Chicago Histery \VINTE R 1979-1980
$2.00
Administration, Mining and Electrical Buildings from Wooded Island, by an unknown artist after an oil paint ing by John Ross Key , probably printed by the Werner Company, Akron , Oh io, 1894. Though Key's original rendering was precisely detailed , the artist who created this chromolithograph adopted a more modern, impressionist style. The colors of this chromo can be seen in the detail pictured on the cover of this issue. CHS. This chromolithograph is part of a traveling exhibit, The Democratic Art: Chromolithography in America
1840-1900, on view at the Society through May 11 (see page 234).
Chicago History The Magazine of the Chicago Historical Society
WINTER 1979- 1980 VOLUME VIII, NUMBER 4
Fannia Weingartner Editor
CONTENTS
Gail Farr Casterline Associate Editor
CH ICAGO 'S EARLY ELEVATED LINES AND THE CONSTRUCTI ON OF THE UNION LOOP /1 94 by Brian J . Cudahy
Marcia Beales Assistant Editor Karen Kohn Designer Walter W . Krutz Paul W. Petraitis Photography
JUDGE EDMUND K. JARECK I: A RATHER REGULAR INDEPENDENT / 206 by Douglas Bukowski COSTUME EXHIBIT/ 219 THE SOCIETY / 220 CHICAGO CERAMICS & GLASS EXHIBITS/221 CHICAGO 'S COLORFUL TERRA COTTA FA<;ADES/224 by Eleanor Gordon and Jean Nerenberg FROM CHROMO-CIVILIZATION TO TV GENERATION : A PERSPECTIVE/234 by Trudy Victoria Hansen WALKOUT: THE CHICAGO MEN 'S GARMENT WORKERS' STRIKE, 1910-1911/238 by . Sue Weiler BOOK REVIEWS/250 NOTES/255 LOOKING BACKWARD / inside back cover
Copyright 1980 by the Chicago Historical Society Clark Street at North Aven ue Chicago , Illinois 60614 Articles appeari ng in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life
Chicago's Early Elevated Lines and the Construction of the Union Loop BY BRIAN J. CUDAHY
Only two cities preceded Chicago in building an elevated system. Some local L promoters were responsible businessmen while others belonged to that unsavory fringe element that inevitably forms whenever private profit is earned in close proximity to the political arena.
much talk about what should be clone about the Loop elevated. Plans to tear it clown and replace it with a new underground subway seemed imminent. Then came vehement protest. Now it looks as if rehabilitation rather than destruction may lie in store for what has been hailed as an important Chicago landmark. That Chicago's downtown Loop elevated should be at the center of a new civic controversy is not surprising: it was a subject for dispute even before the first steel columns to support the overhead rail lines were raised on Lake Street more than eighty years ago. Indeed , the story of the Loop L is a fascinating part 0£ the city's history-and one whose significance goes far beyond its local setting. No one knows precisely how the idea of building an elevated system reached Chicago in the late nineteenth century. The first reasonably serious proposal to build an urban elevated line in the United States was advanced in ew York in 1825, where the nation's first L opened for business forty-five years later. Three more THERE HAS RECENTLY BEEN
Brian J. Cudahy is director of the Office of Transit J\ Ianagement of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration in Washington , D.C. He is the author of Under the Sidewalks of New York, a history of the New York subway system published in 1979 by The Stephen Greene Press. 194
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elevated lines were constructed in Manhattan during the 1870s, followed by a line in Brooklyn (then a separate city) which opened in l 885. Although elevated lines were more expensive to build than horse or cable railways, they could carry more passengers faster and more conveniently in crowded urban areas where traffic clogged the routes of surface travel. Whereas travel by horse- or cable car could be slow and uncertain, elevateds whisked along high overhead-a distinct advantage in cities which extended over large areas. As New York elevateds continued to expand into new areas through the 1880s, street railway men in Chicago determined to bring the new technology to their city. Among them were many of the same bankers and brokers who had financed Chicago's streetcar lines and who viewed the elevated as an inevitable-and serious- competitor. Some promoters were attracted by the promise of high investment returns, while a few belonged to that unsavory fringe element that inevitably forms whenever private profit is earned in close proximity to the political arena.
Several elevated companies were established in Chicago in the late 1880s, but it took the World's Columbian Exposition to bring about the completion of the first line. The city anticipated millions of visitors, all needing rapid transportation to the Jackson Park fairgrounds located eight and a half miles south of downtown Chicago.
Looking north from Monroe and Wabash , 1905. lnterestirigly enough , downtown Chicago got its name, "the Loop," not from the elevated structure but from an earlier cable car turnabout. CHS, ICHi-04855, gift of the BarnesCrosby Company.
Chicago's first elevated rapid transit line entered revenue service between Congress and 39th streets at 7:00 A.M. on Monday, June 6, 1892, when the first train, consisting of four wooden coaches hauled by a diminutive steam locomotive, departed from 39th Street carrying twenty-seven men and three women. Although there was no oratory or ribbon-cutting to mark the beginning of this fourteen minute trip, the Chicago Tribune noted that the first five-cent fare was paid by fourteen-year old Freddie Cann of 4029 South Wabash, whose ticket was collected by a Superintendent Wetmore, resplendent in a spanking new blue serge uniform with "S.S.R.T."-South Side Rapid Transit-embroidered on the collar in rich gold thread. Some passengers, it was reported, were part of
the "lunch pail crowd"; others were described as "resembling gentlemen." One Tribune journalist commented that passengers who gazed out the windows as the L trains moved along at second story level "saw bits of domestic life usually hidden from the gaze of passing crowds." Bystanders were equally curious to see the trains in operation. The same journalist noted that "servant girls, cooks, and chambermaids left their work to watch from back porches the fast-flying trains as they went by, and late breakfasts were probably explained on that score." Most riders were delighted to discover that the new line could cover the distance between Congress and 39th streets in half the time of the cable cars on State or v\Tabash. Whereas Chicago History
195
, I ; // Construction of the Northwestern Elevated tracks north of Willow between Bissell and Sheffield, 1897. Beyond the Loop area, many of Chicago's Ls ran through back alleys since state law made it difficult to secure rights-of-way to put tracks directly over the streets. CHS, gift of the Chicago Transit Authority.
cable railways had to shut down for part of the night for repairs, the elevated provided roundthe-clock service. The line operated eighteen trains with a three minute headway during rush hours, but two trains, running every twenty minutes, were sufficient after midnight. By the time the exposition opened in the spring of 1893, the line had been extended to 63rd Street, just a few short steps from the fairgrounds. v\Tith more than forty locomotives and 180 cars by then in service, the Sou th Side R apid Transit Company rewarded its investors with fast and enviable earnings. The initial complement of equipment for the South Side L included twenty steam locomotives built in Philadelphia by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Their design emulated a highly successful concept developed for the New York 196
Chicago History
elevateds in the 1880s in which fuel and water were hauled in tanks located behind and under the cab. The locomotives could operate in either direction and were equipped with full length drip pans to prevent oil and scalding water from dropping to the ground below. Each wooden passenger coach was forty-six feet long, weighed 42,500 pounds, and looked like a scaled-down version of a conventional open-platform railroad coach of the day. On the outside the cars were liveried in pale olive green, while interiors were done in natural oak and cherry. The initial fleet was built by two different manufacturers-the Gilbert Car Company of Troy, N. Y., and Jackson and Sharp of Wilmington, Delaware. Not all reactions to the L were favorable . A teacher in the Haven Public School at 15th
Early Elevated Lines
Street adjacent to the new elevated line told a Tribune reporter, "The noise and confusion in our schoolrooms are simply dreadful and distracting in the extreme." However, when comparisons were drawn with the ew York elevated lines, most local residents found the new Chicago route to be superior in all respects. Such conclusions were not surprising: Chicagoans were always comparing local accomplishments with their New York equivalents, and the conclusions were always the same. But there was one major difference. Whereas the elevated lines in Manhattan and Brooklyn ran on structures built largely over public streets, the new Chicago line made use of corridor-like alleys behind and between rows 0£ buildings. The designation "Alley L" was long used as a popular name for the South Side route, and without the capital letter became a general synonym for any Chicago L so constructed. The popularity of the alley L-style of construction may be directly attributed to a law passed by the Illinois state legislature on June 12, 1883. The sponsor of the bill was Senator George E. Adams, a member of Chicago's Union League Club and an advocate of municipal reform. Mindful of noise and other objectionable features of elevated lines constructed elsewhere, Adams-backed by the press and various civic groups-proposed to safeguard the interests of property owners from the ruthless practices that streetcar operators had been known to resort to. In brief, the 1872 municipal charter required any transit operator to secure approval signatures from a majority of property owners along a proposed route as a condition for the granting of a franchise. The streetcar companies had become skilled at balancing off massive opposition in a heavily settled area with a single rural approval from a friendly owner of a large parcel on the opposite end of the line. But the Adams Law was not so easy to circumvent, for it required the elevated lines to secure approval
signatures from a majority of property owners along each mile of a proposed route. It quickly became common practice for abutters along a planned elevated route to place a cash value on their approval signatures. Civic associations of various sorts were established to insure that all were informed of the going rates, even after an 1895 court decision ruled the practice illegal. The elevated companies often found that it cost less to acquire alley rights-ofway than to pay for approval signatures for street construction, and that the costs of the former were more predictable. But added construction costs, either through real estate purchase or approval signature payment, posed a serious challenge to the growth and economic stability of Chicago's early elevated companies. The Adams Law was also partially responsible for barring the early elevated lines from the heart of Chicago's business district. The cost of downtown real estate effectively precluded any thought of an alley Lin the business district, and the need to obtain approval signatures for building elevated lines over thriving downtown streets put the elevated companies in a very difficult position. Indeed, residential property owners often took a dim view of L construction. While most agreed that improved transportation facilities would be an obvious asset to their neighborhoods, no one welcomed the idea of noisy elevated trains running directly in front of their own houses. Such views were expressed in a pamphlet entitled Opposition to Elevated Railroads published by the West Chicago Protective League in 1887, which argued that the proposed elevated road would materially and irreparably depreciate the value of real estate upon said streets and their immediate vicinity, render the dwellinghouses thereon unfit for private residences, disturb and interfere with the public schools and scientific and charitable institutions and the worship of the congregations of the churches on the Sabbath and during the week, and wholly ruin said streets for foot travel or driving purposes. Ch icago History
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Early Elevated Lines
Commercial property owners, whose establishments could be expected to profit from passenger traffic generated by a new elevated line, were often negative as well. Storekeepers, of course, welcomed new customers but preferred to see the L located on an adjacent street. The ,vest Siders who prepared the pamphlet collected data from ew York to show that elevated lines produced a far greater increase in property values on streets near an L station than on streets where the structure was actually built. Despite such objections, plans began to take shape for additional elevated lines in other sect ions of the metropolitan area, many of which were already serviced by the surface car lines that crisscrossed Chicago by the early 1890s. l\Iost of the surface lines to the north and west had been bought up by former Philadelphia financier Charles Tyson Yerkes, a colorful traction impressario who would soon become a leading figure in the development of the elevated lines. (Yerkes's reputation did little to win favor for L construction, for by the time he reached Chicago in 1882 he had already served a nine-month prison sentence for his involvement in a dubious municipal bond deal.) With an eye toward protecting his streetcar interests on the North Side, Yerkes acquired a franchise in 1894 to build an L in that portion of the city. Another group formed the Metropolitan ,,vest Side Elevated Railway Company to construct lines west of the Chicago River. But the second line to go into service opened on Lake Street in November 1893, seventeen months after the South Side's inaugural. The early history of the Lake Street line is downright sordid compared to the relatively staid beginnings of the South Side L. The owner of the original 1888 franchise was the notorious Mike (King Mike) McDonald, a racketeer who made his early money in gambling and vice and who, in partnership with a group of cronies, made a business of establishing traction companies in competition with existing operations and then selling out to the older 198
Chicago Hi story
operators at high prices. McDonald and his group were rumored to control more than twothirds of the votes in the City Council-and the fact that the line was built directly over a major east-west thoroughfare certainly leads one to wonder if, in this case, the council relaxed its normal requirements for approval signatures. It wasn't long before the legality of the franchise was questioned, but for other reasons. Because of a clerical error, the city had actually granted a franchise authorizing the construction of an elevated conveyor belt! Although that mistake was corrected, the company soon found itself in severe financial difficulties, and in August 1892 McDonald sold the partially completed line to New York interests. The new owners infused fresh capital into the venture and prepared to begin operations. Thirty-five steam locomotives similar to those used on the South Side line were purchased from the Rhode Island Locomotive Works. The rolling stock comprised 125 wooden coaches, including some manufactured by the Pullman Palace Car Company. The line ran three blocks north from an eastern terminal at Madison and Market streets (the latter now called ·w acker Drive) before turning west on Lake to cross the Chicago River on an operating drawbridge. Initially the line terminated at California Avenue but by 1\Iay 1894 it had been extended all the way to Laramie Avenue-a distance of nearly six miles. As with the completion of the South Side line, the inauguration of the Lake Street service naturally invited comparisons with other forms of transportation. In mid-November 1893 a Chicago stockbroker told a Tribune reporter: "I took an elevated train this morning and was landed at Market and Madison in 15 minutes. If I had ridden on the cable, as had been my custom, it would have required 30 minutes." But the elevated's superior speed was only useful if one's downtown destination was near the Market and Madison terminal. If one's place of business happened to be, say, State and
Early Elevated Lines
Charles T. Yerkes (1839-1905), chief promoter and builder of the Union Loop. CH S, gift of Walter S. Brewster.
Adams, the plodding cable cars were still more convenient . . . and often faster. Unlike the elevated lines, which terminated at the periphery of the downtown business district, the street railways took passengers into the heart of town. Even with fresh capital and honest management, the Lake Street line was not a sound operation. After the value of its stock plunged in the wake of the economic depression of 1894, it was acquired for the bargain price of one million dollars by Charles Yerkes, who wanted to develop a system of streetcar feeders to connect Lake Street elevated stations with the various West Side neighborhoods adjacent to the lines. But it was clear that the Lake Street L could not compete effectively with surface lines as long as it lacked a true downtown terminal. The South Side L suffered from the same dilemma: ridership dropped off after the Columbian Exposition because its Congress Street terminal was too far south to attract passengers bound for downtown . Meanwhile, electrification of many of the older horse- and cable-powered routes put the street railways in an even stronger competitive position. Throughout the early 1890s it was continually suggested in many quarters that an elevated loop through and around the downtown business district would put Chicago's elevated lines in sound fiscal shape. Some observers talked about a loop which would allow passengers to transfer to the older transit lines at interchange points; others went so far as to suggest an underground subway loop; yet others favored an elevated moving sidewalk similar to the one that had operated at the Columbian Exposition. Most proposals called for an elevated right-ofway that would allow trains to circle arou nd the business district and head back to their points of origin without having to reverse direction . Such a scheme had already been tried by the street-running cable railways which had bu il t a turnabout along Lake, Wabash, Madison, and State in 1882. Interestingly enough, the term Chicago History
199
Early Elevated Lines
"Loop" had been used as a synonym for downtown Chicago long before the construction of the downtown elevated began. Yerkes was the man who got things moving, and he was eminently qualified to succeed where others failed. His ability to raise capital (he parlayed a personal loan from Philadelphia associates into a massive fortune of almost $20 million) was matched only by his skill in securing approval signatures and eliciting franchise approvals from the City Council. Instead of announcing his loop scheme all at once, he quietly proceeded to create one section at a time. On October l, 1894, the council voted to allow Yerkes to extend his Lake Street line
4500 feet east to Wabash Avenue. Then in 1895 he built upon his franchise for the North Side elevated line and secured permission to extend it south of the Chicago River over Fifth Avenue (now Wells Street). The following year Yerkes acquired a franchise for Wabash Avenue, where he formed yet another company, the Union Elevated-and by now he made no pretense about his ultimate objective. Yerkes envisioned the Union Elevated as a permanently separate company which would own the entire loop elevated but no rolling stock. Trains of the several elevated lines would use the new loop and pay the Union Elevated a toll for each trip. Even then, some doubted whether Yerkes could
I nterior of the South Side Elevated powerhouse at 39th and State streets. The company shifte d from steam to electrical power in the 1890s. CHS, gift of the Estate of Richard Donovan.
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Early Elevated Lines
override the continuing resistance of downtown property owners. As Engineering News commented in 1896, "some doubt may reasonably be felt as to the certainty of [the loop's] immediate construction." Yerkes's authorizations for Fifth and Wabash avenues allowed him to build elevated lines between Lake Street on the north and Harrison Street on the south, the latter being the original choice for the loop's final section. But Van Buren Street was selected instead, and here Yerkes met his most determined opposition. Some property owners insisted on premium signature rates; others were unwilling to approve the plan under any circumstances. Yerkes retaliated by forming yet another company, the Union Consolidated, for which he secured a franchise over Van Buren that stretched a full mile from Wabash to Halsted. It was another clever move, designed to take advantage of the fact that the Adams Law required consent from a majority of property owners for each mile of franchise sought. Since Yerkes had no intention of extending the line west of Wells, he was able to buy enough signatures along the western portion of Van Buren to override the opposition concentrated between Wells and Wabash. The City Council granted him the franchise for the Van Buren section on June 30, 1896. Many Chicagoans were less than sanguine as construction of the elevated trestle got underway. A "great public bother" and a "downtown nuisance" were two of the more polite characterizations offered by irate citizens. Although Yerkes's authorizations from the City Council specified. the use of lattice girders to allow a measure of sunlight to reach the streets below, many objected to the comparative darkness which the elevated cast upon downtown Chicago. The columns which supported the L created traffic obstacles since they were placed in the middle of the streets. Pedestrians on Wabash were endangered when cable cars had to be rerouted around the L columns.
In designing the downtown elevated, engineers were able to incorporate a major technological advance pioneered by the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, Chicago's third L, which opened on May 6, 1895. That line originated at Milwaukee Avenue and Robey Street (now Darnen Avenue) and passed through the Near Northwest and West sides before crossing the river to Franklin Street. Unlike Chicago's other Ls, the Metropolitan (modeled after the electrically powered Intramural Railway which carried visitors around the grounds at the World's Columbian Exposition) was the first rapid transit system in the United States to use electricity on a scale beyond a simple streetcar installation. Addressing the 1897 convention of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, company spokesman M. H . Gerry proudly announced that the Metropolitan powerhouse had the capacity to generate 9,000 horsepower at a cost of one-half cent per kilowatt hour. Once the use of electrically powered elevated trains had been successfully introduced, the city began to require franchise holders to shift to the new, silent energy source. Electricity replaced steam power on the Lake Street L in 1896; the South Side made the change two years later. On both conversions, wooden trailer coaches previously hauled by steam engines were fitted with electrical apparatus so the companies did not have to buy new rolli ng stock. However, the South Side line introduced a new system called multiple-un it control in which individually powered electrical cars were operated by one man in the head car. The scheme was later adopted by all Chicago Ls, and is presently used by virtually every rapid transit system in the world. Construction of the Union Loop contin ued through the summer of 1897. The Lake Street L was the first to extend onto the loop, and by September many trains were con tinuing east on Lake past the turnoff for the line's origi nal terminal at Madison and Market to end their Chicago History
201
Intersection of the elevated tracks at Lake Street and Fifth Avenue [now Wells Street], June 1900. Although the service level initially proposed was sixty trains an hour, sharp curves at each of the loop 's access points made this impossible. CHS, gift of the Chicago Transit Authority.
runs at ,vabash and Adams. The first run around the entire circumference of the Union Loop took place on September 6, 1897-Labor Day-with no announcement or fanfare. The decision to make the two-hour, three-circuit test trip had been reached only a few days earlier when Lake Street general manager Frank Hedley conferred with DeLancey H. Louderback, Yerkes's handpicked chief executive. Company officials met at noon for the holiday outing, and the press immediately speculated that the company was about to open full service around the loop. But leases still had to be signed between the Union Elevated and the various operating companies. By this time the Metropolitan had constructed tracks that joined the loop at Fifth Avenue and Van Buren Street, but the company had gone into receivership and needed court 202
Chicago History
approval (granted October 1) before completing its negotiations with the Union. President Leslie Carter of the South Side line signed a lease with the Union on October 2, even though his company had not even erected all the steelwork for its entry onto the loop at Wabash and Van Buren. There was little difficulty in negotiating leases between the Union and Yerkes's two lines, of course. Rental charges levied by the Union for the use of its facility were not slight: a half-cent for every passenger the lines carried (regardless of whether those passengers entered or left trains at loop stations) in addition ro a guaranteed minimum payment of $62,000 per year from each operating company. But the companies were confident that the loop service would attract enough new passengers to offset the cost of the toll. Meanwhile the Union Elevated,
with an annual income of at least a quarter of a million dollars and relatively few expenses, was able to pay a guaranteed return of five percent on its $5 million in preferred bonds. On Sunday, October 3, 1897, at 7:00 A.M. the first revenue train began its journey around the Union Loop. It was a Lake Street train, and rather than terminate at Wabash and Adams as had been the practice, it continued south on Wabash along the loop's outside track, turned west on Van Buren, north on Fifth, and then headed back to the company's western terminal after making another ninety degree turn at Fifth and Lake. Nine days later, Metropolitan trains began service on the new facility, and a characteristic that would haunt it from then on quickly became apparent: things were very congested. A reporter from the Daily News was disappointed when it took him twenty-five minutes to circle the loop in mid-afternoon; published schedules had predicted the trip should only take eighteen minutes. Many doubted that the loop's proposed service level (up to sixty trains per hour) could ever be met. Concern focused on three of the access points into the loop-at Wabash and Van Buren, at Van Buren and Fifth, and at Fifth and Lake-where the four lines entered the Union facility. All crossings were at grade, and trains would forever be cutting in front of each other, or so it seemed likely. But officials of the various lines were confident that good service could be maintained once the loop was fully broken in. General Manager Baker of the Metropolitan said his company was "perfectly satisfied with the first day's performance." But criticisms or no, the Union Loop--or "Poll y L"' as some newspapers called it--opened for business in the fall of 1897. Lake Street and Metropolitan trains used the outside track and operated clockwise. South Side service used the inside track and ran counterclockwise. Two years later, the city's fourth elevated company, Yerkes's Northwestern, joined the South Side L on the inside track.
Chicago's elevated system in 1904, showing projected extensions to Woodlawn , the Union Stock Yard , Ravenswood , and Rogers Park. From The Chicago Electrical Handbook, CHS.
The history of the Northwestern Elevated is the kind of thing people write articles about in law journals. After Yerkes acquired the franchise from the city in 1894 (a year when economic conditions were unstable at best), he had difficulty finding investors. By this time the financial problems of the South Side L, the scandals associated with McDonald and the Lake Street line, and Yerkes's own dubious reputation had eroded faith in elevated ventures. Work on the line had to be halted in 1896 for want of sufficient capital, while strikes and shortages of materials necessitated two extensions of the municipal franchise for building Chicago Hi st ory
203
Early Elevated Lines
the elevated road. The Northwestern had several unusual features. North of Chicago Avenue, the line was built as a four-track facility in order to provide both local and express service. During its early years, trains ran on the left track in the British tradition. North of the Loop, its alley rightof-way was laid out with a number of sharp curves because of the manner in which the company purchased real estate for its proposed line. After many parcels were secretly bought through dummy corporations, property owners got wind of the transit developments and held out for higher prices. Rather than pay the rates property owners were demanding, the Northwestern decided to build a curve-plagued route over Janel it already owned. On Saturday, December 30, 1899, with a franchise about to expire at year's end, the Northwestern energized the third rail on its route and announced that service would begin on New Year·s Eve. At 2: 13 P.M. on December 31, the first train left the Lincoln Avenue Station. The cars, proclaimed by the management to be "the finest products ever turned out by the Pullman Company," were fully decorated with flags and bunting. As the train entered the loop at Fifth and Lake, tug boats in the Chicago River gave out mighty whistles and President Louderback announced to all aboard, "Well, boys, it's done." Except it wasn't. The motive behind this ew Year's Eve inaugural was to avoid the company's having to forfeit $100,000 to the city if service were not instituted before January 1, 1900. Once the line was completed, it had to pass inspection by the Commissioner of Public Works to insure that all the franchise requirements were being met. Normally this was a routine bit of business, but when Commissioner L. E. McGann's assistants started to inspect the new line, they found it below standard in many respects. Portions of the structure lacked the proper number of rivets, and only three of the fourteen stations were ready for passenger use. 204
Ch icago History
At 1:30 P.M. on New Year's Day, the Chicago police department ordered a halt to all work on the Northwestern and the operation of passenger trains. fayor Carter C. Harrison, Jr., acting on the recommendation of the Department of Public Works, declared the franchise to be expired. Attorneys for the traction company and the City of Chicago got to know each other quite well during the early months of 1900 as a third and final franchise extension was negotiated. Finally, on May 31, Pullman-built motor car no. 35, hauling three trailers, moved out of the company's Wilson Avenue yard and picked up a special contingent of 250 VIP's for the road's "second" inaugural run. The train reached the loop at noon, made a swift passage around the inside track of the downtown distributor, and with a motorman by the name of H. duFlome skillfully manipulating the controls, headed back to the Wilson Avenue station. Following the inaugural, guests repaired to the nearby Sheridan Park station of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad for a catered lunch. As Northwestern elevated trains rumbled along on their first revenue trips, Yerkes predicted that the clays of the street railways were over. He then suggested that some kind of unification of the several elevated operations would be a desirable goal to pursue. In due time, such a unification would take place-but not through Yerkes's doing. His welcome in Chicago had worn thin long before then. In 1899, when he attempted to secure a no-cost hundred-year extension of his streetcar franchise, an angry mob surrounded City Hall during the council debate and demanded that Yerkes be repudiated. The proposal was voted down, and Yerkes sold his Chicago traction interests and moved to New York. Later he moved his operations to London where he headed a syndicate that built three important tube lines in the British capital. Like most of those who helped build Chicago's elevated system, Yerkes is all but forgotten
Early Elevated Lines
today. There are no memorials to him, save an observatory at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, which he endowed in 1892. Students of American literature may not be familiar with the historical Yerkes, but they will surely recognize the character of Frank Algernon Cowperwood, the principal figure in three famous novels by Theodore Dreiser: The Financier, The Titan, and The Stoic. So closely was Cowperwood modeled on Yerkes that in the absence of a true biography of the man, the Dictionary of American Biography recommends the Dreiser trilogy for those who would like to learn more about the reallife traction magnate.
Over the ensuing decades, the several elevated companies continued to operate independently of one another, and of the various surface lines. In terms of ridership, the latter continued to be the principal form of public transportation within the metropolitan area well into the twentieth century. As the elevated companies extended their routes into outlying areas, they exercised a pronounced influence on the growth of the city. Only the elevated lines were able to provide tolerable commuting times between downtown Chicago and the new residential areas that began to spring up in outlying communities like Ravenswood and Rogers Park to the north, and Berwyn and Cicero to the west. But perhaps even more important was the effect of the elevated loop on the city's downtown business district. For many years all major office buildings, department stores, public agencies, and railroad stations ,~ere located in or immediately adjacent to the rectangle formed by the Union Loop. To this day, Chicago's central business district is one of the densest in the United States. Whether the overall impact of Chicago's elevated system has been for better or worse can, perhaps, be debated. But what cannot be questioned is the fact that for many decades the Loop elevated has been central to the life of the city.
"It's the straphangers who pay the dividends," Charles Yerkes was reputed to have once said. Chicago Ls still seemed short on cars when John Mccutcheon drew this cartoon, "The Traction Magnate's Dream," in 1908. CHS, gift of Mrs. John T. Mccutcheon.
Selected Sources NEWSPAPERS:
Chicago Tribune; Chicago Daily News. Engineering News; Street Rail•
TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL JOURNALS:
way Journal; Scientific American; Railroad Gazette. Various issues through 1900. Abrams, Robert L. "The Story of Rapid Transit: Chicago." Bttlleliri of the National Railway Historical Society XXVI (1961). Arnold, Ilion J. Recommendations and General Plans for a Comprehensive Passenger Subway System for the City of Chicago. Chicago: City Council Committee on Local Transportation , I 911. Chicago Traction and Subway Commission. Report . . . on a Unified System of Surface, Elevated and Subway Liries. Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1916. Chicago's Rapid Transit: Volume I, Rolling Stock, 1892-1947. Chicago: Central Electric Railfans' Association, 1973. Davis, James Leslie. The Elevated System arid the Growth of Northern Chicago . Evanston, Illinois: Department of Geography, Northwestern University, 1965. Harlan. Homer Charles. "Charles Tyson Yerkes and the Chicago Transportation System." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation , University of Chicago, 1975. Weber, Harry P . An Outline History of Chicago Traction. Chicago: privately printed, 1936. Weber, Robert David. " Rationalizers and Reformers: Chicago Local Transportation in the 'inetcenth Century." Unpub• lished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1971.
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Judge Edmund K. Jarecki: A Rather Regular Independent BY DOUGLAS BUKOWSKI
The Democrats had chosen Jarecki because he appeared to be a man with a good record in lower office who could look honest while still condoning vote fraud. What they got instead was a judge partial to pince-nez and bow ties who had no intention of being controlled by anyone.
Chicagoans dismiss their political history as a never-ending story of bribes, indictments, and scandals. Were they to look beneath the surface, however, they would find a number of gadflies who have enlivened local politics and added at least a veneer of dignity to it. County Judge Edmund Kasper Jarecki qualifies on both counts: elected to his post in 1922, he reigned for thirty-two tumultuous years as head of Cook County's fa~o us--or infamous--election machinery. Born in Posen, part of German Poland, in I 879, Jarecki and his family emigrated to the United States in 1884. They settled on Chicago's North Side in "Polish Downtown." Centered around the intersection of Milwaukee and Ashland avenues, the neighborhood had the greatest concentration of Poles in the United States and served as the power base for a variety of the city's Polish politicians. Jarecki attended public and parochial grammar schools near his home and later graduated from the Chicago Manual Training School. He worked as a draftsman for several years and was employed for a time by the Crane Company, which manufactured plumbing fixtures. Too OFTEN,
Douglas Bukowski , a reporter for The Cicero-Berwyn Life, is a longtime student of urban history. His article on Mayor William Dever appeared in the Summer 1978 issue of Chicago History. 206
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Maybe Edmund Jarecki was unwilling to spend his life designing pipe fittings. He enrolled in Northwestern University's Law School, graduated in 1908, and located his practice in Polish Downtown. eighbors could look to him with pride as a fellow countryman succeeding in his new home while honoring the spirit of the old (he was a member of both the Polish National Alliance and the Polish Roman Catholic Union). Jarecki was assured a profitable, if unexciting, future as an attorney catering to his own ethnic group. Instead, he chose to enter politics and soon came to the attention of Stanley Kunz, the first Polish-American congressman from Chicago. Kunz wielded power as an ethnic boss, dispensing favors and jobs to his own national group much as Anton Cermak did for Chicago's Bohemians and Jacob Arvey did for the city's Jews. Kunz regularly delivered the Polish vote to the Democrats and in return received patronage and the right to select people for the county ticket. In 1911, Kunz successfully ran Jarecki for a special term as alderman, a position which served as a stepping-stone to the young lawyer's election to the municipal court three years later. Assigned to speeders' court in 1914, Jarecki took up his work with vigor, at a time when traffic law enforcement was an inexact science at best. Auto, pedestrian, and horse shared the streets with less than perfect harmony. As traffic accidents mounted, Jarecki declared war on speeders. Chicago Tribune sports columnist Ring Lardner ran afoul of the legal limit and
Jarecki administered the oath of office to Anton Cermak when the latter became mayor in 1931. Cermak probably directed a few oaths of his own at the judge-the two were often in conflict over Jarecki's taxation and election decisions. CHS, Chicago Daily News photo, DN 95,487, gift of Field Enterprises.
the law on North Kedzie Boulevard one day in 1915, but during his day in court any ideas of proffering a bribe evaporated when he noticed: Another young fella brat his father a long with him and wile this young fella was trying to explane his self the old man leaned over to the judge and says you don't want to soke me because I never get soked and if judge so and so was trying the case he would hve me go for nothing and he haden't hardly got the words out of his mouth when the judge says 50 ang costs .... [Tribune, September 8, 1915]
Lardner toyed with the idea of pleading ignorance of the law as a foreigner. But when he saw Jarecki sentence an offender in Polish, he sighed, "This here judge can say 15 and costs in all the diffrunt languages dee£ and dum incluseive." Service on the bench by no means ended a man's political career in Cook County. Period-
ically stung by charges of corruption from civic groups and the press, local Democrats occasionally ran "clean" candidates to improve their image. Throughout the 1920s and '30s, they often tapped the local judiciary for such prestige nominations. George Brennan, Cook County Democratic Party Chairman from 1920 to 1927, chose Municipal Court Judge William Dever to run for mayor in 1923; Anton Cermak, Brennan's successor, selected Probate Court Judge Henry Horner as the Democratic candidate for governor in 1932. Both men won handily. Likewise, party leaders chose Jarecki in 1922 as their candidate for the politically sensitive post of county judge. J arecki's foe in the election was the Republican incumbent, Frank Righeimer, a close ally of Mayor "Big Bill" Thompson. Righeimer's Ch icago History
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Twenty-one-year-old Edmund K. Jarecki (second from left) was a draftsman for the Crane Company when this photograph was taken in 1905. Edmund K. Jarecki papers, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle Library.
nickname was "Two Booths," because of his proclivity for sending just two voting booths to precincts hostile to Thompson, thus creating long lines and discouraging voting. In the race for county judge Jarecki campaigned hard, charging his opponent with giving sweetheart contracts to politically connected firms to print ballots and election notices. With the support of Chicago's two leading clean-government newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily News, Jarecki won the election by nearly 34,000 votes. At first glance, the county judgeship seemed more like a bureaucrat's dream than a politician's. Half his duties centered around the ordinary judicial matters of the county-handling delinquent tax units, special assessment judgements, adoptions, insanity hearings. The other half, however, represented a real bonanza for a politician, because the judge controlled the 208
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county election machinery and could influence the outcome of close elections if he so chose. At a time when Republicans constituted a formidable local political force, the county judgeship was a tool as indispensable to the party's wellbeing as the state's attorney's office is today. The judge could either enforce election laws or look the other way at opportune times for his party. The Democrats had chosen Jarecki because he appeared to be a man with a good record in lower office who could look honest while still condoning vote fraud. What they got instead was a judge partial to pince-nez and bow ties who had no intention of being controlled by anyone. Stanley Kunz considered himself Jarecki 's sponsor and thought it his right to control the patronage of the Board of Election Commissioners, a three-member body which assisted the county judge in regulating elections. But Jarecki kept the patronage power for himself,
Judge Jarecki
and immediately selected a Republican to head the board. Not only did he alienate Kunz, he served notice on the Democrats that he would be no party's puppet. As in speeders' court, Jarecki took all aspects of his new post seriously. He presided over adoption hearings and officiated at the adoption of children from The Cradle in Evanston for Gracie Allen and George Burns, Dolores and Bob Hope, and former New York City mayor, Jimmy Walker, and his wife Betty. Presiding over insanity case hearings, he grew interested in the field of mental health. He berated the state for its inadequate care facilities and traveled to \i\Tashington on several occasions to ask President Harding for better care for disturbed veterans. His perseverance was rewarded with the opening of a veterans' treatment center at Great Lakes Naval Base in 1926. But the county judge's primary duties revolved around insuring clean elections. This was no small task in a city like Chicago, as the Daily News noted: The voter stops at the polling place on his way to work; perhaps if he is civic-minded, he leaves home half an hour early. He waits in line because of the antediluvian system of voting-stepping into a 2 by 6 frame with a cotton cloth for privacy, candle light and a pencil that won't mark an X without tearing the paper, thereby creating a ballot that can be thrown out by zealous judges of election who might feel that the mutilated ballot was cast for the wrong person. [Daily News, June 28, 1929]
Jarecki took on a demanding job in view of the city's nearly annual elections. Chicagoans voted on everything from mayors and Prohibition refer~nda to commissioners for the city's three park districts. No fewer than 353 officials were elected by ballot in Cook County, and it was a ballot too imposing in its varying lengths and colors for many Chicagoans. Some ballots were actually four feet square. At least 13,000 election judges and clerks were officially at the county judge's command to insure honest voting, but Jarecki often decried their usefulness.
