THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO & THE GREEN RIVER

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in Chicago unlike anywhere else in the world; the city celebrates the holiday with dyeing the Chicago River an emerald green. For over 50 years, generations of Chicagoans and tourists kick off St. Patrick’s Day with watching the dyeing of the river.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in Chicago unlike anywhere else in the world; the city celebrates the holiday with dyeing the Chicago River an emerald green. For over 50 years, generations of Chicagoans and tourists kick off St. Patrick’s Day with watching the dyeing of the river.

CHICAGO’S GREEN RIVER

This unique tradition began in 1961 when Stephen Bailey, a Business Manager of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union saw a plumber who was wearing originally white coveralls that were stained “Irish” green from dye that was used in the Chicago River. At that time fluorescein dye was used to detect leaks and pollution in the river. Bailey thought it would be a great idea to dye the river green for St. Patrick’s Day and so the tradition was born in 1962. One hundred pounds of dye was poured in the river and the river was green for a week. The following years, they experimented with the amount and type of dye used; finally, perfecting the process of dyeing the river. Today the river is dyed with 40 pounds of environmentally friendly dye, which keeps the river green for four to five hours.

CHICAGO’S GREEN RIVER

This unique tradition began in 1961 when Stephen Bailey, a Business Manager of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union saw a plumber who was wearing originally white coveralls that were stained “Irish” green from dye that was used in the Chicago River. At that time fluorescein dye was used to detect leaks and pollution in the river. Bailey thought it would be a great idea to dye the river green for St. Patrick’s Day and so the tradition was born in 1962. One hundred pounds of dye was poured in the river and the river was green for a week. The following years, they experimented with the amount and type of dye used; finally, perfecting the process of dyeing the river. Today the river is dyed with 40 pounds of environmentally friendly dye, which keeps the river green for four to five hours.


THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE OF 1871 ANNIVERSARY

Almost 147 years ago, a rapid fire burned down 4 square miles of Chicago. Hundreds lost lives, half a million became homeless, and the city’s infrastructure was eradicated. In a matter of three days a booming nineteenth-century Chicago had become a city of ruins. The damage was widespread, extending from the city’s southwest side to Lincoln Park, estimating damages were over 200 million.

Almost 147 years ago, a rapid fire burned down 4 square miles of Chicago. Hundreds lost lives, half a million became homeless, and the city’s infrastructure was eradicated. In a matter of three days a booming nineteenth-century Chicago had become a city of ruins. The damage was widespread, extending from the city’s southwest side to Lincoln Park, estimating damages were over 200 million.

Historically, State Street has always been a retail gateway, it was apart of an Indian trail, which was called the Hubbard’s Trail and connected Chicago with trading outposts.  The growth and development of State Street starts in the 1860’s when Potter Palmer, a businessman convinced Marshall Field and Levi Leiter to join his successful dry goods store. Palmer sold his shares of the store and continued to develop real estate on State Street.   Today we know this store as Marshal Fields, which is now owned by Macy’s.   Palmer was an enterprising man, who built the Palmer Hotel (Palmer Hilton Hotel) as a wedding present for his wife and after it burned down from the Great Chicago Fire, he rebuilt a grander hotel.  In 1897, Thomas Edison filmed State Street and stated that it was “The busiest corner in Chicago. Cable cars and street traffic of all descriptions. Hundreds of shoppers. Fine perspective view looking north toward the Masonic Temple.”  Take a look of the bustling State Street filmed by Edison below:

Historically, State Street has always been a retail gateway, it was apart of an Indian trail, which was called the Hubbard’s Trail and connected Chicago with trading outposts.  The growth and development of State Street starts in the 1860’s when Potter Palmer, a businessman convinced Marshall Field and Levi Leiter to join his successful dry goods store. Palmer sold his shares of the store and continued to develop real estate on State Street.   Today we know this store as Marshal Fields, which is now owned by Macy’s.   Palmer was an enterprising man, who built the Palmer Hotel (Palmer Hilton Hotel) as a wedding present for his wife and after it burned down from the Great Chicago Fire, he rebuilt a grander hotel.  In 1897, Thomas Edison filmed State Street and stated that it was “The busiest corner in Chicago. Cable cars and street traffic of all descriptions. Hundreds of shoppers. Fine perspective view looking north toward the Masonic Temple.”  Take a look of the bustling State Street filmed by Edison below:


FROM THE WHITE CITY TO TODAY, STILL MAKING AN IMPACT ON CHICAGO

NIKOLA TESLA: FROM THE WHITE CITY TO TODAY, STILL MAKING AN IMPACT ON CHICAGO

I’m sure you’ve seen the Tesla automobile alongside you while cruising down Lakeshore Drive, but Nikola Tesla’s influence on the city of Chicago stretches much farther back in our history, changing our world in 1893.

NIKOLA TESLA: FROM THE WHITE CITY TO TODAY, STILL MAKING AN IMPACT ON CHICAGO

I’m sure you’ve seen the Tesla automobile alongside you while cruising down Lakeshore Drive, but Nikola Tesla’s influence on the city of Chicago stretches much farther back in our history, changing our world in 1893.

Nikola Tesla – Courtesy of Wikipedia

From a young age, Nikola Tesla was obsessed with electricity. Born in modern day Croatia, Tesla moved to the states at age 28 arriving in New York City with only 4 cents in his pocket and a letter of recommendation. He began working under Thomas Edison who was making tremendous developments with electricity using Direct Current backed by investor JP Morgan. Tesla saw a different vision for the future of electricity, that being the more powerful Alternating Current, which he believed to be more efficient and safer than DC. Resigning from Edison’s workshop to be able to pursue AC, Tesla gains support from George Westinghouse beginning what is referred to as the “war of currents”. The turning point in the battle of AC versus DC would be the host of the Columbian Exposition of 1893, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus setting foot on the New World (one year late). Of the cities that bid to host the Columbian Exposition, including St. Louis, New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago, Chicago was granted that privilege. Considering the entire city was completely burned down just a short twenty-two years earlier in the devastating Great Fire of 1871, this surely granted Chicago the ability to boast, giving rise to one of its many nicknames, the “Windy City.”

Hosted on Chicago’s Lakefront making access by boat, road, and rail possible, the fair would attract 27.5 million viewers with the cultural achievements from every corner of the globe put on display. The fair was to give a peek into the future of America while showcasing the American Industrial Revolution. Director and building architect Daniel Burnham had a vision of grandeur exhibited over 600 acres and including 200 buildings. The architecture incorporated the style that he knew best, Beaux Arts also referred to as French Neoclassicism, reflecting our antiquities accentuating balance, symmetry, and perfection of our past. Illuminating the fair and giving its visitors their first glimpse of glowing lightbulbs would prove to be one of the most important decisions to the future of electricity. Edison and JP Morgan under General Electric Company first made a bid of 1.8 million dollars to power the fair and then reduced the price to $554,000. Tesla and George Westinghouse claimed they could illuminate the fair for only $399,000 securing their role in providing electricity to Chicago and its many visitors.

