Chicago's Loren Miller & Company Department Store. (1900-1931)

Before there was a Uptown community on the north side of Chicago, there was Sheridan Square.

Centered around the intersection of Lawrence and Evanston Avenue (renamed Broadway in 1913), the area remained pretty much building-free well into the early part of the 20th century, even as people started building large suburban-style homes in nearby Edgewater, Buena Park, and Ravenswood. But when Loren Miller moved his dry goods business from Wilson Avenue a few blocks north to Broadway and Lawrence in 1915, Sheridan Square began transforming into the heart of the Uptown business and entertainment district.

Miller knew the dry goods market well. He'd worked for Marshall Field & Company and other large downtown department stores before opening up his Wilson Avenue establishment in 1896. As more and more people moved out of the more congested and built-up parts of the city to the south, little pockets of upscale residential communities began cropping up north of today's Irving Park Road, and Miller catered to this clientele.

The Loren Miller & Co. was founded around 1900. Much of the store's early success relied upon Miller's willingness to replace traditional retailing practices with more innovative ones, such as widespread use of newspaper advertising, bargain pricing, superior customer service, and liberal credit policies.

By 1914, Loren Miller & Co. had outgrown its original location, and Miller was looking for a place to move to - just not too far away. It just so happened that Mr. Albert Cook owned a vacant piece of property that he wanted to improve with an income-generating building. The vacant lot was between two existing buildings perched on a triangular parcel of land created by the intersecting streets of Broadway, Racine, and Leland Avenues, not far from Miller's Wilson Avenue store.

A beautiful new fireproof steel structure is nearing completion at 4722-28 Broadway in the Wilson Avenue District (today's Uptown community), one of Chicago's smartest residence districts. This new store is between Lawrence and Leland avenues. It has attracted considerable attention in Chicago because its personnel is composed of men who have been identified with the retail trade of the Chicago Loop district for many years.

Loren Miller signed a 20-year lease at $21,000 ($581,000 today) per year for the brand new $150,000 5-story, bright white terra-cotta coated department store. William Klewer designed the loft building between the Plymouth Hotel and the Sheridan Trust and Savings Bank. The annual rent was $21,500, or 430,000 for the term. Mr. Miller had a capital stock of $350,000 ($9,460,000 today).

The five floors and basement give a selling space of approximately 54,000 square feet. 

• The First Floor was devoted to piecing goods, notions, ribbons, jewelry, and men's furnishings. 
• The Second Floor had men's clothing, shoes, and the company's general offices. 
• The Third Floor carried women's apparel, millinery, corsets, etc. 
• The Fourth Floor was the children's clothing, newborn to teen. with the infants' shop, children's barbershop, playroom, and children's, boys and misses' apparel. 
• The Fifth Floor was full of house furnishings, carpets, upholstery goods, and furniture.

By the time the doors were ready to open in November of 1915, Miller had renegotiated his lease and extended the term by another 5 years. Loren Miller & Co. opened with a stock of about $125,000 ($3 million in 2017) in medium and high-class merchandise.

"WE DISTRIBUTE OUR CIRCULARS BY REGULAR CARRIERS."
"I invited all our neighbors—competitors included—to unite in a common enterprise. I turned our circular into an Up-Town weekly of retail trade, sinking its identification with our store completely and engaging to retain the only one-quarter page." Loren Miller

In 1921, Loren Miller & Co. circulated 56,000 weekly "The Up-Town Advertiser" circulars, which they started delivering in 1916. Miller contemplates adding three stories to the building as the expansion of the business has been so great that it requires more room.

In 1926, the store was enlarged yet again when the Sheridan Trust and Savings Bank building to the north of the store was acquired. The neo-classical structure was an important addition to the store, not so much for the extra floor space that is offered, but rather for the high visibility it gave the business. 

For one, it more than doubled the store's show window space and thus enhanced its capacity to entice passers-by with the latest fashions or unbeatable bargains. At the same time, the acquisition of the bank building gave Loren Miller and Company ownership of one of the Uptown district's most distinctive and easily recognizable building sites, a triangular strip of land that narrowed to a point not far from the increasingly congested intersection of Broadway and Lawrence Avenue.

It wasn't long after the move that Miller & Co.'s full-page ads in the Chicago Tribune began to carry the banner "The Uptown Store" to distinguish it from the major downtown retail emporiums.

Though always concerned about promoting his own retail operations, of equal concern to Loren Miller was the overall success and popularity of the entire Uptown area as a retail and entertainment destination. During his years as head of the store, Miller was a leading booster of the district and worked hard to inflate its reputation throughout Chicago and the North Shore. Miller, for one, has often been credited with having coined the name "Uptown" to jazz up the neighborhood's image. Miller also began adding "Uptown" to their address.

Previously, the area had been known only by the less romantic "Wilson Avenue District." During the 1920s, in the hopes of making the intersection of Lawrence and Broadway into another Times Square, Miller pushed the name "Uptown Square." 

In 1927, Miller got the Chicago City Council to officially declare the intersection of Lawrence and Broadway "Uptown Square," and the Miller & Co. display ads now carried a prominent banner proudly announcing "The Uptown Square Department Store."

The Uptown Theatre opened in 1925.

Times were good for Loren Miller & Co. In 1926, the store expanded and moved into the space previously occupied by the bank, and Miller had also taken over the Plymouth Hotel - now the Uptown Hotel - for future expansion.

Then, on August 2, 1931, a full-page ad in the Tribune declared that Goldblatt Bros. would hold a liquidation sale at the Loren Miller & Co. department store as they transitioned to Goldblatt's merchandise in their newly acquired Uptown location. Miller was out, and Goldblatt's was in.

Goldblatt's, a favorite of neighborhood shoppers, survived economic turmoils and remained in their Broadway location for the next 67 years. After finally throwing in the towel and closing up the shop in 1998.

The building sat empty until 2002 when the Goldblatt's sign was finally removed, and the trio buildings underwent demolition, restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse, converting the former department store complex into a three-sided, retail and residential grouping.

2017 Photograph

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Nathaniel Pope was responsible for giving Illinois its shape.

For over a 100 years, Illinois was known as the Illinois Country and controlled by the French. A scattering of French trading forts existed along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Illinois rivers. Father Pierre Marquette suggested a canal connecting Lake Michigan to the Illinois River seemed like a natural idea for the economic benefit of the interior of the continent. At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, the territory was ceded to the British.

Illinois Country Map 1763-76

For 15 years, the British took little interest in the area and had just a few forts. During the Revolutionary War, George Rogers Clark and the Long Knives invaded from what is now Kentucky and took Fort Massac (Metropolis, Illinois) and Kaskaskia and proceeded to march across the territory to Vincennes securing the upper Midwest for the new United States of America. During the War, Virginia would control the land for a while then ceded the territory in 1778. After the war, the Illinois Country became part of the Northwest Territory in 1783.

In 1800, Illinois then became part of the Indiana Territory under the governance of a young William Henry Harrison. Due to geographic circumstances and the lack of technology, Illinois and Indiana both grew northward starting at the Ohio River. In order to trade goods, both were initially dependent on southern river traffic to exist.

In 1809, Illinois became its own territory which originally included lands that became the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, the eastern portion of Minnesota, and the western portion of the upper peninsula of Michigan. Ninian Edwards,Pope's cousin, was appointed its first Governor.

As Illinois was preparing to become a state, the remaining area of the territory was attached to the Michigan Territory.

The original boundaries of the Territory were defined as follows: “...all that part of the Indiana Territory which lies west of the Wabash river, and a direct line drawn from the said Wabash river and Post Vincennes, due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada...”

Kaskaskia was the territorial capital. The 1810 census showed a population of 12,282.

The settlement of the territory was slow due in fact to its isolation on the western frontier, but also in part to the climate, access, and the inability to plow the thick prairie soil, not to mention Indians in its northern portions.

