Shadows on the Street: Haunted Tours of Chicago's Historic Prairie Avenue

Over the weekend of October 27 and 28, 2012, Glessner House Museum will offer one of its most popular annual events – Shadows on the Street – haunted tours of Chicago’s historic Prairie Avenue.  This tour explores the street known in the late 19^th century as “Millionaire’s Row” or more popularly “the sunny street that held the sifted few.”  Prairie Avenue, between 16^th and 22^nd streets, was the most exclusive residential street in Chicago, if not the country, during the last decades of the 1800s.  Chicago’s wealthiest citizens, including Marshall Field, meatpacker Philip Armour, and the “palace car prince” George Pullman lived there, along with more than 70 other millionaires – the business and social leaders of the city.

In spite of the wealth and prosperity of the street, the neighborhood fell into serious decline in the first decades of the 20^th century.  Industry encroached on the west, increased train traffic on the Illinois Central tracks created a nuisance on the east, a growing African-American community developed to the south, and then there was the Levee, or Red Light, district which formed around Dearborn and 22^nd Street.  Families moved to other parts of the city, and their elegant homes were either torn down or converted into offices or boarding houses.  Eventually all but seven of the 90 mansions that lined the street were razed.

There are numerous stories of untimely endings, and even today, stories of unexplained sightings and sounds lead many to believe that the spirits of some of the residents of the street still remain.  Herewith are a couple of the stories which participants in the Shadows tour will hear this coming weekend.

The William W. Kimball House

This house, located at 1801 S. Prairie Avenue, is an elegant Chateauesque style home, designed by Solon S. Beman and built for the piano and organ manufacturer between 1890 and 1892.  It was one of the most beautiful houses ever built in Chicago, and even today, is noted for its beautiful carved stonework and stately turrets and dormers.  But ever since 1921, when the widowed Evaline Kimball passed away, there have been persistent rumors that the large windows on the north side of the house shake and rattle violently, even when there is no storm or other disturbance outside.  No satisfactory cause has ever been found to explain the odd occurrence, but some have suggested that it may be the ghost of Mrs. Kimball.  She was known for her extraordinary collection of Old Master paintings that lined the walls of the impressive two-storey entry hall.   The paintings are now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.  In her last years, Mrs. Kimball was known to suffer from dementia, and could be seen standing in her hall, elegantly dressed and welcoming her guests.  But there was no one around her.  Could it be that the spirit of Evaline Kimball has returned to the house looking for her Old Master paintings and is upset that they are no where to be found?  (The house also served as the setting for the 1996 film Primal Fear starring Richard Gere, Edward Norton, and Laura Linney).

The Marshall Field Jr. House

Perhaps no house on the street has attracted more attention than this home, which stands at 1919 S. Prairie Avenue.  Now comfortably renovated into six luxury condominium units, this house endured decades of use as a hospital and nursing home, and more than a quarter of a century of sitting largely empty and deteriorating.  But the story of the untimely death of Marshall Field Jr. in 1905 is what has kept the house in the public eye.  The official story is that Field was in the library of the house cleaning a rifle for a hunting trip when he accidentally shot himself.  He was rushed to Mercy Hospital where he died five days later, just 38 years old, leaving a widow and three young children.  The family never lived in the house again.  However, stories have persisted to this day that the story of Field’s last days was not so simple.  The most popular story is that he was in fact shot at the Everleigh Club, the most exclusive brothel in the city (conveniently located just a few blocks to the west on Dearborn Street).  After being shot, he was brought back to the house and then taken to the hospital to make it appear the shooting had taken place at home.  Ironically, the Everleigh sisters who operated the Club said the story was circulated by their competitors to discredit THEM and get them shut down by the city.  There were also stories that Field was despondent and attempted suicide.  Regardless, Field’s father, owner of the famous department store, was the wealthiest man in town, and the largest advertiser, so all the newspapers printed the “official” story.  The real story may never be known, and the rumors persist more than a century after Field died. 

Shadows on the Street tours will be offered on Saturday October 27 and Sunday October 28 at 7:00pm and 8:00pm each evening.  Tours are $10 per person and reservations may be made by calling 312.326.1480. 

Lightner Museum Moves to Florida, Keeps Ties to Chicago

In 1946, Otto Lightner moved to St. Augustine from Chicago on account of his health.  On an earlier visit, Lightner had noticed the long vacant Alcazar Hotel, the second of the great hotels in St. Augustine constructed by Henry Flagler in his attempt to create a southern resort city.  The hotel, completed in 1888, had been designed by the nationally prominent architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings.  Designed in the Moorish Revival style, the massive structure with a central courtyard was constructed of poured concrete with elaborate terra cotta ornamentation decorating the walls and roofline.  The hotel contained a huge indoor swimming pool, the first such facility in Florida, and also featured elaborate spa facilities, massage rooms, and much more. 

The Alcazar Hotel closed its doors in 1931, and was purchased by Lightner for just $150,000.  He, in turn, donated the complex to the city of St. Augustine with the understanding that it would forever house his museum of collectibles.  Since the early 1970s, the building has housed both the museum and city offices.

The Lightner Museum opened in 1948, the huge spaces providing ample room for Lightner’s collections including furniture, architectural fragments, mechanical musical instruments, natural history, fine arts, ceramics, glass, toys and much more.  Lightner died in 1950 and was buried in the courtyard just outside the entrance to the museum.

Although located in Florida for more than 60 years, the Lightner Museum continues to hold a fascination for those with an interest in Chicago history. A number of objects from the Potter Palmer castle on Lake Shore Drive may be found there including a stunning pair of Carrera marble columns and a throne chair, both shown below.

Items from Prairie Avenue homes include the dining room furniture from the Blackstone mansion (1912 S. Prairie Avenue) and a beautiful gilt Aesthetic movement chandelier from the home of Kate Buckingham (2036 S. Prairie Avenue), see below. 

Even the infamous Everleigh Club, located at 2131-2133 S. Dearborn Street
in the heart of Chicago’s Levee district, is represented with a flamboyant Venetian glass chandelier.

The collections at the museum are vast and varied from player pianos to buttons, and from an Egyptian mummy to brilliant cut glass.  Devotees of Chicago history owe a debt of gratitude to Otto Lightner for his efforts to preserve Chicago as it grew and thrived from the late 1800s past the turn of the 20^th century.