WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

On this June 1st in 1960, the City of Chicago decided that the Garrick Theater Building could be torn down. Another obsolete remnant of the past was being replaced with something more modern and more functional, in this case a parking garage.

Not quite. The Garrick was an official city landmark.

Located at 64 West Randolph Street, the Garrick was a 17-story office tower with a 1,300-seat theater. Built in 1892, it had originally been known as the Schiller Building. Architecture scholars considered the complex one of the finest works of Adler & Sullivan.

By 1960 the Garrick was owned by the Balaban & Katz movie theater chain. That February the city's new commission on architectural landmarks designated the Garrick as one of 38 structures of "architectural importance." To much of the general public, who knew the Garrick as only a run-down Loop movie house, the announcement came as a revelation. So did the events that followed.

Two months after the landmark designation, Balaban & Katz cleared the office tower of tenants. In May came the news that the building would be demolished.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

Englewood is a mini-Detroit. Well into the second half of the 20th century, the area centered around 63rd and Halsted was dynamic and prosperous. In more recent times, the community has struggled to overcome a host of urban problems.

The history of Englewood begins in the 1850s, with the coming of the railroads. Two lines crossed near what is now 63rd and Wentworth. A settlement called Junction Grove took root near the railroad junction. Some years later, a local real estate developer popularized the name Englewood–after his home town of Englewood, New Jersey.

Most of the early settlers here were German and Irish.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

Brunswick is an old Chicago company. They began as a manufacturer of billiards equipment, then branched out into bowling. In 1914 they came up with a new advertising stunt. They were going to send a bowling ball around the world.

People didn’t travel much in 1914–not even 50 miles, let alone around the world. But there were YMCAs in all the British colonies. Brunswick's plan was to ship one of their new Mineralite model balls from one YMCA to another, and the ball would circle the globe that way.

Simple–and great publicity. People would read about the ball as it moved from one place to the next. When it got back to America, Brunswick would then put it on display at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.

Brunswick Mineralite #391914 left Chicago for San Francisco by train on May 28, 1914, and arrived on the West Coast two days later. After a bowling match at the YMCA, the ball went back across the U.S. to New York.

At New York the ball was put on a ship bound for London. The ball reached London, and there was a ceremony at the YMCA.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

Hog Butcher for the World,

Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,

Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;

Stormy, husky, brawling,

City of the Big Shoulders . . .

There was a time when every child in Chicago learned those words. They are the opening lines of Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago.” The house where he wrote them still stands at 4646 North Hermitage Avenue.

Sandburg was born in Galesburg, Ill. in 1878, the son of Swedish immigrants. As a young man, he drifted through a series of jobs–milkman, bricklayer, fireman, soldier, hobo, political organizer for the Social Democratic Party. Then he got married.

Time for stability. Sandburg moved to Chicago and became a reporter. He landed a job with the Daily News. He’d been writing poetry for years, with little success. That began to change.

His collection Chicago Poems appeared in 1916. Another anthology followed, then a series of children’s books. Sandburg was gaining a reputation. His publisher suggested he write a Lincoln biography for young people.

Sandburg did the research, and more research.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

The just-concluding NATO summit reminded me of a story I’d come across in an old copy of the Tribune. The date was December 6, 1945. On that date, Chicago was in the running to become the headquarters of the brand-new United Nations.

Let’s go back and revisit that time.

The League of Nations had been unable to prevent World War II. That war had lasted nearly six years and cost tens of millions of lives. The UN was supposed to be an improved replacement for the old League.

For now, the UN was meeting in London. Most member countries favored putting the permanent headquarters in the United States. But where? 

Among the sites being considered were Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York City, Westchester County (New York)–and Chicago. So a four-man delegation from Chicago traveled to London to meet with UN officials. Before boarding their plane for the trip home, they talked with reporters.

The Chicagoans were upbeat.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

Today we conclude our capsule look at how peoples from the 28 NATO countries helped build Chicago.

Belgium—As early as 1854, the government of Belgium identified 83 Belgians as living in the city of Chicago. What there was of a Belgian neighborhood in the city later developed in the few blocks around St. John Berchmans Catholic Church in Logan Square. Since the 1960s that concentration has dispersed.

Germany—Germans were the first ethnic group to come to Chicago in great numbers. In 1850 one-sixth of the city’s population carried the “born in Germany” label. By 1900 a full 25% of Chicagoans were either first- or second-generation German.

They settled on the North Side and up the Lincoln Avenue corridor. They built churches, schools, social halls. They printed books and newspapers, and organized political clubs. They were determined to keep their culture. When one nativist mayor closed the saloons on Sunday, the city’s Germans rioted.

Then came World War I, and a national wave of anti-Germanism. The local Germans became more assimilated.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

Today we continue the capsule stories of how people from the 28 NATO countries helped build Chicago. The final part will be posted tomorrow.

Albania—Chicago has never had a large Albanian population, and no real Albanian neighborhoods. The most prominent local person of Albanian ancestry was probably comedian John Belushi, who grew up in Wheaton.

Croatia—Because Croatia didn’t become independent until 1991, Chicago’s Croatians were commonly classified as “Yugoslavians.” Most of the local community life was centered around a few parishes, such as St. Jerome’s in Armour Square. Mayor Michael Bilandic and Alderman Ed Vrdolyak are the city’s most famous Croatians.

Denmark—Most of the Chicago’s earliest Danish immigrants settled along the axis of Milwaukee Avenue, close to other Scandinavians. By 1910 there were nearly 20,000 Danes in the city, the majority of them located near North Avenue in Humboldt Park.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet