Prairie Avenue in 1874

On Thursday June 19, 2014 at 6:00pm, Glessner House Museum Executive Director and Curator William Tyre will give a lecture entitled “A Look Back: Chicago and the World in 1874.”  The free event, sponsored by Friends of Historic Second Church, will take place at Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood, and is being held to celebrate the 140^th anniversary of the completion of Second Presbyterian’s current church building.  Doors will open at 5:30pm for tours of the National Historic Landmark sanctuary before the program begins.

The Prairie Avenue neighborhood surrounding the church was a thriving residential neighborhood in 1874, and was home to many of Chicago’s leading business and social leaders.  The area was well established by the time of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and nearly 40 mansions had already been built on the six-block stretch of Prairie Avenue between 16^th and 22^nd streets.  Building activity increased immediately after the fire, as residents who had been burned out in the fire sought a new location where they could immediately begin building their new homes. 

The illustration at the top of the article appeared in the May 1874 edition of The Landowner, a monthly periodical focusing on the work of architects and real estate developers in and around Chicago.  The image includes eight of the most prominent houses on Prairie Avenue, and one street scene, and bore the following caption:

“Our artist shows in this issue a number of the beautiful houses on Prairie avenue, one of the most fashionable and handsomely built of all our South-Side thoroughfares.  No city in the world can rival Chicago in its residences, a fact which shows that this class of buildings has not suffered by the fire and the consequent turning of capital into the erection of business blocks.

“After all, one of the greatest attractions a city can offer is its homes, for to obtain them is the end of most men’s aspirations, for which they toil and sweat in the counting-room and at the various trades and professions.  Visitors who crowd to Chicago neglect to see the homes of our citizens, being wholly absorbed and astonished by the wonderful buildings put up since the fire in the burnt district.  They should not fail to visit such streets as Prairie avenue, where the home-life of our citizens of means is laid.”

The images, beginning at upper left were as follows:

Louis Wahl residence, 2026 S. Prairie Ave.

Prairie Avenue looking southwest at 18^th Street

Edson Keith residence, 1906 S. Prairie Ave.

Charles M. Henderson residence, 1816 S. Prairie Ave.

Marshall Field residence, 1905 S. Prairie Ave.

Robert Law residence, 1620 S. Prairie Ave.

George M. Pullman residence, 1729 S. Prairie Ave.

 Dewey residence, 1730 S. Prairie Ave.

(center) Daniel M. Thompson residence, 1936 S. Prairie Ave.

All of the residences pictured have been demolished.  Two of the images are of particular interest.

The view of Prairie Avenue looking southwest at 18^th Street is the only known image showing the southwest corner of Prairie and 18^th prior to the construction of Glessner House in 1886-1887.  Just to the right of center in the illustration is a three-story double-house with Mansard roof, occupied by the Hitchcock and Galloway families.  John J. Glessner purchased the double-house in March 1885, selling off the south portion of the lot to Osborn R. Keith, and retaining the remaining 75 feet of frontage for construction of his own house.

The other image of interest is that of the George M. Pullman mansion.  Although construction on the house had begun in 1871, it was still under construction in 1874, and in fact would not be ready for occupancy by the Pullman family until early 1876.  Comparing the illustration with a photo of the finished house, one can see major elements missing including the front porch facing Prairie Avenue and the porte cochere facing 18^th Street, as well as the iron roof cresting and other finishing touches.

Other building activity during the year included a large $10,000 addition to the William G. Hibbard house at 1701 S. Prairie Ave.  The original house had been built in 1868 with William LeBaron Jenney as architect.  Jenney was also the architect of the addition, seen in the second photo above.  As the house was located on the east side of the street, the back porches faced directly onto Lake Michigan which was just beyond the Illinois Central Railroad tracks that bordered the back of the Hibbard lot.

