sJj2xy7rHGSwjCSS8WT7M-SsRbL9FMgBy7ChW0YwPg0RYC4Clxy87annE5seuMtKhCauBxm7vYCYirTHeK4BsmVhqwa41HkJ2rMhkWqjIIlnOcI3y6tczIcpzPAz-Bqm9O1-uaDfgUxCYdfdZ/w313-h400/Philip%20Johnson%20at%20Glessner%20House%201995.jpg" width="313" /></a><br /><i>Philip Johnson at Glessner House, 1995</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />When
Glessner House went up for sale in 1965 and was threatened with demolition,
Philip Johnson became one of the most outspoken advocates for its preservation.
In an interview with the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Daily News</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, Johnson referred to it as
“the most important house in the country to me.” He stood behind his words and provided
$10,000 toward the $35,000 purchase price. His appreciation for Glessner House
extended back more than three decades to his 1933 exhibition, a time when he
probably would have never imagined the critical role he would one day play in
its preservation.</span><p></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-56929119567604587212022-12-20T20:13:00.003-06:002022-12-20T20:13:29.729-06:00The original, odd, quaint, queer, Dutch, Mexican, Spanish fortress on Prairie Avenue<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">By
the time the Glessners moved into their new house at 1800 South Prairie Avenue
on December 1, 1887, the design had been both praised and vilified by neighbors
and other passers-by. Frances Glessner carefully recorded all these comments in
her journal as she became aware of them, and John Glessner felt they were so
significant that he repeated them 45 years later while penning his </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Story
of a House</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">From
the time of its groundbreaking on June 1, 1886 until completion exactly eighteen
months later, the house was also the subject of a number of articles in Chicago
newspapers, including the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Inter-Ocean</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">,
the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Herald</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, and the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Evening Journal</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Reviews here
were also mixed, although not quite as mean-spirited. Journalists often seemed simply
confused in attempting to explain what the architect and owner were trying to express
in the unusual design, but admittedly these columnists presumably had no
architectural training.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
celebration of the 135</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> anniversary of the completion of the house
this month, we share some of our favorite excerpts from these newspaper
accounts. At least eight have been identified, dated between June 1886 and
November 1887. </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The three earliest
articles were pasted into Frances Glessner’s journal; four later articles were
added to a scrapbook maintained by the Glessners which included articles on
many topics. One additional article, published just a few weeks before they
moved in, may have been seen by the Glessners, but does not appear to have been
saved by them.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6FFXMYFGfGFfu_Mot7MzopYmbwIL0uAb_66L0Y6b8qvU2Ak4ix-W6OWdAnNB5_tevq3XA_pqC2W9EabqViFmCs3nC_8cUtYvVXY5TZygPnsMvIMgb-6mw6lkJzWkUgUnEtyrauhADqqHCGhwhGtRqWan-AMPPqF5C-kYlzmOYdh5sNxqpLbr5-QL/s1800/Cornell%20front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1198" data-original-width="1800" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6FFXMYFGfGFfu_Mot7MzopYmbwIL0uAb_66L0Y6b8qvU2Ak4ix-W6OWdAnNB5_tevq3XA_pqC2W9EabqViFmCs3nC_8cUtYvVXY5TZygPnsMvIMgb-6mw6lkJzWkUgUnEtyrauhADqqHCGhwhGtRqWan-AMPPqF5C-kYlzmOYdh5sNxqpLbr5-QL/w400-h266/Cornell%20front.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">COSTLY
DWELLING-HOUSES.<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>An
Apartment Building on One Corner of Eighteenth and Prairie and a House with No
Front Windows on the First Floor on the Other.<br /></b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chicago
Tribune</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, June 5, 1886</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“On
the southwest corner a very old style residence, but a new one in Chicago, is
to be put up. It will be two stories high and have a frontage of 76 feet on
Prairie avenue and 160 feet on Eighteenth street and cost $60,000. The owner is
J. J. Glessner, who emigrated from the West side. It will be constructed after
plans by the late H. H. Richardson. There will be no windows on the street
fronts except in the second story, the first floor being lighted and ventilated
from an interior court, the entrance to which is through a gated archway
opening onto Prairie avenue. No one will be able to get in from the outside
unless he forces the stout iron gate. The house will in appearance resemble
dwellings to be seen in Spain and Mexico.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It
was jokingly said that this castle is to be built in anticipation of the day
when the rich will have to keep out of the way of Anarchists and other
bloodthirsty individuals who believe in a division of property, but the real
object of the designer was not only to get greater privacy but also to have a
novelty in the way of a house.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NOTES:
This article also described a proposed seven-story apartment house across the
street from the Glessner House, designed by Burnham & Root. The $250,000
project never materialized, and a few years later, William Kimball acquired the
site and built his French chateau, which still stands. There are, of course,
many windows on the first floor, but it is unclear what information the
journalist would have had from which to write his description. The “stout iron
gate” refers to the porte cochere entrance for the carriages, a heavy oak
paneled door with elaborate wrought iron trim. The reference to Spain is
accurate; Richardson was influenced by Romanesque buildings seen in Spain
during his 1882 trip to Europe. The oversized voussoirs in the arch over the
front door being the most direct “appropriation.” The mention of “Anarchists”
is very timely, as the article appeared just a month after the infamous
Haymarket riot.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGbzoYiJhIHSSr1BdCnUeA0pRxZOKH18krArNyxx3kRhaqyWlhj6fFqrBrPnDb-P-aH2xmxR-e6_zLpcXA47Daacbz5OC5DIQukWQntY1CRkmBex6zxty70LlhflByDiPrBiYiAUytuRCvDoVtknRu2cHPIvAjUTjvFw0xXvOeCk-I_a3W1kFbmhrR/s1800/Richardson%20sketch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="1800" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGbzoYiJhIHSSr1BdCnUeA0pRxZOKH18krArNyxx3kRhaqyWlhj6fFqrBrPnDb-P-aH2xmxR-e6_zLpcXA47Daacbz5OC5DIQukWQntY1CRkmBex6zxty70LlhflByDiPrBiYiAUytuRCvDoVtknRu2cHPIvAjUTjvFw0xXvOeCk-I_a3W1kFbmhrR/w400-h141/Richardson%20sketch.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>A
Dwelling-House of Novel Design on the Corner of Eighteenth and Prairie.<br /></b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chicago
Tribune</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, June 6, 1886</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Ground
has been broken at the southwest corner of Prairie avenue and Eighteenth street
for the erection of a private residence which, when completed, will show a very
decided departure from the conventional in American architecture. The design is
by the late H. H. Richardson, and its peculiarity is owing more to the location
of the lot and the desire of the owner to get a full southern exposure than to
other considerations.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
masonry work will consist of the Braggville, Mass. granite base and Georgia
pink marble without trimmings, the latter being used in the construction of the
first and second floors. The stonework and trimmings on the court elevation are
to be of Lemont limestone, while the openings, all of which will have a
southern exposure, will be numerous, as the building will be practically
lighted from the court formed by the inverted ‘L” shape of the structure. When
completed, which the contractors, Norcross Bros., are under contract to do by
Aug. 1, 1887, the building will be the only one of its kind in the country,
and, in addition to its unique design and handsome, substantial appearance,
will possess all the features of quiet, and light, and convenience.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NOTES:
This article appeared in the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> just one day after the
first article described, being contained within a longer series of short
articles under the “Chicago Realty” section of the paper. Not included above is
a detailed description of the exterior including an accurate accounting of the fenestration
(the arrangement of doors and windows) confirming the presence of windows on
the first floor. The most significant change the Glessners made to the design
of the house after Richardson’s death was to abandon the use of Georgia pink
marble and carry the Braggville granite from the base all the way up to the
roof line.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYD-_qnuhUJUqJiwbuu9sKGshMCpAW1Cd4R5iBl-UUVjBCV4jq9xmTSJAg2_7nmLhbkcG7WeUsmj8-irrCTLRDZxSTb-9CKjhOBqkEmTy4Oy4JuJhi1IXKJd61WjvGLrgHV-8gq8XpEnYFEcpfRfshQz_Bhq-7jhu5odGy-Pdg9aym-G8hTHlr2yd6/s1800/Courtyard%20watercolor.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="981" data-original-width="1800" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYD-_qnuhUJUqJiwbuu9sKGshMCpAW1Cd4R5iBl-UUVjBCV4jq9xmTSJAg2_7nmLhbkcG7WeUsmj8-irrCTLRDZxSTb-9CKjhOBqkEmTy4Oy4JuJhi1IXKJd61WjvGLrgHV-8gq8XpEnYFEcpfRfshQz_Bhq-7jhu5odGy-Pdg9aym-G8hTHlr2yd6/w400-h217/Courtyard%20watercolor.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>(Title
unknown)<br /></b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chicago
Evening Journal</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, July 10, 1886</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -22.0in 2.15pt;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-contextual-alternates: yes; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">“There seems to be a building boom just
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Houses are going up on every
available lot, despite the groans of the pessimist, who prophesies hard times
and probable panics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Richardson, the
famous Boston architect, had before his death orders for several houses in
Chicago, which in a few instances will revert to local architects willing to
literally carry out his designs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of
these is a home on Prairie avenue - that holy of holies where only the elect do
dwell - for a wealthy West Sider.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
special elevation will be adapted from mediaeval architecture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will not have a moat and draw-bridge,
because enough property could not be secured to admit of this protection, but
upon the first floor no window will look toward the street, although the house
will stand on a corner, it being the owner’s idea to have an inside court, made
beautiful by all that art can devise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Prairie avenue is a social street, and also a gossipy one, and it does
not suit the neighbors that this newcomer should exclude all possibility of
watching his windows and finding out what may be going on within-doors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has heretofore been the custom to call all
householders together when a new house was projected, and consult with them
before breaking ground; if the plans should not please the majority,
suggestions were freely offered, and such alterations made as would render it
most acceptable; and that this house is going up in spite of disapproval, has
thrown the neighborhood into a state of stupefaction.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NOTES:
The pessimistic opening to the article again speaks to the ongoing turmoil
following the incident at Haymarket Square two months earlier. The reference to
the need of a moat and draw-bridge is comical but not unique. A few months
later, a journalist writing in the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> noted, in describing Potter
Palmer’s castle on Lake Shore Drive, that “there should be a deep moat around
the castle, and access to the main door should be over a draw-bridge.” That
reference is a bit more understandable, given that Palmer’s castle also
elicited the description of the “castle plucked from a fishbowl.” The <i>Chicago
Evening Journal</i> seems to be a bit more sensational than the more serious <i>Chicago
Tribune</i>, devoting nearly half of the description to the negative response
from neighbors. Did one of them perhaps provide a tip to the journalist of the
unhappiness on the street? One can’t help but think of the “anonymous”
editorial three years later criticizing the front addition to Wirt Dexter’s
house just a few hundred feet to the north of the Glessners’ house, which
echoed everything Pullman hated about Dexter (his next door neighbor) extending
the house to the front lot line. Pullman’s dislike of the Glessners’ house is
legendary, so maybe . . . ?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0W8l_hxJ6n-OD0Pm1I3no0LL8nG6Wc5cuPM8tFyfjCgwZFhqNKqJ1V9mA8aM0nMrH9VLEY_e63y-eARCWVNYNWF1ZuDZIKoTWPlqlf-ROIec_L44cPx6NAyLJwU_Gk8w9-VxYPAIWMQAPxR83FXJF-ca7gNHUnDwQFnpfx6W16n2M07UcFqnIBOUo/s1800/Cornell%20rear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1305" data-original-width="1800" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0W8l_hxJ6n-OD0Pm1I3no0LL8nG6Wc5cuPM8tFyfjCgwZFhqNKqJ1V9mA8aM0nMrH9VLEY_e63y-eARCWVNYNWF1ZuDZIKoTWPlqlf-ROIec_L44cPx6NAyLJwU_Gk8w9-VxYPAIWMQAPxR83FXJF-ca7gNHUnDwQFnpfx6W16n2M07UcFqnIBOUo/w400-h290/Cornell%20rear.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PALACE
AVENUE.<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Its
More Plebian but Better Known Title of Prairie.<br /></b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chicago
Inter-Ocean</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, January 2, 1887</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Passing
to the opposite corner, upon the south, and a most originally planned structure
greets the eye. The architect was the late H. H. Richardson, of Boston. The
same gentleman designed Mr. Franklin MacVeagh’s house upon the lake shore drive
and the new Field store. This strange looking building elicits many comments
from both residents and strangers. For solidity it is superior among the thousands
of well built houses in the city. There is no dividing line between the outer
walls of the house and stable. The windows upon the street and avenue are for
the most part small and the roof is sloping. The house covers every foot of the
frontage. The grounds within are not visible except from the house of the
owner.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
northern wall of the new house, adjoining upon the south is unbroken. The
residence is said to be of the Spanish-Mexican type, and of convenient internal
arrangement. Its late architecture had a National reputation. When finished the
house will be occupied by the builder, Mr. John J. Glessner, Warder, Bushnell
& Glessner, and will alone represent a large fortune.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NOTES:
The focus of this very lengthy article was to provide a detailed description of
the many large homes and mansions on Prairie Avenue from Sixteenth to
Twenty-Second streets. Richardson’s other Chicago projects – the MacVeagh house
on Lake Shore Drive and the Marshall Field Wholesale Store – were both in the
process of completion when Richardson died in April 1886.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip1QarESnrLSryNW8p1f4geYp7IX3ijvJfHfSZCcHNl3Gzls9P9eAbsaDaozJz88-eNwfH1u0mr3Qv6lQaR4tK43U2oQt7YtSKwM9SKkM0g-azBfW1zps7YWrBWysjfDXqsrwNmW0UiFiSQ7OR94at-blfj99xSrPJsQr9Ig_xGoh150spiJH6r4VB/s1950/Keith%20and%20Glessner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="1950" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip1QarESnrLSryNW8p1f4geYp7IX3ijvJfHfSZCcHNl3Gzls9P9eAbsaDaozJz88-eNwfH1u0mr3Qv6lQaR4tK43U2oQt7YtSKwM9SKkM0g-azBfW1zps7YWrBWysjfDXqsrwNmW0UiFiSQ7OR94at-blfj99xSrPJsQr9Ig_xGoh150spiJH6r4VB/w400-h308/Keith%20and%20Glessner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Title
unknown<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Newspaper
and date unknown (probably April 1887)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“A
number of new houses will be tenanted in another month. Mr. Osborne Keith
intends taking possession of his lovely home on Prairie avenue in May; the
Glessner fortress is nearing completion . . . “</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NOTES:
Osborne Keith’s house (partially seen at far left, above) stood immediately to
the south of the Glessner house. The more traditional verticality of that house
emphasized the horizontality of the Glessner house. Fortress became the most
common adjective to describe the Glessners’ house – combining in one word
Richardson’s heavy massing, the rusticated granite, minimal window openings on
the north side, and the incorrect assumption that the design represented the
occupants concern regarding “Anarchists” and the current labor problem.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmU27OEOikCH_ciROHNAV35qvAK-gIbQUOzSGlzkLKM_BLaUH6uGDdEs7JB4ywE6TeDCpmOvmyxv5OBPl63zfqTDwOYXEkr51gDb11gcey96DOMycCfiEDBC2ZCXK_IPm2KwddeiwtqOg61wQuAB2zKUJAvZ_EpCAGvNNT4opc4tJhiSRYDDAGrPV/s1800/Queer%20illustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1207" data-original-width="1800" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmU27OEOikCH_ciROHNAV35qvAK-gIbQUOzSGlzkLKM_BLaUH6uGDdEs7JB4ywE6TeDCpmOvmyxv5OBPl63zfqTDwOYXEkr51gDb11gcey96DOMycCfiEDBC2ZCXK_IPm2KwddeiwtqOg61wQuAB2zKUJAvZ_EpCAGvNNT4opc4tJhiSRYDDAGrPV/w400-h269/Queer%20illustration.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW THINGS
IN TOWN<br /></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
Queer House Out on the Avenue<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Reaper
Man Glessner’s Dutch House in the Aristocratic Precincts of Prairie Avenue<br /></b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chicago
Herald</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, undated (late 1887)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is an odd house, surely, which the
workmen are just now putting the inner and finishing touches upon at the corner
of Eighteenth street and Prairie avenue, diagonally across the street from
George M. Pullman’s mansion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a
unique house, in fact, it is the only one of the kind in America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a typical Dutch house – a veritable
‘huis’ from Amsterdam – only it was designed by an American architect, built by
American workmen of American materials, and stands in that hub of Chicago
aristocracy and Americanism – Eighteenth and Prairie avenue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The quaint house appears all the more quaint
amid its surroundings, where all is modern and United States and almost
monotonously stiff in architecture and style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Light for the dining-room, and for many
other rooms in both stories, is taken from the court, which is one of the
distinguishing features of the house, and a novelty in this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem which the architect had to solve
in this house was not an easy one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Given, a long, narrow lot – 75 x 160.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wanted – a large, well-lighted house, with stable and yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See how nicely the plan suits the situation .
. . The court, 40 x 100, rivals in beauty the best examples to be found in the
old world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is a quaint house, and most people
riding by give it a cursory glance and exclaim “how ugly!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s a home-like house, full of the means
of comfort and content, and for his $60,000 Mr. Glessner will acquire not only
the quaintest, but one of the best homes in all Chicago.”</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NOTES: This is a most interesting description of
the house, and although terms such as odd and queer are used, the writer
clearly understands the significance of the design, and the problem Richardson
faced in bringing the maximum amount of light into the house. The origin of the
Dutch attribution is unknown and appears to be unique to this article (and the
one that follows, also from the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chicago
Herald</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.)</span><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxKUBoQMyhEJ9KPC9674ynIW61wrTfelODwkLrq5XO84N4ej7iw8NjXN1NLfHJNu2O1BE0JWr9fT8XwI4X1xrVDAdCKz450qHU4m0KbNOqUhJtoS-uDfjxbYFdUGeQtcEjexWXI3L0hynNe7gNOW8rC79FixSnvh-vF4UeZ_cce5OSmKggTp_C29G/s1733/1800%20block%20looking%20SW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1376" data-original-width="1733" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxKUBoQMyhEJ9KPC9674ynIW61wrTfelODwkLrq5XO84N4ej7iw8NjXN1NLfHJNu2O1BE0JWr9fT8XwI4X1xrVDAdCKz450qHU4m0KbNOqUhJtoS-uDfjxbYFdUGeQtcEjexWXI3L0hynNe7gNOW8rC79FixSnvh-vF4UeZ_cce5OSmKggTp_C29G/w400-h318/1800%20block%20looking%20SW.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Chicago’s
Nest of Millionaires.<br /></b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chicago
Herald</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, undated (late 1887)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“’If
you want to see the richest half-dozen blocks in Chicago,’ said an entertaining
gossiper, ‘drive out Prairie avenue from Sixteenth street to Twenty-second.
Right there is a cluster of millionaires not be matched for numbers anywhere
else in the country’ . . . John J. Glessner, the reaper man, will soon move
into his queer Dutch house with an inner court . . . How much wealth does this
whole cluster represent? Well, this is only guess work, but I think that if all
the men in that little neighborhood were to get together and sign a joint note
for sixty or seventy million dollars it would make a pretty good note.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NOTES:
The focus of this article is to describe the wealth of the residents of Prairie
Avenue. It is worth noting however, that John Glessner is the only one listed
for which anything is said about his house; the reference clearly having been
pulled from the article above.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI2DpIeGcWg62ujsL-istgT_knkjLPD9AfJFgfDsgP-OHlCbNd9nSsx0G5GvfMw37i-g44eUevHWfdF4vI6mio-Rj8h6Vb9qmmMlXNZbT7zddN49enXTmq-mwjtZNrpsvs18a6X_2QWXCm29kKNwxJmhyY_ZhUEBGaMPYjKUW7A0zK52VnLh2y6ZlS/s1323/Glessner%20exterior%20historic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="1323" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI2DpIeGcWg62ujsL-istgT_knkjLPD9AfJFgfDsgP-OHlCbNd9nSsx0G5GvfMw37i-g44eUevHWfdF4vI6mio-Rj8h6Vb9qmmMlXNZbT7zddN49enXTmq-mwjtZNrpsvs18a6X_2QWXCm29kKNwxJmhyY_ZhUEBGaMPYjKUW7A0zK52VnLh2y6ZlS/w400-h258/Glessner%20exterior%20historic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">THE
CITY IN BRIEF.<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Miscellaneous.<br /></b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chicago
Inter-Ocean<b>, </b></span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">November 5, 1887</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
handsome Glessner mansion on Prairie avenue will soon be ready for occupancy.
It was one of Richardson’s last works, the plans being completed not long
before that eminent architect’s death. It will be a Chicago monument to his
genius.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NOTES:
The last known article written before the Glessners moved into their home
provides the most generous compliment so far recorded, specifically to Richardson.
A Chicago monument indeed – the design was praised by architects – and
Richardson’s work went on to have a profound effect on Louis Sullivan, Frank
Lloyd Wright and others. Decades later, when the house was fighting to survive,
modernists like Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson were vocal in their
respect for the house and the importance of its preservation. So, after all the negative
comments were set aside, the true significance of the house was, in time, fully
realized.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-84686651846374888872022-11-15T18:17:00.000-06:002022-11-15T18:17:43.338-06:00Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American rights activist<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSj1KBKHKD55iURCPhlf5Y004CVmYTIZT0wfnOJPjTmLIfWV-ExBMu9f45GRLZh0tRD_dSRNUTLLLHWABaVCe_t4hEa9PDACZY7axLRxdnRZKYgXpWNPVJNwRnoy4PaAYRafs-xmDBWRQaZdi8GdHnJFXW6LXVFEH5GO7EyWqhJ-BWW6iMG7VQHFa/s1050/Montezuma%20UoI%20library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="691" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSj1KBKHKD55iURCPhlf5Y004CVmYTIZT0wfnOJPjTmLIfWV-ExBMu9f45GRLZh0tRD_dSRNUTLLLHWABaVCe_t4hEa9PDACZY7axLRxdnRZKYgXpWNPVJNwRnoy4PaAYRafs-xmDBWRQaZdi8GdHnJFXW6LXVFEH5GO7EyWqhJ-BWW6iMG7VQHFa/w264-h400/Montezuma%20UoI%20library.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />Dr.
Carlos Montezuma, a prominent Chicago physician, full-blooded Apache Indian,
and nationally recognized Native American rights activist, was the guest of the
Glessners for Sunday supper in both 1896 and 1898. Although the exact
circumstances leading to these supper invitations are unknown, Frances Glessner
was clearly impressed with the doctor, then in his early thirties. A signed
copy of a paper Dr. Montezuma delivered in early 1898 remains in the house
archives as a tangible link to the visits by this prominent activist. We
present his extraordinary story and his interaction with the Glessners in honor
of Native American Heritage Month.</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Early
Years</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Carlos
Montezuma was born around the year 1866 near Four Peaks in the Arizona
Territory, located east of present day Phoenix. His given name was Wassaja,
which translates as “signaling” or “beckoning.” Wassaja’s father Co-cu-ye-vah
was a chief of the Yavapai-Apache tribe, and his mother was Thil-ge-ya. In
October 1871, when Wassaja was just five years old, he and other children were
captured for enslavement or bartering by raiders from the Pima tribe. The young
boy was taken to nearby Adamsville where the Italian photographer Carlo Gentile
was at work documenting the local Native Americans. Gentile purchased the boy
for thirty silver dollars, adopted him as his own son, and had him baptized as Carlos
Montezuma – the first name after himself, and the last name as a reminder of
the boy’s cultural heritage, the Montezuma ruins standing nearby.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLQLNosIAmYLA4sSijqWrRySYhUFL3_sbWG914xkNBfrHej60i4qtCDPwtIVoGn30CiCihkb54544vSrcYOucbIy351fB_OqfbMkBHtc-6LUK27xF2FZclXmAuPtkV2ePX74U4NXT_LA3t4reoTAZIChPMCKdnGxA387iHZQ0LF_sRCiNbVOF189XL/s900/Carlo%20Gentile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="622" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLQLNosIAmYLA4sSijqWrRySYhUFL3_sbWG914xkNBfrHej60i4qtCDPwtIVoGn30CiCihkb54544vSrcYOucbIy351fB_OqfbMkBHtc-6LUK27xF2FZclXmAuPtkV2ePX74U4NXT_LA3t4reoTAZIChPMCKdnGxA387iHZQ0LF_sRCiNbVOF189XL/w276-h400/Carlo%20Gentile.jpg" width="276" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />Carlo
Gentile (1835-1893) was born in Naples, Italy and had traveled the world before
settling in British Columbia, Canada in the 1860s, where he undertook
ethnographic work to document the First Nations peoples, including the Kamloops,
shown below in one of Gentile’s images. In 1867, he relocated to California,
moving back and forth between there and the Arizona Territory, where he
documented the Pima and Maricopa Indians.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGiiiStW4FODzJ3tUdXO2dOQeu9I91VnBfDm512Bp8pdu0650lsZuOUxbZv_Ij4zvF8nvFlxj1MDRqf6ukV850CUj1AeaRiuCtWEsF9w8ZUpq6XMulJnk2qGcCANLxlSgGCHc-A87MHnhSeUXnVDiJAfaKeOs4OU5JblP-Pf5ls2EELriQA8Sp6vy2/s1200/Gentile%20photo%20-%20Group%20of%20Camloops%20Indians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1200" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGiiiStW4FODzJ3tUdXO2dOQeu9I91VnBfDm512Bp8pdu0650lsZuOUxbZv_Ij4zvF8nvFlxj1MDRqf6ukV850CUj1AeaRiuCtWEsF9w8ZUpq6XMulJnk2qGcCANLxlSgGCHc-A87MHnhSeUXnVDiJAfaKeOs4OU5JblP-Pf5ls2EELriQA8Sp6vy2/w400-h236/Gentile%20photo%20-%20Group%20of%20Camloops%20Indians.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">After
adopting his son, Gentile continued to travel extensively, and by December
1872, the two found themselves in Chicago, where they joined the production of
a show entitled “The Scouts of the Prairie, and Red Deviltry As It Is!” at
Nixon’s Amphitheatre. The chief draw was Buffalo Bill and “several live
Indians,” including Carlos, who was billed as “the young Apache captive,
Azteka.” Gentile photographed cast members and sold carte-de-visites (small mounted
photos). They traveled with the show until March 1873, and then led a somewhat
nomadic life until settling back in Chicago in 1875, where Gentile opened a
photographic studio at the southeast corner of State and Washington streets,
and Carlos started attending school. Gentile became well-known for his stereo
views of Chicago buildings, including the Gardner House hotel at the southwest
corner of Michigan Avenue and Jackson Street, shown below.<br /><br /></span><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-J6g3O59neJzcCtnSVPHpIXgymJp9qc78DDUKvZrD9dfHHa8u7oxRkNnVeMW_x8hYsBIxOQrYKmwEwcRUz600K3Q6GbPR0ZvhVeaG-oxB-UK0sYrWC9Q4DSECCJneSeNpzfWGJINpYILk-Q-rXh57ufufXz1QKQ8pdbsKgc2T9f109MoDD9rK1c0Y/s1500/Gardner%20House%20Chicago.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="1500" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-J6g3O59neJzcCtnSVPHpIXgymJp9qc78DDUKvZrD9dfHHa8u7oxRkNnVeMW_x8hYsBIxOQrYKmwEwcRUz600K3Q6GbPR0ZvhVeaG-oxB-UK0sYrWC9Q4DSECCJneSeNpzfWGJINpYILk-Q-rXh57ufufXz1QKQ8pdbsKgc2T9f109MoDD9rK1c0Y/s320/Gardner%20House%20Chicago.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Schooling</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Carlos
suffered from a persistent cough, so Gentile sent the boy to a farm near
Galesburg, Illinois, where he lived for two years. After returning to Chicago,
they resided briefly in Brooklyn and Boston, before settling back in Chicago.
Gentile realized that the boy needed a good education, so turned him over to
the care of William H. Steadman, a Baptist minister in Urbana, Illinois.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montezuma
proved to be an outstanding student and graduated with honors from Urbana High
School in 1879, at the age of just thirteen. A year later, he entered the
University of Illinois where he studied English, mathematics, German,
physiology, microscopy, zoology, mineralogy, physics, mental science, logic,
constitutional history, political economy, geology, and chemistry. He was
called Monte by his classmates, and in 1883 began his support for Native
American rights with a speech, “Indian’s Bravery.”<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9g2RD43IdDumfstdgq_TTBfaDUGpJX1QWMqjGIkwQ1D8vW2Ek6_ji5bYhpGB9IHlMRTIhU8oPjhArOSR8cBK2l7Oq9wiLhKQeajTN740FF2ttkg5ko9KDB-TUO3hs3Ej9Cuan2Vs9Yr4qaPpMA0bJTPaDhmYEqBwH1jPl-R7uLKBk3yiLWfghNvh-/s930/Montezuma%20at%20University%20of%20Illinois.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="606" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9g2RD43IdDumfstdgq_TTBfaDUGpJX1QWMqjGIkwQ1D8vW2Ek6_ji5bYhpGB9IHlMRTIhU8oPjhArOSR8cBK2l7Oq9wiLhKQeajTN740FF2ttkg5ko9KDB-TUO3hs3Ej9Cuan2Vs9Yr4qaPpMA0bJTPaDhmYEqBwH1jPl-R7uLKBk3yiLWfghNvh-/w261-h400/Montezuma%20at%20University%20of%20Illinois.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />He graduated
from the University in 1884 and returned to Chicago, where he enrolled at the
Chicago Medical College, located at the northeast corner of Prairie Avenue and
26</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street, immediately west of Mercy Hospital. (The college became
affiliated with Northwestern University in 1870, was renamed the Northwestern
University Medical School in 1906, and survives today as the Feinberg School of
Medicine). In 1889, Montezuma received his doctorate in medicine and his
license to practice. Montezuma was the first Native American student at both
the University of Illinois and Northwestern University, and the second Native
American ever to earn a medical degree from an American university. (The first
was a woman, Susan La Flesche).<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfESt_f6VudDF-0Cpa3MVkx5z2jpAHYvya6orhrZGmJ6COD5HNqGA3vHxfTt4VZYcWMqBIYZFZ0-R93E33zZJLXZJmhV3ERZpS0y-Lktsm2ebDw0N46DABDvtZucmb74wWs1v0iONFQUt-Rv46zGU1vTiJKrvrfyAfMSV9AQht6v5t9eV4pUx-zCe/s1500/Chicago%20Medical%20College.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1363" data-original-width="1500" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfESt_f6VudDF-0Cpa3MVkx5z2jpAHYvya6orhrZGmJ6COD5HNqGA3vHxfTt4VZYcWMqBIYZFZ0-R93E33zZJLXZJmhV3ERZpS0y-Lktsm2ebDw0N46DABDvtZucmb74wWs1v0iONFQUt-Rv46zGU1vTiJKrvrfyAfMSV9AQht6v5t9eV4pUx-zCe/w400-h364/Chicago%20Medical%20College.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />Medical
practice and Native American activism</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montezuma
found a kindred spirit in Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of the Carlisle
Indian School in Pennsylvania. Both were strong believers in assimilation as
the most advantageous future for Native Americans, Montezuma with his excellent
education being a shining example. He began speaking around the country and was
quickly offered a position as physician with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He
worked at various reservations in the west, and in 1893 was appointed to a
position with the Carlisle Indiana Industrial School, giving him a chance to
work closely with Pratt. In that same year, Montezuma’s adoptive father, Carlo
Gentile, died in Chicago. He helped support Gentile’s widow and became the
custodian of their six-year-old son, also named Carlos.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montezuma
moved permanently to Chicago by 1896, where he established his private medical
practice, leasing a suite in the Reliance Building. It was soon after his
arrival in the city that the Glessners had an opportunity to invite him for
Sunday supper in their home. Frances Glessner wrote an unusually long entry,
indicating her deep interest in their house guest and his story. The entry
(with a few minor errors) reads as follows:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Last
Sunday (February 23) Mr. and Mrs. Moore, Dr. Dudley, Mr. Hendricks, Prof. and
Mrs. Donaldson, Ned Isham and Dr. Montezuma came to supper. Dr. Montezuma is an
Apache Indian who was stolen from his tribe when he was five years old by the
Pima Indians. He was taken to Mexico and sold to Gentile a photographer who
used to live here. Gentile paid thirty dollars for him. He was brought here,
educated, and studied medicine. Gentile died leaving a son of seven who was not
provided for and Montezuma is now taking charge of him and providing for him.
Montezuma is named for the mountain near which he was sold.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“He
told us his whole history of his sufferings at being parted from his parents –
the wonder and horror of all which he saw in civilization. His tribe were
entirely uncivilized, and had no blankets, knives, fire arms or horses. They
had never seen a horse or a white man. He thought the horse a part of the man –
and had imbued the white man with all kinds of powers. He only patted the earth
when a horse came <u>forth</u>, he looked at an Indian only once to kill him.
Montezuma saw an immense John Fiske shaped man on his way east in the coach –
and thought of course his size came from swallowing children whole. We were all
interested extremely by his talk.”</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXNYvg-m00M36rr1kKtXlKhO9LU7HCbxz71fjq-uERsd8uo9SB89cZq70c4xWAD3eJMXrDSRmpFEo9l0yi6CrsMzqdNy_-j7v_fN-zLPtxT5okmV-nz_27b2w3MBE-Igpp7KxLbZHQqfbE7k8ZJwwe5FdXR-92MFLmRkWtDvmDqDpWiVownrO4N39l/s1050/Montezuma%20young%20man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXNYvg-m00M36rr1kKtXlKhO9LU7HCbxz71fjq-uERsd8uo9SB89cZq70c4xWAD3eJMXrDSRmpFEo9l0yi6CrsMzqdNy_-j7v_fN-zLPtxT5okmV-nz_27b2w3MBE-Igpp7KxLbZHQqfbE7k8ZJwwe5FdXR-92MFLmRkWtDvmDqDpWiVownrO4N39l/w286-h400/Montezuma%20young%20man.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />It is
possible that the Glessners became aware of Dr. Montezuma as a result of an
article that appeared in the January 29, 1896 edition of <i>The Inter Ocean</i>,
where he discussed his views on the treatment of Indians:</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
blunder that the government has always made has been in regarding the Indians
as a people distinct from other citizens, and giving them practically their own
way. They have been isolated in an ignorant and superstitious condition, and
the dark picture of their lives cannot be exaggerated. Separated socially and
politically from the government under which they lived, they were deprived of
forming any ideas of civil law or self government, and their pitiful and
helpless condition today may be stated as the result of the government policy
toward them.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If
we wish to elevate the rising generation of Indians to a higher and more
enlightened condition, we must give them the same chances as have the sons and
daughters of other races. The government ought to be more considerate of the
true Americans of this country. . . The Indian Bureau has become an absurd and
useless institution and absorbs much public money for the little good it does
to the Indian. Congress should formulate as soon as possible measures which
would allow Indians their full rights and at the same time place their children
in public schools in the territory along with the children of others. Every
foreigner that lands here has the privilege of our public schools, but the poor
Indian is deprived of the advantages of them. These reservation schools are
practically worthless and are but a means to continue the reservation system
and keep the Indian in continued ignorance and dependence.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It
is not too late to save the few remnants of our Indian tribes – not, however,
as curiosities, but as self-reliant American men and women. But to do this they
must be treated as a part of the people and be brought into the broad daylight
of American citizenship and equality. This may be a radical step, but it is
their only salvation. Make the Indians citizens, not dependents; given them the
rights and privileges of American manhood, and then let them sink or swim in
the struggle of life.”<br /><br /></span></i></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK52m6d1Fg_V0yVDNizVUh_a8GgCFuAtC7kj8eIyD_8GVxtCAFrVTIwBkrRpxzbZFvV0rNVoDvo6jwUTSwWsHOo9TTk27nv1xLm-931LN9yHlEdnis8cXpQZVWnCQVIrj3MtoB4L960XxK7JkRlLjXfQCgkLw0nqYGchXKLK2BR-j0t6jTdpxXofIT/s1500/The%20Indian%20Problem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="833" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK52m6d1Fg_V0yVDNizVUh_a8GgCFuAtC7kj8eIyD_8GVxtCAFrVTIwBkrRpxzbZFvV0rNVoDvo6jwUTSwWsHOo9TTk27nv1xLm-931LN9yHlEdnis8cXpQZVWnCQVIrj3MtoB4L960XxK7JkRlLjXfQCgkLw0nqYGchXKLK2BR-j0t6jTdpxXofIT/w223-h400/The%20Indian%20Problem.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />In
early 1898, Montezuma delivered a speech for the Young Fortnightly, the junior
branch of The Fortnightly of Chicago, a private women’s club founded to enrich
the intellectual and social life of its members (Frances Glessner was a member).
Entitled “The Indian Problem from An Indian’s Standpoint,” he reiterated his
beliefs as noted above in the 1896 editorial, closing with a plea for proper
education:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I
wish that I could collect all the Indian children, load them in ships at San
Francisco, circle them around Cape Horn, pass them through Castle Garden, put
them under the same individual care that the children of foreign emigrants have
in your public schools, and when they are matured and moderately educated let
them do what other men and women do – take care of themselves.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“This
would solve the Indian question, would rescue a splendid race from vice,
disease, pauperism and death. The benefit would not be all for the Indian.
There is something in his character which the interloping white man can always
assimilate with profit.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(NOTE:
Castle Garden served as the point of entry for millions of immigrants, prior to
the opening of Ellis Island in 1892.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
printed version of the speech presented to the Glessners with Montezuma’s
signature is dated February 10, 1898, just three days before Montezuma’s second
supper in their home:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Last
Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Angell, Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Baird
came to supper. The guests in the house had heard of Dr. Montezuma and John
sent for him to come to supper which he did. They were all much interested in
him. He told his story well.”</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirVKd3dOnhjBjxodElsLZmW9VeMeSs48SPj-02Nenn1kI5LYyBZnFATRguWAZgaSTR5x2MmB6A9NMuJgUv8YiticcQZ_f7RJBnRK3K9louOj3P4cfwvCV_zAtGUCHjEniJvQoHkq7nRMU7NiIXrVDc1xJZg-w9xMUQW2QN2OjkDpaqrI3FcZSryor6/s900/Montezuma%20boy%20adult%20Heard%20Museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="900" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirVKd3dOnhjBjxodElsLZmW9VeMeSs48SPj-02Nenn1kI5LYyBZnFATRguWAZgaSTR5x2MmB6A9NMuJgUv8YiticcQZ_f7RJBnRK3K9louOj3P4cfwvCV_zAtGUCHjEniJvQoHkq7nRMU7NiIXrVDc1xJZg-w9xMUQW2QN2OjkDpaqrI3FcZSryor6/w400-h274/Montezuma%20boy%20adult%20Heard%20Museum.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />Later
years</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
1900, Montezuma made the first trip back to Arizona since his childhood,
traveling as the team doctor with Coach Pop Warner’s famous Carlisle Indian
School football team. He returned in 1903 visiting numerous reservations in the
hopes of finding his parents. They were discovered to be long dead, but the
visit softened his views of the reservations when he saw how connected his
people were to the ancestral land that they called home. He worked to create
the Fort McDowell Yavapai Reservation by late 1903, and for the remainder of
his life, fought hard for the people in “his” reservation. The next year, he
founded the Indian Fellowship League in Chicago, the first urban Indian
organization in the United States.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By
1905, his medical practice was thriving, and he moved his offices into Suite
#1108 of the newly constructed Chicago Savings Bank Building, shown below, at
the southwest corner of State and Madison streets. (Now known as the Chicago
Building, the Holabird & Roche designed structure was designated a Chicago
landmark in 1996).<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif1OOFLP5jykD_ZXxOLhAQDvs-_yV_ibkONnv8uWhJKoolWVvOXP7R2SIUMLIst7h9ZjTyqCniDTEjHlGo-VNV-UvZHkGQoaESP7Qq6KTdPcifo-CQRYGUirQoqq1J5k6aFxh-GyAzkd-F2LnKn1i87eyDLz9A7j0nL5fAa7d5TG8CGKPzweAmomKG/s775/Chicago%20Savings%20Bank%20Building%201905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif1OOFLP5jykD_ZXxOLhAQDvs-_yV_ibkONnv8uWhJKoolWVvOXP7R2SIUMLIst7h9ZjTyqCniDTEjHlGo-VNV-UvZHkGQoaESP7Qq6KTdPcifo-CQRYGUirQoqq1J5k6aFxh-GyAzkd-F2LnKn1i87eyDLz9A7j0nL5fAa7d5TG8CGKPzweAmomKG/w310-h400/Chicago%20Savings%20Bank%20Building%201905.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montezuma
attracted national attention as an Indian leader and he delivered impassioned
speeches across the country, attacking the government’s treatment of Native
Americans and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1911, he helped found the
Society of American Indians, the first Indian rights organization created by
and for Indians.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Five
years later, he began publishing a monthly magazine titled Wassaja (his birth
name) that he used to promote his views on Native American education, civil
rights, and citizenship. The masthead shown below, taken from the May 1919
edition, shows Montezuma at right holding his pamphlet “Let My People Go.” The
notice at the bottom of the page reads:</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Let
My People Go – This little pamphlet has the ring which sounds the keynote of
abolishment of the Indian Bureau and freedom and citizenship for the Indian
race. Buy copies and scatter them to your friends and where they will do the
most good. 10 cents a copy. 3135 So. Park Ave., Chicago, Ill.”<br /><br /></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCo-7WW7M7Iw4yEIEFIWDg2m987UMGx_0X2qqxLWXDy4g0mY5wuDqh2-li8DyAQlD8LK4WsM9Atg9IHsFRnrLJhaiVpe7ldLb2f_8YZ8SokJJjhvnjNX52kTk1qCLrc5QZOAVvUjtXqvjTKHWI2e1mZP36iJ15qotw28V1-jld7ohOREc0PgbWmIB/s1200/Wassaja%20newspaper%20Newberry%20Library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="1200" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCo-7WW7M7Iw4yEIEFIWDg2m987UMGx_0X2qqxLWXDy4g0mY5wuDqh2-li8DyAQlD8LK4WsM9Atg9IHsFRnrLJhaiVpe7ldLb2f_8YZ8SokJJjhvnjNX52kTk1qCLrc5QZOAVvUjtXqvjTKHWI2e1mZP36iJ15qotw28V1-jld7ohOREc0PgbWmIB/w400-h260/Wassaja%20newspaper%20Newberry%20Library.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(NOTES:
Image courtesy of the Newberry Library, repository of the Carlos Montezuma
papers. The address of 3135 South Park Avenue was Montezuma’s home; South Park
is now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Drive.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Death
and Legacy</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Montezuma
remained active until becoming seriously ill with tuberculosis in 1922. He
moved to the Fort McDowell Yavapai Reservation where he took up residence in a
primitive hut, refusing all medical attention. He died on January 31, 1923 and was
buried in the Ba Dah Mod Jo Cemetery at Fort McDowell.<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLbuolaN0hRih077yFnvZYaYwzG9gb00OCIsi0PyWhwbjsRaBUW4VYqFG56jZ49g5zgc1QEPtNK21tO6KZlyzjpyNqkRMvTBKGiR0wDpEZ0yp6JFYaftJu9YrMagZA7hGo2jDbuHs3t6gxYDCYB4_b5BDIF4DT3P5R7Lu8LGdZSkUphyEP13AdXHva/s1200/Montezuma%20grave%20-%20Fort_McDowell_Yavapai_Nation--Ba_Dah_Mod_Jo_Cemetery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1200" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLbuolaN0hRih077yFnvZYaYwzG9gb00OCIsi0PyWhwbjsRaBUW4VYqFG56jZ49g5zgc1QEPtNK21tO6KZlyzjpyNqkRMvTBKGiR0wDpEZ0yp6JFYaftJu9YrMagZA7hGo2jDbuHs3t6gxYDCYB4_b5BDIF4DT3P5R7Lu8LGdZSkUphyEP13AdXHva/w400-h268/Montezuma%20grave%20-%20Fort_McDowell_Yavapai_Nation--Ba_Dah_Mod_Jo_Cemetery.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7z9ITxhxuh8t7c6fpDtEBWxMb08I9C9c6x8J0IE6EDLrDl73EkPZy-k79R5Lo41EdNBikMrA1CgMAIEdxIRch2NiFqbVdxtclsxNe_cb-wuUOO_3fOAQ6aySRd3u4nr86YmORi2CZlukZo41Mc7GdJmsI3gtC6ogyAAj5h7uqwzL96YgPFYV-Ir8D/s1500/Montezuma%20grave%20-%20Maricopa_County.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1373" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7z9ITxhxuh8t7c6fpDtEBWxMb08I9C9c6x8J0IE6EDLrDl73EkPZy-k79R5Lo41EdNBikMrA1CgMAIEdxIRch2NiFqbVdxtclsxNe_cb-wuUOO_3fOAQ6aySRd3u4nr86YmORi2CZlukZo41Mc7GdJmsI3gtC6ogyAAj5h7uqwzL96YgPFYV-Ir8D/w366-h400/Montezuma%20grave%20-%20Maricopa_County.jpg" width="366" /></a></div> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Carlos
Montezuma’s extraordinary story was largely forgotten until rediscovered by
historians in the 1970s. Two major biographies have been written:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Carlos
Montezuma and the Changing World of American Indians</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> by
Peter Iverson (University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1982)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Boy
Named Beckoning: The True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American Hero</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
(Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis, 2008)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
1996, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation named their new health care facility the
Dr. Carlos Montezuma Wassaja Memorial Health Center. In 2015, the University of
Illinois named its newest residence hall Wassaja Hall in his honor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
<a href="https://mitchellmuseum.org/">Mitchell Museum of the American Indian</a> in Evanston, Illinois presents the Dr.
Carlos Montezuma Award at its annual gala. This year’s event, taking place on
November 19, 2022, will honor Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation
and a U.S. Congresswoman from Kansas, who has continued Montezuma’s work in
advancing Native American rights.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-48497550363943802482022-10-18T09:32:00.003-05:002022-10-18T09:32:30.658-05:00Frances Glessner is introduced into Chicago society<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PbuUS6KmBB84noTiLKUEaCLS-sYNtW1fjdC192WChjhIJEOg1d8bd4josVE7KDGrHq_VPC3IYPfaFZkZUteIXjLnGGnnXGA8Wc0Yr7QWvc5R5V4tC54cda2huDimTj3NAscwAujd74Dp4ammzxH1cWr1CbyTu7fJHaBhYSsKgUtgY9XfZJWO1Q5_/s1200/Frances%20closeup.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PbuUS6KmBB84noTiLKUEaCLS-sYNtW1fjdC192WChjhIJEOg1d8bd4josVE7KDGrHq_VPC3IYPfaFZkZUteIXjLnGGnnXGA8Wc0Yr7QWvc5R5V4tC54cda2huDimTj3NAscwAujd74Dp4ammzxH1cWr1CbyTu7fJHaBhYSsKgUtgY9XfZJWO1Q5_/w334-h400/Frances%20closeup.JPG" width="334" /></a></div><br />Frances
Glessner was introduced into Chicago society in the fall of 1897, exactly 125
years ago. Events unfolded quite rapidly following her return in July from a
grand tour of Europe. She soon met and fell in love with her future husband
while at her parents’ summer estate, The Rocks, in New Hampshire. After
returning to Chicago in October, plans were finalized for her debut, which took
place the day before Thanksgiving. Exactly one month later, her engagement was
announced. She was married in February 1898, and by the end of that year had
given birth to her first child.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
planning of a formal debut for girls turning 18 grew in popularity during the
19</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century. In England, members of the aristocracy spent months
planning for the event which culminated in presentation at court before the
Queen. In America, the rituals could be almost as elaborate, with the dress
(always white to portray purity), flowers, reception, and guest list all
carefully considered. Autumn was the most popular time for the debut as it
introduced the young woman at the beginning of the social season, providing the
opportunity for countless dinner parties and dances at which to meet potential
suitors. The goal was to secure a proposal of marriage by the end of the first
or second social season.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Frances
was actually 19-1/2 when her debut took place, due to the fact her parents sent
her on a grand tour of Europe in May 1896, just two months after she turned
eighteen. Accompanied by her maiden aunt, Helen Macbeth, the tour lasted
fourteen months and upon her return to the United States on July 29, 1897, she joined
her family to spend the remainder of the summer at The Rocks. A letter from her
mother, penned on July 4, hinted at her change of status – she was no longer
the girl Fanny, but the young woman Frances. Her mother wrote, in part:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“You are
grown up now – are no longer a child – we shall be good friends now. I shall
depend upon you, and you will help me and let me rely upon you. You are through
with the school room and are ready to take your place with me and to take on
responsibilities. Heretofore, your father and I have planned for you. Now you
can take the liberty which belongs to a young lady and to our daughter.”<br /><br /></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNE5MCzjKdtVlma-Q825fr1odXOiaNGhNFFg5gpHjgKb3Hks734yFT1qBp9D8EWec8D7oBbHKQmt0AHyTP-MJZUJB6wX5ulZnpCgY3EcLaVBd5Q0wqOUt9-q31ngp9g0kXp7ldKAg9G9xmB1APH1z7-qGvdbhRNfRuaNy4rXvtf8pmE8AKTjHgfbmj/s1200/Family%20on%20porch%20of%20Big%20House.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1200" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNE5MCzjKdtVlma-Q825fr1odXOiaNGhNFFg5gpHjgKb3Hks734yFT1qBp9D8EWec8D7oBbHKQmt0AHyTP-MJZUJB6wX5ulZnpCgY3EcLaVBd5Q0wqOUt9-q31ngp9g0kXp7ldKAg9G9xmB1APH1z7-qGvdbhRNfRuaNy4rXvtf8pmE8AKTjHgfbmj/w400-h289/Family%20on%20porch%20of%20Big%20House.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Frances and her family at The Rocks, summer 1897</i></div></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was while
at The Rocks that she came to know Blewett Lee, her future husband. He was
eleven years her senior and had come to know the family through his friend
Dwight Lawrence, one of George Glessner’s closest friends. Blewett was a
promising young attorney and a professor of constitutional law and equity at
Northwestern University, and quickly endeared himself to Frances, and the rest
of her family. On October 17, less than a week after the family had returned to
Chicago, he asked the Glessners for Frances’s hand in marriage.<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64C6OnvZ_8_dr2z7ywz3MZjAGkA7tYKkG2v2vuMgspffRbzWsrEn-qXIhwQchyI5DF0iEPh3gryHEQlPM-KaQ0xGRKhpFqmblueI6RliG5JozK54MJrGTo7A33X2oBHpl2b32Ct08f1j7OfzaApR9w1j54BbUtr6Ju8OdZwFuu5zZl39ZwZ76_4sp/s1200/Blewett%20Lee%20younger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="946" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64C6OnvZ_8_dr2z7ywz3MZjAGkA7tYKkG2v2vuMgspffRbzWsrEn-qXIhwQchyI5DF0iEPh3gryHEQlPM-KaQ0xGRKhpFqmblueI6RliG5JozK54MJrGTo7A33X2oBHpl2b32Ct08f1j7OfzaApR9w1j54BbUtr6Ju8OdZwFuu5zZl39ZwZ76_4sp/s320/Blewett%20Lee%20younger.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Although
they readily consented, the decision was made to postpone the announcement of
the engagement until after her debut. During the first week of November,
invitations were mailed out, and soon after, the society columns of the Chicago
newspapers announced the event, the following from </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Chicago Chronicle</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">
being typical:</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Mrs.
John J. Glessner and Miss Glessner of 1800 Prairie avenue will give a large
reception on the afternoon of Nov. 24 from 3 until 6 o’clock. The affair will
serve to introduce Miss Glessner.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The date
would have been carefully considered to avoid any conflicts, as Frances
Glessner’s journal notes numerous debut parties during the month to which she
was invited. On November 23, just one day before her daughter’s debut, she recorded
attending the debut for Marion Thomas, the daughter of Chicago Orchestra
conductor Theodore Thomas, where she formed part of the receiving party.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Frances
Glessner carefully recorded the details of her daughter’s debut in her journal:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wednesday,
the day was given up to the debut party. The flowers commenced to come in early
in the morning. I had two men here from eleven o’clock on arranging them. We
massed them on the library table and book shelves. There were huge vases of
American beauties which reached almost to the ceiling and these were put on the
south and east end of the table and the bouquets graduated down toward the
door. It was a splendid sight. She had flowers from sixty persons.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Frances’s
dress was white crepe de chine with an embroidered polka dot all white. She
wore a bunch of lilies of the valley which Mr. Lee sent her and three pink
rosebuds from my bouquet in her hair. Miss Hamlin wore a blue and white silk
and carried a bunch of white roses and one of crimson sent by John and George.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I wore a
green watered silk and velvet. There was a large number of guests. Frederick
ran the dining room and hall and did it splendidly. We had three bunches of
white chrysanthemums in the hall and one on the piano, American beauties on the
sideboard and one on each side of the table in the dining room. We had a small
narrow table across the bay window. This had a white cloth which reached to the
floor. This was festooned with delicate green and pink rosebuds. We had no
assistants and no one to preside at the table. It was a pronounced success in
every way.”<br /><br /></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyg4aRXT39xSQHzmPI4gLRtTtPAQExG-qzGiUd2FN-XP1OQKBMthLqpiFZlH5AtEXt1X53EPS9hgYz-C2Vc_pKFV67A9YtUu5sj56cdROqzCegjFaaNA_UMTAo7C0lmH2CzTW50sM2MRZeBy604ble32EuToJZv7GUX9tRVhtecnjcURoZmbNvmFO/s1200/Frances%2011-24-1897.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="792" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyg4aRXT39xSQHzmPI4gLRtTtPAQExG-qzGiUd2FN-XP1OQKBMthLqpiFZlH5AtEXt1X53EPS9hgYz-C2Vc_pKFV67A9YtUu5sj56cdROqzCegjFaaNA_UMTAo7C0lmH2CzTW50sM2MRZeBy604ble32EuToJZv7GUX9tRVhtecnjcURoZmbNvmFO/w264-h400/Frances%2011-24-1897.JPG" width="264" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>The
account of the event in the newspapers was brief, which was typical of the
Glessners who preferred not to have long detailed descriptions of their social
events published. </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Chicago Chronicle</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> wrote:</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Miss
Glessner, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Glessner of 1800 Prairie
avenue, made her debut in society yesterday afternoon at a tea from 3 until 6
o’clock. Mrs. Glessner was assisted by her guest, Miss Hamlin of Springfield,
O. Mrs. Glessner and Miss Glessner will be at home Tuesdays during the winter.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Notes:
“Miss Hamlin” was Alice Mary Hamlin, who would become George Glessner’s wife in
June 1898. “Frederick” was Frederick Reynolds, who had served as the Glessners’
butler since October 1891. The Tuesday “at homes” referred to the social custom of Frances Glessner and her daughter being at home every Tuesday afternoon to
receive callers.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The day
after the debut was Thanksgiving Day, and in a distinct step away from formal
society, Frances and her brother and their friends attended a 1:00pm football
game between the Universities of Michigan and Chicago held at the Coliseum, 1513
S. Wabash Avenue. A dinner for sixteen took place in the evening.<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdz_FR4g8lKZRmIvB_fx2yOvFEswhH9kOQxOPeo5hZ2TR137DblNTxjztjfjot0dkF6W5dO1q3QcXZjfxw14zmPrPXdTPlQgfQTFBofVlXLbya7PeM-Yj0G4MHx-X7pMHj64j5U_CadkExLvuHN5FgPI4RAfeBOsnAHqRncO1bDPNCLoupPI0fxt7/s1200/Coliseum%20football%20game.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="1200" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdz_FR4g8lKZRmIvB_fx2yOvFEswhH9kOQxOPeo5hZ2TR137DblNTxjztjfjot0dkF6W5dO1q3QcXZjfxw14zmPrPXdTPlQgfQTFBofVlXLbya7PeM-Yj0G4MHx-X7pMHj64j5U_CadkExLvuHN5FgPI4RAfeBOsnAHqRncO1bDPNCLoupPI0fxt7/w400-h246/Coliseum%20football%20game.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Friday
was marked by attendance at the regular concert of the Chicago orchestra, the
family enjoying a performance of Schumann’s </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rhenish Symphony</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and
Mendelssohn’s </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Frances Glessner noted
that many people called on her debutante daughter in their box during intermission. The next
day, she hosted a “young ladies luncheon” before mother and daughter attended
the debut party for Margaret Avery, a childhood friend, and the granddaughter
of Thomas M. Avery, president of the Elgin National Watch Company.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">On Friday,
December 10, Frances attended her first formal ball:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“In the
evening, Frances went to her first ball. She wore a charming gown of white
tulle with a delicate garnishing of pink roses and green leaves. A pink rose in
her hair. She was sweet as a peach. Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Blair took her. John
went after her at 12-30. Unie too went to help her. Mr. Lee went. Frances
danced every time and was not very enthusiastic over balls when she came home.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note: “Unie”
was Unie Iverson, a servant).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Just six
days later, the Glessners hosted a dinner dance for their daughter, with
elaborate preparations requiring the relocation of much of the first floor
furniture.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Thursday
we gave our dinner dance. We cleared the dining room and parlor of every piece
of furniture – took down the curtains, took off doors, etc. The side board and
piano were put in the hall and covered with old embroideries and brocades and
used for favor tables. We arranged the favors on them and then covered them all
up with Japanese parasols opened. The dining room was hung with festoons of
green wild smilax and at the lowest point of each festoon we pinned a big bow
of pink satin ribbon with long ends. Small rosettes of the same ribbon were put
in the greens between the bows. These bows were given the dancers for their
last favor.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Johnny
Hand and his orchestra of eleven pieces were in the hall between the stairway
and the fireplace. Mr. Bournique came himself and brought his man to put the
floors in the best condition. Our bedroom was used as a store room for
furniture. The guests came in the drive way and up the winding stairs. There
were forty two at dinner. We seated them at small tables in the parlor and
dining room. We had a bunch of pinks on each table. After dinner, these pinks
were put on the parlor mantel. The camp chairs were all covered with white
muslin covers. The chairs were paired off and the numbers were painted on good
sized cards and tied on the chairs.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
dining room was absolutely clear. The red curtains were dropped and the green
drapery and bows were on those. Mattie Williamson helped us all day. We had a
nice dinner and at twelve o’clock a nice supper. The party broke up at two
o’clock. We have been very much complimented over the party.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Inter
Ocean</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> reported the next day:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“About
thirty young people were entertained at dinner by Mrs. J. J. Glessner of No.
1800 Prairie avenue last evening. Later, the cotillon was danced. The affair
was in honor of Miss Frances Glessner, a recent debutante.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
social events for Frances continued, the week leading up to Christmas being
representative.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday,
December 20</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Frances
and her mother paid calls on the North side. In the evening, Frances attended a
dinner at the Lake Shore Drive home of Mrs. E. F. Lawrence and then the first
of the Marquette dances. The dance took place at the Germania Club on Clark
Street, just south of North Avenue. Attended by 150 people, the dance was
considered one of the important events in the social calendar for the winter
and inaugurated the season of subscription dances. The club hosting the dance was
composed of “young married people and young maids and bachelors who are prominent
socially on both the North and South Sides.” Frances’s father went after her at
midnight, at which time supper was served and the evening concluded with a
german. They came home about 3:00am, Frances noting she had “a fine time.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note: A german,
also known as a cotillon, was a popular group dance, usually performed to waltz
music. It incorporated elaborate props and favors, such as those mentioned in
the Glessner dinner dance of December 16.)<br /><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMo4exgxWPUMw5Tgds5YYlX3nb8XrAntdjmljwFVIPDxDf49fruorAn7_rjhxW8MKCe6l6qfdSLEMr1UZsOQ4qZJHbIJEYA_gux3d4ZnLchndrvVPLwkw6qz8AtmCSq-ywMEn7pYbkW_1LBiHSVN5oPGnj9JeQv4h1ChEnmvrzVipeLqdvokFHr1Lq/s1200/Germania%20Club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1200" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMo4exgxWPUMw5Tgds5YYlX3nb8XrAntdjmljwFVIPDxDf49fruorAn7_rjhxW8MKCe6l6qfdSLEMr1UZsOQ4qZJHbIJEYA_gux3d4ZnLchndrvVPLwkw6qz8AtmCSq-ywMEn7pYbkW_1LBiHSVN5oPGnj9JeQv4h1ChEnmvrzVipeLqdvokFHr1Lq/w400-h323/Germania%20Club.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Germania Club</i></div></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuesday,
December 21</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mrs.
William W. Kimball, 1801 S. Prairie Avenue, gave a luncheon for Frances. In the
afternoon, mother and daughter had about thirty callers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wednesday,
December 22</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Frances
hosted a “young ladies luncheon” for twelve. In the evening, Mr. Isham gave her
a dinner at his North side home.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thursday,
December 23</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mrs. A.