Nikola Tesla – Courtesy of Wikipedia

From a young age, Nikola Tesla was obsessed with electricity. Born in modern day Croatia, Tesla moved to the states at age 28 arriving in New York City with only 4 cents in his pocket and a letter of recommendation. He began working under Thomas Edison who was making tremendous developments with electricity using Direct Current backed by investor JP Morgan. Tesla saw a different vision for the future of electricity, that being the more powerful Alternating Current, which he believed to be more efficient and safer than DC. Resigning from Edison’s workshop to be able to pursue AC, Tesla gains support from George Westinghouse beginning what is referred to as the “war of currents”. The turning point in the battle of AC versus DC would be the host of the Columbian Exposition of 1893, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus setting foot on the New World (one year late). Of the cities that bid to host the Columbian Exposition, including St. Louis, New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago, Chicago was granted that privilege. Considering the entire city was completely burned down just a short twenty-two years earlier in the devastating Great Fire of 1871, this surely granted Chicago the ability to boast, giving rise to one of its many nicknames, the “Windy City.”

Hosted on Chicago’s Lakefront making access by boat, road, and rail possible, the fair would attract 27.5 million viewers with the cultural achievements from every corner of the globe put on display. The fair was to give a peek into the future of America while showcasing the American Industrial Revolution. Director and building architect Daniel Burnham had a vision of grandeur exhibited over 600 acres and including 200 buildings. The architecture incorporated the style that he knew best, Beaux Arts also referred to as French Neoclassicism, reflecting our antiquities accentuating balance, symmetry, and perfection of our past. Illuminating the fair and giving its visitors their first glimpse of glowing lightbulbs would prove to be one of the most important decisions to the future of electricity. Edison and JP Morgan under General Electric Company first made a bid of 1.8 million dollars to power the fair and then reduced the price to $554,000. Tesla and George Westinghouse claimed they could illuminate the fair for only $399,000 securing their role in providing electricity to Chicago and its many visitors.

Woodlawn – White City at night, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Opening day, May 1st 1893, in one of the most stunning displays of technology ever seen to this point, Chicago’s World’s Fair provided the backdrop for 200,000 lightbulbs to come to life all made by Westinghouse Corporation from scratch. When the “millions of lights were suddenly flashed on, all at one time…[it] was like getting a sudden vision of Heaven,” recalled Hilda Satt. The now “White City” was literally glowing with all of its white buildings accented with white lights. The well-lit city made for a safe and enjoyable environment encouraging visitors to engage well into the night. “If evenings at the fair were seductive, the nights were ravishing.” By the closing of the World’s Fair, Tesla had proved the safety and stability of AC through the millions of Westinghouse lightbulbs that were displayed setting the foundation of what would come to be the standard of electric power today.

Nikola Tesla would go on to make several innovative inventions, most of which were not fully understood during his lifetime. His perceptive and imaginative ideas have had a profound impact on our world. Tesla Motors, Inc., an American automotive and energy storage company, is melding the visionary concepts of Nikola Tesla with the world’s new consciousness towards the environment. Each light bulb created for the fair would need to be replaced every five hours and now, less than 150 years later, there are electric sports cars with instant torque, unbelievable power, and zero emissions powered by lithium ion batteries using the concepts first perceived by Tesla.

While tremendous strides are being made to automobiles by Tesla Motors, sustaining the environment is also a vision of Chicago Line Cruises, the industry innovator of architectural river cruises in Chicago. Their newest boat in the making, Ceres, will be the largest passenger vessel to pass under Chicago’s bascule bridges powered by 50 tons of lithium ion batteries sustaining up to 12 hours of sailing and to be re-charged by wind. In the city that allowed Tesla the opportunity to showcase his electric vision, its waters will soon continue to show his influence while respecting its environment through Ceres.

Opening day, May 1st 1893, in one of the most stunning displays of technology ever seen to this point, Chicago’s World’s Fair provided the backdrop for 200,000 lightbulbs to come to life all made by Westinghouse Corporation from scratch. When the “millions of lights were suddenly flashed on, all at one time…[it] was like getting a sudden vision of Heaven,” recalled Hilda Satt. The now “White City” was literally glowing with all of its white buildings accented with white lights. The well-lit city made for a safe and enjoyable environment encouraging visitors to engage well into the night. “If evenings at the fair were seductive, the nights were ravishing.” By the closing of the World’s Fair, Tesla had proved the safety and stability of AC through the millions of Westinghouse lightbulbs that were displayed setting the foundation of what would come to be the standard of electric power today.

Nikola Tesla would go on to make several innovative inventions, most of which were not fully understood during his lifetime. His perceptive and imaginative ideas have had a profound impact on our world. Tesla Motors, Inc., an American automotive and energy storage company, is melding the visionary concepts of Nikola Tesla with the world’s new consciousness towards the environment. Each light bulb created for the fair would need to be replaced every five hours and now, less than 150 years later, there are electric sports cars with instant torque, unbelievable power, and zero emissions powered by lithium ion batteries using the concepts first perceived by Tesla.

While tremendous strides are being made to automobiles by Tesla Motors, sustaining the environment is also a vision of Chicago Line Cruises, the industry innovator of architectural river cruises in Chicago. Their newest boat in the making, Ceres, will be the largest passenger vessel to pass under Chicago’s bascule bridges powered by 50 tons of lithium ion batteries sustaining up to 12 hours of sailing and to be re-charged by wind. In the city that allowed Tesla the opportunity to showcase his electric vision, its waters will soon continue to show his influence while respecting its environment through Ceres.


Sources:
City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald Miller
Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Eric Larsen
The Men who Built America documentary by the History Channel
Images:
University of Chicago Photographic Archive, [apf digital item number, e.g., apf12345], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Written by Amy, Docent for Chicagoline Cruises

Sources:
City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald Miller
Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Eric Larsen
The Men who Built America documentary by the History Channel
Images:
University of Chicago Photographic Archive, [apf digital item number, e.g., apf12345], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Written by Amy, Docent for Chicagoline Cruises


Montgomery Ward Complex

THE BUILDINGS, THE HISTORY AND SAVING THE LAKEFRONT

MONTGOMERY WARD – ARCHITECTURE AND HISTORY IN ONE PLACE

Here is a Chicago story in one place: The Montgomery Ward & Co. buildings along the north branch of the Chicago River, the company history dating from 1872 and the personal Montgomery Ward story of saving the lakefront.

MONTGOMERY WARD – ARCHITECTURE AND HISTORY IN ONE PLACE

Here is a Chicago story in one place: The Montgomery Ward & Co. buildings along the north branch of the Chicago River, the company history dating from 1872, and the personal Montgomery Ward story of saving the lakefront.