The home of Daniel Shipman was constructed in 1874 at 1828 S. Prairie Ave.  William W. Boyington, best remembered today for his design of the Chicago Water Tower, was the architect of this house, designed in the predominant Second Empire style of the day.  An interesting editorial about Shipman was published in the Chicago Tribune shortly after his death in 1906.  Shipman made his fortune in the white lead industry, but he and his wife left no children to inherit his fortune.  As a result, his estate was converted into a trust from which the earnings were paid yearly to five charities:

-Illinois Schools of Agriculture and Manual Training for Boys

-Chicago Home for Incurables

-Chicago Old People’s Home

-Hahnemann Hospital of Chicago

-St. Luke’s Free Hospital

The Tribune noted in reporting the disposition of Shipman’s estate:

“In felicitating the five admirable charities which have profited so gratifyingly by Daniel B. Shipman’s will it is interesting to remember that the provisions to be carried out would not have been possible had Mr. Shipman accumulated a large family of children during his many years of married life.  If heaven had blessed him with four, five, or six boys there would be every reason to suppose that the boys who attend the Illinois Schools of Agriculture and Manual Training  would not be the gainers by the liberal endowment fund provided by the terms of the will.  So here is an instance where many boys are benefited in place of a few. . . Perhaps it is not an unworthy thought that Providence may have decreed this charitable distribution and that ofttimes marriages are childless in order that worthy charities may be the substantial gainers.” 

Allen's Academy in 1874

The second home of Allen's Academy, completed 1883

The Prairie Avenue neighborhood was home to a number of private schools to which the residents sent their children.  One of the largest and most prominent was Allen’s Academy for Boys which opened in 1874 in a building at Michigan Avenue and 22^nd Street.  The principal, Ira W. Allen, had previously served as the head of Lake Forest Academy.  In 1883, Allen engaged the services of architect Charles Chapman to design a much larger building which was located on the south side of 22^nd Street (now Cermak Road) east of Prairie Avenue.  The school closed upon Allen’s retirement in 1892.

One of the most prominent  and important houses on Prairie Avenue was designed in 1874 for John B. Sherman, vice president and manager of the Chicago Union Stock Yards.  Located at 2100 S. Prairie Avenue the house was designed by a new architectural firm in Chicago – Burnham and Root.  It was the second commission the young architects had received into their office, and it was crucially important.  During construction, Daniel Burnham became acquainted with Sherman’s daughter Margaret, and by the time the house was finished in 1876, they had wed and moved into the new house.  Sherman was one of Chicago’s most prominent businessmen, and he used his considerable influence to secure numerous commissions for his son-in-law’s architectural practice  from his Prairie Avenue neighbors and Stock Yards associates. 

The house broke away from the predominant Second Empire style of Prairie Avenue and featured Ruskinian Gothic details including a hipped roof punctuated by numerous dormers of various sizes and shapes, stone banding delineating the floor levels, and a decorative second level oriel window addressing the prominent corner site.  Louis Sullivan, not usually known for his praise of other architects’ works, wrote (in the first person) about the house in The Autobiography of an Idea:

“There, on the southwest corner of Prairie Avenue and Twenty-first Street, his eye was attracted by a residence, nearing completion, which seemed far better than the average run of such structures inasmuch as it exhibited a certain allure of style indicating personality.”

Happy Birthday Richard Strauss!

Wednesday June 11, 2014 will mark the 150^th anniversary of the birth of the great composer and conductor Richard Strauss.  Widely regarded during his lifetime as the greatest composer of the first half of the 20^th century, his innovative music, which bridged German Romanticism and early modernism, was championed by the first two conductors of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during its first half century – Theodore Thomas and Frederick Stock. 

                           

In February 1895, the Chicago Tribune made the following comment at the time of the premiere of his tone poem “Death and Transfiguration” with the orchestra:

“Richard Strauss is an interesting figure in the musical world.  Appointed a conductor at the Royal Opera, Berlin, for 1896, and also to direct the orchestra concerts in that city, he is not yet 31 years old.  At present he fulfills the part of director at the Munich Royal Opera, and last summer was one of the four conductors assisting at Bayreuth.  In Germany he is regarded with favor through his symphonic compositions.

“Of this branch of his work opportunity was allowed to judge in the last orchestra program.  ‘Death and Transfiguration’ was the composition chosen.  In it the composer has given free flight to a remarkably vivid imagination, discarding ordinary artistic rules.  The demands upon the orchestra are prodigious.  If rules are ignored in the writing, difficulties are ignored in the treatment from the executants’ point of view.  In rhythm, complication of themes, and nuances it is redundant almost to the extreme of extravagance.”