By law, all judges and clerks had to be residents of the precincts they worked, and by custom the Republican and Democratic ward committeemen joined to draw up lists of candidates from which the county judge made his appointments for each election. The need to find thousands of election officials inevitably led to the appointment of some dubious charactersincluding thieves, pickpockets, and small-time hoodlums. Vote fraud in Chicago approached the level of an art form. It could be obvious or subtle. Vote thieves would employ intimidation or violence at the polls, using brass knuckles or revolvers to make last-second converts for their candidates. They would buy votes for money or liquor. They might assist the illiterate voter in the booth, making sure he voted for the "right" person. They would stuff the ballot box, marking ballots for those who had not voted; if the hapless citizen appeared later, he was informed that he had already voted. They would simply fabricate a vote total from a precinct, sometimes giving a candidate more votes than there were registered voters. Or, in true Chicago fashion, they would help the nonexistent and the dead to vote. Even the pencil became a valuable tool. Many voters had to endure the short pencil, so named because it was either too stubby to hold or attached to a string so short that it was impossible to mark an entire ballot. Despite these conditions, Jarecki persevered. "Corruption and misconduct on the part of election judges and clerks is akin to treason in time of war," he intoned. "It is more difficult to detect and its effects are more insidious. They nullify the will of the people." He took polling places out of the basements of laundries and saloons and made them more accessible to the public. Seeking honest poll officials wherever possible, Jarecki experimented with a variety of people. He implored ex-servicemen, businessmen, women, and finally college students to serve on election days. Thinking the fault lay in the election hardware, he designed the Jarecki Chicago Hi story
209
Judge Jarecki
"They Are Spoiling An Otherwise Inspiring Picture," drawn by John T. Mccutcheon and published in the Chicago Tribune July 13, 1928. CHS, ICHi-13902, gift of Mrs. John T. Mccutcheon.
fraudproof ballot box (it was not). He authored a play on vote fraud, "A Day at the Polls," and coerced embarrassed subordinates into performing it for the edification of civic organizations. He even went so far as to equip election clerks and judges in one contest with cameras, to catch the culprits in the act. And when all else failed, he threatened to call in federal marshals to protect the polls. When the federal attorney general refused such a request during the 1924 Cicero elections, Jarecki deputized a part of the Chicago police force to watch over the suburban elections. The resulting gun battle between gangsters and police caused the death of Al Capone's younger brother, Frank. Where necessary, Jarecki used bluff and a fertile imagination to perform his duties. He infuriated many Democrats by effectively policing a traction referendum in 1925 and the 1927 mayoral contest between incumbent William Dever and Republican challenger Big Bill Thompson. The referendum lost by 100,000 votes, Dever by 83,000. 210
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Regular Democrats grew restless as polling places slowly became larger, better lit, and better policed. Jarecki called for an end to the blanket ballot (so called, some said, because it was big enough for a voter to wrap himself in), for the establishment of a central counting house to tally votes, and for the implementation of permanent registration (until 1936, voters had to register periodically). He asked that poll judges be selected from across the county in the same manner as jurors, rather than by ward politicians. He went so far as to demand a recount in one of his own primary victories to insure an honest win. When Cook County Board President Anton Cermak fired four of the judge's employees in an ostensible economy move, Jarecki claimed politics was the real reason for the dismissals. "I won' t be ruled by politicians," he stated flatly. Cermak countered that the charge was a "malicious lie." For a time, party regulars considered dumping Jarecki from the ticket and replacing him with another, more compliant Pole. Yet, despite machine misgivings, Jarecki ran and won in 1926, 1930, and 1934. His vote totals increased with each election, from 440,000 in 1926 to 854,000 in 1934. Disliked by party regulars, Jarecki fared better with the electorate. In 1926 he ran fewer than 1,000 votes behind his sometime-sparring partner Anton Cermak, coming in as the second leading votegetter on the county ticket, and in 1930 he tallied only 77 votes fewer than Cermak. In 1934 and again in 1938, Jarecki polled the most votes of any candidate on the county ticket. His name was magic, especially in the Polish community, where he regularly ran up large totals. But his popularity also lay in his standing with the Chicago Bar Association and a Republican press. Perhaps impressed with his administration of the Board of Election Commissioners (he claimed to have saved the taxpayers over a million dollars from 1922 to 1934) or his prosecution of vote fraud (between 1922 and 1938, Jarecki heard 996 cases and sentenced 403
Judge Jarecki
Three party workers guard the Democratic Party headquarters in Cicero April 1, 1924, shortly after it had been invaded by gunmen. "We used to collect bushel baskets full of guns at polling places," Judge Jarecki recalled years later. " I used to go there myself and when I'd see a man with a gun I'd tell him: 'Buddy, you don't need a gun to vote-just a pencil and paper.'" CHS, ICHi-13908.
offenders), the Tribune, Daily News, Herald Examiner, Daily Times (the city's only Democratic paper) and the Chicago Bar Association supported him more often than not. Only in 1934 did a majority endorse a Republican. Time, however, tarnished the county judge's image as a reformer. The period from 1930 to 1934 was a difficult one for Jarecki despite his election s_howings. He increasingly received criticism from both inside and outside the Democratic party. He may have been fortunate to win reslating in 1930, as an anonymous wag in the county organization testified: It is apparent that Judge Jarecki has lifted the County court far above the mire of partisan politics. It seems unfortunate that a man in that position is forced by law to submit himself to the electorate of
either party and is not permitted to remain free to conduct his office along strictly nonpartisan lines as he desires. [Tribune, January 18, 1930]
The implication was clear. Nothing would please party regulars more than to have the judge run-and lose-as an independent. A controversial decision totally unrelated to vote fraud may have alienated Jarecki's fellow Democrats even further. By May of 1931 the effects of the Great Depression were strongly felt: unpaid property taxes totaled more than $600 million in lost revenue and Chicago was in dire financial straits. As the city slid into bankruptcy, Mayor Anton Cermak was hardpressed to meet the municipal payrolls. In the midst of these difficulties, in January of 1932, Judge Jarecki ruled the tax levies for 1928 and Chicago History
211
r
Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Patrick Nash (left) with Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly, 1937. "The Kelly-Nash machine," according to the Chicago Daily Tribune of October 7, 1943, "had more patronage than many kings and emperors." CHS, ICHi-13907.
1929 (and by inference, 1930) invalid, writing that "it is shown and uncontroverted that approximately two-thirds of the taxable property of Cook County was deliberately omitted from the rolls." J arecki's revelation was ill-timed, no doubt halting those few payments trickling into the city's treasury and prompting Cermak to declare, "We might have to close the City hall." Although it was later overturned by the state supreme court, the opinion did little for the judge's standing among harassed city officials and party regulars. In spite of his continual run-ins with the county machine, Jarecki gained little further support from area independents. In 1930 election board head Fred V. Maguire was charged with hiring numerous election officials with criminal records, a scandal which eventually led to his dismissal-and to suspicions about 2 12
Chicago History
Jarecki's integrity as well. That same year, the Better Government Association opposed him for re-election , charging that he had "surrendered abjectly to the bipartisan machines." When the judge rolled up a 375,000 vote plurality over Samuel Heller in November 1934, the Daily N ews exclaimed: Yet when the count was finished, toward the dawn of November 7, the compelling power of Judge Jarecki 's name had attracted a total of 497 votes, or almost 200 more than a fine toothed comb could find valid in the precinct. . . . Black magic, the bluntly honest citizen would call it. [February 20, 1935]
It is entirely possible that J arecki's honesty flagged during these years. Serving three terms, he might have grown accustomed to the trappings of office and forgotten about election irregularities. It is just as likely, though, that his critics simply found it more convenient to
Judge Jarecki
condemn the individual than to challenge a long-standing system. The Women's Civic Council of Chicago (WCC) best exemplifies the (in many cases femporary) disenchantment of independents with Jarecki. In a pamphlet issued in 1934, the WCC declared: He has 16,500 paid employees, election officials and judges and clerks, whose business it is to remove fraudulent names from the registration lists and to conduct elections in an honest and efficient manner. He has the power to select these judges and clerks . . . . The personality of the County Judge and his party affiliation is of not so great importance as is the fact that he should be courageous, honest and capable in the administration of his office. [Dishonest Elections and Why We Have Them]
The WCC preferred to believe that this one individual's honesty was the sole determinant of clean elections. That the judge did not have a free hand in picking poll judges, or that some members of the public might want a few dollars or a favor or a job in exchange for their vote, did not impress the group. Like many Progressives frustrated by their failures in politics, the WCC, rather than admit the complexity of the problem, personalized it. The Daily News and Tribune did much the same in 1934. Initially cool to Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, they grew downright frigid by 1934, fearing that a vote for any local Democrat would be one more step in the country's headlong descent into socialism. Teither paper supported Jarecki in 1934. While the News again backed the judge in 1938, the Tribune grew more rabid in its attacks on him and on the New Deal. The paper judged Jarecki guilty by virtue of his party label and withdrew all support from him. Apparently, a Democrat was a Democrat was a hoodlum. Could Jarecki have pressed prosecutions of voting irregularities further? He could have. Vote fraud in Chicago was as plentiful as patronage jobs. Had he done so, would regular
Democrats have dumped him sooner? Probably. Averaging, as he did, sixty-two indictments and twenty-five convictions a year for the period from 1922 to 1938, Jarecki had already stretched the patience of the county organization for sixteen years. Assured the support of the Polish community-where he was hailed as "The Apostle of True Democracy" and "An Honor to the Name of Pole"-Jarecki was too powerful a draw for the slatemakers to dump. They tolerated his presence, if barely. When Anton Cermak was assassinated in 1933, Ed Kelly succeeded him as mayor, sharing control of the machine with Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Patrick A. Nash. While Cermak had promoted a multi-ethnic Democratic Party organization and tolerated a a modicum of dissent-for example, in his brushes with Jarecki-Kelly and Nash sought a return to an Irish-dominated machine which would impose strict discipline on its members. Cermak had built the machine by giving spots on the county ticket to various ethnic groups in exchange for party allegiance. Kelly-Nash simply expected obedience even as they slated fewer non-Irish candidates. The nature of the new machine led to problems when Illinois Governor Henry Horner opted for political independence after his election in 1932. Originally chosen by Cermak, Horner quickly broke with the new machine over several issues. Like Jarecki, he wanted to control his own patronage, and his choices angered job-hungry Cook County Democrats. Horner vetoed a Kelly-Nash proposal to legalize bookie joints, and unsuccessfully sought to make liquor licensing a state rather than a local prerogative. The governor was a loyal New Dealer, but he found that F.D.R. preferred the Kelly-Nash machine to him because of its votegenerating capacity. When the president offered Horner a federal judgeship in 1936 many saw it as a ploy to remove him from Springfield and thus do a favor for the machine. The governor declined, and instead ran for renomination in Ch icago History
213
Judge Jarecki
the April 1936 party primary. Horner waged an aggressive campaign, running against Kelly-Nash downstate and constructing his own organization in Chicago, complete with promises of state patronage jobs for his supporters. Two of his most prominent allies were State's Attorney Thomas Courtney and County Judge Edmund Jarecki. After a meeting with the two shortly before the primary, the governor was confident: The votes will be counted as they are cast. Neith er County Judge Jarecki nor State's Attorney Courtney can be intimidated. These courageous public officials in Cook County are seeing to it that no tampering with the ballots will take place. [Herald Examiner, April 9, 1936]
Horner knew he had little chance of carrying Chicago, but he hoped to keep his Cook County deficit small with Jarecki pruning ghost voters off the registration lists and patrolling the polls, while he made up the difference downstate. The strategy worked perfectly, and Horner won both renomination and re-election that fall. As a token of his "appreciation" for those attempting to retire him, Horner pushed a permanent voter registration bill through the legislature, with Jarecki voicing his approval. Horner knew permanent registration would cut down on vote fraud, because voters' signatures could be checked against a master list. Pat Nash cried, "Permanent registration would cost us 200,000 votes." The city press rejoiced at the bill's passage and Jarecki gained status among independents as one of the two politicians with enough courage to face the machine and institute permanent registration. J arecki's support for Horner proved important, because in 1938 Kelly-Nash finally decided to get rid of him. Periodic indictments and convictions for vote fraud, the controversial 1932 tax ruling, his support for Horner in I 936, and his backing of the voter registration measure finished Jarecki with the machine. In early 1938 the organization offered him a circuit court judgeship as a kind of lateral promotion. He 214
Ch icago History
Illinois Governor Henry Horner, 1933. A tough politician , Horner helped Jarecki beat the nearly invincible Chicago Democratic Party machine and win reelection as county judge in 1938. CHS, Chicago Daily News photo, DN 103,510, gift of Field Enterprises.
declined. Kelly- ash then dumped Jarecki as their candidate for county judge in favor of Circuit Court Judge John Prystalski, another Pole. One eyewitness reported "a joyous session of the county committee at which the bigwigs cheered the ousting of Jarecki." Pat Nash announ ced the decision on February I, 1938: We don' t want Judge Prystalski to do anything wrong. We don't expect him to do anything wrong. But I do think we ought to have a Democrat in the office of county judge who will at least say "Good Morning" to his fellow Democrats. [Addressing 1ow, don't do anything wrong. I Prystalski] wouldn' t ask you to do anything wrong regardless of what they say-the newspapers or anyone else. We want you to serve the public. [Daily News, February 1, 1938]
Judge Jarecki
~-
--~
As the party machine's choice for county judge in 1938, John Prystalski , Jarecki's opponent in the spring primary, had the support of President Roosevelt. CHS, ICHi-13909.
Nash may have been unaccustomed to public exhortations to honesty. He was on more familiar ground when he vowed "we're going to beat him Uarecki] if he runs and beat him good." Jarecki did not submit to the slatemakers' fiat. Instead, he claimed 'Tm still a candidate, and in addition I expect to be re-elected." Horner and Courtney immediately pledged themselves to the judge, quickly reviving the Chicago organization from the 1936 primary fight. Horner put forward his own slate, which included Scott Lucas for U.S. senator and T. V. Smith for congressman-at-large. Both the governor and Jarecki decided to center the campaign around the issue of political independence versus bossism. Kelly- ash counted the race won and made
only modest efforts. Back from a winter vacation in Florida, Mayor Kelly observed, "I haven't made any speeches so far. I think the people understand that the full Democratic County committee selected the ticket. I don't think I ought to try as mayor to dictate to the people of Chicago how they should vote." [Daily News, March 21, 1938] The Horner camp begged to differ. It charged Kelly-Nash with few interests besides dictatorship. Germany had Hitler and Russia Stalin. Was Chicago far behind? State's Attorney Courtney warned: With war clouds hovering in all parts of the world, are we in Chicago going to stand by and permit that sacred oath on the part of the judges to be Chicago History
215
Judge Jarecki
Judge Edmund K. Jarecki and family, 1937. The judge is wearing his customary pince-nez. CHS, ICHi-13905.
constantly overcast by the dictators of the KellyNash machine from the penthouse o[ the Morrison hotel? [Herald Examiner, March 22, 1938]
T. V. Smith assailed the "pusillanimous pretenders who have seized the Cook County Democratic organization" [Daily Times, March 25, 1938] while Scott Lucas insisted, "The brazen attack of the machine on Judge Jarecki was the most shameful demonstration of boss rule Illinois has yet seen and is a threat to the entire state." [Daily News, March 21, 1938] Jarecki kept the best rhetoric for himself. He waxed eloquent before the Women's Bar Association: You've heard of the things that have been going on during election time . . . . There were murders, kidnapings, shootings and ballot box stealing. This doesn't occur anymore .... I still wanted to remain on the bench to carry on-but I was told not to 216
Chicago History
run. The "penthouse follies" did not wish to feature me . . . . What do you call this? That's dictatorship by the bosses!
No one could doubt that the Horner organization fought "to preserve a true democracy and to save it from an encroachment that is truly un-American. In this fight, we, the candidates, are symbols. We are not seeking any personal glory." [Chicago American, April 4, 1938] Kelly- ash responded slowly. They were confident that their reservoir of patronage strength would carry them through the primary. When finally aroused late in the campaign, they portrayed Jarecki as a pawn of the Republican Herald Examiner and Daily News. Behind Lucas and Jarecki, claimed Jacob Arvey, were "those two charter members of the Hate-Roosevelt club-Knox and Hearst [publishers of the
Judge Jarecki
Daily News and Examiner, respectively]." To this Governor Horner replied, "When Arvey gets as much hair on his head as I have, he will be a much wiser man." Both were bald. In an effort to cut into the judge's Polish and Jewish support, the machine seems to have distributed leaflets purporting to be an endorsement of Jarecki and Lucas by a Nazi-front organization, the Deutches Political Bund. But the flyer lacked authenticity, especially its greeting: "Dear Komarad : SEIT [sic] HEIL!" Kelly-Nash exuded confidence, positive they had neutralized J arecki's ethnic strength. In selecting Prystalski, they had chosen another respected member of the Polish community. The machine calculated that, confronted with two popular fellow countrymen, Poles would split their vote and tip the election to the regular organization. Prystalski also possessed an apparent advantage over Jarecki-he was the head and had the backing of the Polish-American Democratic Organization (PADO). A political pressure group composed of prominent Polish businessmen and politicians, PADO furthered the interests of the Polish community by working within the Democratic Party. Jarecki himself served on its board of directors from 1933 until his primary fight in I 938 (although he was perpetually late with his dues) . For a time the group pushed him for a federal judgeship, declaring in 1933 that "The honorable Edmund K. Jarecki, the present County Judge, is beyond a doubt the most capable and best qualified man in Chicago today to fill the position of Federal Judge." Ironically, PADO also routinely endorsed Jarecki for renomination in late I 937, with Prystalski giving his assent. When wo~d came down that the judge would not be reslated, however, P ADO quickly changed its endorsement to Prystalski. Members contributed over $21,000 to the campaign against their former brother, and Kelly-Nash counted on this war chest to balance out their opponent's support in the Polish press. Despite predictions of victory from many cor-
ners, Horner and Jarecki grew anxious as the primary day approached, and the judge made an unprecedented move to improve his chances. He ruled that Republicans could cross over to the Democratic primary, although they had previously been required to wait two calendar years before changing their party affiliation. The judge simply shortened the time to two election years, overturning his own decision of 1934. Had he let the earlier ruling stand, Jarecki would have denied himself possible Republican support because only one year and 363 clays had passed between contests. The Tribune, outraged at J arecki's self-serving decision, protested that the primary was "insubstantial fare for the inquiring voter and little ammunition for the Republican warriors." Reports surfaced that the two Democratic factions were seeking a deal with the Republicans-whose slate ran virtually unopposed-to either cross party lines or stay put. Interestingly, Illinois Republican National Committeeman George Harding refused to sign an appeal to party members to remain loyal to the GOP and stay out of the Democratic scrabble, thereby tacitly supporting Jarecki. It was a typical Chicago election. The fake Deutches Bund flyers surfaced a week before the election; then Kelly-Nash prevented State's Attorney Thomas Courtney from deputizing a special election squad to watch the polls. Each side employed an estimated 10,000 poll watchers, including police, precinct captains, and volunteers. The rhetoric, charges, and lastminute maneuvering on both sides led many to expect trouble, yet there were few incidents. The Tribune reported, "City ominates Candidates with Little Violence." Jarecki won. Jarecki's victory was Homer's second in two years over the county regulars. Scott Lucas and T. V. Smith won as well. The j udge tallied 40,165 more than fellow-Pole Prystalski, carrying twenty-six of fifty wards for a slight 6,049 citywide edge. Poles voted two to one for Jarecki. But the real victory margin came from the normally Republican suburbs. Here Jareck i Ch icago History
217
Judge Jarecki
polled a plurality of 34,116. The Chicago Tim es noted a smaller Republican turnout in spite of heavy primary voting and concluded there had been a large crossover. The WCC estimated as many as 150,000 Republicans switched to vote for Jarecki. Having expected the GOP to mind its own shop, Kelly and Nash were rudely surprised by the overnight converts. Benjamin Adamowski, an Illinois state representative and Horner supporter, recalled years later that many machine leaders believed that Jarecki had disenfranchised at least 40,000 known Kelly-Nash voters by having their registration cards "disappear" on election day. "When you're fighting a fire," Mr. Adamowski mused, "you fight with fire." [Interview, April 17, l 978] That ovember, Jarecki, Lucas, and Smith were elected in what was nationally a Republican year. After 1938, Jarecki needed no one's help; he had become an institution better left alone than challenged. In I 940, the judge took advantage of an obscure state law and deputized the entire Chicago police force to guard the polls in the ovember elections. By 1943, some independents and Republicans even considered him as a possible fusion candidate for mayor. The judge discouraged such speculation, aware of how difficult it would be to head a hostile organization, regardless of his past successes. Instead, he continued his administration as an independent county judge. In 1945 Edmund Jarecki returned to an earlier concern, calling for better psychiatric treatment for a new generation of veterans. He corresponded with General Omar Bradley and Senators Scott Lucas and C. Wayland Brooks, seeking their aid in obtaining better facilities for the Chicago region. In part because of his efforts, the federal government built the West Side Veterans Administration Hospital in Chicago and greatly expanded the old treatment center at Great Lakes Na val Base. Jarecki also helped revise the state mental health code in 1945. 218
Ch icago History
In 1946 he initiated the trans1t1on to voting machines in Cook County. Predictably, he fought with the City Council over who would be awarded the purchase contract. Dissatisfied with the performance of the election board in 1952, he reacted in typical style, firing all three members despite their combined sixty-four years of service. When he was questioned on his move, Jarecki replied simply that it was "time for a change." When his eighth term in office ended in I 954, the judge finally conceded one to the slatemakers. He retired at seventy-five rather than face a possible primary fight . Ten years later, in 1964, the office of the county judge itself disappeared in a judicial reorganization. Edmund K. Jarecki 's death was duly recorded in the obituaries in October of 1966, but it went unnoticed in the editorial pages. It is ironic that while Chicago abhors its notoriety, it lionizes its scoundrels: it is the Hinky Dinks and the Paddy Baulers who are celebrated; the men like Edmund K. Jarecki are forgotten . But Jarecki's life and career may be testimony enough that you can fight city hall. People just forget.
