Chicago Philanthropist, Anita McCormick Blaine, (1866-1954)

Innovations in educational thought matched those made in science on campus in the early decades of the twentieth century. Educational reformer John Dewey's appointment to the faculty in 1894 signaled a substantial commitment by the University of Chicago to test new teaching practices and to implement new pedagogical theories. Indeed, creating the Laboratory School under Dewey's leadership immediately put the University on the national educational map. But to sustain Dewey's high ambitions, University administrators needed the financial resources that only a major philanthropist could provide.

Into the breach stepped Anita McCormick Blaine (Mrs. Emmons Blaine). The daughter of industrialist Cyrus Hall McCormick and his wife Nettie, Blaine, made a substantial gift for a building to house the University Elementary School and University High School on campus—Emmons Blaine Hall.

Moreover, Blaine also provided funds to subsidize the University's programmatic work in education, a welcome expansion of the horizon of philanthropy beyond that of the first cohort of Chicago donors, whose gifts had been mainly directed to building construction.

The cause of improving primary and secondary education deeply interested Anita McCormick Blaine, perhaps a reflection of the minimal education she received as a child. Believing that the existing methods of primary instruction were ineffective, Blaine searched for the right person to be her standard bearer, and she found him in Colonel Francis Wayland Parker. Since the 1870s, Parker had experimented with new teaching methods, rejecting the idea that students learned best by rote memorization. Parker's unconventional opinions (e.g., his rejection of the traditional division of subjects, his emphasis on parental involvement, and his insistence on practical learning) attracted much criticism. Blaine became an ardent and enthusiastic supporter. In 1899, she urged Parker to establish a unique private school on the city's North Side, in which she could enroll her son, Emmons, offering to fund the plan herself.

With Blaine's patronage, Parker opened the Chicago Institute in 1900 in a rented German Turngemeinde, or athletic club, on North Wells Street. Plans had been developed for an impressive new building and elaborate curriculum for the Institute, but when expenses skyrocketed, Blaine and Parker began to consider alternate possibilities. They found a resolution to their dilemma in a plan by William Rainey Harper to incorporate the school within the University of Chicago as a part of its educational program. Blaine then announced that she would transfer her pledged investment of $700,000 in the Chicago Institute to the University of Chicago.

University of Chicago, Blaine Hall from Scammon Court.

By 1901, Blaine and Parker's enterprise had been merged with Dewey's experimental school, laying the foundations for the University's School of Education and the modern Laboratory Schools of today. All that remained was for the new entities to receive a worthy and permanent home, which they acquired in 1904 with the completion of Emmons Blaine Hall. At the building's dedication ceremony, Blaine clarified her role in establishing the School of Education. "I did not found it," she affirmed. "I simply found it."

Anita McCormick Blaine, daughter of Cyrus McCormick,
and her son Emmons Blaine, with their dog, Chicago. 1898

Ever a political, social, and religious non-conformist, Blaine supported a profit-sharing system for her family's reaper business, instituted an eight-hour day for her household staff, became interested in spiritualism, and supported leftist politicians. Her endorsement of progressive Henry Wallace for President of the United States in 1948 perplexed even her closest friends and drew harsh criticism from right-wing commentators. But Anita McCormick Blaine became an avid proponent of world government and international accord and remained committed to the cause for the rest of her life.

Anita McCormick Blaine died on February 12, 1954, and is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The Gayety Theater and Soda Shop, 9205 South Commercial Avenue, Chicago.

The Gayety Theatre opened in 1908 as a vaudeville and a one screen motion picture theatre with 823 seats. The Gayety Theatre was located in Chicago's South neighborhood’s main retail district.

Next door to the theatre was the equally-popular Gayety Soda Shop.

The theatre was remodelled in 1937 to the plans of Chicago based architect Lawrence Monberg of architectural firm Monberg & Wagner.

In 1957, the Gayety Theatre switched from first-run features to Spanish-language films, reflecting the change in the populace of the neighborhood from heavily Eastern European to mainly Latino. It was from then on called the Teatro Gayety.

A fire gutted the Teatro Gayety in May of 1982, and the theatre was demolished not long after, replaced by a restaurant.

 

Looking south-east on Milwaukee Avenue from Chicago Avenue, Chicago. 1910

Looking south-east on Milwaukee Avenue from Chicago Avenue, Chicago. 1910

The Chicago Bread Riot of 1872.

The Bread Riot began in the winter of 1872 due to the worst depression of the 19th century. Thousands of people marched on the offices of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society on LaSalle Street, demanding access to the money donated by people of the United States and other countries after the Great Chicago Fire.

A lot of people who came out to protest for food assistance were herded into the LaSalle Street tunnel and beaten by police.