Just three years later, in an article entitled “Born for a Baton,” the Chicago Tribune announced:

“The leader of the Royal Orchestra in Munich, Herr Levy, lays down the baton.  There is no necessity for him to wield it longer, as he is soon to wed an heiress.  Richard Strauss has been appointed his successor.

“This is the latest word to reach America concerning musical affairs in the fatherland.  Richard Strauss, who up to this time has occupied the position of second conductor of the Royal Opera, is what the Germans so lovingly designate ‘Ein Munchener Kind,’ having been born in Munich June 11, 1864.  He is not related by blood to the Vienna waltz king, although often erroneously counted as a member of the latter’s family, both bearing the same name.”

Richard Strauss made his debut in America in February 1904.  In a special to the Chicago Tribune from New York, dated February 28:

“The long heralded American debut of Richard Strauss of Berlin, an important figure at the present time in the world’s field of music, was made in Carnegie hall tonight at last in the Wetzler symphony concerts before an immense audience with notable enthusiasm. 

“Mr. Strauss’ compositions monopolized the program, the occasion constituting the first series of festival concerts at which his works will be consecutively exploited, and the composer himself conducted the most important number in the list, his tone poem “Ein Heldenleben,” at his first appearance.”

Strauss’ trip to America also included performances in Chicago.  In the Chicago Tribune, dated March 13, 1904 it was noted that:

“The coming to Chicago of Richard Strauss will in certain respects be the most interesting event of the present season.  There is today no man in the musical world who so completely fills the public eye as does this comparatively young German composer.  His orchestral works and his songs have made their way into every country where occidental music is cultivated as an art, and his influence in both these lines of creative music is already making itself distinctly felt.  We here in Chicago have – thanks to the presence of Mr. Thomas and the Chicago orchestra – been made unusually familiar with all orchestra works of Strauss, and through the efforts of our singers, headed by Mr. Hamlin (whose services in this line should not be forgotten), have made the acquaintance of many of his songs.  We are, therefore, in better position than is any other city in this country to receive Dr. Strauss with understanding and appreciation of what he has accomplished in music.  No other American city heard all of his tone poems so early, and nowhere have they been given with such frequency since that time as here in Chicago, for Mr. Thomas’ keen and constant search for important novelties and his realization of Strauss’ influence in present day music have caused him to place the composition of the celebrated German often before the patrons of the Chicago orchestra.

“The conditions under which Dr. Strauss will be heard here will also be peculiarly favorable.  Even the decriers of Chicago and all that is Chicagoan can but admit that the only orchestra in the United States which can compete with our own for technical and interpretative supremacy is the Boston Symphony.  The other orchestras of the country are capable, but they are not of the superior excellency that distinguishes the one we call our own and that which Boston has so long boasted.  Dr. Strauss will not have an opportunity to direct the Boston organization. 

“When he comes to Chicago therefore, he will have under his baton for the first time in this country an orchestra of supreme capabilities.  It is safe to say that Mr. Thomas, while he is no hero worshiper or is not given to lionizing anybody or anything, will see to it that his ‘boys,’ as he calls his players, are in the finest condition possible when Dr. Strauss takes them in charge week after next.”

Strauss arrived in Chicago on Wednesday March 30^th, and immediately went to the Auditorium where he led the orchestra in a rehearsal of his works lasting two and one half hours.  The concert was presented in two performances – Friday April 1^st at 2:15pm and Saturday April 2^nd at 8:15pm.  After the first concert, Chicago Tribune music critic W. L. Hubbard reported, in part:

“That master musician of modern music, that wonderful combination of poet, painter, and composer, the man to whom pictures are audible and tones visible – Richard Strauss – appeared at the Auditorium yesterday afternoon, and for over two hours some 3,700 persons sat beneath the spell his great gifts weave and listened to the tonal tales they enable him to tell.

“It may be that some who heard did not understand, and that many who listened did not fully comprehend.  For fully to grasp all that this maker of musical pictures presents to us would mean that to us, too, the tones of an orchestra were but so many pigments, and that the color and forms drawn in them upon the canvas of the vibrant air were as clear, as distinct, and as definite to our aural vision as they are to his.