Montgomery Ward Complex
Montgomery Ward Complex

THE BUILDINGS

The three-building Montgomery Ward complex on the north branch of the river is a great place for an architecture lesson, and at the same time represents major Chicago history. The only problem on our river tour is that we first see the buildings from the newest to the oldest, so it seems we are telling the story backward! Plus, there’s a fourth Ward building downtown. Four commercial structures built by one company in 1899, 1907, 1930, and 1974, with new commercial and residential uses today. Nothing else like it in Chicago.

Picture yourself on a boat tour heading north on the North Branch of the Chicago River. We pass Montgomery Ward Park at Erie Street and can see a tall broad blue glass building, edged vertically in stone. No corner windows, an interesting version of modernism. This is “The Montgomery” condominium, once headquarters of Montgomery Ward built in 1974, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, a famous Japanese-American modernist. Yamasaki’s work can be seen throughout the U.S. and from Saudi Arabia to Saskatchewan, but his most famous buildings were the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City completed in the early 1970s. His picture was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1963. “The Montgomery” is his only building in Chicago, but he designed the stunning North Shore Congregation Israel temple in suburban Glencoe (1964). Yamasaki died in 1986 at age 74, long before 9/11.

The Montgomery condominiums
The Montgomery condominiums

Continuing north, we pass the long riverside of the 1930 Administration Building designed by Wards’ own in-house engineering and construction department under supervision of chief engineer Willis McCauley. After 2000 and the closing of Montgomery Ward & Co., the developers who acquired this building converted it to condominiums, added balconies, carved out a riverwalk and named it “One River Place.” We can see the features of art deco here, with vertical piers and ornament that is flat to the surface and geometric, with the tower entrance at its SE corner. McCauley went on to oversee the building of a number of offices and stores for Wards as the original catalog company expanded into retail across the country, along with its competitor Sears Roebuck. This building features a sculpture atop the tower called artist unknown, a graceful female form.

Cruising beyond the 1914 Chicago Avenue Bridge, we come to the long, low, horizontal drama of the original Wards’ “Catalog Building,” a warehouse and distribution center completed in 1907 by Chicago Prairie School architects Schmidt, Garden & Martin. Additions were built as the company grew, in 1917, 1940 and 1970. This building is in the books if one studies Chicago architecture because it was the biggest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time, and a major Prairie School statement. We can see the dramatic horizontals in ribbons of brick, and can admire the ornament in painted brown terra cotta which reminds us of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan who were in Chicago at the time. Illinois is the Prairie State, with miles of flat land, and the Prairie School style emphasizes the horizontal, clearly represented in this Wards building. Today it houses commercial space, residences, restaurants, and a grand lighted river walk.

The fourth Montgomery Ward building is the first built, in 1899. It overlooks Millenium Park on Michigan Avenue at Madison Street. The “Tower Building” is the first Ward skyscraper designed by Richard Schmidt as a young man. In 1923, a 4-story tower was added to the building by architects Holabird & Roche, topped with a weather vane sculpture of a dramatic female figure by John Massey Rhind, “Progress Lighting the Way for Commerce.” The tower’s original pointed top, weathervane statue and all, was dismantled in 1947 for “safety reasons,” the sculpture cut into pieces, some going to collectors. In 2013, the head of this sculpture was auctioned and sold to a Chicagoan. The Tower Building can be seen in images of Chicago’s skyline taken after 1923, standing taller than all the other buildings lining Michigan Avenue south of the river, Chicago’s “Cultural Mile.”

THE HISTORY

Aaron Montgomery Ward
Aaron Montgomery Ward

Aaron Montgomery Ward (1844-1913) established the first mail order or catalog company in the country. Born in New Jersey, Ward had many jobs as a young man, and came to Chicago in his 20s after experience in the dry goods industry. Becoming a traveling salesman, Ward noted high prices in the countryside. He became friends of the Grange farmers organization, and began acquiring stock in Chicago for shipment on trains and boats, taking advantage of the country’s RFD program (Rural Free Delivery). No shipping costs! Ward established his namesake catalog company in 1871, the year of the Great Chicago Fire. He began again in 1872, and by the 1890s, was building his skyscraper headquarters on Michigan Avenue (the condominium standing today opposite “The Bean” in Millenium Park). Montgomery Ward’s catalog company was followed by many others, principally Sears Roebuck, but Richard Sears did not come to Chicago until the 1890s, twenty years after Wards began. Sears and Wards competed for over a hundred years, with popular catalogs and later retail stores across the country. Many people remember shopping at “Monkey Wards,” a fond nickname.

SAVING THE LAKEFRONT

Montgomery Ward helped save Chicago’s lakefront. In the early 1900s he looked out from his Tower Building on Michigan Avenue at a mess of buildings and trash in what he knew was supposed to be a park for everyone to enjoy. He began a series of lawsuits which did not make him very popular, but he thought it was the right thing to do. Ward won all of his lawsuits, and Chicago began serious protection of its lakefront, which now boasts 18 miles of paths and sidewalks connecting parks and harbors and beaches. Ward knew Chicago history, that Chicago’s lakefront was to be “Public Ground – A Common to Remain Forever Open, Clear and Free of any Buildings, or Other Obstruction whatever,” as stated on the 1836 map that laid out the canal we had to build to connect the Chicago River to the Des Plaines and Illinois River system, ultimately flowing into the Mississippi above St. Louis. We could not create Chicago until we built that canal, because the far South Branch of the Chicago River was often muddy, an old Indian portage. It was our fortune that the Canal Commissioners added that protective legend on their map. Great reading on this subject is Lois Willie’s Forever Open, Clear and Free, The Struggle For Chicago’s Lakefront, 1972.

Where tour boats turn around at Goose Island, all three Wards buildings are in view, with all three individual characteristics on display – Prairie School, art deco, and modernism – 1907, 1930, and 1974, all typical of the styles popular during those periods of time. We’re reminded of a great American company and a man who contributed greatly to Chicago’s history.

By Judith, Docent for Chicagoline Cruises

Montgomery Ward Complex
Montgomery Ward Complex

THE BUILDINGS

The three-building Montgomery Ward complex on the north branch of the river is a great place for an architecture lesson, and at the same time represents major Chicago history. The only problem on our river tour is that we first see the buildings from the newest to the oldest, so it seems we are telling the story backward! Plus, there’s a fourth Ward building downtown. Four commercial structures built by one company in 1899, 1907, 1930, and 1974, with new commercial and residential uses today. Nothing else like it in Chicago.

Picture yourself on a boat tour heading north on the North Branch of the Chicago River. We pass Montgomery Ward Park at Erie Street and can see a tall broad blue glass building, edged vertically in stone. No corner windows, an interesting version of modernism. This is “The Montgomery” condominium, once headquarters of Montgomery Ward built in 1974, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, a famous Japanese-American modernist. Yamasaki’s work can be seen throughout the U.S. and from Saudi Arabia to Saskatchewan, but his most famous buildings were the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City completed in the early 1970s. His picture was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1963. “The Montgomery” is his only building in Chicago, but he designed the stunning North Shore Congregation Israel temple in suburban Glencoe (1964). Yamasaki died in 1986 at age 74, long before 9/11.

The Montgomery condominiums
The Montgomery condominiums

Continuing north, we pass the long riverside of the 1930 Administration Building designed by Wards’ own in-house engineering and construction department under supervision of chief engineer Willis McCauley. After 2000 and the closing of Montgomery Ward & Co., the developers who acquired this building converted it to condominiums, added balconies, carved out a riverwalk and named it “One River Place.” We can see the features of art deco here, with vertical piers and ornament that is flat to the surface and geometric, with the tower entrance at its SE corner. McCauley went on to oversee the building of a number of offices and stores for Wards as the original catalog company expanded into retail across the country, along with its competitor Sears Roebuck. This building features a sculpture atop the tower called artist unknown, a graceful female form.

Cruising beyond the 1914 Chicago Avenue Bridge, we come to the long, low, horizontal drama of the original Wards’ “Catalog Building,” a warehouse and distribution center completed in 1907 by Chicago Prairie School architects Schmidt, Garden & Martin. Additions were built as the company grew, in 1917, 1940 and 1970. This building is in the books if one studies Chicago architecture because it was the biggest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time, and a major Prairie School statement. We can see the dramatic horizontals in ribbons of brick, and can admire the ornament in painted brown terra cotta which reminds us of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan who were in Chicago at the time. Illinois is the Prairie State, with miles of flat land, and the Prairie School style emphasizes the horizontal, clearly represented in this Wards building. Today it houses commercial space, residences, restaurants, and a grand lighted river walk.

The fourth Montgomery Ward building is the first built, in 1899. It overlooks Millenium Park on Michigan Avenue at Madison Street. The “Tower Building” is the first Ward skyscraper designed by Richard Schmidt as a young man. In 1923, a 4-story tower was added to the building by architects Holabird & Roche, topped with a weather vane sculpture of a dramatic female figure by John Massey Rhind, “Progress Lighting the Way for Commerce.” The tower’s original pointed top, weathervane statue and all, was dismantled in 1947 for “safety reasons,” the sculpture cut into pieces, some going to collectors. In 2013, the head of this sculpture was auctioned and sold to a Chicagoan. The Tower Building can be seen in images of Chicago’s skyline taken after 1923, standing taller than all the other buildings lining Michigan Avenue south of the river, Chicago’s “Cultural Mile.”

THE HISTORY

Aaron Montgomery Ward
Aaron Montgomery Ward

Aaron Montgomery Ward (1844-1913) established the first mail order or catalog company in the country. Born in New Jersey, Ward had many jobs as a young man, and came to Chicago in his 20s after experience in the dry goods industry. Becoming a traveling salesman, Ward noted high prices in the countryside. He became friends of the Grange farmers organization, and began acquiring stock in Chicago for shipment on trains and boats, taking advantage of the country’s RFD program (Rural Free Delivery). No shipping costs! Ward established his namesake catalog company in 1871, the year of the Great Chicago Fire. He began again in 1872, and by the 1890s, was building his skyscraper headquarters on Michigan Avenue (the condominium standing today opposite “The Bean” in Millenium Park). Montgomery Ward’s catalog company was followed by many others, principally Sears Roebuck, but Richard Sears did not come to Chicago until the 1890s, twenty years after Wards began. Sears and Wards competed for over a hundred years, with popular catalogs and later retail stores across the country. Many people remember shopping at “Monkey Wards,” a fond nickname.

SAVING THE LAKEFRONT

Montgomery Ward helped save Chicago’s lakefront. In the early 1900s he looked out from his Tower Building on Michigan Avenue at a mess of buildings and trash in what he knew was supposed to be a park for everyone to enjoy. He began a series of lawsuits which did not make him very popular, but he thought it was the right thing to do. Ward won all of his lawsuits, and Chicago began serious protection of its lakefront, which now boasts 18 miles of paths and sidewalks connecting parks and harbors and beaches. Ward knew Chicago history, that Chicago’s lakefront was to be “Public Ground – A Common to Remain Forever Open, Clear and Free of any Buildings, or Other Obstruction whatever,” as stated on the 1836 map that laid out the canal we had to build to connect the Chicago River to the Des Plaines and Illinois River system, ultimately flowing into the Mississippi above St. Louis. We could not create Chicago until we built that canal, because the far South Branch of the Chicago River was often muddy, an old Indian portage. It was our fortune that the Canal Commissioners added that protective legend on their map. Great reading on this subject is Lois Willie’s Forever Open, Clear and Free, The Struggle For Chicago’s Lakefront, 1972.

Where tour boats turn around at Goose Island, all three Wards buildings are in view, with all three individual characteristics on display – Prairie School, art deco, and modernism – 1907, 1930, and 1974, all typical of the styles popular during those periods of time. We’re reminded of a great American company and a man who contributed greatly to Chicago’s history.

By Judith, Docent for Chicagoline Cruises


SAMUEL INSULL – CHICAGO’S EMPEROR OF LIGHT

Chicago’s skyline at night is the very essence of human ambition. Skyscrapers of glass and steel, limestone and granite push towards the heavens, aglow in a spectrum of electric light. It is a sight that is simultaneously aggressive and peaceful; overwhelming to the senses, yet calming to the soul. To behold the spectacle is to be awed. Chicago is the original modern marvel and the envy of the world. The names behind the city’s skyscrapers are iconic, propelled through the ages on the wave of their mythology. From Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham and others who re-built the city from the ashes of the great fire, to the modernist Mies van der Rohe, and presently innovators like Jeannie Gang, Chicago’s architects names read like a congregation of saints. They are visionaries whose talents have ultimately shaped the way we live, both indoors and out.

Yet the man that brought electric light to the skyline—and with light, shadow, depth and mood—remains largely obscured by time, his ultimate achievement perhaps masked by his personal downfall.

Chicago’s skyline at night is the very essence of human ambition. Skyscrapers of glass and steel, limestone and granite push towards the heavens, aglow in a spectrum of electric light. It is a sight that is simultaneously aggressive and peaceful; overwhelming to the senses, yet calming to the soul. To behold the spectacle is to be awed. Chicago is the original modern marvel and the envy of the world. The names behind the city’s skyscrapers are iconic, propelled through the ages on the wave of their mythology. From Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham and others who re-built the city from the ashes of the great fire, to the modernist Mies van der Rohe, and presently innovators like Jeannie Gang, Chicago’s architects names read like a congregation of saints. They are visionaries whose talents have ultimately shaped the way we live, both indoors and out.

Yet the man that brought electric light to the skyline—and with light, shadow, depth and mood—remains largely obscured by time, his ultimate achievement perhaps masked by his personal downfall.

In fact, Samuel Insull, founder of Commonwealth Edison, almost single-handedly brought electric power to Chicago early in the 20th century. A few short decades later, architecture and electricity would converge on the city in unprecedented fashion, spawning a renaissance. For much of the 1920s, breathtaking skyscrapers were to be built by the dozen, and Insull’s customers for power would surge into the millions. Chicago emerged fully, shedding its image as “mud city” and stepping into the future with abandon.

Samuel Insull in 1920 – Photo by William L. Koehne Studio, Chicago

Samuel Insull was born in London, England in 1859. Smart, ambitious and highly disciplined by his Congregationalist parents, by early adulthood he had established himself as a highly-regarded upstart to some of the most prestigious institutions in the City of London. In 1879, as the age of 22, Insull landed a job as a stenographer with an American businessman, Colonel George E. Gourand, the London-based director of the New York Mercantile Trust Company. Ostensibly a banking job, Insull quickly realized that Gourand’s primary activity was acting as the European representative of an American futurist, and the man who would be forever and inexorably linked to the magic of electric power, Thomas Alva Edison. Suddenly, realizing his role as a member of the Edison enterprise—with all its promise and breathtaking technology—Insull’s ambition grew exponentially and his rise in the organization kept apace. Two years after starting work with Gourand, Edward Johnson, Edison’s chief engineer invited Insull to move across the Atlantic to take a job working for Edison directly, filling in as an urgently needed replacement for Edison’s personal secretary who had just resigned. Fate, a rapidly changing world, and Insull’s soon-to-be trademark predisposition toward risk-taking had converged in a way that would have far-reaching consequences on an Illinois city still digging its way out of a catastrophic fire.

Common folklore often depicts Thomas Edison as the inventor of the light bulb. In reality, his invention was not quite as simple as a single consumer product. Far from it. Electric power, as envisioned by Edison, was an industry as vast as it was complicated, and ultimate success would come slowly and with many difficulties. Electricity was not a mere generational improvement upon the technology of the day, it was an entirely new and untested enterprise; one that required, among other undertakings, inventing every component of the complex technology, creating an industry to manufacture each component, engineering the infrastructure that would install and deliver the technology, and, finally, selling the technology. In short, electrical power produced and sold on a mass scale was almost certainly a larger enterprise than the computer revolution that would come a century later.

For Edison’s part, he soon realized that in Samuel Insull he had hired much more than a personal secretary—a job that initially had Insull performing such mundane personal services as fetching Edison’s umbrella, buying his clothes and waking him from naps. The young Englishman proved to be a match for Edison in every respect; able to equal his boss in workload, orderliness, as well as his in tenacity for negotiation. Above all else, Insull was a loyal protégé when it mattered most. In the critical decade for Edison’s business of the 1880s—a period that saw, among other accomplishments, the construction of the first central power plant in the United States, the Pearl Street Station,—Insull was there to oversee all of it. It was a frenzied and optimistic decade, and one that would fully prepare Insull for his next station in life.

In the year 1892, Chicago was the dominant metropolis in the Midwest, the regional epicenter of exchange and innovation led by titans of industry like Ogden, Field, Pullman and McCormick. Ever the Second City on the continent to New York, however, Chicago lacked both the electricity its Eastern rival possessed and a master to oversee such an industry. Samuel Insull’s moment had arrived, and he accepted it, somewhat reluctantly. Though not fond of Chicago from previous visits (he found the city filthy and full of rats) , upon Edison’s urging, Insull moved to Chicago on July 1, 1892, accepting a three-year contract as president of the Chicago Edison Company. Upon his arrival, the most pressing issue for the city was the oncoming Columbian Exposition, the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, which itself promised to be the greatest display of electric lighting the world had ever seen. For Insull, however, the job he envisioned for himself was much larger in scope. He sought nothing less than to create an electric monopoly in Chicago. His motive was more egalitarian than capitalist as he publicly called for electricity to be available to “even the smallest consumer” , whereas others sought to make it a luxury item only. Whatever his motives, the market potential was enormous. In 1892, Chicago had more than one million inhabitants and less than 5,000 users of electricity. In this environment, Insull began growing—both organically and by takeover of competitors—an empire that would become known as Commonwealth Edison. Needless to say, he stayed in Chicago well past his three-year contract.

As Insull’s company and personal fortune grew, so too did his social standing. A member of the Chicago elite, Insull became know for his European tastes, as well as for his personal acts of charity, most of which were notably performed outside the establishment. Likewise, Insull was also a proponent of the fine arts, particularly the opera. A fan since his childhood in London, when as a boy he would sit in the upper gallery far from the “bejeweled ladies in the finest boxes” , Insull aspired to make the opera—like his electricity—available to everyone in the city. In 1922, he became guarantor of the Manhattan Opera Company, which had relocated to Chicago after failing in New York. In this role, Insull kept strict control over the company budget, and also set out to democratize the opera, a goal that included luring patrons from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and limiting the number of productions performed in French. (This latter move caused Chicago’s most celebrated opera star, Mary Garden, to quit, feeling Insull was vulgarizing the art form). Friction with the upper crust over these decisions would prove to be relatively minor compared to Insull’s next move. To the chagrin of many of the city’s social class, Insull began work on his own opera house—The Civic Opera Building—which was to be built within an office building on the ground level, using investor money, and containing not a single prominent box. This project, which would ultimately cost $4 million dollars, once-and-for-all pitted Insull against Chicago’s elite. In addition to being divisive (dubbed “Insull’s Throne” by its detractors), the magnificent structure was also near perfection in design, providing impeccable views, acoustics and stage design; and lives to this day as the best of Chicago architecture of the 1920s. The building also marked an end to the Chicago renaissance, the roaring 20’s and the fortune of Samuel Insull. Ten days before the opening performance in Insull’s theater on November 4, 1929, the stock market crash had ushered in the Great Depression.

The Civic Opera Building

At its peak in the late 1920’s, Samuel Insull’s empire was immense. Commonwealth Edison alone was worth $400 million (about $5.6 billion today), and combined with gas entities like People’s Gas and Public Service of Northern Illinois, the Insull companies served more than 4 million customers, producing nearly 15% of all the electricity and gas in the United States, an amount more than any other nation on earth at the time. Ultimately, his holding company collapsed under the weight of the Great Depression, wiping out the life savings of half a million shareholders. His lifetime of business deals were now under scrutiny from the Federal Government, and Insull fled the country. He was later arrested and extradited back to the United States by Turkey in 1934 to face federal prosecution on mail fraud and antitrust charges, and was ultimately found not guilty on all counts.

Samuel Insull left Chicago as a visitor for the last time in May of 1938. Two months later, on the morning of July 16, Insull entered a Paris subway, and while waiting for a train he had a heart attack and died. He had 84 cents in his pocket. This humble end to Samuel Insull’s life—below ground, virtually penniless—belies the glory that he brought to Chicago. He did nothing short of taking the most beautiful skyline in the world and make it glow in magnificent light.

———————————————————————————
McDonald, Forrest. Insull. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1962. Print.

Written by Bill, Docent for Chicagoline Cruises

In fact, Samuel Insull, founder of Commonwealth Edison, almost single-handedly brought electric power to Chicago early in the 20th century. A few short decades later, architecture and electricity would converge on the city in unprecedented fashion, spawning a renaissance. For much of the 1920s, breathtaking skyscrapers were to be built by the dozen, and Insull’s customers for power would surge into the millions. Chicago emerged fully, shedding its image as “mud city” and stepping into the future with abandon.