Nathaniel Pope

Nathaniel Pope was responsible for the location of Illinois’ most boring border, its straight-line northern boundary with Wisconsin. Had it not been relocated, the Land of Lincoln might have been the Land of Slavery. And what became the Civil War may well have had a different outcome.

Nathaniel Pope was born in Kentucky, Pope’s brother, John, was a U.S. Senator from Kentucky. John Pope used his connections to appoint Nathaniel secretary of the new territory.

Nathaniel then helped get his cousin, Ninian Edwards, appointed Governor of the territory. Before Ninian assumed his role, Nathaniel appointed others that supported Ninian to government positions in the territory.

In 1812, the territory was progressing slowly. After the War of 1812 ended, a portion of what is today western Illinois was designated as the Military Tract for payment for veterans of the war in lieu of a cash payment. However, Illinois was only at 30,000 in population despite the tract. Nathaniel Pope wanted to be more than just the secretary of the territory. He ran to be the delegate to Congress for the territory. He felt he could do more for the territory to help make it a state. He became the Illinois Territory Delegate in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth United States Congress.

The boundaries of Illinois were basically set by three rivers on the south, east, and west borders. The Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers hemmed in the slowly growing populace. The northern border of the territory was initially set at the southern end of Lake Michigan.

Pope, saw this as a disadvantage should Illinois become a state. While Illinois was populated in the south, very few residents lived north of Vandalia in 1818. But as the Illinois delegate to Congress, Pope was determined to put Illinois on the map, even if it meant rearranging the map.

Illinois with its new northern border.

The Northwest Ordinance originally called for the border to be at the southern tip of the Lake. But when Pope began his push, the border shifted. First, Pope asked for the border to moved 10 miles north of the southern tip. Then after a census was taken to assure 40,000 residents lived in the state (When it was closer to 30,000), Pope submitted his second proposal, eloquently making his case for a new border in the north for two reasons.

Economic – At that time the northern border of the Illinois territory was on an east-west line even with the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Pope argued that if Illinois was given more of the lakefront, the trade in the state would be more connected with northern states by way of the lakes. Trade would flow through the north rather than along the rivers of the south. It would make the great lakes the center of commerce rather than the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. 

Nathaniel Pope wanted Illinois to have access to the port of Chicago, which was north of that line. By 1818 plans were already underway for building the Illinois and Michigan canal issuing from Chicago and connecting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi. If the Illinois border was at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, Illinois would be excluded from a share in the canal.

The Cause of Union – Slavery, while in the back of some minds, was most likely an issue. Although it was never explicitly stated by Pope, the growing sentiment of the time that would be reflected in the Missouri Compromise two years later in 1820, it can be inferred from tying the new state to the north economically through the Great Lakes, was an astute accomplishment in hindsight. Illinois would be in the center of the Union come 1860. While many in Southern Illinois would be sympathetic to the Confederate cause, the state would not.

Nathaniel Pope moved the border of Illinois 51 miles north to 42°35” north latitude line has had a profound effect economically on the state and the culture of the region. There still lingers animosity between Illinois and Wisconsin over the moving of the border.

Illinois in 1822

Wisconsin would not join the Union until 1848 largely because of its small population. By ceding 8,500 square miles of lakefront property to Illinois, Pope and Congress shifted the fortunes of the two states. Wisconsin would become part of the Michigan territory.

The first plat of the town of Chicago was filed in 1830. In 1833, Chicago was Incorporated as a town, then Incorporated as the City of Chicago in 1837. And after a railroad and a canal connected the lakefront to the rest of the state, Chicago’s fortunes forever changed. Even today, while the largest city in the state, and half its population, Chicago does not consider itself part of the state. It is its own entity culturally and economically.