Sel ected Sources Edmund K. Jarecki papers, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle . Particularly useful were the scrapbook clippings on Jarecki 's career, his correspondence on mental health matte rs, and an unpublished biography of him by Stanley Pieza, " Edmund K. J a recki: Portrait ol an Honest Po litician." Polish -American Democratic Organization papers. Chicago Historical Society. N EWSPAPERS: Chicago Daily New s, Chicago Daily Tim u , Chicago H erald Examin er, Chicago Sun-Tim es, Chicago Tribune , vario us dates. Gosnell , Harold F. Machine Politics: Chicago Model. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968 . Gottfried , Alex . Boss Cermak of Chicago: A Study of Political L eadership. Seattle: University ol Washington Press, 1962. Kantowicz, Edward R. Polish-American Politics in Chicago, 1888-1940. Chicago: University of Chica go Press , 1975. Littlewood , Thomas B. Horner of Illinois. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1969. Patterson, James T. The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1969. Robertson, Harriet M . What Really Happened in the Primary Election of April 12, 19)8. Chicago: Women's Civic Council of the Chicago Area (WCC) , n.d. - - - - , ed. Dishonest Elections and Why We Have Them. Vol. I , 1934 and vol. 2, 1938. Chicago: wee, 1934-1938. MANUSCRIPTS:
Costume Exhibit Women's Fashions from the 1920s
ON vrnw THROUGH MAY 4, this display features fourteen costumes representing a variety of fashion silhouettes characteristic of the 1920s. They are accompanied by selected accessories. As a group the costumes highlight several aspects of 1920s fashion design. The dazzling effect of the evening clothes was achieved by the imaginative and often subtle use of beads and paillettes. There are wraps of shimmering brocade and dresses showing a strong Oriental influence. Different fabrics, textures, and colors were used to create alluring fashions for the boudoir. These clothes illustrate the evolution in ornament and design which occurred in the course of the decade. The earlier pieces are more closely allied to the fashions of the pre-war years. These styles tended to be highly ornamented and sometimes-as in the orchid sequined dress in which beads and sequins are applied to simulate drapery-the design becomes a tour de force. Even the loops through which the simulated bead drapery passes are made of silver beads and sequins. As the decade progressed, design ideas became more sophisticated. Sources of inspiration changed and decoration became less literal and often quite abstract. The 1927 evening gown shown here was designed by Henri Bendel. Its black velvet is a perfect foil for the gold bugle beads and yellow rhinestones applied in the form of stylized palm fronds. The fringe and trailing panels of velvet were intended to complement the figure in motion. The gown was given to the Society by an anonymous donor. During the 1920s fashions ignored the classic curves of the female figure for the first time. Instead, they glorified the boyish figure of the adolescent girl. Ladies no longer sought to fill out their dresses, but rather to slim down so that the tubular shapes just skimmed their bodies. Not least important, the leg rather than the ankle became the focal point once hemlines-which had been gradually rising-finally reached the knee in 1926.
The fashions which evolved during the 1920s have continued to inspire designers in the decades since the revolutionary tubular frock was first introduced. Its line is functional and easy to wear, particularly for the slim figure which has remained in fashion with few interruptions since the 1920s. The simple tubular line may be left plain or may be decorated in a variety of ways, but no new revival of the silhouette, under names such as chemise or shift, has equalled the originality of ornament that is displayed in the clothes exhibited here. ELIZABETH JACHIMOWICZ
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The Society On Historical Exhibits
No ACTIVITY ENGAGED IN by a historical society is more challenging than mounting an exhibition of the scope of our current CHICAGO CERAMICS & GLASS, glimpses of which are offered in the following pages. What is not apparent to the casual visitor is the lengthy process that precedes the creation of an intellectually stimulating and visually compelling environment. Sharon S. Darling, the Society's curator of decorative arts, proposed the exhibit after preliminary research indicated that its subject-five Chicago art industries and their products-had remained unexplored by historians. Believing that this slice of history was of vital importance to an understanding of creativity in Chicago, the Society put this project on its agenda. Ms. Darling then undertook an aggressive program of research and collecting which called on the resources of many of the Society's collections as well as the collaboration of its staff. After two years of intensive research, yet another year was spent choosing the objects and the information to be presented in the exhibit and its accompanying publication. The process of selection for a historical exhibit is more complex than for a non-historical display, for the objects in a historical exhibit are not there simply for their own sake as works of art. They are there to stimulate the viewer to reach beyond their intrinsic beauty or utility to an understanding of their significance as products of a certain time and place. Nowhere is this clearer than in the history wall of CHICAGO CERAMICS & GLASS (see page 223) . On this wall are displayed a wide variety of artifacts, photographs, trade publications, advertisements, drawings, manuscripts, and other materials which had at one time or another been separated from their original context. The challenge for the planners of the exhibit was to select those materials for display that would combine to re-establish the context in which they were created. This process calls on the skills and talents of a variety of staff members and outside collab220
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orators. First it demands a hard-working and imaginative lead curator to establish the parameters of the exhibit, to carry out the basic tasks of research and collecting, to write informative labels, and to give a special character to the exhibit. Exhibition designers must be involved from the beginning to help present the material in a way that is not only visually exciting but communicates the historical significance of what is being displayed. The publications staff must rigorously evaluate the ma terial both for the exhibit labels and for the publication to assure that the essential points of the exhibition are clear not only to their author but also to the diverse audience for the exhibit and the publication. In the meantime, the education staff must develop a whole vocabulary of programs that will build on the information presented in the exhibit. And finally, it takes the combined skills of photographers, exhibit preparators, conservators, and other specialized talents to assure that the exhibit will be of the highest quality. The whole process is not unlike putting together a jigsaw puzzle from myriad pieces that have been scattered far and wide. It becomes our job to find and choose the pieces which when assembled will create a sense of what the whole panorama looked like during the period in which it was created. To do this is a long, expensive, difficult, and often painful process. But to carry out our responsibilities we have to do more than just haphazardly collect history in the hope that others will do something with it. An exhibit like this offers an important means for us to add things to our collections and to explore and rediscover the things already in them. It offers an opportunity to ask significant questions about these objects so as to establish their larger historical meanings. And finally, it offers us a way of sharing the whole experience with the broadest audience possible. One cannot ask for more. \ ~ • ._p A '<._ ~-~ DIRECTOR
y
Chicago Ceramics & Glass Exhibits
CHICAGO CERAMICS & GLASS, on view at the Chicago Historical Society through June I, is a stunning exhibition of the products of five art industries active in Chicago between I 871 and 1933. The more than 300 objects on display include examples of handpainted china, art pottery, cut and engraved glass, stai ned and ornamental glass, and architectural terra cotta produced in workshops which ranged in size from one-person studios to huge factories. Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune has called it a "dazzling, illuminating gem of a show," but the exhibition is more than simply
a display of art objects. Together with the accompanying publication-a lavishly illustrated 240-page book-it places the objects in their historical context and discusses the entrepreneurs, artists, architects, craftsmen, and clientele involved in the development of the various art industries. THE STUDIO MOVEMENT:
CHICAGO CERAMICS &
1933, a complementary exhibit also on view through June 1, presents the work of more recent artists and craftsmen working in some of the same media. GLASS SINCE
The gallery designed by Staples & Charles for the Chicago Ceramics & Glass exhibit. In the foreground is one of a pair of glass panels designed by Edgar Miller for the Diana Court of the Michigan Square Building in 1929. The cases display handpainted china and art pottery. Cut, engraved, and stained glass as well as architectural terra cotta are included in this exhibit of work designed and executed by Chicago artists and craftsmen between 1871 and 1933. Photo by Staples & Charles.
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Ceramics & Glass
The American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Company produced architectural terr a cotta ornament as wel I as a line of innovative pott&ry known as Teco ware. This piece with swirling leaves, designed by Fritz Albert c . 1905, was glazed a distinctive matte green. Lent by a private collection . CHS.
Prairie School architects favored plant forms and geometric patterns as decorative motifs. This window, from the Susan Lawrence Dana house in Springfield, Illinois, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1903, features stylized prairie sumac. Lent by The Richard W. Bock Sculpture Collection , Greenville College, Illinois. CHS.
Art glass panel with red poppies and green leaves, made c. 1900 for the Joseph E. Flanagan home by the Chicago firm of Flanagan & Biedenweg Co. (1855-1953) . Lent by Marianne Flanagan Zeman . CHS.
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Between the 1870s and 1920 Chicago's china painters decorated many pieces in a variety of designs. This pitcher, in the popular Aura Argenta Linear pattern, was painted c. 1910 by Adolph Richter, an employee of Pickard China Studio, one of the city's largest china painting firms. Lent by Dorothy Pickard Platt. CHS.
This porcelain candelabra by Ruth Duckworth, c. 1965, is one of the pieces on display in The Studio Movement: Chicago Ceramics & Glass Since 1933. Duckworth 's work ranges from delicate porcelains to coarsely textured stoneware. Lent by Esther and Alan Saks. CHS.
Two history walls trace the evolution of the five art industries treated in this exhibit. Shown here is the section on the architectural terra cotta industry. The Chicago Terra Cotta Company, founded in 1868, was the first producer of terra cotta in the country. Photo by Staples & Charles.
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Chicago's Colorful Terra Cotta Facades BY ELEANOR GORDON AND JEAN NERENBERG
In 7925) writing in The American Architect about the use of architectural terracotta) Edward H. Putnam predicted) "The final revival, one that has marked a steady development for nearly 80 years. gives every assurance that the art will never lapse again."
He was wrong, but he had every reason to be optimistic.
brightly colored terra cotta that enlivens numerous Chicago fa~ades built in the 1920s and '30s has been hailed by many as the finest expression of that medium's possibilities. It was the culmination of decades of imaginative collaboration among architects, builders, and America's principal manufacturers of architecLUral terra cotta-the Northwestern Terra Cotta Works and the American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Company, both of Chicago.• Terra cotta (Italian for "burnt earth") is one of man's oldest "worked" substances, having been used by the Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans for roof tiles, antefixes, waterspouts, and practically every kind of architectural ornament. Persians and Moors-and through their influence, Spanish and Portuguese-decorated building exteriors with molded and painted terra cotta. In mid- and northern Europe, however, terra cotta was used only for interior ornamentation and objets d'art-vessels, floor tiles, plaques, and statues-until the midnineteenth century, when architects, especially in England, began to use it on the exteriors of buildings. In 1866, The Wedgewood Institution at Burslem, in Staffordshire (the heart of THE DRAMATICALLY FASHIONED,
England's pottery district), was constructed with a fa~ade made entirely of terra cotta to demonstrate its potential use for exteriors. Three years later the first permanent terra cotta works in the United States was establ ished at Laflin and 15th streets in Chicago. With a staff that included an Italian-trained artisan, an English-trained factory superintendent, and a local architect, the Chicago Terra Cotta Company manufactured horticultural urns, garden statuary, and some architectura l ornament. It took the Chicago Fire of 1871 to create an extensive market for terra cotta when it was discovered that of all the building materials, including stone and cast iron, it best withstood the high temperatures generated by the fire. Before long terra cotta was being used as a fireproofing material on major Chicago buildings. As Thomas Tallmadge explained in his Architecture in Old Chicago: Fireproofing as developed in the eighties was based on covering all structural members with some form of baked hollow clay, which is, of course, terra cotta , or when used for fireproofing more commonly called tile. The structural frame of wrought- or cast-iron columns, girders and beams (there was no steel before 1885) was completely incased in this hollow tile. The hollow tile was used as well for floors. . . . [Even wooden joists and laths had] thin terra-cotta slabs fastened to their undersides.
'"-'hile the need for fireproofing may have provided the impetus for the extensive use of Eleanor Gordon and Jean Nerenberg have coauthored several articles on Chicago's architectural heritage and on the decorative arts of the 1920s and '30s. Gordon is a Lecturer in the English Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle and Nerenberg is a graphic designer and photographer. 224
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•For a detailed account of the terra cotta industry in Chicago, see Sharon S. Darling's Chicago Ceramics rl:t Glass, just published by the Chicago Historical Society in conjunction with its current exhibit of the same name.
B. Leo Steif's 1928 design for the apartment building at 10 W. Elm Street used terracotta ornamentation in shades of blue, peach , coral , and indigo. Contemporary newspapers called the structure a "Skyscraper in Rainbow Hues" and a "Tall Symphony in Blue." CHS, photo by William R. Boles.
terra cotta in Chicago, the design of the material was, as always, a matter of fashion. Tallmadge speaks of "French" designs being foremost in the years just before and after the fire. Later, Romanesque and Queen Anne styles predominated. The eclecticism of the Beaux Arts movement went so far as to include "East Indian" motifs in the ornamentation of the Rookery Building's top eleven stories of brick and terra cotta and its court banded with ochre terra cotta. Virtually all of the terra cotta used was made to imitate stone or brick-both more expensive building materials-rather than for its own qualities. Architects dotted the cityscape with terra cotta structures gleaming dully in the thenfavored shades of buff and brick red. A few white or cream terra cotta buildings, imitations of marble, were the only exceptions. Molded terra cotta decorations ranged from Greek pilasters to Renaissance swags and urns, to Art Nouveau curves and swirls. There was a handful who moved beyond this use of traditional motifs: Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright and his fellow Prairie School architects devel-
oped their own designs. Louis Sullivan's masterful use of terra cotta is apparent in the elaborate detailing of the ornamentation on the Wainwright Building (St. Louis, 1890-91), the Guaranty Building (Buffalo, 1894-95) and the Schlesinger and Mayer Building (Chicago, 1899, 1902, now Carson Pirie Scott and Co.), among others. But as Margaret Henderson Floyd pointed out in the May 1973 issue of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Sullivan's work "would hardly have reached reality ... without the prior development of a terra-cotta industry in America for the production of the material, or continuous experiment to perfect the relatively sophisticated technology of its application." And , indeed, it is known that Sullivan worked closely with the manufacturers-first the orthwestern Terra Cotta Works and later the American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Company-to perfect the ornamentation for wh ich his buildings are famous. For the most part, though, imaginative use of other than traditional Beaux Arts motifs lagged far behind the advances in the technology of Chicago History
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Colorful Terra Cotta
terra cotta production. And even Sullivan and the Prairie School did not exploit the color potential of the material. Many critics of the time pointed out that the decorative possibilities of fired clay had not yet begun to be realized: Thus far in the history of American architecture there have been but very few attempts to shake the idea from the public mind that terra-cotta is anything but a modified form of brick . . . . The element of color has been sedulously avoided. ["On the Use of Colored Terra-Cotta," Th e Brickbuilder I, January 1892] Six years later, while lauding technological progress in the terra cotta industry, Elmer Ellsworth Garnsey scolded architects for not rising to the challenge of the new technology: Our manufacturers of burnt clay are more competent to produce beautiful effects in form and color than any of their predecessors . . .. These men are constantly experimenting with new clays, new furnaces , new colors and processes . ... the range of colors for terra-cotta glazes, already known and proven , is astonishingly wide . .. reds, blues, greens, yellows, pale mauves, royal purples, velvety black-a palette fit for a Titian. It would be most interesting to introduce more richly colored terra-cotta in the facades of our large buildings, and the time seems to have arrived when our architects themselves should show a livelier interest in the matter ... it seems to have been rather a question of willingness on the part of architects, rather than the public, that has thus deterred [the use of color] .... ["Notes on Terra-Cotta for Exterior Polychrome Decoration," The Brickbuilder VII, June 1898] Another article in the same issue of The Brickbuilder, entitled "A Bright, Clean, and Brilliant City," pictured the cityscape of the future as a veritable fairyland of color: Imagine, if you can, a row of business structures with fronts made entirely of enameled bricks. What a contrast to the ordinary dull and uninteresting city block! The first feature to attract the attention would be the variety of design and of coloring, for each separate building would have been the object of a distinct color scheme, according to the idea of the architect who planned it. 226
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But all would be alike in one important particular-the harmony of color. . . . This desirable condition is now quite possible by the use of enameled brick. Three years earlier, the construction of the Reliance Building (1895), designed by Daniel H . Burnham, had m a rked an important innovation. Instead of confining the use of terra cotta to ornamentation, Burnham called for what a later Northwestern Terra Cotta Company promotional booklet described as "enamelled fronts," in other words, high-gloss terra cotta fa~ades . By 1904 Burnham's own headquarters were to be found on the fourteenth floor of the Railway Exchange Building which he had designed with exterior walls to be "enamelled from sidewalk to cornice." But while the interior of his offices featured green, cream, wine, and tan tiles, he did not use color on the outside of the building. As late as April I 9 II, J. Monroe Hewlett, writing in Th e Brickbuilder, made the point that terra cotta was not "merely a less expensive substitute for stone." He went on to predict that, inspired by the brave use of polychrome decorative tile on New York's turn-of-the-century Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, architects would begin to explore the use of colorful terra cotta exteriors. He was sure they would "avoid excessive indulgence leading to nausea and subsequent distaste." A promotional booklet put out by the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company the following year went even further, prophesying that "coloristic treatment of terra-cotta will be a conspicuous feature in the American architecture of the future." And that it was. If by the 1930s cities were not quite the fantastical rainbows envisioned by those late-nineteenth-century writers, they were at least accented with colorful and imaginative terra cotta buildings. One of the most striking is the structure at 230 N. Michigan Avenue, originally known as the Carbide and Carbon Building, designed in 1929 by the firm of Burnham Brothers.
Colorful Terra Cotta
Designed by the firm of Burnham Brothers, the Carbide and Carbon Building (erected in 1929 at 230 N. Michigan Avenue) is one of Chicago's outstanding Art Deco skyscrapers. The first four floors are faced with polished black marble, and the remaining thirty-six with smooth bottle green terra cotta. The campanile and parapet are trimmed with blocks of gold terra cotta, which actually had liquid gold incorporated into the glaze. CHS, ICHi 13922.
