WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

You can find a little bit of Chicago in the strangest places.

In 1945 the federal government transferred 1,080 acres of land near Mannheim and Higgins to the City of Chicago. The site was to be used for a new commercial airfield, the future O’Hare.

Though Chicago held title to the airport land, the site itself was a few miles beyond the city limits. That fact might cause legal complications--could the Chicago police even issue parking tickets? Early in 1956, the city council opened hearings on annexing unincorporated land between the city and the airport.

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Thirty-one years ago today, the eyes of the country were on Morton Grove, Ill. The quiet northern suburb had enacted the most restrictive handgun law in America. This was the first day under the new law.  

The story had begun in 1980, when someone applied for a license to open a gun store in the village. The matter went to the Board of Trustees. In June 1981 the Board passed an ordinance banning gun sales. While they were at it, they also approved a measure outlawing the possession of handguns.

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The ad appeared in the Tribune on January 29, 1857. James Hollingworth was prepared to move or raise your building. In 1857 Chicago, that was a booming business.

The city had been built on marshy ground near the lake. As the population grew, this became a public health problem. Cholera outbreaks were frequent. In 1854 alone, the disease wiped out 1 in 20 Chicagoans.

City officials decided to construct a sewer system–that would take care of the deadly waste. Drainage would be difficult, since Chicago sat only a few feet above Lake Michigan. There were two options: (A) abandon all of downtown and start over on higher ground, or (B) jack up all the buildings where they were. 

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January 25, 1931—Chicago’s most illustrious con man went through the indignity of a police lineup today. The Yellow Kid didn’t like it.

His real name was Joseph Weil, and he was born in Chicago in 1875. At an early age he decided that honest work was beneath him. He started on his road to fame by peddling worthless patent medicines.

Weil eventually worked his way up to the big time. He was involved in land swindles, stock frauds, race-fixing, and other dubious ventures. Along the way he acquired the nickname Yellow Kid, after a popular cartoon character. 

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Roger Sullivan wasn’t an educator, or a scientist, or an explorer, or a military hero, or a celebrated humanitarian. His public service consisted of a single term as a probate court clerk. So why does he have a high school named after him?

In Chicago, the reason is obvious. Roger Sullivan was the political boss who built the Democratic Machine.

Born in 1861, Sullivan grew up in rural poverty outside Rockford. He came to Chicago as a teenager to work in the West Side rail yards, and soon became active in the Democratic Party. His election to the Cook County Probate Court came in 1890.

Chicago had a competitive, two-party system then. The Democrats had several factions who battled among themselves. The Republicans were divided that way, too.

If either party could become united, that party would easily win elections. Different political chieftains kept trying to build a permanent coalition. Sullivan was the man who succeeded.

Over the course of twenty years, he gradually brought the local Democrats together. Often it was like herding cats. But though he suffered setbacks, he kept going.

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Cicero is the suburb nearest to the center of Chicago. In physical appearance, it look enough like the city that you might think it was just another one of those Community Areas, instead of a separate political entity.

Cicero Township was established in the 1860s, with an original size of 36 square miles. Over the next few decades, the City of Chicago nibbled away at its outer sections, while Oak Park and Berwyn went their own ways. In 1901 the current borders of the Town of Cicero were set in place.

Unlike some towns, Cicero did not grow outward from a single point. Rather there were a number of separate settlements that gradually came together and coalesced. These included communities like Clyde, Drexel, Hawthorne, and Morton Park.

Cicero had excellent railroad transportation and low taxes. Industry was attracted to the town, and by the 1920s it became the state’s second largest manufacturing center. The population grew from 16,000 in 1900 to over 66,000 in 1930.

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The year was 1920. At midnight, as the calendar clicked over onto January 17, Prohibition became the law of the land. Chicago’s reaction was a big yawn.

Okay, we all know about Chicago in the Roaring Twenties. We know that the city became the bootlegging capital of America. We’ve seen the gangster movies.

But that was all in the future on that January evening in 1920. The crowds at the taverns were no larger than on a typical Friday. When the clock struck 12, the patrons downed their drinks and left, the bartender locked up . . . and that was that.

The Prohibition law said that the manufacture, sale, or distribution of intoxicating beverages was illegal. However, people were allowed to have booze and beer in their own homes for their own use. They could keep all the beverage they wanted, as long as they bought it before January 17.

So Chicagoans began stocking up. Liquor stores had raised prices, but the public kept buying.

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