“To most of us such hearing is denied – our ears are still too blind to be able to see all the dream pictures Richard Strauss’ magical power would have us see through them.  But while we may be thus blind, and while some of us in that blindness may even question the possibility of such tonal pictures existing – may, in short, doubt the possibility of music performing all the tasks he would have it perform – it was not difficult, while sitting yesterday afternoon in the presence of this mighty weaver of musical mysteries, to catch glimpses of the brilliantly colored pictures he was painting with tones, and to credit the possibility of music doing all he would have it do.”

The program opened with Theodore Thomas leading his orchestra in the prelude to “Die Meistersinger” after which he turned the podium over to Dr. Strauss for the remainder of the concert. 

“A rousing fanfare from the whole orchestra and applause loud and long continued expressed to the celebrated conductor-composer Chicago’s cordial welcome.  He bowed repeatedly, and then raised his baton for the first measures of ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra.

“After the ‘Zarathustra,’ Mme. Strauss appeared, escorted by both Mr. Thomas and Dr. Strauss.  Mme. Strauss is one of the leaders of the dress reform movement in Germany, and her gown yesterday was in this style, an elaborate creation of creamy lace and silk, which was distinctly becoming to her.  Her singing proved interesting and satisfactory from an interpretative viewpoint.  The voice has lost its richness in the upper middle register and in the high tones, but it is of no inconsiderably beauty in the lower half, and it is used throughout with so much of discretion and understanding that it seems adequate for all that is undertaken.  The seven songs heard were beautifully interpreted, and the exquisite accompaniments, played, as they were, in the finest style by the orchestra, made the performance of them in high measure gratifying.”

Richard Strauss with his wife, Pauline Strauss de Ahna

The Glessners were present at the second Strauss concert on the evening of Saturday April 2^nd, having just returned that afternoon from a two-month trip to Santa Barbara, California on account of Frances Glessner’s health.  She made the following entry in her journal:

“We had a state room and were very comfortable coming home.  Miss Gillette of Elkhart was on the train.  We got here between three and four.  Frances and Blewett met us – Alice was here at the house.  George had gone to Canada and Littleton.  Helen and Anna (her sisters) soon came.  We had a good talk and a very warm welcome from all. 

“In the evening we had the Lees and the sisters here to dinner and then we all went to the concert where we heard Richard Strauss conduct the orchestra.  Madame Strauss sang.  Mr. Thomas conducted the first number and Strauss the rest of the program.

“After the first number Mr. Thomas sat with Mrs. Thomas a while, then he called on us in our box.  Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Woodyatt, Mr. Baird called before the concert, - Mr. Burnham, Mr. Kramer, Mr. Block and others called in the intermission.  Frances and Blewett went out to the florist in the intermission and sent flowers for me to the orchestra and the Strauss’.”

The Potter Palmer "castle" on Lake Shore Drive

On April 4^th, Dr. and Mme. Strauss gave a benefit recital for the Russian Red Cross society at the residence of Potter and Bertha Palmer on Lake Shore Drive.  The event netted $4,500 for the relief of Russian soldiers fighting in the Far East.  The Chicago Tribune reported:

“It was entirely a Strauss recital.  It was a German evening.  Every selection given was of Strauss’ own composition.  Dr. Richard Strauss, the famous composer and orchestra leader of Berlin, did not play a single solo, but presided at the piano as accompanist for every number.  The first, second, and fourth parts of the program were by Mme. Strauss de Ahna, soprano, and the third part was by Paul Meyer, violinist, second concertmeister of the Chicago orchestra.”

The final performance by Dr. Strauss and his wife in Chicago was given at the Auditorium on the evening of Thursday April 14^th.  He traveled to Washington to give his final American concert on April 26^th before returning to Germany.  During his time in the United States he appeared in 36 concerts, and was received with enthusiasm in every city in which he performed.

NOTE:  In February 1936, when CSO conductor Frederick Stock returned from a vacation, he directed the orchestra in a performance of the tone poem “Death and Transfiguration” by Richard Strauss in memory of John J. Glessner, who had died January 20^th of that year. 

