Charles Gates Dawes from Evanston, Illinois, was a Lawyer, Businessman, Banker, Politician, WWI Brigadier General, 30th V.P. of the U.S., and Ambassador to Great Britain.

"Once upon a time, there were two brothers. One of them went to sea. The other became Vice President of the United States. Neither of them was ever heard from again.”

That was an old vaudeville joke, and it always got a laugh. It was true enough. Charles G. Dawes was our 30th (1925-1929) Vice President, and he lived in Illinois. But unless you’re from Evanston, you probably never heard of this man.

Charles Gates Dawes

Dawes was born in Ohio in 1865, became a lawyer, and practiced in Nebraska for awhile. Dawes' prominent positions in business caught the attention of Republican party leaders. They asked Dawes to manage the Illinois portion of William McKinley's bid for the Presidency of the United State in 1896. Following McKinley's election, Dawes was rewarded for his efforts by being named Comptroller of the Currency, United States Department of the Treasury. Serving in that position from 1898 to 1901, he collected more than $25 million from banks that had failed during the Panic of 1893, and also changed banking practices to try to prevent a similar event in the future.

In October 1901, Dawes left the Department of the Treasury in order to pursue a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. He thought that, with the help of the McKinley Administration, he could win it. McKinley was assassinated and his successor, President Theodore Roosevelt, preferred Dawes's opponent. In 1902, following this unsuccessful attempt at legislative office, Dawes declared that he was done with politics. He organized the Central Trust Company of Illinois, where he served as its president until 1921.

In 1909 he bought this house at 225 Greenwood Street in Evanston, Illinois. The Dawes House was designated a national Historic Landmark in 1976. It is now owned by the Evanston History Center (formerly known as the Evanston Historical Society).

During the First World War, Dawes was commissioned major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel of the 17th Engineers. In October 1918 he was promoted to brigadier general. From August 1917 to August 1919, Dawes served in France during World War I as chairman of the general purchasing board for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), as a member representing the AEF on the Military Board of Allied Supply, and, after the war, as a member of the Liquidation Commission of the United States War Department. He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal and the French Croix de Guerre in recognition of his service. He returned to the United States on board the SS Leviathan in August 1919.

In February 1921, the U.S. Senate held hearings on war expenditures. During heated testimony, Dawes burst out, "Hell and Maria, we weren't trying to keep a set of books over there, we were trying to win a war!" He was later known as "Hell and Maria Dawes" (although he always insisted the expression was "Helen Maria")

Dawes resigned from the Army in 1919 and became a member of the American Legion. He supported Frank Lowden at the 1920 Republican National Convention, but the presidential nomination went to Warren G. Harding. When the Bureau of the Budget was created, he was appointed in 1921 by President Harding as its first director. Hoover appointed him to the Allied Reparations Commission in 1923.

After the war, Dawes went to work in the Harding Administration. He was Budget Director, and was later put in charge of German reparations payments. Because they had lost the war, Germany had to pay billions of dollars to the victorious allies.

For his work on the Dawes Plan[1], a program to enable Germany to restore and stabilize its economy, Dawes shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. The negotiations on reparations broke down. Dawes's plan was replaced with the Young Plan, which reduced the total amount of reparations and called for the removal of occupying forces.

By 1924 Calvin Coolidge was President and running for re-election. He wanted a running mate from the pivotal swing-state of Illinois. The Republican Convention gave the spot to ex-Governor Frank Lowden. He turned it down. Then Dawes got the nod. He delivered his acceptance speech from the porch of the house in Evanston, Illinois.

The Coolidge-Dawes ticket won a landslide victory.

TIME Magazine Cover: Charles G. Dawes - June 11, 1928

After that, the two men didn’t get along. It didn’t help matters when the Vice President missed a crucial tie-breaking vote, and one of the President’s cabinet nominees was rejected. Dawes was back at his hotel at the time, taking a nap.

Dawes was never seriously considered as a presidential candidate. He was later Ambassador to Great Britain, then returned to banking. 

He died in 1951 and is buried in Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago.

Dawes stipulated in his will that the house become a historical museum. It has been the home of the Evanston History Center since 1960, and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

---

[1] The Dawes Plan, an arrangement for Germany’s payment of reparations after WWI. On the initiative of the British and U.S. governments, a committee of experts, presided over by an American financier, Charles G. Dawes, produced a report on the question of German reparations for presumed liability for World War I. The report was accepted by the Allies and by Germany on Aug. 16, 1924. No attempt was made to determine the total amount of reparations to be paid, but payments were to begin at 1,000,000,000 gold marks in the first year and rise to 2,500,000,000 by 1928. The plan provided for the reorganization of the Reichsbank and for an initial loan of 800,000,000 marks to Germany. The Dawes Plan seemed to work so well that by 1929 it was believed that the stringent controls over Germany could be removed and total reparations fixed. This was done by the Young Plan. 

---

Tobacco aficionados might be interested to learn that Dawes designed and popularized the Dawes Pipe.

Chicago Tribune Publisher Joseph Medill’s Last Words.

Joseph Medill served as editor-in-chief for the Chicago Tribune for forty-four years.