The LaSalle Street Tunnel was Chicago’s second tunnel under the Chicago River completed on July 4, 1871, dating this colorized photograph as being taken before the Great Chicago Fire occurred the night of October 8, 1871. The entrance on the north side of the Chicago River was Michigan Street (Hubbard Street today) and Randolph Street on the south side of the river. 

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The LaSalle Street Tunnel under the Chicago River.

The LaSalle Street Tunnel was Chicago’s second tunnel under the Chicago River. It was started November 3, 1869, and completed July 4, 1871, just a few months before the Great Chicago Fire.

LaSalle Street Tunnel (colorized)

The tunnel was designed by William Bryson who was the resident engineer for the Washington Street Tunnel. It was 1,890 feet long, from Randolph Street north to Hubbard Street (then Michigan), and cost $566,000. 

This tunnel, along with the Washington Tunnel, were valuable escape routes during the fire of 1871, which quickly consumed the wooden bridges over the Chicago river.

Originally built for pedestrian and horse-drawn traffic, on March 23, 1888 the North Chicago Street Railroad leased the tunnel, and it was used for cable car service until October 21, 1906.

The reversing of the Chicago River exposed the tunnel in 1900 and a wider, deeper replacement was built in a drydock on Goose Island from steel plate.

When the tunnel closed to cable cars in 1906 the replacement was lowered into a trench in the riverbed. It opened to electric streetcar service in July 21, 1912.

LaSalle Street Tunnel, 1900

The LaSalle Street tunnel was in use until November 27, 1939, when it was closed during the construction of the Milwaukee-Lake-Dearborn-Congress subway, the Lake & LaSalle (now Clark & Lake) station of which intersected the tunnel’s south ramp under Lake Street. By 1950 the south approach had been covered, the tunnel and the north approach were filled and covered by 1953.

Illustration of 1839: "Future site of Marshall Field & Co. Store." Looking east from where State Street would be between Randolph and Washington, Chicago, Illinois.

Illustration of 1839: "Future site of Marshall Field & Co. Store." Looking east from where State Street would be between Randolph and Washington, Chicago, Illinois. 

Looking South on Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue, Chicago. 1930

Looking South on Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue, Chicago. 1930

The Plaza, North Avenue and Clark Street, Chicago. 1907

The Plaza, North Avenue and Clark Street, Chicago. 1907

Chicago's State Street, looking south from Randolph. 1871, 1885 & 1907

State Street, south from Randolph, Chicago. 1871 (Pre-Fire). All destroyed.
You can see the horses (blury due to movement) in front of the street cars.

State Street, south from Randolph, Chicago, 1885.

State Street, south from Randolph, Chicago, 1907

Lincoln Logs Construction Toy Began in Chicago, Illinois.

Lincoln Logs may have been named after the nation’s 16th president, but they were invented by John Lloyd Wright, the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Lincoln Logs, first made out of notched redwood in 1916. Records show that the J. L. Wright Company of Chicago, Illinois, obtained US Patent №1,351,086, for the design on August 31, 1920 and had the Lincoln Logs name registered on August 28, 1923. They were marketed along with other sturdy, functional wood toys under the Red Square Toy Company name.

Red Square Toy Company was purchased in 1943 by Playskool Corporation for $800, another toy giant with roots in Chicago, still markets Lincoln Logs. Lincoln Logs were among the first toys to be promoted on television, 1953’s Pioneer Playhouse. The ads targeted affluent parents, who were most likely to own a television set and to buy educational toys.

More than 100 million sets have been sold worldwide, reaching their peak of success during the Davy Crockett craze of the 1950s. Both the toy and inventor were entered into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale,.Ph.D.

North Pole Ice Cream Store, North Ave. near Harlem Ave., River Forest, Illinois.

Architect Bertrand Goldberg, born in 1913 in Chicago, and famous for his work on the Marina City and River City projects, designed the North Pole mobile ice cream store in 1938.

The entire store was built on wheels making it portable. Its glass walls and cantilevered roof were suspended from a mast anchored to a truck chassis; the foundation of the building.

 

Originally, the plan was to sell ice cream in Chicago in the summer and then move the North Pole to Florida for the winter months. Goldberg considered creating a series of these stores to be served by a "mother truck" where the ice cream would be manufactured en route and distributed to the stores.

Stores could be installed in a parking lot in a downtown area or other high-traffic spot.

The inventive little building was influenced by Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House, which featured a similar roofing system. 

A Dymaxion House

Goldberg showed the design to General Wood, the President of the Sears Roebuck Company, who, as Goldberg states in his Oral History, "was very interested in it as a concept for Sears Roebuck for stores that could be erected quickly in new industrial areas. He became sort of interested in it but nothing ever happened." Goldberg continues, "the concept of a tension supported roof - of a roof supported by hanging was something which obviously I hadn't designed or invented - but the awareness of it certainly opened up a new horizon for design...You could get a building that was suddenly open at its edges rather than closed at its edges."