The Byrne Memorial Pt. 2

     As I mentioned last month, there has been a push as of late to honor Former Mayor Jane Byrne by renaming one of the myriad tourist attractions in the city in her honor.  Well, coming down the pipeline fresh today, the City Council has made its decision.  By a unanimous vote, Mayor Jane M. Byrne will be honored through the renaming of the park outside of the old Water Tower.  This represents the culmination of a long process that ultimately wound up honoring the first(and so far only) female mayor of Chicago.  Additionally, Chicago is also the largest city in the United States to have ever had a female mayor as of 2014.  Now Byrne's legacy is preserved for both posterity and countless future generations of Chicagoans.

Day 247: A Recreation Area for a Labor Icon-Labor Week Day 3

     How could a child born in 1850 England go on to influence the entire history and legacy of labor unions to this very day?  Pretty easily actually, just ask Samuel Gompers.  For the first 10 years of his life, he lived in London, and attended the Jewish Free School.  All of that changed in April of 1860, when he was pulled out of school and apprenticed off as a cigarmaker in order to help his family out with their crushing levels of debt.  Alas, even this did not help, and the family immigrated to the United States in 1863.

     Once in the states, Gompers promptly started working once again as a cigarmaker in Manhattan, becoming active in the Local 15 Union the very next year.  In 1873, he jumped to another company, one that was more in line with his advanced abilities.  While there, he started to become influenced by the more socialist ideas that were propagated in the talk in that shop.  2 years after that, he became president of the Local 144 Union.  In 1881, he was instrumental in founding the organization that would become the American Federation of Labor(which merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955 to become the AFL-CIO, the largest labor federation in the United States).  In 1894, he was instrumental in promoting the new Labor Day holiday that had been recognized by Congress to placate the Pullman strikers.

     A number of years later, he popped back up when the United States got involved in World War I, urging all unions to hold off on striking and other labor actions during wartime so as to give America and its companies every advantage possible.  Gompers died in 1924, but many of his methods of organizing labor are used to this day even.  Additionally, there is both a park and a statue in downtown Chicago memorializing his roles in the labor history of this city and all others as well.

Day 105: A Street transformed into a Park: the Museum Campus.

     The address of the John G. Shedd Aquarium is 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive, even though the building really comes nowhere close to LSD(the only road that even borders Shedd is called Solidarity Drive[which is another tip of the hat to Chicago's Polish heritage]). Have you ever wondered why this is? Read on to find out...

 

     The Adler Planetarium was finished in 1930. For the next 60 years, the Adler, Field Museum, and Shedd Aquarium were all in the same area, however the Field and Shedd were bisected by the northbound lanes of Lake Shire Drive, which would come right up to the front steps of the building. You could actually take a bus right from the front steps. This also presented a somewhat workman like challenge in getting between the museums. In order to go from Soldier Field parking to either one of the museums, you had to cross a lane of Lake Shore Drive. Luckily, there was a pedestrian underpass for the safety of the guests. This would all change in the mid-90s, when the city conceived of a plan to unify the city's lakefront museums into one interconnected body. This plan involved redirecting the course of Lake Shore Drive from in between the Field and Shedd to a path along the west side of the Field Museum. While the biggest change was undoubtedly changing the course of LSD, once the road was moved, the city faced another question: what to do with the former road space. A solution was quickly found, and the entire area was turned into a big park, with plenty of green space, a food shack located in between the Field and the Shedd, and many different statues and sculptures spread all throughout the park.  In fact, what follows is just a partial list of all the stuff that has been put into the Museum Campus over the past 15 years:

• 3 hot dog stands, showing that Abe Drexler's legacy lives on
• Field Museum and its Bushman exhibit, continuing the legacy of Carl Akeley
• The 3 museums all together, with their numerous contributions made by both the Pritzkers and the Rice Family
• A train platform serving both the Metra Electric and South Shore Lines
• Another Thought, a statue by Michael Brown
• A tribute to Thaddeus Kosciuszko
• A statue of Nicolaus Copernicus outside of the Adler
• One word: Kelpies.
• And of course, the Man with Fish fountain

     For the first 5 years of its life, the Campus even had an airport attached to it in Meigs Field.  Ultimately, this airport fell to Mayor Daley's thuggishness in 2003, and sits today as Northerly Island Park.  Today, the Campus serves as a beautiful green area, as well as a seamless connection to  the boat launch and the lakefront trail to the Buckingham Fountain, downtown, and Navy Pier, as well as a continued monument to Chicago's status as a green city.