Samuel Insull in 1920 – Photo by William L. Koehne Studio, Chicago

Samuel Insull was born in London, England in 1859. Smart, ambitious and highly disciplined by his Congregationalist parents, by early adulthood he had established himself as a highly-regarded upstart to some of the most prestigious institutions in the City of London. In 1879, as the age of 22, Insull landed a job as a stenographer with an American businessman, Colonel George E. Gourand, the London-based director of the New York Mercantile Trust Company. Ostensibly a banking job, Insull quickly realized that Gourand’s primary activity was acting as the European representative of an American futurist, and the man who would be forever and inexorably linked to the magic of electric power, Thomas Alva Edison. Suddenly, realizing his role as a member of the Edison enterprise—with all its promise and breathtaking technology—Insull’s ambition grew exponentially and his rise in the organization kept apace. Two years after starting work with Gourand, Edward Johnson, Edison’s chief engineer invited Insull to move across the Atlantic to take a job working for Edison directly, filling in as an urgently needed replacement for Edison’s personal secretary who had just resigned. Fate, a rapidly changing world, and Insull’s soon-to-be trademark predisposition toward risk-taking had converged in a way that would have far-reaching consequences on an Illinois city still digging its way out of a catastrophic fire.

Common folklore often depicts Thomas Edison as the inventor of the light bulb. In reality, his invention was not quite as simple as a single consumer product. Far from it. Electric power, as envisioned by Edison, was an industry as vast as it was complicated, and ultimate success would come slowly and with many difficulties. Electricity was not a mere generational improvement upon the technology of the day, it was an entirely new and untested enterprise; one that required, among other undertakings, inventing every component of the complex technology, creating an industry to manufacture each component, engineering the infrastructure that would install and deliver the technology, and, finally, selling the technology. In short, electrical power produced and sold on a mass scale was almost certainly a larger enterprise than the computer revolution that would come a century later.

For Edison’s part, he soon realized that in Samuel Insull he had hired much more than a personal secretary—a job that initially had Insull performing such mundane personal services as fetching Edison’s umbrella, buying his clothes and waking him from naps. The young Englishman proved to be a match for Edison in every respect; able to equal his boss in workload, orderliness, as well as his in tenacity for negotiation. Above all else, Insull was a loyal protégé when it mattered most. In the critical decade for Edison’s business of the 1880s—a period that saw, among other accomplishments, the construction of the first central power plant in the United States, the Pearl Street Station,—Insull was there to oversee all of it. It was a frenzied and optimistic decade, and one that would fully prepare Insull for his next station in life.

In the year 1892, Chicago was the dominant metropolis in the Midwest, the regional epicenter of exchange and innovation led by titans of industry like Ogden, Field, Pullman and McCormick. Ever the Second City on the continent to New York, however, Chicago lacked both the electricity its Eastern rival possessed and a master to oversee such an industry. Samuel Insull’s moment had arrived, and he accepted it, somewhat reluctantly. Though not fond of Chicago from previous visits (he found the city filthy and full of rats) , upon Edison’s urging, Insull moved to Chicago on July 1, 1892, accepting a three-year contract as president of the Chicago Edison Company. Upon his arrival, the most pressing issue for the city was the oncoming Columbian Exposition, the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, which itself promised to be the greatest display of electric lighting the world had ever seen. For Insull, however, the job he envisioned for himself was much larger in scope. He sought nothing less than to create an electric monopoly in Chicago. His motive was more egalitarian than capitalist as he publicly called for electricity to be available to “even the smallest consumer” , whereas others sought to make it a luxury item only. Whatever his motives, the market potential was enormous. In 1892, Chicago had more than one million inhabitants and less than 5,000 users of electricity. In this environment, Insull began growing—both organically and by takeover of competitors—an empire that would become known as Commonwealth Edison. Needless to say, he stayed in Chicago well past his three-year contract.

As Insull’s company and personal fortune grew, so too did his social standing. A member of the Chicago elite, Insull became know for his European tastes, as well as for his personal acts of charity, most of which were notably performed outside the establishment. Likewise, Insull was also a proponent of the fine arts, particularly the opera. A fan since his childhood in London, when as a boy he would sit in the upper gallery far from the “bejeweled ladies in the finest boxes” , Insull aspired to make the opera—like his electricity—available to everyone in the city. In 1922, he became guarantor of the Manhattan Opera Company, which had relocated to Chicago after failing in New York. In this role, Insull kept strict control over the company budget, and also set out to democratize the opera, a goal that included luring patrons from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and limiting the number of productions performed in French. (This latter move caused Chicago’s most celebrated opera star, Mary Garden, to quit, feeling Insull was vulgarizing the art form). Friction with the upper crust over these decisions would prove to be relatively minor compared to Insull’s next move. To the chagrin of many of the city’s social class, Insull began work on his own opera house—The Civic Opera Building—which was to be built within an office building on the ground level, using investor money, and containing not a single prominent box. This project, which would ultimately cost $4 million dollars, once-and-for-all pitted Insull against Chicago’s elite. In addition to being divisive (dubbed “Insull’s Throne” by its detractors), the magnificent structure was also near perfection in design, providing impeccable views, acoustics and stage design; and lives to this day as the best of Chicago architecture of the 1920s. The building also marked an end to the Chicago renaissance, the roaring 20’s and the fortune of Samuel Insull. Ten days before the opening performance in Insull’s theater on November 4, 1929, the stock market crash had ushered in the Great Depression.

The Civic Opera Building

At its peak in the late 1920’s, Samuel Insull’s empire was immense. Commonwealth Edison alone was worth $400 million (about $5.6 billion today), and combined with gas entities like People’s Gas and Public Service of Northern Illinois, the Insull companies served more than 4 million customers, producing nearly 15% of all the electricity and gas in the United States, an amount more than any other nation on earth at the time. Ultimately, his holding company collapsed under the weight of the Great Depression, wiping out the life savings of half a million shareholders. His lifetime of business deals were now under scrutiny from the Federal Government, and Insull fled the country. He was later arrested and extradited back to the United States by Turkey in 1934 to face federal prosecution on mail fraud and antitrust charges, and was ultimately found not guilty on all counts.

Samuel Insull left Chicago as a visitor for the last time in May of 1938. Two months later, on the morning of July 16, Insull entered a Paris subway, and while waiting for a train he had a heart attack and died. He had 84 cents in his pocket. This humble end to Samuel Insull’s life—below ground, virtually penniless—belies the glory that he brought to Chicago. He did nothing short of taking the most beautiful skyline in the world and make it glow in magnificent light.

———————————————————————————
McDonald, Forrest. Insull. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1962. Print.