Quotations from the past

In September 1895 Frances Glessner began collecting quotations in a book she labeled simply “Volume No. 1 Quotations.”  Over the next 34 years, she filled 194 pages with more than 1,200 quotations gathered from a variety of sources.  Most are written in her own hand, a few are clipped from periodicals.  Reading through the quotations provides a great deal of insight into her character, and the values that she considered most important in her life.  It is believed that the quotations were gathered to be shared with her family over breakfast.

                             

Five quotations, written on the first page following the title page, were presented in an article on this blog published May 20, 2013.  In this installment, we provide a number of additional quotes for thought and reflection.  Some are light-hearted and are included because they elicited a laugh, but some have a much deeper meaning.  Quotations such as these were often inserted in newspapers and periodicals to fill empty space or were gathered together into columns with such lofty names as “Grains of Gold” and “Sententious Sayings.”  In many cases they were unattributed. 

“All persons are requested and positively prohibited not to cross this bridge with more than one horse in two directions at the same time.”

“According to Dr. Darwin and others, it takes a monkey thousands of years to make a man of himself, but a man can make a monkey of himself in a minute.”

“Some people complain because there are thorns on the roses.  For my part, I am glad there are roses on the thorns.”

“Even the elephant is not too large to concentrate his mind upon a peanut.”

“Society is what people are when they think they are watched.”

“Society is made up of concealments and the one who is most adept is the leader.”

(From the Chicago newspaper The Inter Ocean, December 24, 1893)

“All things come to him who waits.”

The next quote reads:

“All things come to him who knows when to stop waiting.”

“God has never tried to make a man who would please his neighbors.”

“It is always surprising how much deeper a hole is after one gets into it.”

“The man who points out our faults is a true friend, but we feel like knocking him down just the same.”

(Notation written in after quote – “Not always.”  The quote is attributed to the American humorist Josh Billings, 1818-1885, who wrote under the name Henry Wheeler Shaw.)

“The man who seeks your friendship has a motive in view; the woman who does so has two or three of them.”

“It is better to know less than to know so much that isn’t so.”

“Women are like religion: you take them on faith, or not at all.”

“I prefer the wicked rather than the foolish: the wicked sometimes rest.”

(Alexandre Dumas, 1802-1870, the French writer best known for his novels including The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.)

The Johnstown Flood, May 31, 1889

Saturday May 31, 2014 will mark the 125^th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in American history – the Johnstown Flood.  The Glessners were staying at the Brunswick Hotel in New York at the time, and two mentions of the calamity were made in Frances Glessner’s journal.

Brunswick Hotel, New York City

June 1^st, 1889:

It rained at intervals all day yesterday and the wind blew in a most disagreeable manner.  Today we got up very early for John was to leave by the Penn. route for home (Chicago).  We went to a very early breakfast and found by the paper that the town of Johnstown Penn. had been swept away by a flood and all the trains were stopped – so John went to the ticket office and stopped his trunk and changed his route to the Mich. Central.

June 2^nd:

Today I am alone and have rested on the bed and have read the account of the Johnstown flood.  The papers estimate the loss of life at over 1000 persons.

The Johnstown Flood of 1889 occurred when a dam located 14 miles upstream of Johnstown, Pennsylvania on the Little Conemaugh River failed after days of unusually heavy rainfall.  It is estimated that 20 million tons of water (equivalent to 4.8 billion gallons) were released from the reservoir behind the dam, known as Lake Conemaugh.   The lake itself covered approximately two square miles and was situated 450 feet above Johnstown.  More than 2,200 people were killed, and many of the bodies were never found or identified.  The disaster resulted in the largest loss of civilian life in the United States at the time, only to be surpassed by the 1900 Galveston hurricane and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.  Property loss was estimated at $17 million including the total loss of four square miles of downtown Johnstown and more than 1,600 homes. 

Johnstown was located in the narrow Conemaugh Valley in the Allegheny Mountains and the area was always subject to flooding due to its terrain and the large amounts of runoff from rain and snowfall.  The South Fork Dam was constructed between 1838 and 1853 as part of the canal system in the state.  It was eventually sold into private hands and acquired by industrialist Henry Clay Frick and other wealthy Pittsburgh residents, who converted the private lake into a summer resort.  The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club opened in 1881.