Day 64: A Well-Composed Tribute

     We've already mentioned how big of an influence Polish culture is on Chicago, so it shouldn't surprise you that there are several tributes (i.e. Kosciuszko and Copernicus to name two) to famous Polish nationals, as well as numerous pockets of Poles in the city.  One of those enclaves is the community of Portage Park, which in fact has the distinction of being the largest Polish community in the entire metropolitan area(according to the 2000 Census).  So, it seemed only natural for a park located in that area to be named in honor of Frederic Chopin, the most famous pianist and composer to hail from Poland.

     In addition to being 8 acres of open space on the Northwest Side, the park also houses a field house with several rooms and an assembly hall.  There are many preschool classes that take place in this building, along with(appropriately enough) music classes.  In addition to those perks, the park offers an after-school program for local children.  The year 2010 marked the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth, and plans were hatched to erect a statue of Chopin in the park.  This is in addition to plans to erect a replica of another Chopin statue along the lakefront.

Day 57: The Midway

     If you've been keeping up with this blog, by now you know the story about how Paul Cornell found the area south of the city lacking in the 1850s and decided to petition the state to create a park there.  You know about the South Park Commission, and how it was created in 1869 to administer the more than 1,000 acres that were set aside.  You even know that there were two separate parks carved out of the land, Washington Park and Jackson Park.  But here's something you don't know.  There's a third park in the mix.

     When the land was partitioned, Washington Park was on the western side of the plot, while Jackson Park was bordering the lake.  Connecting those two parks was a mile-long strip of land that today is known as the Midway Plaisance.  Originally Frederick Law Olmstead desired for the park to serve as part of a chain of lakes, which would allow people to boat all the way from Washington Park, through the Midway, and all the way through Jackson Park straight into the lake.  To accomplish this feat, Olmstead wanted to have a canal running through the Plaisance, thus a trench was dug through the park.  Even though the canal idea fell through, the trench remained, though it has never been filled in with water to this day.

     After the initial design phase, the 1893 World's Fair came to town, and the Midway became the main thoroughfare of the Fair, introducing the westernized version of the belly dance, among other things.  Also located on the Midway was the original Ferris Wheel, which made it's debut at the Fair.  In another legacy, the term midway became colloquially used as a term for the main area of games and amusements in a fair(due in no small part to the flurry of activity witnessed by the Plaisance).

     When the Fair ended, the Plaisance was restored to its former setting.  By 1926, the University of Chicago had absorbed the Midway, and ever since then has been the de facto authority in charge.  During that period of time, the U of C Maroons football team was playing in Stagg Field, just across the way from the Plaisance.  Because of this, the team was called the Monsters of the Midway in deference to the park.  To this day, the park remains an open-access green area.  And as for those trenches that Olmstead tried to put in?  Well, they now exist as soccer fields and other sporting areas.  So yes, 144 years after it was first formed, the South Park Commission's mission is going stronger than ever.

Day 55: The Remnants of The Fair

     When Paul Cornell successfully won approval for the formation of the South Park Commission in 1869, approval was given to put in a 1,000 acre park.  When it was first constructed, the Park was known collectively as merely South Park.  However, in 1880 the commission wanted the public to suggest new names for the park.  The westernmost park was renamed Washington Park in honor of out first President.  The park bordering the lake, which had originally been known as Lake Park, was renamed Jackson Park in deference to Andrew Jackson.

     10 years after that, the city was awarded the right to host the 1893 World's Fair, and the Fair needed a venue.  Soon afterward, Jackson Park was selected as the venue for the Fair, and work was quickly begun to ready it for the affair.  Daniel Burnham assisted with the design of the fairgrounds, producing the now-famous "White City".  Some of the features of the fair were the Osaka Garden(which was an authentic Japanese strolling garden), Daniel French's The Republic, a replica of a Viking ship, and a full-scale replica of Christoper Columbus' flagship Santa Maria.

     When the fair closed on November 1, 1893, the area was turned back into a park, including a public golf course, which was the first one of its kind to be opened west of the Allegheny Mountains(the course opened in 1899).  The Republic had been claimed by a fire in 1896, so a replica sculpture(at half the size of the original) was unveiled in 1918.  During World War II, vandals came through the park and damaged the Japanese Garden.  The Park District waited for many decades after the war to have it repaired before the Japanese city of Osaka finally stepped in and provided for the restoration project, and now the Island featuring the garden is known as one of the 150 great places in Illinois(at least according to the American Institute of Architects)  With the advent of the Cold War, came the advent of ultra-preparedness in this country, which brought the installation of a surface-to-air missile batter at the park.

     Nowadays, the park is a hot destination in the Summer months, as one of Chicago's many beaches is located within the boundaries of the park.  Not just that, but the park also features two walking trails and two basketball courts.  Additionally, the Park is an outdoorsman's paradise, featuring ample birdwatching opportunities with more than 24 species of bird(including feral Monk parakeets, descended from pet birds that went on the loose in the '60s), and a healthy fishing locale in the park's lagoons.