This gem of Art Deco architecture rises in a series of gradually "stepped" blocks to culminate in a lofty tower. Some claim that the skyscraper of the 1920s shows Mayan influence in its stepped outline; others have pointed out that New York laws requiring set-backs were the originators of the skyscraper's ziggurat shape. Whatever the derivation of its form, most commentators of the time agreed that it was a look appropriate to the modern age and one that cried out for decorative detailing that was just as modern. A 1930 article by Thomas Tallmadge described the Carbide and Carbon Building as "a daring study in black and gold with an interesting application of illumination," and went on to say that "after a generation of patient and futile effort to use ancient forms for this purpose," Modernism in design
motifs had arrived . The Burnham structure achieved the goal of matching ornamental detail to total concept. Only so tall an edifice could be crowned with such a dramatic campanile, its golden points and bands gleaming proudly above the structures below. The gold is terra cotta, and as a National Terra Cotta Society advertisement of the time declared, no other material offered the architect "color, silver and gold, combined with almost unlimited freedom in modelling ornament." Terra cotta forms both the decorative details and the sheathing on large portions of the building. Above the first four floors-black granite ornamented with gold terra cotta angular designs reminiscent of Aztec themes-the structure features dark mottled green terra cotta pilasters and piers, with more gold terra cotta trimming. Spandrels are a medium shade of mottled green terracotta, and varying shades of green with gold touches are used from the twenty-s ixth floor to the top of the campanile. Undoubtedly the most representative architectural example of the term polychrome ("many-colored") is the apartment house at IO W. Elm Street. Newspapers of the time called the structure, designed in 1928 by B. Leo Steif, "a tall building done in the shades of the coat presented to the Master of Biblical fame by his father"; "A Tall Symphony in Blue"; and a "Skyscraper of Rainbow Hues." While still in his twenties, Steif began an amazing career in architecture, designing and building literally scores of Chicago apartment buildings, hotels, theaters, and commercial structures from the South Side to Howard Street and into the Western and Northern suburbs. He worked in several styles, the most innovative being Art Deco, best exemplified by his design for IO W . Elm. Above the first floor appear flamboyant flowers, birds, Muse-like figures, and fanciful geometrics, all in French and robin's egg blue on a field studded with flat sculptural medallions of Roman gold and plaques of peach, coral, cream, and indigo. Salmon-colored brick nses Chicago History
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Colorful Terra Cotta
to the multicolored last five stories, which are topped by brightly hued gables and a green copper roof. In an interview at the time of the building's completion, Steif explained that he used color "to enhance the architectural effects," which would otherwise be difficult to see from the narrow streets on which the building stands. The combination of the first-floor shops and small lobby, with 120 "truly livable" (according to the original sales brochure) apartments plus studios under the roof, was European in inspiration, although Steif said he got the idea from similar New York buildings. As his widow, now Mrs. Irving Stein, put it, Steif was "artistic but wise economically," and 10 W. Elm is no exception-it wastes no space and at the same time provides a full measure of artistry. The term "Modern," used by Steif and others to describe what is also known as Art Deco, stemmed from the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which introduced the new style to the world. The designs embellishing the exterior of IO W. Elm were in fact executed by French artisans whom the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company had brought to Chicago to introduce the latest style to their workshop. What marks these designs as Art Deco? The solid, geometric quality in the treatment of natural forms is the most characteristic element of that style. Increasing verticality in architecture, a belief in speed and utilitarianism (which showed up in design as streamlining) and a movement from natural forms to technological themes all lead to motifs rendered in a geometric mode. At IO W. Elm, for example, flowers and leaves have become circles and triangles; lines and patterns within these shapes have become evenly spaced rays or sharp-edged chevrons. The peacock spreads a perfect halfcircle tail, and behind him combinations of arcs and rays, symmetrical ripples, and stacked triangles ascend in the stepped form known as the ziggurat-a ubiquitous Art Deco motif. Other popular Art Deco themes include angular 228
Chicago Hist ory
The W. C. Reebie & Brother building on North Clark Street. The lotuses, papyri, serpents, and suns which decorate the building are of brightly colored terra cotta. Photo by Roberta Stadler.
American Indian (such as Mayan, Incan, and Aztec) shapes; bubbles; slanting, forward-thrusting lines; and the fountain (or volute or ramshorn) shape. Art Deco can also be wildly eclectic, adapting Oriental, African, South Seas, and Egyptian designs in geometric ways. Just such an adaptation is the Reebie Storage and Moving Company at 2325 N. Clark built in I 923, only a year after the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb sparked a worldwide interest in Egyptian art and stimulated a widespread imitation of the Egyptian style and motifs in the decorative arts. Chicagoan Roberta Stadler, who has applied for National Registry status for the Reebie Building, has uncovered the history of this exotic structure and the identity of the artisan who created the terra cotta pharoahs, scarabs, serpents, pillars, lotuses, papyri and other motifs which adorn
Colorful Terra Cotta
the building as well as the incorrect but decipherable hieroglyphics inscribed thereon . His name was Fritz Albert and he was another of the immigrant artists who figure prominently in the history of Chicago terra cotta. Albert came to Chicago from Germany to work on his country's pavilion at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. He remained in the city, working for several terra cotta companies, including the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company. It was at Northwestern that he modeled the terracotta for the Reebie warehouse, designed by architect George S. Kingsley. Today, the warehouse is virtually in original condition; the only major change in its appearance has been the removal of the terra cotta cavetto cornice, taken down in 1971 because of deteriorating iron supports and lightning damage. The original columns, pedestal statues of Rameses II, plaques depicting the goddess Hathor, and winged scarabs are all intact, their pink, coral, tan, indigo, and light green still brilliant after fifty years. On the cornice above the ground floor stretch two intensely blue falcon wings centered with green serpents and a golden sundisk. Although many of these figures are exact replicas of ancient Egyptian ones, some of the motifs show an Art Deco influence: palm fronds are stylized to become arches, while lotus and papyri are represented as triangles and bars, forming what might be termed an Art Deco version of egg and dart. In addition, the building's function is reflected in many of the hieroglyphs, one of which is translated as "I give protection to your furniture," while others are devoted to accounts of shipping cargo on the Nile. To stand before the Reebie warehouse is to be transported to a time when fantasy was not thought inappropriate for a commercial building and when the finest artisanship was exercised in every aspect of architecture. For one of the most outstanding features of this era's architecture was the totality of design. Beginning with the European Arts and Crafts Movement
of the late nineteenth century, this philosophy achieved full expression in Art Deco. The smallest details-knobs, hinges, moldings, light fixtures, lettering-were all of a piece with the larger elements. In the Reebie building this totality is very evident. As Roberta Stadler explained in her Statement of Significance for the National Registry: This example of neoclassical Egyptian architecture is unique in its terra cotta craftsmanship and its conception; namely, the moving business and security theme is carried out on the interior as well as the exterior. Designs were not merely copied, as is true of many existing examples of this generally eclectic style, but were imaginatively created and particularized for the Reebie brothers. o other building of this type in Chicago is as elabborate in its detail and polychrome work, and perhaps very few others in the nation are as whimsical or bear as much concern for the ancient Egyptian language or mythology.
At the other end of the time spectrum as far as design motifs are concerned are two Chicago buildings which feature motifs inspired by the products of modern technology. Money, speed, and progress furnished the themes for these buildings of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Bright ochre, white, and gray-green form the exterior of the Citizens National Bank at 5200 W. Chicago Avenue. There is something theatrical in the conception of this bui lding erected by Meyer and Cook in 1928-29. The stage is set with a fanciful stepped curtain above the door. Dramas take place on massive side columns and in panels above the windows: men hoist sacks of money and sheaves of wheat; families gather around baskets brimming with fruit; American coins, precisely detailed down to the ridges in their rims, appear en masse on column panels. Coins are given the lavish treatment usually reserved for bubbles and flowers in Art Deco designs: the display of terra cotta money is almost fabulous enough for Busby Berkeley's "We're In the Money" production number. Such joy in prosperity is expressed in this building's ornamentation-the American eagles on Ch icago History
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Colorful Terra Cotta
the Laramie Street side rule the globe, with triumphant Deco sunrays spreading behind them-that it is sad to think that soon after it was completed its original occupant, The Laramie State Bank of Chicago, suffered the fate of so many banks during the Depression and went into receivership. In 1946, however, Citizens National opened on the same premises. At the corner of 55th Street and Lake Park Avenue stands a small building, now the University National Bank but formerly the Hyde Park Chevrolet showroom and parking garage. Its white terra cotta fac;:ade pictures bas-relief moldings of traffic lights, along with wheels, drive shafts, dashboard dials and other auto parts. This architectural tribute to car enthusiasts was built in 1929-32 by M. Louis Kroman. The frieze's most outstanding feature is a series of classy convertibles driven by Roaring Twenties-types, which, executed at an angle that emphasizes their streamlining, seem about to leap out from the wall and dash down 55th Street. Although Art Deco is primarily associated with commerce and industry, many religious institutions built during the period were also decorated in the Deco style. St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church High School at 5467 S. Woodlawn, designed by Shattuck and Layer, is an outstanding example. The school's most impressive feature is a set of three terra cottaencrusted portals executed by the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company. Over these 1929 versions of gothic arches, the buff-colored terra cotta forms zigzag their way across the entrance. Fanshaped concentric arcs meet vertical flutes, sunbursts, floral motifs, and bubbles in an amazing geometric array. Flanking the niches of each arched protruding entrance are two terra cotta panels depicting the areas of scholastic endeavor: music, science, religion, mathematics. Each of these academic subjects is illustrated with a geometricized bas-relief figure in a suitable pose, over gothic titles. Behind the school, at 5472 S. Kimbark, is the 230
Chicago History
Above: Bright ochre , white and gray-green terra cotta decorate the fa9ade of the Citizens National Bank at 5200 W. Chicago Avenue. Prosperity and abundance are symbolized by fountains of coins and sacks of money. Photo by Jean Nerenberg. Below: Detail from the white terra cotta fa9ade of the former Hyde Park Chevrolet showroom at 55th Street and Lake Park Avenue . CHS, photo by William R. Boles.
Colorful Terra Cotta
Detail from the fac;;ade of the Citizens National Bank at 5200 W. Chicago Avenue, a larger portion of which is shown on the facing page. Photo by Jean Nerenberg.
church itself, which has recently been placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Built seven years earlier than the school, the church is also decorated with terra cotta. Architect Francis Barry Byrne engaged Alfonso Ianelli to create· window moldings and roof copings, but before the central entrance was executed, Ianelli left the job to A. Foggi, who completed it in a borderline style evocative of Art Deco. The three seven-foot-high angels decorating the jambs of the main portal are bordered with repeating chevrons that frame the Christ figure at the pinnacle. Both the church and the school
are in excellent condition. Not every building survived in its original Art Deco form, however. Many succumbed to that great urban standardizer- remodeling. For instance, it takes a sharp eye to discern the fanciful terracotta that "swims" around the corners over 3322 Lawrence Avenue, because the entire ground level has been remodeled and covered with distracting aluminum siding. When L. Fish Furniture decided to build a branch store in Albany Park, the firm turned to Schmidt, Garden and Eriksen to design a suitable structure. On the two street sides of the Fish Furniture building, completed in 1935, grayish ashlar tiles (large plain blocks of terra cotta) contrast with ornately patterned central sections that ascend on either side of the windows. Deep royal blue triangles march up the vertical piers, ending in crenelated roof copings. The spandrels are covered with sea creatures, while wide-eyed dragonfish with curling tails stare out from the upper floors. Just above the siding (and luckily not completely obliterated by it) are two larger fish facing an oversized seashell. These mysterious, amusing forms were obviously inspired by the furniture company's name. Today they are only a reminder of the past, for L. Fish Furniture sold the building years ago. Fondly referred to by residents as the "Honeymoon Hotel," the Northwoods Apartments at 4025 N. Pulaski adds a colorful, sophisticated touch to the neighborhood. Raymond H. Woods designed and built the Northwoods Apartments between 1929 and I 932 for a group of local investors who had decided that they wanted a small, high-quality residential hotel in the area. The building has been beautifully maintained; superior detailing in the handsome terra cotta and in all other interior and exterior features remains intact. The shiny black terra cotta-sheathed first story rises in pilasters which form a dramatic entrance at the center. Corrugated tiles, incised floral detailing and fluted moldings give rhythm to the predomChicago Hi story
231
Buff terra cotta arches at the entrance to St. Thomas the Apostle School, 5467 S. Woodlawn Avenue , designed by Shattuck & Layer and constructed in 1929. Photo by Jean Nerenberg.
inating black of the building. A green glass semicircular canopy, supported by metal spokes forming a sunray, protects the lovely floral panel executed in bone and soft green tones. These colors are repeated one story higher in a plaque depicting a bowl of Art Deco flowers . Mounted on both sides of the door, and repeating the soft green, are tall verdigris copper lanterns. Fortunately, the ground floor store fronts have escaped remodeling. Nearby is another Art Deco terra cotta building still in its original condition. In 1940 when Elmer Anderson designed the new C. W. Beu Floral Company at 4419-55 N. Pulaski, the Art Deco style was on the wane. The one-story fac;:ade that runs across the wide front of the Beu building represents a final flowering of Art Deco, and happily, it has been left untouched. Anderson recalls that his intention was to create a terra cotta motif based on a floral form. The final theme, a stylized lotus blossom, was then translated in to a clay model by the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company; upon approval by all parties, it was executed in a repeating 232
Chicago History
pattern along the upper edge of the structure. Set against a black background, pale yellow abstract buds rest on aqua scallops which symbolize leaf forms. Columns of fluted tiles break up the stark horizontality of the long facade that extends beyond the 1940 building to cover the older greenhouses on the south and the lower level of the original Beu florist shop on the north. There are aluminum accentschunky Art Deco letters spelling out the shop's name, grillwork on the front door, fluted moldings over the windows-to set off the colors of the tiles. Talking about the appeal terra cotta had for architects, Anderson praises it as the only building material that allowed them to "play with color." The exciting possibilities of color and design realized in architectural terra cotta of the 1920s and '30s ended with World War II, which halted all domestic construction. By the time the conflict was over, the International Style-unadorned steel and glass-had become the fashion and terra cotta was no longer an economical building material. The art that Putnam had
The L. Fish Furniture Company building at 3322 W. Lawrence Avenue is ornamented with fish , shells, and triangles of wh ite and deep blue terra cotta. Ph oto by Jean Nerenberg.
so sanguinely predicted would "never lapse again" had flourished for less than two decades. Today, exterior polychrome terra cotta is once again something from the past. Chicagoans must count themselves fortunate to share the heritage -of several outstanding terra cotta structures provided by the imaginative architects and skilled terra cotta manufacturers of the 1920s and '30s. Selected Sources The American Architect. Vol. I 28, 1925. Bossom, Alfred C. "America's Natural Architecture." Jul y 29, 1925.
Putnam, Edward H . "New York City's First Terra Cotta1853." America1J Architecture and Building News. Vol. I. "The Manufacturing of Terra-Cotta in Chicago." December 30, 1876. The Brickbuilder. Vols . I. VII, XX. " On the Use of Colored Terra-Cotta." J anuary 1892. "'A Bright, Clean, and Brilliant City." June 1898. Garnsey, Elmer Ellsworth. ·· otes on Terra-Cotta for Exterior Polychrome Decoration." June 1898. H ew lett, J. Monroe. "Polychrome Terra Cotta in Exterior Architecture." April 191 I. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Vol. XXXII. Floyd, Margaret Henderson. "A Terra-Cotta Cornerstone for Copley Square: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston , 1870-1876." May 1973. Letters from Edgar Miller to Jean Nerenberg. June 1979. Tallmadge, Thomas. Architecture in Old Ch icago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1941. - - - · "Modernism, the Interna tional Style." In Building for the Future, December 1930. Published by People's Gas Light and Coke Company of Chicago.
Chicago History
233
From Chroma-Civilization to TV Generation: A Perspective BY TRUDY VICTORIA HANSEN
The emotional content of any era is difficult for later generations to comprehend. It grows out of the course of daily life. When the tenor of the times changes) the older sentiments seem outmoded and fall to ridicule. Homely truths of one generation become the jokes of the next. Peter C. Mar:::_io in The Democratic Art catalog
of the nineteenth century, a desire and growing demand by Americans for art led to the enthusiastic adoption and further development of a new European technique: chromolithography. Today nostalgically associated with a far simpler world, these popular color prints provide an interesting starting point for exploring the relationship between art and mass media in the United States. As a response to the challenge of providing art for the people, chromolithography was both a new technique and a new means of making art available to a large audience. The possibilities and limitations of each of these roles gave rise to a debate between the promoters and the critics of the new art not unlike contemporary controversy surrounding the uses and effects of television. Similarities between these two inventions are significant. As media, both were radically new developments that revolutionized the field of visual representation. As a means of communication, both dealt with a wide range of subject matter, from sentimental scenes of everyday life to documentary and news events to, of course, advertising. Aimed at the broad masses, both have had to defend themselves against accusations of catering to the lowest common denominator. In light of these attacks, the contr ibutions and the fundamental role that DURING THE FIRST HALF
Trudy Victoria Ha nsen, assistant curator of the Graphics Collection, is coordinating the Chicago Historical Society showing of THE DEMOCRATIC ART exhibit, on view until May 11. 234
Chicago History
each of these medi a has played in the democratization of art and culture have often been overlooked. Examining the rise of the chromo in the nineteenth century can yield new insight into our present dilemma with the media, as well as raising, once again, the question of the role of art in a democratic society. A new exhibition entitled The Democratic Art: Chromolithography in America 1840-1900, on view at the Chicago Historical Society from l\larch 13 to May 11, 1980, gives impetus to such a discussion. The exhibition, organized by the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, consists of over one hundred chromos, several of the original paintings which served as their prototypes, and actual lithographic stones and tools used for printing. The technique of color lithography is explained and demonstrated in proofs which show successive stages in the printing process, in illustrations of nineteenthcentury printing shops and equipment, and in displays of lithographic stones and a lithographic printing press. The finished products are then compared with the original works of art they emulated, including works by such important artists of the day as Eastman Johnson, ·w inslow Homer, John J ames Audubon, Thomas Moran, Rembrandt Peale, and William Harnett. Next, attention is drawn to examples of high-quality chromos, the firms which produced them, and the market they created. Finally, the role of chromolithography in advertising and in the rise of the new field of commercial art is explored. In both the catalog and in the major book written in conjunction with the exhibition, Peter C. Marzio,
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THE CRIMSON CONQUEST A Love Story of Cristoval and the Princess Rava By CHARLES 8. H DSO Puhlished by A. C. \1cCLL:RG & CO. in the Fall of 1907 \\ '1 th Fr, ,nt 1,pieu: 1n \ 1\i d ,:,,!i,r-. (HJ . C. I.L·~cnd cd.cr
$ 1.50 Advertisement for The Crimson Conquest. Chromolithograph by J. C. Leyendecker after his own painting, printed by McClurg and Company, Chicago, 1907. The international poster movement of 1890-1910 united fine art imagery and business, laying the foundation for commercial art. CHS, Joseph T. Ryerson Collection.
director of Lhe Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington , D.C., and guest curator of the exhibiLion, defines and documents the American chromolithograph and places it securely in both a social and cultural perspective. The term chromolithograph itself has caused a great deal of confusion, especially in America. Lithography, the youngest graphic medium at that time, was invented in Germany in 1798 by Alo is Senefelder. The development of Ii thographic technology proceeded so rapidly that by the 1820s German printers had developed methods for printing in color, and by the 1840s the revolutionary new process was being used by European-born printers in the early printing centers of Philadelphia and New York. Technically, a chromolithograph denotes any lithograph printed in colors, using two or more lithographic printing stones. In America, however, the term developed a far more limited definition, one shaped by purpose as much as by process. As Peter C. Marzio reports: By the 1860s, however, it [chromolithography] had come to carry a more specific definition : the colorlithographed reproduction of an oi l painting or watercolor, or at least the full-color picture of some religious, heroic, or landscape subject. These chromo "pa in tings" might be glued to a stretched canvas, varnished, embossed with striations to simulate canvas, and framed. Or they might be incorporated into a calendar or some other commercial product. Either way, they were a middleclass medium for disseminating fine-art imagery. [The Democratic Art: Pictures for a 19th Century America, Boston (1979) , p. 10]
To a public which believed strongly in the moral value of art, in free access to it, and in the possibility of attaining higher levels of culture merely through association with art, the fact that a work was a reproduction did not matter. (As a fine art, color lithography would not come into its own until the very end of the century with the development of the art poster by masters such as Toulouse-Lautrec and artists and illustrators like Chicago's own Will Bradley and J. C. Leyendecker.) In the meantime, Chicago History
235
Ch romolithogra phy
The Battle of Lookout Mountain. Chromolithograph, probably by Louis Kurz after his own painting, printed by Kurz and Allison, Chicago , 1889. While this series of battle scenes from the Civil War is among the most widely known of Kurz's productions, his best work was done earlier in his career. CHS, Joseph T. Ryerson Collection.
the chromo business flourished, with hundreds of printing firms turning out hundreds of thousands of images at a very low cost. Chromolithography quickly became big business. For example, the lithographic firm of Currier and Ives alone boasted an inventory of more than 7,000 different lithographs reproduced from original paintings and watercolors. Many of these titles were chromos, and some were printed in lots of several hundred thousand each. Prang and Company of Boston was also a formidable firm; with the fortune Louis Prang made from the sale of his chromos he was able to patronize rising young artists such as Thomas Moran, A. B. Durand, and Albert Bierstadt of Hudson River School fame . Chi236
Chicago History
cago, which had long been an important center of the printing and publishing industry, had several lithographers working here, including Edward Carqueville, Otto Jevne and Peter Almini, Charles Shober, and Louis Kurz. Among the most important chromolithographs produced in Chicago was a series of thirtysix Civil War scenes produced by Kurz and Allison during the 1880s and '90s. Like _his colleague Louis Prang, Louis Kurz played a major role in promoting art and culture in Chicago. In 1866 he was one of the founding members of the Chicago Academy of Design, the forerunner of The Art Institute of Chicago. Despite the tremendous popular success of the chromo, critics of these "cheap imitations"
Ch romolithogra phy
The Boyhood of Lincoln. Chromolithograph by William Harring after a painting by Eastman Johnson, printed by L. Prang and Company, Boston, 1868. CHS.
Louis Kurz, 1833-1921. CHS.
of art were for the most part successful in firmly putting the chromo in what they felt was its proper place. To many of the intellectuals of the day, from writers like Mark Twain to newspaper editors to the cultural elite, the diffusion of art meant its debasement. When "trade school" subjects such as lithography, woodcarving, and stained glassmaking were added to the School of the Art Institute's curriculum in the late 1880s, a writer for Harper's Weekly noted, "The Art Institute school breaks ground for classes for instruction in the art of illustrating magazines, newspapers, books and advertising .... I confess this shocked my sense of dignity of such a school. . . . Maybe no harm will come of it." [Chicago: Creating New Traditions, by Perry Duis, Chicago (1976), p. 85] The term Chromo-civilization eventually came to signify all that was false and corrupt in American society at the close of the century. The chromo was a product of the technological
and industrial revolutions, the democratization of culture, and the entrepreneurial spirit engendered by a free enterprise system. To a society grappling for the first time with the social and cultural consequences of these forces, the chromo became an easily identifiable symbol of all that was wrong with the democratic system. Clearly, these problems are still very much with us. Debate over the quality of television programming, the exploitation and commercialization of the news, and the influence of the advertising industry, is certain to continue. However, the fact remains that American society, in part through the medium of television, still provides art and a stimulus to creativity for all levels of appreciation and varieties of taste. Perhaps we should view this continuing debate not as a sign of failure, but as a reaffirmation of a democratic system still functioning. Chicago History
237
Walkout: The Chicago Men's Garment Workers' Strike, 1910-1911 BY N. SUE WEILER A lull in the struggle, A truce in the fight, The whirr of machines And the dearly bought right, Just to labor for bread, Just to work and be Jed.
For this we have marched Through the snow-covered street, Have borne our dead comrades While muffled drums beat, For this we have fought, For this boon dearly-bought.
"After the Strike," by Mary 0' Reilly, Reprinted from Life and Labor
22, 1910, Hannah Shapiro decided she could not accept 3¾ cents (a reduction from four cents) to sew a pocket into a pair of men's trousers. Hannah and sixteen other young women picked up their scissors and walked out of Shop o. 5 at 18th and Halsted streets, one of the forty-eight tailor shops owned by the Chicago firm of Hart, Schaffner & Marx. Thus began a strike that would last four and a· half months, enlist strong support from progressive trade unionists and reformers, and bring about an investigation by the Illinois Senate. The men's garment industry began in small workshops following the Great Fire of 1871 and grew rapidly in the course of the next forty years. Two types of manufacturing existed side by side in the city. By the turn of the century, a market for quality clothes had compelled the larger manufacturers to combine small shops into large factories as a way of assuring a standard product. At the same time, a growing market for ready-made clothes and the seasonal nature of the industry encouraged the continued proliferation of contract shops, also known as sweatshops. The contract system continued to flourish alongside the large, fully integrated concerns primarily because of its elasticity. The existence of contractors meant that manufacturers did not have to add employees during the busy ON SEPTEMBER
N. Sue Weiler is working on her doctoral degree in history at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. 238
Ch icago History
season but simply contracted for extra work. Sweaters continued to compete by providing small orders directly to retailers. Whether the garment was produced from start to finish in a factory or partially made by contract labor, the initial stages of production were the same. The designing and cutting of the garments were done in the factory. If contractors were involved, the cut cloth was packed in bundles and delivered to the sweatshops. Here a succession of specialized machine operators (each doing a specified portion of the garment) did the sewing, helped by basters, who basted the unsewn pieces and removed the hastings from the sewn ones. ext the garments went to the button-holer (usually a subcontractor); the finisher (often working in her own home); and finally the presser, usually working in the factory in which the production process had begun. With this elaborate refinement in the division of labor, the sewing of a coat could be broken down into approximately 150 separate operations. This division of the manufacturing process into self-contained operations was highly conducive to sweatshop production. Moreover, as Ii ttle capital as fifty dollars and some knowledge of tailoring were enough to establish -0neself as a contractor. A typical entrepreneur might buy half a dozen sewing machines, set them up in his apartment, and hire neighbors to operate them. Such tenement sweatshops dotted Chicago's West Side. So did the workshops of the country's largest clothing manufacturer, Hart, Schaffner & Marx.
A manufacturer checks an order in a contract shop. Since garment making could be broken down into many self-contained operations, such smal I shops specialized in one or two steps in the manufacturing process. CHS, Chicago Daily News photo , ON 205, gift of Field Enterprises.
The manufacturing firm of Hart, Schaffner & Marx had been organized in Chicago in
1887 by a family of retail merchants who wanted to produce suits for their own stores. At first the firm contracted orders to sweatshops, most of which were located in tenements employing an average of fifteen persons per shop. By 1905 the company had purchased forty-eight sweatshops, bringing production under its direct supervision. The contractors sold their equipment to the company and became foremen while the workers did similar work for a new employer. Other large manufacturers of men's clothing in Chica·go were The House of Kuppenheimer (founded in 1876 as a retail store), the Scotch Woolen Mills, Royal Tailors, and Society Brand. These Chicago clothing firms became pioneers in mass advertising, associating their trade names with quality clothing through advertisements in such national magazines as Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post.
By 1910, the men's clothing industry had become Chicago's largest employer-even larger than the stockyards-with a workforce of 38,000. Sixty-five percent of these clothing workers were foreign born, with another thirtytwo percent having foreign-born fathers. The two largest ethnic groups were Polish Catholics and Bohemians, with substantial numbers of Italians and Eastern European Jews also working in the industry. Approximately half of these workers were women. Employers furnishi ng information to the Immigration Commission of 1910 explained that, "To [a] certain extent immigrants have been employed in the clothing trades of Chicago, because of their peculiar skill. This is more especially true of the Bohemians, who are considered the best coat makers in the world; of the Scandinavians, who are the best workers on pants and vests; and of the Italians, who are the best hand sewers." After this lavish praise of foreign expertise, the report continued, "The chief explanation Ch icago History
239
Garment Workers' Strike
given by the manufacturers ... that American employees were not available [was that] . . . the Americans had a very marked prejudice against the business and refused to work at it." In Chicago, as in other cities, the industry was concentrated in several distinct districts. The sales and general offices and the cutting and shipping rooms were usually located in the same building, close to the central business district. The Hart, Schaffner & Marx building on Franklin and Van Buren is the lone remaining representative of a once-flourishing garment district. The contract shops were located in surrounding areas near the workers' homes, mostly on Chicago's West Side, usually in ethnic enclaves. Italian workers, who did most of the hand work, were squeezed into the area between Halsted Street and the Chicago River. Further south, between 16th Street and Roosevelt Road, thousands of Russian Jews opened some of the most crowded sweatshops in the city, specializing in coats and pants. Bohemians were located to the southwest between 17th and 22nd streets along Blue Island, where they produced coats. Sprinkled among them were Germans and Scandinavians, although these groups had almost disappeared from the industry by 1910. To the northwest was the large Polish district along Milwaukee Avenue between Ashland and Western, specializing in pants shops. Sporadic attempts to organize garment workers in large cities had been only partially successful, though two national unions, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (founded in I 900) and the United Garment Workers of America (founded in 1891 to coordinate the activities of local unions in the men's garment industry) showed promise. But attempts to organize the Chicago men's garment workers received a severe setback in the course of an eight and a half month strike in 1904. The strike, and subsequent care on the part of employers not to hire union members 240
Ch icago Hi story
or sympathizers, decimated the ranks of the United Garment Workers in the city. Only two UGWA cutters locals with members working in a few of Chicago's small shops survived. Employers, suffering from intense competition, were also consolidating and building cooperative organizations, one of whose purposes was to resist the organization of unions. Louis Kuppenheimer, one of the founders of the Chicago Wholesale Clothiers' Association, described that organization's purpose as exchanging credit information and facilitating the sale of goods. But the Chicago Wholesale Clothiers' Association, and the two national associations with which it was affiliated-the National Association of Clothiers and the National Association of Manufacturers-were also dedicated to resisting labor unions. Although the firm of Hart, Schaffner & Marx did not join these organizations, it shared their attitude toward unions, refusing to hire anyone suspected of union sympathies. This was the atmosphere in which Hannah Shapiro (also known as Annie) and her coworkers decided to protest their employer's moveone that was by no means uncommon in the industry-to lower the piece rate agreed on in the negotiations at the start of the season. ~
At eighteen, Hannah Shapiro was a veteran of Chicago's garment industry. The oldest child of a Russian immigrant family, she had gone to work in a small shop making bow ties when she was thirteen. Two years later, she moved on to Hart, Schaffner & Marx, where she earned three dollars a week for ten-hour clays pulling out bastings on coats. At one point she operated a pocket cutting machine, receiving her highest weekly wage of twelve dollars. But the rates on that task had also been reduced. In September of 1910 she was earning seven dollars a week seaming pockets. In a 1976 interview, Hannah Shapiro Glick recalled that period of her life. In spite of her
Garment Workers' Strike
• Hannah (Annie) Shapiro was eighteen when she walked out of Hart, Schaffner & Marx Shop No. 5, thus beginning the 1910 strike. From Official Report of the Strike Committee, Chicago Garment Workers' Strike, published by the Women's Trade Union League of Chicago, 1911. CHS.
strike experience she did not remember the Hart, Schaffner & Marx workshop as a terrible place. She noted the advantage of being allowed passes to leave early on Friday and of not being forced to work on Saturday, which pleased her father, an orthodox Jew. Nor did she mind walking to the fifth floor, or the petty fines, which she was skilled enough to avoid. But inevitably, there were grievances, and because she was friendly with many of her coworkers-Polish, Rumanian, and Italian, as well as Jewish- and high spirited, Hannah oflen carried both their complaints and her own to the bosses. The cut in the piece rate was strongly resented, and despite the fear of what the consequences might be, Hannah Glick recalls, "We all went out; we had to be recognized as people."
Three weeks elapsed from the first walkout until most of the Hart, Schaffner & Marx workers were on strike. Communications were slow : there were no leaders to make decisions, no mechanism to call a sLrike. Spontaneous walkouLs by angry workers in sweatshops were common. Usually the contractor either met their demands or fired the few involved. Employment in larger factories gave workers a better opportunity to communicate with each other but much of the work was still done in shops sca ttered throughout the area. WiLhin a week people from seven out of the ten " ' est Side pants shops refused the work from Shop 1 o. 5. Sidney Hillman, another recent arrival from Russia who worked in one of Lhose shops, later recalled that at first these girls were a joke among the men, until finally some "bold spiriLs" decided to join them. Another worker, Jacob Potofsky, * attended a meeting of more than 500 people at Hull-House, where workers aired their grievances. The next day he talked about the meeting to the Bohemian, Polish, and Jewish women with whom he worked. When the 300 people in the workshop started to leave the room, the foreman shut the doors in a vain effort to stop them. After three weeks at least 2,200 "bold spirits" were attending daily meetings at the West Side Auditorium. Hart, Schaffner & Marx reacted to the walkout in a variety of ways. First the firm insisted that there was no strike. At the same time Harry Hart authorized a rate adjustment in the shop in which the trouble had started. But by now things had gone too far and there was no stopping the strike. By October 15 the firm admitted that it had been forced to hire private detectives "to protect the weak and foreign born employees from intimidation by strike agitators." By the middle of October Hart, Schaffner &
•Hillman and Potofsky would later become founding members and leaders of the Amalgamated Clothing vVorkers of America. Chicago History
241
Factory inspectors checking a workshop, 1903. Small contract shops (sweatshops) flourished alongside factories, with the larger manufacturers contracting work out during the busy season. CHS, Chicago Daily News photo, ON 1,246, gift of Field Enterprises.
Marx strikers were being joined by workers from Kuppenheimer, Hirsch-Wickwire, and other clothing firms. Spokesmen for the Chicago Wholesale Clothiers' Association claimed that their workers had no grievances and were only striking out of sympathy for Hart, Schaffner & Marx workers or because they {eared violence from agitators. Although their workers were harassed by insults and bricks hurled at them through the factory's windows, Kuppenheimer managed to maintain production throughout the strike. Louis Kuppenheimer pr ided himself on the "moral" atmosphere of his factory, in which there was no mixing of girls and boys. I ndeed, he claimed that many parents appealed to him to hire their daughters because of the protection thus afforded them. Like most industrialists, Kuppenheimer refused to deal with a union because he claimed 242
Chicago History
that workers were better off contracting as individuals. Furthermore, he considered open shops more American. As the strike continued, in addition to advertising for workers, he hired a New York agent to recruit strikebreakers. One entire floor of the factory was converted into sleeping and kitchen facilities to protect and isolate strikebreakers. Nevertheless, the strike continued to spread. Strikers paraded past shops blowing whistles as a signal to workers to join them . One of the strikers, Clara Masilotti, later recalled that having heard about the signal she told the other workers in her shop: "The first whistle we hear ... means for us to strike. You cannot work for twelve cents a coat and I cannot baste 35 coats a clay." One clay 200 persons appeared under the shop window at Blue Island and Polk whistling. Clara was the first to respond and the "greenhorns" followed.
Participants , Born in the United States, Clara had been taken back to Italy by her family as an infant. She returned to Chicago in time to attend school for several years. At the age of thirteen she went to work in a date factory for thirty-two cents a clay. Later she basted coats in a number of small shops, usually quitting after a disagreement with a foreman. In 1910 she was asked to be a Iorelady and teach the "greenhorns." She remembered that "the boss preferred Italians, Jews, all nationalities who can't speak English. They work like the devil for less wages." Clara lost her position as a Iorelacly when she refused to tell the workers that their wages had been cut, and she went back to doing piecework. In the course of the 1910 strike she became a leader in the " !omen's Trade Union League and cominued as a union organizer. ~
At the time of the walkout, the strikers had approached Robert Noren, Chicago district president of the United Garment Workers of America. After consulting Thomas Rickert, the national president, Noren turned clown their request for support. Rickert's reluctance stemmed from a "lack of faith in the possibilities of organizing these people," and the assumption that "it was just an over-night strike." Not until one month after the walkout did the UGW A finally issue a general strike call. Within a week of that call, on November 5, Thomas Rickert and Harry Hart signed a document agreeing on the selection of three persons to take up alleged grievances. The agreement also guaranteed that former employees could return to work without discrimination should they affiliate with the union. It specifically excluded the question of any shop organization. However, when the agreement was submitted to the strikers at a meeting at Hod Carriers' Hall, it was O\'Crwhelmingly rejected. The cuttersthe aristocrats of the industry-had elected Sidney Hillman to explain why the settlement was unsatisfactory. Rickert was hooted with cries of
Dealing with,, the Individual
Is this an even Bargain?
in the STRIKE Cartoon reproduced in the Official Report of the Strike Committee, Chicago Garment Wo rke rs' Strike, published by the Women's Trade Union Leag ue of Chicago, 1911 . CHS.