Cottages at Lake Conemaugh

A devastating rainstorm hit the Johnstown area on May 30, 1889; at the time it was the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in that part of the country.  Up to ten inches of rain fell in just 24 hours causing rivers to swell and overflow their banks, threatening Johnstown with severe flooding.  The president of the Club noticed the level of the Lake and the strained condition of the dam.  Warnings were sent to Johnstown but were ignored as there had been many false alarms in the past.

The South Fork Dam collapsed shortly after 3:00pm on May 31^st sending the 20 million tons of water from Lake Conemaugh into the valley below.  Within 40 minutes the entire lake was drained.  The flood hit the small town of South Fork first which was on high ground, so the loss of life was minimal.  As the flood continued downstream, it picked up enormous quantities of debris including trees, houses, and animals.  The accumulated debris resulted in the flood being stopped temporarily at a railroad bridge, Conemaugh Viaduct.  But in less than ten minutes the viaduct collapsed and the resulting release of the water and debris produced a much larger and stronger wave as it headed toward Johnstown.  It decimated the towns of Mineral Point, East Conemaugh, and Woodvale and gathered more and more debris including miles of barbed wire from the Gautier Wire Works. 

The flood hit Johnstown a little after 4:00pm.  The wall of water and debris was moving at a rate of 40 miles per hour when it hit the town and was as high as 60 feet in places.  The water was stopped when debris piled up against a huge stone railroad bridge which carried the Pennsylvania Railroad across the Conemaugh River.  The debris caught fire and burned for three days.  When the floodwaters finally receded, the pile of debris at the bridge covered 30 acres and reached 70 feet in height.  It took months to clear and dynamite was needed as much of the debris was entangled in barbed wire.

Relief started arriving in the area within a few days when the stone railroad viaduct was repaired and trains were able to come into the area.  The disaster also marked the first major relief effort by the newly formed American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton who remained for more than five months.  Nearly $4 million was received from across the country and around the world, including significant donations from members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.  Many blamed the Club for not properly maintaining the dam although courts maintained that the disaster was an Act of God, so the Club and its members were never held legally responsible. 

Andrew Carnegie built the town a new library; today it is owned by the Johnstown Historical Society which operates it as The Flood Museum.  The Stone Bridge still stands and now forms part of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial, managed by the National Park Service.

The Ames Monument by H. H. Richardson

On May 7, 2014, Bill Tyre, Executive Director and Curator at Glessner House Museum, and Robert Furhoff and John Waters, members of the House and Collections Committee, visited the Ames Monument in southeast Wyoming.  The monument is the only work of H. H. Richardson west of St. Louis and is probably his least visited site, due to its remote location off Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie.

The monument was commissioned by the Union Pacific Railroad to commemorate the efforts of brothers Oakes and Oliver Ames in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.  That extraordinary engineering feat was the result of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862, signed by Abraham Lincoln, who considered it one of the most important acts of his presidency.  Little work was made on the railroad during the Civil War, but in 1865 Lincoln turned to his friend Oakes Ames, a member of the U. S. House of Representatives and the Congressional Committee on Railroads, to oversee its completion.  Oliver Ames served as president of the Union Pacific Railroad during construction.  The Ames brothers, who had made their fortune manufacturing shovels, contributed over one million dollars of their own money and raised another $1.5 million from friends and colleagues.  The railroad was finished in four years and its completion was celebrated with the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit in Utah on May 10, 1869.  Oakes Ames died in 1873 and Oliver Ames in 1877.

The construction of the monument was approved by stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1875, but no action was taken until late 1879 when H. H. Richardson was engaged as architect.  His selection was most appropriate as he had already designed two buildings for the Ames family in North Easton, Massachusetts - the Oliver Ames Free Library (1877-1879) and the Oakes Ames Memorial Town Hall (1879-1881).  

The site selected for the monument was at Sherman, Wyoming, 300 feet south of the highest elevation of the Union Pacific railroad line, at 8,247 feet above sea level.  (In 1901, the railroad tracks were moved to a lower elevation three miles to the south and the town of Sherman was abandoned).

Norcross Brothers was awarded the construction contract and work began in 1880.  A compound was built in Sherman to accommodate the 85 workers who spent the next two years completing the memorial.  (Supposedly no gambling or drinking was allowed).  

