Silos at Wrigley Field?

The land where Wrigley Field itself stands was never itself a coal yard, but it was actually surrounded by coal yards, as well as freight rail lines and lumber yards, at the turn of the century and well into its history. And even earlier, the site of the ballpark itself was home to a Lutheran seminary, which is where Seminary Avenue got its name.

Wrigley Field - Addison Street looking West. 1935

The Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary opened there in 1891. Despite the fact that there was already one coal yard right across the street, the Lutheran minister who built the seminary thought it would be a peaceful place for his students’ quiet contemplation. But soon, coal and lumber yards took over much of the area, attracted by the Chicago and Evanston Railroad (later the Milwaukee Road). The young seminarians complained of the coal yard’s “smoke, dust, grime, soot, dirt, foul gases; railroading by night and day; whistles, ding-donging of bells late and early and in between times…the unsanctified men in charge sending the unsterilized particles, odors and speech into the homes, eyes, and ears of the seminary habitats.” The seminary abandoned the site and moved to Maywood in 1910.

In 1914 the Federal League founder and Chicago Federals (later named the Chicago Whales) ball-club owner Charles Weeghman decided to build his team’s new ballpark at Clark and Addison.

Sahara Coal

The ballpark was completed in 1915 and Weeghman’s Whales won the Federal League pennant that same year. In what was perhaps a harbinger for future occupants of the stadium, the Federal League folded shortly after, and the Cubs moved into the park in 1916 under owner William Wrigley Jr. and Weeghman Park became Wrigley Field in 1926.

1945 World Series at Wrigley Field.

Clark Street, looking North from Addison. Wrigley Field to the right. The mid-1950s.

Still, the coal yards stuck around for longer than you might think. The Wright and Company coal yard across Clark Street operated until 1938, and the coal yard Collins and Wiese Coal Company with five hulking silos on Seminary Avenue and Clark Street operated until 1961.

READ: Chicago’s National League Baseball Parks History.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The "Old" University of Chicago (1857-1886).

The first University of Chicago (first called Chicago University and, after it closed, Old University of Chicago) was established in 1857 by Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas as a Baptist mission school. Though not himself a Baptist, Douglas was willing to support an institution of higher learning that could promote the cultural and commercial growth of Chicago.

The Old University of Chicago. (1857-1886)

The land used to build the University of Chicago was originally part of a lakefront tract owned by Senator Douglas. Douglas had offered the 10-acre plot, worth $50,000 and located at Cottage Grove Avenue and Thirty-Fifth Street, to the Presbyterian Church for a seminary. When the church group failed to raise the $100,000 Douglas set as a precondition of his donation, he offered the site to a group of Baptists, who accepted. The property was directly across from Douglas's “Oakenwald” estate.

Old University of Chicago group photograph of students,

The university offered college courses as well as programs in medicine and law. The newly formed Baptist Union Theological Seminary held its first classes there too, but moved to suburban Morgan Park in 1877 after a series of financial setbacks. The University of Chicago could not meet its growing debt, and was forced to close in the spring of 1886.

The Old University of Chicago: Toward Integration
The views of Stephen Douglas and Baptist ministers like Drs. Hague and Howard were only one side of an argument about race and education to be heard on the old University of Chicago campus in the 1860s and 1870s.

General S. A. Hurlbut, an important Union officer, who worked closely with Lincoln in a variety of roles, gave a speech in the chapel of the Old University on April 24, 1867, arguing for the importance of educating all "the children of the Republic," including those who had recently been slaves.

And in 1868 Judge Henry Booth would be appointed as Dean of the Law School. Booth, a proponent of ethical humanism, which is a philosophical and religious doctrine committed to human equality, would also serve as an early president of the Chicago Ethical Society. His collaborations with Jane Addams would ultimately lead to one of Chicago's settlement houses being named the Henry Booth House in his honor.

Dean Booth would admit to the law school the first woman and African American to receive degrees from the old University of Chicago.

The Old University of Chicago: Idiosyncratic Advocacy and Matters of Policy
On June 30, 1870, Mrs. Ada H. Kepley and Mr. Richard A. Dawson received bachelor of law degrees from the old University of Chicago. Mrs. Kepley and Mr. Dawson were probably the first woman and first African American, respectively, to receive degrees from the old University of Chicago.