Day 47: The Park that was almost a Stadium

     In the early days of Chicago, a real estate magnate by the name of Paul Cornell wanted to develop some green space in his city.  So he lobbied the Illinois General Assembly to let him form an enterprise to ensure that this happened, and they responded by forming the South Park Commission.  In 1869,  the Commission identified nearly 1,000 acres that could be turned into park space.  Cornell hired Frederick Law Olmstead, who had built Central Park in New York City 10 years earlier(and was also a contemporary of Daniel Burnham).  Unfortunately, the Great Chicago Fire burned down the Commission's office(along with all the plans for the park) in 1871.

     The city stood up and dusted themselves off after the fire, and Olmstead was no exception.  Olmstead's vision for the park included a meadow, which would be maintained by keeping sheep who would graze on the grass, thus eliminating the need for landscaping measures.  Cornell did manage to convince Olmstead to put a sporting area in the park over his objections.  In 1881, the park was named in honor of President George Washington.

     The park was meant to be a connection between the lakefront and the city(and later on, a passage to Midway International Airport).  Today, the park houses the DuSable Museum of African American History.  Additionally, the park makes good use of the athletic facilities that Cornell lobbied for, as Washington Park is the site of the largest 16" softball league in the city.  Today, the park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, joining such Chicago Landmarks as:

• The Marshall Field's flagship store
• The Water Tower
• The Pumping Station
• The Cultural Center
• Dearborn Station
• The site of Chicago's first home
• And many others

     One other athletic legacy that the park just missed out on was the 2016 Olympics.  When Chicago put together its bid for the games, the main stadium was to be located in Washington Park.  One of the biggest sources of contention came from the fact that the Park's listing on the NRHP would prevent any modifications to the park.  However, Chicago was bumped from the first round of voting, and all plans to modify Washington Park were bumped along with it.  Today, Washington Park endures as a testament to the planning of Chicago for decades to come.

Day 20: The First Honoree

     If you walk out of the AMC theater on Illinois Street and take a right, then take a left on Columbus.  Walk about half a block south, and you'll see a park with benches.  A sign identifies this as Milton L. Olive III Park.  The layout itself is very much like Pritzker Park,  but what makes this unique is who this particular park is named for.  Milton Olive III was a Private in the United States Army during the Vietnam War who was originally from Chicago.  On October 22, 1965, his unit was attacked by the Viet Cong.  In the scrum, there was a live grenade thrown at his unit.  Noticing this, Pvt. Olive immediately jumped on the grenade, saving the lives of four fellow soldiers while costing him his own.  For his selfless sacrifice, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, thus making him the first African-American recipient of the Medal of Honor from the Vietnam War.  On April 21, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson held a ceremony on the White House steps where Olive's medal was presented to his parents.  In 1979, the City of Chicago dedicated a park to Milton Olive, and that park still remains to this day.

Day 16: Pioneers, oh Pioneers...

     Sometime in the 1780s, a Haitian explorer by the name of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable sailed into what is now known as the mouth of the Chicago River and decided to set up a home there.  Little did he know at that point that his humble abode would turn into a city of 3 million people.  However, it did and du Sable has gone down in History as the founder of Chicago.  Numerous accolades have been accorded to him as such, but one of the more permanent and noteworthy memorials has been the dedication of Pioneer Court.  In 1965, the Equitable Life Assurance Society of America building was being constructed, and the site of du Sable's first home was developed into a plaza that would be called Pioneer Court.  Situated in the middle of the Michigan-Wacker Historic District, Pioneer Court is a mere stone's throw from many Chicago landmarks, such as the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, NBC Tower, the Billy Goat Tavern, the Michigan Avenue Bridge(among others), and one statue from the past that we will be examining in the very next entry.

Day 7: A Park in the City

     Today's entry shoots us into the Loop, at the corner of State and Van Buren.  While there are many parks and green spaces in the city of Chicago, what makes Pritzker Park unique is that it is literally located right smack dab in the middle of the southeast corner of the Loop.  The baic layout is a concrete surface with a terrace set-up that gradually introduces grass into the setting. For most of the year, the park is just that: a park.  But, at various times I have been witness to various street performances at the park, as well as works of public art.  Of course, when it comes to public art at Pritzer Park, I feel I must mention a blast from the past.  About 3 years ago, there was a public art piece that went up in Pritzker Park that was nothing more than a giant eyeball.  It was both fascinating and delightfully creepy.  Unfortunately, it was only temporary and it has been down for roughly two years now.  Other than that, there isn't too much left to do other than to remind all of you that we're going to be seeing a lot more of the Pritzker name during our tour of the city.