The source of the granite was Reeds Rock, located one half mile to the west.  The granite blocks, some of which weighed up to 20 tons, were skidded to the site by draft animals, and wooden cranes were used to hoist them into place.  The total cost was just under $65,000.

The monument stands 60 feet tall and is 60 feet wide at the base, where the walls are 10 feet thick.  The structure is designed in two parts.  In the lower half, the stone is laid in random ashlar, i.e. the stones are of varying heights.  In the upper portion, the stones are coursed ashlar, where the stones are of the same height within each course.  

Oakes Ames

Oliver Ames

The upper portion contains two stone bas relief medallions each nine feet in height, designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.  The east façade features a portrait of Oakes Ames, and the west façade features a portrait of Oliver Ames.  The north face features a simple inscription, in one-foot tall letters which reads IN MEMORY OF OAKES AMES AND OLIVER AMES.

Frederick Law Olmsted praised the monument and its setting, and architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock, writing in 1934, stated that it was among Richardson’s best works and one of the very finest memorials in the country.

The monument with John Waters at left (for scale)

The monument is beautifully maintained by Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources which has also installed informative interpretive panels at the site.

(Contemporary photos taken May 7, 2014 by Bill Tyre and John Waters).

Edward MacDowell and the MacDowell Colony

Exactly 100 years ago, Frances Glessner carefully pasted a postcard into her journal that read as follows:

May 17^th, 1914

EDWARD MACDOWELL MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION

PETERBOROUGH, NEW HAMPSHIRE

My dear Mrs. Glessner –

You were one of those kind enough to buy tickets for the recital I gave, last Winter, for the benefit of the Association.

I am sending you our new report which I hope you will have time to look over.  I think it proves the importance of what we are doing.  Our financial struggle is very cruel, but the artistic value of it all beyond question.  Should you be near us, this Summer, will you not come and see it all ---

Thanking you for your kindness,

Sincerely yrs,                                                                                  

M. MacDowell (Mrs. E.)

The note was penned by Marian MacDowell, the widow of the great American composer and pianist Edward MacDowell.  Given the Glessners’ great love of classical music and their untiring support of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, it is not surprising that they would have also been interested in supporting the MacDowell Association. 

Edward MacDowell was born in New York City in 1860 and began taking piano lessons at an early age, one of his teachers being the Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño.  At the age of 16, his family moved to Paris and he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory.  Two years later, he performed some of his own compositions and a transcription of a Liszt symphonic poem at a recital.  Among those present was the composer Franz Liszt.

Soon after, MacDowell moved to Frankfort where he began teaching and composing.  In 1884, he married one of his American piano students, Marian Griswold Nevins (who was originally brought to Europe to study with Clara Schumann, only to find that she was away).  The MacDowells returned to the United States in 1888 living in Boston for eight years until he was appointed the director of music at Columbia University. 

It was also in 1896 that Marian MacDowell purchased an abandoned 75 acre farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire for $1,500 which they named Hillcrest Farms.  The beautiful woodlands and fields proved to be the perfect environment for MacDowell, and his composing flourished in the setting.  

Main house at Hillcrest Farms

MacDowell's log cabin retreat;

Marian MacDowell in the foreground

In 1899, Marian completed a one-room log cabin as a secluded retreat for her husband to compose away from all the activity at the main house at Hillcrest. 

MacDowell’s output during these years was significant and included two piano concertos, two orchestral suites, four symphonic poems, and four piano sonatas, as well as many songs and piano transcriptions.   His best known work today is To a Wild Rose, from his piano suite Woodland Sketches.

In 1904, MacDowell was one of the first seven people chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  It was at the same time that he and Marian first discussed the idea of creating an artists’ colony at their summer home in Peterborough.  The year 1904 also proved to be a tragic turning point in MacDowell’s life.  He resigned abruptly from his position at Columbia University and soon after was injured in an accident where he was run over by a Hansom cab.  By this time, he began showing significant signs of dementia, and he was no longer able to compose or teach. 

Marian MacDowell deeded the Peterborough property to the newly formed Edward MacDowell Association in 1907, founding the artists’ colony she and her husband had envisioned a few years early.  Edward MacDowell died on January 23, 1908 and was buried on the property.