Written by Bill, Docent for Chicagoline Cruises


THE STORY BEHIND THE CHICAGO RIVER REVERSAL

HOW THE CHICAGO RIVER WAS REVERSED 115 YEARS AGO

The year 2015 marks the 115th anniversary of the Chicago River’s reversal, an incredible engineering feat that turned the Eastern half of the United States into an island. Of course, this monumental project didn’t happen overnight; in fact, the events leading up to the reversal as well as the continued construction it required spanned nearly sixty years. Here’s a look back at the history behind the reversal of the Chicago River and the legacy it’s left since.

HOW THE CHICAGO RIVER WAS REVERSED 115 YEARS AGO

The year 2015 marks the 115th anniversary of the Chicago River’s reversal, an incredible engineering feat that turned the Eastern half of the United States into an island. Of course, this monumental project didn’t happen overnight; in fact, the events leading up to the reversal as well as the continued construction it required spanned nearly sixty years. Here’s a look back at the history behind the reversal of the Chicago River and the legacy it’s left since.

Before the river was reversed, Chicago was in the midst of a great period of growth. As the city grew, more water was needed; this water was brought in from further out in the Lake where the Chicago River emptied into it, bringing diseases such as cholera and typhus into the city. Water cribs were built to house and protect the offshore water for the city to drink, but it wasn’t enough to solve the disease problem- which led to the Chicago River Reversal Project. After a huge rainfall in 1885 carried sewage to Lake Michigan, Chicagoans panicked that another such storm could cause widespread disease; this fear of disease helped spur the decision to reverse the river.

In 1871, during a period of particularly low water, the city pumped water from the Chicago River into the Illinois and Michigan Canal to maintain its level, which led Chicago’s sewage to float away from Lake Michigan. This sight would inspire the river’s permanent reversal, a task that the government decided to take on in 1887.

Led by the Sanitary District of Chicago, construction began on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in the fall of 1892. This canal would connect the Chicago and Des Plaines rivers in a perpetually deepening design that would allow water to flow downhill- and in a new direction.

On January 2, 1900, water from Lake Michigan was first diverted down the newly constructed channel. However, construction didn’t stop there. In the years to follow, several side channels and canals were built to extend the canal, flush waste water, and allow more water into the main channel.

Since its completion, the historic Chicago River reversal has left a mixed legacy of innovation and, unfortunately, environmental damage. The creative techniques and machines used to reverse the river became known as the “Chicago School of Earth Moving,” and the methods used were instrumental in future projects and the construction of the Panama Canal. In 1999, the Chicago Wastewater System was named a “Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium” by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

However, at the time of the reversal, no one was even thinking about the environmental impact of the waterway. Linking these two separate watersheds created a highway for invasive species. Now, preventing the influx of invasive water species costs the Great Lakes Region $2 billion every year. As a result, the federal government has proposed an $18 billion project to recreate a separation between the waterways.

Today, the Sanitary District (which has been renamed the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago) continues to uphold its mission of protecting the quality of Chicago’s water supply source while managing water as a crucial resource for its service area. Whether the waterways will be separated remains to be seen; however, the impact of the Chicago River reversal will never be forgotten.

Creative Commons Images:
Wikipedia – Water Cribs in Chicago
Flickr Gallery – The 1896 Sanitary and Ship Canal Excavation
Wikimedia – 12th Street Bascule Bridge
Wikimedia – Michigan Ave
Wikimedia – Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Willow Springs
Wikipedia – Chicago Drainage Canal Construction 1900
Wikimedia – Chicago Drainage Canal 1899

Before the river was reversed, Chicago was in the midst of a great period of growth. As the city grew, more water was needed; this water was brought in from further out in the Lake where the Chicago River emptied into it, bringing diseases such as cholera and typhus into the city. Water cribs were built to house and protect the offshore water for the city to drink, but it wasn’t enough to solve the disease problem- which led to the Chicago River Reversal Project. After a huge rainfall in 1885 carried sewage to Lake Michigan, Chicagoans panicked that another such storm could cause widespread disease; this fear of disease helped spur the decision to reverse the river.

In 1871, during a period of particularly low water, the city pumped water from the Chicago River into the Illinois and Michigan Canal to maintain its level, which led Chicago’s sewage to float away from Lake Michigan. This sight would inspire the river’s permanent reversal, a task that the government decided to take on in 1887.

Led by the Sanitary District of Chicago, construction began on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in the fall of 1892. This canal would connect the Chicago and Des Plaines rivers in a perpetually deepening design that would allow water to flow downhill- and in a new direction.

On January 2, 1900, water from Lake Michigan was first diverted down the newly constructed channel. However, construction didn’t stop there. In the years to follow, several side channels and canals were built to extend the canal, flush waste water, and allow more water into the main channel.

Since its completion, the historic Chicago River reversal has left a mixed legacy of innovation and, unfortunately, environmental damage. The creative techniques and machines used to reverse the river became known as the “Chicago School of Earth Moving,” and the methods used were instrumental in future projects and the construction of the Panama Canal. In 1999, the Chicago Wastewater System was named a “Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium” by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

However, at the time of the reversal, no one was even thinking about the environmental impact of the waterway. Linking these two separate watersheds created a highway for invasive species. Now, preventing the influx of invasive water species costs the Great Lakes Region $2 billion every year. As a result, the federal government has proposed an $18 billion project to recreate a separation between the waterways.

Today, the Sanitary District (which has been renamed the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago) continues to uphold its mission of protecting the quality of Chicago’s water supply source while managing water as a crucial resource for its service area. Whether the waterways will be separated remains to be seen; however, the impact of the Chicago River reversal will never be forgotten.

Creative Commons Images:
Wikipedia – Water Cribs in Chicago
Flickr Gallery – The 1896 Sanitary and Ship Canal Excavation
Wikimedia – 12th Street Bascule Bridge
Wikimedia – Michigan Ave
Wikimedia – Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Willow Springs
Wikipedia – Chicago Drainage Canal Construction 1900
Wikimedia – Chicago Drainage Canal 1899


HISTORICAL CRUISE & CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

Starting today the Chicago History Museum and Chicago Line Cruises team up and offer a Historical Cruise on the Chicago River, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until the end of August starting at 3:00 p.m sailing for 90 Minutes. Come for a ride today!

Chicago Line Cruise and Chicago History Museum’s – Historical Cruise

Happy Memorial Day!

Starting today the Chicago History Museum and Chicago Line Cruises team up and offer a Historical Cruise on the Chicago River, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until the end of August starting at 3:00 p.m sailing for 90 Minutes. Come for a ride today!

Chicago Line Cruise and Chicago History Museum’s – Historical Cruise

Happy Memorial Day!


FEATURED BUILDING OF THE MONTH: THE SULLIVAN CENTER

One of the most recognized buildings in Chicago is the Sullivan Center. The history of the building extends back to the Chicago Great Fire of 1871 when displaced merchants, Leopold Schlesinger and David Mayer decided to relocate their dry goods store to the corner of State and Madison. After moving into the Bowen building, the businessmen had grander plans for the site and hired renown architect Louis Sullivan to create a bold skyscraper. Sullivan constructed a magnificent steel-framed building detailed with terra cotta and bronze. He added a round corner entry for dramatic appeal that gave shoppers accessibility from State and Madison. The building boasted huge bay windows, which allowed merchandise to be displayed to pedestrians. The Sullivan Center became the prototype of 20th century department store buildings.