For Pope, he would go on to be judge for the United States District Court for Illinois. His son, John, was commander of Union forces at the second battle of Bull Run. Nathaniel Pope has Pope County named after him in southern Illinois.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The History of the Lill and Diversy Brewery, Chicago, Illinois

The year 1833 not only marks the incorporation of the town of Chicago, but also the establishment of Chicago's first commercial brewery. German immigrants William Haas and Konrad (Andrew) Sulzer arrived in Chicago from Watertown, New York that year. They brought with them one hundred and fifty barrels of ale, a load of malt, brewery equipment, and $3,000 ($75,630 in 2017). The Haas & Sulzer Brewery was an immediate success, producing approximately 600 barrels (31 gallons per barrel) of ale for a town of about 350 residence.

Sulzer sold his interest in the brewery to William B. Ogden in 1836 the 1st Mayor of Chicago (1837-1838). Noting the high cost of shipping beer from the East, Ogden financed the erection of a larger structure (the plant) at Pine Street (now North Michigan Avenue) and Chicago Avenue to take advantage of the growing market. During his tenure with the brewery, he also managed to serve full time as the City of Chicago's first mayor in 1837-38.

William Lill, an immigrant from England, settled in Chicago in 1835 after famously walking to Chicago from Louisville, Kentucky, a 300-mile journey. Lill bought a large share of the Haas & Sulzer Brewery in 1837.

1837 Chicago Directory Listing

Michael J. Diversy[1], an immigrant from the current Alsace-Lorraine area of France, shared the ice stored on the premises of the Haas & Sulzer Brewery, operating a dairy from the same building.

Michael Diversy bought out Ogden in 1841. The plant was sold in 1843 to Lill and Diversy, which was renamed "Lill & Diversy," also known as "The Chicago Brewery." Their first year’s brew was about 460 barrels of Ale. Both Haas and Sulzer left the brewing business.

A portion of an ad for Lill and Diversy's Brewery from the 1858-59 Chicago Business Directory.

By 1857, the Lill & Diversy plant, covering an entire city block and had grown into the largest brewery west of the east coast. By 1861 the business was producing nearly 45,000 barrels a year of beer, porter, stout, and their most popular drink, "Lill's Cream Ale." For many years “Lill‘s Cream Ale” was one of the most famous brands in the country.

The Lill & Diversy Brewery was damaged by fire in 1860 and 1864. In 1866 the brewery expanded, sprawling over two acres on the corner of Pine Street (later North Michigan Avenue) and Chicago Avenue and employing up to 75 men. In fact, the four-story structure towered over the Water Tower Pumping Station completed just across the street a year later.

1868 Chicago Directory Listing

Lill's Premium Stock Ales, 167 State Street (today; 101 S. State St.), Chicago, Illinois. Circa 1868

Michael J. Diversy died on December 10, 1869, and is buried in Saint Boniface Cemetery in Chicago.

Lill continued the operation alone. Unfortunately, this story, like so many stories from this period in Chicago's history, ends with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The Lill & Diversy Brewery burned to the ground and never reopened. William Lill lost an estimated $650,000 ($14,057,300 today) in damages with the destruction of the brewery.

Looking north from Chicago Avenue at Pine Street (today's Michigan Avenue) in 1872, after the Great Chicago Fire. The photo was taken from the top of the Water Tower as you can see its shadow in the lower right-hand corner. The ruins in the foreground are the Lill & Diversy Brewery.

Ruins of the Lill & Diversy Brewery.

William Lill passed away on August 11, 1875, and is buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

 

Michael Diversy was a Chicago Alderman and a noted philanthropist. He donated land for the McCormick Theological Seminary, was the founder of St. Joseph Catholic Church (now at Hill and Orleans streets), and donated land for St. Michael's Church (the Church named to honor Diversy's patron saint) at Eugenie street and Cleveland avenue. Michael Diversy was so important to Chicago that three streets were named after Diversy; Diversey Avenue, Diversey Parkway, and Diversey School Court. William Lill was also honored by Chicago naming Lill Avenue after him.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

---

[1] The original spelling was without the "ey" as it is now spelled in Chicago's street names. It is said that his signature had a flourish at the end that looked like the spelling would be DIVERSEY.