Marian spent the next 25 years of her life leading the MacDowell Colony, relying chiefly on donations for its operation.  Early supporters included Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, and former president Grover Cleveland.  A talented pianist, she resumed her career giving recitals and performances as a means of raising money to support the Colony.  She became the foremost interpreter of her husband’s music.  It was for one of these recitals that Frances Glessner had purchased tickets.

In 1912, Marian MacDowell purchased an additional 184 acres of land in Peterborough, and in time the Colony grew to include 32 artists studios, all based on the initial log cabin built for Edward.  Each cabin was secluded and out of view of the rest, providing the optimal working environment in which he had thrived.  Marian MacDowell died in 1956 at the age of 98 and was interred beside her husband at the Colony.

The MacDowell Colony continues to thrive today, and is one of the leading artists’ colonies in the country.  Nearly 7,000 artists have been supported in residence, including more than 60 who have been awarded Pulitzer Prizes.  Among the notable works created by artists while in residence were Porgy by DuBose Heyward (upon which Porgy & Bess is based); Our Town by Thornton Wilder; Leonard Bernstein’s Mass; and Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.  The MacDowell Colony was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962 and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1997.  For more information, visit www.macdowellcolony.org.  

(Selected images courtesy of the MacDowell Colony)

William Hair Haseler, silversmith

One of the loveliest decorative objects in the museum collection is a diminutive oval trinket box.  Recently placed on display on the dresser in the newly opened corner guestroom, the silver and enamel piece is the work of William Hair Haseler, a prominent English silversmith of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

William Hair Haseler was born to John and Sarah Evett (Hair) Haseler in 1821/1822 in Birmingham, England.  He married Elizabeth Rabone in 1851 and together they had six children.  In 1870, Haseler founded the company, W. H. Haseler & Co., specializing in gold and silver work, and jewelry. 

Five years later, Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917) started a small shop on the corner of Regent Street in London.  Specializing in exotic goods from Japan and the Far East, his business thrived and he became a leading merchant to the upper classes, including famous members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.  The store soon became the most fashionable place to shop in London, featuring luxurious wares including fabrics, clothing, furniture, clocks, jewelry, wallpapers and decorative objects of all kinds.  His efforts to promote the Art Nouveau style, with its depiction of leaves and flowers in flowing ornamental lines, were so influential that the term “Stile Liberty” became the accepted term for the style in Italy. 

During the 1890s, Liberty formed relationships with many leading English designers.  In 1898, Liberty and Haseler created a formal partnership to launch the Cymric silver line under the title “Liberty and Co. (Cymric) Ltd.” using free lance designers.  One of those designers, Archibald Knox (1864-1933), began designing for Liberty in 1899.  He focused on the new Celtic design work for the Cymric range and its pewter counterpart, known as Tudric.  Haseler was responsible for making many of Knox’s designs.  Knox was a highly gifted designer and is largely credited with the success of Cymric silverware.  He continued to design for Liberty until 1912. 

Picture frame, Liberty and Co. (Cymric) Ltd.

William Hair Haseler died in December 1909 in Shropshire, but his company continued in partnership with Liberty until 1926.  Haseler pieces can be found in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as many other museums throughout England.

The trinket box in the Glessner collection measures just 2-1/4 inches in width and 1 inch in height.  Delicate wire work trim encircles the base which sits upon four bun feet.  The removable lid features blue and green enamel work with four silver hearts (or heart-shaped leaves) set into the surrounding stylized border.

Several marks are stamped onto the underside of the piece, as shown above.  The “W.H.H.” is the maker’s mark for William Hair Haseler.  The anchor is the city mark for the city of Birmingham, England.  The next mark, known as the lion passant, is the assayer’s mark indicating that the piece meets the standards to be considered sterling.  The next mark, a lowercase “h” is the date mark indicating the piece was made in 1907.  One additional mark, not shown above, reads “930” and refers to the purity of the silver.  This number indicates the amount of pure silver in parts per thousand – 930/1000 – or 93% pure silver. 

Although small and easily overlooked, this beautiful box exhibits both the Glessners’ sophisticated tastes and Frances Glessner’s interest in silver during this period when she was making her own pieces.