A. Sprague, 2710 S. Prairie Avenue, gave a luncheon for Frances. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday,
December 24</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Frances
dined at the home of Norman Ream, 1901 S. Prairie Avenue. His daughters, Marian
and Frances, would both serve as bridesmaids at her wedding. Frances’s
engagement was announced to the extended family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Frances
Glessner’s time as a debutante was active, but short lived. On February 9,
1898, just two and a half months after she was introduced into Chicago society,
she married Blewett Lee. A future article will detail the events leading up to and
including their nuptials, which took place in the parlor of her parents’
Prairie Avenue home.</span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-63455185318519185172022-09-20T14:42:00.000-05:002022-09-20T14:42:07.945-05:00A Summer with Birds, Bees and Blossoms - Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhmZfM5PDaClPoUmXK8ASO3FSTznQdG5Qau2IwO6FsD4R0O0bMH3B1Ll3betU1tKVbGL8bp8NU44oNTRp1ak3nmxkbFb2H5tPyNcCWMhQGDJ9v1-LAjfN4wkAm0zG9o_Cl6ls8dgaXxYpLpziRiMTvxxEyYRfHkqbTe_3sYJF0Hirgcwf-1kbwMpab/s1436/Big%20House%20after%20remodeling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1436" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhmZfM5PDaClPoUmXK8ASO3FSTznQdG5Qau2IwO6FsD4R0O0bMH3B1Ll3betU1tKVbGL8bp8NU44oNTRp1ak3nmxkbFb2H5tPyNcCWMhQGDJ9v1-LAjfN4wkAm0zG9o_Cl6ls8dgaXxYpLpziRiMTvxxEyYRfHkqbTe_3sYJF0Hirgcwf-1kbwMpab/w400-h280/Big%20House%20after%20remodeling.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />INTRODUCTION</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last
month, we introduced a delightful paper, <i>A Summer with Birds, Bees and
Blossoms</i>, which Frances Glessner prepared for a presentation at The
Fortnightly of Chicago in November 1903. Recording the idyllic summers spent at
her beloved summer estate, The Rocks, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, she
focused on her keen observations of the endless varieties of birds which called
the estate home (the topic of Part I), and her many years of caring for her bee
colonies (the topic of this article).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Frances
Glessner began keeping bees at The Rocks in May 1895 as noted by this entry in
her journal:<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Friday,
Mr. Goodrich brought out my bees – two colonies. They were set up in the summer
house in front of the house. We watched him open the hives. He showed us all
through the hives and clipped the queen’s wings.”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
record of her endless labors caring for the hives fill many pages of the
journal over the next fifteen years. Also tucked into the journal are countless
letters from friends and family who were the grateful recipients of the
treasured jars of honey. By the summer of 1909, it was determined that the
physical exertion in maintaining the hives was becoming too much for her to
handle. Dr. James B. Paige from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
upon her invitation, came to inspect the hives and accepted them for the
school. (Beekeeping is still taught there).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
SUMMER WITH BIRDS, BEES AND BLOSSOMS</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
following excerpts are taken directly from Frances Glessner’s paper.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many,
many hours of daylight are spent in the little bee house on the gentle slope of
our home hill near where the rainbow rested. This bee house was built for me by
a dear friend, a friend who had a poet’s soul if not a poet’s song. Carved on
the beams by his own hands are sentiments which belong with the place and its
uses.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“As
bees fly hame wi’ lades of treasure,<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
minutes wing their way wi’ pleasure.”<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Robert
Burns)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgda_4bWuaO0XW4nUaVwRU6Twp_bZp8P0pjUsqZVO1fPjcFNIaaCTGcWlE98VFF06D5ZutwpxPX6pJYfOcsI6beFeA9FDMUFlI3yIGCmFr9QdO3ABDPxLYiiZEhHvDQONpEvr72tEzaNJbvC8rejV6B6L6z6FJy9soVRzPWQcQdxCCY-8RxktzJNoy0/s2100/Scott%20quote%20-%20Tis%20sweet%20to%20be.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="2100" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgda_4bWuaO0XW4nUaVwRU6Twp_bZp8P0pjUsqZVO1fPjcFNIaaCTGcWlE98VFF06D5ZutwpxPX6pJYfOcsI6beFeA9FDMUFlI3yIGCmFr9QdO3ABDPxLYiiZEhHvDQONpEvr72tEzaNJbvC8rejV6B6L6z6FJy9soVRzPWQcQdxCCY-8RxktzJNoy0/w400-h153/Scott%20quote%20-%20Tis%20sweet%20to%20be.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />“Tis
sweet to be awakened by the lark, or lulled by falling waters,<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sweet
the hum of bees, the voice of girls, the song of birds,<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
lisp of children, and their earliest words.”<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Lord
Byron)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
again towards the east –</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“But,
look! The morning sun in russet mantle clad<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Walks
o’er the dew of yon high eastern hill.”<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Shakespeare,
</span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hamlet</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And last
–</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“To
business that we love we rise betimes and go to it with delight.”<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Shakespeare,
</span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Antony and Cleopatra</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many,
many times have I been asked whatever put the honeybee in my bonnet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One
of my very earliest recollections is of Aunt Betsy’s garden. Dear old Aunt
Betsy and her dear old garden, with paths to get about in, and all of the rest
of it roses, and tulips and daffodils, and altheas, and gooseberry and currant
bushes, and a long grape arbor, and peach trees and lilac bushes . . . There were
no weeds, but there was a glorious tangle.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Off
in one corner was a row of white beehives. Under the grape arbor stood a huge
bee palace. The bees were the greatest fascination to me, and when Aunt Betsy*
took me into the inner cupboard of a closet in one corner of the sitting-room,
where was kept not only the best white and gold china, but also her whole
precious store of white and gold honey, and allowed me to cut off all I wanted
for my supper, I then and there inwardly vowed “when I grow up I will keep
bees.”<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArl7SjtTj8O7N9iTtO_LO4w-RUC-nn18FguYrIJlH24evUJHyUF9jqJuCRBqP9g6cBX5IP0vgk7AuxYQcAeADuC1zUeySI8eewwmQ-XLJnYiGEuu8S2W4k2b9d0vEswl2c5jI_tFlRjmaFL9hXTQNTvIgYTToG29OKfjXkX9lkzYzFrYj_-Oq6UPl/s1803/Book%20on%20bees%201882.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1803" data-original-width="1161" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArl7SjtTj8O7N9iTtO_LO4w-RUC-nn18FguYrIJlH24evUJHyUF9jqJuCRBqP9g6cBX5IP0vgk7AuxYQcAeADuC1zUeySI8eewwmQ-XLJnYiGEuu8S2W4k2b9d0vEswl2c5jI_tFlRjmaFL9hXTQNTvIgYTToG29OKfjXkX9lkzYzFrYj_-Oq6UPl/w258-h400/Book%20on%20bees%201882.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />My
opportunity for cultivating the science of apiculture did not come until nine
years ago. I had no notion of how to go about it, but consulted the book-store
– the place one generally goes for information. There I found there were bee
journals published, and books about bees to be had, and incidentally learned
that there were beekeepers’ conventions, and dealers in beekeepers’ supplies,
and other sources from which one could get more or less correct information. I subscribed
for four bee journals, bought two big bee books, and during that first winter
read everything on the subject I could lay my hands on. Later on I joined an
association of beekeepers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
bought two fine colonies from a beekeeper in Vermont, who came over with them
himself, shipping the bees by express, the hives carefully closed up so the
bees could not escape, the bee man traveling on the same train with them in
order to look after them at stations where they were they were transferred.
When the old man said good-bye and left me the real owner of two colonies of
Italian bees, I felt quite overwhelmed with doubt and responsibility; for
reading a theoretical book by the cosy fire in one’s library is a very
different proposition from the practical manipulation of a seething, boiling
mass of bees.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Was
it Pliny the elder who said long ages ago before it became a Dutch proverb, “He
who would gather honey must brave the sting of bees.” Am I often stung? Many,
many, many times, but there is this comfort – the sting is acutely painful, but
one gets inoculated with the poison, so after frequent stinging, beyond the
first hour’s pain, there is no swelling nor irritation, and then bee stings are
said to be a cure for rheumatism.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1iz21tmV-O_wWj2oaGuo9NIaZqgFhRHRs8ZVcuks9KgCttXBXUKTL0lZAEU4qhQVuK7n_KXw5p_TVs0pe9Aqr9_CMqO5MQrA6lYZoLA3lucWy7FOCpBlsuOzR_JbfVscZVaObg7fAFycMGwly2OleCMfRf7UKSUFZoFDY9FNzWewqULPFf0axx164/s1800/Scott%20quote%20-%20he%20who%20would.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1425" data-original-width="1800" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1iz21tmV-O_wWj2oaGuo9NIaZqgFhRHRs8ZVcuks9KgCttXBXUKTL0lZAEU4qhQVuK7n_KXw5p_TVs0pe9Aqr9_CMqO5MQrA6lYZoLA3lucWy7FOCpBlsuOzR_JbfVscZVaObg7fAFycMGwly2OleCMfRf7UKSUFZoFDY9FNzWewqULPFf0axx164/w400-h316/Scott%20quote%20-%20he%20who%20would.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Nectar
has a raw, rank taste, generally of the flavor and odor of the blossom from
which it is gathered. Formic acid is added to this raw product by the bees
before it is stored in the cells; it is then evaporated by the fanning of the
wings of that portion of the colony whose duty it is to ventilate the hive. After
the honey is evaporated and the cells filled to the brim, they are then sealed
up or capped over with wax. Wax is a secretion from the bee itself, a little
tallow-like flake which exudes from the segments of the abdomen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bees
do not <u>make</u> honey, they simply carry it in from the blossoms. Not all
plants are honey plants. Many of the best and richest blossoms are small and
insignificant. In the region of the White Hills, there are about forty
varieties of plants which produce honey. Each kind of honey has its own
distinct flavor if the plant producing it is in sufficient quantity for the
bees to work upon that plant alone, such as raspberry, clover, linden,
buckwheat. When no great honey yielder is in bloom, the bees will carry nectar
from all available blossoms, giving a very agreeable mixture. We grow a large
bed of borage and another of mignonette for the exclusive use of the bees, the
mignonette giving a most marked flavor of the flower from which it is gathered.
Goldenrod honey is as yellow as the flower itself, and very strong in flavor
and sweetness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bees
fly in a radius of about two miles from their own home. Many times have I
jumped from the buckboard when driving and examined the bees on the blossoms by
the roadside to find they were members of my own family. My bees are the only
Italians in the neighborhood, so we know them by their color, and I think know
them by their hum.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2peiTUfUGDu7rRvr0DcQkkaScM9xJtN2WbEZ-dHpNvaHb2BR2_brq6eTYjn92rpdb3rx3w5BHAysUnr6skwyQ0Cxv68YVehSHKNUuHMBxDigZv9HD6G3_dWt_H5NUXLgNb25EikZOy6-zHwm2ZZBazOPxC4WL83Iki9vPdQQA5944vOqcpJMzF7jt/s1317/Bee%20house%20with%20FMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1317" data-original-width="1056" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2peiTUfUGDu7rRvr0DcQkkaScM9xJtN2WbEZ-dHpNvaHb2BR2_brq6eTYjn92rpdb3rx3w5BHAysUnr6skwyQ0Cxv68YVehSHKNUuHMBxDigZv9HD6G3_dWt_H5NUXLgNb25EikZOy6-zHwm2ZZBazOPxC4WL83Iki9vPdQQA5944vOqcpJMzF7jt/w321-h400/Bee%20house%20with%20FMG.jpg" width="321" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />A
worker bee in its whole life will carry in one-thirtieth of an ounce of honey –
that is, it is the life work of thirty bees to carry in one ounce of honey –
that of all the foods in the world this is the most poetic, delicious, and
natural, a pound of honey has never realized its value in money. The gathering
of a one-pound section would wear out the lives of five hundred bees. Bradford
Torrey asked me last season if I had any commercial return from my honey. I
told him that I gave it to my friends. “Oh, then you have!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Working
with and manipulating bees has been made possible by the invention and use of a
smoker. Smoke from old dry wood burning in this is puffed in at the entrance of
the hive, alarming and subduing the bees, so that they may be handled with
comparative comfort. A veil of black net is worn over the hat and face to
protect one from stings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
said in my haste all men are cowards about working among bees, but that isn’t
quite so. They are by no means brave. It is the duty of some special workman to
keep an eye on my bees during June and July to watch for swarms while I am
forced to be away. Let any commotion arise among the hives, the man usually
rushes to the house, with his eyes fairly bulging out of his head, tells me as
quickly as possible that the bees are swarming, and then he seems to melt into
the earth. While I rarely need the services of a man in doing any of the work,
it is amusing to a degree to see them take to their heels and run like kill
deer if any of my bees so much as makes a tour of investigation about their
heads. A man who faces a bear with delight will turn pale with terror at the
thought of a bee sting.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYOs1-UQCG9l_4yojZxMYLgZzaXqG-0kfm6yvWdmS6FrEVLAdEjwr5OJt7XpCLPVVB963JVfOjpQ6BQ8C9Wq87w5OlTJhVW1G5nYzqZVLgshlcCeRIz0SEU1V6QEeokS3pXwYG5OjhaZ8LAB9HAVt9nG4wYKHOjJROpDJxRFX_TNsPj_fjKP_HpLOX/s1800/Bee%20house%20painting%20by%20Helen%20Macbeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="1800" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYOs1-UQCG9l_4yojZxMYLgZzaXqG-0kfm6yvWdmS6FrEVLAdEjwr5OJt7XpCLPVVB963JVfOjpQ6BQ8C9Wq87w5OlTJhVW1G5nYzqZVLgshlcCeRIz0SEU1V6QEeokS3pXwYG5OjhaZ8LAB9HAVt9nG4wYKHOjJROpDJxRFX_TNsPj_fjKP_HpLOX/w400-h269/Bee%20house%20painting%20by%20Helen%20Macbeth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />There
is very much labor connected with an apiary, and constant confinement in
daylight. My best honey record for one season was a fraction over one thousand
pounds from six colonies. Seven hundred and seven of these were sections of
comb honey; the balance was extracted honey. By this, I mean that honey which
had been stored in brood frames was uncapped on both sides with a sharp knife,
the frames then placed in a large barrel-shaped extractor, which held three
frames at one time, the wire baskets containing the frames were turned rapidly,
and the honey thrown from the cells by centrifugal force, and then drawn off below
into glass jars.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
September, each one of my little families is carefully weighed. Those which do
not tip the beam at fifty pounds or more, are fed with sugar-syrup or honey
until the weight is sufficient to ensure them abundant food during the long
winter. When settled for the winter they cluster in an oval mass, one bee over-lapping
another, the food being passed from one to the other. They are not dormant in
the winter but are quiescent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tell
me when you taste your tea biscuit this afternoon, spread with nectar stored by
my New Hampshire pets, and which has in it a touch of wild rose, flowering
grape, red raspberry, a dash of mignonette, and all the rest gathered from
luscious heads of white clover, did not these patient little workers find for
you and me the pots of gold which were hidden where the rainbow rested on the
hillside one smiling and tearful day in June twenty years ago.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEQY9j2rDm0ICD8_b0ZHR4GOnoScIHSvKHp5a0WZ_tQTr4K8XHven-IrCuXAnTK1VVnhboRsbRojmkbTGbVvw3V_7bJQ4eHFJeCC9J-_rBZIgmd10-QEKqHhIT_YQVcqvyDk4by3hUNSontsESL9nhFVma8sufZF2_4ims_3uXF9JX07uEzBMWCxP/s1595/Fortnightly%20postcard%20back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="1595" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEQY9j2rDm0ICD8_b0ZHR4GOnoScIHSvKHp5a0WZ_tQTr4K8XHven-IrCuXAnTK1VVnhboRsbRojmkbTGbVvw3V_7bJQ4eHFJeCC9J-_rBZIgmd10-QEKqHhIT_YQVcqvyDk4by3hUNSontsESL9nhFVma8sufZF2_4ims_3uXF9JX07uEzBMWCxP/w400-h235/Fortnightly%20postcard%20back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />PRESENTATION
AND RECEPTION</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Frances
Glessner completed her paper by the time she returned to Chicago from The Rocks
in October. Postcards were sent out to members of The Fortnightly announcing
the program. Soon after, she became seriously ill, so much so that she was
unable to deliver her paper.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFzr8QwXlplbs39Tl4IaoRfEBShnPmkpUSxXBy-PFjpadpyt3_iS7iv-4pGYHTikewdDob9vZlyVNrWQG891A4Cgg0vjsWMkZjcAE6_7Q64w74NEyQCyU_lQxPy1ut1ihuo6gzUHeAyYJRK7OdZ_VM7vxkmP3tEiiaDuWCvga48LOnU5_MT4qGBjpx/s1800/Nathalie%20Sieboth%20Kennedy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFzr8QwXlplbs39Tl4IaoRfEBShnPmkpUSxXBy-PFjpadpyt3_iS7iv-4pGYHTikewdDob9vZlyVNrWQG891A4Cgg0vjsWMkZjcAE6_7Q64w74NEyQCyU_lQxPy1ut1ihuo6gzUHeAyYJRK7OdZ_VM7vxkmP3tEiiaDuWCvga48LOnU5_MT4qGBjpx/w278-h400/Nathalie%20Sieboth%20Kennedy.JPG" width="278" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Nathalie
Sieboth Kennedy (above), the reader for the Monday Morning Reading Class (and
later president of The Fortnightly), was asked to deliver the paper, and the
program proceeded as planned in The Fortnightly rooms at the Fine Arts Building
(below).<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6uyDa58CdbxPMeF0r7E8q1FrPAnQQwERzk9kSDIlgqlW7sb_XnCpypIkRQP43GrRfqe48Cbiqs2Eh3nlAgTA_B99K4rRhP2L7ZS33idJu_ChGsMbpHMjkrJlbhy3jfFeWh2BfocFaGZYQApCG4vSUcwOmL03DSWjUqIFny1E0-HwLLx-W6niER25n/s1543/Fortnightly%20rooms%20at%20FAB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1191" data-original-width="1543" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6uyDa58CdbxPMeF0r7E8q1FrPAnQQwERzk9kSDIlgqlW7sb_XnCpypIkRQP43GrRfqe48Cbiqs2Eh3nlAgTA_B99K4rRhP2L7ZS33idJu_ChGsMbpHMjkrJlbhy3jfFeWh2BfocFaGZYQApCG4vSUcwOmL03DSWjUqIFny1E0-HwLLx-W6niER25n/w400-h309/Fortnightly%20rooms%20at%20FAB.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The
paper was well received by the members, as recorded in the numerous letters
Frances Glessner received afterwards. From these we learn that she also
provided an observation hive, enclosed in a glass case. Her cook, Mattie
Williamson, prepared her award-winning biscuits which were enjoyed with honey
from The Rocks. Members of the Reading Class provided yellow chrysanthemums
which were arranged around the observation hive; following the talk they were
sent to Frances Glessner along with sincere wishes for a speedy recovery.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A few
quotes from the letters speak not only to the quality of the paper prepared,
but also of the high esteem in which Frances Glessner was held by her many
friends.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I
must tell you, though I am sure you know it without words of mine, how the
rare, delicate beauty of your paper satisfied and charmed me. It was so
unusual, so simple and natural, so exquisite, that I can not express the joy it
gave me. It gave everyone the same pleasure. I never saw the Fortnightly so
full of a sweet genuine delight. Every word rang so true, called up such pure
beauty, revealed such lore of nature, and brought us all to the natural world,
as a ramble in the very haunts that you described might bring us.”<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Kate
P. Merrill)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“How
did you write of your own experience and out of your own full heart and still
keep yourself in the background so completely and throw into the foreground the
little creatures you so dearly love so that we who listened felt that we were
partakers with you in their joys and sorrows?”<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Louise
T. Goldsmith)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I
feel very humble for not having known all the things you could do. I knew you
were angel-good, as the Germans say, to all your world (as well as that of the
other half) about you and that there are many, many of us to whom you make life
much pleasanter and happier by your thoughtfulness. But I didn’t know that you
could put words together to make really true literature as much as Olive Thomas
Miller or John Burroughs or any of the rest of them.”<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Emma
G. Shorey)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">CONCLUSION</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">During
her ongoing illness, Frances Glessner reworked the paper into a book which she
presented to her five grandchildren. The dedication reads:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“To
my five grandchildren, whose prattling tongues and toddling feet are now
bringing the same joy and sunshine into my summer home as did their mother and
father, my own girl and boy, at their age a generation ago, this little book is
lovingly dedicated.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
original paper was delivered again many years later, at some point after World
War I, as indicated by an addendum to the paper:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“You
know about the ‘proof of the pudding.’ Well, we did not have many puddings in
war times, but there never was any restrictions on the use of honey. My work in
the apiary taught me that honey is a delicious and practical sweet for making
puddings and ice creams, and in any kind of cooking.”<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEq_9FBq8cOoQkWob_U4AoKwZjCi2mNQGKuOM2kimFYWhDWljw0hSmIzRXgsaLRkP7gJBFSqtzL9INC9BGPzZxJTz-tGbFO0NryHWPUUg--efzPvHedCMv0ln3HOENEIbf9jotpg2Eu-Uh0RTi1uhueCXcr73pGQghvq1GCm1-t6bTwOSey_f1jGx_/s2100/Bee%20House%20June%202010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1575" data-original-width="2100" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEq_9FBq8cOoQkWob_U4AoKwZjCi2mNQGKuOM2kimFYWhDWljw0hSmIzRXgsaLRkP7gJBFSqtzL9INC9BGPzZxJTz-tGbFO0NryHWPUUg--efzPvHedCMv0ln3HOENEIbf9jotpg2Eu-Uh0RTi1uhueCXcr73pGQghvq1GCm1-t6bTwOSey_f1jGx_/w400-h300/Bee%20House%20June%202010.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The
bee house returned to its original use as a “summer house” after the hives were
taken away in 1909. In 1937, the year after John Glessner died, his daughter-in-law
Alice had a large in-ground pool constructed next to the bee house, which was
converted into a pool house. In 2003, several Glessner descendants funded the
restoration of the bee house, and it remains today as one of the most beautiful
structures at The Rocks.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
bee house, and the manuscripts for both the Fortnightly paper and the book
version prepared for the Glessner grandchildren. serve as tangible links to
this important chapter in Frances Glessner’s life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wouldn’t
she be pleased to learn how popular beekeeping is today?<o:p></o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-70254788919991326262022-08-15T15:01:00.001-05:002022-08-15T16:06:15.310-05:00A Summer with Birds, Bees and Blossoms - Part I<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKwfogUuCRp9xF6PPZWTVJ8avF8AlzszsbtFwS_9WFRZPPUtMy-uaPn_43LNLw4eU4kSlELaQbMDUEERouIgbGPWnK5w1QIBDsGosEKI4z8PWAFZlg60A-juUkZ6S4LlDJ-gfizcQR2w5tqOU0HrVOsOiU80ZP48G_FoDFNNjuVjPqglSCgBh2Csh5/s1084/FMG%20at%20The%20Rocks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1084" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKwfogUuCRp9xF6PPZWTVJ8avF8AlzszsbtFwS_9WFRZPPUtMy-uaPn_43LNLw4eU4kSlELaQbMDUEERouIgbGPWnK5w1QIBDsGosEKI4z8PWAFZlg60A-juUkZ6S4LlDJ-gfizcQR2w5tqOU0HrVOsOiU80ZP48G_FoDFNNjuVjPqglSCgBh2Csh5/w400-h335/FMG%20at%20The%20Rocks.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />In
May of 1903, Frances Glessner was asked to prepare a paper about her summer
estate in New Hampshire, known as The Rocks. The request came from The
Fortnightly of Chicago, a private women’s club founded in 1873 to enrich the
intellectual and social lives of its members; Frances Glessner had been a
member since 1879. Entitled “A Summer with Birds, Bees and Blossoms” (with a subtitle
of “A Summer Idyll of a busy woman and an idle man"), the paper was delivered on
November 12, 1903. Beautifully written, it focuses mostly on her close
observation of birds and her devotion to beekeeping. As it is rather lengthy,
and we wish to quote extensively from its pages, we will present this topic in
two articles, with Part I devoted to birds and Part II dealing with bees and
the paper’s reception as recorded in letters from her friends.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
idea for a summer estate had its origins in son George’s severe hay fever. When
he was about seven years old, his doctor suggested that he be sent to the White
Mountains of New Hampshire for relief, as were other sufferers from around the
country. Accompanied by his mother’s sister, Helen Macbeth, George’s symptoms
disappeared upon arrival, and the family soon made the decision to summer in
the healthful environment of New Hampshire’s North Country. In 1882, after
spending several summers at the Twin Mountain House in Carroll, the Glessners
purchased their first tract of 100 acres nestled between the towns of Littleton
and Bethlehem. They completed their home, known simply as the Big House, in
August of the following year. It was significantly remodeled and enlarged by
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge in 1899, as seen below.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcSylB5pUyFvKQ1smZSR4a9V-U04I3fHj_vNaoicK29YrM8HY9cujPrrFdOBp8wqpnZuO2euItSO3LA-12PVBIWZFJ1tA3MCEiGK_-vQPM9k6TbeSEKVTdt16uZfwzPlpwDTV3dSWI6gxWC01_966dxq1NnIy4rkLux8zfvfDLEX3-oBt6Lb6CtsAl/s1410/Big%20House%20after%20remodeling%20from%20ground%20level.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1157" data-original-width="1410" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcSylB5pUyFvKQ1smZSR4a9V-U04I3fHj_vNaoicK29YrM8HY9cujPrrFdOBp8wqpnZuO2euItSO3LA-12PVBIWZFJ1tA3MCEiGK_-vQPM9k6TbeSEKVTdt16uZfwzPlpwDTV3dSWI6gxWC01_966dxq1NnIy4rkLux8zfvfDLEX3-oBt6Lb6CtsAl/w400-h329/Big%20House%20after%20remodeling%20from%20ground%20level.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />The
Glessners would continue to spend summers at The Rocks until their deaths in
the 1930s, and both George and his sister, Frances Glessner Lee, eventually
made the estate their permanent home. In 1978, most of the property, which had
grown over time to more than 1,500 acres, was donated to the Society for the
Protection of New Hampshire Forests by Frances Glessner Lee’s two surviving
children. One portion of the estate is still owned and occupied by a
great-granddaughter of George and Alice Glessner.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(The
remainder of this article is entirely in Frances Glessner’s own words.)</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Let
me say in passing that this paper of mine is not a literary effort, but simply
a little group of stories and happenings within my own experience – “all of
which I saw, part of which I was.”<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrWYES7GhKLbM71-e1oyWvVD9R5SzaePUvPXg2KePAPi_ZNBewBQtT7EuyXL8a94nOGCHc2K-5KNNoZPolVOC32GT5Q5jGFLL5ygOikxabX___ArsCrVteyIDJq2m2RHA7S7Z5Upu08IMPRppnu7plNkiqHvU6_wX1fRRLRIMj0X6NticZs_oT5N8/s1800/View%20from%20the%20Big%20House.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="1800" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrWYES7GhKLbM71-e1oyWvVD9R5SzaePUvPXg2KePAPi_ZNBewBQtT7EuyXL8a94nOGCHc2K-5KNNoZPolVOC32GT5Q5jGFLL5ygOikxabX___ArsCrVteyIDJq2m2RHA7S7Z5Upu08IMPRppnu7plNkiqHvU6_wX1fRRLRIMj0X6NticZs_oT5N8/w400-h216/View%20from%20the%20Big%20House.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />After
much consideration and a deal of search, we bought a farm – a rough and almost
barren hilltop, - thin soil covered with stones, somewhat forbidding in itself,
but with a genial summer atmosphere; an old red farm house, and the most
magnificent panorama spread out in every direction. The glorious White Hills of
Starr King*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- white till the late
springtime, and with streaks of snow far into the summer, and verdure and gray
rocks everywhere marking the sky line, and the picture filled in by valleys
with green meadows divided by silver streamlets, the railroad track of
civilization on the far away edge, where we watch the train crawling along,
three sleeping villages, and the bluest sky and fleeciest clouds, with play of
sunshine chasing fleeing shadows over the whole, and the approach, the passing,
and retreat of sudden storms in the distance – all visible from our sunlight.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(*Note:
Starr King, 1824-1864, was an American Universalist and Unitarian minister who,
in 1859, published <i>The White Hills: their Legends, Landscapes, and Poetry</i>.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is
a trite saying that the spring air is vocal with bird music, “caressed with
song,” but it is a true one throughout the White Hills. Why were these ever
degraded to mountains? Save, perhaps, for that monarch of all, Washington, and
his lesser mate, Lafayette. And it is true also that these hills are bright
with one color following another, each in its own season, as the summer
progresses.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mjyGBzVDAsTwfwtCF_ZFFA0AzBZOJTqkOz6R40C7ESxdTL9TixgYV2-ufrC_Eyi8vTLgmlMPZxUZBBusQAO_lm7XxWxInsTYAWPYEppieuw2Ossz9yfYnYLXpNUwvExD--Q-itljLsRci6q1xkWeD6wD5W49PoPJJuYP1AjTEWz9qFX334J4JgnR/s2042/Liz%20Carter%20image.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2042" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mjyGBzVDAsTwfwtCF_ZFFA0AzBZOJTqkOz6R40C7ESxdTL9TixgYV2-ufrC_Eyi8vTLgmlMPZxUZBBusQAO_lm7XxWxInsTYAWPYEppieuw2Ossz9yfYnYLXpNUwvExD--Q-itljLsRci6q1xkWeD6wD5W49PoPJJuYP1AjTEWz9qFX334J4JgnR/w294-h400/Liz%20Carter%20image.JPG" width="294" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />My
own little eminence is white with winter’s snows, tender green with early
spring, blue with violets and star grass, white again with clouds of blossoms on
old apple trees, pink in June with cinnamon and wild roses, later gay with
masses of yellow roses and scarlet poppies blooming together, and always and
everywhere soft warm gray with huge weather-beaten, lichen-covered boulders.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhye5_izB-ua6vjMsXoWv4jQHoTT_gWEf1dZf4lTGjwzok1xpfHmaRuL6Ob-VJ2b9dBJ5EwDtIh8wqDkjvdBGI_SAtWLLy8lv_Pn1X9MlbmuwPVNgpKu6PPQEaFsiGaDffQXJhJK64PfJq8UZrKnihtPUPOfT6Zpl8ZAQKXJtlhEdxGErujEx42llU-/s1800/View%20from%20the%20big%20window.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1488" data-original-width="1800" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhye5_izB-ua6vjMsXoWv4jQHoTT_gWEf1dZf4lTGjwzok1xpfHmaRuL6Ob-VJ2b9dBJ5EwDtIh8wqDkjvdBGI_SAtWLLy8lv_Pn1X9MlbmuwPVNgpKu6PPQEaFsiGaDffQXJhJK64PfJq8UZrKnihtPUPOfT6Zpl8ZAQKXJtlhEdxGErujEx42llU-/w400-h331/View%20from%20the%20big%20window.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>The big window and its view. Note two sets of field glasses on the table.<br />(Photo by George Glessner)</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />In
front of the big window of the big house, grows a goodly clump of stout young
birch trees which in midsummer is completely covered and bowed over with the weight
of a wild grapevine that has been encouraged to ramble thus over these little
trees; indeed the vine is given full possession, truthfully having its own
sweet will, for when in bloom the whole hillside is odorant with its fragrance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Early
in the season and before the leaves are grown, there are many branches of this
vine sticking out in every direction, tough as wire, and most inviting to the
birds as perches. Here they sit and sing and swing, and swing and sing, and
there is no danger of the stiff fiber breaking or giving way. One morning in
early June the little lisp of an old friend announced the arrival of the cedar
bird, and after watching a while here was a pair of them lilting on the grape
vine in the very ecstasy of love, one of the pair with a bunch of twigs in her
mouth.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGukIiCkziekNMaCSlmvwDPAlMSIIKJVSsih9dqTR0_69A1Kn0kGdOiApSyb2LK4p51YyFBBPgyyGlJ8vd_YdC0iH1kyUSwmaibU7g7Xk5yyKQziyiILcbnosUcl6YqCYR_iwqNh7fqvz3T4eUxdG9d7HdCVEVaQZ39i08f4U9IM3alkLpAbL5QpSN/s1800/Nest%20with%20yarn%20fragments.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1511" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGukIiCkziekNMaCSlmvwDPAlMSIIKJVSsih9dqTR0_69A1Kn0kGdOiApSyb2LK4p51YyFBBPgyyGlJ8vd_YdC0iH1kyUSwmaibU7g7Xk5yyKQziyiILcbnosUcl6YqCYR_iwqNh7fqvz3T4eUxdG9d7HdCVEVaQZ39i08f4U9IM3alkLpAbL5QpSN/w336-h400/Nest%20with%20yarn%20fragments.jpg" width="336" /></a><br /><i>Frances Glessner's contributions of yarn can be seen in this nest<br />(Photo by George Glessner)</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />A
bunch of coarse blue yarn cut in lengths of about six inches was then hung out
on the family tree. Another pair of birds appeared. Blue wool went streaming by
in another direction. This second pair we watched, and with field glasses
traced them to a spruce tree on the opposite side of the house. From one window
we watched them gather the wool; from the other we could see them putting it in
place in the nest.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
pair of robins raised an early brood in a spruce tree. Grievous to tell, the
young did not leave the nest alive, but furnished breakfast for some ravenous
crows.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAwAfOnQRv4ndp6LgSRXMCM3mAVZ8_Z136YtOnlt2TUnALc5Ecr4XdT4F7XnJzDgHi_Y_r9e-WjuXJVK-TCBgOglMb6hzVTslQT6DKpBNTGpNFJNB4Cllx-vTiDconu7ijlBXNVpRpDokGAdXPXGrVGUmGfHLEvbZT7fbcNHDLYun6tFo9qlWqNcDE/s1800/Hero%20at%20the%20Rocks.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1446" data-original-width="1800" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAwAfOnQRv4ndp6LgSRXMCM3mAVZ8_Z136YtOnlt2TUnALc5Ecr4XdT4F7XnJzDgHi_Y_r9e-WjuXJVK-TCBgOglMb6hzVTslQT6DKpBNTGpNFJNB4Cllx-vTiDconu7ijlBXNVpRpDokGAdXPXGrVGUmGfHLEvbZT7fbcNHDLYun6tFo9qlWqNcDE/w400-h321/Hero%20at%20the%20Rocks.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />This
disaster sent the birds nearer the house for the second family. Mrs. Robin
searched about the vine on the porch. She would nestle down in a thicket of
leaves and branches, evidently trying if it were well supported, secure from
interruption, and well hidden. A pair of these friendly little creatures built
a nest one spring in the cornice of the bee house. They were quite an
interruption to the work among the bees, for although tame and unafraid, still
I had to pop inside the closet when the mother came home with her mouth full.
Then, after she had fed her young, I would come out and go on with my work.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Some
days before her babies were ready to fly, I found in the walk a young robin,
far too callow to take care of himself; and, to make matters worse, he had
swallowed a little, stiff, prickly spear of growing grass. This stuck in his
throat and pinioned him to the ground. He was in anything else than a happy
condition. It was but the work of a moment to relieve him of the blade of
grass, - but what next? Well, I carefully tucked him in the nest in the bee
house with the four birds already there. When the old mother came home with her
mouth full, she looked the situation over carefully and thoughtfully, hesitated
a bit, then adopted the foundling, fed him, and was in a few days rewarded by
his being the first nestling to fly from home; he a big, strong, healthy robin,
for which he had his foster mother to thank.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCivIV5Nq4NpYRyS50Js2FSEGWg2ntxP1WiYYEtTcIN9VSYSCr7IxHR9xoyq2r7vwWTb6fJbSlKobk9K-2MZG1uCunICIoaafGFuwWxM48J0xgHnD-UR2x-4vbYSleo4ZzxMmoGrePxILl1IPSMzQrmJbVBYYvvCuwSU61VlU28WcpDgTSoAsxdb_/s1800/China%20bowl%20by%20FMG.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1800" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCivIV5Nq4NpYRyS50Js2FSEGWg2ntxP1WiYYEtTcIN9VSYSCr7IxHR9xoyq2r7vwWTb6fJbSlKobk9K-2MZG1uCunICIoaafGFuwWxM48J0xgHnD-UR2x-4vbYSleo4ZzxMmoGrePxILl1IPSMzQrmJbVBYYvvCuwSU61VlU28WcpDgTSoAsxdb_/w400-h256/China%20bowl%20by%20FMG.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Frances Glessner painted this china bowl. It no doubt depicts a nest she was observing at The Rocks.</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />For
many years, some human member (not humane member) – some human member of my
family has been in the habit of putting hemp seed on an old rock by the door,
but usually not until late in the season. This year, the rock has been strewn
with seed all summer and spring, and we have been rewarded by gay scenes;
indigo birds, purple finches, goldfinches, white-throated and striped sparrows,
and other seed-eating birds come there constantly and are growing quite tame.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And
with them comes the chipmunk, or “hackey,” familiar, friendly, bold, confident
in his quickness, ever alert and ready to fly from the first intimation of
danger. But he is a glutton, a miser, and a wasteful spendthrift. He fills the
pouches of his jaws with seed, a teaspoonful at a time, carries it off, buries
it for future use, and promptly forgets where he buried it. Presently, I find
little tufts of hemp growing up all over the plantations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
fly-catching warbler’s dart through the porch and almost under my chair, the
chimney swift’s beautiful flight and its sudden drop straight down into the
chimney, which is the only place he ever alights, the red-headed woodpecker’s cling
to a mullein stalk while I walk slowly up – confiding acts like these make the
birds a part of my family.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkfCic_qSVWQPbbxlgfojiRMCB4fMlmVw5mh5VlnlbsMCo6qmOUNL9wj005Ewz1mTX4Q5Wbs4vR8Va3pQZx-AaI3m016GFZzWFTMwtsWKlrysbBPu5HLU54RjUizkkeC59LD6OOKrfzmqSl2KeR-glP6K0tRnRtKETvLWV9buAlCytpe7nrWEUHU5/s1800/Nest%20of%20the%20chimney%20swift.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="1800" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkfCic_qSVWQPbbxlgfojiRMCB4fMlmVw5mh5VlnlbsMCo6qmOUNL9wj005Ewz1mTX4Q5Wbs4vR8Va3pQZx-AaI3m016GFZzWFTMwtsWKlrysbBPu5HLU54RjUizkkeC59LD6OOKrfzmqSl2KeR-glP6K0tRnRtKETvLWV9buAlCytpe7nrWEUHU5/w400-h239/Nest%20of%20the%20chimney%20swift.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Chimney swift nests preserved by Frances Glessner<br />(Photo by George Glessner)</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />These
same chimney swifts are a great anxiety as well as pleasure. At the first whirr
of wings in the chimney out goes the fire in that room, comfort indoors or
discomfort. They persist in raising two or more broods in the same nest, and likely
on account of the nest becoming weak from age and use, one brood is sure to
tumble down into the sitting-room fireplace to the parents’ sorrow and mine. It
is said that the young birds can clamber up the chimney sides unaided, but ours
have not done so.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To
tell you about all of these feathered friends would be like repeating the check
list of birds of Northern New Hampshire, as this region is a great and favorite
breeding ground for many birds. Dr. Prime, Mrs. Slosson, Bradford Torrey, and
Mr. Faxon have found and checked one hundred and twenty distinct varieties in
the neighboring town of Franconia, and we have checked about ninety-six on our
own hill.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-US7vvEYRpuDUstXTJhYJdlVPqLfIFsovFH6qtgPqaszQIpUiUQ0HsVJqmIPNCqtl-rbATILYuQDPbPMKJMyH_gMUj6JVLS8eZSPtgDc9ArCG68StVwZ1RBf5OWWTJo5QmFfYkwELF1h_dCkxvHuE4nrGLvftnu0A_MEF-hIotYz6psvsfkWWSc6C/s1800/-%20Olmsted%20archives.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1800" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-US7vvEYRpuDUstXTJhYJdlVPqLfIFsovFH6qtgPqaszQIpUiUQ0HsVJqmIPNCqtl-rbATILYuQDPbPMKJMyH_gMUj6JVLS8eZSPtgDc9ArCG68StVwZ1RBf5OWWTJo5QmFfYkwELF1h_dCkxvHuE4nrGLvftnu0A_MEF-hIotYz6psvsfkWWSc6C/w400-h230/-%20Olmsted%20archives.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />These
White Hills are teeming with memories of Starr King, Henry Ward Beecher,
Phillips Brooks, Dr. Prime, Charles Dudley Warner, and other literary folk.
Mrs. Slosson’s Fishin’ Jimmy whipped the streams about Franconia. The scene of
Jacob Abbott’s Franconia stories of Beechnut and Malleville is said to be here.
Hopkinson Smith’s Jonathan Gordon lived but a few miles away. Artists and
scientists, men of letters and of affairs, soldiers and statesmen, and
financiers and ministers of Christ, travelers and home-keepers, have broken
bread in my dining-room, poets have sung under my shingles, invalids have wooed
and regained health, tired men and women have sloughed off weary cares here,
and never a one of them all but has succumbed to the witchery of the place. Oh,
the luxury of loafing, the delight in the absence of responsibility, the
comfort of sitting still in sun or shade, or yet in rain.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(Part
II will be posted in September)</span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-63134460227085034852022-07-19T15:41:00.010-05:002022-07-19T15:43:02.506-05:00"Portrait of a Man with a Pink" by Quentin Massys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTD_nemq4cNTU76Ls_3_hBu4f3tUAFLs0znsUnzm_1hBMNNwshGyiygSShCHNjj3laPFNiwz7yasDWIDV82uzUO04xCI-j7FWm1Vqhsm_N_zrxMGJlS9bIWUjI3kayHwdU86iecYvf0mFFdXYEzsJqCsajpbGlslxGcSXi5oVcUy0LYqGgSO0E0lFy/s2400/Painting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1833" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTD_nemq4cNTU76Ls_3_hBu4f3tUAFLs0znsUnzm_1hBMNNwshGyiygSShCHNjj3laPFNiwz7yasDWIDV82uzUO04xCI-j7FWm1Vqhsm_N_zrxMGJlS9bIWUjI3kayHwdU86iecYvf0mFFdXYEzsJqCsajpbGlslxGcSXi5oVcUy0LYqGgSO0E0lFy/w305-h400/Painting.JPG" width="305" /></a></div><br /><p><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Portrait of a Man with a Pink</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> is a
charming early 16<sup>th</sup> century painting by the Netherlandish artist
Quentin Massys, which has recently gone on display at the Art Institute of
Chicago for the first time in many years. The painting was a gift from John J.
Glessner, a long-time trustee of the Institute and a close friend of its
president, Charles L. Hutchinson. In this article, we will explore the somewhat
complicated history of the artwork and how it found its way to Chicago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Charles Hutchinson and the
growth of the Art Institute<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwpBIZULhsL9mkRxVT5BRFEsZz5gVk9_32diGJWFqz_sa6RBpqhESSZiEslKk5v5VzizJvhX20l7D3iyVOjEVAqGXA1Dl-bh2SCNkP_MeWU1AR8iifq0iTozg0IFNPcncu6-HnWEX_EKsk2zKad8lqYNHlWQ0In-p3gHLctpbMsjP94iEAJv-tW5uh/s1565/Charles%20Hutchinson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="1020" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwpBIZULhsL9mkRxVT5BRFEsZz5gVk9_32diGJWFqz_sa6RBpqhESSZiEslKk5v5VzizJvhX20l7D3iyVOjEVAqGXA1Dl-bh2SCNkP_MeWU1AR8iifq0iTozg0IFNPcncu6-HnWEX_EKsk2zKad8lqYNHlWQ0In-p3gHLctpbMsjP94iEAJv-tW5uh/w261-h400/Charles%20Hutchinson.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Art Institute of Chicago
emerged out of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, formed in 1879. The Academy
had acquired the assets of the defunct Chicago Academy of Design, including its
leased rooms, artwork, and furniture, and some of its teaching staff.
Hutchinson, who was just 25 years old when the Academy of Fine Arts was
founded, was deeply involved in both the educational and exhibition aspects of
the organization from the beginning, and in 1881 was named vice president. He
quickly advocated for a larger permanent location and a name change to the Art
Institute of Chicago. The latter was adopted in 1882, the year Hutchinson was
elected president.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At that time, there were only
three major art museums in the United States, located in Boston, New York, and
Philadelphia. By the time Hutchinson died in 1924, having served continuously
as president of the Art Institute for 42 years, it was an internationally
recognized museum, thanks to Hutchinson’s boundless vision and determination.
As Celia Hilliard noted of Hutchinson and his contemporaries in her excellent
biography, <i>The Prime Mover: Charles L. Hutchinson and the Making of the Art
Institute of Chicago</i> (Museum Studies 36 No. 1, Art Institute of Chicago,
2010):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Thanks to their wealth,
these men traveled widely in the United States, and, above all, Europe, where
they were exposed to grand cultural institutions that their fathers could not
have imagined; they returned to their hometowns eager to ‘civilize’ them.
Coming of age at a critical juncture in the lives of their cities, they were
able to help shape these places according to their ideals, founding libraries,
museums, and symphonies – organizations intended to make the elevating forces
of culture available to all. Thanks to their enthusiasm, generosity, and social
connections, their success was unprecedented. Hutchinson, the son of a meat
packer and speculator, stood at the helm of the Midwest’s preeminent museum for
over forty years, and epitomizes these changes. Like his peers, he was a
product of his time and place and, simultaneously, exactly what it needed.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Growth of the collection</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEccco1d8rEehphNAV-RIo5Nob0NMj-WKS36VerT6w0Idle56M5rBzHw6YmWOLoNVUZgywE5bA96wFq84vnYNiK1I3qYPkBVhFemlMnTN67zuhnc2439N7iux5CPBitfYZsfvXxyxXNWiHLWFBrgnSlKmDYBi2VY-YX78Tfu4Z-o08k8o8XR6FpM71/s1500/Art%20Institute%20in%201887.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1211" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEccco1d8rEehphNAV-RIo5Nob0NMj-WKS36VerT6w0Idle56M5rBzHw6YmWOLoNVUZgywE5bA96wFq84vnYNiK1I3qYPkBVhFemlMnTN67zuhnc2439N7iux5CPBitfYZsfvXxyxXNWiHLWFBrgnSlKmDYBi2VY-YX78Tfu4Z-o08k8o8XR6FpM71/w323-h400/Art%20Institute%20in%201887.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In November 1887, the Art
Institute moved into its first permanent building at the southwest corner of
Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street, a Richardsonian Romanesque structure
designed by Burnham & Root. Although attendance and membership were strong,
the Institute was still relying largely on the exhibition of loaned artworks to
draw people through its doors. As Hillard wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Many great museums are noted
for the buildings they inhabit, but ultimately their quality rests on the
excellence of their collections and the skill with which they are presented.
Thus, during this same period when the grand new home of the Art Institute was
in gestation, Hutchinson also turned his attention to issues of interior design
and presentation, and considered what purchases and gifts might best augment
the museum’s growing reputation.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This led Hutchinson to make
two significant trips to Europe in 1889 and 1890. During the 1889 trip,
Hutchinson and his wife visited the Villa di Pratolino outside of Florence, to
view an important collection of Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings that had
been assembled by the Russian industrialist Count Nikolay Nikitich Demidov and
expanded by his son Anatoly, who had died in 1870. Many of the artworks had
been sold off at that time, but a significant collection was bequeathed to Anatoly’s
nephew Paul, who sold additional pieces in 1881, retaining thirty of the best
works for himself. Paul died in 1885 and his widow sold a few more paintings
(now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston). By the time Hutchinson arrived in
Europe, she had decided to sell the remaining works and engaged the house of
Durand-Ruel to negotiate the sale.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkBFMB-94IjwnMWEqYfMqv88XtpAOy3K-lR4BH1hXPXr15xfrY57cTxWMs8lc0kQ7t1__yDK1qFYxxfrfVvj4AEbu3ck-Wv3xbjq6u0BYPdefs1aEoNsiUCVV0foi6EA7-t8YKSh1kvw5QbfwRT5SwvalcOKoOPLq5ldAHAEzVN70HEwS9L5PQj2e/s965/Paul%20Durand-Ruel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="965" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkBFMB-94IjwnMWEqYfMqv88XtpAOy3K-lR4BH1hXPXr15xfrY57cTxWMs8lc0kQ7t1__yDK1qFYxxfrfVvj4AEbu3ck-Wv3xbjq6u0BYPdefs1aEoNsiUCVV0foi6EA7-t8YKSh1kvw5QbfwRT5SwvalcOKoOPLq5ldAHAEzVN70HEwS9L5PQj2e/w400-h308/Paul%20Durand-Ruel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />Durand-Ruel was the most
important French art dealer in the 19</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> century. The business had
started as an art shop in 1839 by Jean Marie Fortune Durand and Marie
Ferdinande Ruel. Their son, Paul, took over the business in 1865 at the age of
24, expanding the operation with a larger gallery and advocating for painters of
the Barbizon school. By the late 1880s, Paul’s three sons were actively engaged
in the business, buying Old Masters and continuing their father’s significant
interest in, and support of, the Impressionists. They also expanded to the
United States, opening a gallery in New York, and coordinating exhibitions in
Chicago as early as 1888.</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hutchinson returned to Europe
in 1890 with the goal of coordinating a loan of the Demidov paintings for the
Art Institute. He quickly discovered, however, that a few paintings had already
been sold, and that the works were available for purchase, not loan. He cabled
trustees and friends back in Chicago, including Marshall Field, Philip Armour,
and Sidney Kent, asking if they would purchase the paintings and hold them
until the Art Institute could purchase them, or donors could be found to donate
them. They agreed, and Hutchinson went to Florence to finalize the purchase of
thirteen paintings for $200,000, including works by van Dyck, Hals, Hobbema,
Rembrandt, Rubens, and Steen. Back in Paris, Hutchinson ran into Art Institute
trustee Edson Keith (a Prairie Avenue neighbor of the Glessners), who made the
first gift, acquiring Willem Van Mieris’s canvas, <i>The Happy Mother</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Portrait of a Man with a Pink</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
comes to Chicago<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While at the Durand-Ruel
gallery, Hutchinson noted another painting, <i>Portrait of a Man with a Pink</i>,
attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger. The German artist of the first half of
the 16<sup>th</sup> century was regarded as one of the greatest portraitists of
his time, and Hutchinson was anxious to have his work represented in the
museum. He acquired the painting, bringing it back to Chicago with the goal of
finding a donor to finance its $4,000 purchase (about $130,000 today).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The portrait, painted between
1500 and 1510, is believed to have been part of the Colonna di Sciarra
collection for many years. The House of Colonna, also known as Sciarrillo or
Sciarra, was an Italian noble family powerful in medieval and Renaissance Rome.
One family member, Oddone Colonna, became Pope Martin V in 1417. By the early
1880s, the painting was owned by Ernest May, a prominent French financier and
art collector. This was the period in which May was shifting his interest to
the Impressionists, including the work of Edgar Degas, who captured May (at
center) in the painting shown below. On June 4, 1890, May sold the Holbein
portrait through Durand-Ruel to Charles Hutchinson for the Art Institute.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyygQbKxMxSXWZiJ3_gB4qYBng4R1vXcra0rQqIahj3EBZvtAl_1f_gacraufsXZI1L9psLMRG-9lryIkL19WUnx8eysNzUnltHuED2YNQLkfi5kdPGcCtHifHGJ_Sz70hA4ROYbLYR9wn2e7GMo7hvTETPh0PBIYkpTyge9l7HScTJgeLpeUemTdm/s1500/Ernest%20May%20by%20Degas%20c%201878-179.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1260" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyygQbKxMxSXWZiJ3_gB4qYBng4R1vXcra0rQqIahj3EBZvtAl_1f_gacraufsXZI1L9psLMRG-9lryIkL19WUnx8eysNzUnltHuED2YNQLkfi5kdPGcCtHifHGJ_Sz70hA4ROYbLYR9wn2e7GMo7hvTETPh0PBIYkpTyge9l7HScTJgeLpeUemTdm/w336-h400/Ernest%20May%20by%20Degas%20c%201878-179.jpg" width="336" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Less than a month later,
Hutchinson was back in the United States, anxious to share the news of his
successful journey with the newspapers. On July 2, 1890, the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
reported:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Charley Hutchinson is just
in from Europe, fresh as a daisy, and enthusiastic over the art purchases that
Mr. Ryerson and he have made to enrich the growing treasures of the Chicago Art
Institute . . . He feels that what has been bought by Chicago’s committee so
truly represents the Dutch masters that Chicago need not give place even to New
York in the possession of examples of this school of art.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Members of the press were
invited to view the paintings on November 7, 1890, the day before the
exhibition opened to members. Beautifully displayed in a gallery accented with
palms, ferns, and live music, the paintings impressed the journalist for the <i>Chicago
Tribune</i>, who reported, no doubt to Hutchinson’s satisfaction:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“They are unquestionably the
most representative collection of pictures by the old Dutch masters ever
brought to this country, embracing many works of the first importance, which
the great European museums would be proud to possess and have indeed tried to
secure. They give to Chicago the supremacy among American cities in this
department, and open for our students of art a vast field of profitable study.
Thus the thanks of the community are due to the gentlemen who so promptly and
with such admirable public spirit availed themselves of a unique opportunity.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3wxWfWbXDu1zo14FBtm8VCFGi-zoy31qV72if5HVzHQBE89amlylXtxGIa-QI0FwM_n_Y7enUCNY8VR0gKXIlVeUlCcnKDDPHITTkalpFR1H0LpJcca12wTy51W8iGNVaByfe0lZQg48oJBbo0qscqODsT2pqCRHmbM726vtCUhVnm9H49uDhJkN/s2400/1890-11-08%20Portrait%20in%20Tribune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1588" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3wxWfWbXDu1zo14FBtm8VCFGi-zoy31qV72if5HVzHQBE89amlylXtxGIa-QI0FwM_n_Y7enUCNY8VR0gKXIlVeUlCcnKDDPHITTkalpFR1H0LpJcca12wTy51W8iGNVaByfe0lZQg48oJBbo0qscqODsT2pqCRHmbM726vtCUhVnm9H49uDhJkN/w265-h400/1890-11-08%20Portrait%20in%20Tribune.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The illustration of the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Portrait
of a Man with a Pink</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> shown above, was included in the article with the
following description:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The last of the portraits to
be noticed is also the smallest, the others being life-size half-length
figures; and the oldest, belonging to the sixteenth century, while the others
date from the seventeenth. This is the panel by the German master Holbein,
which is a good example of the rigid, literal, sculpturesque style of Henry the
Eighth’s court painter . . . the face is unmistakably, humanly true; one does
not doubt this man’s existence for an instant or miss one note of his rather
strenuous character.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A question of attribution<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The exhibition proved an
enormous success with Chicagoans rightly proud of their “masterly coup.”
However, almost immediately, the authenticity of a few of the works, including
the Holbein, was called into question by an attendee of the opening night
reception. He notified the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> of his opinion, which was
summarily dismissed by the journalist who maintained that the collection
consisted of “first-class examples of the respective painters.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Holbein attribution did
receive closer scrutiny, and by the time John Glessner made his anonymous,
retroactive gift of $4,000 in 1894, the painting was attributed simply to the
“Flemish School.” The listing below, taken from the annual report of the Art
Institute issued in 1895, shows the painting as item #1.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpvMFYoX0xOzpINMkp6BcVkoo0p6JStNmIo_ZojI_gNez2EVuxQ3BWB2sjNK2QML12ciTixAckoejiKgUjk4bjU4BwLqFU_qNc463cIdswBfrVI3iA5jE255g34ZGip4ZFk6fEwa1cxTwqmlQMFA3eHRmtiAJZG32MI00TGKWmOFPkF3740huM1yeL/s2131/Purchases%201895%20report%20with%20border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1939" data-original-width="2131" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpvMFYoX0xOzpINMkp6BcVkoo0p6JStNmIo_ZojI_gNez2EVuxQ3BWB2sjNK2QML12ciTixAckoejiKgUjk4bjU4BwLqFU_qNc463cIdswBfrVI3iA5jE255g34ZGip4ZFk6fEwa1cxTwqmlQMFA3eHRmtiAJZG32MI00TGKWmOFPkF3740huM1yeL/w400-h364/Purchases%201895%20report%20with%20border.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In December 1913, the
painting received renewed attention when the well-respected art expert, Dr.
Abraham Bredius, director of theMauritshuis art museum at The Hague in the
Netherlands, toured the Old Masters galleries at the Art Institute. He
identified the portrait as the work of Hans Memling (c. 1430-1494), regarded as
one of the most important Netherlandish painters of the 15</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century.
Memling’s art had been rediscovered in the 19</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century, so this
attribution made the painting far more valuable than the work of an
unidentified Flemish artist.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwBENqy8M2PSnBSAGInpD9CAHFgGryz9p9mZPgBRAGPSNemSpR79Po2Rul-HgQ_ObhHRmGBjqiGWp4eCGaHyjMwC5MdROCztpfj2jhLd2cMGOFT5-Ngw3HS8kApgq73WrLJNJ84Zo52LmhqoFIgY5_GGrvZbYYdhkYtd0FHBhbExQdtYWpG3oml-t/s2231/1913%20illustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2231" data-original-width="1423" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwBENqy8M2PSnBSAGInpD9CAHFgGryz9p9mZPgBRAGPSNemSpR79Po2Rul-HgQ_ObhHRmGBjqiGWp4eCGaHyjMwC5MdROCztpfj2jhLd2cMGOFT5-Ngw3HS8kApgq73WrLJNJ84Zo52LmhqoFIgY5_GGrvZbYYdhkYtd0FHBhbExQdtYWpG3oml-t/w255-h400/1913%20illustration.jpg" width="255" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The attribution was
short-lived but brought additional attention to the painting. Within a few
years, it was conclusively identified as the work of Quentin Massys (also
spelled Matsys), a founder of the Antwerp school of painting. Massys was born
in Leuven in 1466 and is believed to have attained his master’s status there,
before moving to Antwerp, which, by the early 16</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century, had
become the artistic center of The Netherlands. Massys became one of the first
notable artists in Antwerp and was elected a member of the Guild of Saint Luke.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinU0ebUSkRj_v7cYuQ8azwgXAKTKGPZyLIDkoh0NY1gmZEg6Lm2ay1V9cAvbbFUnYLo46PiiLF8pmxuqI3yRFSkf_70H-mnClzgNPWrgrdiCCidI0R2XhiNAVnkP-5XWOd_8QyTsPPdM7Gcw3bOJkCLK4wL4RQar4zulRX4lo2S4pFBKJnF908yXZ9/s1500/Quentin%20Massys%20engraved%20by%20Jan%20Wierix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1184" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinU0ebUSkRj_v7cYuQ8azwgXAKTKGPZyLIDkoh0NY1gmZEg6Lm2ay1V9cAvbbFUnYLo46PiiLF8pmxuqI3yRFSkf_70H-mnClzgNPWrgrdiCCidI0R2XhiNAVnkP-5XWOd_8QyTsPPdM7Gcw3bOJkCLK4wL4RQar4zulRX4lo2S4pFBKJnF908yXZ9/w316-h400/Quentin%20Massys%20engraved%20by%20Jan%20Wierix.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">His work is noted for its
effects of light and shade, firmness of outline, clear modelling, and thorough
finish of detail. His effective use of transparent pigments provided a glowing
richness to his paintings that was reminiscent of the work of Memling. He was
also known for his “strenuous effort” to express individual character,
something clearly seen in the portrait. Massys died in Antwerp in 1530, after
enjoying a reputation as a cult figure, and paving the path for a school of
painting that culminated with the career of Peter Paul Rubens.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conclusion</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The painting remained
popular, traveling to New York for a loan exhibition in 1929 and to Antwerp in
1930 for the Exposition d’art flamand ancien, showcasing the work of early
Flemish painters. It was exhibited by the Art Institute during the Century of
Progress in both 1933 and 1934 and returned to New York in the years following,
as well as being exhibited in Columbus, Ohio (which, by coincidence, is just an
hour from Zanesville, where John Glessner was born and raised).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6EEA2F4Qi_Y-3eSfWhuOF3zpLRK81mkTfBUlta-IH6yXhEnc0c67SKR80LqdZNlFV70wiyVacpoZkKxm4mhG4YLV9e_3EfbpAahfcuOJBh_whyyILkv_UDONyeYUt3f2GN8TVQ5iUVwJqqDPS3gCVFv4Mm2DMHOpbZV83qbpG2yrtBJCoqi-lObEi/s2400/Painting%20and%20tag.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="2171" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6EEA2F4Qi_Y-3eSfWhuOF3zpLRK81mkTfBUlta-IH6yXhEnc0c67SKR80LqdZNlFV70wiyVacpoZkKxm4mhG4YLV9e_3EfbpAahfcuOJBh_whyyILkv_UDONyeYUt3f2GN8TVQ5iUVwJqqDPS3gCVFv4Mm2DMHOpbZV83qbpG2yrtBJCoqi-lObEi/w361-h400/Painting%20and%20tag.JPG" width="361" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now back on the display in
Gallery 207 (The Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Gallery) for the first
time in many years, the oil on panel painting, which measures just 11-1/2 by
17-1/4 inches, still captivates with its brilliant use of color, and stark
realism. The tag adjacent to the painting reads:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“In this portrait from
relatively early in his career, Quentin Massys followed stylistic conventions
that appealed to Antwerp’s growing market of patrons while also exhibiting the
bold innovations that ultimately made him one of the city’s most influential
painters. The sitter appears frozen in a somewhat unnatural pose, as was the
fashion for half-length portraits at the time, and the positioning of his left
hand on the painting’s lower edge recalls the spatial illusionism found in
portraits by Netherlandish artists of the previous generation. However, the
subtle modeling of the face conveys a strong sense of the sitter’s individual
character at a time when such works tended to idealize their subjects. The
pink, or carnation, held by the sitter could symbolize marriage or Jesus
Christ’s incarnation.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-48980479892491168142022-06-30T18:56:00.001-05:002022-06-30T19:01:48.733-05:00Elihu Vedder and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvmpqArfS58JYMHjRRInseqk9VKTW44CJe_fXxSo2QKJZSRVfO9EPGI5iil6Bdld3vUr52oyf0W6NHbX8IWuuqvJwYhe6XNfiotq7n5gaQy37ShGBmV7k5kRKt98YCF1H3awb3-GgUjIjL6usvJdnw1pGpDfVVQilL1ZbklnDbCkMs0ulBgfVJPGT/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20cover.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1212" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvmpqArfS58JYMHjRRInseqk9VKTW44CJe_fXxSo2QKJZSRVfO9EPGI5iil6Bdld3vUr52oyf0W6NHbX8IWuuqvJwYhe6XNfiotq7n5gaQy37ShGBmV7k5kRKt98YCF1H3awb3-GgUjIjL6usvJdnw1pGpDfVVQilL1ZbklnDbCkMs0ulBgfVJPGT/w324-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20cover.JPG" width="324" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Glessners
assembled more than 8,000 books for the libraries in their Prairie Avenue and
New Hampshire homes. Among the most distinctive volumes is a folio-size edition
of the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, designed and illustrated by the
American artist Elihu Vedder in 1883-1884. The book received rave reviews upon
its release, secured Vedder’s reputation as an artist, and provided him with
financial security for the rest of his life. In this article, we will explore
Vedder’s career, the creation of the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rubaiyat</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, how it came into the
Glessner library, and their ongoing interest in the artist.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Elihu Vedder<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vedder was born in New
York City on February 26, 1836, to first cousins Elihu (Sr.) and Elizabeth
Vedder. By Elihu’s mid-teens he showed promise as an artist, his mother
actively supporting his intentions; his father was less convinced. He studied
with the American artist Tompkins Harrison Matteson in New York City before
heading to Paris to study with Francois-Edouard Picot, who had been a recipient
of the Prix de Rome scholarship and a student of Jacques-Louis David.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1858, Vedder
traveled to Italy where he remained for two years, and it transformed his life,
being deeply inspired by Italian Renaissance painting as well as the landscape,
which he frequently depicted in his paintings. He befriended fellow painter
Giovanni Costa, with whom he traveled extensively through the Italian
countryside, until Vedder’s father cut off his allowance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMgsCImhlVxzsT7I66iIHAKRi2rPrxPR1LKFr48fDStfdU_iL5yR2Q4fMdLOcK_xUO0ZXxY_OrgkKstT6XJgIgLMZGNMgXuuqY5ZmDrB9tsItADXkwAir3anUSm4ute1XbEQDJBlEtaI6JECIeTHT7jtCHjq1kgPnkEg2HekKxUij35rf4ehdasNA4/s1500/Elihu%20Vedder.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1089" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMgsCImhlVxzsT7I66iIHAKRi2rPrxPR1LKFr48fDStfdU_iL5yR2Q4fMdLOcK_xUO0ZXxY_OrgkKstT6XJgIgLMZGNMgXuuqY5ZmDrB9tsItADXkwAir3anUSm4ute1XbEQDJBlEtaI6JECIeTHT7jtCHjq1kgPnkEg2HekKxUij35rf4ehdasNA4/w290-h400/Elihu%20Vedder.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Returning to the
United States at the start of the Civil War, he earned money as a commercial
illustrator and quickly became involved in Greenwich Village’s first “Bohemian
hangout” at Pfaff’s beer cellar. It was here he befriended Walt Whitman, Herman
Melville, and many others known as the Pfaffians, the start of long-standing
friendships with some of the most creative and intellectual minds of the
period.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">At the conclusion of
the Civil War, he returned to his beloved Italy. He frequently traveled to
England, being influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, and befriended Simeon
Solomon, a prominent painter of the movement known for his depiction of Jewish
life. Vedder occasionally returned to the United States, and for a period of
time designed objects for Louis Comfort Tiffany, as well as a bronze statue, <i>The
Boy</i>, which Tiffany placed in a fountain at his Long Island estate,
Laurelton Hall. In the late 1890s, Vedder designed a mosaic of Minerva and a
series of murals depicting various aspects of <a>government</a></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, to adorn the Reading
Room of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZXUN5FrSE9LrLmR8mtF9k2Z1yEYtU3UJ_1KLSLUT8Eg1XBXAP9mmmArVThVx0fmUA8IRg7D7AeZguPuYH1fxTckb3Quez8bk5PKMmGt-qdAMKpCsCIqeyC0uKChNu8RWzzSX1W-_Zhzq1CIa_7uI_mo2R1TXULDiy9AhGB1we1jwrJDquGjKLYcX/s1500/Library%20of%20Congress%20-%20Minerva.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZXUN5FrSE9LrLmR8mtF9k2Z1yEYtU3UJ_1KLSLUT8Eg1XBXAP9mmmArVThVx0fmUA8IRg7D7AeZguPuYH1fxTckb3Quez8bk5PKMmGt-qdAMKpCsCIqeyC0uKChNu8RWzzSX1W-_Zhzq1CIa_7uI_mo2R1TXULDiy9AhGB1we1jwrJDquGjKLYcX/w273-h400/Library%20of%20Congress%20-%20Minerva.jpg" width="273" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Best remembered today
for his monochromatic accompaniments for the <i>Rubaiyat</i> (he disliked the
term illustrations), he produced a significant amount of artwork that is difficult
to classify, although he is often referenced as a Symbolist painter. As Joshua
C. Taylor noted in <i>Perceptions and Evocations: The Art of Elihu Vedder </i>(Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1979):</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Vedder has been
remembered for several different accomplishments but rarely as a unified
artistic personality. His extraordinary illustrations to accompany Omar Khayyam’s
Rubaiyat, published in 1884, are an early and persuasive lesson in the
compelling evocative powers of a decorative style. His disarmingly simple,
richly colored glimpses of the Italian landscape, however, celebrate the
pleasures of direct perception. His work seems to be rooted firmly in two
opposing traditions, each revolutionary in its way in the nineteenth century.