One of the most recognized buildings in Chicago is the Sullivan Center. The history of the building extends back to the Chicago Great Fire of 1871 when displaced merchants, Leopold Schlesinger and David Mayer decided to relocate their dry goods store to the corner of State and Madison. After moving into the Bowen building, the businessmen had grander plans for the site and hired renown architect Louis Sullivan to create a bold skyscraper. Sullivan constructed a magnificent steel-framed building detailed with terra cotta and bronze. He added a round corner entry for dramatic appeal that gave shoppers accessibility from State and Madison. The building boasted huge bay windows, which allowed merchandise to be displayed to pedestrians. The Sullivan Center became the prototype of 20th century department store buildings.

Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

Schlesinger & Mayer doors opened in 1903 but closed in 1904 due to financial problems. Rival retailer, Carson Pirie and Scott moved in the building and hired Daniel Burnham to complete the final additions in 1906. The retailer occupied the space for over 100 years and the building was known as the Carson Pirie Scott & Company Building. The Sullivan Center became a Chicago landmark in 1970 and National Historic Landmark in 1975. Last year Target moved into the historical building and opened its first store in downtown Chicago.

Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

Schlesinger & Mayer doors opened in 1903 but closed in 1904 due to financial problems. Rival retailer, Carson Pirie and Scott moved in the building and hired Daniel Burnham to complete the final additions in 1906. The retailer occupied the space for over 100 years and the building was known as the Carson Pirie Scott & Company Building. The Sullivan Center became a Chicago landmark in 1970 and National Historic Landmark in 1975. Last year Target moved into the historical building and opened its first store in downtown Chicago.


THE CHICAGO SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

One of the most common questions we hear on the architectural cruises is what is the Chicago School of Architecture? The Chicago School of Architecture has two schools, the First School (commonly known as the Chicago School) and the Second School. The First School is classified as commercial buildings built from 1875 -1925 and the Second School refers to modern buildings constructed from the 1940 – 70s (think Willis Tower, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, and John Hancock Center).

The “Chicago School” was born after the Great Fire of 1871; architects had a blank canvass to rebuild the city. Architects decided to build vertically and construct the very first skyscrapers because Chicago’s population was booming and land values were doubling.

One of the most common questions we hear on the architectural cruises is what is the Chicago School of Architecture? The Chicago School of Architecture has two schools, the First School (commonly known as the Chicago School) and the Second School. The First School is classified as commercial buildings built from 1875 -1925 and the Second School refers to modern buildings constructed from the 1940 – 70s (think Willis Tower, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, and John Hancock Center).

The “Chicago School” was born after the Great Fire of 1871; architects had a blank canvass to rebuild the city. Architects decided to build vertically and construct the very first skyscrapers because Chicago’s population was booming and land values were doubling.

View of Chicago skyline at night in 1929

The visionaries used iron and steel frames and complemented the metal structures with beautiful terra cotta. They learned to use metal frames because most of the buildings before the fire lacked structural support; moreover, this was why few buildings survived the fire.

Debris left after the Chicago Fire in October, 1871
Metal Framework of the County Building while under construction

Terra cotta was primarily used to decorate the exterior of buildings. The clay ceramic could be shaped into any decoration and was a native material to Illinois. The Chicago School is also known for its wide horizontal windows that consist of a large fixed center panel flanked by two smaller double-hung sash windows. The School is known to have distinct designs for the ground story, the main office floors, and the roof. Other Chicago School features include elements of neoclassical architecture like classical columns and cornice.

View of Chicago skyline at night in 1929

The visionaries used iron and steel frames and complemented the metal structures with beautiful terra cotta. They learned to use metal frames because most of the buildings before the fire lacked structural support; moreover, this was why few buildings survived the fire.

Debris left after the Chicago Fire in October, 1871
Metal Framework of the County Building while under construction

Terra cotta was primarily used to decorate the exterior of buildings. The clay ceramic could be shaped into any decoration and was a native material to Illinois. The Chicago School is also known for its wide horizontal windows that consist of a large fixed center panel flanked by two smaller double-hung sash windows. The School is known to have distinct designs for the ground story, the main office floors, and the roof. Other Chicago School features include elements of neoclassical architecture like classical columns and cornice.


THE HISTORY OF STATE STREET

State Street is known for destination shopping in Chicago.  Before the world famous Michigan Ave,  State Street was the number one shopping attraction.  Frank Sinatra even loved State Street,  referring to “State Street, that great street” in his classic song, Chicago.  But how and why did State Street develop into Chicago’s retail district?

State Street is known for destination shopping in Chicago.  Before the world famous Michigan Ave,  State Street was the number one shopping attraction.  Frank Sinatra even loved State Street,  referring to “State Street, that great street” in his classic song, Chicago.  But how and why did State Street develop into Chicago’s retail district?

State Street in 1893

Historically, State Street has always been a retail gateway, it was apart of an Indian trail, which was called the Hubbard’s Trail and connected Chicago with trading outposts.  The growth and development of State Street starts in the 1860’s when Potter Palmer, a businessman convinced Marshall Field and Levi Leiter to join his successful dry goods store. Palmer sold his shares of the store and continued to develop real estate on State Street.   Today we know this store as Marshal Fields, which is now owned by Macy’s.   Palmer was an enterprising man, who built the Palmer Hotel (Palmer Hilton Hotel) as a wedding present for his wife and after it burned down from the Great Chicago Fire, he rebuilt a grander hotel.  In 1897, Thomas Edison filmed State Street and stated that it was “The busiest corner in Chicago. Cable cars and street traffic of all descriptions. Hundreds of shoppers. Fine perspective view looking north toward the Masonic Temple.”  Take a look of the bustling State Street filmed by Edison below:

State Street in 1893

Historically, State Street has always been a retail gateway, it was apart of an Indian trail, which was called the Hubbard’s Trail and connected Chicago with trading outposts.  The growth and development of State Street starts in the 1860’s when Potter Palmer, a businessman convinced Marshall Field and Levi Leiter to join his successful dry goods store. Palmer sold his shares of the store and continued to develop real estate on State Street.   Today we know this store as Marshal Fields, which is now owned by Macy’s.   Palmer was an enterprising man, who built the Palmer Hotel (Palmer Hilton Hotel) as a wedding present for his wife and after it burned down from the Great Chicago Fire, he rebuilt a grander hotel.  In 1897, Thomas Edison filmed State Street and stated that it was “The busiest corner in Chicago. Cable cars and street traffic of all descriptions. Hundreds of shoppers. Fine perspective view looking north toward the Masonic Temple.”  Take a look of the bustling State Street filmed by Edison below: