How many times have you walked past the Tribune Tower on North Michigan Avenue? You may want to stop and take a look at the statue in the little outdoor alcove. The young man standing stolidly there is Nathan Hale.
Time was every American History book told the tale of Nathan Hale. In the early days of the Revolution he was a Connecticut school teacher and a lieutenant in the state militia. He volunteered to go on a mission behind British lines for General Washington, was caught, and was hanged as a spy on September 22, 1776. He was just 21 years old. "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country"—those were reported to be Hale’s last words. Whether or not he actually said them is something historians debate. Still, all accounts agree that Hale died bravely. The young teacher has become enshrined in the pantheon of American heroes.
Hale was a Yale graduate. Around 1905 a group of Yale alumni began collecting funds to erect a statue of Hale on campus.
He started playing semi-pro baseball as a teenager, mostly as an infielder. During the war-year 1918 he signed with the Sox and got into a few games. 
The driving force behind the Chicago Stadium project was Paddy Harmon, a West Side promoter who’d made his rep running dance halls. In 1926 he organized a syndicate of investors, and they quietly began buying up property around Madison and Wood streets. They eventually acquired a square block. 
.JPG "1934 (CTA photo)")
