WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton, is a classic children's book. A sturdy frame cottage is built far out in the country. But as the years pass, the city grows up around it, making the house sad. Finally, the house is put on rollers, moved further out into the country, and is once again happy.

Chicago has its own version of the Little House. Except that the Chicago house was moved twice--and the second time, it was moved back downtown. The city is now celebrating its 175th birthday.

Henry B. Clarke was one of Chicago's early settlers. He operated a hardware business and was a director of the city's first bank. In 1836 he built a house on the outskirts of town, near what is now Michigan Avenue and 16th Street.

Clarke's home was no little cottage, but an imposing mini-mansion with pillared portico and high cupola. When Henry died, his wife Caroline continued to live in the house. That's when it became known as "The Widow Clarke House."

At the time of the Great Fire in 1871, the house was owned by a tailor named John Chrimes. Though the fire didn't come anywhere near the property, Chrimes wasn't taking any chances. He had the house moved four miles south onto the open prairie.

Settlement eventually grew up around the Clarke House.

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Last year 127th Street in Calumet Park was renamed Obama Drive. As anyone familiar with downtown Chicago knows, "president streets" are an old city tradition.

Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore. Those are the first 13 presidents, and 12 of them have streets in or near the Loop. Since there were two presidents named Adams, Quincy Street honors president #6, John Quincy Adams.

The one president without a street is #10, John Tyler. Some sources claim Tyler Street was changed to Congress Street during the Civil War, when Tyler declared allegiance to the Confederacy. Yet Tyler Street is still mentioned in news stories into the 1890s. Maybe the city didn't get around to changing the signs until then.

After Fillmore left office in 1853, the city seems to have abandoned the custom of automatically giving a president his own street. Now he had to earn the honor.

Lincoln Avenue, Grant Place, Garfield Boulevard, Roosevelt Road. From 1853 to 1909, out of eleven men who served as president, only four made the cut.

Wait--what about Pierce or Hayes or Arthur or Cleveland? Chicago does have those streets, but all of them were named for other people.

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"You may say I may be unfit to be mayor, but you can never say I'm an unfit mayor."              

--Rahm Emanuel

Triathlete Rahm is probably the most physically-fit mayor that Chicago has ever had. Just for fun, let's take a look at the last century of his predecessors, and see how they measure up.

In 1911 Fred Busse was completing his single term as mayor. Busse had been a saloon-keeper and was built along the lines of a beer keg--he was fondly known as Fat Freddie. He died at 48.

Busse was succeeded by Carter Harrison Jr., returning for a fifth term on the fifth floor of City Hall. I never thought of Harrison as portly, until I ran across the accompanying picture. In any case, Harrison lived to be 93.

From 1915 to 1931 the city had three terms of William Hale Thompson, sandwiched around one term of William Emmett Dever.

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The Great Depression was a grim time. Yet even then, people needed to laugh. In September 1936, Chicagoans were chuckling over two stories. Both of them were somewhat risque--at least by 1936 standards.

The first tale begins with Hazel LaBreck, a 27-year-old singer from Wisconsin, traveling to Chicago for a concert audition. On the bus she became acquainted with an older man named Mr. Larue. Larue told the young lady he was a movie agent, and that he might be able to get her a job in Hollywood. But first she had to demonstrate she had a shapely figure.

LaBreck might have been from farm country, but she was no hick. Once off the bus she called police. Now joined by two detectives, the young woman went to the Morrison Hotel, where she had arranged to meet Larue in his room. The cops waited outside.

When the young lady arrived, Larue produced copies of official-looking studio contracts and a silhouette chart. Then, taking out a tape measure, he told her to get undressed.

With that, Hazel LaBreck gave a signal, and the detectives burst in. Larue quickly confessed that he was not a Hollywood agent, but a clothing salesman. He also gave the cops his right name--which wasn't Larue.

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Wars cost money--lots of it. During World War II, the U.S. government raised money by selling war bonds to the public.

The third bond sale was launched here on September 9, 1943. The country had already been at war nearly two years. To renew spirits and remind people what the war was all about, Chicago staged an all-day extravaganza.

The proceedings began at noon, with a fly-over of planes from Glenview Naval Air Station. As the planes thundered over the Loop, the city responded.

Anything that could make noise was sounded. Air raid sirens shrieked, facory whistles blew, church bells rang. Drivers leaned on their horns. Pedestrians yelled their lungs out.

After two minutes the cacophony died away. Then it was down to business.

An outdoor rally was staged at LaSalle and Jackson. Movie stars Albert Dekker and Helen Walker were joined on the podium by four decorated war heroes. They took turns addressing the crowd of office workers on lunch break, urging them to help beat the Axis by buying bonds.

Over on State Street, Goldblatt's department store unveiled a reproduction of the Liberty Bell. Bond purchasers were given the privilege of ringing the bell.

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Chicago is gearing up to celebrate the 175th birthday of the Henry B. Clarke House. Located a mile south of the Loop, it's usually cited as the city's oldest building. But out in the Norwood Park neighborhood, at 5624 N. Newark Avenue, there's an even older house.

Mark Noble was English by birth. Along with his family he arrived at the little settlement near the mouth of the Chicago River in 1831. He operated a saw mill and helped organize a Methodist congregation.

In 1833 Noble claimed 150 acres of land a dozen miles northwest of town. He built a small frame house on the Waukegan Road and moved into the life of a gentleman farmer. But he died in 1839, and his widow sold off the property.

Noble's house passed through a series of owners. Thomas Seymour bought it in 1868. He was part of the company developing the new village of Norwood Park in the area. Since the Seymours were a large family, he added a two-story addition to the original building.

Seymour used the property as a country farm. He planted a vineyard, and an orchard with over a thousand apple and cherry trees. For a while he raised blooded short-horn cattle.

Chicago annexed Norwood Park in 1893. Waukegan Road became Newark Avenue.

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If you're in Lincoln Park this Labor Day, you might pass him on your way to the zoo or North Avenue Beach. Look for him a few hundred feet north of the Chicago History Museum.

There he stands, gazing down the street that carries his name. He is one of Chicago's most visible statues. He is - to give him his full name -Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.

Much of the material about La Salle is incomplete or contradictory. He seems to have been born of minor French nobility in 1643. As a youth he studied with the Jesuits, and may have thought about becoming a priest. But in 1666 he moved to France's North American outpost at Montreal.

La Salle was ambitious and well-connected. He received a series of royal patents to explore the interior of the continent. The idea was to set up forts and trading posts, and eventually attract settlers from the mother country.

Beginning in 1669, La Salle mounted a series of expeditions. He explored the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, then moved onto the Illinois River and the Mississippi Valley. He probably portaged through the area that became Chicago.

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