Although Mrs. Kepley would be thwarted in her effort to pursue a legal career, she would eventually become a Unitarian minister and prominent suffragette. Mr. Dawson had a successful legal career in Arkansas where, in addition to his basic practice, he launched at least one civil rights suit concerning the right to be served in restaurants. He also served in the Arkansas state legislature.

On June 2, 1872, the faculty of the old University of Chicago voted to recommend Miss Alice R. Boise, the daughter of a faculty member, for the degrees of BA and MA. She may be the first woman to have received an undergraduate degree from the old University of Chicago. Three months later, faced with two more requests for admission by women, the faculty decided to consider the question of whether women should be admitted as a matter of policy.

On Friday September 13, 1872, they voted as follows:

Resolved that we recommend to the Board of Trustees that young ladies who wish to take either the regular classical or the regular scientific course in the University and such as are found on examination to give evidence of fitness and an earnest desire to complete special courses of study, be allowed to join the classes of the institution, either in the preparatory department or in the college, motion carried.

From this point forward, the old University of Chicago was integrated with respect to both race and gender, although the numbers of African American students would remain small for years to come.

Corner Stone of the Old University of Chicago, mounted in the Chicago Tribune Building.

The present-day University of Chicago, which was established in 1890, is legally a separate institution but the new school eventually recognized Old University alumni as its own. The lone remaining stone from the older school's building, which was destroyed by fire, is preserved on the present school's main quadrangle, where it is set into the wall of the arch between the Classics building and Wieboldt Hall.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Moving Houses was a Common Practice in early Chicago.

In contrast to the present, when housing structures are seldom moved, Chicagoans in the 1830s, 40s, and 50s took advantage of the mobility of balloon frame structures without infrastructure connections.

Balloon Frame Construction. No Foundation or Anchored to the Ground. 

New arrivals could buy homes and then move them to the desired location. Chester and Simmeon Tupper, Chicago's first house moving company, regularly moved structures on rollers down the middle of Chicago's early streets.

Only specific kinds of buildings were easily moved. Shanties, log cabins, and structures made of brick or stone all posed particular problems for house movers. Balloon frame houses had none of these disadvantages. They were light, of flexible construction, and their frames were not sunk into the ground.

House moving was such a nuisance by 1846 that a group of Chicagoan's asked that the city council not permit more than one building to stand in the streets of any block at the same time, or permit anyone building to stand in the streets for more than three days. In 1855 Daniel Elston unsuccessfully petitioned the city council for permission to move a house across the Chicago River on the Kinzie Street Bridge.

There are several key reasons why house moving was so popular during these years. Early industrialization, which provided factory-made nails, and large-scale milling operations near Chicago facilitated house moving by making balloon frame construction possible. The lack of paved streets and the absence of utilities through the 1840s also facilitated house-moving.

The largest structures were cut from their utilities, then jacked up from their original foundations, placed on greased skids resembling railroad tracks, and then pushed down the street by horizontal jacks at a slow steady pace.

The house-moving industry mushroomed after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. During the rebuilding. the practice became entangled in the argument over whether Chicago should enact a total ban on any wooden house construction or relocation within designated "fire limits." The city council finally enacted a compromise ordinance that allowed the relocation of wooden structures in all but a few districts, a great victory for the working class, and for house movers.

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After the Chicago Fire of 1871, the city was in ruins. Nearly 100,000 people lost their homes. Tens of thousands of people left the city; others were taken in by friends. 

The fire had struck in early October, and winter was coming. It this emergency situation, temporary house kits – plans and materials – made of wood, were provided by the Chicago Relief and Aid Society so people could quickly build their own shelter cottages (aka fire relief shelters and fire relief cottages), as they were called. 

They came in two sizes; both were tiny, small ($100), and smaller ($75). The kits contained pre-cut lumber, windows, a door, a chimney, and a flexible room partition offering a modicum of privacy. The 12-by-16 foot (192 sq ft) model was for those with families of three or fewer; the 16-by-20 foot (320 sq ft) version was for everyone else.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.