Joseph Medill

In 1864, Joseph Medill left the Tribune editorship for political activity, which occupied him for the next ten years. He was appointed by President Grant to the first Civil Service Commission. In 1870, he was elected as a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention. After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Medill was elected mayor of Chicago as candidate of the temporary "Fireproof Reform Party[1]," serving for two years until 1873. As mayor, Medill gained more power for the mayor's office, he created Chicago's first public library, enforced blue laws, and reformed the police and fire departments.

On March 16, 1899 Medill knew he was dying. The custom of his day was to take down the last words of prominent people. (When Groucho Marx was dying, he let out one last quip: “This is no way to live!”) That explains Medill’s actions on this day.

Shortly after 10 a.m., Medill called his attending physician over to his bedside. Then he told the doctor: “My last words shall be–‘What is the news?'” After that, Medill spoke no more. Within ten minutes he was dead.

Medill's last words was printed in the Saturday March 25, 1899 Chicago Tribune. In fact, the entire page 13 was titled "Joseph Medill. Opinions of the Press Concerning Him."

Now that’s what you call dedication to your craft. As Medill was approaching his death, he’s thinking about what will be catchy in the next day’s paper. Notice that he announces “My last words shall be...” Old Joe wanted to make sure the doctor knew what was coming after that, and would remember the words, and would pass them on. He remained a newsman until the very end.

Today you’ll find Joseph Medill’s last words quoted in numerous places. Just like he wanted them to be. Medill is buried in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

---

[1] The disaster of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and the fact that it was widely blamed on the cheap wooden buildings that enabled working-class families to afford homeownership in large numbers, prompted the organization of a Fireproof Reform Party led by Joseph Medill, the Republican editor of the Chicago Tribune. Medill and his party were dedicated to the passage of a fire limit ordinance that would ban wood construction in Chicago. This effort failed, but the reformers were defeated in 1873 because of another disastrous policy: they renewed the temperance effort by enforcing Sunday closing of taverns. A pro-liquor People's Party, led by the North Side German Republican Anton Hesing (publisher of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung ), won control of the city council and elected Harvey Colvin as mayor.

Chicagoan Frank Billings, a giant of American medicine and Dean of Rush Medical College was a body-snatcher.

Frank Billings, born in Wisconsin on April 2,1854, was one of the giants of American medicine. In 1881, he received his medical degree from Northwestern University. He continued his medical studies in Vienna, Paris, and London, 1885-1886, before returning to Chicago. Billings was an attending physician at Mercy Hospital, 1890-1898; St. Luke’s Hospital, 1890-1906; Cook County Hospital, 1890-1901;  and Presbyterian Hospital, 1898-1920. He served as Dean of Rush Medical College, 1900-1920. He introduced residents and the clerkship system to Presbyterian Hospital.

Dr. Frank Billings, circa 1905

Billings served as president of the Chicago Medical Society, 1891; the American Medical Association, 1902-1903; the Association of American Physicians, 1906; the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, 1907; and the Institute of Medicine, 1922. He was an advocate for better medical care and a dedicated educator. He was instrumental in securing funds for fellowships and the construction of many buildings, including the Rawson Laboratory of Medicine and Surgery on the Rush Medical College campus and the Albert Merritt Billings Hospital at the University of Chicago. Billings' contributions to medical literature include writings on topics such as anemia, pneumococcic infections, and heart disease.

A portrait of Dr. Frank Billings, dean of faculty at Rush Medical College, and Dr. Wilbur Post, physician and professor of Medicine at Rush Medical College, wearing scholarly robes, standing in front of a building in Chicago, Illinois. 1927

He was the longtime dean of Rush Medical College during its affiliation with the University of Chicago. (Contrary to common belief, the university’s Billings Hospital is named for A.M. Billings, no relation).

Billings knew all of Chicago’s prominent families. One of his acquaintances was young Ernest Poole, later a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. Poole delighted in re-telling a story of Dr. Frank’s medical school days.

The laws of the time made it difficult to get cadavers for classroom instruction. Medical students sometimes solved the problem by digging up fresh corpses from the county Potter’s Field. One night Billings and two Northwestern classmates set out in a wagon to retrieve the mortal remains of a murderer who’d recently been hanged. On the way, they came upon a brightly lit tavern.

Parked outside the tavern was a wagon belonging to Rush Medical College. A figure wrapped in blankets was propped up in the driver’s seat. The Rush students had gotten to the murderer's cadaver first. Now they were inside the tavern celebrating.

Billings and his two friends transferred the body to their own wagon. Just then the tavern door opened.  Telling his colleagues to get away, Billings quickly wrapped himself in the blankets. He climbed into the Rush wagon and assumed the dead man’s place.

One by one, the Rush students staggered out of the tavern. The first man got into the wagon and checked the corpse. “Hey fellas,” he shouted, “this stiff don’t feel as cold as he ought to be!”

“And neither would you be, if you were burning in hell like I am!” Billings announced in a spooky voice.

The terrified Rush student tumbled out of the wagon. With that, Billings grabbed the reins and drove off in the Rush wagon, laughing all the way.

Billings died of a gastric hemorrhage on September 20, 1932, and buried at Graceland Cemetery, Chicago. 

The full biography of Dr. Frank Billings.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of the "Father Time" Clock, the Jewelers Building, and the Stratosphere Club in Chicago.

ABOUT THE JEWELERS BUILDING CLOCK
The "Father Time" Clock at 35 East Wacker Drive, in Chicago, is located at the Jeweler's Building which faces the Chicago River.

Weighing an estimated six tons, the clock was donated to the building by one of its first major tenants, the Elgin National Watch Company.

If you visit the northeast corner of the building, the clock at first glance looks like the Marshall Field's clocks. That is until you notice the creepy guy who looks like death. He is really supposed to be Father Time.

At night the clock is outlined in dark red lights, which makes it look even creepier. The clock was a gift from the Elgin Watch Company. Father Time was their logo. They had an office in the building.

ABOUT THE JEWELERS BUILDING
Aside from its beautiful building with a fancy dome on top of it, it has a very cool history. Construction started in 1924 and was completed in 1927. The Jewelers' Building was renamed the Pure Oil Building on October 1, 1926.

The Jewelers' Building, seen here under construction in 1926.

The lower floors were opened to their first tenants in May 1927, the upper stories opened in the summer, and the tower in October 1926.

Since this was originally a jeweler's building, it had many innovative security features. One of them was a really extreme version of a parking garage. Since jewelers would carry their merchandise around, they were often in danger of being robbed. So, to make sure no one was attacked on the walk between the car and the office, jewelers just drove their car straight into the building! For its first 14 years, the building had a car lift that served the first 23 floors and facilitated safe transfers for jewelry merchants. The car elevator would bring you to the floor you worked on and then drop your car off on one of the parking levels. From the security office, a lockdown would commence upon any tenant's trigger of the alarm system. All outside doors would lock, and elevators would stop at the next floor; the doors remained closed and would not move.

The best part of this 40-story building is the dome at the top.

Formerly the Pure Oil Building, then the North American Life Insurance Building, 35 East Wacker was listed in 1978 as a contributing property to the Michigan–Wacker Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 9, 1994.

Instead of sticking four ungainly water tanks on steel legs (there are four of these towers on the building), Yiaver & Dinkleberg, architects and engineers of this enormous structure designed these attractive and ornamental tank screens, which beautify the building instead of disfiguring it.

THE STRATOSPHERE CLUB FOLKLORE

When the 40-story Jeweler's Building was completed in 1927, the dome sat empty for some time. In 1930, the Chicago Tribune reported that a hawk had taken up residence in the dome and was preying on migratory birds in the loop. References seem to indicate that it was used for storage.

The Stratosphere Club in the dome was not, nor ever was, a speakeasy and Al Capone never stepped foot in the Stratosphere Club, which opened in March of 1937. Al Capone was in Alcatraz Federal Prison since August 22, 1934, and prohibition ended on December 5, 1933.

The creation of the Stratosphere Club was announced in the Tribune. On January 10, 1937, a Tribune article entitled "City's Highest Restaurant Being Built." Owner Paul Streeter named the club after a closed club in the Rockefeller Center in New York City.

The Stratosphere was scheduled to open in March and was the top four floors – a kitchen on the 37th, a regular restaurant on the 38th and 39th, and a cocktail lounge on the 40th. An ornate birdcage elevator took guests to the 40th floor. The lounge was decorated as a hot air balloon, accentuating the outstanding views of the Chicago River and the Loop. 

The club was a big hit, but by 1954, the cupola was converted into a showroom for a commercial artist who kept and used the old circular bar of the Stratosphere Club. It was the private conference room and gallery for architect Helmut Jahn (1940-2021), with his offices in Suite 300 of the North American Life Insurance Building. 

Jahn designed that marvelous United Airlines Terminal 1 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in the late 1980s with the moving walkways, ceiling light sculpture, and heavenly music.

Jahn was killed on his bicycle in suburban Campton Hills on May 8, 2021. The collision happened near his home and horse farm in St. Charles, Illinois.

Movies love this building. It's the Gotham City Courthouse in "Batman Begins," Batman sits on one of the turrets in one scene. In the movie "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" a giant robot battle is on top of the building.

sidebar

"I used to give [Chicago] tours on double-decker buses, river & lake tours. We  used to tell customers the story of Al Capone and the Stratosphere Club [as a speakeasy], and we always believed it to be true. All those people that I lied to through the years."                                                                                                                                       Mr. C. R. (via Facebook)

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Berry’s Candy Factory in a former church at State and Adams Streets, Chicago.

Berry’s Candy Factory and shop, during a strike, in a former church at State and Adams Streets, Chicago, (1903). The painted advertising on the front of the church building reads: "How Good, Berry's Candies."

Founder John Berry had three candy shop locations. His slogan: “Berry’s Candy Must be Good - Made in a Church.” A second store was at Washington and Sangamon Streets. the third location is unknown.

The State Street location was so popular, they once served over 11,000 customers (from their 3 stores) in a single day. The church building was razed shortly after this photo was shot. 

INDEX TO MY ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO FOOD & RESTAURANT ARTICLES.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.