"sold out," "betrayed," "traitor," and forced to flee from the hall. This episode was followed by a near riot when the UG'\VA was unable to honor 10,000 of its strike benefit vouchers. In the meantime the strikers were seeking support from a variety of sources. A delegation of women had approached the Women's Trade Union League, founded in 1903 by social reformers and settlement house workers to support the efforts of working women to organize. l\lembers of the League, moved by what they heard, promised to help if the Chicago Federation of Labor would endorse the strike. The League would provide aid to pickets, speakers for meetings, contact with the general publi c bringing favorable publicity, and rel ief aid. After listening to an appeal by the strikers, the Chicago Federation of Labor delegates were Ch icago History
243
Garment Workers' Strike
moved to declare that "this firm [Hart, Schaffner & ~Iarx] and others of like character were nothing more or less than slave driving institutions of the worst imaginable kind, and ... gradually but surely, getting worse year by year." The day after the strikers rejected the Hart-Rickert agreement the Chicago Federation of Labor came out in support of the garment workers. A Joint Strike Conference Board assumed leadership of the garment workers' strike. The Chicago Federation of Labor's president, John Fitzpatrick, became chairman; Edward Nockles, the second CFL representative, vice president; Agnes Nestor, a glove worker and president of the Chicago ·women's Trade Union League, and Margaret Dreier Robins, social worker and president of the National WTUL and a member of the CFL Board, represented the WTUL; and Robert Noren and Samuel Landers represented the United Garment '\Vorkers of America. A committee of thirtyfive, representing the workers, met with the Board to maintain liaison between it and the ranks. The Board unanimously adopted an agreement stipulating the need for a union shop, minimum hours with time and a half paid for overtime, and the establishment of grievance procedures. Several other community groups rallied to support the struggling clothing workers, including the city's socialist organizations and a Citizens Committee. The Chicago Daily Socialist strongly supported the strikers and was credited with goading the UGWA into action. Two special strike editions were sold, earning over $3,000 for the strike fund as well as spreading the workers' story. Chicago's prominent reformers formed a Citizens Committee chaired by Rabbi Emil Hirsch, whose congregation included some of the clothing manufacturers. A report prepared by the committee and given widespread attention by the press "revealed serious difficulties in all of the shops .... " The report denied that union 244
Ch icago History
agitators were responsible for the walkout and declared that the strike was justified. It went on to recommend some form of shop organization. Citizens Committee members became active in attempts to mediate the strike, often behind the scenes. To sustain the strike through a blustery winter the Joint Conference Board commenced a massive fund drive, ultimately collecting $110,000. Approximately sixty-five percent of the funds came from organized labor, ten percent from socialist organizations, and the remainder in response LO appeals organized by the Women's Tracie Union League. In addition to financial aid, the Jewish Labor Federation donated $36,000 worth of meal tickets while the Bakers Union contributed 60,000 loaves of bread. Gertrude Barnum, J\fargaret Dreier Robins, and other WTUL members took "girl strikers" to meetings all over Chicago to plead for support. A meeting at Kings Restaurant, across from the old Chicago Daily News building on Wells Street, was well auended by newspapermen who frequented the restaurant. As one reporter wrote, "Over a simple Ii ule breakfast the girls talked their hearts out and explained their problems in natural fashion to a few friends." He went on to say that "Annie Shapiro ... told her story in such a dramatic manner in broken English that her hearers were moved to tears." Clara Masiloui revealed that she had been coerced into working faster for less pay. And Bessie Abramovitz* explained that during rush periods she was often forced to work twelve or thirteen hours without extra pay, despite the Illinois ten-hour law, while during the slack periods she had to stay in the workshop all day for only one or two hours' pay. Reporters learned that Anna Cassetteri car-
•Later the wife of Sidney Hillman and a founding member of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
Garment workers parade during the 1910 strike. CHS, Chicago Daily News photo, ICHi 04938, gift of Field Enterprises.
ried additional material home to earn nine or ten dollars a week. Sixteen-year-old Anna Rudnitsk y had been forced to sew slowly in order to keep her pay low. In spite of intimidation by the foreman, she led 300 young women out of Hart, Schaffner & Marx Shop No. 11. Mrs. Bina Wool testified that she had gone from place to place looking for better conditions, but found them all the same. Hannah Shapiro did not confine herself to addressing society women and reporters: for the first time in her life she entered saloons to plead for her cause. One bartender contributed fifty cents saying: "That's all I've got, little girl, for since the strike started nobody pays for a drink." The most successful undertaking of the Joint Board was the operation of six commissary stores, providing appropriate fare for the different ethnic neighborhoods. The first two commissaries were opened in the Jewish Shelter House at 525 Maxwell Street and the Northwest Settlement in the Polish area at 1014 Noble. Jewish strikers were also served at 1853 Blue Island; Poles and Lithuanians at 1272 North Lincoln; Italians at 1015 Johnson
Street; and Bohemians at 610 West 14th Street. Shop chairmen were responsible for distributing tickets for prepackaged weekly supplies. Reformers took advantage of the opportunity to educate the immigrants. Zelie P. Emerson and Katharine Coman, in a joint article written later, noted: "Many foreigners learned the nutritive value of articles of food hitherto unknown, such as beans and oatmeal. Hereafter, they will probably demand a higher class of ordinary groceries." Twenty-two car loads of food and 200,000 loaves of bread were distributed to over 11,000 families a week. Of special concern were the 5,000 babies whose families were now unemployed. "Strike babies"-1,250 were born during the strikereceived layettes and milk through settlement houses. Appeals for financial aid were sent on postcards carrying the heading, "Sacred Motherhood," and picturing a woman nursing a baby and working on a sewing machine while several small children played among unfinished garments. The reformers were less successful in controlling the streets. Early efforts by the strikers to induce all the workers to join them were Chicago History
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Six policemen load a striker into a paddy wagon during the 1910-1911 strike against the men's garment manufacturers of Chicago. CHS, Chicago Daily News photo, DN 56,132, gift of Field Enterprises.
relatively calm. But as the weeks dragged on and employers began to import strikebreakers, violence on the part of trikers, non-strikers, and the Chicago police escalated. A daily pattern was set by the end of the first month. Meetings were held in at least thirty-four halls scattered throughout the garment district. Some meetings were conducted in the native language of the particular group that worked there. :\Jore often speakers orated in seYeral languages. Polish was spoken at v\lalsh's Hall on the Northwest Side; Italian and Yiddish in the West Side Auditorium; and Bohemian and Polish at Pilsen Park on the Southwest Side. After rousing speeches, cheering strikers left the halls in groups to march past tailor shops blowing whistles, en joining workers to abandon their machines. A \!\'omen's Trade Union League picket committee chaired by Emma Steghagen "undertook the twofold task of picketing with the girls and of patrolling the streets for their 246
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protection." After being handled roughly by the police, Steghagen and Ellen Gates Starr, the cofounder of Hull-House, officially and publicly protested. Starr had been grabbed insolently and told to go away or she would be sent to the station even if she were a social worker. Steghagen was given more specific instructions: "Go home and wash your dishes." Just before Thanksgiving, strikebreakers attracted to the city by employers' agents and advertisements began to arrive in Chicago in large numbers. Pickets were sent to guard the railroad depots and clashes increased. Occasionally appeals to potential strikebreakers to go home succeeded-in one case the Uni_ted Garment Workers paid the return fares of thirty-five arrivals. But more often the outcome was less peaceful. The Chicago Railroad Company appealed to the police for protection after twenty women set upon non-union Italians inside a streetcar. Out-of-town strikebreakers were not the only
Garment Workers' Strike
source of Lrouble for the strikers. A substantial number of garment workers had never joined the sLrikers and as the Lension mounted many of Lhese were chased and attacked by strikers on Lheir way home. Private guards were hired by employers to escort strikebreakers to elevaLed staLions and to Lheir homes. Alarmed by the mounting violence, CiLy Council member and social reformer Professor Charles E. Merriam of the University of Chicago proposed that the City Council headed by Mayor Fred Busse mediate the strike. The Joint Conference Board and Hart, Schaffner & Marx cooperated with these efforts. It was hoped that if a settlement could be reached with the largest manufacturer, the others would follow. However, the representatives of the Chicago Wholesale Clothiers' Association persisted in their refusal to meet with union representatives. Early in December a private detective shot and killed Charles Lazinskas, one of three strikers arguing with two young workers who were being escorted home. The detective barely escaped with his own life as an angry crowd quickly formed. Approximately 30,000 strikers and sympathizers paraded through the West Side after Lazinskas's funeral, led by bands playing the rallying anthem of the French Revolution, the Marseillaise. They had been refused permission to march past the clothing firms' central offices in the Loop. In defiance of another police stipulation banning red flags, marchers carried red and white banners inscribed with rousing slogans. The marchers ended up at the West Side Ball Park, where they heard passionate oratory delivered in six languages. Charles l\furphy, owner of the Chicago Cubs, donated coffee and sandwiches as well as the ballpark. On December 15 a second striker, Frank Nagreckis, was killed and his companion severely injured by a policeman during a skirmish which broke out when strikebreakers tried to enter Kuppenheimer's. In both cases the crowds
turned on the police and private detectives. Priests officiating at the funerals of the two Lithuanian workers asked for donations to the strike fund. Joseph Schaffner and his partner, Harry Hart, appear to have been genuinely shocked by the outbreak of the strike. They had prided themselves on the modern, sanitary workshops provided for their workers, conditions that compared favorably with those prevailing in the sweatshops. As Lhe strike progressed, however, it became clear that while the physical surroundings of the workers might have been brought up to date, many of the oppressive conditions typical of the sweatshops had persisted. In 1916, testiIying before the United States Industrial Regulations Commission, Schaffner declared: "The fundamental cause of the strike was that the workers had no satisfactory chan nel through which minor grievances, exactions and petty tyrannies of underbosses, etc., could be taken up and amicably adjusted." While insisting that the strikers' grievances were minor in character, he admitted that they had been allowed to accumulate to the point of creating "a feeling of distrust and enmity toward their immediate superiors." Schaffner went so far as to confess that he had been "so badly informed of the conditions . . . [that he had] concluded that the strike should have occurred much sooner." In another account published after Schaffner's death-Joseph D. Schaffner, 1848-1919, Recollections and Impressions of His Associates-an attempt was made to put the blame for the strike on the foremen, on the grounds that the owners were too absorbed in the merchandising aspects of their business to pay attention to what was happening in the workshops. The foremen, themselves working on a piece rate, and eager to produce more for less, imposed typical sweatshop conditions: erratic pay scales, speedups in production, and fines and petty persecutions. Chicago History
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By the time of Lazinskas's funeral, Hart, Schaffner & Marx had presented their proposal to the mediators. The reaction of the strikers surprised their leaders. After hearing funeral orations urging them to stick together until all the manufacturers conceded their rights, strikers went to their separate meeting halls. Workers who spoke in favor of settlement were drowned out by those opposed to it. Father Lawczyinski, of St. Mary's Independent Catholic Church, exhorted Polish workers to hold out for a closed shop, and holding up a crucifix called on them to make a solemn promise not to accept the terms. At a meeting at Hod Carriers' Hall, emotions ran so high that John Fitzpatrick and Margaret Dreier Robins were unable to speak. Strikers at the meeting felt betrayed. Discussion was delayed until the agreement could be printed in nine languages and an educational campaign launched. After ten days the Joint Board acknowledged defeat in its efforts to settle the strike. The violence accelerated. Just before Christmas John Donnelly was delivering a wagon filled with unfinished garments to home workers from a non-union tailor shop. Three men shot the eighteen-year-old to death, then disappeared into the crowd. According to his mother, he had been threatened before and intended to quit the next day. Since people lived as well as worked in the neighborhoods in which such clashes were occurring non-strikers became unwitting victims. Ferdinand Weiss was walking near a group of strikers arguing with strikebreakers and private detectives, when he was killed by a gunshot fired by a private detective. Mourning garment workers attended his funeral en masse. The fifth victim of the strike, Fred Reinhart, a guard at Hart, Schaffner & Marx, was apparently much hated by the strikers. On January 3 he was ambushed and killed by strikers while escorting two young strikebreakers home. 248
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At the beginning of January two manufacturers who were members of the Chicago Wholesale Clothiers' Association agreed to sign contracts with the United Garment Workers of America, thus breaking the impasse. But the strike was far from over. The settlement with Hart, Schaffner & Marx was accepted on January 14, 1911. It provided for the re-employment of all strikers and guaranteed that there would be no discrimination in favor of or against membership in the United Garment Workers. While no prior settlement on wages and working conditions was made, the agreement called for the establishment of an Arbitration Committee to settle current and future grievances. The Committee was to include one representative of the company, one of the workers, and a third chosen by the first two. No adjustment in wages or working conditions was to take place until after the workers returned to their jobs. On January 17, Hannah Shapiro, Bessie Abramovitz, and 2,000 of their fellow workers were greeted by their foremen as they returned to their jobs at the Hart, Schaffner & Marx workshops. The approximately 18,000 people still on strike against Clothiers' Association members who had not settled attended meetings denouncing the agreement with Hart, Schaffner & Marx, the Chicago Federation of Labor, the Women's Trade Union League, and the United Garment Workers. Representatives of the radical International Workers of the World appeared at these meetings, hoping, according to one organizer, "to revitalize the strike." On the other side, most of the members of the Chicago Wholesale Clothiers' Association refused to budge, in spite of tremendous public pressure and negative publicity, including an investigation by the Illinois Senate. In the face of this intransigence Thomas Rickert, president of the United Garment Workers, took drastic action. On February 3, without consulting the Joint Strike Conference Board, let alone the strikers who were still
The death of striker Charles Lazinskas was mourned by 30,000 strikers and sympathizers. Anoth er striker, as well as a boy delivering work to non-strikers, a security guard, and a passerby died before the strike was over. CHS, Chicago Daily News photo, DN 56,266, gift of Field Enterprises.
attending meetings, he called off the strike. This time the leaders of the Chicago Federation of Labor and the '"' omen's Trade Union League, as well as the strikers felt betrayed. Margaret Dreier Robins called Rickert's action a "hunger bargain." As Sidney Hillman later recalled, the great majority of the workers: were forced to return to their old miserable conditions, through the back door; and happy were those who were taken back. Many who had participated in the 1910 strike were victimized for months afterward. They were forced to look for other employment and to wait until their record in the strike was forgotten. [The Tailor Revisited]
A new group of leaders had, however, been created by the strike, a more militant group than the leadership of the United Garment Workers. As Frank Rosenblum of the strike committee described the situation, the workers were "licked from a strike point of view [but] it did create a nucleus of an organization." The ·long-range consequences became quite clear at the I 914 national convention of the United Garment Workers of America held in Nashville, Tennessee. Dissatisfied with the conservative leadership of the union, dissidents from Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York, the main centers of the men's garment industry, joined to form a new union-the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America. Under the leadership of veterans of the 1910 Chicago strike-Sidney Hillman, Jacob Potofsky, Bessie Abramovitz, and others-the Amalgamated went on to become one of the country's leading labor unions. The lessons of the Chicago strike were not forgotten.
Selected Sources A basic source has been the material gathered by the com• mince appointed by the Illinois General Assembly to investigate the 1910-1 I strike. In addition to the committee's published report (Special Senate Committee to Investigate the Garment Work ers' Strike, 47th General Assembly, 1911 ), much valuable information is contained in the committee's papers on deposit at the lllinois State Archives, Springfield. Other useful documents include a reprint of an April 4, 1937 speech by Abraham Hart on "The Fifty Years of Hart, Schaffner & Marx" made available by the Hart, Schaffner & Marx Company; " Extracts from the ~linutes of the Chicago Federation of L abor," November 6, 1910, John Fitzpatrick Papers, CHS; and the videotape inten iew ol Hannah Shapiro Glick by Rebecca Sive-Tomashefsky (Chicago, 1976) on deposit at the University ol Illinois at Chicago Circle. NEWSPAPERS: Chicago Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Inter-Ocean, Chicago Record-Herald, Chicago Daily Socialist, titles listed in Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey, September 1910- February 1911. PERIODICALS: Survey, Life and Labor, International Socialist Review, various dates, 1910-11. Amalgamated Clothing Workers ol America. Th e Clothing Workers of Chicago, 1910-1922. Chicago, 1922. Cilizens Commiltee. Concerning the Garment Workers' Strike: Report of the Sub-Committee to the Citizens Committee, Nov. 5, 1910. Chicago, 1910. Pamphlet, CHS. Cobrin, Harry A. The Men's Clothing Industry. New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc. , 1970. U .S. Congress. Senate. Chas. P. Neill, Men's Ready-Made Clothing . Vol. IL ol Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage Earners in the U.S. Sen. Doc. 645, 61 Cong., 2nd Sess.. 19 I I. Women's Trade Union League of Chicago. Official Report of the Strike Committee. Chicago, 1911. Pamphlet, CHS.
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Preservation Illinois: A Guide to State and Local Resources edited by Ruth Eckdish Knack Springfield: Illinois Department of Conservation, 1977. Available for $6.00 by writing the Department of Conserrntion, Division of Historic Sites, 405 East Washington Street, Springfield, IL 62706. GONE ARE THE DAYS when historic preservation could be called the profession of little old ladies in tennis shoes; now it is a complicated business which requires a manual like Preservation Illinois to explain the role of the lawyer, the architect, the historian, the archeologist, and the fundraiser. The authors of the twenty-six essays in this guide to state and local preservation organizations, programs, and resources have done an admirable job of presenting their material. 'While each chapter strives to be introductory, the specialized reader will find a lengthy annotated bibliography at the end of each section to direct him further. The first essays address such issues as the ethics of conservation and the intermingling of business and preservation. One chapter recaps the history of Illinois preservation efforts, which gained momentum in the 1960s and 1970s through protests against the demolition of buildings of major historical and architectural significance, including works by H . H. Richardson, Adler &.: Sullivan, and Holabird & Roche. Federal awareness of the need for preservation legislation, grant programs, and tax benefits also developed during the last two decades. The first concerted effort began in 1966 with the National Historic Preservation Act which o -eated a body to monitor federal actions, approve federal grants, and expand the National Register of Historic Places. Ten years later Congress broke new ground with the Tax Reform Act which provided incentives for rehabilitating historic structures and penalties for developers who demolish them. In the chapter on preservation law, the provisions of these acts, associated federal legislation, housing acts, and legislation creating employment programs for preservation projects are clearly explained. A complementary chapter outlines Illinois statutes on deeds, trusts, covenants, easements, and leases which may be used to protect historic properties. The book also discusses the great latitude accorded to municipalities in such areas as local landmark designation and watchdogging, zoning, and the authorization of code exceptions.
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Two chapters provide a list of properties on the National R egister and the Illinois Register accompanied by explanations of the listing procedure, sample forms, and notes on the tax benefits, grants, and loans available to owners of listed buildings. But more pertinent both for grassroots preservation groups and individuals owning historic properties are th e sections which discuss how to design a local survey, research a building, and investigate its fabric. A word of caution to the homeowner, especially: the chapters on finding materials, making measured drawings, complying with building codes, and repairing and maintaining buildings should be read as a primer rather than a do-it-yourself guide, for the professional advice of an experienced restoration architect is invaluable. These chapters go hand in hand with the advice on organizational tactics for preservation groups and an excellent introductory chapter on fundraising. The book ends with a valuable list of the federal, state, and local agencies which can be of assistance to preservationists of all persuasions. For a collection of twenty-six essays, the guide is eminently readable. However, it suffers from the inclusion of too many uninformative graphics and insert blocks containing the personal comments of prominent Illinois preservationists, apparently intended to inspire up-and-coming enthusiasts. Despite these minor flaws, it promises to remain an important guide for Illinoisans and undoubtedly will offer a model for preservationists in other states who wish to inform residents of the resources available to them. KATHLEEN A. ROY
The Drawings of Louis Henry Sullivan: A Catalogue of the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection at the Avery Architectural Library
by Paul E. Sprague Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979. $25.00. is a fine tribute to Louis Sullivan. The coffee-table format-featuring ivory colored paper, large type, and nearly 150 pages of drawings-is of superior quality. But most important is Paul Sprague's significant contribution to scholarship on
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the life and work of Chicago's most enigmatic, most romanticized architect. Sprague's introduction and commentary contain new information and may well become the standard history of Sullivan's ornament, its antecedents, and evolution. The author (Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) laments the loss of what must have been thousands of drawings by Sullivan and believes that the rare pieces still in existence have survived purely by accident. One theory holds that many of the drawings were deliberately discarded by George Elmslie, Sullivan's chief draftsman, but Sprague shows that this is unlikely. He also uses primary sources to correct widespread misconceptions (promulgated by Sullivan himseJf in his Autobiography of an Idea) concerning the founding of the Adler & Sullivan partnership. The full partnership began in 1883, not 1881 ; and the date is 1882, not 1880, for the earlier two-thirds (Adler) / one-third (Sullivan) partnership. The correction is very important because it calls for a reassessment of the role Sullivan played in the commissions of D. Adler & Co. prior to 1883. In fact, Sprague's research is borne out by the recent discovery of a doorlight design for the office of "Adler & Sullivan / Architects" executed in 1883 (a highlight of the CHICAGO CERAMICS & GLASS exhibit now at the Chicago Historical Society)· Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the standard sources that Sprague questions-yet we have Wright to thank for the drawings that are preserved at the Avery Library of Columbia University. In the foreword, Avery Librarian Adolf K. Placzek tells how the dying Sullivan , forgotten by nearly everyone, sat in his wheelchair in a shabby hotel room in April 1924 and entrusted to Wright, his last visitor, a collection of 122 drawings. Wright permanently marred some of the drawings by marking them up with editorial instructions when he published his tribute to Sullivan, Genius and the Mobocracy, in 1949. As Sprague observes, Wright apparently "believed publication of the drawings more important than the drawings themselves." The Avery Library acquired the collection from Wright's estate in I 965 and added it to an already impressive Sullivan archive. The text is well footnoted and indexed. The author has included biographical information on Elmslie, John Edelmann, Frank Furness, and others who are part of the Sullivan story. And his meticulous descriptions of each drawing are an inspired substitute for an actual visit to the Avery. It is shocking to learn that eight of the drawings have been stolen since the publication of this study.
This book is too good to be left on coffee tables. It should be used and reused by historians and writers as a basic resource on Sullivan and as a model of the art of biographical research. RACHEL B. HEIMOVICS
The Building of Galena: An Architectural Legacy
by Carl H. Johnson, Jr. Galena, Illinois, 1977. Available for $17.50 by writing the Carl H. Johnson Gallery, 204 S. Main Street, Galena, IL 61036. Add $1.75 for postage and handling.
Rock County Historic Sites and Buildings
by Nancy Belle S. Douglas and Richard P. Hartung Janesville, Wisconsin: Rock County Bicentennial Commission, 1976. Second printing available in micl-1980 by writing the Rock County Historical Society, P.O. Box 896, Janesville, WI 53545. and tour books continue to be published and purchased despite gasoline shortages. These two books focus on the architecture of Galena, Illinois, and Rock County, Wisconsin. The Building of Galena is not intended to be a definitive architectural history of the town. Rather, it provides an overview of selected architectural highlights through historical and contemporary photographs that accompany the text and sketches by Carl Johnson. The author presents this fine visual material in chronological sequence, tracing the history of Galena's buildings as documented in newspapers and other original source materials. His map (keyed to a catalog of buildings), footnotes, and bibliography are useful, but the text is weak in its interpretation of architectural styles. Johnson attempts to identify architectural styles by using Marcus Whiffen's American Architecture Since 1780: A Guide to the Styles (1969)-probably the best book available on the subject. But Johnson misinterprets Whiffen, failing to recognize that buildings often have the characteristics of several styles. Even when a building falls within certain stylistic categories, it may have been constructed years after that style was popular. These problems are apparent in the discussion of the D'Zoya House (c. 1838) whose double-chimneyed gables make it more Federal than Greek Revival; the 1855 spire of the First Presbyterian Church which, in overall ARCHITECTURAL SURVEYS
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concept, appears to be more Georgian than Romanesque ; the frame cottages at 515 and 517 Hill Street (c. 1856) which, instead of being Vernacular, are very much in the bracketed mode popularized by the writings of A. J. Downing; and the _pedimented and Tuscan-columned East Galena Town Hall which can hardly be called Romanesque Revival. Johnson categorizes some houses as Galena Traditional Style, but the presence of a unique local vernacular is not convincingly demonstrated. Many of these homes from the 1870s and '80s are conservative expressions of earlier Greek and Italian styles. Rock County Historic Sites and Buildings is organized chronologically. More comprehensive and precise than Johnson's study, it contains a series of detailed town maps coupled with discussions of structures in communities throughout the county. The book includes contemporary photographs of buildings, a few early illustrations, and a chart of Architectural Styles and Periods which recognizes that stylistic characteristics can linger long after a mode has lost its popularity. As the authors indicate, Greek Revival homes can have elements of the Federal style fifty years after the latter's zenith in the early nineteenth century. Unfortunately, the horizontal layout of the text appears forced into the book's vertical format, and the uncaptioned illustrations that are letter-keyed to the text make the survey awkward to use. Perhaps these problems can be corrected when the book goes into its second printing in 1980. JOHN ZUKOWSKY
Gu ide to Chi ca go Mural s: Yesterday and Today
edited by Victor A . Sorell Chicago: Chicago Council on Fine Arts, 1978. Available for fifty cents ($1.00 by mail) from the Chicago Council on Fine Arts, 78 E. Washington Street, Chicago, IL 60602.
The Second Presbyteria n Church: Art and Arch itecture
by Erne R. and Florence Frueh Chicago: The Second Presbyterian Church, 1978. Available for $4.00 ( 4.50 by mail) from the church at 1936 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616. is surrounded by many forms of art, including the works discussed,
THE CONTEMPORARY CITY DWELLER
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illustrated, and inventoried in Guide to Chicago Murals. Chicago currently has some three hundred "walls with tongues," most of which were created during two decades, the 1930s and the 1970s, by artists working in the tradition of Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, los tres grandes of Mexican muralism. The art is as ephemeral as it is emotional, forming as valid a record of Chicago's history as the unsparing realism of Theodore Dreiser's novels. This forty-eight page pamphlet contains historical essays, a comprehensive list (including dates, dimensions, and locations) of the murals, as well as maps and photographs. In attempting to be comprehensive, the Guide has outlined what might someday be a more thorough work that matches the importance of its subject. Inconsistencies of style and presentation are apparent, and in the reduction of these walls to small gray and white reproductions they have lost much of their character. While this project was decidedly worth doing, noble motives do not create excellence-and excellence would seem to be a proper goal for an arts council to pursue. In contrast, Th e Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago attempts less and offers its findings in a more attractive format. Photographing stained glass presents a formidable challenge, and Erne Frueh has proved himself to be a master of this technique. To be offered such a large number of color plates at such a modest cost is extremely generous, and the photograph of the church's Heralding Angel can only be described as sublime. Having covered some of their material in a previous study ("Stained Glass Windows at the Second Presbyterian Church," Chicago History, Winter 1977-78), the authors have expanded their topic to "Art and Architecture"-and it is as an architectural study that their new effort leaves something to be desired . Unfortunately they chose not to include photographs of James Renwick's original fa,;ade (with its rose window and the spire that was part of the church for three-quarters of a century) or of the slender, cast-iron columns of Renwick's nave for comparison with the block-like pillars used by Howard Van Doren Shaw, who remodeled the interior after a fire in 1900. Shaw's transformation of Renwick's Gothic is in itself a study in microcosm of a stylistic shift. The church is well described within its social context (ministering to the elite of Prairie Avenue) but not in its architectural context. How exciting the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Twentieth Street must have been, with the equally monumental
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Calumet Club House (Burnham & Root, 1881-83) across the way on the northeast corner. With its red brick bays and oriels, dormers, gables, and towers, the club was designed to complement Renwick's church. While art historians might take issue with several of the iconographic interpretations, such minor points should not distract us from the larger issue: the Fruehs have given us an affectionate portrait of a praiseworthy survivor and its treasures. JETHRO M. HURT III
Immigrants and Religion in Urban America edited by Randall M. Miller and Thomas D. Mar;:_ik Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1977. $12.50 cloth, $4.95 paper.
is a collection of papers which were presented at a series of symposia entitled "Religious Freedom: Churches and Ethnic Communities in the American City" held at Saint Joseph's College, Philadelphia, in 1975-76. It includes essays by Josef J. Barton on Czechs, Rudolph J. Vecoli on Italians, Dennis J. Clark on the Irish, Jay P. Dolan on Germans, William J. Galush on Poles, M. Mark Stolarik on Slovaks, Maxwell Whiteman on Jews, and Robert Mirak on Armenians. Some of the essays deal primarily with immigrant groups in the Philadelphia area, while others (including Barton's and Vecoli's) relate specifically to Chicago. All of the essays focus on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Randall M. Miller sets the tone for the volume when he writes: "To understand the immigrants it is necessary to understand their religion." His essay and those which follow challenge the melting pot theory that newcomers were passive recipients of American culture. Although many immigrants were willing to learn English and adopt American customs in order to find jobs, they were also members of religiuus communities which mitigated the processes of assimilation, served as training grounds for ethnic leaders, and defined a central part of the immigrant's life. In Miller's words, religion was "the very bone and sinew of ethnicity." According to Vecoli's "Cult and Occult in ItalianAmerican Culture," the anti-clericalism, street feste, and mysticism (mal'occhio) of Southern Italian folk religion helped these immigrants resist the forces of Americanization in the Irish-dominated THIS BOOK
church. Vecoli points to the resurgence of feste among Italian Americans in recent years as evidence of persisting ethnicity, even though the American Catholic Church has renounced the notion of special "Mediterranean sensibilities." On the other hand, Clark argues that Irish Catholicism in America was more a product of Victorian Protestant pressures to conform than it was an outgrowth of rural Irish folkways. In his essay on the Slovaks, Stolarik notes that immigrant groups which have experienced little or no social mobility (i.e., by staying in lower prestige jobs and old ethnic neighborhoods) have developed a strong sense of community which most Americans have lost in their zeal to move "up and out." Beginning with Barton's piece on the Czechs and continuing throughout the volume are repeated references to the rich texture of social relationships within the religious organizations of each ethnic group. These are not naive, unsophisticated people. The number and variety of their social activities offer unmistakable evidence of the value of folk culture in sustaining viable communities and a sense of identity in our urbanized society. DOMINIC CANDELORO
Organizing Against Crime: Redeveloping the Neighborhood by Anthony Sorrentino New York: Human Sciences Press, 1977. $14.95. IN
ms
BOOK,
Thinking About Crime (1975), James
Q. Wilson linked the rising crime rate to the loss of a sense of community in many of our urban areas. In Organizing Against Crime, sociologist Anthony Sorrentino shows how this sense of community can be restored and used to combat delinquency and related social problems. Sorrentino begins by describing his youth in Chicago's Near West Side Italian-American community during the 1920s and the many tensions that existed between the culture of his parents and the new culture into which they were thrust as immigrants. Sorrentino admits that even he was tempted by a life of crime-until he meet Clifford Shaw, administrative director of the Chicago Area Project, in 1933. The Area Project supported many Chicago History
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local groups interested in self-help programs for their communities, hoping to encourage residents of low-income neighborhoods to take the initiative in solving their ow n problems. Accord ing to Shaw, such efforts gave local leaders a sense of responsibility and pride, and created a better moral climate which lessened the likelihood that individuals would resort to crime. Sorrentino soon became involved in the formation of the , vest Side Community Council, which launched programs to win young people away from delinquent activities. The book contains an absorbing account of one program that changed gangs into clubs working for community improvement. The organization enlisted the help of schools and churches in finding jobs for problem youths, and worked with family members to develop an attitude of support rather than rejection toward these youngsters. Sorrentino is well-qualified to assess these programs. Inspired by Shaw's example, he went on to get a bachelor's degree in sociology from the Lewis Institute, later attending the University of Chicago to do grad uate work in the same subject. Since then, he has organized many delinquency-prevention programs in Chicago (succeeding Shaw as administrative director of the Chicago Area Project in 1957), lectured on delinquency at Chicago area colleges, and served as the first executive director of the Illinois Commission on Delinquency Prevention. 1o t the least of his talents is his ability to tell his story with modesty and warmth.
The two became acquainted in Milwaukee, where Carl was a newspaper reporter and organizer for the Social Democratic Party and where Lilian, a schoolteacher, occasionally acted as a translator for socialist groups. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Chicago, she was the sister of Edward Steichen , the renowned photographer. The couple married in 1908 and eventually moved to Chicago where Sandburg published his first major work in the March 1914 issue of Poetry magazine. Chicago Poems followed two years later. Helga's book abounds with descriptions of Chicago's literary life during this time, and the Sandburgs' friendships with writers Edgar Lee Masters, Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, and Robert Frost. Other friends included architect Frank Lloyd Wright and socialist leader Eugene V. Debs. For most of their years in Chicago, the Sandburgs lived in the western suburb of Elmhurst. According to Helga, "my mother . . . was [always] involved with the house and land in some way-flowers, dogs, farm animals, crops-and with her children, strongly maternal. My father, in the habit of writing since he started, had made it his way of life. These two fitted together, their meeting over his work ... the long walks on country paths ... the murmur of their voices talking of whatever it was that was current in their lives . . . . " Like her parents, Helga is straightforward. She deserves praise for giving us this warm and gracious book. JOHN P. LONG
CLYDE C. WALKER
A Great and Glorious Romance: The Story of Carl Sandburg and Lilian Steichen
Industrial Archeology: A New Look at the American Heritage
by Helga Sandburg
by Theodore Anton Sande
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978. $12.95.
New York: Penguin Books, 1978. $8.95.
met Lilian Steichen in 1907, it marked the beginning of a romance that lasted nearly sixty years. Now their youngest daughter, Helga Sandburg, has written the life stories of her parents, beginning with their childhood and early years in the Midwest. Both Carl and Lilian were born of immigrant parents: his from Sweden, hers from Luxembourg.
SANDE'S BOOK
WHEN CARL SANDBURG
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Chicago History
is a popular approach to what is ordinarily a technical subject. Industrial archeologists examine "the industrial site and its interpretation" by "investigating, surveying, recording, and preserving," usually through the application of engineering or physics. As Sande demonstrates, anyone can become an amateur archeologist and make important discoveries.
Notes
The book surveys the historical significance of more than forty sites, ranging from grist mills to power plants. The author describes the origin, the duration and method of use, and the past and present conditions of each site, making ample use of historical photographs, drawings, and maps. Sande's approach is scholarly without being esoteric. His work is best when describing mills, mines, and bridges and their construction and operation. He also gives us a refreshing view of Chicago's Loop elevated, which he calls "an ideal case study of an entire transit system of reasonably manageable size that still serves its original purpose." But his treatment of grain elevators and breweries is superficial, offering few insights into their operation. Even so, Industrial Archeology is an introduction to a new subject, making it a unique and important work. Certainly it will prompt readers to look around and learn more about their man-made surroundings. KENNETH D. CREWS
Why "ICHi"? On February 1, 1980, the Chicago Historical Society's Graphics Collection adopted a nine-character identification system for its copy negatives. The four letters, "ICHi," are the nationally recognized bibliographic symbol for the Society, and the five numbers refer to the specific image. The system is intended to facilitate retrieval of images from the Society's large and growing photographic collections.
Chicago History on Radio What next? Now you can study Chicago history by tuning into "The Big Onion: Geography of Metropolitan Chicago," a new course co-produced by the City Colleges of Chicago and Radio WBEZ. Developed by James Piety, professor of geography at Wright College, the course includes thirty lessons (scheduled for broadcast through i\Iay 1980) accompanied by a 163-page study guide and exercises. For further information, call 977-2532.
The Writer and the City
The Reviewers -Dominic Candeloro is the director of the Italians in Chicago Project based at the University of Ill inois at Chicago Circle. -Kenneth D. Crews is studying law at Washington University in St. Louis. -Rachel B. Heimovics is a freelance writer who has been studying the work of Dankmar Adler. -Jethro M. Hurt III is Curator of Glessner House and Edu• cation Coordinator for the Chicago Architecture Foundation. -John P. Long has lectured on English literature al Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin . -Kathleen A. Roy is a research assistant for the Richard Nickel Committee. -Clyde C. Walker is chairman of the Department of Police Academy Services at Chicago City-Wide College. -John Zukowsky is Architectural Archivist at The Art Insti• tute of Ch icago.
Three meetings of this forum, in which contemporary Chicago authors will read from their works and discuss the influence of the city on their writings, are schedu led at the Society for the spring . Tuesday, April 22, 5:45 P.M. Poetess Lise! Mueller (Dependencies) and Studs Terkel (Hard Times, Working, and Talking to Myself). Tuesday, May 6, 5:45 P.M. Poetess Angela J ackson, winner of Northwestern U ni versity's Academy of American Poets Award and Third World Press Builders Award (Voodoo / Love Magic and The Greenville Club) and Sterling Plumpp (Steps to Break the Circle). To Be Announced, 5:45 r.M. Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune critic, winner of the Iarshall Field Award and a Chicago Newspaper Guild Award and dramatist David Mamet, winner of a New York Drama Critics Circle award (Sexual Perversity in Chicago, American Buffalo, and Th e !Valer Engine). The moderator for the programs is Edward W. Rosenheim, Professor of English a nd Hum anities at the University of Chicago. The series is co· sponsored by the Chicago Historical Society and the Illinois Humanities Coun cil with funding support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Call 642-4600, ext. 39 for further information. Chicago History
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THE CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY Clark Street at North Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614 Telephone: Michigan 2-4600
DIRECTOR Harold K. Skramstad, Jr.
The Chicago Historical Society is a privately endowed institution devoted to collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and selected areas of American history. It must look to its members and friends for continuing financial support. Contributions to the Society are tax-deductible and appropriate recognition is accorded major gifts. The Society encourages potential contributors to phone or write the director's office to discuss the Society's needs.
TRUSTEES
MEMBERSHIP
OFFICERS Theodore Tieken, President Stewart S. Dixon, 1st Vice-President Philip W. Hummer, 2nd Vice-President Gardner H. Stern, Treasurer Bryan S. Reid, Jr., Secretary
Bowen Blair Philip D. Block III Cyrus Colter Emmett Dedmon Stewart S. Dixon James R. Getz Philip W. Hummer l\frs. Frank D. Mayer
John T. Mccutcheon, Jr. Andrew l\fcNally III Arthur E. Osborne, Jr. Bryan S. Reid, Jr. Harold Byron Smith, Jr. Gardner H. Stern Theodore Tieken l\frs. Edgar J. Uihlein
LIFE TRUSTEES
Willard L. King Mrs. C. Phillip Miller Hermon Dunlap Smith HONORARY TRUSTEES
Jane Byrne, Mayor, City of Chicago Patrick L. O'Malley, President, Chicago Park District
l\fembership is open to anyone interested in the Society's activities and objectives. Classes of membership and dues are as follows: Annual, $20 a year and Governing Annual, $100 a year. Members receive the Society's quarterly magazine, Chicago History; a quarterly Calendar of Events listing Society programs; invitations to special programs; free admission to the building at all times; reserved seats at movies and concerts in our auditorium; and a 10% discount on books and other merchandise purchased in the Museum Store. HOURS Exhibition galleries are open daily from 9:30 to 4:30; Sunday from 12:00 to 5:00. Research collections are open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 to 4:30 except for July and August when they are open Monday through Friday. The Society is closed on Christmas, New Year's, and Thanksgiving. EDUCATION AND PUBLIC PROGRAMS
offers guided tours, assemblies, slide talks, gallery talks, craft demonstrations, and a variety of special programs for all ages, from pre-school through senior citizen. ADMISSION FEES FOR NON-MEMBERS
Adults $1; Children (6-17), 50¢; Senior Citizens, 25¢. Admission is free on Mondays. Single copies of Chicago History, published quarterly, are $2.50 by mail; $2 at newsstands, bookshops, and the Museum Store.
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