Yet probably the most revolutionary aspect of Vedder was his refusal to take
sides, to admit that the perceptual and visionary were at odds with each
other.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Of his personality,
Taylor, as co-author with Jane Dillenberger of <i>The Hand and the Spirit:
Religious Art in America 1700-1900</i> (University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA,
1972), wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“His personality
emerges as a compound of extroverted vigor, volatility, jocularity, and
flirtatiousness, with an introverted fascination with dreams, a preoccupation
with death, a tendency toward melancholia, and an appetite for the macabre.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Elihu Vedder died in
1923 at the age of 86 and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Omar Khayyam, Edward
FitzGerald, and the origins of the </b><i><b>Rubaiyat<br /></b></i></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Omar Khayyam, known as
the “Astronomer-Poet of Persia” lived from 1048 to 1131 A.D. He achieved modern
recognition when the English writer and poet Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883) completed
his translation of a selection of quatrains (rubaiyat) in the late 1850s. The
authenticity of the poetry attributed to Khayyam is uncertain, as during his
lifetime he was known as an astronomer and mathematician. It was not until a
biography was written decades after his death that we find the first references
to his having written poetry. Of the 2,000 or so quatrains attributed to him,
scholars vary widely as to how many of them truly came from Khayyam, most
agreeing that less than 200 can be authenticated.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">FitzGerald is best
remembered today for his English translation of the <i>Rubaiyat</i>. He began
studying Persian literature with Professor Edward Byles Cowell at the
University of Oxford in 1853. Four years later, Cowell discovered a set of
Persian quatrains by Khayyam in the Asiatic Society library in Calcutta, which
he sent to FitzGerald, who completed his initial translation later that year.
In January 1859, he privately printed 250 copies, but the work remained largely
unknown until being discovered by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1861 and soon after
by the author and critic Algernon Charles Swinburne (of whom Rossetti later painted
a portrait).</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">A second, greatly
revised edition was published by FitzGerald in 1868, with further editions in
1872 and 1879 and a posthumous edition in 1889. The third edition was the first
to contain the now standard 101 quatrains, and the first American edition of
1878 was a reprint of this version. William Morris became enamored with the
work, producing his own version in the 1870s, with the text in his hand, supplemented
by illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones (shown below). In time, “the slim volume was handed
from artist to artist, and it served as a touchstone for the spiritual and
poetic in a time of strident materialism.” By the 1890s, more than two hundred
editions had been produced, resulting in total sales exceeding two million
copies, the formation of Omar Khayyam clubs throughout the English-speaking
world, and the rise of a fin de siècle cult of the Rubaiyat.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvKgDF7CWeDFaaIv5JIbOhOwaETH1BCZx7-TwQiUfv-xXCq3XNbWIs2Qtb5FEKYMMJ4mDcu_5KndghpQq4coM0Y3unjy6enDWyfOH7yjLQVV0U_j5nJHkLhBr9c_uRLtBsqdaPI9pKN5Pa7hgjy70lTwqDtgwv2iS2z0Z-2DQo58gShpQTmRqH_T_/s1481/Rubaiyat%20-%20William%20Morris%20and%20Edward%20Burne-Jones.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1481" data-original-width="992" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvKgDF7CWeDFaaIv5JIbOhOwaETH1BCZx7-TwQiUfv-xXCq3XNbWIs2Qtb5FEKYMMJ4mDcu_5KndghpQq4coM0Y3unjy6enDWyfOH7yjLQVV0U_j5nJHkLhBr9c_uRLtBsqdaPI9pKN5Pa7hgjy70lTwqDtgwv2iS2z0Z-2DQo58gShpQTmRqH_T_/w268-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20William%20Morris%20and%20Edward%20Burne-Jones.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />FitzGerald openly
admitted that he took considerable liberties with the source material. In
correspondence to Cowell in 1858 and 1859, he wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“My translation will
interest you from its form, and also in many respects in its detail: very
un-literal as it is. Many quatrains are mashed together: and something lost, I
doubt, of Omar’s simplicity, which is so much a virtue in him.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“I suppose very few
people have ever taken such Pains in Translation as I have: though certainly
not to be literal. But at all Costs, a Thing must live: with a transfusion of
one’s own <a style="mso-comment-date: 20220630T0933; mso-comment-done: yes; mso-comment-reference: FP_2;">worse</a></span></i><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a class="msocomanchor" href="https://glessnerhouse.sharepoint.com/Shared%20Documents/Users/William%20Tyre/Bill's%20Documents/Blog%20articles/2022/2022-06-14%20Rubaiyat%20of%20Omar%20Khayyam/Rubaiyat%20of%20Omar%20Khayyam_FP.docx#_msocom_2" id="_anchor_2" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_2">[FP2]</a><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Life if one can’t
retain the Originals better. Better a live Sparrow than a stuffed Eagle.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vedder’s <i>Rubaiyat</i></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6cpxAMlg1odMfxVFUSt7wou5n7-eEC8CHxv1j8Hy0OkAeA-tipgwgorw80a2_uI9RLygHGAtYf3-c-KFJLJC9zALGQ9XESWp6J7wVc7H9vK7uVvOo_D8kQ0wv5XEraJwMHXCw6-y_2R_7_utpIDIJ_IRaOAfxvzyTFUtzuylWzLquikYkuA1oLCK/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20Omar's%20Emblem.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1108" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6cpxAMlg1odMfxVFUSt7wou5n7-eEC8CHxv1j8Hy0OkAeA-tipgwgorw80a2_uI9RLygHGAtYf3-c-KFJLJC9zALGQ9XESWp6J7wVc7H9vK7uVvOo_D8kQ0wv5XEraJwMHXCw6-y_2R_7_utpIDIJ_IRaOAfxvzyTFUtzuylWzLquikYkuA1oLCK/w295-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20Omar's%20Emblem.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The 55 drawings in
pencil, ink, chalk, and watercolor on tinted paper, comprising Vedder’s edition
of the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rubaiyat</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, were completed over a ten month period from May 1883 to
March 1884 while in Rome, as noted on the signature page below.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkkXnkWsYpgjWsjLwzDaiIgsxtUxq_b4aD0XyDEvz2PwGyD2MFWJMdzRuMcg92nMoUdZqvwoGJZTaVgU6aF7BSRKQPo4wcNhO3fv-O0Ws-D7X2VvYe5ctx_5AFkNSuWAMJiWuk0o0mI8SWwmzYbLMKcS9oErRAPRRM4X_8aJTub9oZLGFZuUh-vH2/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20Artist's%20Signature.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1491" data-original-width="1500" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkkXnkWsYpgjWsjLwzDaiIgsxtUxq_b4aD0XyDEvz2PwGyD2MFWJMdzRuMcg92nMoUdZqvwoGJZTaVgU6aF7BSRKQPo4wcNhO3fv-O0Ws-D7X2VvYe5ctx_5AFkNSuWAMJiWuk0o0mI8SWwmzYbLMKcS9oErRAPRRM4X_8aJTub9oZLGFZuUh-vH2/w400-h398/Rubaiyat%20-%20Artist's%20Signature.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">His signature, always
depicted as an asymmetrical V, is explained in the end notes to the volume:<br />
<br />
<i>“If an explanation of the artist’s signature is demanded, why may it not be
taken as representing the high and low notes, the light and shade in which this
work is done? Hastily plucked and rudely fashioned, this double pipe is (the
artist believes) yet capable of producing some music worthy of the listening
ear.”</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vedder also designed
the cover, the lining papers on the inside of the front and back covers, and
the distinctive lettering. The two sides of his artistic expression are
evident, one description of an exhibition of the original drawings noting how
“he reconciled the critics who called for accurate depiction of observed
reality with those who argued for feeling and emotion over objective form.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9yHou2424oCY129RzDp3UkFVrbwGSWqqyR9zb3lkebXwWw9dvTwGPHh491ikghv_l1YgAtO_pMXNySwb1hwhLxRKgJElApooEAwesWDkF4EQoe7nPyCTMDvB4W7ffxsU-v4uBkg-rZl4aUi72AM8KBzZ7uxMjgyqDRDxmHemAQVgN1ZnCOymYeYV/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20Dedication%20to%20wife.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1059" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9yHou2424oCY129RzDp3UkFVrbwGSWqqyR9zb3lkebXwWw9dvTwGPHh491ikghv_l1YgAtO_pMXNySwb1hwhLxRKgJElApooEAwesWDkF4EQoe7nPyCTMDvB4W7ffxsU-v4uBkg-rZl4aUi72AM8KBzZ7uxMjgyqDRDxmHemAQVgN1ZnCOymYeYV/w283-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20Dedication%20to%20wife.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">He dedicated the book
to his wife, the former Caroline Rosekrans, (the daughter of a New York Supreme
Court judge), to whom he was united in marriage in 1869 in her hometown of
Glens Falls, New York.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Just as FitzGerald had
taken liberties in translating the quatrains, Vedder took additional liberties in
rearranging them in order to express what he felt were the three stages of
existence explored in the text – happiness and youth, death and darkness, and
rebirth. Examining the details in the drawings, one finds everything from
traditional Christian symbols and classical figures to mystical imagery of
Vedder’s invention. A prominent device is the “cosmic swirl,” first seen on the
front cover, and repeated throughout the volume. Vedder, in his end notes,
explains:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The swirl which
appears here, and is an ever-recurring feature in the work, represents the
gradual concentration of the elements which combine in life: the sudden pause,
through the reversal of the movement, which marks the instant of life; then the
gradual, ever-widening dispersion again into the primitive elements.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4JNE-Z9s9Elpp1PxYKBvYixdnhmqA0YG1yltQlYvtDLarx0gRVHsKAHiqZE7umdpuUapThEFTCo_JPD6JipXkP9nxK6bXH0H4ATDJjv98KXyD6-QcCwLZ9Mqe_N79X1nprRwH3v7t5Hu-M60p3zupHVIffrF5vC1bDcBXJTcJ9vP7KqepjbkwYN1s/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20The%20Vain%20Pursuit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1121" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4JNE-Z9s9Elpp1PxYKBvYixdnhmqA0YG1yltQlYvtDLarx0gRVHsKAHiqZE7umdpuUapThEFTCo_JPD6JipXkP9nxK6bXH0H4ATDJjv98KXyD6-QcCwLZ9Mqe_N79X1nprRwH3v7t5Hu-M60p3zupHVIffrF5vC1bDcBXJTcJ9vP7KqepjbkwYN1s/w299-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20The%20Vain%20Pursuit.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The first edition of
the book was released on November 8, 1884, and sold out in just six days. A
deluxe limited edition with a stamped leather cover cost $100; a regular
edition with cloth cover was $25. The book was published by Houghton, Mifflin
and Company, a prominent Boston-based publisher that held the rights to the
literary works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David
Thoreau. It was printed at its Riverside Press, “one of the model
printing-offices in America,” noted for its unusual practice of employing male
and female compositors, who worked side by side.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The book was praised
as a masterwork of American art, and Vedder secured his place as the master
American artist. Critics noted that he set the standard for the artist-designed
book by creating all of its elements.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDYOdcR-sHpG0Jqcw4DhCCK2tvj7iREy_jg5Z2bIlcmrq680LmkXcmb-GxAjraPowIaBLMZ8iVTUmyuGP-NZvPsuquM8PhE0u4b5LouGT63ffGIGVmWcmsiMlG_Qx79X2QvbiZgLRgf9pLqUsYZWGnsdW3g-TEq6DvZ80T381xNpR0FCJEXxnBzN6/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20The%20Recording%20Angel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1125" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDYOdcR-sHpG0Jqcw4DhCCK2tvj7iREy_jg5Z2bIlcmrq680LmkXcmb-GxAjraPowIaBLMZ8iVTUmyuGP-NZvPsuquM8PhE0u4b5LouGT63ffGIGVmWcmsiMlG_Qx79X2QvbiZgLRgf9pLqUsYZWGnsdW3g-TEq6DvZ80T381xNpR0FCJEXxnBzN6/w300-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20The%20Recording%20Angel.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The quality of the
reproduced drawings was also praised, a review in the January 1885 issue of </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Atlantic</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> noting:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The mechanical
execution of the book is worthy of a word. The plates seem to reproduce the
drawings with little or no loss, and in one or two cases with some trifling
gain, which now and then follows reduction and translation into one color. This
adaptation of an improved gelatine-printing method, made directly from original
drawings, is a new feature in American illustrated bookmaking, and has been
tried here for the first time in large and difficult plates. If the promise
made by this addition to our illustrative methods is kept, we may hope to see
other magnificent pictures contribute intimately to literary enjoyment.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The <i>Rubaiyat</i>
comes to Chicago<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The book was offered
for sale in Chicago within a few weeks of its sell-out release in Boston. The
“Literature” column in the December 6, 1884 edition of the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
led with a lengthy review of the book, which opened:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Originality is
earnestly striven after by the artists of today; but no one of them has more of
that distinguishing quality, or attains it more easily, than Mr. Elihu Vedder.
It is so much his nature to be original that the after-expression of any
artistic idea passed through the alembic of his brain is certain not only to
bear the impress of a most vigorous imagination, but to be notably different
from the form that it would assume if presented by any other human being. In
the “Rubaiyat” of Omar Khayyam he has found a congenial theme for the exercise
of his genius; and the result is a series of designs which, for refinement of
conception, dignity and breadth of treatment, combined with wonderful grace and
beauty of expression, is worthy to rank with the highest achievements of modern
art.”<br /><br /></span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWmT15jFWtxw0hdLA-sV9EGALUlK2aBvehLYSxBPVlqVMowcjQSBwuea_Nn9bIEOGBa9fXL0h4JDqS7ojO5_lvIVMDDb3LYnODACpVkzOcA0aqsJIcnFZs4TgwCXm__BvLBZj95UmzhnNdCa8d4llsnqDRd0tJ_0hnbNGmnp6-sSZFr4B_dnOr64H8/s1500/1884-12-13%20S%20A%20Maxwell%20advertisement.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1086" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWmT15jFWtxw0hdLA-sV9EGALUlK2aBvehLYSxBPVlqVMowcjQSBwuea_Nn9bIEOGBa9fXL0h4JDqS7ojO5_lvIVMDDb3LYnODACpVkzOcA0aqsJIcnFZs4TgwCXm__BvLBZj95UmzhnNdCa8d4llsnqDRd0tJ_0hnbNGmnp6-sSZFr4B_dnOr64H8/w290-h400/1884-12-13%20S%20A%20Maxwell%20advertisement.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh59zmT726P5E073l95m590c1EkZpl5toaKz9azWdb4W8Y8siUCVKeldvLmCuP_8zS_VLrYyYosNQ2V6BGTQAL_RFQ_P_StsEQpUg9d2BPHTjN5hxyPWJT6vQWU66WYAK63h0gSThr72HgllMxl2zx3DNFAO2qVdx0CJ5CVvyTGfCsaZKuJTTVO4ncj/s1200/Jewelers'%20Building%20S%20A%20Maxwell%20and%20Company.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1001" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh59zmT726P5E073l95m590c1EkZpl5toaKz9azWdb4W8Y8siUCVKeldvLmCuP_8zS_VLrYyYosNQ2V6BGTQAL_RFQ_P_StsEQpUg9d2BPHTjN5hxyPWJT6vQWU66WYAK63h0gSThr72HgllMxl2zx3DNFAO2qVdx0CJ5CVvyTGfCsaZKuJTTVO4ncj/w334-h400/Jewelers'%20Building%20S%20A%20Maxwell%20and%20Company.jpg" width="334" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i>The 1884 advertisement above is for S. A. Maxwell & Co., located at 134-136 Wabash Avenue. This was the Jewelers' Building, completed in 1882 from designs by Adler & Sullivan. The current address is 15-17 S. Wabash Avenue.</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">By February 1885, Vedder's original drawings for the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Rubaiyat</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> had come to Chicago for exhibition at the Art Institute, at the time located in its first building at the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street. The drawings, which measured approximately 13 by 17 inches, were hugely popular, leading the Art Institute to open the exhibit for free on Saturday, February 28, between the hours of 9:00am and 10:00pm. Frances Glessner would have almost certainly seen the exhibit, as she was taking her son George to the Institute each Saturday morning for a drawing class.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYT8AE8vb0jY1pzBIfQ3xpGXy69wO0ticb2l9aKVTDVxlMc2sXZ71NYFOPPh-ydA5yKz81YGjrkyXVJtjec8yw8-TmcFw9PPAH9dF_12BkSUHftQninW5z9t2J1Ju4Rhuy8q1Amawb-FXJ8M85-Suly5zqu8kkwN6AuMXuY5MeIi2VML7eeMieEgG/s1500/1885-02-26%20Vedder%20Exhibition%20at%20AIC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1377" data-original-width="1500" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYT8AE8vb0jY1pzBIfQ3xpGXy69wO0ticb2l9aKVTDVxlMc2sXZ71NYFOPPh-ydA5yKz81YGjrkyXVJtjec8yw8-TmcFw9PPAH9dF_12BkSUHftQninW5z9t2J1Ju4Rhuy8q1Amawb-FXJ8M85-Suly5zqu8kkwN6AuMXuY5MeIi2VML7eeMieEgG/w400-h368/1885-02-26%20Vedder%20Exhibition%20at%20AIC.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYA1ZtPFD6DDquOOeJltsnT8wUy5MWcmS0c5aCb7dVlmFSbAY-u1pgc3FAWXVRwHgQH6Ko3nqYts3RrhfwCgr5PqAHR4KhTPmFjkFSvjE4fAe1kPcOJFsvfpkKoTCz2onmZyroy3bxVuC4z1E3HePD9dTfxg-LNCs3eAEQTAObPQ-KeKxxQL6G9NjG/s1500/Art%20Institute%20in%201887.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1211" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYA1ZtPFD6DDquOOeJltsnT8wUy5MWcmS0c5aCb7dVlmFSbAY-u1pgc3FAWXVRwHgQH6Ko3nqYts3RrhfwCgr5PqAHR4KhTPmFjkFSvjE4fAe1kPcOJFsvfpkKoTCz2onmZyroy3bxVuC4z1E3HePD9dTfxg-LNCs3eAEQTAObPQ-KeKxxQL6G9NjG/w323-h400/Art%20Institute%20in%201887.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Glessners received
their copy of the <i>Rubaiyat</i> as a Christmas gift from George in 1892 –
perhaps a remembrance of his viewing the 1885 exhibit with his mother? Her
journal entry for Christmas Day notes “George gave us Vedder’s illustrated
Rubaiyat.” The folio-size regular edition with cloth cover cost $25, the
equivalent of $735 in today’s dollars. (When John Glessner died in 1936, the
book was valued at $5 in the estate appraisal; today, copies sell in the $1,000
to $1,500 range). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3s17NN7tdK-a894X7AJvoZYQ2lE4FGgqpsVK6k-wmZsuuhXXgcXykMYb9HqRdIy3Wrbq_grQVVHveQ5S-E3Ho1kDVzNQucnJbO7TFaEht9vZHGKKKlHKBw8859b5EejNoDieOscz8shpu2LP729zoUGltzIL_YvIsRCUJ_M88gvUrVPwCyT-DboHo/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20The%20Cup%20of%20Death.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1127" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3s17NN7tdK-a894X7AJvoZYQ2lE4FGgqpsVK6k-wmZsuuhXXgcXykMYb9HqRdIy3Wrbq_grQVVHveQ5S-E3Ho1kDVzNQucnJbO7TFaEht9vZHGKKKlHKBw8859b5EejNoDieOscz8shpu2LP729zoUGltzIL_YvIsRCUJ_M88gvUrVPwCyT-DboHo/w300-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20The%20Cup%20of%20Death.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Each leaf measures 12
inches wide by 15-1/2 inches tall and is printed on a heavy paper which is
mounted on linen guards gathered at the spine. The leaves are arranged in pairs
which face each other. The 101 quatrains are contained within 47 plates, with
additional drawings used for the end papers, title page, and notes pages. The
book does not contain a copyright date, but the title page lists both Houghton,
Mifflin and Company of Boston and Bernard Quaritch of London as publishers. Vedder’s
colophon for the Riverside Press (shown below) faces the dedication page to his
wife.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe80Qf8M3lLEKelp_jpM2CxPBxPTA9QFxsAAiwmcxbcvrsTUK3CKy9He7A2LZgnDXoRj0XDfhVYy2WuNy3_SYAFV1WMkG3Pu3sytOUor2CRXVOn8T4-ug801pCeyOX1YJdAf-51yxxxVmvaldIu1mXVtfA3-Rtm4qg1bi2alAJ-WIUNrX8qiAZP8gV/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20Riverside%20Press.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1238" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe80Qf8M3lLEKelp_jpM2CxPBxPTA9QFxsAAiwmcxbcvrsTUK3CKy9He7A2LZgnDXoRj0XDfhVYy2WuNy3_SYAFV1WMkG3Pu3sytOUor2CRXVOn8T4-ug801pCeyOX1YJdAf-51yxxxVmvaldIu1mXVtfA3-Rtm4qg1bi2alAJ-WIUNrX8qiAZP8gV/s320/Rubaiyat%20-%20Riverside%20Press.JPG" width="264" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Digressions of V</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnl3EHhfkv0G4JDPb2s3V82Eg8H1dg8p6GB_18-dk1Hv6owV2iKGw37rns0jyfk4ZcPq-hlq12Fuiw8SDt5AMCOcQXm-iHsiX5as2FxxpFsSGbMGkyy8VQ3ARtZ4dPu9zAL9bixn2Gh05OC85JhfP9Nepkh9g35NSJ4xUtdDQYPlCkGs7YBqssRxOj/s1500/Digressions%20-%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1086" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnl3EHhfkv0G4JDPb2s3V82Eg8H1dg8p6GB_18-dk1Hv6owV2iKGw37rns0jyfk4ZcPq-hlq12Fuiw8SDt5AMCOcQXm-iHsiX5as2FxxpFsSGbMGkyy8VQ3ARtZ4dPu9zAL9bixn2Gh05OC85JhfP9Nepkh9g35NSJ4xUtdDQYPlCkGs7YBqssRxOj/w290-h400/Digressions%20-%20cover.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1910, Vedder
published his autobiography entitled</span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The Digressions of V</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, with the notation
“Written for his own fun and that of his friends,” and the added stanza:</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">
“Somewhat o’ershadowed by great names,<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A feeble plant he
tries to rear;<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is not nourished by
great aims<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nor yet retarded by
much fear;<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">His aims if any are
but these,<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">To be remembered and
to please.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSt9Pcvysh3UxWxJIR2itIoIoAVJYOWkQMrI78CvY4MmjmNDryBiFpK-2zyB1kLuavBCrd-3Ejw6KRZ3tmyjBrnqICpY2QzV195ekP-iCC1uBsTqcR8hjLVLzSeyLvGEkV5ifKV2k9KWo6h00hF59_vqyxf_Q6qCw6yAWOO4VRa7kN8lJeBI7zKgC/s1500/1910-11-26%20Digressions%20advertisement%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1500" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSt9Pcvysh3UxWxJIR2itIoIoAVJYOWkQMrI78CvY4MmjmNDryBiFpK-2zyB1kLuavBCrd-3Ejw6KRZ3tmyjBrnqICpY2QzV195ekP-iCC1uBsTqcR8hjLVLzSeyLvGEkV5ifKV2k9KWo6h00hF59_vqyxf_Q6qCw6yAWOO4VRa7kN8lJeBI7zKgC/w400-h143/1910-11-26%20Digressions%20advertisement%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">It, too, was published
by Houghton, Mifflin and Company at its Riverside Press. The Glessners
purchased their copy for $6.00, confirmed by the penciled notation inside the
back cover inserted by the bookseller, A. C. McClurg and Company. They placed the
book in their library at The Rocks, their summer estate in New Hampshire, as
noted by the bookplate inside the front cover.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">A review in the <i>Chicago
Tribune</i> noted:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Very often when a
book is introduced with the remark that the author was induced to write it
because friends asked him to, we may prepare for something that the world would
willingly let die. It is not so in the case of Mr. Vedder. His friends knew
what they were about when they urged him to write this book. It is quite
unconventional, as Vedder’s art work is certainly unconventional.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Mr. Vedder has made a
beautiful book and certainly original. He apparently attended to the
typographical arrangement himself, for it is artistic and characteristic – just
the sort of a book one would expect Mr. Vedder to write and publish.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vedder dedicated his
book to Grace Ellery Channing Stetson, an American writer and poet who lived in
Rome, and helped him edit and compile the autobiography. The dedication page,
shown below, depicts the four elements (from upper left) – water, air, fire,
and earth.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAJm7eaJAwT2j-x4TxHgH9PqdPPvxlL9F9GAZezVSjb0XZVy-jffB0SLCcpG5lcN0_MKBugpujaEyR_Vj4x_tkww9-2qu1qAggexSrEVa5ZXPG1wEOyIgnJDHOx2oZG6eGB-TqEF3O4GjOVSpqkYm7WN202jNxWZuCcE9cCjOvbpMDEzQpjWd5zgU3/s1500/Digressions%20-%20dedication%20to%20Stetson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1178" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAJm7eaJAwT2j-x4TxHgH9PqdPPvxlL9F9GAZezVSjb0XZVy-jffB0SLCcpG5lcN0_MKBugpujaEyR_Vj4x_tkww9-2qu1qAggexSrEVa5ZXPG1wEOyIgnJDHOx2oZG6eGB-TqEF3O4GjOVSpqkYm7WN202jNxWZuCcE9cCjOvbpMDEzQpjWd5zgU3/w314-h400/Digressions%20-%20dedication%20to%20Stetson.jpg" width="314" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The book includes a
chapter covering the period in which the drawings for the <i>Rubaiyat</i> were
created. Vedder noted how the book came about:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“On one of my trips
home, seeing that other people were making books, I thought – Why not make one
myself? And of course Omar came into my mind, and the more I thought of it, the
more the idea pleased me. . . In Boston, Mr. Houghton listened to my scheme,
and asked, “But who and where is this Omar?” I said that was natural; he was
too near; he only published the poem. To make a long story short, he agreed to
bring out the book, and on the way back to Rome I thought it all out. In three
weeks I had divided the verses into groups and settled on the subjects of the
drawings, and commenced making them. I was somewhat wise also: I did not begin
at the beginning and go through, but dipped in here and there through the book,
so that they should not begin well and peter out, or begin ill and improve, but
were kept as even as moods and circumstances would permit; but they boiled out,
and I kept the fire hot, and they were all done. . . The drawings were all made
in a studio in the Villa Strohl Fern outside the Porta del Popolo, Rome.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“To those who object
to the work, - and there are those who do, - I will only say that it is selling
yet – a poor argument, but it must suffice.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6qmjjezwcHvanYRX1g-iz7XKdX4ikSm4frz97hL3BhvvKZ98z-SRokGNOflo2Q5-nhVYPl23q-sT6YT2wGZSAdbj8mn65gmJtWxqXtuqYkRU5ehbtbr1y4-Y1LCqYBm0zQndyfeDKhD4oQnpkJn2mEp0_1Gz8jtRWjijaqCQeyKufxfYgNpId6_Ob/s1500/Villa%20Strohl%20Fern%20in%202014.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1332" data-original-width="1500" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6qmjjezwcHvanYRX1g-iz7XKdX4ikSm4frz97hL3BhvvKZ98z-SRokGNOflo2Q5-nhVYPl23q-sT6YT2wGZSAdbj8mn65gmJtWxqXtuqYkRU5ehbtbr1y4-Y1LCqYBm0zQndyfeDKhD4oQnpkJn2mEp0_1Gz8jtRWjijaqCQeyKufxfYgNpId6_Ob/w400-h355/Villa%20Strohl%20Fern%20in%202014.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note: The Villa
Strohl Fern was erected a few years before Vedder created his drawings there.
It is located on the grounds of the Villa Borghese in Rome. Alfred Wilhelm
Strohl, an exile from Alsace, purchased the large plot of land, creating
elaborate gardens and constructing the main villa and multiple smaller villas
and studio facilities, which were leased to numerous artists through the years.
The word “fern” translates as “far away,” emphasizing Strohls’ exile.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vedder’s artwork today<br /><br /></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjaD9MAEJquiB1ajEQwxKSIMl-KBosHO3-RFMBV8XFyYYWPbDoso6qUItWxBWiTOBh7cW0YrGEqO0TaCC8B85d8kaJkbIfWBOuc-1rGHXI0CHqCV0hcQLNW31IXcEidwMqjVv8tSyInxcKMvihlJn0GjV1sJdYVuotYY5f57P5WEES89F7ZpE4giA/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20Vain%20Questioning.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1112" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjaD9MAEJquiB1ajEQwxKSIMl-KBosHO3-RFMBV8XFyYYWPbDoso6qUItWxBWiTOBh7cW0YrGEqO0TaCC8B85d8kaJkbIfWBOuc-1rGHXI0CHqCV0hcQLNW31IXcEidwMqjVv8tSyInxcKMvihlJn0GjV1sJdYVuotYY5f57P5WEES89F7ZpE4giA/w296-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20Vain%20Questioning.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The complete set of original
drawings for the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rubaiyat</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> was acquired by purchase and gift by the
Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1978 from Elizabeth W. Henderson, in memory
of her husband, Francis Tracy Henderson. In 2008, the museum organized an
exhibition of the drawings that toured several museums around the country.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Art Institute of
Chicago owns several works by Vedder, including a figure study for the <i>Rubaiyat</i>,
retouched in 1911 (not currently on exhibit) and one of four copies of <i>The
Boy</i>, a bronze fountain statue made in collaboration with sculptor Charles
Keck. It is the same as the statue that stood on Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Long
Island estate and can be viewed in the Art of the Americas Gallery 161.
Paintings include <i>The Fates Gathering in the Stars </i>(Gallery 161) and <i>Storm
in Umbria</i> (Gallery 174), the latter a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M.
Nickerson in 1900. It would have originally hung in their Erie Street home, now
the Driehaus Museum.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMqwBLVpuLohQD4zTqABMvGMgl1p0oJLit33f6JGEuczLRCB_0KxB8Mmz5ip2ov9kd7R3lYXyOChwDtrCaVXRN2MtL1rgsbXOUScAw9QfT_7-cetL2vufXvfHxG49AemndqegZLeWV0AqGqDG4Juykho-uA8VhReEkN63fz8fCCRmsDLL5dJlc75Id/s1500/Rubaiyat%20-%20The%20Throne%20of%20Saturn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1130" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMqwBLVpuLohQD4zTqABMvGMgl1p0oJLit33f6JGEuczLRCB_0KxB8Mmz5ip2ov9kd7R3lYXyOChwDtrCaVXRN2MtL1rgsbXOUScAw9QfT_7-cetL2vufXvfHxG49AemndqegZLeWV0AqGqDG4Juykho-uA8VhReEkN63fz8fCCRmsDLL5dJlc75Id/w301-h400/Rubaiyat%20-%20The%20Throne%20of%20Saturn.jpg" width="301" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Glessners’ copy of
the <i>Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam</i> is a visually stunning reminder of the collection
of books they gathered during the decades they resided in their Prairie Avenue
home. It reflects their discriminating taste, sophisticated abilities as book
collectors, and their interest in the newest trends in art and publishing.</span></p><div style="mso-element: comment-list;"><div style="mso-element: comment;"><div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_2" language="JavaScript">
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-83787742805823729212022-05-09T11:04:00.002-05:002022-05-09T11:04:35.963-05:00The Story of "Meditation" by Paul Dubois<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4WSFoHYxEPe-06iaFpkraWIfvzI6lBT6uFHkeSuyxPrxU1Tef91bjGmVlzZ21AnBfvvwmNEzZyowwNqj_b6FQxfIqsyTZkJy-ZtpOiKU2u6Cy7x0bmzi9VEKJMz5ovjQSZeswwRWSIzBaxU5C9zlnEO027wSKdm0XG7kk8vxvQK2ZMvATBjQJEYS/s1200/Meditation%202%20close%20up.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="939" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4WSFoHYxEPe-06iaFpkraWIfvzI6lBT6uFHkeSuyxPrxU1Tef91bjGmVlzZ21AnBfvvwmNEzZyowwNqj_b6FQxfIqsyTZkJy-ZtpOiKU2u6Cy7x0bmzi9VEKJMz5ovjQSZeswwRWSIzBaxU5C9zlnEO027wSKdm0XG7kk8vxvQK2ZMvATBjQJEYS/w313-h400/Meditation%202%20close%20up.JPG" width="313" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />In
1968, the Glessners’ grandchildren, John Glessner Lee and Martha (Lee)
Batchelder, returned 143 items of furniture and decorative arts to the house,
the first of many donations which have allowed us to restore the interior to
its appearance during the Glessner family occupancy (1887-1936). Among the
items in the first donation was a bronze sculpture of a seated man deep in
thought which until recently was misidentified in the museum database. The
record has been corrected. This is the story of that sculpture.</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">When
the artwork was first accepted for the house in 1968, the donor record listed
it simply as a bronze sculpture entitled “The Thinker.” The next year, an
appraisal referred to it as the “Scholar.” In 1971, a curator with the Art
Institute identified it as “The Thinker,” misattributing it to the Belgian
sculptor, Paul Du Bois (1859-1938). Two additional appraisals in 1984 and 1991
identified the sculpture as the “Seated Philosopher,” artist unknown (somewhat
surprising given that the name of the artist, P. DUBOIS, is written in large
letters on the back side of the sculpture). It is no wonder that there has been
some confusion over the years!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZ-6krvJuIzzp-4SuUI7vMBmCprP2f7ylui016WjeEsyDh90_-8Z9bHTLWudZp0ONMqgO1Sx81j_lj079isugQdzGP-gUuZq51Ibr5aQMw13cJy6h6Ks0QN26qvebNySK5KJBGn4n8Q4_8gn0YpgZ1EIf7o0niZ_EhzNHWVHjcadrpXEa04uwcDER/s1200/Meditation%203%20-%20Dubois.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1200" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZ-6krvJuIzzp-4SuUI7vMBmCprP2f7ylui016WjeEsyDh90_-8Z9bHTLWudZp0ONMqgO1Sx81j_lj079isugQdzGP-gUuZq51Ibr5aQMw13cJy6h6Ks0QN26qvebNySK5KJBGn4n8Q4_8gn0YpgZ1EIf7o0niZ_EhzNHWVHjcadrpXEa04uwcDER/w400-h268/Meditation%203%20-%20Dubois.JPG" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul
Dubois</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
actual artist is Paul Dubois, born in Nogent-sur-Seine, France in 1829. Known
primarily as a sculptor, he also achieved later success as a portrait painter. He
initially studied law at the request of his father and did not begin his
training as a sculptor until the age of 26. Dubois first exhibited at the Paris
Salon in 1857, the salon being the official art exhibition of the Academy des
Beaux-Arts in Paris, and widely regarded as the greatest annual art event in
the Western world at the time. The year after the salon, Dubois entered the
atelier of Armand Toussaint at the </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-transform: uppercase;">E</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">cole
des Beaux-Arts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYmELTFdG_Ny7NOULSiad-C06VD_pkaX1D0-Q7bSz6tm7ZTwA4fD0qgWwpx4agLWvdzU7nxDJ5HfZT45tkkHwIYlxOA1jAL4Ni-0i1uNh2Lyr1i6o0Ay5u18PYLGDr4NqQ3px8t-NXw8kQPChP1zoOiBAjhNE-ocKFOx4s76xePGDVFfBLgbqbKEd/s1200/Paul%20Dubois%20better.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="919" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYmELTFdG_Ny7NOULSiad-C06VD_pkaX1D0-Q7bSz6tm7ZTwA4fD0qgWwpx4agLWvdzU7nxDJ5HfZT45tkkHwIYlxOA1jAL4Ni-0i1uNh2Lyr1i6o0Ay5u18PYLGDr4NqQ3px8t-NXw8kQPChP1zoOiBAjhNE-ocKFOx4s76xePGDVFfBLgbqbKEd/w306-h400/Paul%20Dubois%20better.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
1859, he moved to Italy, which would become his home base for four years,
studying and copying great sculptures in Rome, Naples and Florence, leading to
his work often being described as neo-Florentine. It was during this time that
he created plaster models for two of his best-known works, </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Saint John the
Baptist as a Child</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Narcissus</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, both of which were exhibited at
the Paris Salon in 1863. </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Narcissus</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> was awarded a second prize medal, and
the model was purchased by the State. A version executed in marble was later added
to the façade of the Louvre Palace.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bronze
copies of both works were made and sold in Europe and the United States. The
Glessners acquired a 30-inch copy of </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Saint John</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, which they displayed
atop a cabinet on the landing of the main staircase, as seen in this image from
1923.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJEqdHrC9hZgPMluJPRylLTQRMCbduxX9uKbat505TwvF8DKqf_ZAidg-2KS9yyEq9V9sxMENGd9_7m1pjkrhi1bIlnXPrXG1UnuDaWryI3_F6I3u5-1h1dpIwYRdJ-e1y0Wyd0AEUkEs3i6dvmp9mPP-D6MABnaLyTvxQYjUMBFpEXcnkUjq4Hof/s1200/Glessner%20upper%20hall%20with%20St%20John%20circled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJEqdHrC9hZgPMluJPRylLTQRMCbduxX9uKbat505TwvF8DKqf_ZAidg-2KS9yyEq9V9sxMENGd9_7m1pjkrhi1bIlnXPrXG1UnuDaWryI3_F6I3u5-1h1dpIwYRdJ-e1y0Wyd0AEUkEs3i6dvmp9mPP-D6MABnaLyTvxQYjUMBFpEXcnkUjq4Hof/w400-h300/Glessner%20upper%20hall%20with%20St%20John%20circled.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Of
</span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">St. John</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, an 1888 article in </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Harper’s Magazine</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> noted:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“M.
Dubois’s St. John, if the allusion may be permitted, was a forerunner in
sculpture. By his inspired movement, by the prophetic ardor of his gesture, by
his delicate boyish head, with fixed eyes and speaking lips, he carried with
him all the young French sculptors, and led them to Florence, where they
proclaimed Donatello to be the honored ancestor of modern plastic naturalism.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Other
works by Dubois include </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Le Chant</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, installed on the main façade of the
Opera Garnier in Paris, and the equestrian statue, </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Joan of Arc</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, commissioned
by Reims Cathedral and first presented at the Paris Salon in 1889. In addition
to the bronze version placed in front of the cathedral, additional copies were
made for placement in front of Saint-Augustin Church in Paris and St. Maurice’s
Church in Strasbourg. The final copy, a slightly reduced version, was installed
in Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C. in 1923.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dubois
received many honors in his lifetime and was named a Knight of the Legion of
Honor in 1867; in 1889 he was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Legion. In
1873, he was appointed curator of the Luxembourg Museum, and five years later
became director of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, a position he held until his death
in 1905.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tomb
of General Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoricière</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lamoricière
was born in Nantes in 1806 and rose in the military ranks during the Algerian
campaigns in the 1830s, being appointed a major-general in 1840 and a general
of division three years later. He served as minister of war in 1848, but, as a vocal
opponent of Louis Napoleon, was arrested and exiled in 1851 after refusing to
give his allegiance to Emperor Napoleon III. He was allowed to return to France
in 1857 and died at Prouzel in 1865.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
year after his death, a subscription was raised to erect his tomb at Nantes
Cathedral. (Officially the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, work on the
building continued for 457 years, commencing in 1434 and finishing in 1891.) The
architect of the tomb was Louis Boitte, and Dubois was engaged to design four
allegorical statues positioned at each corner of the monument.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpgrwR8JhPl81JhhyRyS7M-9d07Q05K7A3vMBH8ZPkYFc95Q-1Wkvu5zRZd7evFKp1UdvuMV0TGNi-mYJwyGchSELxUkQEzNsVHL31EzhnYxfN18M0U0u9lwvgJ_mkxTVtsOf30NGiNezyxMAkGq8p1QDttRbQBu6vOeaH0j_6yIPY2qxIn5CbNTC/s1200/Tomb%20from%20Andrew%20Dickson%20White%20collection%20at%20Cornell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="1200" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpgrwR8JhPl81JhhyRyS7M-9d07Q05K7A3vMBH8ZPkYFc95Q-1Wkvu5zRZd7evFKp1UdvuMV0TGNi-mYJwyGchSELxUkQEzNsVHL31EzhnYxfN18M0U0u9lwvgJ_mkxTVtsOf30NGiNezyxMAkGq8p1QDttRbQBu6vOeaH0j_6yIPY2qxIn5CbNTC/w400-h306/Tomb%20from%20Andrew%20Dickson%20White%20collection%20at%20Cornell.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Meditation at far left, facing the back wall<br />(Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photographs Collection, Cornell University)</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
1888 </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Harper’s Magazine</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> article, quoted earlier, provides a glowing review
of Dubois’s work on the tomb:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“(At)
the Salon of 1878, M. Dubois exhibited the tomb of General Lamoricière, the
result of twelve years’ labor. The work won its author by acclamation the first
place amongst living sculptors and classed him on a level with some of the
greatest of the past. In this magnificent monument bronze and marble are
married with perfect art. The martial figure of the general, draped in his
shroud like a soldier in his cloak, rests under a pillared canopy of marble,
guarded, as it were, by four seated figures at the angles of the tomb – Faith,
Charity, Meditation, and Military Courage.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Faith,
a virginal and pure figure of a maiden, raising with fervor her clasped hands
heavenward; Charity, holding in her lap two nurslings, seems like a vision of
Andrea del Sarto or of Bernardino Luini realized in sculpture; Meditation, in
the guise of an old man with finely intelligent features furrowed by
reflection; Military Courage, clad in the armor of a warrior, resting on his
sword, pensive and resolute, calm, superb, and strong.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
Cathedral of Nantes possesses in this monument a work as fine as the finest
work of the Renaissance, as fine as the tomb of Louis XII at St. Denis, as fine
as the tomb of the Dreux-Brézé at Rouen. Nay, it is even finer, for the life in
M. Dubois’s statues is more intense, the moral expression more profound. . . I
have compared these statues, to Renaissance statues, but the comparison is only
just so far as style and purity of conception are concerned, for M. Dubois’s work
is animated by modern sentiment, and impressed with the character of
contemporary life and thought.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Glessners’ copy of “Meditation”</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3u2eqODYDlgSSMaJ76Ssr5rYcVR96gZNDOwTpj5AiIHPYcY07RY_nsuTBQND2DzLfGiNaVSAPXXP0tRaapz6LJgdq19mYQkljSWjyBhLz3Nh0szUbnKbSq7MthmyKSEGbWA2Mfv-5AuxNFjTX5kYVqUf-1Tyy1IWxCcxLTbQu_tweZl3v1Nr9HD_E/s1200/Glessner%20library%20with%20Meditation%20circled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="1200" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3u2eqODYDlgSSMaJ76Ssr5rYcVR96gZNDOwTpj5AiIHPYcY07RY_nsuTBQND2DzLfGiNaVSAPXXP0tRaapz6LJgdq19mYQkljSWjyBhLz3Nh0szUbnKbSq7MthmyKSEGbWA2Mfv-5AuxNFjTX5kYVqUf-1Tyy1IWxCcxLTbQu_tweZl3v1Nr9HD_E/w400-h345/Glessner%20library%20with%20Meditation%20circled.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
tomb was completed in 1879, so reduced versions of Dubois’s four statues were
presumably made and offered for sale soon after. The Glessners acquired their
copy by 1888, when it shows up on the west bookcase in the library, as circled
in red in the photo above. Although the exact circumstances of their
acquisition are unknown, several markings on the piece, which measures 13.75”
in height, provide clues to its production.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-BoeQVTVB4yNS3NYaQfIy0t_Ad3pDfYp9590yNjLYdUTC2GOj2VsHGjv_NCCTH7TEeXMomnLeOEUMbe0YqvjTknsuZjfU7XHoP8Ro7jr0_lgwtBckOtBiUXpFkySRXe9H82S5ByTAaDoo2vgrG1kIFdX0yfh4em3d8XvBuimOmLST1l88QMRP0zA/s1200/Meditation%206%20-%20Tiffany%20and%20Co.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="1200" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-BoeQVTVB4yNS3NYaQfIy0t_Ad3pDfYp9590yNjLYdUTC2GOj2VsHGjv_NCCTH7TEeXMomnLeOEUMbe0YqvjTknsuZjfU7XHoP8Ro7jr0_lgwtBckOtBiUXpFkySRXe9H82S5ByTAaDoo2vgrG1kIFdX0yfh4em3d8XvBuimOmLST1l88QMRP0zA/w400-h318/Meditation%206%20-%20Tiffany%20and%20Co.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">As
noted earlier, the artist’s name, P. DUBOIS, is prominently featured on the
back side of the stone on which the man is seated. The piece was retailed
through Tiffany & Co., the great New York retailer, as noted by its name
being stamped in two places on the left side of the base.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR7clwOjmI5hGgCC8KMFZVvCW1JQX2YtUYUCrprL0u7tJxaOXZfkFBSj1YqSagFKzQ1nHMbjuUCZMx-iGqvEbq3MC-Zgi4t_YtVkGx9MiarpljYa6n7g_azNVhnsWsYLfm9cWTxHjPOc6YxGfOh1ClCibhjDDyY4mf55cgqv7zE937y8Q9Ghr3E9Dy/s1200/Meditation%205%20-%20Barbedienne.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="1200" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR7clwOjmI5hGgCC8KMFZVvCW1JQX2YtUYUCrprL0u7tJxaOXZfkFBSj1YqSagFKzQ1nHMbjuUCZMx-iGqvEbq3MC-Zgi4t_YtVkGx9MiarpljYa6n7g_azNVhnsWsYLfm9cWTxHjPOc6YxGfOh1ClCibhjDDyY4mf55cgqv7zE937y8Q9Ghr3E9Dy/w400-h230/Meditation%205%20-%20Barbedienne.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
name of the Barbedienne Foundry in Paris can also be found on the left side of
the base. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX2aEwyoMNKNVYveW72SpvbExeLLRfFZC-sKkWgfpGx1yZLxPpheowYLdev1jAEoCYG5BZOm2pN4nl263FRtbtBdrjbR4HalmKkiJWBkv-ApMBMcLsOJV7duTXmFhcsRAIluSMV35h9ZJJfxiMDtzcq9-XNTwm33GV823QmW9jLKRV-Oghrx5z8VGV/s1200/Ferdinand%20Barbedienne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="925" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX2aEwyoMNKNVYveW72SpvbExeLLRfFZC-sKkWgfpGx1yZLxPpheowYLdev1jAEoCYG5BZOm2pN4nl263FRtbtBdrjbR4HalmKkiJWBkv-ApMBMcLsOJV7duTXmFhcsRAIluSMV35h9ZJJfxiMDtzcq9-XNTwm33GV823QmW9jLKRV-Oghrx5z8VGV/w309-h400/Ferdinand%20Barbedienne.jpg" width="309" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The foundry was started by Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) in
partnership with Achille Collas (see below). The business focused on selling
miniature versions of statues from museums across Europe, seeking to
democratize art by making it more widely accessibly. Later on, the firm started
reproducing works by living artists, most notably Auguste Rodin. Following
Barbedienne’s death in 1892, the firm was carried on for another six decades by
his nephew, Gustave Leblanc.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Achille
Collas</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI52JGN7KKP_tMK0M2rgNUEeiweShkgvCLtLt-2BtPQSMQToY7NbTmamBKT_SVNswZ7wOKJjfWLgoEfmfkJ6knZeBFDScqwuHbphehQnwlI18DvJYJ35ktidN6snt7o2Nz-IMLlZSbudZ86dZ_1CWdiQnf57bZLpEiUAXQ0Jr5F_oFj8CQCUihcC0q/s1200/Achille%20Collas%20final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="717" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI52JGN7KKP_tMK0M2rgNUEeiweShkgvCLtLt-2BtPQSMQToY7NbTmamBKT_SVNswZ7wOKJjfWLgoEfmfkJ6knZeBFDScqwuHbphehQnwlI18DvJYJ35ktidN6snt7o2Nz-IMLlZSbudZ86dZ_1CWdiQnf57bZLpEiUAXQ0Jr5F_oFj8CQCUihcC0q/w239-h400/Achille%20Collas%20final.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Achille
Collas (1795-1859) was an important French engineer and inventor who developed
a way of mechanically copying sculptures on a reduced scale, a process he
called “réduction méchanique” or mechanical reproduction. The resultant
popularization of small sculptures and statues literally transformed the bronze
industry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">He perfected
his mechanical reproduction machine in 1836, and two years later formed his
partnership with Barbedienne. Copies could be produced in plaster, wood, ivory,
and bronze, the latter being the most common. They soon produced a version of
the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Venus de Milo,</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> but business remained slow until the firm displayed
their work at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London (also known as the Crystal
Palace Exhibition), where it received a special medal. Collas was also awarded
a medal in 1855 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Business thrived, and
the firm had 600 employees by the early 1890s.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
official mark of Collas is set into the back side of the base as shown below. Collas
is shown</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">in side profile with REDUCTION
MECANIQUE around the perimeter, and his name A. COLLAS below with the added
word BREVETE meaning “patented.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUY8RmE0fpa9AxKC9SvRd8OD-NLSSsv4pBWXwEH-skg22SRIX-vLtFNZKYFYOC-eGr5aI5FOac-yH59vpQGrHePt9JJjG99_hewu1KB1-K_Myjpe3OTsqWpWKvxCqUvS1Kt2xcu7Cu_z8LsTACH-NN08NXl0afDsByIwD7A3ZfS9L1k16IOJYUYJK/s1200/Meditation%204%20-%20Collas.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="1200" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUY8RmE0fpa9AxKC9SvRd8OD-NLSSsv4pBWXwEH-skg22SRIX-vLtFNZKYFYOC-eGr5aI5FOac-yH59vpQGrHePt9JJjG99_hewu1KB1-K_Myjpe3OTsqWpWKvxCqUvS1Kt2xcu7Cu_z8LsTACH-NN08NXl0afDsByIwD7A3ZfS9L1k16IOJYUYJK/w400-h329/Meditation%204%20-%20Collas.JPG" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Alternate
names</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Although
</span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Meditation</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is clearly the official name of the sculpture, it was
referred to by various names through the years, both in writings and in the
plaques that were sometimes affixed to the copies. (The Glessner version has no
such plaque). Names applied to the artwork through the years include:<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Etude
et meditation (Study and meditation)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Le
Courage civil ou la Meditation (Civil Courage or Meditation)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Le
Penseur (The Thinker)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Wisdom<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">-Seated
Philosopher</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Later
History</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoavF1N8VDSKJ3g59ME4pEWKZvPzMJJ9KFI3uHev6c3HJsUGhWdWPUbOIo0XZ03uVVlus9doItvKaUdddC3GC1U46Kdyi98hBwKN0ncCyR4SUSkQdmqE12SF416smQF6BoJqp4KYAdrF5BILzRdzQ7Ak0UENBlvuG59amzQwSMWDBFHFk1Ts6yTk7K/s1769/1900%20Paris%20Exhibition%20catalogue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1769" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoavF1N8VDSKJ3g59ME4pEWKZvPzMJJ9KFI3uHev6c3HJsUGhWdWPUbOIo0XZ03uVVlus9doItvKaUdddC3GC1U46Kdyi98hBwKN0ncCyR4SUSkQdmqE12SF416smQF6BoJqp4KYAdrF5BILzRdzQ7Ak0UENBlvuG59amzQwSMWDBFHFk1Ts6yTk7K/w271-h400/1900%20Paris%20Exhibition%20catalogue.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dubois’s
four statues for Lamoricière’s tomb remained popular, and the full-size plaster
models continued to be shown. It appears that more than one version in plaster
was created, as subtle variations can be detected in surviving historic images.
The illustration above is taken from the official illustrated catalogue of 19<sup>th</sup>
century French sculpture exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. The undated
postcard below, showing both <i>Meditation</i> and <i>Faith</i>, was produced
when the models were displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiszQkhd-2I6oo_E0DhEoDPcs0ljUYlOpygoS1mx4sdpkYBGdsSJpR8s9V4wB1ztOU3Zkmbd37RXf5FrSTqHmu4OtE5PJgwnbYFRmKm8LDO9pLu-0EMYlKxAwdx1lV2r_85QG5MMPxyEHygD9nCz3FZnbol65WfdYBqDEOkk9TXfxfFQLUV9N-UIP0R/s1200/AIC%20postcard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="755" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiszQkhd-2I6oo_E0DhEoDPcs0ljUYlOpygoS1mx4sdpkYBGdsSJpR8s9V4wB1ztOU3Zkmbd37RXf5FrSTqHmu4OtE5PJgwnbYFRmKm8LDO9pLu-0EMYlKxAwdx1lV2r_85QG5MMPxyEHygD9nCz3FZnbol65WfdYBqDEOkk9TXfxfFQLUV9N-UIP0R/w251-h400/AIC%20postcard.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Following
Dubois’s death in 1905, his widow donated the 1878 plaster model of <i>Meditation</i>
to the municipal museum in Nogent-sur-Seine, France, started by Dubois and
fellow sculptor Alfred Boucher in 1902. The museum was decimated by pillagers
by the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century and the artworks were placed in storage for
protection. The Musée Dubois-Boucher reopened in 1975 and in 2008 purchased
more than 40 artworks by the French sculptor Camille Claudel. Claudel’s
childhood home was renovated and expanded, and the current Musée Camille
Claudel opened in 2017, housing approximately half of her surviving works,
alongside those of Dubois, Boucher, her mentors, and their contemporaries.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6d5HPC40x2_gspG_y74V4UmSXY6-bxG_4IS3P6pFMtnQu95MDU60NI57tt0_TWX3ToWXcikCdRZV-KE26IXKapEugKtX5oAa8GyuHW_o0wgsp26dO9FxFGCDYYUNnfuyPFODFWoGnbyzGtyzZpPVTT2nbA98SahUwQMqYkhZ2SV2x_k3aqMafBEov/s1200/Musee%20Camille%20Claudel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="713" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6d5HPC40x2_gspG_y74V4UmSXY6-bxG_4IS3P6pFMtnQu95MDU60NI57tt0_TWX3ToWXcikCdRZV-KE26IXKapEugKtX5oAa8GyuHW_o0wgsp26dO9FxFGCDYYUNnfuyPFODFWoGnbyzGtyzZpPVTT2nbA98SahUwQMqYkhZ2SV2x_k3aqMafBEov/w238-h400/Musee%20Camille%20Claudel.jpg" width="238" /></a><br /><i>Plaster model as currently displayed at the </i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><i>Musée</i></span><i> Camille Claudel</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conclusion</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8M62aYAYTt-MHIYiP0WEaVCHXXZ2_xykc_AA28aoKGfJtosgzRcUGSj8Q30xfmfNshZEn26epZfm8AL0-5n50FY8GVF4c-kympdGPrFaN8_xaM6bk6Rwhiz6nmtJVAONCbfePMJPS5YHpeym-1tQWMZV6mUK5AG4kKj1v0iXgHRXJikhYpS3SkFq1/s1200/Meditation%201%20full.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="911" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8M62aYAYTt-MHIYiP0WEaVCHXXZ2_xykc_AA28aoKGfJtosgzRcUGSj8Q30xfmfNshZEn26epZfm8AL0-5n50FY8GVF4c-kympdGPrFaN8_xaM6bk6Rwhiz6nmtJVAONCbfePMJPS5YHpeym-1tQWMZV6mUK5AG4kKj1v0iXgHRXJikhYpS3SkFq1/w304-h400/Meditation%201%20full.JPG" width="304" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Glessners’ copy of <i>Meditation</i>, which sits atop the south music cabinet
in the parlor, tells a rich and complex story including the developments in 19<sup>th</sup>
century French sculpture, the Barbedienne foundry (maker of several pieces in
the Glessner collection), and the widespread availability of reproduced works
of art due to Collas’ invention. The Glessners, who enjoyed studying history
and art, would have been well aware of the story, adding to their enjoyment of
the piece which occupied a place of honor in their home for nearly fifty years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-5174868011703341382022-04-13T00:26:00.005-05:002022-04-13T08:24:35.356-05:00Richard Nickel and Glessner House<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj70QjW33nUm7BJkRxMy0viJE4BfxwMnk-cDq75unAjikxwN3g6Fe6fOBFO74m38BDOKPac6KN2SZVgb0s5JQzAY9UqmeZzgWoZY27xbJTfdtY_EfaPkudkc8ZgpJRbMneNR2QsyUJFLgHFLfODNoq5MadqXrz8ELlIgIqPCVT1h64dkNII4fhFA6A5/s1200/GH%20-%20int%20-%20bathroom%20Nickel%20reflection.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1200" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj70QjW33nUm7BJkRxMy0viJE4BfxwMnk-cDq75unAjikxwN3g6Fe6fOBFO74m38BDOKPac6KN2SZVgb0s5JQzAY9UqmeZzgWoZY27xbJTfdtY_EfaPkudkc8ZgpJRbMneNR2QsyUJFLgHFLfODNoq5MadqXrz8ELlIgIqPCVT1h64dkNII4fhFA6A5/w400-h378/GH%20-%20int%20-%20bathroom%20Nickel%20reflection.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Nickel captured his reflection in this image of a second floor bathroom mirror</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">April
13, 2022, marks the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the tragic death of Richard
Nickel in the partially demolished Chicago Stock Exchange building at 30 North
LaSalle Street, where he was attempting to salvage ornament from the Adler
& Sullivan masterpiece. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nickel’s
impact on the emerging preservation movement in Chicago was enormous, including
his efforts to save Glessner House in the 1960s. A talented photographer, he
documented the work of Louis Sullivan and other architects, his outstanding
photographs serving as an irreplaceable record of Chicago’s architectural
heritage that was disappearing at an alarming rate during 1950s and 1960s urban
renewal.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This article will focus on Nickel’s
close connection with Glessner House from the time it was threatened with
demolition in 1965 until his death in 1972. Selected photographs of the house,
from a rich archive of images by Nickel documenting the earliest years of the preservation
and restoration of the house, are scattered throughout the article. We will
conclude with a look at Nickel’s death, and the tribute service held in the
courtyard of Glessner House two months after his passing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdTAeiulE1GP41sLVk3qr1qW0apvOiQFEj0XUHXwftE4zksDCKHigDDJQneH-vMa33G2aCSVFYYpngwd_F5N17oxe-GiIE5i6O0xGM6E1KrEKcB1O__gu2JTndyKcVUFW6rBNvmY0UYmpIn1XPPvslGt3IkXAanYuP33nlizOzS-Nqxpu2Q4RrHTyt/s1200/GH%20-%20ext%20-%20with%201808-1812.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1185" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdTAeiulE1GP41sLVk3qr1qW0apvOiQFEj0XUHXwftE4zksDCKHigDDJQneH-vMa33G2aCSVFYYpngwd_F5N17oxe-GiIE5i6O0xGM6E1KrEKcB1O__gu2JTndyKcVUFW6rBNvmY0UYmpIn1XPPvslGt3IkXAanYuP33nlizOzS-Nqxpu2Q4RrHTyt/w395-h400/GH%20-%20ext%20-%20with%201808-1812.jpg" width="395" /></a><br /><i>Wheeler house (1812), Keith house (1808), and Glessner house (1800 S. Prairie Avenue), 1967</i></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">EARLY YEARS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Nickel was born in Chicago on May 31, 1928,
to first-generation Polish Americans. After serving in the U.S. Army, 11<sup>th</sup>
Airborne Division, during its occupation of Japan following World War II, he
returned to Chicago to study photography at the Institute of Design, which soon
became part of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He was recalled to the
Army at the start of the Korean War, serving an additional year before resuming
his studies at the Institute.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It was during this time that he enrolled
in an architectural history course taught by the eminent landscape architect
Alfred Caldwell, who instilled in him an abiding interest in architecture. Nickel
began photographing the buildings of Louis Sullivan as part of a school project
assigned by photographer Aaron Siskind, and it turned into an obsession. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Quickly discovering that many of the
buildings were threatened by demolition, Nickel devoted himself to photographing
and documenting them. He received his bachelor’s degree from I.I.T. in 1954 and,
three years later, his Master of Science in photography with his thesis topic
being “A Photographic Documentation of the Architecture of Adler &
Sullivan.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCVLRHh5NDpoLK8mLKTty-oJ0t88WWSFVZA3D4Ns9xEtj-pHK89siWpyE1MJvzNZRWbyhrPII6MD1nS0oZz93D03V5TZDYsM7JtWkJRRiIg95Du6xljMQW_31c7IqfoOopGS4YGuytCaNt9vnIJawopJlXT48ea4GuJpQy2PPsQ94iVdOSsXQylBs/s1200/GH%20-%20ext%20-%20west%20roof%20and%20dormer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1198" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCVLRHh5NDpoLK8mLKTty-oJ0t88WWSFVZA3D4Ns9xEtj-pHK89siWpyE1MJvzNZRWbyhrPII6MD1nS0oZz93D03V5TZDYsM7JtWkJRRiIg95Du6xljMQW_31c7IqfoOopGS4YGuytCaNt9vnIJawopJlXT48ea4GuJpQy2PPsQ94iVdOSsXQylBs/w399-h400/GH%20-%20ext%20-%20west%20roof%20and%20dormer.jpg" width="399" /></a><br /><i>West roof and hayloft dormer</i></div><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In 1960, Nickel learned that one of
Adler & Sullivan’s most important buildings was to be razed – the Schiller Theater
Building (later the Garrick) at 64 W. Randolph Street. He joined the picket
line in front of the building alongside architects Wilbert Hasbrouck, John
Vinci, and Ben Weese, and Alderman Leon Despres, an early champion of
preservation and landmarking in Chicago. When it became clear that the building
could not be saved, Nickel engaged Vinci and David Norris to assist him with a
massive effort to salvage ornament, literally rescuing the plaster and terra
cotta fragments as the building was being demolished around them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">GLESSNER HOUSE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The bonds formed during that effort proved
valuable a few years later, when the Glessner house was put up for sale in
early 1965. This time, the undertaking proved successful, and a resolution
creating the Chicago School of Architecture Foundation was signed on April 16,
1966, by Nickel and 18 others. He was appointed a trustee and a member of the
executive committee. By December, the new organization had acquired Glessner
house for $35,000.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj80H69_VyhgkBN1js0eT--QAMMeH40qxMviQLJJrgKgaH1PIde1bq4bm9wIHcJRw46AhxxEnVxeghfdbmYk4O4HcJT9lNdXz44jSUwFwUn0pgBcrKwgasez-1OWQaqeRtaJZ0xsPiZhbQvPNJ85SK3C64J2XTbmyRR1txDTjFzBYGwaGGTKrkMLAQ5/s1202/GH%20-%201966%20-%20For%20Sale.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj80H69_VyhgkBN1js0eT--QAMMeH40qxMviQLJJrgKgaH1PIde1bq4bm9wIHcJRw46AhxxEnVxeghfdbmYk4O4HcJT9lNdXz44jSUwFwUn0pgBcrKwgasez-1OWQaqeRtaJZ0xsPiZhbQvPNJ85SK3C64J2XTbmyRR1txDTjFzBYGwaGGTKrkMLAQ5/w399-h400/GH%20-%201966%20-%20For%20Sale.jpg" width="399" /></a><br /><i>Glessner house for sale</i></div><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Nickel co-curated the Foundation’s first
exhibition, “The Chicago School of Architecture,” which opened in the fall of
1967 at the Chicago Public Library (now the Cultural Center). The next year, he
curated the exhibit “The What and Why of Louis Sullivan’s Architecture,” held
at Glessner House. In 1970, Nickel co-curated another exhibition at the Chicago
Public Library – a photographic exhibit of great Chicago School buildings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Throughout this period, Nickel used his
skills as a photographer to create a valuable record of the Glessner house and Foundation
happenings, starting with the condition of the building at the time of its
acquisition and continuing through early restoration projects. He also photographed
an original copy of John J. Glessner’s 1923 “The Story of a House,” which he
then reproduced for the Foundation. (An updated version, incorporating many of Nickel’s
copied photographs, remains for sale in the store).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARSsXWm_5B6GO1enk8DCfZd-bm6GishiA-ZQ0grROPEUupLdt480Mw-fTF4Do9g4W7u41uIFfv1rfCr5A3iTvC7ucZkALLZ8kkhjOP0-HLZ79U7KZR28IUkHMB_24GkTguJ0o_UTpQU5h_kJtfehjwrZ1aR0MizTiFF5gbKgJm21z5HXPUNg3mRn1/s1200/GH%20-%20int%20-%20coach%20house.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1164" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARSsXWm_5B6GO1enk8DCfZd-bm6GishiA-ZQ0grROPEUupLdt480Mw-fTF4Do9g4W7u41uIFfv1rfCr5A3iTvC7ucZkALLZ8kkhjOP0-HLZ79U7KZR28IUkHMB_24GkTguJ0o_UTpQU5h_kJtfehjwrZ1aR0MizTiFF5gbKgJm21z5HXPUNg3mRn1/w388-h400/GH%20-%20int%20-%20coach%20house.jpg" width="388" /></a><br /><i>Coach house</i></div><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In late 1967, Nickel advocated for the
recognition of Beatrice Spachner and her heroic efforts in leading the
restoration of Adler & Sullivan’s magnificent Auditorium Theater, led by
architect Harry Weese, another Glessner house founder. The Foundation sponsored
a reception for Spachner, following the reopening of the theater in October, and
presented her with a suitable award.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Nickel, along with Jim Schultz and
Charles Simmons, came to the house every week to supervise the cleanup effort.
A dumpster was placed in the blacktopped courtyard, and equipment left behind
by the printing foundation was hauled out until the dumpster was filled, at
which point it was removed and another set in its place. The process of emptying
the house of objects and equipment unrelated to its original residential use
took almost two years to complete.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RYaTpHTCkAZBerT8gHKswnQ3HyD9cOA4DJnZWqUeAotx4LW9yhoqVyA44QgfrQxLKWdWna-YPUfcgkbz4XETQLzrXdteO-rYtsUu5YnyRCvyDe3bsLM0mzMzE1_JDl4VbhMxLipjmof8FBKyp0GWE7_fmUXwEFkLeDO4Va0DmJwZwVUTT8kSVekE/s1200/GH%20-%201966%20-%20door%20sign%20removal.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1089" data-original-width="1200" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RYaTpHTCkAZBerT8gHKswnQ3HyD9cOA4DJnZWqUeAotx4LW9yhoqVyA44QgfrQxLKWdWna-YPUfcgkbz4XETQLzrXdteO-rYtsUu5YnyRCvyDe3bsLM0mzMzE1_JDl4VbhMxLipjmof8FBKyp0GWE7_fmUXwEFkLeDO4Va0DmJwZwVUTT8kSVekE/w400-h363/GH%20-%201966%20-%20door%20sign%20removal.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Sign removal, December 1966</i></div><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Foundation was interested in
collecting fragments of significant Chicago School buildings, and Nickel shared pieces from the salvage operations he had undertaken for more than
a decade. He also helped coordinate the donation of items from existing
Sullivan buildings including elevator grills from the Stock Exchange building
removed during modernization, and iron balusters from the Carson Pirie Scott
store. (A few terra cotta and cast iron fragments, from Sullivan’s Rosenfeld building
(demolished 1958), and the Martin Barbe house (demolished 1963), remain at
Glessner House, and are on permanent display in the Visitors Center).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">STOCK EXCHANGE BUILDING AND DEATH<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In 1970, Nickel learned that another of
Adler & Sullivan’s most important buildings – the Chicago Stock Exchange –
was threatened with demolition. Although he had grown weary of these battles,
he couldn’t remove himself from the issue, and actively campaigned for the
building’s survival in what became a major preservation fight in Chicago. The effort
led to the formation of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois (now
Landmarks Illinois), originally headquartered at Glessner House.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08pE5hFCBVcDzG8sbZxPeagqa04JYbJvXzYfXP403HXttmte112vrgsnsD1ND0rO19OruqVWnnbbedgEeLdg2R3_u5qyqJV3bWAre62QBFl4HtTus1VYkbrpsnhrcb1Jaj5taBmbcAO-NiFcozJ36PlPr0nfz8FTiIVm7qsDJXIQQ9NGLP4RbrTNm/s1200/GH%20-%20ext%20-%20stone%20arch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1172" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08pE5hFCBVcDzG8sbZxPeagqa04JYbJvXzYfXP403HXttmte112vrgsnsD1ND0rO19OruqVWnnbbedgEeLdg2R3_u5qyqJV3bWAre62QBFl4HtTus1VYkbrpsnhrcb1Jaj5taBmbcAO-NiFcozJ36PlPr0nfz8FTiIVm7qsDJXIQQ9NGLP4RbrTNm/w391-h400/GH%20-%20ext%20-%20stone%20arch.jpg" width="391" /></a><br /><i>Granite arch over female servants' entrance</i></div><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">By October 1971, scaffolding started
going up around the building and Nickel found himself immersed in the salvage
effort, this time led by architect John Vinci. The work included the complete
removal of the original trading room at the behest of the Art Institute, which
planned to restore and reconstruct it. That work concluded on January 31, 1972,
but Nickel kept going back to the building to photograph the demolition and to
remove additional ornament.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
early March, Nickel became engaged to Carol Sutter, with a promise that the
Stock Exchange would be the last building for which he would undertake a
salvage operation. On Thursday, April 13, he headed to the building to meet up
with Tim Samuelson, who was to assist him in removing a piece of the building.
Samuelson showed up but couldn’t locate Nickel. He alerted John Vinci and
others, and they searched the building with flashlights until midnight. When
they found a huge new hole in the middle of the trading room floor, they feared
the worst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE4zmIQmDTbRDAc7J2RPFiKgSkrTLsVJEf4iRuULm4t63pVoZq8N8NQDucergU1lTUruWZOPdRDF9TPxCVGAAaBv2VlLdyVMwrt9ytaF8ziuxFH3Z6SnhDpUHiFayy0MHPhn6e-A9HRN7ty4a2luqBT3PB2eFWYkD2p9n4m5cX2VDpg3Rg_D96y7fg/s1200/GH%20-%20int%20-%20balusters.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="1200" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE4zmIQmDTbRDAc7J2RPFiKgSkrTLsVJEf4iRuULm4t63pVoZq8N8NQDucergU1lTUruWZOPdRDF9TPxCVGAAaBv2VlLdyVMwrt9ytaF8ziuxFH3Z6SnhDpUHiFayy0MHPhn6e-A9HRN7ty4a2luqBT3PB2eFWYkD2p9n4m5cX2VDpg3Rg_D96y7fg/w400-h395/GH%20-%20int%20-%20balusters.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Balusters, main staircase</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nickel’s
parents reported him missing on Saturday, the same day Nickel’s car was found
several blocks away, and a hard hat, tools, and a rope of his were found at the
demolition site by Vinci. Police dogs found his briefcase that Monday. The
search for his body was called off on Tuesday, and demolition work was allowed
to resume. It was not until Tuesday, May 9, almost four weeks after he had
disappeared, that his body was found by a Three Oaks Wrecking Co. worker; it
took two hours to retrieve the body from the rubble.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On
May 12, a funeral mass was held at Mary Seat of Wisdom Roman Catholic Church in
Park Ridge, and he was laid to rest in Graceland Cemetery in a plot not far
from that of Louis Sullivan. John Vinci and his architectural partner Lawrence
Kenny designed the headstone.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjlvwX_bg6SQU6nKDXZn9C-H_Ed6oSU1MuNPBRdCgzsk5HRjoQPvP0bRvP1WLpXWfnA60Tjy1oSrEiZnT3vmKo8t59kdsZKeEJeDe7rHtV1bYukMC6ugWRsmY9VfLx9QJzV3FRlWqIpevzm3tJlignicw0ubSLPkG4J11MhFAtnIQCkOd_aKqeSB7M/s1200/Invitation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1200" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjlvwX_bg6SQU6nKDXZn9C-H_Ed6oSU1MuNPBRdCgzsk5HRjoQPvP0bRvP1WLpXWfnA60Tjy1oSrEiZnT3vmKo8t59kdsZKeEJeDe7rHtV1bYukMC6ugWRsmY9VfLx9QJzV3FRlWqIpevzm3tJlignicw0ubSLPkG4J11MhFAtnIQCkOd_aKqeSB7M/w400-h258/Invitation.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On
the first day of summer, Wednesday, June 21, 1972, at 8:00pm, “A Tribute to
Richard Nickel” was held in the courtyard of Glessner House, attended by nearly
200 people. Speakers included Frederick Sommer, a former teacher of photography
at the Institute of Design and a long-time friend of Nickel, and mentor
Alfred Caldwell, by this time a professor of architecture at UCLA. Easley
Blackwood, composer and Professor of Music at the University of Chicago, was
introduced by John Vinci and performed one of Nickel’s favorite Beethoven
sonatas, on a piano brought into the courtyard for the occasion. Nickel greatly
admired Blackwood, although they had never met. Architect Ben Weese, a
co-founder of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and Glessner House with
Nickel, served as master of ceremonies.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmQPDobRwyXmGn8OZM3M-VcQ1UoqyUbZHIq_fdcNBuA-7j3trPV-gC3rJv5qh5nLnhlZrurHSsRk_MaS0mD2K3CvXj6isTAl1AWY4_sOrpbsuIHFqayOgCShngfsFEyeqJ-3_xWtROHFQo2szo8SOJE7pFHgEZYvVNKWyPbCwymnmm878dCJLb_hV7/s1200/Program%20quote.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="1200" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmQPDobRwyXmGn8OZM3M-VcQ1UoqyUbZHIq_fdcNBuA-7j3trPV-gC3rJv5qh5nLnhlZrurHSsRk_MaS0mD2K3CvXj6isTAl1AWY4_sOrpbsuIHFqayOgCShngfsFEyeqJ-3_xWtROHFQo2szo8SOJE7pFHgEZYvVNKWyPbCwymnmm878dCJLb_hV7/w400-h127/Program%20quote.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>A favorite quote of Nickel's from the Tribute program</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Richard Nickel Committee was formed to preserve Nickel’s <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/262108/richard-nickel-archive">photographic archive</a>,
it now resides at the Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archive at the Art Institute of Chicago. Nickel’s
dream to produce the definitive book on the architecture of Louis Sullivan and
Adler & Sullivan was realized in 2010 with the publication of <i>The
Complete Architecture of Adler & Sullivan</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Glessner
House will host “A Tribute to Richard Nickel” on June 21, 2022 – the 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the original event. Look for details on the website in early May.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieBAcSBvnSXuxGMClsc6qfrX4BoKLvE888Wl84Bld8PaG7j_g7gDJHkdAhR5GBjV3IbqHR_xLzzsY0FvLu09U2nJMxqFaZAz7hp51bWGZ8l-SA735QfcVV_AmkkE9n62pyRilza6CRP6BdbEwbgFGtKJiS820tPyCUIoQTVdD1D3mCQKhyI69vbIhI/s1200/GH%20-%20ext%20-%20servants%20entrance.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="979" data-original-width="1200" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieBAcSBvnSXuxGMClsc6qfrX4BoKLvE888Wl84Bld8PaG7j_g7gDJHkdAhR5GBjV3IbqHR_xLzzsY0FvLu09U2nJMxqFaZAz7hp51bWGZ8l-SA735QfcVV_AmkkE9n62pyRilza6CRP6BdbEwbgFGtKJiS820tPyCUIoQTVdD1D3mCQKhyI69vbIhI/w400-h326/GH%20-%20ext%20-%20servants%20entrance.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Female servants' entrance</i></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-77064758366867133532022-03-15T13:05:00.001-05:002022-03-15T13:05:24.635-05:00Minna Schmidt and Costumology - An American Success Story<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgc6ZiMrY0QJ0cfXfQsKW9ubxxPYbH_mut-lbO7bQzh71kpAaTgHbrcdQt94zCR6440i-5EiNndNM4ol6hto69DgL1PNXNH7nQVXpFl_KF9bB0_PUHH7mLEKgSZilg6leWdvc4nTnkEnL3jmbRfoBOP41w3CPa3Y2SRCxIaKyaY8uauwlwYshpKBDZg=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="763" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgc6ZiMrY0QJ0cfXfQsKW9ubxxPYbH_mut-lbO7bQzh71kpAaTgHbrcdQt94zCR6440i-5EiNndNM4ol6hto69DgL1PNXNH7nQVXpFl_KF9bB0_PUHH7mLEKgSZilg6leWdvc4nTnkEnL3jmbRfoBOP41w3CPa3Y2SRCxIaKyaY8uauwlwYshpKBDZg=w254-h400" width="254" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tucked in amongst the
shelves in the Glessner library is a book entitled </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">400 Outstanding Women of
the World and Costumology of Their Time</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, written and published by Minna M.
Schmidt in 1933. The book was prepared to accompany an exhibition of 400
figurines of important women from nearly four dozen countries, which were crafted
by Schmidt and displayed at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago. In
honor of Women’s History Month, we share this rags-to-riches story of a German
immigrant who came to Chicago in 1886 and turned her passion and talent for
costuming into a million-dollar business.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRc6shL4u45OahHDyOd71-mAqwpOk0qfoTWJKM-mxCdfLzgBhJ6xEWAfGnNf8q0nPtgqbZMl1XuG8zwUsqkIZldCo6OEptIrpo_02taBOf1ioWHtBuL04uWPT4gvRdknFNCAWQcbUVrnALAiFAFR09yaQQctly954T2cd82GW7XKJJo2zumfiTliwU=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="769" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRc6shL4u45OahHDyOd71-mAqwpOk0qfoTWJKM-mxCdfLzgBhJ6xEWAfGnNf8q0nPtgqbZMl1XuG8zwUsqkIZldCo6OEptIrpo_02taBOf1ioWHtBuL04uWPT4gvRdknFNCAWQcbUVrnALAiFAFR09yaQQctly954T2cd82GW7XKJJo2zumfiTliwU=w256-h400" width="256" /></a><br /><i>Schmidt through the years - 1886, 1893, 1920, 1924, 1930, and 1933</i></div><b><br /></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>German origins<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wilhelmine Friederike
Moscherosch (always known as Minna) was born on March 17, 1866, in the town of
Sindelfingen, located in southern Germany near Stuttgart. She was the eldest of
17 children and from a young age helped her mother care for her younger
siblings and their modest home. This left little free time for Minna, but at
the age of five she became interested in costuming, carrying on a tradition
established by generations of her ancestors who had been involved in the making
of clothes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">An October 23, 1927
article in the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> recounted her oft-told story of making
her first costumes:<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It was in this little
hamlet in Germany that a kindergarten teacher told her pupils the story of Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs. Minna hurried home and made a miniature Snow White.
Then she went to her mother, begging for Seven Dwarfs. But her mother reminded
her that there was plenty of work to be done, younger brothers and sisters to
care for, and that nobody but a foolish dreamer would cry for seven little
dwarfs.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The child’s
grandmother saw the tears. Then the old woman got seven small potatoes; they
were for the bodies. Some sticks made good legs. You couldn’t beat a nicely
carved chestnut for a head, and a bit of gray wool made excellent hair and
beard. Minna went back to kindergarten with her Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs
and gave the first of her long series of costume pageants.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Formal schooling ended
at the age of 14 when she “ventured out into the high school of life” travelling
to Stuttgart and Frankfort to take jobs as nursemaid and governess. During her
little bit of free time, she took advantage of being in large cities, visiting libraries,
art museums, stage productions, and carnivals. She enrolled in sewing classes,
so that she could earn extra money by taking in seamstress work, and also took
classes in dance and physical training to hone additional skills.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">At the age of 20, she decided
to emigrate to the United States, after reading an ad in a local paper which
read “Wanted: a healthy young girl who can teach two boys the German language,
wait on an invalid lady (85 years old), do the sewing for the family; Wages,
$3.00 a week.” She had carefully saved enough money to provide her own passage
in steerage, and her grandmother gave her a $5.00 gold piece, noting it was an
investment in her future. The beloved grandmother shared words of wisdom Minna
never forgot, “Your square hands are beautiful, because they can make things,
and you can accomplish whatever you wish if your head and heart are right and
hands are willing.” She also reminded Minna that “You have a right to be happy,
but you must earn it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Early Years in Chicago<br /><br /></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxWwIot2--Xsbq9JI9cfCZKD5_LszZ-6Hpx190Feq3vB0AVyV2cWEvjXyx3WaIwZ5Ta3ZaNThrUWweloRNzagLs9G0QfudqT07pFDNaJbe_L6ZTJEpxKusf0QqHK1zPQkvoH8O2SgllsE5wWT4ZnPABc2plBz8J4BgxCMYrDa0EeRvAi-uHVgATykJ=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1200" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxWwIot2--Xsbq9JI9cfCZKD5_LszZ-6Hpx190Feq3vB0AVyV2cWEvjXyx3WaIwZ5Ta3ZaNThrUWweloRNzagLs9G0QfudqT07pFDNaJbe_L6ZTJEpxKusf0QqHK1zPQkvoH8O2SgllsE5wWT4ZnPABc2plBz8J4BgxCMYrDa0EeRvAi-uHVgATykJ=w400-h299" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>In December 1886, Minna
arrived at Castle Garden (the immigrant processing facility in New York City
prior to the opening of Ellis Island in 1892), and immediately continued on to
Chicago to begin her work with the family that had placed the ad. She studied
English, took in sewing work, and did everything she could to advance herself.
The next year, her childhood sweetheart, Julius Schmidt, came to Chicago and
they were married in October. Two sons, Edwin and Helmut, were born over the
next several years.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The World’s Columbian
Exposition, held in 1893, was a place of wonder for Minna and it “stimulated
the girl from Sindelfingen to want to fashion curious, fantastic, beautiful
things.” She was captivated by the exhibits, especially those in the Women’s
Building, and it renewed her interest in costume and design. The financial
depression that started that year impacted her husband’s business, and Minna
found herself needing to return to work. She opened the Locust Studio in
Chicago’s German community on the north side, where she taught dance,
translated German folk tales, and coordinated productions for schools and
clubs. Costume rental was expensive, so she utilized her sewing skills to start
making the costumes herself in a small attic shop measuring just eight by ten
feet in a building at Wells Street and North Avenue. Soon, the demand was so
great that she turned over management of the Studio to others, so that she
could focus solely on costume making, which expanded from school plays to
society costume balls. She rented increasingly larger spaces and in 1905 bought
her first building.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Business Expands<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiA_eTjnsDTKj53GGT2CcNFrWFbv05xgodAmcrZY79aoaBPo3Rw24CwiZCCQ_Z_WGn1A8t9lwn8skW2rnH-6jjISlA8MYUNFMt2MBnU2PPSfnyF0wSV4nLotLn_0qhT9q42SZhiRN5hAlCtDQbZG8Pu7EFP7chdYPaQovFW0o1Ew_c_1v1YKIa2cYcj=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiA_eTjnsDTKj53GGT2CcNFrWFbv05xgodAmcrZY79aoaBPo3Rw24CwiZCCQ_Z_WGn1A8t9lwn8skW2rnH-6jjISlA8MYUNFMt2MBnU2PPSfnyF0wSV4nLotLn_0qhT9q42SZhiRN5hAlCtDQbZG8Pu7EFP7chdYPaQovFW0o1Ew_c_1v1YKIa2cYcj=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1915, with business
continuing to grow, Schmidt purchased a lot at 920 N. Clark Street (at the northwest
corner of Clark and Locust streets), immediately west of Washington Square Park
and just south of the Newberry Library. She hired German-born architect Paul
Gerhardt to design a two-story brick and terra cotta building in the Classical
style to serve as both business and home. (Gerhardt had just finished his work
on Cook County Hospital and would go on to design a number of prominent Chicago
high schools, including Lane Tech). She specifically chose a corner lot as it
provided ample street frontage, her shop windows filled with seasonal costumes
to lure potential customers inside.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I erected the first
building in the country appropriate for, and wholly devoted to, the costume
business, with plenty of space, disinfecting cases, the latest time-saving
motor machines, and with one hundred fifty feet of parking space on a side
street for customers with automobiles.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjybP6taA4q5ls3pBFqoVCu-Tzb2qvB_1whBLQDd2rDQTCHjyt2gNFYOtD-ioZApEMusAcGEOIUvhsdPcauBt89XxtfAzr8XXR9PYXz_6VhvW8NNusYfoPjGZSMdghDJg5Xi6R6iH1hz1psI6bujupia5gdH_Qw2u6OuUIhZs0aYV9PonZIL2vTZ0X9=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="1200" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjybP6taA4q5ls3pBFqoVCu-Tzb2qvB_1whBLQDd2rDQTCHjyt2gNFYOtD-ioZApEMusAcGEOIUvhsdPcauBt89XxtfAzr8XXR9PYXz_6VhvW8NNusYfoPjGZSMdghDJg5Xi6R6iH1hz1psI6bujupia5gdH_Qw2u6OuUIhZs0aYV9PonZIL2vTZ0X9=w400-h297" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">An August 1937 article
in the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, entitled “A House of Magic for a World of
Make-Believe” captures the experience of stepping inside:<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“From the outside it
looks like an ordinary two-story building. From the inside it looks like a
mixture of a doll’s palace, King Tut’s tomb, a bandana factory, and the ladies’
dressing room in the Savoy Royal hotel of Baghdad during carnival week. Such is
a visitor’s first impression of Schmidt’s costume and wig shop. This
extraordinary place is at once factory, apartment house, experimental
laboratory, museum, warehouse, display room, dressmaker’s shop, and retail
store. It was the first building in the United States built especially for a
costume business.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRxbNSJ-tSoflIM3Lb7VsFHG6UJqrUBB0yLPNZpyhE1YbZceKOMNV7Y6SDdGnloyfu8W_Z7HR5BrVyjShNJRbPNRlC0zbEnMPedRJ_wN9QLgIcgbZ2fK8LLWyx7qXRf5Jxw2cpx9LMZLXg_s8TQ7yz-gOBpDvgeJLURlOT__hxx5Q_J-xXQgj4_Wgw=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="911" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRxbNSJ-tSoflIM3Lb7VsFHG6UJqrUBB0yLPNZpyhE1YbZceKOMNV7Y6SDdGnloyfu8W_Z7HR5BrVyjShNJRbPNRlC0zbEnMPedRJ_wN9QLgIcgbZ2fK8LLWyx7qXRf5Jxw2cpx9LMZLXg_s8TQ7yz-gOBpDvgeJLURlOT__hxx5Q_J-xXQgj4_Wgw=w304-h400" width="304" /></a></i></div><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Just inside the
entrance are showcases full of magnificent costumes of Indians, costumes of
Chinese princesses, suits of armor, gayly colored masks, and wigs. And there is
one big case full of the most exquisitely dressed figurines you ever saw,
representing famous women of the world during 3,000 years of changing modes of
dress. In the rear are large storerooms with shelves rising twenty feet high
containing boxes of costumes fit to clothe anybody from Hannibal’s mess
sergeant to a green-eyed goblin out of the Red Fairy Book. Nearby is an ironing
room, and beside that the factory sewing room, where six power-driven sewing
machines daily hum over new getups for women who want to look like Marie
Antoinette or for little boys who want to play alligator.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">By the time the new
store opened in 1915, her family was fully immersed in the business, providing
Schmidt with more time for researching costumes to ensure their accuracy. She
embarked on numerous trips to Europe, Egypt, and the Middle East to view museum
collections and acquire historic costumes. Husband Julius became bookkeeper,
secretary, and administrator; son Edwin specialized in Shakespearean plays; and
Helmut, a talented sculptor, headed the art and rental departments. Long-time
employee Emily Lundgren, who later married Schmidt’s nephew, was in charge of
wigs and headgear.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQrWsCK8YkyYNG5ufioOUXVU8QmtZ-Sm6jRLRMHiqVEhoB7ulAzChDrXoZCoyHJKJE6o-MygBZKaMW7jgEYgHIhnqkkqm8sDH13ZJ123y6exkd_cbbuJNsC1-3LBFwYETVi20B8ABXkF8dyOnebT27xq3s9GgcIUXjWWQLo4T82-cnIgeQEZFNoJ_n=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="811" data-original-width="1200" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQrWsCK8YkyYNG5ufioOUXVU8QmtZ-Sm6jRLRMHiqVEhoB7ulAzChDrXoZCoyHJKJE6o-MygBZKaMW7jgEYgHIhnqkkqm8sDH13ZJ123y6exkd_cbbuJNsC1-3LBFwYETVi20B8ABXkF8dyOnebT27xq3s9GgcIUXjWWQLo4T82-cnIgeQEZFNoJ_n=w400-h270" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The 1920s were an
extraordinarily successful period for Schmidt. She had 20 employees working for
what was now a million-dollar business, renting more than 60,000 costumes per
year. A 1953<i> Tribune</i> article noted that “For decades, Minna’s
merchandise was the life of every costume ball . . . She still can tell you
what each big Chicago name wore to what costume ball 40 years ago.” She
organized the Costumer’s Association of Chicago in 1921. Four years later she purchased
an 18-room mansion at 2715 N. Sheridan Road in Evanston for $90,000 (the
equivalent of $1.5 million today), although she noted that she really preferred
to spend time in the little apartment on Clark Street over her costume shop.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipev440GBdFRP_962xgu_4umLGWnwm1ed7AiUtvm6kp7IfqZvWBuMi66KnSfXGmH78mM09uRvGVW6xrZRV88N9xCkYi5ZvNJwjVRIo2-hFS6OnxB-aL76_Mk9K2UQbXPvI6oSPgAPS2CmsdX78kE9fgfMlmcyJNDEHjZGP_SSiV_mgI1hSn6hULzOn=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1200" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipev440GBdFRP_962xgu_4umLGWnwm1ed7AiUtvm6kp7IfqZvWBuMi66KnSfXGmH78mM09uRvGVW6xrZRV88N9xCkYi5ZvNJwjVRIo2-hFS6OnxB-aL76_Mk9K2UQbXPvI6oSPgAPS2CmsdX78kE9fgfMlmcyJNDEHjZGP_SSiV_mgI1hSn6hULzOn=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Law Degree<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Schmidt had a
long-standing interest in law, extending back to her days in Germany. In 1920,
at the age of 54, she enrolled in the Chicago-Kent College of Law, after taking
a required 18 months of classes in high school work, to compensate for her
German education ending at the age of 14. She devoted five nights a week plus
Sundays for four years and graduated with her Bachelor of Law degree in April
1924, noting her motivation:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I merely took the
course in law to improve my mind and make me fit for the many things I plan to
do in the future. When I use my knowledge of law it will be in doing simple
helpful things for the good of humanity.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvnmGYGYWaDzn3LdQN8oaVen40LeqJknWhDYKePh5oqSUthnaMvsSD5DEJ3MFIYJQ0KIoaJFqcrQrJizSQHCe0Kef77Xn-WMyUzyfKHATm4gPboPS1Mi1x0Uyl9RYrrCDuvN_o23gmYoxiw4l9v5IzIcoUWTpNNmt0A2wGUmM9sFZIUsB7O2s69WvY=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="730" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvnmGYGYWaDzn3LdQN8oaVen40LeqJknWhDYKePh5oqSUthnaMvsSD5DEJ3MFIYJQ0KIoaJFqcrQrJizSQHCe0Kef77Xn-WMyUzyfKHATm4gPboPS1Mi1x0Uyl9RYrrCDuvN_o23gmYoxiw4l9v5IzIcoUWTpNNmt0A2wGUmM9sFZIUsB7O2s69WvY=w244-h400" width="244" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1929, she received
her Master of Law degree from Kent. Her thesis, “Ancient Laws and Customs and
the Evolution of the Status of Women,” carried forward her long-standing
interest in women’s history and came at the end of the decade that saw significant
advances for women, including the passage of the 19<sup>th</sup> Amendment
guaranteeing all women the right to vote.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbsNN6Sndl1hcvoQ4zw_unqNGlMwIX-_TtvAwzXDFsjeqXAvXeGXtdNv-vy1GKs_oytjLBrYX6RtXvfCKYleeGc27Nt6oyNNCI4mujLrf4fonakXRBT8ypZAhhRTwQZhOb6S25xY9_O_4PVo3e5nmi50qLfYn0RZl1mPRELow0t3OvAvrAlw7fKZHV=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="1200" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbsNN6Sndl1hcvoQ4zw_unqNGlMwIX-_TtvAwzXDFsjeqXAvXeGXtdNv-vy1GKs_oytjLBrYX6RtXvfCKYleeGc27Nt6oyNNCI4mujLrf4fonakXRBT8ypZAhhRTwQZhOb6S25xY9_O_4PVo3e5nmi50qLfYn0RZl1mPRELow0t3OvAvrAlw7fKZHV=w400-h374" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Teaching<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Schmidt’s extensive
study and travels provided her with a vast knowledge of the history of costume,
complimented by her substantial library, regarded as one of the largest to ever
be compiled on the subject. Utilizing these assets, she opened the Chicago
Schmidt College of Scientific Costuming in April 1927 in her Clark Street
building. Schmidt gave lectures on period costume, and other members of the
family and staff provided instruction on hair styles, headdress, and makeup.
During the course of study, each student would be required to construct a
historically accurate costume for one of the 16-inch figurines.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpqYr_i-8sfsOvMBuuBY-Tk9rDnkN_axpTwIfptkDfvdWVQgDVtDpj6hFIpgIodXxIRbbG25sQJV6I152oDLRHneyp18Jr_Ot1oXsou7XCrFQdmnwK9OkMxfQ2ja32w6cW1AiYEF8xnpx03rA8GmWROsYCOn2LSqVO5nmKzFoscIOG_GJH6CRYyo2t=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="1200" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpqYr_i-8sfsOvMBuuBY-Tk9rDnkN_axpTwIfptkDfvdWVQgDVtDpj6hFIpgIodXxIRbbG25sQJV6I152oDLRHneyp18Jr_Ot1oXsou7XCrFQdmnwK9OkMxfQ2ja32w6cW1AiYEF8xnpx03rA8GmWROsYCOn2LSqVO5nmKzFoscIOG_GJH6CRYyo2t=w400-h272" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Display created for Schmidt's lecture on jewels</i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Her work in
professionalizing the field was recognized by the University of Chicago in 1929
as noted in <i>400 Outstanding Women</i>:<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The practical lore of
costume construction and makeup for the theater has been dignified at the
University of Chicago by inclusion in the regular curriculum. The first university
laboratory and workshop in the country, for the study and creation of historic
and stage costumes, opened October 1, 1929. Its purpose in part is the training
of university students for professional costuming work.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Every period of
costumes was covered in the curriculum starting with Egyptian, Assyrian,
Grecian, and Roman,continuing through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and then
finishing with the twentieth century. Laboratory work including the designing,
cutting, construction, and fitting of life-size costumes. Elaborate pageants
were planned and executed to train on how to stage an event and work within a
budget, with every pageant designed to “bring out the woman’s side of the story
and make it visual, colorful, splendid.” A museum containing more than 1,000
costumes, 400 wigs, and many accessories, along with Schmidt’s considerable library,
were fully available to students for study.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTxZpY5czc2Gn9dD0VclSjk_yUREYXwpvKk6UQiF90liF2sxe1YAtVm7WiE1W964Ek83nFPzLG1WSE6RlB0pWZf6NfXVx2LgwH_WSkHfZ7DVSipZaX06rYx2ivy_WZkfgJc2n7f104N_Zo7xvL-3tQKhjAGQfZxUD052WDYlfzW6OFfreuFSpqd2QP=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="1200" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTxZpY5czc2Gn9dD0VclSjk_yUREYXwpvKk6UQiF90liF2sxe1YAtVm7WiE1W964Ek83nFPzLG1WSE6RlB0pWZf6NfXVx2LgwH_WSkHfZ7DVSipZaX06rYx2ivy_WZkfgJc2n7f104N_Zo7xvL-3tQKhjAGQfZxUD052WDYlfzW6OFfreuFSpqd2QP=w400-h271" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She also taught at
Northwestern University for several years, and it was in December 1936 that she
was honored for her 50 years of service as a costumer, which <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>coincided with the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of her arrival in Chicago from Germany. During the tribute held at Thorne Hall
on the McKinlock campus, attended by several hundred people, University president
Walter Dill Scott praised her as “scholar, artist, lawyer, historian and
costumologist.”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivjlv0jGIc6f0mM-96aHpoMLogfX5F3QsIRXp9ECYavoskaQuuBF4z3M6HjJrawj4_ENZQJIbtGg_v-0GYYGtpXUvWVlehRJ507r04A6gdtkA9oCMo-TqRLfDEqKBXu-GLENx-Tt4jQDS2iHPM58biHh71Xn86Gt00jhpLqUTSj5vV9azH7ydeyeis=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="808" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivjlv0jGIc6f0mM-96aHpoMLogfX5F3QsIRXp9ECYavoskaQuuBF4z3M6HjJrawj4_ENZQJIbtGg_v-0GYYGtpXUvWVlehRJ507r04A6gdtkA9oCMo-TqRLfDEqKBXu-GLENx-Tt4jQDS2iHPM58biHh71Xn86Gt00jhpLqUTSj5vV9azH7ydeyeis=w269-h400" width="269" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Figurines<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Schmidt’s interest in
the history of costume led to her desire to create historically correct
figurines of women throughout history, honoring those women and showing the
development of costume over thousands of years. The figurines, made by her son
Helmut, a talented sculptor, were one-quarter the size of an average woman. He
would initially model the figurine out of clay from which a plaster mold was
made; wax was poured into the mold to create the final figurine. Hair was added
while the wax was still warm, and then the face was sculpted and finished with
oil paints. Each costume was extensively researched and crafted by Schmidt,
“authentic down to the tiniest ruffle of the bustle.” In a 1956 interview, she stressed
the serious, scholarly purpose of the figurines and insisted, “Do not call them
dolls – dolls are meant to be played with.” The first series of figurines, </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">3000
Years of Fashion</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, consisted of 120 historical figures beginning with Eve,
who Schmidt referred to as “a somewhat careless dressmaker, using leaves for
garments and thorns for pins,” and ending with a 1920s “flapper.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For her second series,
Schmidt wished to honor significant women in her adopted home of Chicago. She asked
the staff of the Chicago Historical Society (now the Chicago History Museum) to
select the women, but a problem arose when it was discovered that there was a
lack of portraits and information on many of them. Working with the Society
staff, descendants were located to provide biographies, photographs or
paintings, and even clothing or swatches of fabrics the women wore. The <i>Figurines
of Historic Chicago Women</i> series, consisting of 72 figures, was officially
presented to the Society on March 23, 1924.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The third series
honored important women in Illinois history and consisted of 129 figures,
donated to the Illinois State Historical Library in 1929 (and later transferred
to the Illinois State Museum). The image below shows three figurines from that
collection (left to right): philanthropist and socialite Harriet Sanger Pullman
(a Prairie Avenue neighbor of the Glessners), First Lady Julia Dent Grant, and Elizabeth
Byerly Bragdon, an Evanston-based patron of music and the arts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgirvDhZSSGbabrHDk3lXVfvwI-Wo_sM_HylierRu59KspB7lFkRyWWIDPMRBbJ75ucY3gtx1KU-_CBfDboAaU1MsLCBhZi_I34F7PgNGpp39DDVHan4481o1JfSeKaQIr_CR3oHzAN_gJeGm69ZRqg8bYO0wD6dbdbhvVzo6qDeSSGXzunsWynLoQU=s800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="800" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgirvDhZSSGbabrHDk3lXVfvwI-Wo_sM_HylierRu59KspB7lFkRyWWIDPMRBbJ75ucY3gtx1KU-_CBfDboAaU1MsLCBhZi_I34F7PgNGpp39DDVHan4481o1JfSeKaQIr_CR3oHzAN_gJeGm69ZRqg8bYO0wD6dbdbhvVzo6qDeSSGXzunsWynLoQU=w400-h301" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">400 Outstanding Women<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Schmidt’s largest figurine
project was planned for the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago in
1933. When asked a few years earlier about whether she was planning to exhibit
any of her figurines at the Fair, she replied:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I have one great
ambition for the 1933 Fair . . . It is something I have longed to do for years.
I want to visit or get into communication with all the nations of the world and
find out from each one the names of the four or five women who have done the
most for their country. I want all the information I can get about these women,
and then I shall make figurines to represent them. When I have finished the
figurines and dressed them appropriately, I shall exhibit them at the Fair. I
want them to be so realistic that they will attract the interest of everyone.
They will show what women have done for the race, from the dawn of civilization
to our modern times, and they will, I believe, create and foster a friendly
feeling among the people of the various nations.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She followed through
on her plan, consulting with Embassies in Washington, D.C. and Consulates in
Chicago to assemble a collection of 400 figurines representing more than 40
nations with a concentration from Europe, North and South America, and Australia,
with a smaller representation from Asia and Africa. The figurines were
displayed in the second-floor rotunda of the General Exhibits Building. Schmidt
wrote and published the accompanying book, which included short biographies of
all 400 women, several of her lectures, and a detailed history of her own
career in costuming.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEghMhfjdYeUritGwisjkoY8TbVdKAZjr2fv-Ax5JTAvpnzTqAWqYup4X9xKuWBnKY3xu4Bj512cIgPQjyx4wHoVUsEabwUjHaC1wOl_l3Mf0460GGAJXqA06qjc9gNVCcXxF4Pv6pttHcpGsm52w0Y5uFAoyc2DXG8wQQSf3akcBLBhfxTRl1fa7AiK=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEghMhfjdYeUritGwisjkoY8TbVdKAZjr2fv-Ax5JTAvpnzTqAWqYup4X9xKuWBnKY3xu4Bj512cIgPQjyx4wHoVUsEabwUjHaC1wOl_l3Mf0460GGAJXqA06qjc9gNVCcXxF4Pv6pttHcpGsm52w0Y5uFAoyc2DXG8wQQSf3akcBLBhfxTRl1fa7AiK=w256-h400" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyG4axJeGX3EIYO3EfRtw9LSTadmKX90EwwYU0yKe_oO8aW3OwuzviHoLu-ImltNutcubIV7lrhokYLDuM7rSIL8nKsPIlQggNSwBJCwjN7Dwo-4H1JgCnmcoDOiE0lBiCYNLo-DColDgVrOOcf-814pXkcxikjkzmLF4pmcJbSaPi-ResNmF0vz_a=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1200" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyG4axJeGX3EIYO3EfRtw9LSTadmKX90EwwYU0yKe_oO8aW3OwuzviHoLu-ImltNutcubIV7lrhokYLDuM7rSIL8nKsPIlQggNSwBJCwjN7Dwo-4H1JgCnmcoDOiE0lBiCYNLo-DColDgVrOOcf-814pXkcxikjkzmLF4pmcJbSaPi-ResNmF0vz_a=w400-h253" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the introduction to
the book, Schmidt noted:<br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It was recommended
that the characters be selected from different stations of life, that no living
person was to be included, and that they should be judged and chosen for their
merit and for the influence for good on their community or country. In the
group of miniature women is combined beauty, patriotism, good fellowship, and
other qualities as they are reflected in art, religion, commerce, education and
science of the world’s history. The records of these chosen ones prove the
following assertion. During the past century the status of women in law,
politics, economics, and in education, as well as in social life, has made
greater strides than in the preceding five thousand years.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWbSeP9iECE7KWLxZc0-xYaCmpskHUvBDCXgq8f9HniuBCrAto3SzDOSqPTFAN5dYTxpILAhd8Sd00C-f1OAtbZIfZEju0CTN4Sy3Bu6dnHUOWGSkfp0HvsYc-_cFEI9Zr6BcxSxdnFBXQ2en5CUNni1jr6slihthodTM7ZuVP_2bHj1rCdS8mwWss=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="1200" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWbSeP9iECE7KWLxZc0-xYaCmpskHUvBDCXgq8f9HniuBCrAto3SzDOSqPTFAN5dYTxpILAhd8Sd00C-f1OAtbZIfZEju0CTN4Sy3Bu6dnHUOWGSkfp0HvsYc-_cFEI9Zr6BcxSxdnFBXQ2en5CUNni1jr6slihthodTM7ZuVP_2bHj1rCdS8mwWss=w400-h323" width="400" /></a><br /><i>A selection from the "400 Outstanding Women" recently sold at auction</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A total of 32 women
were selected to represent the United States. Of these, 27 were selected by
Helen Dawes, the Official Hostess and Chairman of the Social Committee for the Century
of Progress (and wife of the Fair president, Rufus Dawes). The other five, who
were all women of color, were selected by Elizabeth Lindsay Davis, an important
African-American teacher and activist of the time who was responsible for
forming the Phyllis Wheatley Home Association in Chicago to provide housing and
services for African-American women excluded from the YWCA.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifinJA_RBURVYFb7jKlnNjVDgnYIbfDXzxEsY8NgB13TyOdl0SxsatSbqLyNsjnYoGnNc7d4f1xsspxqxk6FvJDyrv4BUjgj8myfOFmdyfUr5bwGm3YqiQx3EsYgDySYMxAFCzbkDGoQs0w6TKhRYrlEVsdNw_6nCaEurtpsvnw9N5k4pTz9NVNMTm=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="824" data-original-width="1200" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifinJA_RBURVYFb7jKlnNjVDgnYIbfDXzxEsY8NgB13TyOdl0SxsatSbqLyNsjnYoGnNc7d4f1xsspxqxk6FvJDyrv4BUjgj8myfOFmdyfUr5bwGm3YqiQx3EsYgDySYMxAFCzbkDGoQs0w6TKhRYrlEVsdNw_6nCaEurtpsvnw9N5k4pTz9NVNMTm=w400-h275" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Among the American
women included in the exhibition and book were Pocahantas, Sakakawea, Priscilla
Alden, Mary Ball Washington (mother of George), Abigail Adams, Susan B.
Anthony, Mary Cassatt, and Nancy Elliot Edison (mother of Thomas). Chicagoans
represented included Myra Bradwell (the first woman admitted to the Illinois
Bar Association), Frances Willard (president of the Women’s Christian
Temperance Union), Bertha Honoré Palmer (President of the Board of Lady
Managers of the Columbian Exposition), Sarah Hackett Stevenson (first female
member of the American Medical Association), and Alice Freeman Palmer (first
dean of women at the University of Chicago).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4BGL3DEd8YQnivxRGbh5hRZ-AgR4MTLJKZLEe858QEhgqDGlfVE684RU9kQ8-Y66q7v5xPhsas9imzo-zyDe6hrKUwO-EZCCQkxzqte5g046k00y19bMYavI66T2cWD2OfTF1kZtwYKUhlwC31Zd316XQvEMqvgikNxroDfIv0MdENuRIVCPK__nl=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="811" data-original-width="1200" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4BGL3DEd8YQnivxRGbh5hRZ-AgR4MTLJKZLEe858QEhgqDGlfVE684RU9kQ8-Y66q7v5xPhsas9imzo-zyDe6hrKUwO-EZCCQkxzqte5g046k00y19bMYavI66T2cWD2OfTF1kZtwYKUhlwC31Zd316XQvEMqvgikNxroDfIv0MdENuRIVCPK__nl=w400-h270" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Figurines representing Ireland, Norway, Cuba, Bulgaria, and African-Americans</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">African-Americans
included Phyllis Wheatley (first African-American author of a published book of
poetry – in 1773), Sojourner Truth (abolitionist and women’s rights activist), Margaret
Murray Washington (wife of Booker T. Washington and the principal of the
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute), Amanda Smith (evangelist and the
first woman to preach in India), and Ariel Serena Hedges Bowen (Professor of
Music at Clark University in Atlanta).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">After the Fair closed
in 1934, the 400 figurines were donated to Trinity College in Washington, D.C.
(now Trinity Washington University), the nation’s first Catholic liberal arts
college for women, founded in 1897.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Later Years<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Over the years,
Schmidt educated seventeen of her relatives – brothers, sisters, nieces, and
nephews – bringing many of them to the United States. Always mindful of her
German heritage, she supported several charities back home and funded
construction of Wilhelminenheim, a hospital for women and children in
Sindelfingen (shown below).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAW5yLKKjkK2CnP-0cItqzuzVasCO0rBc1PzgFANUH7zZ-eWOLp1AJpOklo3QrkNpYXfzaCYDgrmeOKg9HrfMVVDfuy8c4V3KxQy00ynfjiowOcaBLMRfgTcU7CYQ8A5jHozlvOQz2xCC-vqbNm7KIpu6219TGzdXvaBsxK4ad5wDE4EOjPmDDmJuz=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1200" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAW5yLKKjkK2CnP-0cItqzuzVasCO0rBc1PzgFANUH7zZ-eWOLp1AJpOklo3QrkNpYXfzaCYDgrmeOKg9HrfMVVDfuy8c4V3KxQy00ynfjiowOcaBLMRfgTcU7CYQ8A5jHozlvOQz2xCC-vqbNm7KIpu6219TGzdXvaBsxK4ad5wDE4EOjPmDDmJuz=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ill health
necessitated her retirement in the early 1940s. Shortly after the death of
Julius, her husband of 63 years, in 1950, she donated her Evanston home to
Northwestern University and moved into the Holy Family convent at 1444 W.
Division Street. The Minna Schmidt Figurine Room contained hundreds of her
figurines which, after a priest inquired as to why they were all women, grew to
include prominent men ranging from Eric the Red and George Washington, to
Richard Wagner and Charles Lindbergh. One of her final series included all of
the First Ladies through Mamie Eisenhower.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the last few years
of her life, she resided at St. Mary’s Hospital, where she died on December 8, 1961,
at the age of 95. She was interred beside her husband in Wunder’s Cemetery.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuwre32AwPWAP_fWpNmhUu8vK3y6Div-IniyAYyR9Ep78KYufV8oMvAWyoRia0OPMX25w_tI8aDYgHlGwq5tXQklSNHGhu5_IwTHJ1D-MTzRMHjtcqfp0Ech0jC0r6SBCrc_zK-lX2ymLIxhn5F-QiFCwzmGk_gW0FjXmkWKnblg1SJQXgqG-sJpdh=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="907" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuwre32AwPWAP_fWpNmhUu8vK3y6Div-IniyAYyR9Ep78KYufV8oMvAWyoRia0OPMX25w_tI8aDYgHlGwq5tXQklSNHGhu5_IwTHJ1D-MTzRMHjtcqfp0Ech0jC0r6SBCrc_zK-lX2ymLIxhn5F-QiFCwzmGk_gW0FjXmkWKnblg1SJQXgqG-sJpdh=w303-h400" width="303" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Minna Schmidt’s story
is one of inspiration – a young immigrant arriving in a new country, barely
speaking English, with only $5.00 in her pocket, but a powerful ambition. She
utilized her skills to establish herself as a leading businesswoman in Chicago,
an authority on costuming in the United States, and the leader in establishing costume
design as a subject taught at leading universities.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>NOTES<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">400 Outstanding
Women</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> book in the Glessner library did not belong to the Glessners. Frances
Glessner died in 1932, and there is no evidence that the 90-year-old John
Glessner attended the Fair. It is likely that the book was purchased by Frances
Glessner Lee, who would have been interested in how the figurines were created
and dressed, given her previous work creating the miniature symphony orchestra,
and her later work on the famous Nutshell Studies.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The building that
housed Schmidt’s Costume Shop at 920 N. Clark Street was demolished in the late
1980s and replaced by a townhouse development; that block of Locust Street has
been renamed Delaware Place. Her Sheridan Road home in Evanston, donated to
Northwestern University, was also demolished and replaced by a new home in
1980. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The figurines of the 400 outstanding women were deaccessioned from the
collection of Trinity College and individual figurines and groupings
occasionally come up for sale. The collection of figurines depicting prominent
Illinois women remains intact in the Illinois State Museum.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-21752931918098968872022-02-14T20:14:00.002-06:002022-02-14T20:14:13.244-06:00Black History Month Spotlight: Charles H. Smiley, Chicago's society caterer<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpQauzOWVyzf7yaYhIsQeOAC0l6fnPgRf1Ut9uIbDTEBMZAfUOF2KDwsW5rIgFyay764VfRL3HoVNAS1NJdGbPIzDRvczY6ibTzAHnYyy7mNzwMZgtzFe_41aWuS4jrYx5ohaCpq2HtGefH6du9Q0OcixL4OGDZ1hKCve9ufYnTxSNUEhCftE2sWgf=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="732" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpQauzOWVyzf7yaYhIsQeOAC0l6fnPgRf1Ut9uIbDTEBMZAfUOF2KDwsW5rIgFyay764VfRL3HoVNAS1NJdGbPIzDRvczY6ibTzAHnYyy7mNzwMZgtzFe_41aWuS4jrYx5ohaCpq2HtGefH6du9Q0OcixL4OGDZ1hKCve9ufYnTxSNUEhCftE2sWgf=w244-h400" width="244" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />During the last two
decades of the 19</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century, Charles H. Smiley secured a position as
one of Chicago’s most prosperous and successful African-American businessmen.
Born into humble beginnings, he built a business which served Chicago’s
wealthiest families, earning him their patronage and deep respect. In this
article, we will explore his origins, how he built his business, and his
commitment to providing business and educational opportunities for members of
Chicago’s growing African-American community.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Origins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Charles H. Smiley was
born on October 5, 1850, in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada to freedom seekers who
had escaped the bonds of slavery in Virginia. St. Catharines, located
immediately west of Niagara Falls on the south shore of Lake Ontario, was the
final terminus on the Niagara Freedom Trail of the Underground Railroad for
hundreds of former slaves from the 1820s through the American Civil War.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1850, the year of
Smiley’s birth, the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which permitted
escaped slaves living in the northern states to be apprehended and returned to
their owners. This led to a huge exodus of freedom seekers into various parts
of Canada. By the mid-1850s, the population of St. Catharines had grown to 6,000
of which more than 800 were of African descendent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Harriet Tubman, one of
the most important Underground Railroad conductors and abolitionists, made St.
Catharines her home throughout the 1850s, making numerous trips back into the
United States at significant personal risk, to help additional freedom seekers
make the final leg of their journey into Canada. The center of abolitionist
activity for Tubman and others was the Bethel Chapel, associated with the
African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1855, a larger chapel was built which
stands today as Salem Chapel. Two plaques on its exterior denote its
designation as a national historic site, and for its connection with Harriet
Tubman, designated a national historic person.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEJW7_ThgOcJRb_Z_4t0IrFTgy7oLbUDZwsEjmF3UwM3oxBHuYHWT09HAl5UE3S-539z4qgUAR2oTdxYjQmQ5BDASVJeQl4NEnW_WAuIESAkPEQjs7hAzCOZhSrrF4zp2LhoQnUehMTN-LZ0WyLKbqF6EubJzEp_P6n_M46_1msWqBk6lKRbroGO-q=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1171" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEJW7_ThgOcJRb_Z_4t0IrFTgy7oLbUDZwsEjmF3UwM3oxBHuYHWT09HAl5UE3S-539z4qgUAR2oTdxYjQmQ5BDASVJeQl4NEnW_WAuIESAkPEQjs7hAzCOZhSrrF4zp2LhoQnUehMTN-LZ0WyLKbqF6EubJzEp_P6n_M46_1msWqBk6lKRbroGO-q=w390-h400" width="390" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Young Charles would
have been keenly aware of the arrival of the freedom seekers, following in the
steps his parents had taken years earlier. It is quite likely that his family
attended services at the chapel, as Smiley’s funeral decades later in Chicago took
place at an African Methodist Episcopal Church.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Philadelphia</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Few educational opportunities
were available to Charles and at an early age he engaged in hard manual labor
for minimal pay. He turned 15 just months after the end of the Civil War, and
his family, hoping to find better opportunities back in the United States, settled
in Philadelphia. Smiley took whatever jobs he could find, ranging from driver
to janitor, and in his extra time served as a waiter at dinners and parties. Many
years later, his friend Booker T. Washington said of him, “he had a resolute
character, good powers of observation, ambition, and brains.” With those traits
in hand, Smiley quickly saw the potential in the catering business.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1899, the civil
rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“To the more pushing
and energetic Negroes only two courses were open: to enter into commercial life
in some small way, or to develop certain lines of home service into a more
independent and lucrative employment. In this latter way was the most striking
advance made; the whole catering business, arising from an evolution shrewdly,
persistently and tastefully directed, transformed the Negro cook and waiter
into the public caterer and restaurateur, and raised a crowd of underpaid
menials to become a set of self-reliant, original business men, who amassed
fortunes for themselves and won general respect for their people.”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">John S. Trower, Philadelphia’s
most successful African-American caterer and a life-long friend of Smiley, echoed
this sentiment during an address at the National Negro Business League, held at
Chicago in 1901:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Catering was all
ours. We were America’s acknowledged cooks, butlers, waiters, and caterers. But
a few years ago, white men were unknown in many of these kinds of work. Colored
men once controlled this work in Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston,
New York, Chicago and the great Northern cities. As a result of this control,
the wealthiest colored citizens were caterers.”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The 1880 census, taken
just as Smiley turned 30 years of age, shows him engaged in the catering
business, with a wife and two sons – John Hockley age 6 and William S. age 4. The
next year, he left Philadelphia and moved to Chicago, where he felt the rapidly
growing city and burgeoning wealthy class provided even more opportunities for
an energetic and ambitious businessman to make his fortune.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Chicago</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">By 1881, Prairie
Avenue had established itself as Chicago’s most exclusive residential street
with dozens of mansions standing in the six blocks between 16<sup>th</sup> and
22<sup>nd</sup> streets. Smiley set up his new catering business nearby, first
on Indiana Avenue and then on 22<sup>nd</sup> Street (now Cermak Road) near
Michigan Avenue, less than two blocks west of Prairie Avenue. Within a few
years he moved to larger facilities literally at the back door of a Prairie
Avenue mansion.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like most businessmen,
he had his ups and downs in his early years. At the time of his death, his longtime
friend, Judge Jesse A. Baldwin, wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I knew him for many
years and he was one of the squarest men I ever knew. A good many years ago,
while I was practicing law, he came to me and told me that he was tied up
financially and that he would have to come to some understanding with his
creditors. He gave me a list of his creditors, with the amount he owed each
one, and he gave me an account of his assets. He asked me to make the transfer.
He came in a few days later, after I had seen his creditors, feeling downcast.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Charlie, your
creditors feel sorry for you and I can settle with them for 50 cents on the
dollar. With tears rolling down his face he said: ‘I couldn’t do that, Mr.
Jesse. My mother borns me poor, but she borns me honest. Pay them every cent. I
don’t care if there ain’t any left.’ I never had a client yet who was more
insistent on being honest.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWLi91cfNrmAZKyiFcOGZMI6UFzQKu0NTfaUIX2-HjrareHrWFafmUQiwLFa1TCmFzf4ZModhW0oYMhVdlBcbsnBS4yQeSTZdrNfoItB0qkQzSThus4ZTEy6c0qXq0D3SkOAEmUyn0w2UCBEEhRmy7MKJJp44E7VJXKnq6L5yx17UnLiVYx7Bsdnvb=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="766" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWLi91cfNrmAZKyiFcOGZMI6UFzQKu0NTfaUIX2-HjrareHrWFafmUQiwLFa1TCmFzf4ZModhW0oYMhVdlBcbsnBS4yQeSTZdrNfoItB0qkQzSThus4ZTEy6c0qXq0D3SkOAEmUyn0w2UCBEEhRmy7MKJJp44E7VJXKnq6L5yx17UnLiVYx7Bsdnvb=w255-h400" width="255" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />In 1907, Booker T.
Washington published </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Negro in Business</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, discussing the advances many
African-Americans had made in the business world since the end of the Civil
War. His good friend Charles Smiley is the only Chicagoan included in the book,
represented by a portrait, a picture of his handsome business block, and a
brief summary of his business life. From this we learn why Smiley found such
success in his new city:</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mr. Smiley’s success
seems to have been due, in great part, to the enterprise he displayed in
meeting every new want that manifested itself in connection with his business.
As caterer for a wedding, he did not merely provide the wedding cake but was
ready, if required, to furnish appropriate floral decorations, canopies,
calcium lights, pillows, ribbons and kneeling altars, - even ushers. He
advertised that he was willing to deliver invitations, to guard wedding
presents with male and female detectives, in fact to take entire charge of the
social function at which his services were required.”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">By expanding his
business, Smiley was also providing more opportunities to help others in his
community as noted by Washington who went on to say:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mr. Smiley is said to
give employment to more colored men than any other man of his race in the West.
He uses sixteen horses for his delivery wagons.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He became a citizen of
the United States in 1886, the newspapers noting that he was the first
African-American to be naturalized in Chicago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">His impeccable reputation
and reliability earned him the business of many of Chicago’s leading families. Journalists,
reporting on the elaborate parties he catered, soon realized that adding
“Smiley served” to their newspaper column was as important as listing the
guests in attendance.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWwoQfT-jQYNrVcSRcKeMSQ07MkIuR539LaUI4eBIxAeXAeAHW6Fudc4CsaQ1T1zlnELgE4IEdKQ1cxQ9n9TlzuPJ0-JKBQ4M335es4HrqdEYO_V6nOlha2m0tjkoctmo0Urb5XMStrfPaxvUWgtdIglG13CAJNtTK1TMvlUerqpWEa6JZCrcw4nl_=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="1200" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWwoQfT-jQYNrVcSRcKeMSQ07MkIuR539LaUI4eBIxAeXAeAHW6Fudc4CsaQ1T1zlnELgE4IEdKQ1cxQ9n9TlzuPJ0-JKBQ4M335es4HrqdEYO_V6nOlha2m0tjkoctmo0Urb5XMStrfPaxvUWgtdIglG13CAJNtTK1TMvlUerqpWEa6JZCrcw4nl_=w400-h98" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Glessners</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">John and Frances
Glessner utilized Smiley’s services for many years, as noted in his 1911
obituary:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Smiley served the
family of J. J. Glessner, 1800 Prairie avenue, more than three decades. He used
to tell the story of one of his first affairs, when he was located at Indiana
avenue and Twenty-fourth street. The entertainment took place on a stormy
winter night. The caterer was forced to hire a hansom to take his small outfit
to the Glessner residence. The outfit was so meager that it contained only one
coffee boiler. Years after, at one of his correspondingly big entertainments,
he chartered a special train to carry his help and his supplies to the scene of
a great wedding.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The first time Smiley
is mentioned in Frances Glessner’s journal is in January 1888, less than two
months after the family had moved into their new Prairie Avenue home. They
hosted an evening musicale to which 35 guests had been invited.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“After the music we
had supper served in the hall and dining room – hot oysters, salad, coffee,
sandwiches, cake and ice cream. Charles Smiley served the supper. We have had
the very pleasantest things said about the evening.”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In November 1891, a
period in which Frances Glessner went through several cooks in quick
succession, she noted “I had Annie Smiley come in to cook our dinner,” a
reference to Smiley’s wife and partner in the business.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Most significantly,
the journal entry for the wedding of the Glessners’ daughter Frances to Blewett
Lee at the house in February 1898, notes that the cook Mattie Williamson baked
the wedding cakes, but they “were taken away to be iced by Smiley.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Prominence grows</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7oBeFB_zAeJPVjHnxVHmnVKlvUGG8HbF_5FgOP2pRXAl2UHW_jFe6TfMni3S8q6gnIdJNT2HSihqNLI7NAseLHUk7Yd-B_9nrMg8BoV1K4Q31VXte2CHQSHQvyuFLfj593iZwozKLtftyuknWhIE0pwLubBL74S84xG4KtckX7HB_tqRjHqEfN1QS=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1002" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7oBeFB_zAeJPVjHnxVHmnVKlvUGG8HbF_5FgOP2pRXAl2UHW_jFe6TfMni3S8q6gnIdJNT2HSihqNLI7NAseLHUk7Yd-B_9nrMg8BoV1K4Q31VXte2CHQSHQvyuFLfj593iZwozKLtftyuknWhIE0pwLubBL74S84xG4KtckX7HB_tqRjHqEfN1QS=w334-h400" width="334" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />In 1893, Smiley constructed
an elegant three-story stone front building to house his growing business,
along with a large dining room and ballroom that could be rented out. The
building stood at 76 22</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> St. (later 220 E. 22</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street),
immediately west of the mansion of Northern Trust founder and president Byron
Laflin Smith at 2140 S. Prairie Avenue. The new building also served as his
residence, and his unique position within Chicago’s society is noted by the
fact that the census shows he and his family to be the only African-Americans
living in the area.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZk1OHDIQ7I9MEkkzEjUdZ3il2s8_3et8BjD_xm3Lvad74A6Ii1hXsWSAXctGJEZBpXA65IpyonwllwXvqOei61QMPErPGhm_2hPPzRQm8P9oWiu6vResdcHYZMw-6n0aO_TdwF2AW3-ZLmDD9l-PV1Ng1cZMDP-Q-hSbRmgta19LSV_WUkqJs2vuD=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1031" data-original-width="1200" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZk1OHDIQ7I9MEkkzEjUdZ3il2s8_3et8BjD_xm3Lvad74A6Ii1hXsWSAXctGJEZBpXA65IpyonwllwXvqOei61QMPErPGhm_2hPPzRQm8P9oWiu6vResdcHYZMw-6n0aO_TdwF2AW3-ZLmDD9l-PV1Ng1cZMDP-Q-hSbRmgta19LSV_WUkqJs2vuD=w400-h344" width="400" /></a><br /><i>The Smith house at 2140 S. Prairie Avenue. The silhouette of Smiley's building can be seen at far left.</i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">That same year, Smiley
would have been celebrated as an outstanding example of local “Negro progress”
during “Colored American Day” at the World’s Columbian Exposition which
featured addresses by Ida B. Wells and Frederick Douglass. African-Americans
traveled from across the country for the event and they marveled at the “few
Negroes that had managed to attain some prominence and wealth, and the handful that
possessed well established businesses catering to a white clientele.”</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Provident Hospital<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1891, Provident
Hospital was organized as the first African-American owned and operated
hospital in the United States. The hospital was open to everyone, regardless of
race, and patients were only asked to pay what they could afford. Smiley was
among the group of successful Chicago businessmen, both black and white, that
supported the effort from its inception. The hospital achieved prominence in
1893, when its surgeon, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, performed the first
successful heart surgery. He operated on a stabbing victim, using a new type of
suture to sew up the heart, which resulted in a complete recovery for the
patient. It was the first private hospital in Illinois to provide internship
opportunities for black physicians, the first to establish a school of nursing
to train black women, and the first black hospital to be approved by the
American College of Surgeons for full graduate training in surgery.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1895, the Chicago
newspapers announced that Charles and Anna Smiley were to host a charity ball
at their facility to benefit the hospital, which had quickly outgrown its
original building at 29<sup>th</sup> and Dearborn streets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over 300 guests attended, many from Chicago
but a good number from other parts of the country as well. Plans had already
been drawn up for a larger three-story stone and brick building at 36<sup>th</sup>
and Dearborn streets, and the ball was to aid in the fundraising efforts for
that project.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSTFjYw-uqleD0qwtJvbzExaPrjIsOB_Ch95gBEhEVSBBM3Ff2t-BpZcwTuujcoBFdwMSUOqcGxOge5R4U53nDywNhMIIHoz9QgKT4ZdGUgIwgSx8Xm-0nBjJHbPfiV6F6tkiQFYNYNeQCkvZWcTSfvwCLTwy0evGVb3XoWcy92a1FzIRFzVgc2HO6=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1200" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSTFjYw-uqleD0qwtJvbzExaPrjIsOB_Ch95gBEhEVSBBM3Ff2t-BpZcwTuujcoBFdwMSUOqcGxOge5R4U53nDywNhMIIHoz9QgKT4ZdGUgIwgSx8Xm-0nBjJHbPfiV6F6tkiQFYNYNeQCkvZWcTSfvwCLTwy0evGVb3XoWcy92a1FzIRFzVgc2HO6=w400-h241" width="400" /></a><br /><i>The new Provident Hospital</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The newspaper accounts
of the ball, held on July 3, read like any other society event, except for the
headline which noted “Ball in Behalf of Charity – Colored People Dance for
Benefit of Provident Hospital.” Smiley’s new building was “lavishly decorated
with ferns, palms and smilax” and music was provided by Johnny Hand’s Orchestra
for dancing and by Tomaso’s mandolin orchestra during supper. Anna Smiley “wore
a handsome gown of black grenadine with white point lace trimmings” and carried
lavender sweet peas, and her married daughter wore “a delicate pink silk gown,
with Dresden ribbon and wide lace bertha.” Supper, served at elaborately
decorated tables in the first floor dining room, was followed by dancing on all
three floors “until the small, wee hours of the glorious Fourth had set in.”</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOyRMeu-kcHOpR9IGAjGx4PrkO__YuKeQIdS826VOwEtAD-I1SG-e2unwpBe_47Vk6PJj5VlOsNQ4wukeryM0Xr6Wfgh8L6pqSUhrN7JAKz-8Li-PkIg73jWyqAnhbuvjVZHsqvNcJgR1T-gr7cmKauEr2ZGUURSl7stZ0gHmA77d2FjpHPwaRgzRe=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1200" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOyRMeu-kcHOpR9IGAjGx4PrkO__YuKeQIdS826VOwEtAD-I1SG-e2unwpBe_47Vk6PJj5VlOsNQ4wukeryM0Xr6Wfgh8L6pqSUhrN7JAKz-8Li-PkIg73jWyqAnhbuvjVZHsqvNcJgR1T-gr7cmKauEr2ZGUURSl7stZ0gHmA77d2FjpHPwaRgzRe=w400-h271" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Later years<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Smiley became active
in the National Negro Business League, founded by Booker T. Washington in 1900,
and financed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The goal of the organization
was “to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro” and was
“composed of Negro men and women who have achieved success along business
lines.” Smiley was a leader in the Chicago chapter and attended the annual
conventions, held in various cities across the country.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He retired from active
business in 1906, at which time Francis Angela established the catering firm of
Angela & Co. in Smiley’s building, although Smiley still held considerable
stock in the new corporation. He moved into a rented house across the street at
229 E. 22<sup>nd</sup> Street, directly behind the stately home at 2200 S.
Prairie Avenue built for Dr. Edwin M. Hale, a leading homeopathic physician in
Chicago.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdBh58bu0Z5ghUhZEqEPlYpvm1aDXPJ9rKfwkvNuQXiT9-okrxfYUYPlu9cudgUm4bLJibOK2F7zGrVRkwR_6_5EBf2VnWKxzzxxksIaaGWRPa_TOcXre8sjRt0i1aG3o4tRx6G0tZgqcJcNKodlG_PmC8DxX8k7-wuIosv1Ud-P5fm3LI0ng6vmiO=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1038" data-original-width="1200" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdBh58bu0Z5ghUhZEqEPlYpvm1aDXPJ9rKfwkvNuQXiT9-okrxfYUYPlu9cudgUm4bLJibOK2F7zGrVRkwR_6_5EBf2VnWKxzzxxksIaaGWRPa_TOcXre8sjRt0i1aG3o4tRx6G0tZgqcJcNKodlG_PmC8DxX8k7-wuIosv1Ud-P5fm3LI0ng6vmiO=w400-h346" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Dr. Hale's house at 2200 S. Prairie Avenue. Smiley's house at 229 E. 22nd Street is shown at far right, with the steeply pitched front-facing gable.</i></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />Family</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In spite of
considerable business success, Smiley’s personal life encountered difficulties
in the first decade of the 1900s. He and his wife Anna divorced in 1903, and a
few years later he found himself estranged from his two sons, although his
son’s ex-wife is listed as living with Smiley in the 1910 census, along with
her new husband, a most unusual living arrangement!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anna later married A.
T. Ponder and opened her own catering operation at 2111 S. Indiana Avenue. Son John
Hockley Smiley was a well-known reporter and, in 1910, became the first paid
staffer hired by John S. Abbott for the <i>Chicago Defender</i>, serving as
managing editor until his death in 1915.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Death<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiebuNZNpJE8Y0cGEHawNcjvgpl-oRcOHyr7BsQ3PfZiiSefQBGVoG9bXIqJBSt79z1KCrPCoSpHIggocR7TJkrc35AojoatmS_wTyXzw2xDR3qu9AzfD-kJ18CBn1aCOE-mpCMF6_4SwfBbFmxXNtYJKgr6xmv6b4sR0eIboLTe6P8N_0Uw1sTxOJO=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="1200" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiebuNZNpJE8Y0cGEHawNcjvgpl-oRcOHyr7BsQ3PfZiiSefQBGVoG9bXIqJBSt79z1KCrPCoSpHIggocR7TJkrc35AojoatmS_wTyXzw2xDR3qu9AzfD-kJ18CBn1aCOE-mpCMF6_4SwfBbFmxXNtYJKgr6xmv6b4sR0eIboLTe6P8N_0Uw1sTxOJO=w400-h329" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Charles Smiley died on
March 25, 1911, at the age of 60 in his 22</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street home. Headlines
included “Caterer to Society is Dead,” “C. H. Smiley, Who Served Chicago’s Best
Families, Succumbs,” and “Society Grieves for Smiley.”</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A lengthy article in
the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, published on March 28, noted in part:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The home of a negro .
. . was the vortex into which all day yesterday Chicagoans of prominence poured
a flood of condolences. The occupant of that residence was Charles H. Smiley.
He is dead now, and society, in telegrams, letters, and personal calls, is
paying tribute to his memory. Smiley was society’s favorite caterer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Tomorrow Smiley will
be given a funeral such as will delight the old negro’s spirit if he can see
it. There will be flowers there from the city’s ‘oldest families” and its ‘best
people.’ Many a social climber would give his ears to attain the social
recognition that Caterer Smiley will achieve at his obsequies. The service will
take place at the African Methodist church and the interment will be at
Oakwoods cemetery.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“He had courtesy,
dignity, and efficiency. And with all this he had that indefinable ‘air’ which
gives to the good negro servant a distinction that is the joy of the man who
knows and appreciates superlative living.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“He had the reputation
of being one of the best caterers in the United States. He served at most of
the big functions in Chicago society for many years. He directed the
entertainment of presidents and princes. He was personally acquainted with
almost all the large Chicago entertainers. For nearly thirty years he stood at
the top of the list of Chicago caterers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“A few of the people
who hired Smiley for years are John J. Herrick, Byron L. Smith, J. J. Glessner,
Judge Jesse A. Baldwin, Dr. Robert H. Babcock, Harry M. Higinbotham, Mrs.
Charles W. Brega, Carter H. Harrison, Mrs. A. B. Dick, Mrs. Nelson Morris, Mrs.
Edson Keith, Edward Morris, Mrs. P. D. Armour, F. W. Peck, Paul Morton, and
many others.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEbOECK76jYfVvrt8oHpUyPNX1aPlgccIPD5lneUIkw1DCTatWulRgXXUn6OttFeuzsur_amPDt0MmNz0nlHA7zXB_fB_CCa_Okqx-MWUDnNUpTQbPxqjwtwLJ4efNBgmxIrUWKuIuY1qcWxumtfA9IafRUfKeM1-rgmVe39GHKor28g18WGunvUiP=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="739" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEbOECK76jYfVvrt8oHpUyPNX1aPlgccIPD5lneUIkw1DCTatWulRgXXUn6OttFeuzsur_amPDt0MmNz0nlHA7zXB_fB_CCa_Okqx-MWUDnNUpTQbPxqjwtwLJ4efNBgmxIrUWKuIuY1qcWxumtfA9IafRUfKeM1-rgmVe39GHKor28g18WGunvUiP=w246-h400" width="246" /></a><br /><i>Smiley's neighborhood as it appeared in 1911. The red star marks the location of his business at 220 E. 22nd St. The blue star marks the house at 229 E. 22nd St. where he died. </i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">University of Chicago</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Smiley’s will was
published in the <i>Chicago Defender</i> the next month, the newspaper noting
it was the first time the entire will of any Chicago citizen was ever published
in a “race paper.” His estate was estimated at $11,000 (the equivalent of
$325,000 today).</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Notable is the fact
that the two sons are not mentioned, and that a sizable portion of the estate was
given to Smiley’s ex-daughter-in-law. The most significant bequest was to the
University of Chicago with the following stipulation:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I direct that my said
Executor and Trustee shall pay to the University of Chicago, the sum of Three
Thousand Dollars ($3,000), as and for Endowment, creating a scholarship, to be
known as the “Charles H. Smiley Scholarship,” which shall be administered by
the Board of Trustees of said University, as they may from time to time decide
wise, hereby expressing the preference that the proceeds of such scholarship
shall be used for the benefit of poor but promising students, preferably of the
colored race, though not at all intending this as any limitation upon their
right to use the same as they see fit. I am making this bequest because of my
limited opportunity to acquire an education, and my desire to aid others in
acquiring an education.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The bequest was
received in June 1912. To close this article, we quote from an article
published by the University in 1919:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“About $150 a year has
been awarded to poor but promising students of the colored race as often as
such students have made application. And thus, this humble black man has made
his life a fountain of perennial blessing to his race and to the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-43478144181704664362022-01-18T09:58:00.001-06:002022-01-22T17:47:37.759-06:00Burley & Tyrrell, Chicago's Forgotten Retailer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpb1kkYoBB2bm7AwbwzrkMTCRw-gHrMFu-8aJ-upeBL5VzoppW8U95al00uZhdgyeJj89achIbxh2SKQYnrwr9wbcN3KOBsnF6OsHfKec6BNm6q_f5O9qw57UW-ysl-3jVALgm1oXLJAX4I3lRddhSpy3k-cJJxO1hBdcL0xQKrQhLNPvdF0v1rOjp=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="904" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpb1kkYoBB2bm7AwbwzrkMTCRw-gHrMFu-8aJ-upeBL5VzoppW8U95al00uZhdgyeJj89achIbxh2SKQYnrwr9wbcN3KOBsnF6OsHfKec6BNm6q_f5O9qw57UW-ysl-3jVALgm1oXLJAX4I3lRddhSpy3k-cJJxO1hBdcL0xQKrQhLNPvdF0v1rOjp=w301-h400" width="301" /></a><br /><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Among the decorative
objects in the Glessner House collection is a large majolica vase with a label
on the base reading BURLEY & CO., CHICAGO, identifying the store from which
the Glessners acquired their item. This discovery started a journey to learn
more about the business and resulted in uncovering a story of one of the most
prominent retailers in 19</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century Chicago, and one of its most
prominent families. In this article, we will share the story of Arthur G.
Burley, his business, his family, and their interactions with the Glessners.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Arthur G. Burley<br /><br /></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjt1bQz_8O_uGD-0bZ2bBiUDl3YVQESDpi1PAaaQuLu8JeAuD_djxX3_VsLIjiH7-0EuSwX5Mk3MF_tlPdZncwcSI1sr64TDdSpU6QqUZzRldZkT8yfG6wtlv8FdubR5otQDUDZnvhOos23jQ1rC4nEPy6IqORb0zxjZKW_CH2GS3cC8-5QTCO0KsZJ=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1166" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjt1bQz_8O_uGD-0bZ2bBiUDl3YVQESDpi1PAaaQuLu8JeAuD_djxX3_VsLIjiH7-0EuSwX5Mk3MF_tlPdZncwcSI1sr64TDdSpU6QqUZzRldZkT8yfG6wtlv8FdubR5otQDUDZnvhOos23jQ1rC4nEPy6IqORb0zxjZKW_CH2GS3cC8-5QTCO0KsZJ=w389-h400" width="389" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The founder of the
company was Arthur G. Burley, born in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1812. When he
was 22 years old, he headed west in search of his fortune, arriving in the town
of Chicago in May 1835, where he initially clerked in the boot, shoe, and
clothing store of John Holbrook. Two years later, he accepted a position with
the book and stationery store of his stepbrother, Stephen Gale. (Gale would go
on to make a fortune in Chicago real estate, and his grandson, William Hale
“Big Bill” Thompson, would serve three terms as mayor between 1915 and 1931).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Burley received his big
break in 1838 when he purchased a large quantity of crockery from the State
Bank of Illinois in a bankruptcy sale. In April of that year, he established A.
G. Burley & Co. and opened his retail and wholesale business on Lake Street,
then the primary business thoroughfare. Noted at the time of his death as “a
man of invincible energy, rugged honesty, and sharp foresight,” Burley grew his
business as quickly as his rapidly growing adopted city.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1849, he married
Welthyan Loomis Harmon, the youngest daughter of Dr. Elijah Harmon, and the
union brought together two pioneer Chicago families. Elijah Harmon is credited
with performing the first surgical operation in Chicago (at Ft. Dearborn), and
in 1833 purchased 138 acres of land from the U.S. government for $1.25 per
acre. That parcel of land included the future site of Glessner House and the
entire neighborhood around it, stretching from 16</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street on the
north to 22</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street (Cermak Road) on the south, and running west from
the lake to State Street.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">John Tyrrell<br /><br /></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_wWBS5QDf1LSvYnatjepOMPtIprqAsaEh8lYAbh20wGS2wQmtkrf2kxktCljdNQeSA7mAeziRO3leJiOKiRh3qTR_lLAVsUhv2G4ZY822SB3V2H1tJm52z8nKXTU-Mff_Y85gxmL6rAhYy3WGG-d1jXRAvr77NjVnNupSlWQT43UwvaF8Bu1meq6n=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="916" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_wWBS5QDf1LSvYnatjepOMPtIprqAsaEh8lYAbh20wGS2wQmtkrf2kxktCljdNQeSA7mAeziRO3leJiOKiRh3qTR_lLAVsUhv2G4ZY822SB3V2H1tJm52z8nKXTU-Mff_Y85gxmL6rAhYy3WGG-d1jXRAvr77NjVnNupSlWQT43UwvaF8Bu1meq6n=w305-h400" width="305" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1850, Burley’s
half-sister, Caroline, married John Tyrrell in New Hampshire. Two years later,
the couple moved to Chicago and Tyrrell became a partner in the growing
business, which was renamed Burley & Tyrrell. Both men became prominent in civic
affairs, Tyrrell being one of the founders of the Chicago Historical Society,
and Burley serving as president of the Union Defense Committee during the Civil
War.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhd4TsxKwWFq2KdCknG6XD4M5gpU4tcQ8sqbTXGZvVtZEWI8BrNuTFgPPrPb5e9pd-0wUQA22XI9lj7t5P4zxkhla4SvsdfOfdqPqE8iQHqUpxOk6CtKu3jqJWCYlcjNApGGctQ5hE1UK8oa6AvrklVHiwWMOBnBnLJwMqBLscX0K5n75jDwVBHZn-P=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1119" data-original-width="1200" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhd4TsxKwWFq2KdCknG6XD4M5gpU4tcQ8sqbTXGZvVtZEWI8BrNuTFgPPrPb5e9pd-0wUQA22XI9lj7t5P4zxkhla4SvsdfOfdqPqE8iQHqUpxOk6CtKu3jqJWCYlcjNApGGctQ5hE1UK8oa6AvrklVHiwWMOBnBnLJwMqBLscX0K5n75jDwVBHZn-P=w400-h373" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1868, Tyrrell
purchased a large lot on South Prairie Avenue and engaged architect Otis L.
Wheelock to design a substantial two-story frame house in the Italianate style.
(He sold the house at 1720 S. Prairie in 1878 and relocated to Evanston).
Burley settled into a comfortable rowhouse nearby at 1620 S. Indiana Avenue
where he would live for the remainder of his life.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9GcpcIEv1kIU8LzOBLRHcKn9c2gisIQq508f9GN0Hvoufu0kODAu8TofZ8l3WxzkVeO36bDcQzAVQY4WxSh5zcTerqRvTLUFoz6Q0_BsIOqPwNycZLurmKx5ruPZ43CjSXurm6MAvE1zi-QZN1yNQweoygKemEhOoYfzKrYXr12g5_ZIiNjmXIHEF=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1096" data-original-width="1200" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9GcpcIEv1kIU8LzOBLRHcKn9c2gisIQq508f9GN0Hvoufu0kODAu8TofZ8l3WxzkVeO36bDcQzAVQY4WxSh5zcTerqRvTLUFoz6Q0_BsIOqPwNycZLurmKx5ruPZ43CjSXurm6MAvE1zi-QZN1yNQweoygKemEhOoYfzKrYXr12g5_ZIiNjmXIHEF=w400-h365" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Site of Glessner House shown at bottom center.<br />Red arrow: Burley house at 1620 S. Indiana Avenue<br />Blue arrow: Tyrrell house at 1720 S. Prairie Avenue</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The meteoric growth of
the city fueled the business which continued to expand its business into larger
quarters on Lake Street. In 1870, C. W. Baldwin invented and installed the
first hydraulic elevator in a Chicago building for the firm. Just one year
later, in October 1871, the building was completely destroyed in the Great
Chicago Fire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Post-Fire growth</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Within a few weeks of
the fire, Burley & Tyrrell had set up offices in a three-story stone front
building at the northeast corner of State and Sixteenth streets. Demand for
their goods was greater than ever, and they coordinated huge shipments of
crockery and other items from New York to help supply the 100,000 people who
had been burned out in the fire.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwNXcSfNH-Z8dEuaoHKDYO8LlBEzsxj64eYgi0H5RVVbEQnlimcMahKezg0ATIMeJ5HmYUHlfI5P2gUKmWOfC_X1PHdB0cFjcia4sEqcYskgp07n98aWmrV1yrf5oiFCOD1to_qGPOcCWJDGlJkQ89Wo5IaPwIVkxBNaLIVZ4Z1PKqr72PNHL0PvVE=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1200" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwNXcSfNH-Z8dEuaoHKDYO8LlBEzsxj64eYgi0H5RVVbEQnlimcMahKezg0ATIMeJ5HmYUHlfI5P2gUKmWOfC_X1PHdB0cFjcia4sEqcYskgp07n98aWmrV1yrf5oiFCOD1to_qGPOcCWJDGlJkQ89Wo5IaPwIVkxBNaLIVZ4Z1PKqr72PNHL0PvVE=w400-h331" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisoZrIUUQF0IDjySz1klnvwPnBQkhuosrB1QGRga2x5LdMDz9o954890STYOlFQX0gySVY1dIQRsMMrJCRUZqpKgFcv-7DPP-roYw1xqgHG67USR9ZmqgijL1pTFnn34Vyud6U3v67kaXVy0MKeivZLrqGhfdQ0aVKgBs8HsxfuPnRe6mmyUUI9iQW=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1200" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisoZrIUUQF0IDjySz1klnvwPnBQkhuosrB1QGRga2x5LdMDz9o954890STYOlFQX0gySVY1dIQRsMMrJCRUZqpKgFcv-7DPP-roYw1xqgHG67USR9ZmqgijL1pTFnn34Vyud6U3v67kaXVy0MKeivZLrqGhfdQ0aVKgBs8HsxfuPnRe6mmyUUI9iQW=w400-h288" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In April 1872, just
six months after the fire, the business moved into the recently finished Averill
building (shown above), located at 274-278 Wabash Avenue, on the northeast corner of Van
Buren Street. State Street quickly emerged as Chicago’s preeminent business
street after the fire, and by 1875 Burley & Tyrrell had moved yet again,
this time occupying a five story building on the east side of State Street
between Washington and Randolph streets, immediately north of Field, Leiter
& Co. (later Marshall Field & Co.).<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAwL9OLZ7bTpLoHWKE3O1OZE-HVhayML6iOcXLZNJVUEZKoREDc7a5ON9WkQPBjdi7Kf0-8s2nOb21U2w1wtxVSmJOxgdTSCiIPI9j03oLpRuhJchAzIKtoCoNRghZzFYaquszjkrDiqWHcFgT0lX5gaD8dsPoRQhE-p5kHPHbw29fhKb8mMP6KQq7=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="630" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAwL9OLZ7bTpLoHWKE3O1OZE-HVhayML6iOcXLZNJVUEZKoREDc7a5ON9WkQPBjdi7Kf0-8s2nOb21U2w1wtxVSmJOxgdTSCiIPI9j03oLpRuhJchAzIKtoCoNRghZzFYaquszjkrDiqWHcFgT0lX5gaD8dsPoRQhE-p5kHPHbw29fhKb8mMP6KQq7=w210-h400" width="210" /></a><br /><i>Majolica is listed in this advertisement from 1875</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">White House china</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the spring of 1879,
President Hayes and his wife placed an order for a new state dinner service.
The china was designed by Theodore R. Davis, an artist for </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Harper’s Weekly</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">,
who had suggested to the First Lady that the new service should depict American
fish, game, fruits, and plants. Davis spent six months generating the
watercolor studies which were then turned over to Haviland & Co. in
Limoges, Frances for production.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The total service,
made to serve a nine-course dinner, comprised 592 pieces in 130 assorted
designs including game, fish, and fowl for the pieces on which they would be
served and consumed. Butter dishes were designed as miniature lily pads, oyster
plates featured seaweed, and coffee and teacups featured free flowing foliage
as handles. Many of the pieces were in unconventional shapes – platters with
upturned corners, dessert plates shaped liked apples, and others with
asymmetrical borders. Perhaps the most unusual pieces were the ice cream plates
decorated with snowshoes.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQ7JKdDdQ366wMMaTPwcegrstPFc7tdAByI7mA_hiTUB41z6EAzJ06Vyuhqv8MA23DsKn6VuihcCw-_wmovTxuA7CwNDuixiT9xrfuIWYlBhv7xJYQV5qlHrXB9wGwxuiVR_s0Y-LflTnpm727tMYx3eGMhtnwqzfYhSBmDf4QMRzJDaJgkXP1pzXv=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1138" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQ7JKdDdQ366wMMaTPwcegrstPFc7tdAByI7mA_hiTUB41z6EAzJ06Vyuhqv8MA23DsKn6VuihcCw-_wmovTxuA7CwNDuixiT9xrfuIWYlBhv7xJYQV5qlHrXB9wGwxuiVR_s0Y-LflTnpm727tMYx3eGMhtnwqzfYhSBmDf4QMRzJDaJgkXP1pzXv=w379-h400" width="379" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The service, delivered
to the White House on July 2, 1880, was extensively covered in art journals,
and attracted great attention. Manufactured at a considerable loss for
Haviland, the decision was made to produce a limited number of modified sets of
plates which would be offered in only the finest department and jewelry stores
in the United States.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGwm0E7nsD-QJoKJy6dUi8JvDXXBxDuQCssjhG2jDsH6o0o7esB1lb4i2bG1YYp2s0YhdOfFeMA6cXYhLDYGzMjY9OcX9Z925rIJYq250k1HaxMeEBwsjXhJ_0uJJ0bgsvA-9cvr1jMu5j7dxxNmYOrsXlu0-UOjbqkFnqVqrndfmc_psVvvuaPpzO=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="761" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGwm0E7nsD-QJoKJy6dUi8JvDXXBxDuQCssjhG2jDsH6o0o7esB1lb4i2bG1YYp2s0YhdOfFeMA6cXYhLDYGzMjY9OcX9Z925rIJYq250k1HaxMeEBwsjXhJ_0uJJ0bgsvA-9cvr1jMu5j7dxxNmYOrsXlu0-UOjbqkFnqVqrndfmc_psVvvuaPpzO=w254-h400" width="254" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Burley & Tyrrell
was selected as the exclusive dealer for the White House china in Chicago,
beating out Fields and others for the honor. An advertisement appeared in the
Chicago newspapers on December 15 noting that the china had arrived and was
available for inspection. The next day, Frances Glessner noted in her journal,
“To Burley & Tyrrell to see White House china.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Continued growth</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">By 1882, with business
continuing to grow, the wholesale division was moved to a large building on
Lake Street, so that the State Street location could be used in its entirety
for the retail store.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">An article in the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago
Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> from that year regarding the annual Interstate Industrial
Exposition (held in an enormous building on the current site of the Art
Institute), noted:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Burley & Tyrrell
have the only exhibit of all that is artistic and elegant in French, English,
and American china, glassware, bronzes, etc. – particularly noticeable is the
exquisite Sevres china set of fifteen pieces, in a fine case, valued at $350.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-q74l4Jxw9G3XI38KmaAnJUuoTpDqw15eu1odo617qlpI6hjF03wRg1zklHtFfmDil34ojqrLIhj2L9mp1R5zuHW_SKPJJ7if4Fxl2wBvkTlZIahmRMbJAosExV7LoIxXsS-xmmIR7w36Ws_GEvzxiUld7EcRPNQqPKE9uWerqqUuZ16G18z5grRY=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="746" data-original-width="1200" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-q74l4Jxw9G3XI38KmaAnJUuoTpDqw15eu1odo617qlpI6hjF03wRg1zklHtFfmDil34ojqrLIhj2L9mp1R5zuHW_SKPJJ7if4Fxl2wBvkTlZIahmRMbJAosExV7LoIxXsS-xmmIR7w36Ws_GEvzxiUld7EcRPNQqPKE9uWerqqUuZ16G18z5grRY=w400-h249" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Left to right: Central Music Hall, Chicago Business College, Burley & Tyrrell (dark facade), and Marshall Field & Co. (From "Picturesque Chicago," 1882).</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The article continues
with a summary of a visit to the State Street retail store:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“To give even a brief
description of the goods seen would take too much space, so attention is called
to a few only. The ground floor is stocked with a miscellaneous class of goods,
including dinner, breakfast, and tea sets, and glassware, also everything
suitable for household furnishing. The second floor has been arranged in
suitable style, to show to advantage the many pieces of art displayed, chief
among which were noticed many antique designs in bronzes, and a large line of
brass goods, including mirrors, umbrella-stands, candelabras, hall-trees, etc.
. . Hammered copper lamps in various styles; clocks set in Delft plaques with
small musical box attached; Persian lamps in various styles and colors . . .”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The year 1882 also saw
the huge company split into two. The retail and hotel portions of the business
were purchased by Burley’s nephew, Frank, and incorporated as Burley & Co.,
while the lucrative wholesale business continued under the old name. In 1888,
Burley & Co. moved into larger quarters immediately to the north (shown below), adjacent
to Central Music Hall.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEghTHnu2bA7f0z9p0YCitImKRDXwjP039FbDBydQN9Xq__7wI2JoC_0LSXEYxnT9hybkMYjJMe_aLfDJpNcWPSnM6vGjmAYLYhLQ5moPhmNN3PE55i4G3SRo7mVMA7QYDhKIK_MVZ91Q99Gp_0dzEFI2Or3QEj_KLc_6UTOS86utghGgVLJjfv_VFiY=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="857" data-original-width="1200" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEghTHnu2bA7f0z9p0YCitImKRDXwjP039FbDBydQN9Xq__7wI2JoC_0LSXEYxnT9hybkMYjJMe_aLfDJpNcWPSnM6vGjmAYLYhLQ5moPhmNN3PE55i4G3SRo7mVMA7QYDhKIK_MVZ91Q99Gp_0dzEFI2Or3QEj_KLc_6UTOS86utghGgVLJjfv_VFiY=w400-h286" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(The two buildings
immediately north of Marshall Field & Co. were razed in 1901 after Field
acquired the entire block. In the top image below, Fields is the large building
occupying the right half of the block; the two buildings occupied by Burley can
be seen to its left; Central Music Hall is barely visible at far left. In the
lower image, the north half of the present Macy’s building has replaced these
three structures, the prominent columned entrance situated exactly where the
Burley store had stood.)<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhtK9VzJ47FfvLtG9LBUsuDYL6IwSN6aceAptllqTphIrT3I5Sj14luhVJXBFhxw5PU14o6IHEs2Uj6UEnS6EvvuaPqDUCpiwwmGzmNpRe7EAdqS8I-EOZIjGXnbg_ggK5BYXTuCQ0v6kE5ZW5woG8U4_mIznWTptqwl2Fg54je9yjkDJFQmTbe-dcI=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="947" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhtK9VzJ47FfvLtG9LBUsuDYL6IwSN6aceAptllqTphIrT3I5Sj14luhVJXBFhxw5PU14o6IHEs2Uj6UEnS6EvvuaPqDUCpiwwmGzmNpRe7EAdqS8I-EOZIjGXnbg_ggK5BYXTuCQ0v6kE5ZW5woG8U4_mIznWTptqwl2Fg54je9yjkDJFQmTbe-dcI=w316-h400" width="316" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">By the early 1890s, Burley
& Co. had moved again, this time to the east side of State Street south of
Madison Street (the building was later razed for construction of the Schlesinger
& Mayer/Carson Pirie Scott store). Burley carried extensive offerings of silver,
glassware, and crystal, as well as china from the leading makers in Europe
including Minton, Haviland, Copeland-Spode, Villeroy & Boch, and Doulton.
It even stocked Mettlach steins and established its own porcelain factory in
Germany. In 1897, it became the exclusive Chicago dealer for Royal Copenhagen,
and a number of platters and serving bowls acquired by Frances Glessner in the
1890s may well have come from the store.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Burley also purchased
huge quantities of blank china and specialized in china decorating and custom
orders for both private households and hotels.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJI0RXvEHpX3zCZDoUl7XkRMommfgsv4_ylhgItiygLUnCB-oxSaSxO-xGuzAqqemHTrYd3JYto-ns5rh5QHZ4XZm4lyPYz-ATf_eRFVATIJnPm6-5RnIuJYCZiXVHpAmc1sLT9Y5zRD-O2xj4xcMFo_liw8WI-f8L37raIjbdfR9cpJyAwjtwZnNZ=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="1200" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJI0RXvEHpX3zCZDoUl7XkRMommfgsv4_ylhgItiygLUnCB-oxSaSxO-xGuzAqqemHTrYd3JYto-ns5rh5QHZ4XZm4lyPYz-ATf_eRFVATIJnPm6-5RnIuJYCZiXVHpAmc1sLT9Y5zRD-O2xj4xcMFo_liw8WI-f8L37raIjbdfR9cpJyAwjtwZnNZ=w400-h286" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Glessner connections</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Frances Glessner’s
visit to see the White House china in 1880 is the earliest mention of Burley in
her journal, but there are a number of entries which follow in later years. An
interesting entry from October 1883 helped to explain the condition of a china
fruit dish in the collection which had clearly been repaired at some point:<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaQeJmZyrQbyKcaAzY88ur4xVbxe92UVhS6IS19eXaKJFNVXi6yT_VM66A6iXQa-d4j9iYZvLYPUDWPuMGve2y-01i9MeiERlxd8Vs5iY7A3R1eUomn7RInn0AzqIVSmBsHbvmbqoN8pJmC3ayW690vSbouqwP3EYCLlo_Qa6WkUlHwl8ilLy9fA1y=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="776" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaQeJmZyrQbyKcaAzY88ur4xVbxe92UVhS6IS19eXaKJFNVXi6yT_VM66A6iXQa-d4j9iYZvLYPUDWPuMGve2y-01i9MeiERlxd8Vs5iY7A3R1eUomn7RInn0AzqIVSmBsHbvmbqoN8pJmC3ayW690vSbouqwP3EYCLlo_Qa6WkUlHwl8ilLy9fA1y=w259-h400" width="259" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“While we were at
lunch, the china fruit dish presented me by Miss Grail was jarred off the upper
shelf of the sideboard and fell to the floor breaking off both handles. It has
since been sent to Burley & Tyrrell’s for repairs.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another journal entry,
from July 1885, notes that Frances Glessner had her purse stolen outside the
store.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is not known when
the Glessners purchased their majolica vase from Burley & Co., but as it
does not appear in historic photographs taken soon after they moved to Prairie
Avenue in December 1887, it was most likely purchased in the 1890s.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhy0IJyNWpkgUsNTk409AKOTR61wmlxdzLgcvqS2FBLkqqcVk_kIOMWryUYPDbkO2kpJ_6IiqHdF3cQEHsbnpeJ8Z4D14C8pYO4n7ekDIpf_RHO1AQsh0U9CeLChU1SukdItBnEaorCi_fk_iwe-yIK731FoU7Tje0ouVflY9HQwCILEhkQ94O8xL8l=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="1200" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhy0IJyNWpkgUsNTk409AKOTR61wmlxdzLgcvqS2FBLkqqcVk_kIOMWryUYPDbkO2kpJ_6IiqHdF3cQEHsbnpeJ8Z4D14C8pYO4n7ekDIpf_RHO1AQsh0U9CeLChU1SukdItBnEaorCi_fk_iwe-yIK731FoU7Tje0ouVflY9HQwCILEhkQ94O8xL8l=w400-h248" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The wheel-thrown,
exaggerated baluster form majolica vase measures fourteen inches in height and is
nearly ten inches across at its widest point. The polychrome decoration in
green, puce, and blue on a yellow ground is dominated by three large, stylized
flowers, each of unique design. The evidence of the hand of the maker with its
irregular surface and crudely painted decoration, exemplified the tenets of the
Arts and Crafts movement, and no doubt appealed to Frances Glessner’s sensibilities.
In later photos of the house, taken in 1923, it is displayed atop the Isaac
Scott bookcase in the second floor hall, which is where it can be found today.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2L-mHGWpwDk9Dx-EWB4OOhmaMIMKl-IBdZp8P9nBorRWo8PUEs-KAO7kddbPx9Xaufalc37bW8k-3qzq0JhpHzkAtmbrbD9iSOCIE9SP1-AEeBEnx1nyu1OJ0cIrR15RtAfsaHV701And8XVGPIJLgWh5kWK05zAWhEGVnKApbrrmWc6YKAUDaz4f=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="908" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2L-mHGWpwDk9Dx-EWB4OOhmaMIMKl-IBdZp8P9nBorRWo8PUEs-KAO7kddbPx9Xaufalc37bW8k-3qzq0JhpHzkAtmbrbD9iSOCIE9SP1-AEeBEnx1nyu1OJ0cIrR15RtAfsaHV701And8XVGPIJLgWh5kWK05zAWhEGVnKApbrrmWc6YKAUDaz4f=w303-h400" width="303" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">There are numerous
journal entries throughout the 1890s that mention Clarence Burley calling on
the Glessners or being invited for Sunday supper. Clarence was a nephew of
Arthur Burley and as a prominent attorney, would have come to know John
Glessner in business circles. (Clarence’s father, Augustus, younger brother of
Arthur, served as the first superintendent of Lincoln Park, and as comptroller
for the City of Chicago).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Glessner family
continued to patronize Burley for many years to come. In 1913, Burley issued a
small volume entitled </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Story of a Hundred Operas</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> which was given out
gratis to its best customers; the Glessners’ copy still resides on a shelf in
the library.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNvcRDmlHTzJ4iJbpHlR-tpXcIpAGgeeGIy_5kA2qLOGz4G0Fn-GiZVley-YFYk2Qy_qGlwnXEpOw2Mw071p5Q_DpIyWVVvxmZM-blleuAmKZyRi9xo1EJxwYF25if4BCbdAycHz_W09Fek9K0vrx1Z1MzxFOj77CugowiGCOaOgyDamR8romKdMp_=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="747" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNvcRDmlHTzJ4iJbpHlR-tpXcIpAGgeeGIy_5kA2qLOGz4G0Fn-GiZVley-YFYk2Qy_qGlwnXEpOw2Mw071p5Q_DpIyWVVvxmZM-blleuAmKZyRi9xo1EJxwYF25if4BCbdAycHz_W09Fek9K0vrx1Z1MzxFOj77CugowiGCOaOgyDamR8romKdMp_=w249-h400" width="249" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Later History</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In April 1897, Arthur
Burley’s wife Welthyan died after 48 years of marriage; the loss was
devastating, and his health quickly declined. Burley’s prominence in Chicago,
both as one of its longest residents, and as the founder of “the oldest business
house in Chicago” at the time, is noted by the number of articles about his
final days which appeared in the Chicago papers. On August 26, the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago
Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> noted that Burley was ill; the next day two articles in different
editions noting he was “very low” and “failing.” His death on August 27 in his
Indiana Avenue home at the age of eighty-four received considerable coverage,
including an editorial praising his sterling character. Details of the funeral
were reported on August 31, noting his internment in Graceland Cemetery.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">John Tyrrell assumed
the presidency of the firm following Burley’s passing, and served for six
years, before his own death in 1903 at the age of eighty-three at his home in
Kenilworth. Frank Burley died unexpectedly in 1906 at the age of fifty-six.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6PsnfWLmc0t9ObuOYBcRXm5dyCP4ovy7UECH8QYlT-qNJ96LXN9Wwme6nEQDBl8MZH0vkJ7T2H8Za2kauMwYfBGnwxRNkqo6cc1NrzFeY4kcuajK6pP63fqewJlhcdM70eEqS6FlWqrJ7bshkiPjTeyTNQ8mK06euuOCXEKyWvb6HhuPopPrK_Etx=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1176" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6PsnfWLmc0t9ObuOYBcRXm5dyCP4ovy7UECH8QYlT-qNJ96LXN9Wwme6nEQDBl8MZH0vkJ7T2H8Za2kauMwYfBGnwxRNkqo6cc1NrzFeY4kcuajK6pP63fqewJlhcdM70eEqS6FlWqrJ7bshkiPjTeyTNQ8mK06euuOCXEKyWvb6HhuPopPrK_Etx=w393-h400" width="393" /></a><br /><i>Courtesy of the University Guild, Northwestern University</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shortly before Frank
Burley’s passing, he designed a unique piece for the store, which has become a
much sought after collectible. Known as the “Chicago pitcher,” it depicts a
series of scenes chronicling the history of Chicago from the arrival of Father
Marquette in 1673 through the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Other
events depicted include the Chicago Fire and the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the
latter represented with a depiction of the monument George Pullman had erected
adjacent to his home, immediately east of Glessner house. The pitcher was
modeled by Copeland, Stoke-upon-Trent, England and retailed for $5.00 (the
equivalent of $150.00 today).<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfpNDQkrCfCAaJ-JzsWH3gTKOYGKm3p3DqRYKqoX5Z5AJcoUUc96cm5I2TSfBlwqNnD5YnNNdnC1uMA64Q4lMAYG4e-0HClfuF8WKdxo_JnUnyyNv_lyHH-rY6fZsewMkkWA-2DtNWQ1FSZTbHKmJAC77JBmyj_eUslSMRYb66ShLI9mwPYKl3hGL9=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1008" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfpNDQkrCfCAaJ-JzsWH3gTKOYGKm3p3DqRYKqoX5Z5AJcoUUc96cm5I2TSfBlwqNnD5YnNNdnC1uMA64Q4lMAYG4e-0HClfuF8WKdxo_JnUnyyNv_lyHH-rY6fZsewMkkWA-2DtNWQ1FSZTbHKmJAC77JBmyj_eUslSMRYb66ShLI9mwPYKl3hGL9=w336-h400" width="336" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">With Arthur Burley,
John Tyrrell, and Frank Burley all deceased, the decision was made to merge the
two companies back into one under the name Burley & Tyrrell Co. The retail store
remained at 118-120 Wabash Avenue (later renumbered as 7 N. Wabash), into which
Burley & Co. had moved in 1900. For the first time in its history, the
company was led by a non-family member, William O. Coleman, who served as
president until his own death in November 1918, after which Clarence Burley
assumed the role.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the spring of 1919,
Clarence Burley negotiated an agreement with Albert Pick & Company to
purchase the company, which was estimated to add about $1,000,000 worth of
merchandise and goodwill to Pick. By this time Pick, founded in the 1850s, was
the world’s largest outfitter of hotels, restaurants, and other institutions. (Its
enormous warehouse at Racine Avenue and 35</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street in recent years
has been successfully adapted into a new use as the Bridgeport Art Center.).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Conclusion<br /><br /></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihp_GSWA-luEHRixh192wqQtdrHiluDU8vgLY2Hvn5iyPXwqhJW_SYLqwqad8sdf21vxkWUAeyyALoX_e8g3EzJv04OrDLAOaN0VDQXEV6bO5obpO4WCkwUc922bWRAjEYndLeFpQiJVCvRF4kiTrj6_XXw7Doa-kc4H6FVdh_d-45ND4ilDqhPvzg=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="1200" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihp_GSWA-luEHRixh192wqQtdrHiluDU8vgLY2Hvn5iyPXwqhJW_SYLqwqad8sdf21vxkWUAeyyALoX_e8g3EzJv04OrDLAOaN0VDQXEV6bO5obpO4WCkwUc922bWRAjEYndLeFpQiJVCvRF4kiTrj6_XXw7Doa-kc4H6FVdh_d-45ND4ilDqhPvzg=w400-h239" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The sale was finalized
in 1923, and for the first time in the history of the city of Chicago, the
Burley company was no more. For the 85 years of its existence, it was, without
a doubt, one of the most prominent retailers in Chicago, also having a
significant impact far beyond through its wholesale and hotel divisions. Today,
the name is frequently found on pieces in the secondary market and even in
urban archaeology sites, such as pieces unearthed in recent years at the </span><a href="http://digitalchicagohistory.org/items/show/34"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Charnley-Persky House</span></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> on Astor Street.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The majolica vase is a
tangible reminder of the long patronage of Burley & Tyrrell and Burley
& Co. by the Glessners. No doubt other pieces in the house today were
purchased there that have either lost their labels or which bear marks awaiting
discovery.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-90338646366808694172021-12-14T09:44:00.003-06:002021-12-14T09:44:39.504-06:00The Glessner House Christmas Tree<p><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">John and Frances
(Macbeth) Glessner, both born in the 1840s, would have seen the tradition of a
Christmas tree evolve during their childhood. Virtually unknown outside of
Germany until Queen Victoria and Prince Albert introduced the custom to Great
Britain that decade, Christmas trees quickly started to appear in American
homes. Frances Glessner’s journal provides interesting information about the
Christmas trees that would have been displayed at 1800 S. Prairie Avenue,
although the references are usually brief, as the tree was typically in place
for less than 48 hours.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Glessners moved
into their new home on December 1, 1887. The first Christmas tree was decorated
on Christmas Day, Frances Glessner noting simply “the children are today
trimming a Xmas tree in the school room.” (Most of the journal entry describes
the gifts given and received).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">George Glessner, a
talented amateur photographer, documented the tree in 1888. Frances Glessner
wrote, “We all hung up our stockings and trimmed our pretty little tree just
three feet high. It stands on the table in the school room.” As was typical for
the period, trees were small and were placed on a table. The photograph shows
the variety of decorations used including candles, a foil-paper covered
cardboard bird at the top, tinsel, three types of garlands (tinsel, glass
beads, and popcorn), blown-glass ornaments, and miniature drums.<br /><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKZqR4nvgxsZFAXXGyBKd5eORpF1J4XelkIrAfbZu5IYA5c2LeiBjLD6R-WqM6DPD3pkNALlfwcXxWZ349CO_rcloGEWTcOm5rCa0XKay0lyaQ2M5BPFKisxK6KFQfJ5xjmVzZHTgqDISGRq8PBVZGu-doXo3SpZZLXTnXwPAiPU1ZDWhFn4_raGrE=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="961" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKZqR4nvgxsZFAXXGyBKd5eORpF1J4XelkIrAfbZu5IYA5c2LeiBjLD6R-WqM6DPD3pkNALlfwcXxWZ349CO_rcloGEWTcOm5rCa0XKay0lyaQ2M5BPFKisxK6KFQfJ5xjmVzZHTgqDISGRq8PBVZGu-doXo3SpZZLXTnXwPAiPU1ZDWhFn4_raGrE=w320-h400" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The year 1898 was
special as both of the Glessners’ children had married that year, so were
celebrating their first Christmas in their own homes – apartments located in a
large building on the 2000 block of South Indiana Avenue. George and Frances
each received some of the ornaments that they had used to decorate the school room
tree:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“John and I went over
towards noon to call on the young people. We found them all very happy – the baby
sleeping soundly. A tiny tree was decorated with balls and ornaments from the
first tree George ever had and which have been used every Christmas since.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Among the ornaments
given to George and his wife Alice, was a special glass piece known as a kugel.
Unlike the thin-walled glass ornaments that became popular later on, kugels
were heavy glass ornaments usually lined with silver, which gave the glass a
deep rich color. The ornament was purchased by the Glessners during their visit
to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia during the summer of 1876. It is
painted with simple gold decoration, and features the dates of 1776 and 1876,
denoting the centennial of the United States. The kugel was passed down through
several generations of George’s family, before being returned to Glessner house
in 2018. It is the only original family ornament in the collection today.<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3-_RY18Uxx9L05Mdx7eTP_FHy063IiE7asCcfB2vFRX4BmTEEfPFxhFnKNdwYi8x4M9taYeGoSHnZw97r7UQHTAB5sZHBjdCjbZUvpDOFwvUnlg4-wJN-ZX0iL4aT-ok6HmtVCOqm7TspVOnacqehp-MMf37jNeNNcfjKPO1eF8OMKWJ0_z-Tir_3=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1178" data-original-width="1200" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3-_RY18Uxx9L05Mdx7eTP_FHy063IiE7asCcfB2vFRX4BmTEEfPFxhFnKNdwYi8x4M9taYeGoSHnZw97r7UQHTAB5sZHBjdCjbZUvpDOFwvUnlg4-wJN-ZX0iL4aT-ok6HmtVCOqm7TspVOnacqehp-MMf37jNeNNcfjKPO1eF8OMKWJ0_z-Tir_3=w400-h393" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">With the Glessner
children married and away from home, Frances Glessner usually selected friends
– often the age of her children – to decorate the Christmas tree. Favorites
included the architect Hermann von Holst, whom the Glessners unofficially “adopted”
as a young adult after his parents returned to Germany; he always spent the
holiday with the Glessners. In 1900, Hermann “trimmed our Christmas tree and
staid all night to see the fun in the morning.” After he married, his wife Lucy
joined in the annual tradition. Other favorites to assist with the tree
trimming included the principal harpist of the Chicago Symphony, Enrico
Tramonti, and his wife Juliette. The Glessners’ grandchildren start
participating in the decorating activities by 1905.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Glessners had
switched to a larger tree by 1902, when Frances Glessner wrote in her journal,
“the children all came home Christmas morning at ten o’clock when we lighted
the tree which stood in the hall. All of the family and household were in the
hall.” The tree was still lit with candles at this point, so the lighting was a
major part of the celebration with everyone gathered to observe the tree briefly
illuminated with its lit candles (perhaps 15-20 minutes) before the candles
were extinguished.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Electric lights were
first incorporated on the Glessner Christmas tree in 1911, and the display was
quite elaborate. Few people had electric lights at this time, the first strings
being introduced by General Electric in 1903, although Frances Glessner noted
seeing individual electric lights on the tree of a friend in 1900. Strings of
lights were initially quite expensive, and, as few people had electric outlets,
were designed to screw into a light bulb socket of a nearby wall sconce or
chandelier.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The festivities around
the Christmas tree for 1911 began with the arrival of the fresh tree from The
Rocks, the Glessners’ summer estate in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. John
Glessner noted that five trees were delivered for use in their home, and the
homes of their son George, daughter Frances, sisters-in-law Helen and Anna (who
shared an apartment), and neighbors James and Narcissa Thorne (later known for
her meticulous Thorne Rooms, on permanent display at the Art Institute).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmQiSovL7whNan-E-rioWOSCfD9L6ow4jIj3O9h2__AZgXecQ_Uzq8GPXHrRdBC0kF1Q46qQgQ-HowP2tkTeE1uqNKiEPwHRs8MpauBGbNo-4WP57s1KM6m1cdBJFQwuZmm_Mc_WUOPpS45iyFsTk7U7xtuvof3VV3rIS1g_87VgdUEYLqpTUs63l1=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="1200" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmQiSovL7whNan-E-rioWOSCfD9L6ow4jIj3O9h2__AZgXecQ_Uzq8GPXHrRdBC0kF1Q46qQgQ-HowP2tkTeE1uqNKiEPwHRs8MpauBGbNo-4WP57s1KM6m1cdBJFQwuZmm_Mc_WUOPpS45iyFsTk7U7xtuvof3VV3rIS1g_87VgdUEYLqpTUs63l1=w400-h328" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Three of the trees from The Rocks were delivered to these Prairie Avenue homes: (L-R) James and Narcissa Thorne (1708), George and Alice Glessner (1706), and Blewett and Frances Lee (1700).</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />John Glessner wrote that
an electrician with International Harvester was recruited for the special
electric light display:</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Cheney the
electrician spent all of Saturday and Sunday over our Christmas tree and it was
wonderfully pretty. The tree came from The Rocks and was placed in an alcove
made of curtains in the main hall, had many and various colored lights that
“flashed” and twinkled; there were spotlights of various colors thrown on it
and snow fell from the canopy over it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“It was lighted first
at 9 pm for our company at Sunday (Christmas Eve) supper – 19 in all at the
table, and again at 10 o’clock on Christmas morning for the benefit of the
children and our guests and servants – 36 or 37 in all, so that the tree blazed
for about two hours on Sunday night and about two hours on Monday morning and
then was taken down. It had its day and was no more. And before evening we were
back to the original condition with only the memory.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Despite the elaborate
preparations for the tree, it was not photographed, but we know what the bulbs
on the tree would have looked like. The earliest bulbs were pear-shaped, like
early Edison bulbs, but in 1910 General Electric switched to a round bulb with
a small “exhaust tip” at the end. This shape was used until 1919, when the cone
shape resembling a flame was adopted; this remained the standard version until
the 1970s and is now popular again as a “vintage style” bulb. The photos below
show a light kit produced by General Electric in 1910. (To learn more about the
history of electric Christmas tree lights, visit </span><a href="https://oldchristmastreelights.com/"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Old Christmas Tree Lights</span></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, from which the images
below were retrieved.)<br /><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTX8AcHSgGS2fQX0HjWlVKkqmwmilBn426D-5y7JfyG2FOvfSc8TXWAdqOylbFiQGvBzgROlPfTkpMvRvSWXcI5t2WpbgcKwXQEWSmlPD9UoUlR1t1AMmQkU4fgbnuz6ZFI_wPwtlG9wXYQHn93v74kXrvtPZibxvm8kElx8t0LSnTSxzn_4CgT6dL=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1163" data-original-width="1200" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTX8AcHSgGS2fQX0HjWlVKkqmwmilBn426D-5y7JfyG2FOvfSc8TXWAdqOylbFiQGvBzgROlPfTkpMvRvSWXcI5t2WpbgcKwXQEWSmlPD9UoUlR1t1AMmQkU4fgbnuz6ZFI_wPwtlG9wXYQHn93v74kXrvtPZibxvm8kElx8t0LSnTSxzn_4CgT6dL=w400-h388" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>In 1978, Frances
Glessner Lee’s two surviving children, John Glessner Lee and Martha Lee
Batchelder, donated The Rocks Estate to the Society for the Protection of New
Hampshire Forests, with the stipulation that a crop always be grown in the
fields. Christmas trees were the chosen crop, and for more than three decades,
a tree was shipped from The Rocks each year to decorate the main hall at Glessner
House. That tradition ended in 2019, when the building housing the shipping
operation burned to the ground; since that time a tree has been sourced
locally.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTm2U7XGGSTd-gI2U9Ja2pqctHR-5qKuUsB7wrjkruZsNAdEUhacHOAJWvL9xM8i_VxjLNYjuXQKE7-izFxJTl7nIKwh0v5MXE1GqzJHAjDHRtpeMuWXxE_-Z6pCGKpoBrgDmkFnAOgDwN9UgT9raNWUa8d5y_DKfDTNSm2zpT8JqrjAaNDSE7saJE=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="773" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTm2U7XGGSTd-gI2U9Ja2pqctHR-5qKuUsB7wrjkruZsNAdEUhacHOAJWvL9xM8i_VxjLNYjuXQKE7-izFxJTl7nIKwh0v5MXE1GqzJHAjDHRtpeMuWXxE_-Z6pCGKpoBrgDmkFnAOgDwN9UgT9raNWUa8d5y_DKfDTNSm2zpT8JqrjAaNDSE7saJE=w258-h400" width="258" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In order to tell the
full story of Christmas at the house, two trees are decorated each year. A
small three-foot tree sits on the table in the schoolroom – this is where the
original kugel is hung. A larger tree is displayed in the main hall. There are
no electric lights on either tree, interpreting the period prior to the grand
electric light display of 1911.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnad5OvE8RkBVMEnEncS6fpIu6vHZRdh1t8OI-vD1yl4BND8S7LPqr1UUNN4Qpj9rk66_s2FnkBxcgTl6cgd0-Bfscza215atfZy58uZcJaxuDfbtfxBkFiyntvNMxb465nqMrePRGHAxgpXTAY89s-iu0A9GlI7NrgLsnehQqNjwua9wGZiXDTqU7=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnad5OvE8RkBVMEnEncS6fpIu6vHZRdh1t8OI-vD1yl4BND8S7LPqr1UUNN4Qpj9rk66_s2FnkBxcgTl6cgd0-Bfscza215atfZy58uZcJaxuDfbtfxBkFiyntvNMxb465nqMrePRGHAxgpXTAY89s-iu0A9GlI7NrgLsnehQqNjwua9wGZiXDTqU7=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-24112262454950642812021-11-16T20:40:00.001-06:002021-11-16T20:42:24.368-06:00Controversy Upon the Stage: The Ballet Russes Comes to Chicago, 1916<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiN56g26wusJd_UEfIcxO2D5aEmlsIcsFWTn7FIJqO-HrRXKl8BfLBFj-U8Y1HUxCkYLTZVdEl0aVv9ZCvNMJY3pTKsYny3Pv1S9IBgSM_FQ_wElLM9yzkBJ9pB0IoZOQ_xU02NENIUM8/s1855/Ansermet+postcard+front.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1855" data-original-width="1258" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiN56g26wusJd_UEfIcxO2D5aEmlsIcsFWTn7FIJqO-HrRXKl8BfLBFj-U8Y1HUxCkYLTZVdEl0aVv9ZCvNMJY3pTKsYny3Pv1S9IBgSM_FQ_wElLM9yzkBJ9pB0IoZOQ_xU02NENIUM8/w271-h400/Ansermet+postcard+front.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The idea for this
month’s article began with a postcard. Among recently acquired Glessner family
items was a framed real photo postcard from 1916 featuring a portrait of the
Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet, with a short message in French on the reverse
addressed to Frances Glessner Lee. A quick review of Frances Glessner’s journal
confirmed how Frances Glessner Lee and Ansermet met. A deeper dive into
Ansermet’s reason for coming to Chicago that year uncovered a long-forgotten
story of one of the most controversial performances to ever take place upon the
Chicago stage.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Ballet Russes</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xRK98jKRs4X_ISQuEXuuPgmTBK3M0BfUim9gUi1RsMiLJ_0pxFmSG5_mzzRZckksTLjxrR6cV-ULZcGRYW-PnBGKsJBJnGnref3gujmTsUIpI2ZAu_l3tZ-fJfL3UVmeWLbvHuNb7AA/s1800/Diaghilev+by+Bakst+1906.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1235" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xRK98jKRs4X_ISQuEXuuPgmTBK3M0BfUim9gUi1RsMiLJ_0pxFmSG5_mzzRZckksTLjxrR6cV-ULZcGRYW-PnBGKsJBJnGnref3gujmTsUIpI2ZAu_l3tZ-fJfL3UVmeWLbvHuNb7AA/w275-h400/Diaghilev+by+Bakst+1906.jpg" width="275" /></a><br /><i>Sergei Diaghilev</i> (Leon Bakst, 1906)</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Ballet Russes was
the brainchild of the great Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Formed in
Paris in 1909, the ballet company created a huge sensation with its boundary-pushing
performances that combined modern music, innovative choreography, and stunning
visual arts. Among those engaged by Diaghilev were Igor Stravinsky, Claude
Debussy, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Vasily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso,
Henri Matisse, Leon Bakst, and Coco Chanel. The company, which gained broad
exposure during tours through Europe and North and South America from 1909
through 1929, has long been regarded as the most influential ballet company of
the 20<sup>th</sup> century. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHhmPt5WIZ5fpIUc1TUUJ_R-vJ7VuhGxvGnM9wHjOlMn_g6FMCUtowf9MFsqs2BZtWc4giki7VmykB2Bgtdc0DaIEn4iytnNwgeYSJS7wo5u1LviRdBeLJ0UOa6HxVk7gQo1P-NCQIykw/s1800/Auditorium+from+balcony.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1553" data-original-width="1800" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHhmPt5WIZ5fpIUc1TUUJ_R-vJ7VuhGxvGnM9wHjOlMn_g6FMCUtowf9MFsqs2BZtWc4giki7VmykB2Bgtdc0DaIEn4iytnNwgeYSJS7wo5u1LviRdBeLJ0UOa6HxVk7gQo1P-NCQIykw/w400-h345/Auditorium+from+balcony.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>In 1916, New York’s
Metropolitan Opera Company arranged for the Ballet Russes to undertake a
multi-city U.S. tour. That tour included a two-week residency at the Auditorium
Theater in Chicago, to be managed by Frederick J. Wessels and Henry E. Voegeli,
the business manager and assistant manager, respectively, of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra. The company, which comprised about 200 “artistes direct
from Russia” arrived in Chicago on February 13 aboard a special train on the
Michigan Central. Opening night, scheduled for the next day, was reserved as a
special benefit performance for the Eli Bates Settlement House. The
controversy, however, started before the curtain went up on that Valentine’s
Day performance.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Afternoon of a
Faun</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">An article, which ran
in the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> the day of the opening, recounted the controversy
over the troupe’s New York and Boston performances, noting that Chicagoan’s
would have a chance to see the performances as originally intended and make up
their own minds:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“In New York the police
authorities were shocked by ‘L’Apres-Midi d’un Faune’ (The Afternoon of a Faun)
and ordered changes in one scene. As it was originally played the faun seizes a
part of the girl’s lingerie and then goes to sleep, using the garment as the
covering for a rock on which he reposes. The New York authorities considered
this bad form and the faun thereafter had to sleep on a bare rock. Boston went
New York one better and officially frowned on the harem scene in ‘Scheherazade.’
Mayor Curley said bare feet were right, but bare legs could not be tolerated. Accordingly,
the legs were covered.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Chicago is going to
be given the original uncensored, unexpurgated versions of Serge de Diaghileff’s
Ballet Russe – that is, provided Maj. Funkhouser doesn’t order excisions. Mr.
Diaghileff upon his arrival yesterday with his company of dancers from the imperial
Russian theater let it be known that Chicago will be permitted to judge for itself
whether or not the scenes are ‘improper.’ ‘Art has nothing to do with morality,’
it was explained on behalf of the producer. ‘The esthetic test is the only one
that can be applied, but what do the police know about art?’”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note: Major Metellus
Lucullus Cicero Funkhouser was an interesting character. In 1912, he was
appointed head of the newly formed Chicago censorship board, which primarily
targeted the burgeoning film industry in the city. A veteran of the
Spanish-American War and a Second Deputy Superintendent in the Chicago Police
Department, he was known for his corruption, taking bribes from the studios, and
breaking his own censorship rules. For example, he would take the “naughty”
portions of movies he had censored and then host private screenings of those
scenes for friends in his home. His actions seriously hurt the local film
industry, and he was fired in 1918.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9yLhcYvAg9zOKDo34NXeNE8y5KXFvrqk5qK5-Tbcw3OX3TQVtcvldKizJt1nc_eXBF4nD-vg3e_SdzAWfNZ7YqKweDTWI-AKdkJQNFi8UtrwFcF5y4bu1DWyOygTgslIQvcVO7relzJE/s1800/Bakst+Nijinsky+Afternoon+of+a+Faun+1912.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1117" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9yLhcYvAg9zOKDo34NXeNE8y5KXFvrqk5qK5-Tbcw3OX3TQVtcvldKizJt1nc_eXBF4nD-vg3e_SdzAWfNZ7YqKweDTWI-AKdkJQNFi8UtrwFcF5y4bu1DWyOygTgslIQvcVO7relzJE/w249-h400/Bakst+Nijinsky+Afternoon+of+a+Faun+1912.jpg" width="249" /></a><br /><i>Bakst design for The Afternoon of a Faun</i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The eagerly
anticipated The Afternoon of a Faun was scheduled for February 16, when “the
sophistication of this primitive frontier will be tested by an unexpurgated
performance.” A review noted that “the details of an appetent satyr’s
voluptuous stupor were again observed with appropriate lenity and there was
some applause following the revolting end.” As was the case in previous cities,
the company was asked to make changes to the choreography. A review following
the February 24 performed noted:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The news of the
Ballet Russe is that yesterday ‘The Faun’ was presented without its final
phallic sting and that it seemed to give more pleasure thus than when it had
the audacious emphasis of continental bravado. That is to say that the faun
indicated himself as a primordial voluptuary instead of visualizing the thing
that everybody knew about. It was much more exquisite yesterday, dim, dreamy,
primitive, and suggestive in its fascinating profiles and attitudes, with
vague, mythical inferences and postures. It was very beguiling.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Controversy, which can
often increase attendance, had just the opposite effect in this case, and
audiences remained small throughout the engagement. Critic Percy Hammond
questioned why the situation seemed to be worse in Chicago than in other
cities:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Other American
communities have not been indifferent to the beauty of these performances and
to the munificence of those who make them possible; so why, it is asked, does
this center regard their ministrations with a stubborn apathy like that of
Caliban to the practices of Ariel?”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note: Caliban and
Ariel were two servants in Shakespeare’s </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Tempest</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, Ariel being submissive,
while Caliban is portrayed as rebellious and showing a lack of gratitude.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Is it controversial or
does it just require a new way of thinking?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Although The Faun
received the most pointed attacks, several of the ballets were seen as controversial,
or at the very least, difficult for the audience to understand. But some
critics realized the significance of what was taking place and opened their
minds to what had been laid before them. One example was the first performance
of Stravinsky’s ‘Petrouchka’ which elicited the following:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Strange though it may
seem, the Russian ballet at the Auditorium really includes music. Some of last
night’s audience may have doubted the assertion, after hearing Stravinsky’s
score for ‘Petrouchka,’ but they had in mind archaic sounds like Beethoven
symphonies or Wagner music dramas, or Debussyisms of the moment. If the
organized cacophony arising from the orchestra pit didn’t reassure them, the
sight of an orchestra should have. It was there and it was busy, under the
masterly conducting of M. Ansermet.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Based upon the gospel
that dissonance is just as much a part of music as consonance, the score
translates the story’s grotesqueries into a tale funnier than Bernard Shaw and
Mark Twain together. But this score is not extravagance. It is eminently sober
as to logic, and the creation of a skilled and imaginative mind. Some day, when
the ‘dead line’ is less like a ravening wolf, we may be moved to consider these
sequences of strange intervals and chord combinations, the tone-colors dizzying
to the ear, and the esthetic prophecy of their scientific scheme.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSgNm60zVWxFDL17JkDRUFLBx8rLi3ULrU7_Adu2R1uAzzSog5FOrckfuYDUupNfw4VQk5vBzlVZ1FQ1U3uGfMTkb6YsB_qFN3WwYw17I5IIXw6JpYAG_Si9P_xosWByZ60RT1NwvM9A/s1800/1916-02-20+Full+page+illustration.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1042" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSgNm60zVWxFDL17JkDRUFLBx8rLi3ULrU7_Adu2R1uAzzSog5FOrckfuYDUupNfw4VQk5vBzlVZ1FQ1U3uGfMTkb6YsB_qFN3WwYw17I5IIXw6JpYAG_Si9P_xosWByZ60RT1NwvM9A/w231-h400/1916-02-20+Full+page+illustration.jpg" width="231" /></a><br /><i>Scheherezade</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Another writer,
encouraged the audience to free themselves of previously held inhibitions and
try to enjoy the ballet for what it was:</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“It is a good deal to
ask an American audience, at least an audience handicapped by Anglo-American
culture, not to be bewildered by the Russian ballet. Our culture, which is
rather thin and excessively self-conscious, prevents us usually from any frank
and expansive surrender to sheer sensuous beauty. We are bullied alike by our conscience
and by our fear of what has been labeled good in art. We deprecate the free
gesture. Our motto is Safety First, and Mrs. Grundy never leaves our elbow.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“This is a poor
background for enjoying the Russian ballet, which is a gorgeous flower of the
east, growing from a life of the imagination never touched by puritanism, freer
in impulse, richer in instinct than our own. Yet, after all, we are human, and
the appeal of wondrous color and strangely compelling rhythm is so strong in
this case that we must yield to it, even be carried away by it.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note: “Mrs. Grundy”
is a colloquial term referring to a person with very conventional standards of
propriety).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5ARsbjLN65PC-wttm_3KvlNoto-UVYcZzurtfV9eYL7KBuvGvdmPIfpg63TT0es3e544VoTZZ813cuThvRA25UNDDaIAfWN-McEb9ezFMoe66RGMbE855OPH8hyphenhyphenv_e5FfVhhl1i5SD4/s1800/1916-02-20+Advertisement.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1800" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5ARsbjLN65PC-wttm_3KvlNoto-UVYcZzurtfV9eYL7KBuvGvdmPIfpg63TT0es3e544VoTZZ813cuThvRA25UNDDaIAfWN-McEb9ezFMoe66RGMbE855OPH8hyphenhyphenv_e5FfVhhl1i5SD4/w400-h206/1916-02-20+Advertisement.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Caroline Kirkland, a
friend of Frances Glessner who wrote a society column for the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago
Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> under the pseudonym “Madame X,” went the farthest by praising those
who embraced everything the Ballet Russes had to offer:</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The question of the
moment among the elect is ‘How did you like the Russian ballet?’ If you respond
with hyperbolic praise then you are set apart from the common herd; you belong
to the Brahmins; you show yourself a true cosmopolite, one who can at will
adopt the mood of the Russ, the French, and all others who represent the latest
word in supreme culture.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“It is an enviable
status. The modern admirers and supporters of the Russian ballet show themselves
the true descendants of that small, select group who in the seventies boldly
went to see the world’s greatest actress of her day, Sarah Bernhardt, and still
more boldly acclaimed her genius to a community that preached against her from
every pulpit and fireside as the prototype of the scarlet woman.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“It is to be deplored
that of the splendid heritage left us by our Puritan forefathers – a heritage
that included frugality industry, self-denial, piety, stern sense of duty, and
moral courage – little remains to us today except self-righteousness, false modesty,
and a strange reluctance to recognize and enjoy the beautiful.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Leon Bakst</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The sets and costumes were
as important to the productions as the music and choreography. Several were
designed by Leon Bakst, a Russian painter and designer who first came into
contact with Diaghilev when the latter organized a show of Russian painters in
1898. Four years later, Bakst’s star had risen, and he was commissioned to
undertake a work for Tsar Nicholas II. He went to work for the Ballet Russes in
1908, the collaboration lasting until 1922 when he came to Baltimore to work under
his American patron, Alice Warder Garrett (the daughter of John Glessner’s
business partner, Benjamin H. Warder). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0haDcMDcAj8EQPyGYaxfKCsBW7jqGYZEaN6k2Y10Ix6rvVak-GjSj34wMIwWafp_sf7KEmQxVvOoG2hSnMwiDKKIxAafnDUVMoM-BaPYYdA_7NbdUiIABSaYTvyT8e2uhduVwGmTaNLE/s1800/Bakst+Afternoon+of+a+Faun.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1277" data-original-width="1800" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0haDcMDcAj8EQPyGYaxfKCsBW7jqGYZEaN6k2Y10Ix6rvVak-GjSj34wMIwWafp_sf7KEmQxVvOoG2hSnMwiDKKIxAafnDUVMoM-BaPYYdA_7NbdUiIABSaYTvyT8e2uhduVwGmTaNLE/w400-h284/Bakst+Afternoon+of+a+Faun.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Bakst's design for The Afternoon of a Faun</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Bakst’s work received praise
during his years with the ballet, a Chicago journalist writing:</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“In Chicago for the
last ten days there has been disclosed in the scenes and costumes of the
Russian ballet the work of the Russian painter, Leon Bakst. There has never
been anything like his achievements in the splendor and harmonies of color
available to the Chicago public, and it is a great pity conditions have been
such that few have taken advantage of the opportunity to see them. Bakst is a
great genius in color, and he offers us his wonderful eyes to see visions
gorgeous beyond our imagining. Bakst comes from a world where color is
brilliant, and contrast sharp. In America our color in nature, and, therefore,
in art, is more reticent, and for that reasons Bakst discovers for us a new
world, inundating our senses, matching the myriad tones and thunderous power of
the modern orchestra with tones as overwhelming in power and combination.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The Russian master
already has enriched the color sense of Europe, and even America sees a little
with his eyes, as the increased strength and daring of color in costume shows. And
this, as we began by saying, is the supreme service of the creative artist,
that he creates not only, or even chiefly, the objective beauty of his master
works, but a new beauty of the world.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55Rsf9NiQHW3ioD5q7wN6C4vFT0AdHQngsqq4OnG1W81L4flbzn0yI9MmkTVzpwmDn517wJcht2ZfBgQRSbunalDzQbKSnE-Cib4zEHAaR7BFxbYAJfRtSE2aYLHRYQ3t2Eg6sWExrs4/s1800/Bakst+The+Firebird+1910.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1318" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55Rsf9NiQHW3ioD5q7wN6C4vFT0AdHQngsqq4OnG1W81L4flbzn0yI9MmkTVzpwmDn517wJcht2ZfBgQRSbunalDzQbKSnE-Cib4zEHAaR7BFxbYAJfRtSE2aYLHRYQ3t2Eg6sWExrs4/w293-h400/Bakst+The+Firebird+1910.jpg" width="293" /></a><br /><i>Bakst costume for The Firebird</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Bakst’s work was
considered so significant that Marshall Field & Company held a special show
of costumes from selected productions, as noted in the advertisement below.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamwD7dsmWJfdb-8KL1nCIiiRea8lqFDGCvfvt1xRDUriXYu8heR2MWv33ZxkSBwPptp91eZadlydKdE8lL1bg6gsYd47mZvcH9HG7GLj1EPDH7LQDGqjmdC5pzB2SFXEqw7qsAIXAHqg/s1800/1916-02-18+Bakst+costumes+at+Marshall+Field+%2526+Co..jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="1800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamwD7dsmWJfdb-8KL1nCIiiRea8lqFDGCvfvt1xRDUriXYu8heR2MWv33ZxkSBwPptp91eZadlydKdE8lL1bg6gsYd47mZvcH9HG7GLj1EPDH7LQDGqjmdC5pzB2SFXEqw7qsAIXAHqg/w400-h225/1916-02-18+Bakst+costumes+at+Marshall+Field+%2526+Co..jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Glessners and
Ernest Ansermet</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Frances Glessner Lee
appears to have been enchanted by the Ballet Russes, attending several
performances. On Saturday, February 19, she invited conductor Ernest Ansermet
to supper at her home, along with Henry Voegeli and his wife, CSO harpist Enrico
Tramonti and his wife, and a Dr. Richardson. The Glessner journal notes that “the
Tramontis and Frances Lee have been much pleased with Mr. Ansermet.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The press shared their
admiration for Ansermet’s conducting. In spite of what was being said about the
choreography or the music itself, reviews consistently praised Ansermet’s
mastery of the works.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHb1ktvc3USSUIZhspuj4FiHj4fjjovslnMKm2nHSKDQyz0i7_tna4i-gqHYCtTfYXhyphenhypheniXk8GS84VFo9BnJe4TexyePYbCONCOLU5-zJZzhKEXLRAro3t9QxPMjzwz1Wr80re4gxob1zI/s1855/Ansermet+postcard+front.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1855" data-original-width="1258" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHb1ktvc3USSUIZhspuj4FiHj4fjjovslnMKm2nHSKDQyz0i7_tna4i-gqHYCtTfYXhyphenhypheniXk8GS84VFo9BnJe4TexyePYbCONCOLU5-zJZzhKEXLRAro3t9QxPMjzwz1Wr80re4gxob1zI/w271-h400/Ansermet+postcard+front.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">His postcard to
Frances Glessner Lee, written on May 5, 1916, from New York, was in thanks for
the supper at her home, his brief message being “with respectful and grateful
memories of E. Ansermet.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note: Kudos to the
U.S. Post Office of 1916. Ansermet addressed the postcard: Mrs. Frances Lee,
Prairie Avenue, Chicago, Michigan. A postal worker corrected the state to
Illinois and added “1700” in front of Prairie Avenue.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpuMo77UP8FuaC2BaZz1fB_nu4KbHYiLG2uWcRa7KLZQQdkn9HYSvKDMYOSj7FhHLR-vKL4sPFEzQzyBqvvDgnnRBstaMf68_2WPdrZE_5lvKB4d4mZVJlUc1-_UrYcjqZRDx5YacP3YQ/s1837/Ansermet+postcard+back.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1837" data-original-width="1215" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpuMo77UP8FuaC2BaZz1fB_nu4KbHYiLG2uWcRa7KLZQQdkn9HYSvKDMYOSj7FhHLR-vKL4sPFEzQzyBqvvDgnnRBstaMf68_2WPdrZE_5lvKB4d4mZVJlUc1-_UrYcjqZRDx5YacP3YQ/w265-h400/Ansermet+postcard+back.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ernest Ansermet was
born in Switzerland in 1883, so was just 32 years old at the time he first came
to Chicago. After several years teaching mathematics at the University of
Lausanne, he turned to conducting, accepting the position to lead the Ballet
Russes orchestra in 1915. During the period, he had the opportunity to meet
Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky, and he became a champion of modern music. He
founded his own orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in 1918 which
toured the U.S. and Europe, making many recordings for Decca Records. Ansermet
returned to Chicago in 1936 to open the inaugural season of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and was still actively conducting at
the time of his death in 1969. The Orchestre is regarded as the premier
orchestra in Switzerland.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">John Glessner notes in
the journal that Ansermet called on his wife during the CSO matinee concert on
Friday February 19. They subsequently attended the Ballet Russes matinee
performance on its last day, February 26:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Frances and I went to
Russian ballet on Saturday afternoon at Auditorium. The house was filled – many
were children. This was only the second good house of the two weeks engagement –
the other being the opening night which was taken by the Eli Bates Settlement
House. Wessels and Voegeli, the managers, may lose a considerable sum on the
engagement.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">No further comment is
made as to what they thought of the performances, although they would have been
fully aware of the controversy surrounding them. They saw four ballets
performed that afternoon:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJ9uQWdbBj2UN7yUP27FXJDceNX9y6vSQZRfm0PuxOCLYoYxdoRynL5KZZYARZQ4yavvBI2iGommbUTiZe4Cc1Ny0o7ZMMmpyZslWdhyaK4MNQlF293pQIa7o9Wi4iIhCvBG37sFzQ2o/s1800/Bakst+Cleopatra.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1197" data-original-width="1800" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJ9uQWdbBj2UN7yUP27FXJDceNX9y6vSQZRfm0PuxOCLYoYxdoRynL5KZZYARZQ4yavvBI2iGommbUTiZe4Cc1Ny0o7ZMMmpyZslWdhyaK4MNQlF293pQIa7o9Wi4iIhCvBG37sFzQ2o/w400-h266/Bakst+Cleopatra.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Cleopatra: Music by
Anton Arensky and others, choreographed by Michael Fokine, sets and costumes by
Leon Bakst</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFqMBNvYpHd95po0KCBFMePySfVvFLrAOZ6xkC-u-EEiSxpFRGold13cJd5qFYJzfZ_BoNG_RP0e627GG-iCVvPc9SjXGL5st13mPGnUMKfGgcvBV8G11Ze7f1IOjt5KvV5PHM1V7NlxA/s1800/Benois+Petrouchka.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1800" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFqMBNvYpHd95po0KCBFMePySfVvFLrAOZ6xkC-u-EEiSxpFRGold13cJd5qFYJzfZ_BoNG_RP0e627GG-iCVvPc9SjXGL5st13mPGnUMKfGgcvBV8G11Ze7f1IOjt5KvV5PHM1V7NlxA/w400-h285/Benois+Petrouchka.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Petrouchka: Music by
Igor Stravinsky, choreographed by Michael Fokine, sets and costumes by Alexandre
Benois</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5G0oRvB2xeFO1W4kk1oDOfNxKJBiNJD0Ze8dmQfgO5bFzfUpYurj8f8frHHApddAWOxg2hGMAkOiOKpEZe8zhDdEYsovGLTT3wXI94AHbSVlrRTNkVBBtIA9Qt2GYBFtf07e2s7rchgg/s652/Bakst+Spectre+de+la+Rose.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="447" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5G0oRvB2xeFO1W4kk1oDOfNxKJBiNJD0Ze8dmQfgO5bFzfUpYurj8f8frHHApddAWOxg2hGMAkOiOKpEZe8zhDdEYsovGLTT3wXI94AHbSVlrRTNkVBBtIA9Qt2GYBFtf07e2s7rchgg/w274-h400/Bakst+Spectre+de+la+Rose.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Spectre de la Rose
(The Spirit of the Rose): Music by Carol Maria von Weber as orchestrated by
Hector Berlioz, choreographed by Michael Fokine, sets and costumes by Leon
Bakst</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9c0qtimCfYi1GBvXExiyZpAOMGm1Z7avHJocoVjGAWQd0rRMJwoWammYa4uuIU1y35YF50ph2sATzDmFDp8k7MhdWBoALhUxmZDAqNTl_la3aNszgTctq3S8KTdjxjAla1p-TJizCqc/s600/Mikhail+Larionov+Soleil+de+Nuit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="600" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9c0qtimCfYi1GBvXExiyZpAOMGm1Z7avHJocoVjGAWQd0rRMJwoWammYa4uuIU1y35YF50ph2sATzDmFDp8k7MhdWBoALhUxmZDAqNTl_la3aNszgTctq3S8KTdjxjAla1p-TJizCqc/w400-h313/Mikhail+Larionov+Soleil+de+Nuit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Soleil de Nuit
(Midnight Sun): Music by Rimsky-Korsakov, choreographed by Leonide Massine (his
first ballet), sets and costumes by Mikhail Larionov</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Ballet Russes
leaves Chicago</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The final performance
took place the evening of February 26. It had been rumored that The Faun would
be presented in its original pre-censored iteration, “but nothing of the sort
happened. The faun was as chaste as a cold mutton chop.” Attendance had improved
slightly during the second week, but not nearly enough to avoid large financial
losses. Many praised “the New York banker, who backed the enterprise
financially, knowing that he would probably lose in the venture, but anxious to
give Americans a chance to see these Russian chef d’oeuvres.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiSh7ddqoBGL_nsJeW53kK8CH6aUF7bJvBMr_Pp4y8syTvKVBJMTWQjCdmc2qI2LZdtLDiGD6eSSCoFbaD6h272s1RM8nnQetsp7-bTM3ZXAlb7tye3UouVtc4A17q0dYu-qMbx4R6Pk/s1071/Bakst+Cleopatra+costume.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1071" data-original-width="811" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiSh7ddqoBGL_nsJeW53kK8CH6aUF7bJvBMr_Pp4y8syTvKVBJMTWQjCdmc2qI2LZdtLDiGD6eSSCoFbaD6h272s1RM8nnQetsp7-bTM3ZXAlb7tye3UouVtc4A17q0dYu-qMbx4R6Pk/w303-h400/Bakst+Cleopatra+costume.jpg" width="303" /></a><br /><i>Bakst's design for Cleopatra</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Ballet Russes left
Chicago and continued its U.S. tour. The conversation no doubt continued long
after they had left, and, as had been the case three years earlier when the
Armory Show at the Art Institute raised the question of “what is art?” their appearance
in Chicago forever made people consider what ballet should be in the 20</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
century.</span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-4240593774463025482021-10-19T15:48:00.003-05:002021-10-22T07:51:08.903-05:00Chicago Fire Stories Part III: Catherine O'Leary<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXIPcELbtKWjW_sPyC5DCSvQo_KwJ1jF-Xh1CuHy1ILhK2-UDk-Yf4l16u7pBCxb6LloWb7SwEccqkAFwjcwen20wzRUDMN_35tVqDXgqddjnv7mKsutqILFn1jzXYl7j3MpyqY_wAiY/s1104/Norman+Rockwell.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="884" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXIPcELbtKWjW_sPyC5DCSvQo_KwJ1jF-Xh1CuHy1ILhK2-UDk-Yf4l16u7pBCxb6LloWb7SwEccqkAFwjcwen20wzRUDMN_35tVqDXgqddjnv7mKsutqILFn1jzXYl7j3MpyqY_wAiY/w320-h400/Norman+Rockwell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The 150</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire this month focused attention on many
aspects of the “great conflagration” that consumed a significant portion of
Chicago between October 8 and 10, 1871. The story of Mrs. Catherine O’Leary and
her cow kicking over a lantern (as depicted by Norman Rockwell above) first surfaced before the flames were
extinguished, and although she was cleared of any involvement in the fire just
two months later, the legend has endured to this day. During her lifetime, the burden
of blame had a profound effect on Mrs. O’Leary, forcing her to largely withdraw
from public life, and dying with a heavy heart in 1895. In this third and final
installment of Chicago Fire Stories, we share the facts of her life before,
during, and after the Fire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Early Years</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Catherine Donnigan
(other sources spell it Dunagan or Dunnigan) was born in County Kerry in
southwest Ireland in 1827. Nothing is known of her childhood, but Kerry was
known for its dairy cows, so she would have no doubt been introduced to that
business at a young age. She married Patrick O’Leary, nine years her senior and
also from Kerry, and endured the Great Hunger (known as the Irish Potato Famine
outside of Ireland) which hit the south and west portions of Ireland especially
hard from 1845 into the early 1850s.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The O’Learys were part
of a huge influx of residents emigrating from Ireland, escaping the Great
Hunger for the promise of a better life in the United States. By the mid-1850s,
they had settled in Chicago where their eldest child, a daughter Mary,
was born in 1857. Two sons, Cornelius (known as “Puggy”) and James Patrick,
followed in 1860 and 1863 respectively. Both sons were baptized at Church of
the Holy Family, founded in 1857 on 12</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street (now Roosevelt Road) at May Street. The boys later attended school there, the parents paying 50
cents a month each for their tuition.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9hHpQ3kbMTI2b4MyQarwPF_SnS69Nt1SrVlCf68dT3o5jHhLjEjz1-tW5rHsVvUVXEJ61SiutqldLtW-SiQl6X7p4pg02_9DQMXWyOHKZrTLdWE9TFQXCXl4Vvnq2yz2P9xZcCU5Lymg/s800/Holy+Family+Church+J%2526A.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="800" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9hHpQ3kbMTI2b4MyQarwPF_SnS69Nt1SrVlCf68dT3o5jHhLjEjz1-tW5rHsVvUVXEJ61SiutqldLtW-SiQl6X7p4pg02_9DQMXWyOHKZrTLdWE9TFQXCXl4Vvnq2yz2P9xZcCU5Lymg/w400-h278/Holy+Family+Church+J%2526A.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1864, the O’Learys
purchased the property at 137 DeKoven Street for $500, an indication they had
found some modest success while living in Chicago. Two more children followed –
a daughter Catherine in 1866 and a son Patrick in March 1871. The property comprised
two separate houses which abutted each other, the O’Learys occupying the
smaller rear structure, while renting out the larger front house with two rooms
to a family named McLaughlin. The back of the property was occupied by a small
barn measuring 16 by 20 feet, where Catherine O’Leary maintained her dairy
business, consisting of six cows, along with a horse and wagon for making
deliveries.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0qP0xfFir81Juzhh5_k_2i5hMCgwuPPCXRVbHHlmE8K-abVsDVww6-ni9rCbs7dkTGYwqiDw2F05Oz2B_uYze_xp2HrwjVYwlf8NNtiuBNAmCOYAIVPIfTfUZsFacxitNVHtUeA_xmP0/s1500/IMAGE+-+O%2527Leary+house.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1484" data-original-width="1500" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0qP0xfFir81Juzhh5_k_2i5hMCgwuPPCXRVbHHlmE8K-abVsDVww6-ni9rCbs7dkTGYwqiDw2F05Oz2B_uYze_xp2HrwjVYwlf8NNtiuBNAmCOYAIVPIfTfUZsFacxitNVHtUeA_xmP0/w400-h396/IMAGE+-+O%2527Leary+house.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Fire</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Just before the fire, the
O’Learys had two tons of hay and two tons of coal delivered to the barn to
prepare them for winter. On October 8, 1871, the day of the fire, Mrs. O’Leary
tended to her cows late in the afternoon and then fed her horse about 7:00pm
before retiring for the evening. The entire family was in bed by about 8:00pm,
well before the fire commenced shortly after 9:00pm. They were alerted by a
neighbor banging on their door that the barn was ablaze; by the time they arose
and went outside, it was too late to save the animals and the contents of the
barn. A neighbor saved a calf, and one cow that had been tied up outside got
away, never to be seen again. Patrick successfully saved the house by dousing
it with water, but as Catherine later noted, she lost her entire dairy business
when the barn went up in flames.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The first mention of
the fire starting when a cow kicked over a lantern while a woman was milking
appeared in the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Evening Journal</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> on October 9, before the fire
had burnt itself out. Other newspapers soon picked up the story and immediately
identified Catherine O’Leary, the owner of the barn, as the culprit.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh87su8mZ4AugbSUjZGGim2J7nG9zx0hqqE_gBSd_2kgLiv87DMQXrqrUHSI9I5T5B_1BWsi3LMEipiAe_ax4lpe3_lgIxroV5vg-31K0cHAZtZ36bvV7__8dospbE5uakuNubb8EAD4CA/s1800/Mrs.+O%2527Leary+as+hag.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh87su8mZ4AugbSUjZGGim2J7nG9zx0hqqE_gBSd_2kgLiv87DMQXrqrUHSI9I5T5B_1BWsi3LMEipiAe_ax4lpe3_lgIxroV5vg-31K0cHAZtZ36bvV7__8dospbE5uakuNubb8EAD4CA/w400-h225/Mrs.+O%2527Leary+as+hag.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In late November, the
Board of Police and Fire Commissioners launched an official inquiry to
determine two things – the exact cause of the fire and the appropriateness of
the response of the Chicago Fire Department. Fifty witnesses were interviewed over
the next two weeks, including both Catherine and Patrick O’Leary and several of
their neighbors. The story was consistent – the fire did begin in the O’Leary
barn, but all members of the family were in bed asleep at the time the fire
commenced. Various theories were introduced but no one could conclusively state
the cause of the fire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">On December 12, 1871,
just two months after the fire, the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners issued
their findings. The report noted, in part:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“There is no proof
that anybody had been in the barn after nightfall that evening. Whether it
originated from a spark blown from a chimney on that windy night, or was set on
fire by human agency, we are unable to determine. Mr. Leary, the owner, and all
his family, prove to have been in bed and asleep at the time.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Note regarding
“Leary”: Irish names at the time were often shown without the leading O or Mc).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">After the Fire</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">With the official
report clearing Mrs. O’Leary of any involvement in the start of the fire, it is
rather surprising that the story didn’t simply die away and disappear with the
fire rubble being cleared from the streets. But it didn’t, and that caused
immediate problems for the O’Leary family. Numerous photos taken shortly after
the fire confirm that people flocked to DeKoven Street to see the site of the
barn and the surviving O’Leary house. The image shown below, is particularly
interesting as it shows the only west-facing window in the O’Leary portion of
the house boarded up, perhaps to maintain some level of privacy and keep the
curious from peeking in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcSQDIQhCVFxdFzBEQ_NS6DasXvEoK7dXMdh49b8H3oxiDMHbtqmXvZIq_wWuSFes-5tzQvCh8ZMIHEAZ5JzxMq3s6yyHJChJ-2EAXPL8dzJpwxfO9FIQ96ZoEsr7tPn41-c8KJnL3yM/s1219/O%2527Leary+cottage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1219" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcSQDIQhCVFxdFzBEQ_NS6DasXvEoK7dXMdh49b8H3oxiDMHbtqmXvZIq_wWuSFes-5tzQvCh8ZMIHEAZ5JzxMq3s6yyHJChJ-2EAXPL8dzJpwxfO9FIQ96ZoEsr7tPn41-c8KJnL3yM/w400-h299/O%2527Leary+cottage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The McLauglins, who
rented the front house, moved out within two days of the fire. The O’Learys moved in early 1874, relocating to Dashiel Street (now Union Avenue) near 41</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
Street, close to the Chicago Stockyards. They sold the DeKoven Street property
in 1879 for $1,150. The new owners tore down the original house and replaced it
with a more substantial masonry building, that soon sported a plaque noting the
site as the place of origin of the fire.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Newspapers published
articles every year on the anniversary of the fire, and Mrs. O’Leary was almost
always mentioned as though the official inquiry clearing her had never taken
place. In articles where the cow story was discounted, it was still discussed,
keeping the O’Leary name alive, and making it impossible for Mrs. O’Leary to
return to any form of the normal life she had known prior to the fire. She
largely became a recluse and understandably denied requests for interviews; she
was even offered opportunities to appear as what amounted to a carnival side
show. Books and songs kept the story alive as well, including the book shown
below, published for the tenth anniversary of the fire in 1881.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiby5pUKQLW_7s4JoOUkQggZXrJNZkDoBy7N5se0FtdIHK4EkonodXia2dM1lF38fJM8gOdL6q_9t5s6sJrurbExfljV6BSpTAn5Fj9_FVLzGRTkMsjDnMANAdO0HpQWUdCk95_MLEvYWw/s1200/The+City+that+a+Cow+Kicked+Over.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="861" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiby5pUKQLW_7s4JoOUkQggZXrJNZkDoBy7N5se0FtdIHK4EkonodXia2dM1lF38fJM8gOdL6q_9t5s6sJrurbExfljV6BSpTAn5Fj9_FVLzGRTkMsjDnMANAdO0HpQWUdCk95_MLEvYWw/w288-h400/The+City+that+a+Cow+Kicked+Over.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Her life took yet
another tragic turn in August 1885. Puggy, her eldest son, had a violent altercation
with a former love interest, Mary Snyder (or Campbell), who some said had given
birth to a child that died soon after, naming Puggy as the father. During the
incident, he pulled a gun and shot Mary dead. She was accompanied by Puggy’s
older sister, Mary Scully, who was also shot and died the next day at the age
of just 28. Puggy fled town but was soon captured in Kansas City. After a
speedy trial, he was sentenced to 40 years, and was sent to Joliet Prison. In
December 1889, he was transferred to an insane asylum.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The O’Learys’ second
son James was far more successful in life. After a few years working in the
Stockyards, where he earned the nickname “Big Jim,” he opened a saloon at 4183
S. Halsted Street, that featured Turkish baths, a restaurant, a billiard room,
and a bowling alley. He opened a gambling operation in the rear of the
building, and in time established himself as a gambling boss in Chicago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2jiaK7uoDYzqFwBmFY7v9XVQgyazbhmySxg-qD-By_3_n6WW7ThMTggmC0wUFh5U3tEeau8iNs4q4r_gzbpaaxELoXXEwNgZcPuHnjMAYjt9Lr0vAjr-zWmEXRObbYjDR6KRHme3Csgs/s1800/O%2527Leary%2527s+Saloon+-+Bozic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1211" data-original-width="1800" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2jiaK7uoDYzqFwBmFY7v9XVQgyazbhmySxg-qD-By_3_n6WW7ThMTggmC0wUFh5U3tEeau8iNs4q4r_gzbpaaxELoXXEwNgZcPuHnjMAYjt9Lr0vAjr-zWmEXRObbYjDR6KRHme3Csgs/w400-h269/O%2527Leary%2527s+Saloon+-+Bozic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">He became a
multi-millionaire and built a mansion (shown below) for his family, which still stands at 726
W. Garfield Boulevard. (He closed the operation in 1921 and died in 1925, but
in an ironic twist of fate, the saloon building was destroyed in the 1934 Union
Stockyards Fire – the largest fire in Chicago since the Great Fire of 1871.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlu-5VySdtJdwYxPYYPvwofNaYSN-cuVfC5FAgh_POQ5fLymRgHxQatTRCZxhjQmNgL2VXMR-UgmG7G8Xg57ku5yCbtiraUh2FhY7PUgajCLEgy71r_Di7Yeg2A_-Rj6aVPD4kvvVoJyM/s1599/Jim+O%2527Leary+house+from+Find+a+Grave.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1599" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlu-5VySdtJdwYxPYYPvwofNaYSN-cuVfC5FAgh_POQ5fLymRgHxQatTRCZxhjQmNgL2VXMR-UgmG7G8Xg57ku5yCbtiraUh2FhY7PUgajCLEgy71r_Di7Yeg2A_-Rj6aVPD4kvvVoJyM/w400-h300/Jim+O%2527Leary+house+from+Find+a+Grave.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Patrick and Catherine O’Leary
later purchased a house at 5133 S. Halsted Street. In September 1894, Patrick
O’Leary was returning home, exiting the Halsted streetcar near his residence when he
started to feel unwell. He made it to the front stoop of his house where he
collapsed. His children carried him inside, but he was dead before they could get him to the couch. A large Irish wake with many “Kerry men” present took place, and
he was interred in the family plot in Mount Olivet Cemetery.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0FsH9DHiYiYfMsg6G3-FVX2AFSgkJ1U5maRF2Qo8KgbWVV95ecCdDdHDRFMhWCg4Rp4o2wrnC_Bh8351z5fDNGiqXb_PsXYkTggsWaS34uWERS2gyexNr9DkWUPdeHlvtGw3kOdeG_Bc/s891/IMAGE+-+Patrick+O%2527Leary.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="549" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0FsH9DHiYiYfMsg6G3-FVX2AFSgkJ1U5maRF2Qo8KgbWVV95ecCdDdHDRFMhWCg4Rp4o2wrnC_Bh8351z5fDNGiqXb_PsXYkTggsWaS34uWERS2gyexNr9DkWUPdeHlvtGw3kOdeG_Bc/w246-h400/IMAGE+-+Patrick+O%2527Leary.jpg" width="246" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Catherine O’Leary, who
had been “feeble” for a few years, died in July 1895, still unable to separate
herself from the story of her cow. Her obituary in the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> bore the headline:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“MRS. O’LEARY IS DEAD
-<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">SHE WAS NOTED
PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE OF HER COW.<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">That Milk-Producing
Animal Caused the Fire That Devastated the City in 1871”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJqx4hbpRhXpMMYjX0lBwMUNLSBaIzcQc6pG825-OfT7ZBIA5ort59io9-Uy_B7NGEl0r7zIOY9esWZBUr-IOdWG8poB4Ok8cEJkbIfCT7d_4A71FK5fzgIB5h_DMXlFG5razPUm0Uaw/s804/IMAGE+-+O%2527Leary+headstone.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="546" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJqx4hbpRhXpMMYjX0lBwMUNLSBaIzcQc6pG825-OfT7ZBIA5ort59io9-Uy_B7NGEl0r7zIOY9esWZBUr-IOdWG8poB4Ok8cEJkbIfCT7d_4A71FK5fzgIB5h_DMXlFG5razPUm0Uaw/w271-h400/IMAGE+-+O%2527Leary+headstone.jpg" width="271" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Later Years</span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Catherine O’Leary was laid
to rest, but not the story of her cow. Just three years after she died, a
Vaudeville star wrote a set of words to the popular song of the time, <i>A Hot
Time in the Old Town</i>, perpetuating the O’Leary myth:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“One dark night, when
we were all in bed,<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mrs. O’Leary left a
lantern in the shed.<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">And when the cow
kicked it over,<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">She winked her eye and
said,<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">There’ll be a hot time
in the old town tonight!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1911, on the
fortieth anniversary of the fire, Michael Ahern, the last surviving reporter
who had covered the Chicago Fire, recanted his story. He claimed that he was
one of several reporters who simply made up the story, when the actual cause of
the fire could not be quickly determined. Despite his confession, it did little
to stop the story that was now a part of Chicago legend.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcMu8T6FLGsKJAmU9rhUGmrUdQG2LLBqucOm35TyZNngJL-pHY7db_EO0w9K4226_5_h9_O89cZxE0BFB_KxQTsniJFwBrKi0vtZEoA67vhaoYfndi7kuv-7EXfNb9hTEWMQEZB6aQU50/s1409/1927+Ahern+dies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1409" data-original-width="539" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcMu8T6FLGsKJAmU9rhUGmrUdQG2LLBqucOm35TyZNngJL-pHY7db_EO0w9K4226_5_h9_O89cZxE0BFB_KxQTsniJFwBrKi0vtZEoA67vhaoYfndi7kuv-7EXfNb9hTEWMQEZB6aQU50/w153-h400/1927+Ahern+dies.jpg" width="153" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>The O’Learys’ last
surviving child, Catherine O’Leary Ledwell, continued to defend her mother
until her own death on Christmas Day 1936. On the sixty-second anniversary of
the fire, just a few years before she passed away, Ledwell was interviewed by a
reporter from the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">New York Times</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">. She discounted the story once again, noting
her mother didn’t milk cows after 5:00pm, and recalling the horror of the
scene, “I can see the burning yet, and the rushing about, and the weeping, and
the rest.” The article went on to explain, “The fire has been taboo in the
Ledwell home. A son explained that he was recently ordered out of the house for
singing, ‘There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight’.”</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">An additional 60 years
would have to pass before the matter was put to rest once and for all. In
October 1997, Alderman Ed Burke introduced a resolution before the City Council
officially exonerating Mrs. O’Leary of any involvement in the fire. The
resolution concludes:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“WHEREAS, Although
contemporary research appears to vindicate Mrs. O’Leary, she has unfairly remained
vilified and maligned by history; now, therefore</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“BE IT RESOLVED, That
we, the Mayor and members of the Chicago City Council assembled this
twenty-eighth day of October 1997, do hereby forever exonerate Mrs. O’Leary and
her cow from all blame in regard to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSQ8wFimans7dlkqWzPsLoI8M2xXMLbk8cOOGTtiV4s31kexhPxjWtMY7TgN9zsZgyEJGkVYKN3m9DuNKi8F1u3O7Y8wo02j1KFohah4Now5p_tpRW06_poNVQNF3QvfdScoJuauxuB3I/s2048/Exoneration+resolution.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1326" data-original-width="2048" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSQ8wFimans7dlkqWzPsLoI8M2xXMLbk8cOOGTtiV4s31kexhPxjWtMY7TgN9zsZgyEJGkVYKN3m9DuNKi8F1u3O7Y8wo02j1KFohah4Now5p_tpRW06_poNVQNF3QvfdScoJuauxuB3I/w400-h259/Exoneration+resolution.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">NOTE: Special thanks
to Helen (O’Leary) Bozic – a great-granddaughter of Mrs. O’Leary, and
historians Richard F. Bales, Ellie Carlson, and Ellen Skerrett for their assistance with this
article. For the most detailed account of Mrs. O’Leary, including a transcript of
her interview from the November 1871 inquiry, see </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Great Chicago Fire and
the Myth of Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> by Richard F. Bales (McFarland &
Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 2002).</span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-87394600161598416082021-09-13T21:40:00.002-05:002021-09-13T21:40:53.136-05:00Chicago Fire Stories Part II: The Glessners<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzep-2TIJ4BFV5oTnhbjTS0Tk32XeUu4-dLh3D9eYfqVv2tk9PyDpJEjpA7a8MKFSuqBBXvNfDdcvGPm7WTvVAysybKILMGSrCnHtQtHo4k30gToxJkSgVVwgaNrfDaBDsU1c7UyzAZ6c/s2048/John+and+Frances+Glessner+about+1872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1276" data-original-width="2048" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzep-2TIJ4BFV5oTnhbjTS0Tk32XeUu4-dLh3D9eYfqVv2tk9PyDpJEjpA7a8MKFSuqBBXvNfDdcvGPm7WTvVAysybKILMGSrCnHtQtHo4k30gToxJkSgVVwgaNrfDaBDsU1c7UyzAZ6c/w400-h249/John+and+Frances+Glessner+about+1872.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><br /></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">John and Frances Glessner arrived in Chicago in December 1870, just ten months before much of the city was destroyed in the "great conflagration." In this article, we will briefly review their life in Chicago prior to that event, and then share a first-hand account of the fire and its aftermath as recorded by John Glessner.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">John Glessner and
Frances Macbeth were married on December 7, 1870, in the parlor of the Macbeth
house in Springfield, Ohio. On December 15, after a week visiting family, they
arrived in Chicago, which they would call home for the remainder of their lives.
For their first week in Chicago, the Glessners stayed at the Sherman House,
advertised at the time as the “finest hotel in the northwest.” The hotel stood
at the northwest corner of Randolph and Clark, directly across from Courthouse
Square. (Today, it forms part of the site of the James R. Thompson Center).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtgRv61m_NBfN25Sbs1euaAvnybk_qVpQ7JaLk4ze0AGVcGAAMdus1BWQEzFvgD05dCg-WMur2zDEieR_79k6oSExwpe1nFG5WDIidgJwdZdVJ1vfx-VwZpD8TuxerSZaQ8QCbKzjWuGc/s2048/Sherman+House+before+and+after+fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="2048" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtgRv61m_NBfN25Sbs1euaAvnybk_qVpQ7JaLk4ze0AGVcGAAMdus1BWQEzFvgD05dCg-WMur2zDEieR_79k6oSExwpe1nFG5WDIidgJwdZdVJ1vfx-VwZpD8TuxerSZaQ8QCbKzjWuGc/w400-h228/Sherman+House+before+and+after+fire.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The Sherman House as it appeared before and after the fire</i></div></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">They came to Chicago so
that John Glessner could take charge of the local office of Warder, Mitchell
& Co. of which he had recently been made junior partner. The office and
warehouse were located at the northwest corner of Madison and Canal streets. (The
firm later became Warder, Bushnell & Glessner, and ultimately merged with
four others in 1902 to become International Harvester).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmOIUzTtpuczvrHFfJDzBZ0MRpaFPKLgxR34tR3g3C_9xlgV2ZhAnevWeBtu73uLVRn9fP2TJTfNtdk64h_-sJwVzIZcrEACFK8zyr5rC83KJv4R8gFuEKrDmEm358lx4HDLcjehjolXk/s1908/Chicago+1870+map+with+arrows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="1908" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmOIUzTtpuczvrHFfJDzBZ0MRpaFPKLgxR34tR3g3C_9xlgV2ZhAnevWeBtu73uLVRn9fP2TJTfNtdk64h_-sJwVzIZcrEACFK8zyr5rC83KJv4R8gFuEKrDmEm358lx4HDLcjehjolXk/w400-h181/Chicago+1870+map+with+arrows.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Blue arrow - 69 Park Avenue; Red arrow - office at Madison and Canal</i></div></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">On December 28,
exactly three weeks after their wedding, the Glessners moved into their first
home, located on the west side, which they rented for $45 per month. Of the
house, John Glessner wrote, “We rented the house at 69 Park Avenue, corner of
Page Street, two blocks west of Union Park – a nice, comfortable two-story
frame house that had been built by Judge McAllister and never lived in by
anyone except his family. Here we were quite happy, Frances was an excellent
housekeeper, our furnishings were all new and selected by her, and the house
under her ministration was very charming.” (The house is long gone. Park Avenue
later became Maypole Avenue and is one block south of Lake Street. Page Street,
which was two blocks west of Ashland Avenue, became Hermitage Avenue).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdFaeYmrngdMGJtmSCT3SNAKWze7ndBd74rxqGwbjvf9aCJHSMsVdqxJ4ikcgRyfus3TgKer0i8ewWDFo-gw98rezKUHL03ctu9QYlJYrbOVs_F4pV47sitwnKIqDZgdG9qE_mwBorDrA/s2048/69+Park+Avenue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="2048" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdFaeYmrngdMGJtmSCT3SNAKWze7ndBd74rxqGwbjvf9aCJHSMsVdqxJ4ikcgRyfus3TgKer0i8ewWDFo-gw98rezKUHL03ctu9QYlJYrbOVs_F4pV47sitwnKIqDZgdG9qE_mwBorDrA/w400-h220/69+Park+Avenue.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Glessners’ first
child, a son whom they named George Macbeth Glessner, was born at home on
October 2, 1871, just six days before the start of the Great Chicago Fire. His
mother was confined to bed for nearly two weeks following childbirth.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGG6t3w-JcafmyopPiGJw8o0KYeSSO3sPyGD-AskgR5DsoNIvplQPIC_Wl8NGdpwTw1ajd_sk5cP85RX57hTIUXo8STmp6jBsiyAGZP7m4XRwP-17Gf0jNySzE8It3GdewmkJWgRjEVxQ/s898/1FMG+with+George.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="585" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGG6t3w-JcafmyopPiGJw8o0KYeSSO3sPyGD-AskgR5DsoNIvplQPIC_Wl8NGdpwTw1ajd_sk5cP85RX57hTIUXo8STmp6jBsiyAGZP7m4XRwP-17Gf0jNySzE8It3GdewmkJWgRjEVxQ/s320/1FMG+with+George.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Frances Glessner with George at 3-1/2 months, January 1872</i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">On Saturday, October
7, the night before the Great Fire, another serious fire destroyed nearly four
blocks bounded by Adams Street on the north, the Chicago River on the east, Van
Buren Street on the south, and Clinton Street on the west. The northern edge of
this fire was just two blocks from Glessner’s office and warehouse, a deeply
concerning fact for John Glessner until it was finally brought under control in
the early hours of October 8. In an ironic twist of fate, that fire ensured the
survival of Glessner’s office during the Chicago Fire, as the leveled blocks
served as a firebreak and prevented the fire from spreading north on the west
side of the Chicago River.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJG2xX7ju3VPwDmrLIieukezYw2DiauWQIbEqYVLtMnktUcyVljsmB7JIFybWrUKx1va4LWBcBS56PMh3qdNUQ7qkaU6r0btNPbr2EP3viLZjiwZqhHY6CFKEi-oT5Sz_uzNRP5teJbE/s2048/October+7+map+with+star+for+WM+office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1582" data-original-width="2048" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJG2xX7ju3VPwDmrLIieukezYw2DiauWQIbEqYVLtMnktUcyVljsmB7JIFybWrUKx1va4LWBcBS56PMh3qdNUQ7qkaU6r0btNPbr2EP3viLZjiwZqhHY6CFKEi-oT5Sz_uzNRP5teJbE/w400-h309/October+7+map+with+star+for+WM+office.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Map showing area burned in the October 7 fire; the red star marks the site of John Glessner's office (North is at right)</i></div></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilztbGICq6BtR737cRujksF5O1ow-T0VkSELR0KI172ZHu2ohhlGV3ymizKJGDxDmVl4bFKmkiV7fxU8m4_M497Yy6QptcP4F87b-VYbAHzBmA6GG20JKCiDFBIy2aith8LEcAYWY3p6U/s1872/Chicago+Fire+burnt+district.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1405" data-original-width="1872" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilztbGICq6BtR737cRujksF5O1ow-T0VkSELR0KI172ZHu2ohhlGV3ymizKJGDxDmVl4bFKmkiV7fxU8m4_M497Yy6QptcP4F87b-VYbAHzBmA6GG20JKCiDFBIy2aith8LEcAYWY3p6U/w400-h300/Chicago+Fire+burnt+district.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Pink area shows area burned in the Great Chicago Fire; the area burned on October 7 is bordered in blue; the location of John Glessner's office is shown with the red arrow</i></div></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Great Chicago Fire
began on Sunday, October 8 at about 8:30pm in the O’Leary barn on De Koven
Street. It quickly spread north toward the business district, fanned by strong
winds which became superheated and blew debris long distances. Lumber yards,
warehouses, coal yards, and wooden bridges were quickly consumed until the fire
had come close to Glessner’s office. He wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The watchman from my
office and warehouse, faithful Dick Cunningham, came that Sunday evening to say
I ought to go down to look after things, as the fire was but half a block away.
Of course, I went, and staid there or nearby until morning. I crossed the river
and stood at the corner of Madison and Market Streets – that very wide street
(now Wacker Drive) – and saw the blaze blown across the river, strike the west
wall of a large brick building on opposite corner, suck down that wall and back
along the roadway to my feet, so that I had to get away.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“It is impossible to
express the grandeur of the scene, and the horror. Had there been plenty, no
amount of water could have extinguished that blaze. Fanned by a strong
southwest wind, it swept over the whole business section, crossed the main
branch of the river, and burned the North Side, factories, residences, water
works, and everything. Fortunately, the fire did not come nearer than the half
block to my building, and my home was a mile and a half away. When I got home
in the morning, I found Frances had been sleeping quietly and had not missed
me.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmP8SmOgDziwUr695DSHIN9IYhkWhIY01w2xM7hSOwGsR8Tg1_TFl4eozF5crHkF1nRWjS3_W_hvF2YVk7P8u0HfDFNta2YmtxryLShJr7NN3GeJhXtXeSBFkgDIJXteJnpxnVk7sS4U/s2048/Chicago+Fire+Randolph+St+bridge+NE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1376" data-original-width="2048" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmP8SmOgDziwUr695DSHIN9IYhkWhIY01w2xM7hSOwGsR8Tg1_TFl4eozF5crHkF1nRWjS3_W_hvF2YVk7P8u0HfDFNta2YmtxryLShJr7NN3GeJhXtXeSBFkgDIJXteJnpxnVk7sS4U/w400-h269/Chicago+Fire+Randolph+St+bridge+NE.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Looking northeast across the Randolph Street bridge; this was two blocks north of John Glessner's office</i></div></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfU4jSCPZmk1dFe8GztJ5SX0Wu7RxduCABS2n-RJMhQf3Om2wj-EupE-TyUgqa4nwA7r4EiYTWiPW2lZG9DfqZJBEFr4VgeOu2GalWAWdhRWCl_2bBPMV75NGyaFu5-213y6M9X4cFoM/s900/Chicago+Fire+Madison+looking+north+from+5th+Ave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="900" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfU4jSCPZmk1dFe8GztJ5SX0Wu7RxduCABS2n-RJMhQf3Om2wj-EupE-TyUgqa4nwA7r4EiYTWiPW2lZG9DfqZJBEFr4VgeOu2GalWAWdhRWCl_2bBPMV75NGyaFu5-213y6M9X4cFoM/w400-h221/Chicago+Fire+Madison+looking+north+from+5th+Ave.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Looking north on 5th Avenue (now Wells Street) at Madison Street; this was three blocks east of John Glessner's office</i></div></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Even before the fire
burnt itself out on October 10, plans were already underway to provide relief
for the nearly 90,000 people left homeless (28% of the population). John
Glessner continues:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“I was too new in
Chicago to have much part in the relief measures but did what I could. Christie
Holloway came, conveying a carload of provisions from Springfield (Ohio), and
he stopped at my house; and other friends and acquaintances came, bringing
supplies of various kinds, and stopped with me, for there were no hotels
standing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“My friends in Ohio
and elsewhere sent contributions to me to turn over to proper authorities and
showed great confidence in me. One man whom I never had seen sent me $500.00 to
distribute where I thought best, without any restrictions. I went to five
different preachers and offered each one hundred dollars to help members of
their congregations who might be in need and too proud to ask aid. And only one
of these responded generously. The others each wanted two hundred or three
hundred dollars, and so on, but Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, Methodist, said, ‘Mr.
Glessner, there are members of my church who are in need, but they don’t need
help as badly as some others, and I would recommend you to see . . .” – so and
so of other churches.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFiTW0AQRFL2nRgr_skS6kJgNwogIB_v13UNw5hNcYJYwWtvU5C7OiVcakuIVkzb25I02a4s7iPJom4dN3J8FXnIquAXXNgG1TxwDp-lfbYSAMTb2HVuSNEF5YR6GEIGDNNm9dTW0Vrm4/s2048/Parkhurst+and+Grace+Methodist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="2048" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFiTW0AQRFL2nRgr_skS6kJgNwogIB_v13UNw5hNcYJYwWtvU5C7OiVcakuIVkzb25I02a4s7iPJom4dN3J8FXnIquAXXNgG1TxwDp-lfbYSAMTb2HVuSNEF5YR6GEIGDNNm9dTW0Vrm4/w400-h215/Parkhurst+and+Grace+Methodist.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Rev. Matthew Parkhurst; Grace Methodist Church, Chicago Avenue and LaSalle Street, as it appeared before the fire</i></div></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The ministers to whom
the donations were made were Rev. Arthur Mitchell (First Presbyterian), Rev.
Abbott E. Kittredge (Third Presbyterian – where Frances Glessner was a member),
Rev. Matthew Parkhurst (Grace Methodist), and Revs. Hartman and Anderson
(churches unknown). Regarding the clergy, John Glessner also noted that “Our
Presbyterians preached that the Chicago fire was punishment by the Lord for our
wickedness, but when the Boston fire came soon after, it was ‘Whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth.’”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">An immediate concern
for everyone was the lack of water, due to the destruction of the water works. Residents
could have water hauled from the lake at a cost of $2 to $5 per barrel, but the
Glessners were luckier than most:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Of course, everybody
was without water and when the maid came to me to say she could get none from
the tap and it was washday morning, she not knowing the extent of the fire, I
went to the kitchen, and upon examination found a large cistern full of
beautiful clear water that we used for everything except drinking.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Glessner’s business
would be quiet until spring. He was in the process of having a new warehouse
built at the southeast corner of Lake and Clinton streets, so moved his stock
of machinery into the stable behind his house and gave his warehouse at Madison
and Canal to his friends Albert and Otho Sprague, partners in the firm of
Sprague, Warner & Company. From that site, the firm was able to restart
their wholesale grocery business, which at the time was the largest of its kind
in Chicago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Surprisingly, Frances
Glessner remained totally unaware of the fire and the comings and goings of
visitors in her home, due to her confinement following the birth of George.
John Glessner noted that “We kept from Frances all knowledge of these visitors
and of the fearful tragedy of the fire for ten days or two weeks. The first
time I could take her out, we drove down through the burned district. It was a
dismal sight.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EICfLc-fDEPfZ1FsKi7fEE3WI-goIwXe5eL5JMXw1IsFrLcvanMgubVTq2dzwVlXe7m1i0nGw7v0bLqPUwIjQd-AFbUC-XRQUSdEVr4KMGxFDbfseHPL0KKLHWX6lesKsX5e8UV2dSg/s1280/Chicago+Fire+burnt+district+SE+toward+courthouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="878" data-original-width="1280" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EICfLc-fDEPfZ1FsKi7fEE3WI-goIwXe5eL5JMXw1IsFrLcvanMgubVTq2dzwVlXe7m1i0nGw7v0bLqPUwIjQd-AFbUC-XRQUSdEVr4KMGxFDbfseHPL0KKLHWX6lesKsX5e8UV2dSg/w400-h275/Chicago+Fire+burnt+district+SE+toward+courthouse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The burnt district looking southeast across Randolph toward the courthouse ruins. The Sherman House, where the Glessners spent their first week in Chicago, would have stood at extreme left across from Courthouse Square.</i></div></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the end, the
Glessners fared the tragedy far better than many others in the city. Home and
business were spared, and they were able to focus on their new role of parents,
while aiding the sufferers as they could. John Glessner closed his account of
the fire with these words:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The fire came close
to but had not damaged any of my property. Our business was entirely out of the
city, so that no sufferer owed us anything, and aside from our bank balance
being tied up for thirty days we lost not a dollar, and I felt almost mortified
because of our good fortune in the general distress.”</span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-24911992148014120632021-08-17T13:41:00.006-05:002021-08-17T19:44:19.165-05:00Chicago Fire Stories Part I: Second Presbyterian Church<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRriZ1wpXmBS_xuJ_hVc8NRswgfPaiFmwre-Sehx3ErX0P2bRRS1pQknjIT0gsEi1ALCsuK30TpbpFLt3o8nELLQP9agcyQ5XNS6vX_98ERIct5J6dJyexsXB8E8UM47KZTB2zzYKF-RI/s900/2nd+Jevne+Almini+color.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="900" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRriZ1wpXmBS_xuJ_hVc8NRswgfPaiFmwre-Sehx3ErX0P2bRRS1pQknjIT0gsEi1ALCsuK30TpbpFLt3o8nELLQP9agcyQ5XNS6vX_98ERIct5J6dJyexsXB8E8UM47KZTB2zzYKF-RI/w400-h283/2nd+Jevne+Almini+color.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Second Presbyterian Church, Jevne & Almini, 1866</i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The stately Gothic Revival
structure completed for Second Presbyterian Church at the northeast corner of
Wabash and Washington in 1851 was among the most prominent and celebrated buildings
in pre-Fire Chicago. The survival of its walls and 164-foot bell tower made it a
frequently photographed site in the months after the Fire. In this article, we
will examine many aspects of the building – an important work of architect
James Renwick Jr.; a theory as to why the exterior walls survived largely
intact; and what became of the site in the months and years following the great
conflagration that leveled much of Chicago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Second Presbyterian
Church was organized in 1842 with 26 charter members, including Benjamin
Raymond, at the time serving his second of two terms as mayor of Chicago. The
congregation’s first building was a modest one-story frame structure located at
the southeast corner of Randolph and Clark (now part of the site of the Richard
J. Daley Center). Within five years, the growth of the congregation and the
encroachment of business in this part of downtown resulted in the trustees
purchasing a new lot for $5,000 at the northeast corner of Wabash and
Washington, in what was then a quiet residential neighborhood. The property
backed up to Dearborn Place (now Garland Court) and Dearborn Park, which
extended east to Michigan Avenue (and is now the site of the Chicago Cultural
Center).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A $100 premium was
offered for the best building plan, but only a few were submitted, and none of
those proved satisfactory. A church trustee traveling to New York was introduced
to architect James Renwick Jr., who was then completing the Church of the
Pilgrims on Union Square. Renwick was quickly gaining a reputation for his
buildings in the Gothic Revival style, including Grace Church in New York City,
and his recently accepted plan for the Smithsonian Institution “Castle” in
Washington, D.C. (His best-known work, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York
City, would follow later, and was constructed between 1858 and 1879).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7Cs9pCTzTeIyr4qlN1Qm1oypa_I8eN0eEsLTd7J_3HDc_Tdd4jRYQm_U6we39b4xeXUoPdSCWwbz8ylDkMqzaWYEPd-32t7ESlJxHB2O8uRvy4Y47knZIA6a0Citq84AdfqHzTRgFZc/s900/2nd+from+Story+of+Chicago.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7Cs9pCTzTeIyr4qlN1Qm1oypa_I8eN0eEsLTd7J_3HDc_Tdd4jRYQm_U6we39b4xeXUoPdSCWwbz8ylDkMqzaWYEPd-32t7ESlJxHB2O8uRvy4Y47knZIA6a0Citq84AdfqHzTRgFZc/w266-h400/2nd+from+Story+of+Chicago.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Renwick accepted the Second
Presbyterian commission and the approved budget of $25,000. Soon after, he submitted
his sketch for the building, which was to be constructed of “tar rock,” a local
limestone quarried about four miles northwest of downtown, noted for its
bituminous tar deposits which gave it a spotted appearance (shown below). The stone was
quarried, brought to the building lot, and then cut during the fall and winter
of 1848. Work on the foundations began in the spring of 1849. This early work
was superintended by George Washington Snow, a church trustee and Chicago-based
architect remembered today as the inventor of the balloon frame method of
constructing wooden buildings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRL1kcNg2R59BuaWy3ecYC3eS34kZqCpoei7LTaqDQODY9cgYuCsRGA3NyFsiSltH0Gis8873LvyyXArl5qII7yYDp7hvp1bAuw5_xQxZM3BcibCa1ZO0Dd2kXCg2nsVF6QGpI4LoS6s/s1068/Spotted+stone.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="1068" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRL1kcNg2R59BuaWy3ecYC3eS34kZqCpoei7LTaqDQODY9cgYuCsRGA3NyFsiSltH0Gis8873LvyyXArl5qII7yYDp7hvp1bAuw5_xQxZM3BcibCa1ZO0Dd2kXCg2nsVF6QGpI4LoS6s/w400-h268/Spotted+stone.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">During the summer of
1849, architect and builder Asher Carter of Morristown, New Jersey, was engaged
to oversee the completion of the building. He was the second professional architect
to practice in Chicago, and later formed a partnership with Augustus Bauer, designing
such well-known buildings as Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirtkZwluJHc3g89du7vp-zFkUWT4fUWojQdNi05WIGJmjVtLp84p4Uh9yrb4Y8nUYyguvTy3egAHNV1evS6XKMy8TIWZ8-RnVGtagqxsxKMNFagYFr0Y9H8YVkHGtK831WNKJ3r9ffDaM/s900/2nd+pre+fire+3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="883" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirtkZwluJHc3g89du7vp-zFkUWT4fUWojQdNi05WIGJmjVtLp84p4Uh9yrb4Y8nUYyguvTy3egAHNV1evS6XKMy8TIWZ8-RnVGtagqxsxKMNFagYFr0Y9H8YVkHGtK831WNKJ3r9ffDaM/w393-h400/2nd+pre+fire+3.jpg" width="393" /></a><br /><i>Earliest known photograph of the church. Note the elegant residence at 21 Washington Street shown at far left.</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The cornerstone of the
church was laid in August 1849 and work was substantially completed by the end
of 1850. A service of dedication took place on the evening of Friday, January
24, 1851. The building came in just over the original budget, although the
addition of a bell and clock in the bell tower brought the cost to about
$35,000. A 50</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> anniversary history of the church, published in
1892, noted the following about the bell and clock:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The bell and clock
were popular features in the equipment of the church. The bell, key of E flat,
large, heavy and rich in tone, was a very important factor in securing the
prompt attendance of the congregation at the regular services.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The clock gave its
warning strike when it was time for the pastor to say, ‘In conclusion.’
Occasionally a stranger in the pulpit would prolong his discourse until he saw
unmistakable evidence that some of the congregation wanted him to conclude,
after the clock had finished striking twelve.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGT1ABKZ6CyULFizxPOLXgjTcl-wPkvY2uUWflye7weHdKyCWPoM1B9-yymJmtDXg9joFC17r60X9krcgBe3DgnBoiQXYh5luC4Bhkq-4VAzmoMN2k7bE7BYCufHUCZCWbxykDTrrlmU/s900/2nd+pre+fire+1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="877" data-original-width="900" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGT1ABKZ6CyULFizxPOLXgjTcl-wPkvY2uUWflye7weHdKyCWPoM1B9-yymJmtDXg9joFC17r60X9krcgBe3DgnBoiQXYh5luC4Bhkq-4VAzmoMN2k7bE7BYCufHUCZCWbxykDTrrlmU/w400-h390/2nd+pre+fire+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A newspaper article
published in December 1850 noted that “it is perhaps the most magnificent
Church edifice in the West.” It is believed to have been one of the first
structures in Chicago constructed of stone, predating other buildings erected
during the 1850s with “Athens marble,” a limestone quarried in the region of Joliet
and Lemont. More importantly, it appears to have been the first building west
of New York to have been built in the Gothic Revival style, setting a trend in
Chicago (and elsewhere) that continued through the time of the fire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegL3fhU5ncuI1jp9WgTPnI4rB3H2sZNnlqk7I3qntYxYYv3op6RVfDYyb-ffYZvqNHv4Ua-uWz6ekhLUj2Wc-56AHZErODj7CL648lkQTT3jR1gd-itshJ6aNVti49Lo6RZCQVyH3x3k/s900/Hesler+1858+from+CHM+i05738.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="745" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegL3fhU5ncuI1jp9WgTPnI4rB3H2sZNnlqk7I3qntYxYYv3op6RVfDYyb-ffYZvqNHv4Ua-uWz6ekhLUj2Wc-56AHZErODj7CL648lkQTT3jR1gd-itshJ6aNVti49Lo6RZCQVyH3x3k/w331-h400/Hesler+1858+from+CHM+i05738.jpg" width="331" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7TqRrUVxuY8yKu3GWLEVqN_S1qeLxWhI9eL7vb-0Eidq5tRdSmx13Oa0r8CDs5Xo0rKKG1h9QZXEsFozxlOYcfm7YDaVgMXu02Q1EuzPwuS7EaDgAO2ZSa0Lf24ZnfT9gniuwb3PXxVo/s900/Hesler+1858+from+CHM+i05738+DETAIL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="840" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7TqRrUVxuY8yKu3GWLEVqN_S1qeLxWhI9eL7vb-0Eidq5tRdSmx13Oa0r8CDs5Xo0rKKG1h9QZXEsFozxlOYcfm7YDaVgMXu02Q1EuzPwuS7EaDgAO2ZSa0Lf24ZnfT9gniuwb3PXxVo/w374-h400/Hesler+1858+from+CHM+i05738+DETAIL.jpg" width="374" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Photo looking east from the cupola of the Court House taken in 1858 by Alexander Hesler. Second Presbyterian Church can be seen in the upper right hand corner of the top photo; the detail shot below shows the church and, to the left, the Dearborn Seminary for Young Ladies.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The distinctive
limestone with its “antique appearance” quickly earned the building the name of
the “Spotted Church.” Other more lighthearted sources referred to it as the
“Church of the Holy Zebra.” (For an interesting discussion of the stone and its
later uses in Chicago, </span><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58dc103859cc68c3b0a54021/t/5c4b8132b91c910b63c5b4bb/1548452147798/Herald-vol6no1-2012.pdf" style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">click here</a><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">.)</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia07Xpcuvd8lC3WLdrJWFGHffzRVp8PwYf-HqjvPLFP43Ue32IBTRk8BZDPoyxycK7tVXQmDlLcgjJZj8m-LAKGBGpM2lJXejBVT1ImrFwVdLZweRayB1EfkwtVgnd0BGkBsO3jD8DYRc/s900/1857+Braunhold+%2526+Sonne+map.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="900" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia07Xpcuvd8lC3WLdrJWFGHffzRVp8PwYf-HqjvPLFP43Ue32IBTRk8BZDPoyxycK7tVXQmDlLcgjJZj8m-LAKGBGpM2lJXejBVT1ImrFwVdLZweRayB1EfkwtVgnd0BGkBsO3jD8DYRc/w400-h300/1857+Braunhold+%2526+Sonne+map.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>1857 Braunhold & Sonne map showing the back (east) facade of the church, which faced into Dearborn Park. Note that the church is completely surrounded by residences.</i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">By the mid-1860s, the
church found itself facing the same predicament it had encountered twenty years earlier –
namely the encroachment of business into a residential neighborhood. The two
maps shown below, dated 1862 and 1869, show this rapid transformation. In the
1862 map, produced by E. Whitefield for Rufus Blanchard, all the lots
surrounding the church were occupied by dwellings, except for the Dearborn
Seminary - a private school for girls on the west side of Wabash, and an
Episcopal church – the Church of the Holy Communion – a few doors north of
Second Presbyterian. (That church, visible at far left in the top image of this article, was built in 1859, and abandoned just nine
years later when the congregation relocated three miles south).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWPbLeV76b7RZHStVG1r5m-0BMGV-Qk517qNeXrVinSDgoja4-PhrP_eLL9-kBffSURaVtGU1m_etehsVPRayElblP_7WLHt5jxFmNxUwqN0y01Z5pZLniEw4OuBzfCcbT3v8auJvlw4/s900/Map+1862+Blanchard.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="856" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWPbLeV76b7RZHStVG1r5m-0BMGV-Qk517qNeXrVinSDgoja4-PhrP_eLL9-kBffSURaVtGU1m_etehsVPRayElblP_7WLHt5jxFmNxUwqN0y01Z5pZLniEw4OuBzfCcbT3v8auJvlw4/w380-h400/Map+1862+Blanchard.jpg" width="380" /></a><br /><i>1862 Blanchard map<br /><br /></i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">As seen in the 1869
Sanborn Fire Insurance map, the entire block north of the church had been
rebuilt with large commercial blocks. One of the largest was the five-story
building for the wholesale druggists Lord & Smith immediately north of the
church, which would have blocked all light through the north facing stained
glass windows. J. V. Farwell & Co. offered the church $192,000 for its
prime corner location – a lot which had cost just $5,000 twenty years earlier.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlonW2Zq6evfy4sK2FJlnQaIvdQye6xc9-Qvs3UWauvfIviZLDm8955lhirUaqLcxnL-m47jv3Ufvi_ehZMk1pdQjczZAFOXYImMz01vNGfxfq0Y0mHQ5L0EK6cz2bwaZSyAVtI7_gYOI/s900/Map+1869+Sanborn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="798" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlonW2Zq6evfy4sK2FJlnQaIvdQye6xc9-Qvs3UWauvfIviZLDm8955lhirUaqLcxnL-m47jv3Ufvi_ehZMk1pdQjczZAFOXYImMz01vNGfxfq0Y0mHQ5L0EK6cz2bwaZSyAVtI7_gYOI/w355-h400/Map+1869+Sanborn.jpg" width="355" /></a><br /><i>1869 Sanborn map, the church is shown in blue at center.</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Church members were
divided on what to do. William Bross, then serving as Lieutenant Governor of
Illinois, recommended razing the church building and erecting a large business
block with stores and offices on the first two floors, and a large auditorium
for church purposes on the top floor. (The Methodists did adopt this type of
plan and remain to this day in the Chicago Temple on the site of their original
church building at Washington and Clark).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The chief objection to
remaining at the downtown location was the fact that many of the church members
were moving out of the area and relocating to an area two to three miles to the
south. It was feared that these members would opt to build a new church
convenient to their homes, thus abandoning the old Second Church downtown.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy4zPnmyJkIRG7Ee0ek0SSS2QiwDVQedwjparWN_D8y582vuXokKal8Y5atNfAGpy4iLz1Yfy0CSUrKfxKG2bLmIOb1HJ2iX7XxtgBq5IRfGQduv8JM6PSYrXmHWa077YW2mMpE44PBFo/s900/Spotted+Church+LFLBHS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="618" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy4zPnmyJkIRG7Ee0ek0SSS2QiwDVQedwjparWN_D8y582vuXokKal8Y5atNfAGpy4iLz1Yfy0CSUrKfxKG2bLmIOb1HJ2iX7XxtgBq5IRfGQduv8JM6PSYrXmHWa077YW2mMpE44PBFo/w275-h400/Spotted+Church+LFLBHS.jpg" width="275" /></a><br /><i>The church as it appeared about 1870. Note the large Lord & Smith building immediately to the north.</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Finally, during the
summer of 1871, the congregation voted to sell the downtown property for
$161,000 to Timothy Wright while retaining ownership of the building itself. A
new site was purchased at the corner of Wabash and Twentieth, later exchanged
for the present lot at the northwest corner of Michigan and Twentieth (now
Cullerton). At the same time, the congregation formally merged with the Olivet
Presbyterian Church, at the time located at Wabash and 14</span><sup style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street,
the combined congregation to take possession of the new building upon its
completion.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Hqb9Z0h3kDZBdoYmljVFsZKtw8-I6VioMQQfHwk1m8CuqRqCPlOhks4hOS_znniGv0Jd7cmPSK_R-adpVWZABGusO2X-mWvJEJypKcPMiktJs0_hH6A6DoFJRez7BVY7LzqAxoPc2vU/s900/1871-10-02+Headline+last+service.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="734" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Hqb9Z0h3kDZBdoYmljVFsZKtw8-I6VioMQQfHwk1m8CuqRqCPlOhks4hOS_znniGv0Jd7cmPSK_R-adpVWZABGusO2X-mWvJEJypKcPMiktJs0_hH6A6DoFJRez7BVY7LzqAxoPc2vU/w326-h400/1871-10-02+Headline+last+service.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>The final service was
held at the old church building at Wabash and Washington on Sunday, October 1,
1871. The next day, the </span><i style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Tribune</i><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> reported:</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The rapidity of the
growth of this city would seem to be an exhausted theme did not some new
occurrence almost daily impress it upon us. The disappearance of one building
of note after another, in the more central part of the city, to make room for
the raising of one more suitable to commercial needs, is one of the indications
. . . Now the obituary of the Second Presbyterian Church, situated on the
corner of Washington street and Wabash avenue, must be written. The last gasp
was taken by the old church yesterday morning; the old building is dead;
decomposition will soon set in.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A reunion of current
and former church members took place on the evening of Tuesday, October 3,
after which the building was closed. In the meantime, the trustees continued
their efforts to sell the building to someone who would dismantle it and reuse
the stone for a new structure.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1SVKCwDcV9mE6WyjIAKEBEnymCjbjmfUPrDzON734EulFd_62-T94E_LBd85eCuD157s7H8KDXJIm-ZYmWWVxlpZVNURUJeNMp7kSB9jwdr6fhHIiKSuzu_u0l03iNJfoFO2FNnVxjE/s900/1871-10-02+Bids+for+purchase+of+building.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="900" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1SVKCwDcV9mE6WyjIAKEBEnymCjbjmfUPrDzON734EulFd_62-T94E_LBd85eCuD157s7H8KDXJIm-ZYmWWVxlpZVNURUJeNMp7kSB9jwdr6fhHIiKSuzu_u0l03iNJfoFO2FNnVxjE/w400-h217/1871-10-02+Bids+for+purchase+of+building.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>On Sunday, October 8,
1871, exactly one week after the last service was held in the building, the
Great Chicago Fire ignited in the barn behind Mrs. O’Leary’s home at 137 De
Koven Street. On Monday, the fire consumed the entire downtown district,
including the church building. When the smoke cleared the next day, almost all of
the downtown buildings were totally destroyed. It was quickly noted, however,
that the walls and bell tower of Second Presbyterian Church had survived
virtually intact, a fact made even more remarkable when noted that the Lord
& Smith building immediately to the north was partially blown up as part of
an unsuccessful attempt to create a firebreak.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghN6A-gmc3t5P3XAJ4iW-1aVSw-LU6EUFt7S2jn7kKWZtjJ-nRkUP5t-8svXFg2TCKKFCMSIvXFTrYdKfZkBk-uATDR3x1U1PnWsShpIEqN00Uhbj_1OPbjuHW1nOWX7rQrFujXBAsVtI/s900/2nd+after+fire+Angle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="900" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghN6A-gmc3t5P3XAJ4iW-1aVSw-LU6EUFt7S2jn7kKWZtjJ-nRkUP5t-8svXFg2TCKKFCMSIvXFTrYdKfZkBk-uATDR3x1U1PnWsShpIEqN00Uhbj_1OPbjuHW1nOWX7rQrFujXBAsVtI/w400-h309/2nd+after+fire+Angle.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>The church looking west from Michigan Avenue<br /><br /></i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Use of the bituminous
limestone may have been a factor in the survival of the building. An article
from the October 26 edition of the </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">Chicago Tribune</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, however, noted that
confusion over the use of the stone and its ability to withstand fire was
widespread:</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“A writer in the
American edition of Chambers Edinburgh Journal, published before the fire,
stated that in the neighborhood of Chicago are enormous deposits of ‘oil-bearing
limestone,’ of which many houses are built. Inspired by this suggestion,
numerous papers are discussing in the East whether the uncontrollable fury of
the fire, and the rapid demolition of all our stone structures, were not owing
to the use of this bituminous stone. Various buildings are cited, and their
speedy destruction looked upon as proof that the intense heat under which they
yielded, was due to the presence of the oil in the stone.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“To all of which it is
only necessary to state that the supposed oil-bearing stone was not used in
this city, except in some cases for foundations, which are all intact, and that
the only structure of any size built of that material, was the Second
Presbyterian Church, the walls of which are all standing and did not crumble or
melt under the heat. The stone mainly used was the Athens marble, a limestone formation,
handsome, easily worked, which had become a favorite with builders. Until this
fire it had exhibited no special incapacity to resist heat.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBmcePQj3u_vVoKxW22ChzeOpKspizEnpvtoQ1YqpF58w1Rczi5IVv3hT_mp0FqnRPJlEqM2qZ2EH5F2NjmZix2uoSXM8dC10_oi4m9VVF6jxuHSn7sH-Bjz-4eMgbh-iwF3FOQVALf5w/s900/2nd+after+fire+across+Drake.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="900" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBmcePQj3u_vVoKxW22ChzeOpKspizEnpvtoQ1YqpF58w1Rczi5IVv3hT_mp0FqnRPJlEqM2qZ2EH5F2NjmZix2uoSXM8dC10_oi4m9VVF6jxuHSn7sH-Bjz-4eMgbh-iwF3FOQVALf5w/w400-h396/2nd+after+fire+across+Drake.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>The church looking north from Madison Street across the ruins of the Drake Block.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8B47tiH1cXuPLYe_P-WEgRVpSeqXvm-qNpHjJOSTsMYLiH_5poo_XKNFaX319_XgGHPkFkFzEUCllIZsgNudz1slqdWlbVaAwGKd__zlPSfGr75wvSGpxJzW1tdm7o-AKe491THOrHfw/s900/2nd+after+fire+across+Field+Leiter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="872" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8B47tiH1cXuPLYe_P-WEgRVpSeqXvm-qNpHjJOSTsMYLiH_5poo_XKNFaX319_XgGHPkFkFzEUCllIZsgNudz1slqdWlbVaAwGKd__zlPSfGr75wvSGpxJzW1tdm7o-AKe491THOrHfw/w388-h400/2nd+after+fire+across+Field+Leiter.jpg" width="388" /></a><br /><i>The church looking east from State Street across the ruins of Field, Leiter & Co.</i></div><i><br /></i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">(It is interesting to
note that the walls of the present Second Presbyterian Church, constructed of
the same bituminous limestone, also survived a devastating fire in March 1900
that completely destroyed the sanctuary and roof).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The church building
was quickly put into use. Church member Charles P. Kellogg was the owner of a
large clothing manufacturing business which had been burned out in the fire. By
the end of October, Kellogg advertised:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“To those of our
customers who have been obliged to buy Clothing for the past three weeks in St.
Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Dubuque, St. Joseph, and other inferior
markets, we desire to state that we have rented the old Second Presbyterian Church,
corner Wabash-av. and Washington-st., which we are now roofing over, making of
it as good a store as circumstances will permit. We shall take immediate steps
to fill this store with a more desirable stock than ever before exhibited by
us, and shall do our whole duty in re-establishing the reputation that this
market has always sustained of being the best clothing market in the country.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXJa89020LOQR8AmpMgw3dVm1B3XKYdDYYvJXpupOmyd2kWqsEjHuzopxVtxTPBOE7xXmTWRUwH1w8t_jtbb6kKS9h1zoMOLUQFXXTLoAllxjmtISzyXKqBc8MVuVMiat8rOj24AB_jE/s900/2nd+post+fire+with+roof.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="900" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXJa89020LOQR8AmpMgw3dVm1B3XKYdDYYvJXpupOmyd2kWqsEjHuzopxVtxTPBOE7xXmTWRUwH1w8t_jtbb6kKS9h1zoMOLUQFXXTLoAllxjmtISzyXKqBc8MVuVMiat8rOj24AB_jE/w400-h330/2nd+post+fire+with+roof.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Church building showing temporary roof installed over the sanctuary by Charles Kellogg.</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The side walls of the
church building were 31 feet high, so Kellogg was able to divide the former
sanctuary into two floors containing nearly 20,000 square feet of usable space.
His company moved into its new building on Madison Street near Market by May
1872, at which time he advertised the former church space for rent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">After the fire, the
church collected the insurance proceeds on the building, and the stone became
the property of Timothy Wright, who had purchased the land in August 1871. He
apparently entered into an agreement with the congregation, as it was noted in
August 1872 that “a portion of the stone of the old is being used in the new
Second Presbyterian Church, now being rapidly rebuilt, at the corner of
Michigan avenue and Twentieth street.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The building stood
largely intact for nearly two years. An article from June 1873 stated that “in
the way of ruins our visitors are considerably more than a year too late to see
much.” Mention was made of a portion of the Court House which still stood,
along with partial walls of the post office and the Grand Central Depot, but
the “most picturesque of all the ruins is that of the Second Presbyterian
Church.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">By September 1873,
demolition of the building was finally underway and by the next month
excavation began for a hotel planned by Timothy Wright. During demolition, the
cornerstone of the church was located, its tin box containing water-soaked
copies of various newspapers and periodicals from 1849, and a Morocco
leatherbound pocket Bible.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wright salvaged much
of the stone and transported it to Winnetka, where he intended to build a
church in memory of his mother, who had been one of the charter members of
Second Presbyterian. The church plan never materialized, and the stone was
eventually sold to J. Hall McCormick, who hauled it to Lake Forest with the
intention of building a house. His plans changed, and he sold the stone to the
trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest, which used it in the
construction of its new building, designed by architect Henry Ives Cobb, and
dedicated on June 10, 1887. The use was most appropriate as the Lake Forest church
had close ties with Second Presbyterian. The Lake Forest Association was begun
in the lecture room of the old church in 1856, and three years later the church
was organized in the same space.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHPeoTaN6AOavHoh4u35oAR3uaXOezqzjucWjD1-cRMJzjgqFiSiBPVlydsnhDd2oIBXRp9bvNrP16-nZ552h7cEbfqCt2LM7RnnF1WgflsuebNvLXr5L4Cm0g0_qXSDEdWcVU5AXLaQ/s900/Lake+Forest+Presbyterian+by+Steve+Sabourin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="900" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHPeoTaN6AOavHoh4u35oAR3uaXOezqzjucWjD1-cRMJzjgqFiSiBPVlydsnhDd2oIBXRp9bvNrP16-nZ552h7cEbfqCt2LM7RnnF1WgflsuebNvLXr5L4Cm0g0_qXSDEdWcVU5AXLaQ/w400-h318/Lake+Forest+Presbyterian+by+Steve+Sabourin.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest showing the spotted stone.<br />(Photo by Steve Sabourin)</i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />For unknown reasons,
Wright never moved forward with his plans to build a hotel on the former site
of the church. In December 1876, he sold the land to John Taylor of New York
for $97,500, just 60% of what he had paid for it five years earlier. Taylor
quickly proceeded with the construction of a four-story business block which
cost about $100,000. By October 1877, the building was leased to a large
clothing firm, H. A. Kohn & Bros. (That building was replaced in 1915 by
the Garland Building, a 21-story structure designed by Christian Eckstorm which
still stands).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRcgZ-E3fb_7mcXmC7IZ8MlLwcBIo4nr9vYZzCPpN8qP2izsZz6taL-yi1JIH_sSAudn_WxfWSit44jUOVr7UqqurYSq2o0Gv_L4fKUd8BNS3dluWco93T4UcR_ptz6GM8DiSkxZLHRWo/s900/Garland+Building.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="563" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRcgZ-E3fb_7mcXmC7IZ8MlLwcBIo4nr9vYZzCPpN8qP2izsZz6taL-yi1JIH_sSAudn_WxfWSit44jUOVr7UqqurYSq2o0Gv_L4fKUd8BNS3dluWco93T4UcR_ptz6GM8DiSkxZLHRWo/w250-h400/Garland+Building.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><i>The Garland Building looking west from Michigan Avenue.</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>The stone was not the
only part of the building which survived. After the church held its final
service on October 1, 1871, two ornate Gothic Revival pulpit chairs, part of
the design by James Renwick Jr., were removed and sent off for reupholstering.
That location was outside the burnt district and the chairs survived. They can still
be seen on display in the narthex of the current church.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYgPRHlEBkxlHBeF3FJbTr9a42sWj3ciXE245AHp-TSj5iHnmy6waBf_ENRQrjHPNcqtfm4dqXJYZgMJJAxgkAQ7CIgvlZdmrH33AJ8HVzp_08tgRJXB0gj9K87I3KHMwxPFkaJIli9jk/s900/Chair+from+Spotted+Church.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="532" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYgPRHlEBkxlHBeF3FJbTr9a42sWj3ciXE245AHp-TSj5iHnmy6waBf_ENRQrjHPNcqtfm4dqXJYZgMJJAxgkAQ7CIgvlZdmrH33AJ8HVzp_08tgRJXB0gj9K87I3KHMwxPFkaJIli9jk/w236-h400/Chair+from+Spotted+Church.JPG" width="236" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps the most
interesting part of the building to survive was its wondrous bell, or at least
parts of it. During the fire, the bell came crashing down from its perch high
up in the tower. It was rescued and found its way to the jewelry firm of I.
& C. W. Speer & Co. In February 1872, the firm began advertising that a
variety of souvenirs of the fire were being made from the bell. (Souvenirs were
also made from the bells salvaged from the Court House and St. Mary’s Church).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The oldest bells from
the great fire are made into charms by the oldest manufacturers, I. & C. W.
Speer & Co., established 1843. They are now making twenty-five different
kinds of charms, including the beautiful paper weight, the cow kicking over the
lamp; beautiful Bibles, with date of fire on the cover; bells, book-marks,
tea-bells, and all other charms from the famous old Second Presbyterian Church
bell, which was the first that rang the fire alarms, by authority of the city
of Chicago.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZaqt0E_YKsjTuyC30rITqWI981qhyphenhyphenr8ABzvUt0x2CsxBTsiW7LTmOtgxGiBVB5ZVlYPQgmHkuHpeGvFJLI9VWARp9jTevgPFHW7iPUwOw5P79prsBS3dsDKxhLj3_e73v7SMLDJvQdOU/s900/1872-03-28+Tea+bells+ad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="900" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZaqt0E_YKsjTuyC30rITqWI981qhyphenhyphenr8ABzvUt0x2CsxBTsiW7LTmOtgxGiBVB5ZVlYPQgmHkuHpeGvFJLI9VWARp9jTevgPFHW7iPUwOw5P79prsBS3dsDKxhLj3_e73v7SMLDJvQdOU/w400-h130/1872-03-28+Tea+bells+ad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>The story of the
second building occupied by Second Presbyterian Church is significant. The
“Spotted Church” was an important early design of architect James Renwick Jr.
which introduced Gothic Revival to the West and ushered in the age of stone
buildings in Chicago. The reuse of the stone from the walls that miraculously
survived the fire, along with the existence of the pulpit chairs and souvenirs
from the church bell are all tangible links to the Great Chicago Fire that
forever changed the destiny of Chicago.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">ADDITIONAL IMAGES SHOWING THE BUILDING AFTER THE FIRE</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3P5uzll6mFC9VOq0NuTSxTEltmuJ0UMcFh48seUo85RZIGyv4aOgO6TN8Wfdsvv1cIm6wAif_PWgfiI3xjwKY2PqJxJUkX7jrJeHWVLV4sEwL_k-XZQgUq2IfYUWU8PUEou733ivyJ2I/s900/2nd+post+fire+2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="887" data-original-width="900" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3P5uzll6mFC9VOq0NuTSxTEltmuJ0UMcFh48seUo85RZIGyv4aOgO6TN8Wfdsvv1cIm6wAif_PWgfiI3xjwKY2PqJxJUkX7jrJeHWVLV4sEwL_k-XZQgUq2IfYUWU8PUEou733ivyJ2I/w400-h394/2nd+post+fire+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil881wFeiisyvmLc1yfQYTrlF2SK5tta9V9UavhHVs7pLkPlWb_UigwWLOopcTAuEMONwFDujc1sqWdPHEgy_WIvKcz4wmhuraxfoKIskTNgUrsjOiUgvi2VEvqJTWNNecSt191oz6qJo/s900/2nd+post+fire+Chamberlin+book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="834" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil881wFeiisyvmLc1yfQYTrlF2SK5tta9V9UavhHVs7pLkPlWb_UigwWLOopcTAuEMONwFDujc1sqWdPHEgy_WIvKcz4wmhuraxfoKIskTNgUrsjOiUgvi2VEvqJTWNNecSt191oz6qJo/w371-h400/2nd+post+fire+Chamberlin+book.jpg" width="371" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9teptO9Q0laDneig6InjbgP2meug6HRyLJQ5mAndq1WzKAlxPOFpPXYFOiPTT-hgDsUNv5cv3Uk7lUNICXdG_4Kg2WCTWOblG38WHWwUHsRUIXk9ptPOFu0tz1pLmxtrTdWWKFaCPgFs/s900/After+1871+fire.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="900" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9teptO9Q0laDneig6InjbgP2meug6HRyLJQ5mAndq1WzKAlxPOFpPXYFOiPTT-hgDsUNv5cv3Uk7lUNICXdG_4Kg2WCTWOblG38WHWwUHsRUIXk9ptPOFu0tz1pLmxtrTdWWKFaCPgFs/w400-h201/After+1871+fire.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPE3uxBGeC72rvvXWYDyLtQgJCkH0obOUfO85efUFvb5JUqFYXV0W63cmjoqVQykpoJ3SX0XTKoJVvP3_1E5LYgSHcgCJswd6ukuXZWyT7qvFsqWqr2PqzsEonJ7m1RKV5j392H_v2T00/s900/First+National+Bank+from+interior+of+2nd+Pres.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="877" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPE3uxBGeC72rvvXWYDyLtQgJCkH0obOUfO85efUFvb5JUqFYXV0W63cmjoqVQykpoJ3SX0XTKoJVvP3_1E5LYgSHcgCJswd6ukuXZWyT7qvFsqWqr2PqzsEonJ7m1RKV5j392H_v2T00/w390-h400/First+National+Bank+from+interior+of+2nd+Pres.jpg" width="390" /></a><br /><i>The First National Bank, seen through the front entrance of the church, was one of the few buildings in downtown Chicago to survive largely intact.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7w67sUJ1eBns0hbqYMNieZwk5wReN19U8KmjnT3jJYWs-YzH3o10lCG5zZMiRgFYjMGMyjmMGYlE9RqzVZklhfhUvhc69bfqk8cBOc7-tu4NEDMVsrXSSceHYRuR_Pt05kw-uAZG08A/s900/Interior+of+church+after+1871+fire.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="900" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7w67sUJ1eBns0hbqYMNieZwk5wReN19U8KmjnT3jJYWs-YzH3o10lCG5zZMiRgFYjMGMyjmMGYlE9RqzVZklhfhUvhc69bfqk8cBOc7-tu4NEDMVsrXSSceHYRuR_Pt05kw-uAZG08A/w400-h399/Interior+of+church+after+1871+fire.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-39291905676516869902021-07-19T22:29:00.001-05:002021-07-20T20:27:36.840-05:00A landmarked White Castle and the development of East Cermak Road<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6kv5p_TqTDJGwcnjiOnNSsq2vjah91WgUDZJfxlqdGND9IHcnyNdhmEg-i7DXauqMoLDBbPOP5ulVBh1x91paSZmoeL-QITSxIo6p0R76pI4V0QvTxTEYy2yOcB9R5LsL3Q1TiL5mQw/s1500/1933+Cermak+looking+west+at+Calumet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1500" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6kv5p_TqTDJGwcnjiOnNSsq2vjah91WgUDZJfxlqdGND9IHcnyNdhmEg-i7DXauqMoLDBbPOP5ulVBh1x91paSZmoeL-QITSxIo6p0R76pI4V0QvTxTEYy2yOcB9R5LsL3Q1TiL5mQw/w400-h288/1933+Cermak+looking+west+at+Calumet.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Cermak Road looking west at Calumet Avenue, 1933<br /><br /></i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The neighborhood
around Glessner House possesses many landmark buildings, ranging from Gilded
Age mansions to large manufacturing plants. Perhaps the most unusual, and definitely
the smallest, is White Castle #16 at 43 E. Cermak Road, designated a Chicago
landmark in 2011. In this article, we will look at the development of East Cermak
Road (originally Twenty-second Street); the founding of White Castle, which is celebrating
its centennial in 2021; and the history of White Castle #16, constructed in
1930.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Development of
Twenty-second Street</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Twenty-second Street,
which formed the southern boundary of the exclusive Prairie Avenue residential district,
always functioned as a commercial strip to support the residents living to the
north. The street was lined with dry goods stores, bakeries, butchers, and
grocers, along with tailors, dressmakers, shoemakers, milliners, and jewelers. Sullivan’s
Dancing Academy (later Metcalf’s South Side Academy) was located on the south
side of Twenty-second east of Michigan.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">George A. Seaverns completed
a series of 28 stores with flats (apartments) above in 1882. The buildings, which
cost $250,000 to construct, occupied the entire block between Wabash and State
on the south side of Twenty-second. The flats featured cherry wood trim, fine
gas fixtures, private bathrooms, hot water boilers, and floors lined with two
layers of felting to deaden the noise between units. The stores were considered
the finest on the street and featured large plate glass display windows.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qypmJraaGC_nXybk6GENqL60sZsv4ZFHPn0zJ4vksJCXpUBTBsUYK3wc1owHn7DkC9VgHF2cHJq_gRPknXYWNOqvhHI7XaqlFof6grKEsBqMY4N_svQUdUKmOJ0G9HI090Mglf1j40A/s900/Southern+Hotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="900" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qypmJraaGC_nXybk6GENqL60sZsv4ZFHPn0zJ4vksJCXpUBTBsUYK3wc1owHn7DkC9VgHF2cHJq_gRPknXYWNOqvhHI7XaqlFof6grKEsBqMY4N_svQUdUKmOJ0G9HI090Mglf1j40A/w400-h260/Southern+Hotel.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Southern Hotel</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The largest building for
years was the stone-clad Southern Hotel at the northwest corner of Wabash and
Twenty-second. In 1892, the much-larger 10-story Lexington Hotel was
constructed at the northeast corner of Michigan and Twenty-second, in
preparation for the large influx of visitors to the city during the World’s
Columbian Exposition. That same year also saw the construction of Chicago’s
first “L” – the South Side Rapid Transit (now the Green Line) – built on
elevated tracks that ran above the alley between Wabash and State. The
Twenty-second Street station, located on the south side of the street, opened
in June 1892.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Neighborhood
Begins to Change</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wabash and State,
along with the streets to the west, always had a very different character than
the prime residential streets to the east – Michigan, Indiana, Prairie, and
Calumet. In the 1880s, Chicago’s infamous red-light district, known as the
Levee, established itself along State, Dearborn, and Clark, between Nineteenth
and Twenty-second streets. Although the Levee was shut down in 1912, gambling
continued to thrive in the area, which also became replete with speakeasies
during Prohibition. The Southern Hotel became the “notorious” Cadillac Hotel,
and Al Capone established his headquarters in the nearby Lexington Hotel in
1928. (Remember when Geraldo Rivera opened Capone’s vault in the building on
live TV in 1986?)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXOyzRiEwE6oCSGjFeiQ_lvpihk_zgrmsy-bmXDZaxQp9sUPTuN04iqWPzEI83JsjHLDnoEZiBdeehe1Nj30IUL-NF3iuvh4Wwd_-JGSKoqbSe1j63x3W63llm3kkwD_ay3Jrr7EyuWc/s1500/1910+Lexington+Hotel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="1500" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXOyzRiEwE6oCSGjFeiQ_lvpihk_zgrmsy-bmXDZaxQp9sUPTuN04iqWPzEI83JsjHLDnoEZiBdeehe1Nj30IUL-NF3iuvh4Wwd_-JGSKoqbSe1j63x3W63llm3kkwD_ay3Jrr7EyuWc/w400-h318/1910+Lexington+Hotel.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Looking north on Michigan Avenue toward the Lexington Hotel, circa 1910</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The two-story frame
building that stood on the present site of White Castle #16 originally bore the
address of 165 Twenty-second Street. Prior to the 1909 renumbering of Chicago
streets, address numbers began with 1 closest to Lake Michigan and then
increased going west. In 1909, the building was renumbered 43 E. Twenty-second
Street. A meat market occupied the building in the late 19<sup>th</sup>
century, but by the early 1900s, slightly more questionable businesses could be
found there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">A 1905 advertisement shows
the building occupied by the Eagle Medicinal Wine Company, which bottled and
distributed its “Dr. Young’s Elixir of Life” that appears to have been little
more than port wine being sold for medicinal purposes. The product promised to
serve as “a body builder, strength creator, and blood maker for old people,
puny children, and weak, run down persons.” Just a year later, Newhouse,
promoted as “America’s greatest palmist and psychic reader” was offering $5.00
readings at the location for just 50 cents.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDBUrX06kdiDJDaNBKjKp1xUk19hrd7z5FAU2rjn2Kz3guBgE53voDu_ugpAr2v-4mlUWCFKB2p6Hory9jWUy6alFr97p2c36C3nq9VYzkUM0ZYIlvubtj2fmPSG9Iox0BIICgE4hajY/s1500/1906-01-28+Newhouse+the+palmist.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1500" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDBUrX06kdiDJDaNBKjKp1xUk19hrd7z5FAU2rjn2Kz3guBgE53voDu_ugpAr2v-4mlUWCFKB2p6Hory9jWUy6alFr97p2c36C3nq9VYzkUM0ZYIlvubtj2fmPSG9Iox0BIICgE4hajY/w400-h305/1906-01-28+Newhouse+the+palmist.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Modern Street Takes
Shape<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">By the early 1920s,
the growing number of automobiles in Chicago required a major reevaluation of arterial
streets to relieve increasing amounts of traffic. Several streets were widened
during the decade including both Indiana and Michigan avenues. Twenty-second
Street was seen as essential to the redevelopment of the near South Side, and
the City Council adopted an ordinance to increase its width from 66 to 120
feet. With large buildings like the Lexington Hotel standing on the north side
of Twenty-second street, the decision was made to demolish the smaller buildings
on the south side of the street and then redevelop it with large office
buildings, hotels, and apartment houses.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWrqehY0F13DfAZ9qZG7a_kVZ4Gp1k50T-MLwXn40nJ1spNx1GNroV5w_GabW2KgzNfoxWh7KMUeqi6X1F8HXmolYbTp21SfnvWsC1JQp8FsSZmMsBrXvZ8TSFUk54Jkcu_8OwwKby6Y/s1500/1923+demo+for+widening+2206-08+Prairie+at+left.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="1500" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWrqehY0F13DfAZ9qZG7a_kVZ4Gp1k50T-MLwXn40nJ1spNx1GNroV5w_GabW2KgzNfoxWh7KMUeqi6X1F8HXmolYbTp21SfnvWsC1JQp8FsSZmMsBrXvZ8TSFUk54Jkcu_8OwwKby6Y/w400-h204/1923+demo+for+widening+2206-08+Prairie+at+left.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Demolition work was
underway by 1923 when the photograph above was taken. It shows Twenty-second
Street looking west at Prairie Avenue; buildings in the foreground have been reduced to rubble. The work proceeded at a slow pace and by
1926 the city had run out of funds to complete the demolitions and proceed with
the street widening. By the time the work was completed, the country was just
entering the Great Depression and the anticipated large-scale redevelopment
never materialized. (Twenty-second street was renamed Cermak Road on March 6,
1933, just nine days after Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak died of gunshot wounds
sustained three weeks earlier in Florida while meeting with President-elect
Franklin D. Roosevelt. The street was selected as it ran through the
neighborhoods of Pilsen and Lawndale, both of which were home to large numbers
of Czech Americans).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The street widening
created another issue. The lots on the south side of Twenty-second Street were
originally 85 feet deep. After the widening, the lots were only 31 feet deep,
making reuse possibilities limited, especially since the lots backed up to an
alley running parallel to Twenty-second. However, the shallow lot at the
southeast corner of Twenty-second Street and Wabash Avenue proved ideal for the
construction of a White Castle with its small building footprint.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">White Castle</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">White Castle System of
Eating Houses, Inc., the first fast-food chain in America, was founded in
Wichita, Kansas in 1921 by J. Walter Anderson and Edgar Waldo “Billy” Ingram.
The name was selected to convey a very specific message – White denoted cleanliness,
while Castle conveyed a sense of strength and permanence. Ingram was said to
have been inspired by Chicago’s Water Tower for the basic design of the
buildings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Although seen today as
just one of many fast-food chains in America, the founding of White Castle had
a profound impact on American’s eating habits. Prior to White Castle, the
hamburger had a lowly reputation and was seen mostly as “carnival” food. The
experimentation by White Castle with innovations including how to cook the meat
for maximum flavor and serving it on warm buns instead of between slices of
bread elevated the hamburger into the most ubiquitous sandwich in the United
States.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The company promised
speed in filling orders and also popularized the concept of “take out” food,
offering only a few stools in their stands and encouraging customers to “buy
‘em by the sack.” Equally important, White Castle standardized everything it
did, assuring the customer the same experience regardless of which location
they went to. This included the menu, appearance of its employees, and the
programmatic architecture, first utilizing white painted concrete block, then white
glazed brick, and finally white porcelain steel panels, for the exterior.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">A focus on cleanliness
was a relatively new and novel concept in the industry, especially since the
kitchens were open and visible to customers. White tile and stainless steel
were used on the interiors. The standard extended to the employees as well. An
employee checklist from 1931 entitled “Before Going on Duty” noted 24 items from
head to foot that were to be checked before being seen by customers. These
included everything from “cap should cover hair” and “correct bad breath” to
“no patches in trousers seat” and “clean fingernails.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Extensive marketing
was another part of White Castle’s success. Ingram believed the company had
“performed an important public service by legitimizing the hamburger as a
quick, inexpensive, tasty food fit for all income classes, not just the working
class” and this was reflected in the extensive newspaper advertising. Coupons
and special offers were regularly featured such as the advertisement below from
1934 promoting five hamburgers for ten cents.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC53mbwvfKaljDbRGn8PTXJuRkO2hrX5eKyBNE4ltPBDWwSlTXx66o5es-cnGk1e2rIAE88X_B080Ty1f4E1RZPL2rKwI64yEbVS1rqj9tYTNjYg66C46c2V2vQcsuGgzbjK12cbTxkEo/s1500/1934+-+Five+hamburgers+for+ten+cents.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1011" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC53mbwvfKaljDbRGn8PTXJuRkO2hrX5eKyBNE4ltPBDWwSlTXx66o5es-cnGk1e2rIAE88X_B080Ty1f4E1RZPL2rKwI64yEbVS1rqj9tYTNjYg66C46c2V2vQcsuGgzbjK12cbTxkEo/w270-h400/1934+-+Five+hamburgers+for+ten+cents.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">During 1921, several
stands were opened in Wichita. By 1930 additional stands had opened in Omaha, Kansas
City, St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis,
Columbus Ohio, Detroit, and New York City. The year 1929 saw the opening of
nine White Castles in Chicago.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">White Castle #16<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">There were fifteen
White Castle stands in Chicago by July of 1930, when the building permit for
#16 was issued. (The company numbered each stand within a city based on the
order in which they were constructed). Chicago stands were all located in working-class
neighborhoods on the West and South sides and were situated on prominent
corners near streetcar transfer points or elevated train stations. Lloyd W.
Ray, construction superintendent for White Castle, was responsible for the
design of the stand, although Lewis E. Russell, a Chicago architect, was listed
as the architect of record. The nearly identical design of all the stands
allowed them to be built cheaply and efficiently. Stand #16 opened on September
1, 1930, just six weeks after the permit had been issued; the cost was
$4,500.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVN-XAjxYn5jwPN3eJoPdv37tO3Baf_I5IdX7BCGGpTc-R58xT7pIJSfsh_5NGjshPm9X0N1W3Ya0H1Jwvp1NV90_meT3Aq5jJnNjZB7xHlPV5k1lRkxgFwGetJaMwxMKMJVqgYrtY4U/s1500/1930+White+Castle+16.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1178" data-original-width="1500" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVN-XAjxYn5jwPN3eJoPdv37tO3Baf_I5IdX7BCGGpTc-R58xT7pIJSfsh_5NGjshPm9X0N1W3Ya0H1Jwvp1NV90_meT3Aq5jJnNjZB7xHlPV5k1lRkxgFwGetJaMwxMKMJVqgYrtY4U/w400-h314/1930+White+Castle+16.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>White Castle #16, circa 1930</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The design for #16 called
for the use of porcelain-steel panels, which were first introduced on the
stands in 1928. Delays in obtaining the panels resulted in a switch to the
white glazed brick that had been used since 1925. A small amount of green and
beige glazed brick was used to highlight window and door openings, copings, buttresses,
and the base of the building. Leaded glass filled the upper portion of several
windows. The ubiquitous tower anchored the building to its corner site, and gooseneck
light fixtures ensured the building would be well lit at night.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71iWg5h5vkGSAt3NMrV_Fju7_X5s8ifP7mFuQx46WGrbnB6LCqC1fZgQDwhyphenhyphenvFb0i2y2W0lZfBVHM3BUiN_TmdbSThd0uaqYcc3JLNrVjZFI9Oif_Ki-sdUHbmSvHnLdHHXpLCDKFtOc/s1500/1933+Cermak+with+red+arrow.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1464" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71iWg5h5vkGSAt3NMrV_Fju7_X5s8ifP7mFuQx46WGrbnB6LCqC1fZgQDwhyphenhyphenvFb0i2y2W0lZfBVHM3BUiN_TmdbSThd0uaqYcc3JLNrVjZFI9Oif_Ki-sdUHbmSvHnLdHHXpLCDKFtOc/w390-h400/1933+Cermak+with+red+arrow.jpg" width="390" /></a><br /><i>Cermak Road looking west in 1933; red arrow shows location of White Castle #16</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">White Castle prospered
throughout the Great Depression, but World War II brought both supply and
manpower shortages. Fish sandwiches and baked beans were offered in place of
the hard-to-obtain beef, and Postum replaced coffee. For the first time, the
company hired female counter attendants. The number of stands nationwide
dropped from 130 in 1941 to just 87 in 1945. Chicago #16 closed its door in
October 1944, and the building was sold the next month to two women who
continued to operate it as a food stand. It housed various businesses through
the years, including a locksmith and key shop.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV09V-dw41qYfxLIfNKXtMITud67Z5z0E6MauXOnMqnjT_ooIwBA5lEp26-i60bWQDA3d439X6l7jKHjgRUof28METIRbfOq4v05YP-3_1QZDMPoJNam7gQgeFvmWeLHK5VoCEUdvm6Ys/s1500/2010+before+restoration.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="1500" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV09V-dw41qYfxLIfNKXtMITud67Z5z0E6MauXOnMqnjT_ooIwBA5lEp26-i60bWQDA3d439X6l7jKHjgRUof28METIRbfOq4v05YP-3_1QZDMPoJNam7gQgeFvmWeLHK5VoCEUdvm6Ys/w400-h278/2010+before+restoration.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>White Castle #16 prior to restoration, 2010</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1982, Rocky Gupta
purchased the structure and opened his Chef Luciano Kitchen & Chicken restaurant
in the building and the adjacent storefront to the east. In 2010, he undertook
an extensive restoration of the White Castle building, replacing missing
elements such as the crenellated tower, repairing the white glazed brick, and installing
reproduction exterior light fixtures. The building was designated a Chicago
landmark the next year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIbnc-FQXET1DDhPwkcvL0P3UOdrVUJAtU24t7CIRP0PJ3Rkqgl2XkG69FHvIwsOlaAHX7YzVB3mR-nZ9ZJer8Q_if7ueAv6XXk_9q08sjrrsDOZW6F5mtZ4yfzVweLced2WdIBAmMA0/s1500/2021+full.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1210" data-original-width="1500" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIbnc-FQXET1DDhPwkcvL0P3UOdrVUJAtU24t7CIRP0PJ3Rkqgl2XkG69FHvIwsOlaAHX7YzVB3mR-nZ9ZJer8Q_if7ueAv6XXk_9q08sjrrsDOZW6F5mtZ4yfzVweLced2WdIBAmMA0/w400-h323/2021+full.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><i>White Castle #16 as it appears today</i></div><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today, the building
survives as the oldest intact White Castle stand in Chicago and one of the
oldest stands in the United States. Only used for its original purpose for 14
years, the building endured decades of reuse and poor maintenance before being
rescued by the current owner who brought it back to life. And, by coincidence,
the company (still owned and operated by the Ingram family) has maintained a
presence at the intersection for decades, the current White Castle occupying a
location catty-corner to the original. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBI986UzDIPanJPNYPPsU6yhuRnGcx7Vc4Fsjlm_Rjtfa4FqK4RjzL4CANgQTXmZF26q8SFw06aTXBBttMeTlsq_WK5B28FqNNEVVViNFZnvgMcyWCKb0othJbaUj_LsNcg4Ry-y_pwcM/s1500/2021+tower.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1327" data-original-width="1500" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBI986UzDIPanJPNYPPsU6yhuRnGcx7Vc4Fsjlm_Rjtfa4FqK4RjzL4CANgQTXmZF26q8SFw06aTXBBttMeTlsq_WK5B28FqNNEVVViNFZnvgMcyWCKb0othJbaUj_LsNcg4Ry-y_pwcM/w400-h354/2021+tower.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia Pro",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-10759137789541916672021-06-14T14:17:00.002-05:002021-06-14T14:56:35.981-05:00Glessner House Docents Celebrate 50 Years<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkB5euEzLJZqXO4oaNPgQJ_rwV74ReYRgxFafx0OP18FxvbRIxqis2LORWnoGOXNJ3i_Ibqt5JXVnyMUaXjf95GwWtpszlnyA14LuIUgoME6v34M4lP1zOvWXy_3lUSmAqs6OlOjvz27Y/s900/1971+docent+class.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkB5euEzLJZqXO4oaNPgQJ_rwV74ReYRgxFafx0OP18FxvbRIxqis2LORWnoGOXNJ3i_Ibqt5JXVnyMUaXjf95GwWtpszlnyA14LuIUgoME6v34M4lP1zOvWXy_3lUSmAqs6OlOjvz27Y/w400-h266/1971+docent+class.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Marian Despres addressing the first docent class, June 12, 1971</i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">On Saturday, June 12,
2021, nearly 90 people gathered in the courtyard of Glessner House to celebrate
a milestone in our history – the 50</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> anniversary of the docent
program. Since 1971, volunteer docents have led tours of the house for hundreds
of thousands of visitors, sparking excitement in architecture, history, and
design. In honor of all our docents, past and present, we present a brief history
of the early years of the program, which had a significant impact on Glessner
House, the City of Chicago, and cities across the country.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Glessner House was saved
from demolition in 1966 by a small group of architects and preservationists,
including Marian Despres, who organized the Chicago School of Architecture
Foundation specifically to purchase the building. As the organization worked on
building repairs and repurposing the rooms into galleries and meeting spaces, it
began hosting functions to introduce people to the house and raise awareness of
its importance. Within a few years, people started showing up at the front door
looking for a tour.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">By the fall of 1970, the
number of individuals seeking a tour exceeded the capacity of the staff, which
at the time consisted of the newly hired, full-time executive secretary,
Jeanette Fields, and her half-time assistant, Lynn Anderson. In response to the
growing demand for tours, Fields and Despres developed a program to train
volunteers in leading tours of the house – and beyond.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZA94LOQQX6kxyb8lkIZjv9eLYW-im3IO_D1CvZSx9XbungHhltVWphdDXYd6lOW2eEWDO3I0V5ai-9M7-lfiJd7gRNY3rIwG6K6dtQ2eG6Gra-iKRtE_lJroPY1Fv1_GKKIlHDeQ5HBY/s900/LEAKE-6-SL2400-095.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="900" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZA94LOQQX6kxyb8lkIZjv9eLYW-im3IO_D1CvZSx9XbungHhltVWphdDXYd6lOW2eEWDO3I0V5ai-9M7-lfiJd7gRNY3rIwG6K6dtQ2eG6Gra-iKRtE_lJroPY1Fv1_GKKIlHDeQ5HBY/w400-h386/LEAKE-6-SL2400-095.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Marian Despres and Jeanette Fields</i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Jeanette Fields was
well-suited to the task at hand. In 1968, she had been hired for a public
relations position with the architectural firm of Fridstein & Fitch. She
developed a series of bus tours of Chicago architecture, which were led by
members of the firm. The offering was the first of its kind in the city,
awakening residents to the architectural heritage around them, much of which
was threatened with demolition at the time. The following year, when the
American Institute of Architects held its international conference in Chicago
to celebrate the centennial of the organization, Fields was asked to organize
similar tours for attendees.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Marian Despres was the
newly appointed chair of the Board of Directors when Fields came to Glessner
House in 1970. The daughter of prominent Chicago architect Alfred S. Alschuler,
Despres had grown up with a deep appreciation and understanding of
architecture, and the impact local architects had in the development of what
became known as the Chicago School of Architecture. She had volunteered as a
tour guide during the 1969 AIA conference and saw how popular the architectural
tours proved to be.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Additionally, Despres
toured Manhattan with the well-known architecture critic, Henry Hope Reed, Jr. (later
the first curator of Central Park). A study of docent programs revealed that
although they were commonly done for museums and single historic sites, the
idea of training docents to give tours using the whole city was new. Despres
approached the newly formed Illinois Arts Council with the idea, and in January
1971, the Council provided a grant of $5,000 to develop the docent training
program.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">A steering committee was
formed, consisting of Despres and Fields, Kenneth Englund, a former teacher on
the staff of the Illinois Arts Council, and Barbara Wriston, director of museum
education at the Art Institute of Chicago. Leading architects and architectural
historians in Chicago were engaged as instructors, including Carl Condit, Fred
Koeper, Wilbert Hasbrouck, and Paul Sprague. Docents would be trained to lead
tours of Glessner House as well as the Chicago School buildings in the Loop.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_9V0-uVNZJGobpI1eomrN3h58Xfac_0rNvq22HWqoAD0lYX0uNzwGqVy_mPV9dGCPQBhyphenhyphen6yO9Ijj_Vobtx3ieFPiImJawqWG_BWSzQzsQIPmnfYcX4WkowCvbmhiqhYwTyIWLvkTdpEA/s900/1971-03-03+article+about+training.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="479" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_9V0-uVNZJGobpI1eomrN3h58Xfac_0rNvq22HWqoAD0lYX0uNzwGqVy_mPV9dGCPQBhyphenhyphen6yO9Ijj_Vobtx3ieFPiImJawqWG_BWSzQzsQIPmnfYcX4WkowCvbmhiqhYwTyIWLvkTdpEA/w213-h400/1971-03-03+article+about+training.jpg" width="213" /></a><br /><i>Chicago Tribune, March 3, 1971</i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Notices of the training
program appeared in early March and dozens of applications were received. After
a vigorous interview process, 36 individuals were selected for the training
which would be held on Saturdays over the course of two months (later
expanded). Once certified, docents would be asked to give one-half day of
service a week for a year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMlU3Sml-PNLx2y_o5nmbv5gay1lgmYBac-1T-v9IcUKWOC6kI-5BPlxZdZKsFmDxwdoEXU6P_sMNNaHzDxY6oZ-7aeqTbd2CKDHnxqJ13JMx3nKu6kr1azN2ISyLaPO5cljfCA_i5qVk/s900/1971+class+with+columns.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="715" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMlU3Sml-PNLx2y_o5nmbv5gay1lgmYBac-1T-v9IcUKWOC6kI-5BPlxZdZKsFmDxwdoEXU6P_sMNNaHzDxY6oZ-7aeqTbd2CKDHnxqJ13JMx3nKu6kr1azN2ISyLaPO5cljfCA_i5qVk/w318-h400/1971+class+with+columns.jpg" width="318" /></a><br /><i>1971 class on the steps of the Chicago Public Library</i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>Classes began on April 10
and consisted of lectures, tours, and a series of papers to be prepared. There
were strenuous requirements in the areas of reading, writing, and speaking. A
total of 33 students completed the course, graduating on the north (Randolph
St.) steps of the Chicago Public Library (now the Cultural Center) on June 12,
1971. Fields, a pro at public relations, selected the highly visible site, and
numerous reporters and TV cameras were on hand to document the historic event.
David Stahl, a representative of Mayor Daley, gave the graduation speech. Immediately
after the ceremony, Bob Irving, a graduate of the first class, led the first
official walking tour of downtown buildings.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMSsAG6roDvVpSEPgbVyzUmReEWkogQjt-ZLcB3q_mVKpzXSXyONvUcvNpsPY4fKdTq5IPEIkUC5RImM9JHSGvVxJHfNWATpa2moHEdaYgcYLYwlZEZ2L3MBG4ayanDL_BG2-9EnmvdM/s900/Bob+Irving+giving+a+downtown+tour.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="900" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMSsAG6roDvVpSEPgbVyzUmReEWkogQjt-ZLcB3q_mVKpzXSXyONvUcvNpsPY4fKdTq5IPEIkUC5RImM9JHSGvVxJHfNWATpa2moHEdaYgcYLYwlZEZ2L3MBG4ayanDL_BG2-9EnmvdM/w400-h249/Bob+Irving+giving+a+downtown+tour.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Bob Irving (at left) leading his first tour, June 12, 1971</i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tours of both Glessner
House and downtown were offered four days a week; the cost was $1.00. By the
end of 1971, nearly 3,000 people had taken a tour, with about half coming from
Chicago, and the remaining half ranging from suburbanites to international
visitors.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGcebKVDe_MYDLzGfaIAue_L51bsJ3cJo8VbhVACr_q3WQXc49l2wqYEiz3I-nJw1LCPiaf9OWuf7kDeQAeKZCTl10zeNQCvP7wEtAlbZIFFH0l3BUTak4E1_3S5K4c3Sw1Uh0eKu2GIg/s900/1971+tours.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="900" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGcebKVDe_MYDLzGfaIAue_L51bsJ3cJo8VbhVACr_q3WQXc49l2wqYEiz3I-nJw1LCPiaf9OWuf7kDeQAeKZCTl10zeNQCvP7wEtAlbZIFFH0l3BUTak4E1_3S5K4c3Sw1Uh0eKu2GIg/w400-h359/1971+tours.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">A docent council was created
to plan and organize the tours consisting of architect John Thorpe, advertising
copywriter Linda Legner, IIT professor Bob Irving, public school teachers Gwen
Pittard and Barbara Wright Siebel, and John Ford. In response to the popularity
of the two tours offered, the council immediately planned for expanded
offerings. The first additional tour featured the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and
Studio in Oak Park (this predated the formation of what is now the Frank Lloyd
Wright Trust).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxLy7kfPqSpZBA24IwEv5RfsiqMYp6sVTNtdhsb4kho6s5ZRf1CkI1JYnO8DowRQx1_oD_v8aSR0EdF8DJ5eGra00oAwG2VlFJ5aTzKcniNzNzQCxpCQ1v_aQIXthmpIueA2c5zl9ZlI/s900/Selig+big+button.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="882" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxLy7kfPqSpZBA24IwEv5RfsiqMYp6sVTNtdhsb4kho6s5ZRf1CkI1JYnO8DowRQx1_oD_v8aSR0EdF8DJ5eGra00oAwG2VlFJ5aTzKcniNzNzQCxpCQ1v_aQIXthmpIueA2c5zl9ZlI/w393-h400/Selig+big+button.jpg" width="393" /></a><br /><i>Name badge for Bunny Selig, a graduate of the 1971 class. Docents were awarded their "big button" after giving 20 hours of tours.</i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The second docent class
numbered 44, selected from hundreds of eager applicants. At the graduation in
May 1972, it was noted that the program was believed to be the “nation’s only
architectural guide training course.” The model was soon copied by other cities
including Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, amongst
others. By the time the fourth class graduated in April 1974, more than 200
docents had been trained, and a total of 17 walking and bus tours were offered
in the city and suburbs. That year saw more than 5,100 people tour Glessner
House, with another 5,000 attending events there. Over 13,000 people
participated in the various architectural tours, and slide lectures were
offered to countless students in Chicago Public School classrooms.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">A special nine-week
course, “Interpreting the Historic House Museum” was developed in early 1975, led
by education director John Craib-Cox. This special course was in response to
those who were interested in giving tours specifically of Glessner House. By
that time, the Glessner family had returned many original furnishings, the
first rooms were being restored, and the surrounding Prairie Avenue Historic
District was being developed, under the guidance of Ruth Moore Garbe. The
course examined house architect H. H. Richardson, the Glessner family, their
collection of furniture and decorative arts, and the history and architecture
of Prairie Avenue. After Chicago’s oldest building, Clarke House, was moved to
the district and restored, docents were trained to give tours of that building
as well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABCcyd6Na7B18UFsDzbnZVpsTfGRDzaq2opbGjj3usiQKR_7qWae0jnzLMtJmS8hHNMN00CCm6PWQriCtp98OOUks99U0qXxisH1SzPo43TnHKX7lt7DVSWS_GIMOmkNtRHwT5umU3IM/s900/Prairie+Avenue+tour.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="900" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABCcyd6Na7B18UFsDzbnZVpsTfGRDzaq2opbGjj3usiQKR_7qWae0jnzLMtJmS8hHNMN00CCm6PWQriCtp98OOUks99U0qXxisH1SzPo43TnHKX7lt7DVSWS_GIMOmkNtRHwT5umU3IM/w400-h271/Prairie+Avenue+tour.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Tour group on Prairie Avenue, 1977</i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">By 1994, the mission of
the Chicago Architecture Foundation had expanded so dramatically that the
decision was made to spin off Glessner House as its own entity, to focus
exclusively on the house and its surrounding neighborhood. Many docents
continued to give tours for both the Foundation (now the Chicago Architecture
Center) and Glessner House, and new docents were trained at the house. An
annual docent training class takes place each year over five Saturday mornings;
for more information, <a href="https://www.glessnerhouse.org/volunteer">click here</a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">A highlight of the 50</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">
anniversary celebration of the docent program on June 12, 2021, was a tribute to
Bob Irving, the one member of the original 1971 class that has given tours of
Glessner House continuously for a half century. Friends and colleagues funded a
special project to recreate one of the missing pieces of furniture in the house
– the standing screen in the dining room – which will be installed this summer.
To learn more about Bob Irving, including what former student (and President) Bill
Clinton had to say about him in his autobiography, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">My Life</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">, read this <a href="http://glessnerhouse.blogspot.com/2011/06/honoring-four-decades-of-service.html">blog article</a> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">from 2011, when Irving was honored
for 40 years of service.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhuLwsvAcxPOkNSbRnSqDzrEEvrHLkouIwclDMcuLoo72Mq-Xum_WJqiM2VBw5WYeOiJ5qybg54RuxLtr1M5M2G3tSWPp3qgLXwxO0iXbMrpZX2_hy14pJfhAuH5O2zhtaPKnkilNlycs/s900/Glessner+docents+June+12+2021.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="900" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhuLwsvAcxPOkNSbRnSqDzrEEvrHLkouIwclDMcuLoo72Mq-Xum_WJqiM2VBw5WYeOiJ5qybg54RuxLtr1M5M2G3tSWPp3qgLXwxO0iXbMrpZX2_hy14pJfhAuH5O2zhtaPKnkilNlycs/w400-h286/Glessner+docents+June+12+2021.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Docents, past and present, gathered at Glessner House, June 12, 2021</i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fifty years after the
graduation of our first class, docents continue to serve as our “front-line
workers,” welcoming guests to Glessner House, and sharing our many engaging
stories of the house, its family, and its preservation. We salute them as the
docent program marks its milestone anniversary, and we look forward to their
continued service to Glessner House in the years and decades ahead!</span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-78389218592225689752021-05-04T08:51:00.003-05:002021-05-04T15:37:12.342-05:00The Chicago Women's Park and Gardens - Part III<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWY6JH1-iuYQc7QhcevLlwaNiB1EW_AAAps2RGlib2V5_Cxv6yvwRY87k33bYCjO2whdtCQW-EHbAgDxWSngBIsmDrfryBoVjmuqkifN5O1aPLNahMnJP-KOegniVNkAdaXH2WZg6w8zw/s900/View+of+park+in+2021.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="900" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWY6JH1-iuYQc7QhcevLlwaNiB1EW_AAAps2RGlib2V5_Cxv6yvwRY87k33bYCjO2whdtCQW-EHbAgDxWSngBIsmDrfryBoVjmuqkifN5O1aPLNahMnJP-KOegniVNkAdaXH2WZg6w8zw/w400-h260/View+of+park+in+2021.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In Part I of our series, we
looked at the early history of the site now occupied by the Women’s Park,
including the houses that originally stood there. In Part II, we examined the
various proposals created through the years to transform the four-acre parcel
of land south of Glessner House into a site to exhibit architectural fragments
and interpret Chicago history. Part III, the final installment in the series,
starts in the mid-1990s, when the redevelopment of the surrounding area into a
desirable residential neighborhood at long last brought the park plans to
fruition.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>1996 – National Vietnam
Veterans Art Museum<br /><br /></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hdQSdDfI2YnPoAv-IrDoQDmG9F2Sz9nwiEJn0EbWRgp14GCun1wopasOg4ImHXlUtuHihiyQgai6vaG6nJlVb0NOf7rsnpsl8NM1lSBvGIU8ff5CtkNYGBp_erzS87FgfVQh3tO6S_4/s900/2003-11-20+NVVAM+full.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="900" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hdQSdDfI2YnPoAv-IrDoQDmG9F2Sz9nwiEJn0EbWRgp14GCun1wopasOg4ImHXlUtuHihiyQgai6vaG6nJlVb0NOf7rsnpsl8NM1lSBvGIU8ff5CtkNYGBp_erzS87FgfVQh3tO6S_4/w400-h215/2003-11-20+NVVAM+full.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />In 1981, an organization
known as the Vietnam Veterans Art Group was formed with the purpose of
providing exhibition opportunities for veterans of the Vietnam War and those
impacted by the conflict. The exhibition toured the U.S. for many years, and in
1995 returned to Chicago, settling into a temporary space in the Prairie
District Lofts at 1727 S. Indiana Avenue.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The following year, the
City of Chicago donated the former Swiss Products buildings at 1801 S. Indiana Avenue
to the Group, along with $1,000,000 to renovate the structure, which had sat
largely vacant for twenty years. The National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum opened
by mid-summer, combining permanent pieces with temporary exhibitions. A
noteworthy permanent installation, entitled “Above and Beyond,” was unveiled in
2001 above the central atrium and consisted of 58,226 dog tags representing
every American casualty in the War.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Th8lS9rN-Udd8yqQDbNYW9aG1bC3WF7TR2JUheSZF0xDxZSpyTOr6EPKPZNsmIjxRN9ic1f4YzKZHlIQs6gatm0UlQz2kTto23zO2ltcBAPebnEZSsGxmjNzNpc5izZwX0Qh0Zjdf6g/s900/2003-11-20+NVVAM+dogtags+hanging+sculpture.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Th8lS9rN-Udd8yqQDbNYW9aG1bC3WF7TR2JUheSZF0xDxZSpyTOr6EPKPZNsmIjxRN9ic1f4YzKZHlIQs6gatm0UlQz2kTto23zO2ltcBAPebnEZSsGxmjNzNpc5izZwX0Qh0Zjdf6g/w400-h266/2003-11-20+NVVAM+dogtags+hanging+sculpture.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The Museum struggled
financially and by 2007 rumors spread that it was planning to sell the
building, possibly for reuse as a nightclub. The City, with its significant
investment intervened, and in time operations stabilized. In 2012, by which
time the museum had been renamed the National Veterans Art Museum (to include
work by veterans of all wars), it was announced that it would be moving out of
the building and relocating to 4041 N. Milwaukee Avenue in the Portage Park
neighborhood. At that time, the entire building was turned over for use as the
park fieldhouse.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">(NOTE: Café V opened in a ground
floor space of the building in July 1997. It was replaced by Café Society in
2001 which operated until 2015, when Spoke & Bird opened in the space.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>1997 – A New Park for
Prairie Avenue: Growing with a Community for the Future<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In April 1997, several
city officials including Mayor Daley’s Chief of Staff, Terry Teele, toured the
Glessner and Clarke Houses, and surrounding Prairie Avenue Historic District. As
a result of that visit, Prairie Avenue House Museums (the name under which the
two houses were operating at the time), engaged the City Design Center of the
College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago
to prepare a comprehensive plan for what was then known simply as Prairie
Avenue Park, to make it “the center of life and activity for a newly
invigorated Near South Side.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgur8S2yv5uem56aau7BD-H6WFhxlE2OaAV7AqMBJXEFMf_l0SwEcYRRJMY1jbKHlKJeq0omXhy-XwT1Mm9Pu7WoY1ZyL-wWIyhl7CicWe5zkAUFajf0bppjATWHfZaEmX_AfpujngsyWo/s900/1997-08+A+New+Park+for+Prairie+Avenue+plan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="900" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgur8S2yv5uem56aau7BD-H6WFhxlE2OaAV7AqMBJXEFMf_l0SwEcYRRJMY1jbKHlKJeq0omXhy-XwT1Mm9Pu7WoY1ZyL-wWIyhl7CicWe5zkAUFajf0bppjATWHfZaEmX_AfpujngsyWo/w400-h316/1997-08+A+New+Park+for+Prairie+Avenue+plan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The goals of the plan were
to provide greenspace for new residents moving into the area, broaden the
appeal and access of the park and the Historic District, and to maximize public
resources through creative local collaborations. The price tag to implement the
plan was $1.4 million with several key elements quite different from the park
as ultimately built. The Prairie Avenue side of the park, accessed by six
entrances, was to feature an athletic field, seating niches, and the historic
footprints of the lost houses. On Indiana Avenue, the main feature was a stage
with theater seating, a ticketing kiosk, and restrooms.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>October 1997 – The Hillary
Rodham Clinton Park is dedicated<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Although the park was
ultimately not built according to the plan, sufficient interest had been
generated to proceed with next steps. Lois Weisberg, Commissioner of the
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, developed the idea to name the park in
honor of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who would be coming to Chicago in
October to celebrate her 50</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> birthday (having been born and raised
in Chicago and Park Ridge).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Plans were quickly put
into place, including the removal of the controversial monument to the Battle
of Fort Dearborn, which had been standing in the park for a decade. Just five
days before the park dedication, the statue was removed and put into storage,
where it remains to this date. (NOTE: The statue, traditionally known as the Fort
Dearborn Massacre Statue, was recently identified as one of 41 statues to be
reviewed by the Chicago Monuments Project. Its website notes that it was “conceived
in a sensationalist, luridly violent mode (and) was long criticized by American
Indian activists.”)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYUH5oVIY-QtpZdLDfd5pQI0iDTvtFH7TFY3vuW3otLmP72otc_EqclOP7zeE9MtxeTKJsboJXAIiVkw31wAbsYLGS5R7NJZKooQ8Vo39zaL6eIrIpZQLZbsbWTGELlEeYhFLBXbPO6M/s900/1997-10-27+Clinton+at+podium.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="900" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYUH5oVIY-QtpZdLDfd5pQI0iDTvtFH7TFY3vuW3otLmP72otc_EqclOP7zeE9MtxeTKJsboJXAIiVkw31wAbsYLGS5R7NJZKooQ8Vo39zaL6eIrIpZQLZbsbWTGELlEeYhFLBXbPO6M/w400-h170/1997-10-27+Clinton+at+podium.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Dedication of the Hillary
Rodham Clinton Women’s Park of Chicago took place on October 27, 1997, one day
after Clinton’s birthday, and was part of a day-long “extravaganza” of events
around the city in her honor. The hour-long ceremony commenced at 1:30pm and
included classical and jazz music performed by the Avalon String Quartet and
Samara, and remarks by Mayor Richard M. Daley, Maggie Daley, and Lois Weisberg.
After Clinton spoke, she presented bulbs for the pink Hillary Rodham Clinton
tulip, removed from the White House gardens. Open house tours of the Glessner
and Clarke Houses followed the ceremony, and Clinton was presented with a copy
of the book about Glessner House authored by Elaine Harrington. In a thank you
note sent afterwards, Clinton noted, “It was a day I will treasure always, and
one so special it could have happened only in Chicago.”</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCDnAUdjxCBgeP9fpL5nzBFpU3vcuvM-X-tqWUZMQj4MmzfhnK6zoSGdh4w7BGHmhSupnMXFvvhp-Eo2I3qkqm4iJL-qKszkTOJ_pMdRE4pEWT83e1iTiJ-XpCtqB4gx39cdzlP1TWpxo/s900/1997-10-27+Clinton+Park+concept+plan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="900" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCDnAUdjxCBgeP9fpL5nzBFpU3vcuvM-X-tqWUZMQj4MmzfhnK6zoSGdh4w7BGHmhSupnMXFvvhp-Eo2I3qkqm4iJL-qKszkTOJ_pMdRE4pEWT83e1iTiJ-XpCtqB4gx39cdzlP1TWpxo/w400-h305/1997-10-27+Clinton+Park+concept+plan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />By this point, the concept
plan for the park had been significantly reworked from that developed just a
few months earlier, eliminating the athletic field, stage and seating, and
house footprints, instead focusing the design completely on landscaping. New
features included a central rose garden (a nod to the famous rose garden at the
White House), and the incorporation of the historic coach house behind the
Keith House at 1900 S. Prairie Avenue, to serve as a venue for art exhibits and
educational activities.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJ_3OaT5jVcTpBvmWPKl4Zfr2Oj5qoXVROez-UV47HMGmicMM3ALFsxOs5bdfDPGHvSnjRZ_1Di368iaePOGHoyB2PXG8wb3X5lYMmP9wkAR2zLEZAaF2JcPRekKKM5DxrW7cchI0xTk/s900/1997-10-27+Clinton+visit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="808" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVJ_3OaT5jVcTpBvmWPKl4Zfr2Oj5qoXVROez-UV47HMGmicMM3ALFsxOs5bdfDPGHvSnjRZ_1Di368iaePOGHoyB2PXG8wb3X5lYMmP9wkAR2zLEZAaF2JcPRekKKM5DxrW7cchI0xTk/w359-h400/1997-10-27+Clinton+visit.jpg" width="359" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>First Lady Hillary Clinton with Glessner House Program Director Micki Leventhal</i></div></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">A 36-member Women’s
Advisory Committee was appointed to continue work on the design and
interpretation of the park. Local representatives included Marcy and Traci
Baim (owners of the Keith House), and Micki Leventhal, Program Director at
Glessner House.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>2000 – The Park begins to
take shape<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mayor Richard M. Daley’s
interest in gardening and significant landscaping initiative, known as the
Great Gardens Program, were key factors in making the park a reality. His
administration instituted the planting of trees and median strips, and the
greening of the roof on City Hall, so it was no surprise when he pushed for the
completion of the park, located just a few blocks south of his Indiana Avenue
townhouse.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwwntBURu0f7FAnem6hZcGPTKojTrr7CckmXmyo49ZVimg0CHelxFCh1w6SySvl_jjzJsVabw-hSiYt-mFS_cqa7tJk3rQts_3U-u2yGS35l-AplqmYAk0u2VK8TLF_Qp0QtG4AwGDb6E/s900/2000+park+construction+by+Marcy+Baim.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="900" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwwntBURu0f7FAnem6hZcGPTKojTrr7CckmXmyo49ZVimg0CHelxFCh1w6SySvl_jjzJsVabw-hSiYt-mFS_cqa7tJk3rQts_3U-u2yGS35l-AplqmYAk0u2VK8TLF_Qp0QtG4AwGDb6E/w400-h254/2000+park+construction+by+Marcy+Baim.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Landscape architect Mimi
McKay noted that “this is a small landscape on a human scale. The buildings
surrounding it contribute a more gardenlike feeling, reminiscent of a home
setting; and unlike the more formal Chicago parks, the Women’s Park is
extremely plant intensive, and that is what makes it so distinctive.” The
design was sensitive to Clarke House, which had been moved to the park in 1977.
To the north, a meadow paid homage to the original open prairie; to the south, plans
for heirloom vegetable gardens were instead revised to provide plots for residents
to cultivate their own vegetables, in the spirit of the Clarke family.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tannys Langdon, the
project architect, noted the overall character of the park. “We are making
places here, not objects that decorate the space.” A key feature of the design
is the curvilinear path around the park perimeter, created as a metaphor
representing a woman’s movement in and out of traditional roles over a
lifetime. (Plans to install 400 plaques in the sidewalk with the names of women
who made significant contributions to Chicago’s history were never realized.
The women and their achievements, however, are recorded in the biographical
dictionary, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Women Building Chicago, 1790-1990</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">, edited by Rima Schultz
and Adele Hast.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhckzv0fFnJ0LQhiEO7ewmZiikQ6LhXHAuTR7KP3z37AhE5kW0EUdd08mVZ1XGEKkngaKSKOU56RQDrwk5VD2yYQLH4PdgupXLduFabwyfzSZge2w2Wst2CRAawbdZI3JoLZEeBu6ui9gE/s900/View+of+park+in+2007.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="900" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhckzv0fFnJ0LQhiEO7ewmZiikQ6LhXHAuTR7KP3z37AhE5kW0EUdd08mVZ1XGEKkngaKSKOU56RQDrwk5VD2yYQLH4PdgupXLduFabwyfzSZge2w2Wst2CRAawbdZI3JoLZEeBu6ui9gE/w400-h272/View+of+park+in+2007.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />To offset the winding path,
a quiet and contemplative central fountain, set within a garden room enclosed
with raised brick beds, was created to represent domestic achievement and “the
thousands of small, homely acts that provide a steady center to so many lives.”
Gravel paths were carefully arranged to provide easy navigation of the park and
were lined with paver bricks repurposed from the alley that originally bisected
the park. A small open-air summerhouse was envisioned for the northeast corner
of the park, but only the base was ever constructed.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKy-w6Q1ZNvbXBAVKrubZ1GTh9gm7z43NTvKQ91guTygZFuNKS6IXkQBFiJ_MZJDyy690WM2_AwYF_GHYCBhO65WFgk_C2wfsUwuXt2BFLKKcwIDkQuGd_JOwzpl4jlgmMopcnlMBTk8/s900/2000+proposed+summer+house+for+park.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="900" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKy-w6Q1ZNvbXBAVKrubZ1GTh9gm7z43NTvKQ91guTygZFuNKS6IXkQBFiJ_MZJDyy690WM2_AwYF_GHYCBhO65WFgk_C2wfsUwuXt2BFLKKcwIDkQuGd_JOwzpl4jlgmMopcnlMBTk8/w400-h208/2000+proposed+summer+house+for+park.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></b></div>2002 – What is the name of
the park??</b></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCp68o6wAvinBOka9CVZG1n3Gvxlryjf53aia8o4opOXIJYPuaQUoX9p4lipuklssaudmpykUjW8yHmEIGlEEJfSPOlci706ochyap0PrTRRVYUvnWzFWrm1klV9A2i-7_IcBUJaNMES0/s900/1998-10-26+Clinton+park+sign.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="900" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCp68o6wAvinBOka9CVZG1n3Gvxlryjf53aia8o4opOXIJYPuaQUoX9p4lipuklssaudmpykUjW8yHmEIGlEEJfSPOlci706ochyap0PrTRRVYUvnWzFWrm1klV9A2i-7_IcBUJaNMES0/w400-h169/1998-10-26+Clinton+park+sign.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />Work on the park was
completed during 2000 and 2001. But by early 2002, visitors noted that the
signs with Clinton’s name had been removed, and the City was referring to it
simply as the Women’s Park. When pressed on the issue, a city official noted
that the name was “up in the air.” Approximately $500,000 of the $2.175 million
cost was needed to finish the project, and the city was considering naming
opportunities to raise the remaining funds. It was also noted that the Chicago
Park District had a rule in place forbidding the naming of parks after living
individuals – however, this park was owned and managed by the City, not the
Park District. Rumors circulated that a rift between the Daleys and Clintons
had brought about the removal of the name. Eventually the name Chicago Women’s
Park and Gardens of Chicago was officially adopted.</span><p></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>2003-2004 – A playhouse,
birdhouses, and interpretive panels<br /></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1QFetUDzCL8MT-I_dLMohEbxW0ktvRJScZ567GQIynxJ-S2yFJ8R-cOpAXAHYjURALpVK-gYUFo1Wk3mYtcQc0VBBVw2-gV4VHUBbOOCRKurOimbSK6xAjLFCozkm9cchHO7oAQJsr8/s900/2003+playhouse.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="900" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1QFetUDzCL8MT-I_dLMohEbxW0ktvRJScZ567GQIynxJ-S2yFJ8R-cOpAXAHYjURALpVK-gYUFo1Wk3mYtcQc0VBBVw2-gV4VHUBbOOCRKurOimbSK6xAjLFCozkm9cchHO7oAQJsr8/w400-h325/2003+playhouse.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />During the Taste of
Chicago in 2003, three children’s playhouses were created and put on display;
at the end of the Taste, they were auctioned off to benefit HomeAid Chicago.
The three houses were designed to represent a typical Chicago bungalow, a
Victorian house, and the Clarke House. Greg Thomas of McClier Architects
designed the structures, and they were fabricated by Summit Homes. The Clarke
House playhouse found its way to the Women’s Park where it was installed
immediately to the south of the real Clarke House. It was greatly enjoyed by
children for more than a decade, but its deteriorated condition resulted in its
demolition in August 2014.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQsxSGi4EljZsZoAMLEK6Wy0GWRPa8lF0Ug4Qm50miX-7qFaoEXeM9plQv2PUop3YqQdql_3tKsL_f8Nhl_7KB1tLoJz_tC3-RqyBfnsM3aJykV6VdBGu8-7xuNsAJp5WU0tKOAACpt0/s900/2004+birdhouses.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="422" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQsxSGi4EljZsZoAMLEK6Wy0GWRPa8lF0Ug4Qm50miX-7qFaoEXeM9plQv2PUop3YqQdql_3tKsL_f8Nhl_7KB1tLoJz_tC3-RqyBfnsM3aJykV6VdBGu8-7xuNsAJp5WU0tKOAACpt0/w188-h400/2004+birdhouses.jpg" width="188" /></a><br /><i>TOP: "For Wild Birds Only" by Teresa Kier<br />BOTTOM: "Chicago Cultural Center" by Department of Cultural Affairs Tourism Volunteers</i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In 2004, the City of
Chicago hosted an exhibit in the park entitled “For the Birds: an amazing
exhibition of birdhouse dwellings by Chicago artists and architects.” A total
of 67 birdhouses were created by artists, architects, and designers, and were
placed throughout the park and inside Clarke House. The exhibit ran from June
15 through October 15, 2004, and a special commemorative booklet was produced
with a photo of each piece of “functional art” noting the title and artist. At
the end of the exhibit, the birdhouses were auctioned off, although one remains
in the park to this day.</span></p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpbn1wi2kjclEq2-yS_cfiI8167z5MyWS7mga2mZfW4Hzhyifn5nlIRGWmYdfN_KcpYPpTWSVOzrc58sZBLClIhyphenhyphenEYEDDE1WcpODLXxLtBxKUZB81ZQz7p6xJjeeM6Qxcusx92t9TUvM/s900/2004+interpretive+panels.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="900" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpbn1wi2kjclEq2-yS_cfiI8167z5MyWS7mga2mZfW4Hzhyifn5nlIRGWmYdfN_KcpYPpTWSVOzrc58sZBLClIhyphenhyphenEYEDDE1WcpODLXxLtBxKUZB81ZQz7p6xJjeeM6Qxcusx92t9TUvM/w400-h243/2004+interpretive+panels.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />That same year, the
decision was made to replace the interpretive panels along the Prairie Avenue
side of the park, which were showing their age after having been in place more
than 20 years. Rather than focus on panels that each discussed one specific
house, the new panels gave a more comprehensive history of Prairie Avenue. Four
panels showed the prominent lost houses, and four additional panels provided a
timeline from 1812 through the present day. Two panels discussed the interiors
of the houses and the role of servants in operating them, and the final two
panels gave an overview of the surviving historic structures on and around
Prairie Avenue.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>2005 and 2008 – Memorial
trees<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">SHERRY GOODMAN<br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In May 2005, long-time
community and non-profit servant, and public broadcasting pioneer Sherry
Goodman died at the age of 78. During the 1960s and 1970s she worked for WTTW, starting
as a freelance producer, and working her way up to producer and director of
special audiences. She left to spearhead plans for the 50</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">
anniversary of the Museum of Science and Industry in 1983, and later served as
founding president and chief executive of Chicago Access Corp., organized to
administer public-access TV channels.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Goodman was also a member
of the Roslyn Group, a literary salon which had been formed in 1977 at the home
of a member who lived on Roslyn Place. The group read Judy Chicago’s </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Through
the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> telling of her exhibition “The
Dinner Party,” that challenged the myth surrounding and narrowly defining
women’s experience. The group was committed to finding a Chicago venue for "The
Dinner Party" after learning that the Art Institute turned it down. When
traditional approaches failed, the Group incorporated as The Roslyn Group for
Arts and Letters to host the exhibition themselves in 1981. Goodman served as
director of special audiences.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_8xvBXlXm1AHAtjt7QkngjeMAPxruZdy3Ir9lOoJeQ4stIyKwDXxIsG5mi-MPjUAOob8j1B2rqiQYVbf30bHSBWZv4_KOaWmaluYJiWimhhIMYI4IZ0VqC2XNgM1Hr0mmt8OxOkK-hs/s900/2005+Sherry+Goodman+memorial+tree.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="596" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_8xvBXlXm1AHAtjt7QkngjeMAPxruZdy3Ir9lOoJeQ4stIyKwDXxIsG5mi-MPjUAOob8j1B2rqiQYVbf30bHSBWZv4_KOaWmaluYJiWimhhIMYI4IZ0VqC2XNgM1Hr0mmt8OxOkK-hs/w265-h400/2005+Sherry+Goodman+memorial+tree.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />After her death in 2005,
the Roslyn Group planted a tree in her honor south of the community garden
plots, marked by a small plaque.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">INTERNATIONAL WOMEN
ASSOCIATES<br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">On October 1, 2003, twenty
members of the International Women Associates spent the day visiting the
Anderson Gardens, a 12-acre Japanese garden in Rockford. The Associates is a
Chicago cultural and educational organization whose members engage in
cross-cultural exchange, cultural service, dialogue, and friendship to foster a
more just and peaceful world. The tour bus was heading back to Chicago at
3:00pm when it was rear-ended by a semi-truck, killing eight members of the
group.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvnhdpgbaqog93Z3oZ2FFrfZof9LKNWrxEtUfQDF82N4btf2ti4x5q93qWkcIpqnbj5Mi3R_eH86djjaE6qjkTYCtN1ZuEE2vO6HY4R2h3IKO6alm8QEJm8UwtaU7DjPaLFbxiGnBCfwM/s900/2008+IWA+memorial+trees.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="495" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvnhdpgbaqog93Z3oZ2FFrfZof9LKNWrxEtUfQDF82N4btf2ti4x5q93qWkcIpqnbj5Mi3R_eH86djjaE6qjkTYCtN1ZuEE2vO6HY4R2h3IKO6alm8QEJm8UwtaU7DjPaLFbxiGnBCfwM/w220-h400/2008+IWA+memorial+trees.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the accident in October 2008, IWA
members gathered in the Women’s Park to dedicate two trees flanking the
entrance into the park from Prairie Avenue. A plaque beside one of the trees
notes “In memory of our eight friends, we will never forget you.”</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>2011 – Helping Hands<br /><br /></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOEa-5n4WzdKW4AdrwsYJeQ9pJ3QA1m4yOLFC8HY31xxd09x14oGQt6mT7Nq1R6r0ZKXOZkpAF20qoDkWtiXFNH2lLiLEcu_zZvtozpufD4qX78o2P4JAUUunkcs-OSApkcCkhZqAp1Po/s900/2011+Helping+Hands+double.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="592" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOEa-5n4WzdKW4AdrwsYJeQ9pJ3QA1m4yOLFC8HY31xxd09x14oGQt6mT7Nq1R6r0ZKXOZkpAF20qoDkWtiXFNH2lLiLEcu_zZvtozpufD4qX78o2P4JAUUunkcs-OSApkcCkhZqAp1Po/w263-h400/2011+Helping+Hands+double.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />In 2009, the City of
Chicago transferred ownership of the park to the Chicago Park District. Two
years later, the Park District selected the Women’s Park as the new site for
its sculpture, Helping Hands, sculpted in 1993 by Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010)
to honor Jane Addams. The sculpture was financed by the B. F. Ferguson Fund of
the Art Institute and was installed in 1996 in Navy Pier Park. The sculpture
consists of six roughly hewn granite pedestals, each supporting beautifully
sculpted and polished hands symbolizing the many different people helped by
Jane Addams and Hull-House through the years. The six pedestals represented
Addams as social philosopher, pragmatist, writer, lecturer, defender, and the
first significant woman to have a major work of art installed in a Chicago
park.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">By 2006, the sculpture had
been vandalized, and it was shipped to New York where Bourgeois recarved the
damaged sections. On September 24, 2011, it was rededicated in its new location
in the Women’s Park, immediately north of Clarke House. Dignitaries from the
city and Park District were present, and Betsey Means appeared as Jane Addams
to give a moving speech in Addams own words discussing her work and impact on
the immigrant communities served by Hull-House.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufDbT7VnKTdzTjcdwTyth6iIwj9pO21W0k12piBo-TPsYwIQ6Qh1f0KGeFBeamX-IW2nUyb5WSJJBJqFl3NbjJnTPckdS7__5NfjCnpl8Cn5JEezA7lWg8g3kSr1vSYlRkMNxs_vaMAM/s900/2011-09-24+Dedication+of+Helping+Hands.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="853" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufDbT7VnKTdzTjcdwTyth6iIwj9pO21W0k12piBo-TPsYwIQ6Qh1f0KGeFBeamX-IW2nUyb5WSJJBJqFl3NbjJnTPckdS7__5NfjCnpl8Cn5JEezA7lWg8g3kSr1vSYlRkMNxs_vaMAM/w379-h400/2011-09-24+Dedication+of+Helping+Hands.jpg" width="379" /></a><br /><i>Betsey Means as Jane Addams</i></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 2015, Helping Hands was
selected for inclusion in “Statue Stories,” a collaboration between the Richard
H. Driehaus Foundation and the Chicago Park District, whereby people could use
their mobile phone to scan a QR code and then listen to the story of the
statue. The text for Helping Hands was written by author Blue Bailliett and was
recorded by actress and Oak Park native Amy Morton. </span><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.statuestorieschicago.com/statues/statue-helping-hands/">Click here</a> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">to listen.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-eAozk6HixvhqOCrQ8k4iPOcGuwreYFzzuu7lEAw19LaRk9Apf3ANniDO1K7sEJsOw0pwWzJkddQhvHLhV0A0aIzPDcmTyCO2cLKUWVRmxLuMsPxcRSaa9ZUg-8eNIjiY5JpI5tkWUA/s900/2015+Statue+Stories.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="615" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-eAozk6HixvhqOCrQ8k4iPOcGuwreYFzzuu7lEAw19LaRk9Apf3ANniDO1K7sEJsOw0pwWzJkddQhvHLhV0A0aIzPDcmTyCO2cLKUWVRmxLuMsPxcRSaa9ZUg-8eNIjiY5JpI5tkWUA/w274-h400/2015+Statue+Stories.JPG" width="274" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b><br />2017 – Famous Chicago Women<br /><br /></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtuVrqrhRqOAQ2AVJktMeRDUKbXpwcK66-5qSY4knYJqInKg7PZwEeCLohmqfyUCMC6D6f9Dxk-UYkJRdFLf0Q5tFtoBMzCZYPeGxjENdr3BHz9VsyCNFLH72I2k3Khes_S1kp7Hx5I0/s900/2017+Fieldhouse+exhibit+dedication.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="828" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtuVrqrhRqOAQ2AVJktMeRDUKbXpwcK66-5qSY4knYJqInKg7PZwEeCLohmqfyUCMC6D6f9Dxk-UYkJRdFLf0Q5tFtoBMzCZYPeGxjENdr3BHz9VsyCNFLH72I2k3Khes_S1kp7Hx5I0/w368-h400/2017+Fieldhouse+exhibit+dedication.JPG" width="368" /></a><br /><i>Chicago Park District historian Julia Bacharach at podium<br />Alderman Pat Dowell standing at far right</i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />The long-anticipated plan
to honor important Chicago women at the park became a reality in 2017. Alderman
Pat Dowell, the Chicago Park District, and the Chicago Women’s Park Advisory
Council collaborated on the permanent installation of “Famous Chicago Women” in
the lobby of the fieldhouse, dedicated on September 14, 2017. The women selected
come from all walks of life and include leaders, activists, visionaries,
artists, trailblazers, and innovators. Names include Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Guadalupe
Reyes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Harriet Monroe, Lorrain Hansberry, Pearl Hart,
Margaret Hie Ding Lin, Lois Weisberg, and Frances Glessner Lee. Panels
featuring portraits of selected women face the second-floor mezzanine in the
lobby, and the names of all others are inscribed on the wall. Ten women are
also featured in a large window display facing Indiana Avenue. </span><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.chicagowomenspark.com/SIGNIFICANTCHICAGOWOMEN.php">Click here</a> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">to download a brochure describing all
the women honored in the exhibit.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie3ZADe4tQ_chK9d4YzklzaU5lo9wOugt0Y5U0QMbiG2yZNgKB-hwbMA9iAnvvws1CtbBTBX8jQYcsDa_63EBNmijYAXxaDMydYhByTOqIdnvfsKGCHP4vCLuh2SxOXoxYH37VfWcNXcI/s900/2017+fieldhouse+windows.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="701" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie3ZADe4tQ_chK9d4YzklzaU5lo9wOugt0Y5U0QMbiG2yZNgKB-hwbMA9iAnvvws1CtbBTBX8jQYcsDa_63EBNmijYAXxaDMydYhByTOqIdnvfsKGCHP4vCLuh2SxOXoxYH37VfWcNXcI/w311-h400/2017+fieldhouse+windows.jpg" width="311" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /><b>Conclusion<br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">This concludes our look at the decades of dreaming, planning, and
implementation by countless individuals which resulted in the neighborhood
treasure we enjoy today – the Chicago Women’s Park and Gardens of Chicago. The
next time you visit Prairie Avenue, Glessner House, or Clarke House, we hope
you will spend some time in the park enjoying its natural beauty and learning
more about the significant women it honors.</span><p></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-65553574359386006552021-04-06T08:57:00.006-05:002021-04-07T12:25:07.049-05:00The Chicago Women's Park and Gardens - Part II<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In Part I of our series, we
looked at the prehistory of the present site of the Chicago Women’s Park and
Gardens including the houses that stood there and the difference in development
between Prairie and Indiana Avenues. A series of photos taken by Richard Nickel
in the late 1960s captured the decline the neighborhood had experienced
throughout much of the 20</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century. In this installment, we will
explore the period from 1968 until the early 1990s, when various proposals were
developed to convert this grouping of vacant lots and parking lots into a park
that would serve as a source of pride and an asset to the surrounding
community.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Origins<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">As Marian Despres noted in
her book, <i>The First Twenty Years 1966-1986</i>, “the creation of a park
memorializing an important part of Chicago’s history in the midst of a
rubble-strewn, long-deserted neighborhood was a great event.” Although she used
the term “park” to describe the Prairie Avenue Historic District as a whole,
the land comprising the present Women’s Park was always an essential part of
the discussion. Within two years of saving Glessner House in 1966, the houses
immediately to the south, at 1808 and 1812 S. Prairie, and the house across the
street, at 1815 S. Prairie, had all been razed. This prompted a realization of
the need to protect and preserve the historic resources that remained and to
find a new use for the large swath of open land south of Glessner House.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRcu9lBThm5hPizZuWWqMbqAxUojxZT91T_mxl-zpQbfuD1IPweOOUIzo5hoKKXXNRI3bT99uBUKwGKEYvA7tL9y5s5X_xQ6CAeRCb2yjJNGfIGi7pvn4oemD4gSLsG0UgNY_F8GavyK8/s900/1975+-+1900+block+PA+SW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="900" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRcu9lBThm5hPizZuWWqMbqAxUojxZT91T_mxl-zpQbfuD1IPweOOUIzo5hoKKXXNRI3bT99uBUKwGKEYvA7tL9y5s5X_xQ6CAeRCb2yjJNGfIGi7pvn4oemD4gSLsG0UgNY_F8GavyK8/w400-h271/1975+-+1900+block+PA+SW.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>1800 block of Prairie Avenue looking south, 1975</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Planning</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Planning funds were
received in 1972 from the Chicago Community Trust and the National Endowment
for the Arts to hire two nationally recognized planning experts. Roy Graham led
the planning for Colonial Williamsburg, and James Marston Fitch was the founder
and director of the historic preservation program at Columbia University. Regarding
Fitch’s report, Despres noted:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“He recommended restoring
and moving in other old buildings, some to be occupied to keep the area alive
24 hours a day. He suggested that developers working in areas where there were
fine or significant old buildings be encouraged to move them to the District;
they would save demolition costs and the donation of a house to the District
could bring a tax benefit.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The idea to move Clarke
House into the area was a direct outgrowth of Fitch’s report; it was ultimately
the only building moved to Prairie Avenue. Fitch also suggested the display of
architectural fragments – larger pieces in an outdoor park, and smaller and
more fragile pieces in the Swiss Products building at 1801 S. Indiana Avenue
(the present fieldhouse). This recommendation addressed another issue - a
growing collection of architectural fragments was gathering at Glessner, many
salvaged by Richard Nickel during the unchecked demolition in the 1950s and
1960s of significant buildings by Adler & Sullivan, Burnham & Root,
Frank Lloyd Wright, and others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBxHg3q8-pC6jkxFD_fFZzd8Tz2Y8lFnfSc9pFZKWiEipBC5e82rlnQxKqGLP-_8EOIQyt05yYiY99EHF4ac1mInJnb4KCsfX68q6yKuhzFhqGmDB1Epk0L-BPHiSQK2OSUzKW8drSjM/s900/1974+Land+Acquisition.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="900" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBxHg3q8-pC6jkxFD_fFZzd8Tz2Y8lFnfSc9pFZKWiEipBC5e82rlnQxKqGLP-_8EOIQyt05yYiY99EHF4ac1mInJnb4KCsfX68q6yKuhzFhqGmDB1Epk0L-BPHiSQK2OSUzKW8drSjM/w400-h270/1974+Land+Acquisition.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>South end of current park site, looking toward the Keith House coach house, 1974</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Land Acquisition</b><br />By the summer of 1973, the
Chicago City Council approved the acquisition of the first parcels of land that
comprise the current park, utilizing forthcoming funds from a State of Illinois
Open Lands grant, along with federal funds from the Department of Housing and
Urban Development that would be released once the city provide a 1-to-3 match. Governor
Dan Walker visited Glessner House in September 1974 to sign the Open Lands
grant agreement that provided a total of $350,000 in state funding for the
project.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJL_VV8ynDn-ibTKTHFlyGXjZX3eF2pVPlVnuN6q1042oG3m96fT2_Y_appaXsuTrQ80RjORBdf0fN-8KtFMyFgo1pY0cv9yMlinw0HeH5YP8ZSfiHDZX1rfZeLr7wkGedwo2abzd1BE/s900/1974-09-24+Governor+Walker.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="900" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJL_VV8ynDn-ibTKTHFlyGXjZX3eF2pVPlVnuN6q1042oG3m96fT2_Y_appaXsuTrQ80RjORBdf0fN-8KtFMyFgo1pY0cv9yMlinw0HeH5YP8ZSfiHDZX1rfZeLr7wkGedwo2abzd1BE/w400-h274/1974-09-24+Governor+Walker.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>(L-R) Ruth Moore Garbe, Governor Walker, Marian Despres</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In December of that year, Richard
Macias of Preservation Urban Design was engaged to create the master plan for
the Prairie Avenue streetscape, the park site, and the Swiss Products building.
When Macias presented his plan in July 1975, proposed elements of the park
included “footsteps” representing the original foundations of the lost houses
on Prairie Avenue, and the division of the park into quadrants representing
four distinct periods in the history of Chicago architecture. “The vacant land
between the Glessner and Keith houses and part of the land surrounding the
Clarke House site will become an architectural park where ornament, exhibits
and demonstrations of Chicago architecture will be shown in a correct, handsome
park setting.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Clarke House</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1977, the City of
Chicago purchased the Clarke house from the St. Paul Church of God in Christ, which,
under the leadership of Bishop Louis Henry Ford, had preserved the building for
more than three decades. Plans were made to move the 120-ton structure nearly four
miles from its site at 4526 S. Wabash Avenue to its new home on the Indiana
Avenue side of the park. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGL2ed-k4qMoSzf3vknqkI-VuwO6NYU-Z0qjEhalJcyBc_m155I6RFbtMKTG9FGxfeDa3FX2JYsMWbkQC55fzN1SGX0w3-ngLraB9-bQ0t3t7PpDzW9uZ0uQp_nnd9Lw4epi8Q33LB20A/s900/1977-12-18+Clarke+House+arrives+B.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="900" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGL2ed-k4qMoSzf3vknqkI-VuwO6NYU-Z0qjEhalJcyBc_m155I6RFbtMKTG9FGxfeDa3FX2JYsMWbkQC55fzN1SGX0w3-ngLraB9-bQ0t3t7PpDzW9uZ0uQp_nnd9Lw4epi8Q33LB20A/w400-h200/1977-12-18+Clarke+House+arrives+B.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Clarke House resting on Indiana Avenue, awaiting the move onto its new foundation (shown in the foreground), December 1977</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The move in December 1977
attracted national attention, including the lifting of the building up and over
the Green Line tracks at Calumet Avenue and 44<sup>th</sup> Street. (Click <a href="http://glessnerhouse.blogspot.com/2014/08/house-moving-part-iii-clarke-house-1977.html">here</a> to read an August 2014 blog article about the move). In 1978, The National
Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois signed on as
a partner to restore and furnish the interior of the house. It opened to the
public in 1982.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpLYSQ01vHqcUePEXSkslWm4NKeiuZACe0YPQGsLZgpLwaHAS28BhSYaWFD0AuSHLjyqe9Y5n3j9EGkO3OddcDx7jffRMqXhOrlMGwrlNlRH2JI8JXsbEowV2rVe2YHh8D6PDb0ayW3e4/s900/1980+circa+Clarke+House.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="900" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpLYSQ01vHqcUePEXSkslWm4NKeiuZACe0YPQGsLZgpLwaHAS28BhSYaWFD0AuSHLjyqe9Y5n3j9EGkO3OddcDx7jffRMqXhOrlMGwrlNlRH2JI8JXsbEowV2rVe2YHh8D6PDb0ayW3e4/w400-h306/1980+circa+Clarke+House.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Clarke House, circa 1980</i></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prairie Avenue Historic
District Restored</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The year 1978 saw major
progress. The streetscape of the 1800 block of South Prairie Avenue was
restored to its 1890s appearance as suggested by Fitch, including limestone
sidewalks, period light fixtures, granite curbs, and cobblestone gutters. Several
buildings that were determined too deteriorated to be restored were razed,
including the three rowhouses that faced 18<sup>th</sup> Street immediately
west of Glessner House, and two surviving coach houses in the 1800 block of
Indiana Avenue.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">An interesting concept to
interpret the Prairie Avenue side of the park was developed by Ruth Moore Garbe
and members of her Prairie Avenue Historic District committee. To represent the
six houses that originally faced Prairie, the committee acquired historic and
modern stone curbs and wrought iron fences in six different designs, to
delineate the original house lots. The most significant fragments incorporated
into the fence were four carved limestone columns from the former home of John
G. Shedd at 4515 S. Drexel Boulevard. These were placed in front of the 1812 S.
Prairie house site. (The entire porch of the Shedd house had been dismantled
with the idea of erecting it as a pavilion in the park. Over time, portions
disappeared, so in the end, only the four columns were reused). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNpS0voyaXf9o1MfbfMSBlzknzTeLpJoQECvoUgI7lyGB8cPzQ0_8ecSHTIWz7cFp_wTDrqkUiTmuGIzQK4fkLfoTXou2ZIBoH_9UlKKIEdlrhdXlhepXfumDufoyzL6Bh8u4jgHdWPA/s900/2003-11-20+Shedd+column.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="643" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNpS0voyaXf9o1MfbfMSBlzknzTeLpJoQECvoUgI7lyGB8cPzQ0_8ecSHTIWz7cFp_wTDrqkUiTmuGIzQK4fkLfoTXou2ZIBoH_9UlKKIEdlrhdXlhepXfumDufoyzL6Bh8u4jgHdWPA/w286-h400/2003-11-20+Shedd+column.jpg" width="286" /></a><br /><i>Shedd House column as installed on Prairie Avenue</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">A recessed alcove in each section
of fence along Prairie Avenue marked the location of the sidewalk that would
have led up to the front door of each house. The old iron gate from the Chicago
Public Library was installed at the alley entrance off of 18<sup>th</sup>
Street. Asphalt parking lots, remnants of old sidewalks, and debris were
removed, and the entire park site became a lush expanse of grass.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLrl6kOQGs1lZYXiXdN-zRAGP2obCSBb1O5HmckNoBP_C4rNWkpzJmk4URF0j45Z6Lns8mvP4z4qcReK8HMQm5Fpt7asZ-LpqEJ1XB6tGgjvoSRJ0gV1MzPcKhVCbue-yGoIYXzbU1n0/s900/1978-09-17+A+Sunday+on+Prairie+Avenue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="900" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLrl6kOQGs1lZYXiXdN-zRAGP2obCSBb1O5HmckNoBP_C4rNWkpzJmk4URF0j45Z6Lns8mvP4z4qcReK8HMQm5Fpt7asZ-LpqEJ1XB6tGgjvoSRJ0gV1MzPcKhVCbue-yGoIYXzbU1n0/w400-h283/1978-09-17+A+Sunday+on+Prairie+Avenue.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>A Sunday on Prairie Avenue, looking west from Prairie Avenue, Swiss Products building (now the park fieldhouse) shown in background</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Prairie Avenue
Historic District was opened in September 1978 with three days of celebrations
including “A Sunday on Prairie Avenue” on September 17, featuring music, food,
and activities typical of a late 19<sup>th</sup> century street fair. A huge
tent was erected in the park for performances and presentations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">New Plan Developed<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">That same year, Macias was
asked to complete the interpretive plan for the park. Negotiations were
underway to acquire the Swiss Products building, with the thought of
demolishing it and extending the park land to the corner of Indiana Avenue and
18<sup>th</sup> Street. The plans also called for using the existing brick
alley, which cut the park into two halves, as a dividing line to define
different historic periods. The park land around Clarke House would interpret
Chicago’s early history, whereas the park land along Prairie Avenue between the
Glessner and Keith houses, would interpret post-fire Chicago including the
development of the Chicago School of architecture. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjHZIgoX6_B8_DrBzOl7evW9Ojzenq0E3R68HRpxMyJ2UDgz0USv4oxn7Bv6UFfBXwIJsryoYrmRJKGRqolaKlgoGzQ_F56Zg_PShTnokgnpsU_xxgFc0N_bm5mEoqwixRRpY4h18G7E/s900/1978+PUD+plan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="900" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjHZIgoX6_B8_DrBzOl7evW9Ojzenq0E3R68HRpxMyJ2UDgz0USv4oxn7Bv6UFfBXwIJsryoYrmRJKGRqolaKlgoGzQ_F56Zg_PShTnokgnpsU_xxgFc0N_bm5mEoqwixRRpY4h18G7E/w400-h373/1978+PUD+plan.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>1978 park plan prepared by Preservation Urban Design</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The park plans were set
aside for several years once it was announced that Chicago was considering
hosting a World’s Fair in 1992 on the lakefront immediately to the east of the
Historic District, with 18<sup>th</sup> Street to be a major entrance corridor.
For the next several years, discussions focused on the relationship of the
neighborhood to the proposed fairgrounds.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The 1980s<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Two smaller pieces of the
plan were instituted during the 1980s. A series of interpretive panels
showcasing the houses along Prairie Avenue had been under development since the
fences were erected along the street in 1978. During the summer of 1982, the
first nine panels were installed in the fence alcoves and in front of surviving
houses and the site of lost houses on the east side of Prairie. Each panel
featured a rendering of the house, information on the family that built it, and
their contributions to the business and cultural growth of the city. Five more
panels were added later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDYdX31enIt8JA2Vnf19f09FD_DVIy7XSb38p0wx5kcomuVEOZc_Qs-FDsEWLlBw8FfJq5kvg5y4AgNBUgcYy72ciPqneyAvqnPhOjViMTUdS8GYxu4UkO_pRok-JkUgc8Owap7IBssA/s900/1998-10-26+Sears+plaque.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="900" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDYdX31enIt8JA2Vnf19f09FD_DVIy7XSb38p0wx5kcomuVEOZc_Qs-FDsEWLlBw8FfJq5kvg5y4AgNBUgcYy72ciPqneyAvqnPhOjViMTUdS8GYxu4UkO_pRok-JkUgc8Owap7IBssA/w400-h369/1998-10-26+Sears+plaque.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Interpretive panel for the Joseph Sears house at 1815 S. Prairie Avenue</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In May 1987, the bronze
sculpture commemorating the Battle of Fort Dearborn (at the time still referred
to as the “Fort Dearborn Massacre”) was returned to the neighborhood and placed
in the park to the south of Glessner House. The sculpture, erected by George
Pullman in 1893 on his property at 1729 S. Prairie Avenue, had been removed in
the early 1930s after it was vandalized. It was owned and displayed by the
Chicago Historical Society for many years, before being deeded to the city in
1986, making its return to the area possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1IHpUzZlr1poMCihXUFTNglW-U06I1naCNqmsVLYDrAo18NnyAvPWYGbTRvM-isheKn2jxx93CpwN-W_qrH8ZOhP1IBjaRigmwBlr_SCuguvr4usw7-ix9ZZXyLRayBZFCC6wLInDXA/s900/1990+circa+Fort+Dearborn+statue+from+Elliott+Otis.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="900" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1IHpUzZlr1poMCihXUFTNglW-U06I1naCNqmsVLYDrAo18NnyAvPWYGbTRvM-isheKn2jxx93CpwN-W_qrH8ZOhP1IBjaRigmwBlr_SCuguvr4usw7-ix9ZZXyLRayBZFCC6wLInDXA/w400-h321/1990+circa+Fort+Dearborn+statue+from+Elliott+Otis.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Neighborhood tourees take a break in front of the Battle statue, circa 1990</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 1989, after plans to
host the World’s Fair were abandoned, there was renewed interest in moving forward
with plans for the park. Landscape architect Michele McBride was engaged to
prepare an updated master plan with a total price tag of $600,000. Major
components included period gardens around Clarke house, such as the family might
have tended during its period of occupancy, and a meadow area with grasses and
wildflowers that would convey the character of a native prairie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTj_2dqQgByuEYxK10DbVsyfMr9hO-NsIxYq3A2Ayha_dotAwoTckavpJbz0lOtWa6eHS2k5RSowCLlPyib1-EuPAQFR1AMSNddHmgn5YidiPdkJIk1JtHPj0_JrDBjEW_njk8VuAN5w/s900/1989-05-10+McBride+plan+for+Park.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="900" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTj_2dqQgByuEYxK10DbVsyfMr9hO-NsIxYq3A2Ayha_dotAwoTckavpJbz0lOtWa6eHS2k5RSowCLlPyib1-EuPAQFR1AMSNddHmgn5YidiPdkJIk1JtHPj0_JrDBjEW_njk8VuAN5w/w400-h331/1989-05-10+McBride+plan+for+Park.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Park plan prepared by Michele McBride, 1989</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Prairie Avenue side of
the park was envisioned as more of a true park with large open lawns dotted
with trees. The outlines of the original houses would be defined in stone and
would relate directly to the interpretive signage set into the fence alcoves along
the street. A meandering path would move in and out of the “houses.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Federal Building Fragments<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">As was the case with
earlier plans, it was never acted upon and the park remained undeveloped. Gerald
R. Wolfe, in his book, <i>Chicago In and Around the Loop</i>, noted the park
with its few architectural fragments “creating the impression of an old
cemetery, which in effect it is, with the scattered chunks of stone as
memorials to the once proud houses.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The granite fragments were
pieces of two 45-foot-tall Corinthian columns that had originally supported the
dome of the Federal Building designed by Henry Ives Cobb. They were salvaged
when the building was demolished in 1965, but by the early 1980s they had been
thrown into Lake Michigan to reinforce a breakwater. Being rescued once again,
they were moved to the park on Prairie Avenue where they remained until being
reassembled in 1996 to form the gateway into the Richard and Annette Bloch
Cancer Survivors Garden in the northeast corner of what is now Maggie Daley
Park. With the removal of these columns from Prairie Avenue, the idea of an
architectural fragment park was permanently put to rest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbeyecrXRPSuii_-7Jpl22lt9UO_AZa8mz2wTG-2ZxB-J2b9mcoy6FitYM3wNTxQRRwIX42zWd9VvnMCXBqIHIcKyVS0ZvZFt8E7Y0lF0QRBEtkRe2ZZkg3CgUOn_cbih5jHp48wXUjM/s900/1996+Cancer+Survivors+Park.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="724" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbeyecrXRPSuii_-7Jpl22lt9UO_AZa8mz2wTG-2ZxB-J2b9mcoy6FitYM3wNTxQRRwIX42zWd9VvnMCXBqIHIcKyVS0ZvZFt8E7Y0lF0QRBEtkRe2ZZkg3CgUOn_cbih5jHp48wXUjM/w321-h400/1996+Cancer+Survivors+Park.jpg" width="321" /></a><br /><i>Federal Building columns as installed at the Cancer Survivors Garden</i></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In our next installment,
we will examine a period of great activity for the park in the late 1990s that
coincided with the redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood as a highly
desirable residential community for the first time in almost 100 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4575851305912668247.post-8160872919895851292021-03-16T17:01:00.002-05:002021-03-16T17:45:24.994-05:00The Chicago Women's Park and Gardens - Part I<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Chicago Women’s Park
and Gardens, located immediately south and west of Glessner House, was created
to honor important women in the city’s history. To commemorate Women’s History
Month, we begin a three-part series exploring the history of the park and the
women that it honors. In Part I, we will reveal what originally stood on the
site, with a particular focus on the development and decline of Indiana Avenue.<br /><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3A4FmBXfCYlfyXVGYYkSX2VYI7OPN4jJqY_w45jACEwfNYIcsaSXMjkkQ5owGEgj-LA7f_TKiXRorJiaRo-S4gQ4IlJao0OUuGbCpeH0hiU4ZzLMw7iec7Ofb_vpQxzFC6nqAnGSiIWE/s2048/1+-+1911+map.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1118" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3A4FmBXfCYlfyXVGYYkSX2VYI7OPN4jJqY_w45jACEwfNYIcsaSXMjkkQ5owGEgj-LA7f_TKiXRorJiaRo-S4gQ4IlJao0OUuGbCpeH0hiU4ZzLMw7iec7Ofb_vpQxzFC6nqAnGSiIWE/w350-h640/1+-+1911+map.jpg" width="350" /></a><br /><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The map shown above captures
the block, which presently contains the park, as it appeared in 1911. Prairie
Avenue is on the right (east), Indiana Avenue on the left, 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">
Street at the top, and 20</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street, now Cullerton, at the bottom. The
site of the park and fieldhouse is outlined in red. The two buildings shown in
green – Glessner House and Keith House, are the only two buildings that still
stand today. Buildings shown in yellow were still standing in 1950, but all had
disappeared by the 1980s.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The fact that the park is
split roughly in half between properties that faced Prairie and Indiana
provides an opportunity to discuss the dramatic difference between the
development of the two avenues. In the late 19</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century, Prairie
Avenue emerged as Chicago’s most exclusive residential street - the “sunny
street of the sifted few” as it was then known. Approximately 90 mansions lined
the six blocks of Prairie Avenue between 16</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and 22</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">
streets. Six of those spacious homes stood on the land where the park is today.
Those homes were designed by the most prominent Chicago architects of the day,
including Burnham & Root, Cobb & Frost, and John Van Osdel. Residents
included O. R. Keith, George Wheeler, Charles Henderson, Charles Schwartz,
Daniel Shipman, and Fernando Jones – all millionaire business owners who helped
Chicago evolve into a world-class city in the decades following the Great
Chicago Fire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFmzKcbYkZskrLeTnN4x3-VH8NcNcSFEpqTTPCr8QMGtVz-EBM37S3O6y_0_0thNDnlarm7mpGRqECAVi9S8KXn5axdAvrJ4B3GUUzaOCv2BpkJ0Esa5q_M4_ryh2f0ooK0M8oXIB3Nw/s954/2+-+1800+block.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="954" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFmzKcbYkZskrLeTnN4x3-VH8NcNcSFEpqTTPCr8QMGtVz-EBM37S3O6y_0_0thNDnlarm7mpGRqECAVi9S8KXn5axdAvrJ4B3GUUzaOCv2BpkJ0Esa5q_M4_ryh2f0ooK0M8oXIB3Nw/w400-h299/2+-+1800+block.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">1800 block of Prairie Avenue looking southwest; Glessner House at right. Photo by George Glessner, circa 1888.</span></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Indiana Avenue, although
just one block west of Prairie Avenue, never achieved the same status. On the
map, you can see the outline of fourteen houses facing Indiana that stood
within the present park. One additional house, at the south end of the park
site, does not show as it had already been torn down. Three additional
rowhouses faced 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street, squeezed into lots that encroached upon
the back yards of the homes at the corner. All of these homes were much more
modest in size, and little is known of them, as their construction rarely warranted
attention in the newspapers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswCcFkpU5bLF6OjqrC8d2P9ZEG55LLTTt7vF-n0iZc09ez4OqSvxw5HvwBLTdK8Z0OpN2yOly44UwUPGj6bOI9X1BzFk3mmZ7y2TpHqqjsm4MQxCDbhGyn-0vvXcOTK7Y3sNCSQksjHg/s1050/3+-+7-1+18th+Street+houses+after+68.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="1050" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswCcFkpU5bLF6OjqrC8d2P9ZEG55LLTTt7vF-n0iZc09ez4OqSvxw5HvwBLTdK8Z0OpN2yOly44UwUPGj6bOI9X1BzFk3mmZ7y2TpHqqjsm4MQxCDbhGyn-0vvXcOTK7Y3sNCSQksjHg/w400-h258/3+-+7-1+18th+Street+houses+after+68.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rowhouses at 213-217 E. 18th Street; the site is now occupied by the patio for the Spoke & Bird restaurant. Photo by Richard Nickel, late 1960s.</span></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why was Indiana Avenue so
different? The answer is simple – from its earliest days, well before the Fire,
the street served as an important transportation route through the south side. A
horse railway line traveled south on State Street from Lake Street, turned east
on 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street, and then south on Indiana Avenue, running as far as
31</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street. By the time streetcars were introduced, the line had
been extended to 51</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street, where it then turned east, and
continued to South Park Avenue (now King Drive), ending at the northwest corner
of Washington Park. The streetcar line was discontinued in May 1953.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2k_ML02Jmf6M3Vi5IqTkvxZweK6vI3OXcdymT2xZ84jBz_jD8sVeQo0lWLBaIwllOy46kXJxCGmzxGpc6YMtuSVF_NFcapQ7HgzJUd5fPEB06lMopwLphAYUcG5ha4Y39HwcKrc2Ep4/s1245/4+-+Streetcar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="1245" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2k_ML02Jmf6M3Vi5IqTkvxZweK6vI3OXcdymT2xZ84jBz_jD8sVeQo0lWLBaIwllOy46kXJxCGmzxGpc6YMtuSVF_NFcapQ7HgzJUd5fPEB06lMopwLphAYUcG5ha4Y39HwcKrc2Ep4/w400-h225/4+-+Streetcar.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Southbound Indiana Avenue streetcar approaching 20th Street (now Cullerton Street), 1925.</span></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The entire neighborhood
around the site of the Women’s Park began to decline in the first decades of
the 20</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century. The causes were numerous – its location close to
downtown, the encroachment of industry, increased noise and pollution, and
nearby nuisances including the “Levee” red light district. Indiana Avenue, with
its more modest homes and convenient transportation, was impacted first. This
can be seen on the 1911 map. At the south end, near 20</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street, two
houses have already been replaced by a store and a post office, two others have
been converted into a cigar factory, and one of the larger coach houses was
occupied by peddlers. No such intrusions can yet be seen on Prairie Avenue.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The biggest change to
Indiana Avenue took place in the late 1920s. In response to the rapid growth of
the city in the preceding decades, planners decided to widen certain streets heading
in all directions from downtown, establishing major arterial streets to handle
increased motor traffic. Indiana Avenue, with its streetcar line already in
place, was identified as a major thoroughfare heading south. The decision was
made to increase its width from 66 to 100 feet by taking 34 feet from the lots
along the east (park) side of the street. The plan was temporarily delayed with
a suit filed by Eastman Kodak, which in 1905 had built a large plant right up
to the lot line at the northeast corner of Indiana Avenue and 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">
Street. Eventually, it was forced to sell the needed 34 feet to the city, chopped
off the east part of its building and constructed a new façade. (A close
examination of the building today shows the difference between the 1905 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">
Street and the 1927 Indiana Avenue facades.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">By the late 1920s, the
buildings on Indiana that stood where the park is today were run down houses,
most having been converted to business use or boarding houses. As such, most
were simply torn down when the street was widened. The photo below, an aerial
shot taken from the tower of the R. R. Donnelley building in 1935, shows the
park site and the general condition of the neighborhood at the time. Note the
many vacant lots along Indiana with only scattered coach houses still in place,
which could function independently for small business use.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtjPqgPyLWlBLKMUUxgSuGe05nYtIVzkNB08iCHzAd0CzocNBVkzn_d-b0znefWi6ZVQ34e5GgvnCsdvq5Na0vAzCxbV6ouUJei5GFKi7pPD7Yjxfsu2H2_Qlhahs0M8tg7O1VYyarx78/s900/5+-+1935+Donnelley+aerial.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="900" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtjPqgPyLWlBLKMUUxgSuGe05nYtIVzkNB08iCHzAd0CzocNBVkzn_d-b0znefWi6ZVQ34e5GgvnCsdvq5Na0vAzCxbV6ouUJei5GFKi7pPD7Yjxfsu2H2_Qlhahs0M8tg7O1VYyarx78/w400-h178/5+-+1935+Donnelley+aerial.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The first comprehensive
zoning ordinance was passed by the city in 1923. The entire neighborhood was not
zoned residential, but for business and manufacturing. When new buildings were
constructed on the east side of Indiana Avenue, they were built for these
purposes. A modest two-story brick building (shown below) was
constructed at 1901-1903 S. Indiana Avenue and through the years housed a
variety of auto-related businesses, to compliment the automobile showrooms that
lined Michigan Avenue one block to the west. It was torn down in the 1980s, its
last years spent housing the “Coach House Livery” which operated horse and
carriage rides on North Michigan Avenue.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3xmT_acgmcXBe6TRQ98GOGKG5AqgsmdSwV_hLAMFv6PNwxhsxIOuNlFhyphenhyphenSMGZY0NXkD_hSJT8ZLaRdWbGMVARk1PIeV1_IrsaBmUkYV24Mb0tls2sYH1z_b1MQfDFHgieq7NBpOSDlko/s651/6+-+15-7+1901+Indiana+circa+67.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="651" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3xmT_acgmcXBe6TRQ98GOGKG5AqgsmdSwV_hLAMFv6PNwxhsxIOuNlFhyphenhyphenSMGZY0NXkD_hSJT8ZLaRdWbGMVARk1PIeV1_IrsaBmUkYV24Mb0tls2sYH1z_b1MQfDFHgieq7NBpOSDlko/w400-h255/6+-+15-7+1901+Indiana+circa+67.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">1901-1903 S. Indiana Avenue. Photo by Richard Nickel, late 1960s.</span></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The present park
fieldhouse (shown below) was completed in 1928 at the
southeast corner of Indiana Avenue and 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street, occupying lots
originally containing five houses. The architects were Hyland & Corse, a
partnership of Paul V. Hyland and Redmond P. Corse. As originally designed, it
contained several storefronts which housed the Indiana Restaurant and various
shops; doorways faced both 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Street and Indiana Avenue. Most of
the building was used for manufacturing. Gus Manos started leasing the building
just a few years after it was built and purchased it in the 1940s. For decades,
he operated a company which became known as Swiss Products, pioneering the
development of dehydrated gravies, soup bases, and flavor boosters for use in
the restaurant business. (The company survives today at 4333 W. Division
Street).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiapeKsiliKE0GYNZZl_0Ql9taghxpFVTLUOppz8ZWmIFq1jcXjvLgZ0kGmRy9FMyNASFREtChlocR2C2cFAXKQDbfuV4_ZUWno51LzFg7lvreBnDhiEvjxdpwLbw9rOv6CRER_EbUmdqo/s642/7+-+15-7+Swiss+Products+W+facade+circa+67.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="642" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiapeKsiliKE0GYNZZl_0Ql9taghxpFVTLUOppz8ZWmIFq1jcXjvLgZ0kGmRy9FMyNASFREtChlocR2C2cFAXKQDbfuV4_ZUWno51LzFg7lvreBnDhiEvjxdpwLbw9rOv6CRER_EbUmdqo/w400-h373/7+-+15-7+Swiss+Products+W+facade+circa+67.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Swiss Products building, 1801-1811 S. Indiana Avenue. Photo by Richard Nickel, late 1960s.</span></i></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Famed architectural
photographer Richard Nickel was instrumental in saving Glessner House in the
1960s. At that time, he also documented the neighborhood around the house,
providing a rare glimpse of the future park site as it appeared at its low
point – vacant lots or parking lots to accommodate the surrounding businesses.
This article closes with several of those views. In the next installment, we
will look at the initial concept for the creation of a park in the early 1970s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wzkubudhyphenhyphenJNB9gSuu7WkFGH6O690EbZ689U6qVcFRkTHLdUXIoGtAkaqklL8mtQB7C38gBPKYEaDq1TyF616Lym_h5kDakvg5vVr18cC1CV19fYAOdEGbi1bxX6m1Cr8RhosU-6OvXo/s891/8+-+14-3+aerial+N+after+68.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="891" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wzkubudhyphenhyphenJNB9gSuu7WkFGH6O690EbZ689U6qVcFRkTHLdUXIoGtAkaqklL8mtQB7C38gBPKYEaDq1TyF616Lym_h5kDakvg5vVr18cC1CV19fYAOdEGbi1bxX6m1Cr8RhosU-6OvXo/w400-h178/8+-+14-3+aerial+N+after+68.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Aerial view looking northeast, Glessner House at upper center.</span></i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizs55ZDVoD-hAdRq_sy_ofuW04zgMjvHY7YEHAv5tHpyXqpo7stMuswHbTyqV3pcx3Hwm7I6OPJQK0hyphenhyphen91aoeCKNw5z_9kxF64nPldFbMF5X888SJrRFR1BIVb_4IlODd4dGI3QaN0B0s/s654/9+-+15-2+PA+south+after+68.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="654" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizs55ZDVoD-hAdRq_sy_ofuW04zgMjvHY7YEHAv5tHpyXqpo7stMuswHbTyqV3pcx3Hwm7I6OPJQK0hyphenhyphen91aoeCKNw5z_9kxF64nPldFbMF5X888SJrRFR1BIVb_4IlODd4dGI3QaN0B0s/w400-h256/9+-+15-2+PA+south+after+68.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Looking northwest on Prairie Avenue, Glessner House at right.</span></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiioEY8sEZhHfuetZwet9uVRdCtR_UKLX1XYeXURCx9qsTF4RxujvKGbs4TPGMB-SlOAreIUrJe83fgxSgEPM4mIE5T0IC2vngFAvhq2jDbz-mpA6vBdbfsy6mskF1-cbojRBLNfoYvBiI/s653/10+-+15-4+S+toward+Keith+after+68.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="653" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiioEY8sEZhHfuetZwet9uVRdCtR_UKLX1XYeXURCx9qsTF4RxujvKGbs4TPGMB-SlOAreIUrJe83fgxSgEPM4mIE5T0IC2vngFAvhq2jDbz-mpA6vBdbfsy6mskF1-cbojRBLNfoYvBiI/w400-h353/10+-+15-4+S+toward+Keith+after+68.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Looking south toward the Keith House, 1900 S. Prairie Avenue.</i></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidVdUhQITt3gXoU_qWF2zC8HMVinkgl7F67Sex_O2zS7rVV-RWTyYgNdZLMTPNCSOXWtGIV2ZShCnd4N2v1O_dJfiMi0V6wPvynq4BD7mMdUdIqgtW-eb-JECGr67jwGLcD7ijsPtqPBY/s647/11+-+15-7+S+toward+livery+circa+67.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="647" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidVdUhQITt3gXoU_qWF2zC8HMVinkgl7F67Sex_O2zS7rVV-RWTyYgNdZLMTPNCSOXWtGIV2ZShCnd4N2v1O_dJfiMi0V6wPvynq4BD7mMdUdIqgtW-eb-JECGr67jwGLcD7ijsPtqPBY/w400-h343/11+-+15-7+S+toward+livery+circa+67.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Looking south toward 1901-1903 S. Indiana Avenue; this is the current site of the Clarke House Museum.</i></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUYfoJfRFagWc9fkFwTP8Kz0rz-aVhw8P80Htc1adF0ul2l94TcROjVhg1V5zwj2Vvzqv-Rm1DJK7QfeG_yGV5KHvVyETXRtrE6hMLLu3pyzQJw3MSxsEBwGgdC2OjJclZEZX25w4Y2o/s652/12+-+15-7+N+toward+Swiss+circa+67.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="652" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUYfoJfRFagWc9fkFwTP8Kz0rz-aVhw8P80Htc1adF0ul2l94TcROjVhg1V5zwj2Vvzqv-Rm1DJK7QfeG_yGV5KHvVyETXRtrE6hMLLu3pyzQJw3MSxsEBwGgdC2OjJclZEZX25w4Y2o/w400-h316/12+-+15-7+N+toward+Swiss+circa+67.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Looking north toward the Swiss Products building, 1801-1811 S. Indiana Avenue; this is now the park fieldhouse.</i></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsbUUjouvL70S_LbHI8sFeMN5cPva5jxpiTJed8vB1CHqN9izbVivq6meQsoab2DS53cZd2PnB9JSvx7YJt8FhA7hq4bKHwd_ZjyFpt_KyR6Xng536MDYssBLkU0hQCyxvEQUQ9HKp-w/s638/13+-+15-6+-+1815-17+coach+houses+after+68.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="638" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsbUUjouvL70S_LbHI8sFeMN5cPva5jxpiTJed8vB1CHqN9izbVivq6meQsoab2DS53cZd2PnB9JSvx7YJt8FhA7hq4bKHwd_ZjyFpt_KyR6Xng536MDYssBLkU0hQCyxvEQUQ9HKp-w/w400-h310/13+-+15-6+-+1815-17+coach+houses+after+68.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Surviving coach houses from 1813 and 1815 S. Indiana Avenue adjacent to the Swiss Products building. These were demolished in the 1970s.</i></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiukY2ySCBUPlkQ-lFrZq70ZfdBSYLdcORpKEuDBWmZECl9CGp0O5iDu39aiFhAiyoArlgRtT7qI9RY61CbYXhqWCmrh801H8ruggYx7aaHGgl4bG01DXnVRyupqXmwyTzFdgpWB-vsQ_c/s648/14+-+13-1+alley+NE+early+68+after+08-12+fire.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="643" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiukY2ySCBUPlkQ-lFrZq70ZfdBSYLdcORpKEuDBWmZECl9CGp0O5iDu39aiFhAiyoArlgRtT7qI9RY61CbYXhqWCmrh801H8ruggYx7aaHGgl4bG01DXnVRyupqXmwyTzFdgpWB-vsQ_c/w398-h400/14+-+13-1+alley+NE+early+68+after+08-12+fire.jpg" width="398" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Looking northeast toward Glessner House. The brick alley ran from 18th Street south to Cullerton Street. A portion still remains behind Glessner House.</i></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuU1mrQ9mJw1BkD3XCjKquhaISMSzJHHUoY2FATEwpQVYdBMaRgDh5yQS4nR-hdskAROVQU_41rfko0vVTI9psjBGdwovmCj0QHqNjxAgUtfBj9sPQ22JaCITF5Pl-pPtQ48qjtjjE0XE/s1200/15+-+2021-03-14+Brick+1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="813" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuU1mrQ9mJw1BkD3XCjKquhaISMSzJHHUoY2FATEwpQVYdBMaRgDh5yQS4nR-hdskAROVQU_41rfko0vVTI9psjBGdwovmCj0QHqNjxAgUtfBj9sPQ22JaCITF5Pl-pPtQ48qjtjjE0XE/w271-h400/15+-+2021-03-14+Brick+1.JPG" width="271" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>When the alley was removed for the creation of the park, the bricks were salvaged and reused to edge the gravel paths.</i></span></div>Glessner House Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17299106190780884592noreply@blogger.com0