HP Hyde Park Historical Society Non-Profit Org. 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue U.S. Postage HS Chicago, IL 60637 PAID Chicago, IL Permit No. 85

H Vol. 37y dN0. 3 e PublishedPa by ther Hydek Park H istoricalH Society istosummerr 2015y summer 2015 A Brief History of an Early Hyde Park family

By Carol Bradford

oseph Nicholas Barker (1825-1902) served as an elder of the Hyde Park Presbyterian Church for J30 years. “Born in Kentucky, he was a worthy representative of that sterling class of southern men and women who have added so much to the culture and prosperity of Chicago. No officer of this church has more clearly recognized the responsibility of his office or sought to discharge them with greater fidelity. Strangers, the sick, and the needy were the objects of his constant solicitude. In the darkest days through which this church was ever called upon to pass, he was the ‘Greatheart’ who took upon himself its sorest This Newsletter is published by burdens. No one can exaggerate the value of his the Hyde Park Historical Society, a consecrated life to this community in which so many Hyde Park Historical Society not-for-profit organization founded Collecting and Preserving Hyde Park’s History of its years were spent.” in 1975 to record, preserve, and He was married to Frances Long (1830-1909).1 He Time for you to join up or renew? promote public interest in the history studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He Fill out the form below and return it to: of Hyde Park. Its headquarters, was appointed a U.S. Deputy Marshall for Illinois in located in an 1893 restored cable car 1849. He was a founder of the Mendelssohn Society station at 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue, of Hyde Park. He served on the Chicago Board of The Hyde Park Historical Society houses local exhibits. It is open to 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue • Chicago, IL 60637 Education 1868-1871. During his tenure the school the public on Saturdays and Sundays system adopted a policy of equal pay for women ✁ from 2 until 4pm. teacher. The family lived at 4811 S. Lake Park Avenue Enclosed is my new renewal membership Web site: hydeparkhistory.org until 1886, when they moved to a new, grander home 2 in the Hyde Park Historical Society. Telephone: HY3-1893 at 5000 S. Greenwood, which still stands. Built in the Romanesque style, the house conveys “a sense Student $15 Individual $30 Family $40 President: Michal Safar of strength and power, this massive style was much Joseph Nicholas Barker1 Vice-President: Janice A. Knox too expensive for the common home builder, and Name Secretary: Gary Ossewaarde was reserved for the upper class…the house is a very to Chicago, where he built and operated a hydraulic Treasurer: Jay Wilcoxen Address early example of steel frame construction used in a mill at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Lake Editor: Frances S. Vandervoort residence.”4 Street. It ground grain for his business, and Zip Email Membership Coordinator: Joseph Barker’s wife, Frances, was the daughter of also pumped water for the south side of Chicago. Claude Weil James Long (1805-1876). Her family had moved from However, he lost the grain-processing business Phone Cell Designer: Nickie Sage Vermont to the Chicago area in 1835. They lived in when an entire boatload of his grain for sale in the Des Plaines until 1842, when James moved the familyr East was lost in transit. While retaining the 10 year ➤ 2 r2 r7 ➤ ➤ 1 contract to pump water for the south side, James was appointed by President Polk to be the UPCOMING EVENTS government’s “LighthouseKeeper” for the light situated across from Fort Dearborn, near the Rush Saturday, June 13, 2-4 PM Chicago Street bridge.3 Metro History Fair. Lutheran Theological Frances Long Barker, “in her sweet quiet way a Seminary. power for good in this community,” was the first Sunday, August 16, 2-4 PM Hyde Park chairman of The Hyde Park Presbyterian Church’s Stories, Montgomery Place. Woman’s Home Missionary Society and served for six years (1874-1880) as president of its Women’s Foreign Saturday, September 12 History of the Missionary Society.1 Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, to be held As an adult, Frank William Barker, Joseph and at HPNC headquarters with a photo exhibit Frances’s son, lived at 4633 S. Greenwood. He was at Society Headquarters. Time TBA. president and chairman of the board of Kenwood Bridge Company, a manufacturer of steel trusses. His Other events in the works are programs company was the third largest in the state, and he was about architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, a described as “one of the wealthiest men in Chicago.” t tour of the Rosalie Villas (Harper Avenue), oor Their daughter, Josephine, married George Tisdale v and possibly a tour of the Blackstone Williamson, later president of the Union Foundry Library. Details will be announced. works, making structural steel. Their daughter, ande r Florence, was born in 1882. George, the middle son of Samuel and Mary Eladsit y Mu lbe rry y Fr ances V (Tisdale) Williamson, was born June 26, 1847, at the a o b y J old family homestead in Cleveland. He attended the t Bert’s Words (Part 6) local Rockwell Street School with brothers Samuel P h o and James, but departed from family tradition by not Joseph Barker home, 5000 S. Greenwood Avenue, permission of vided b Dr. Raphael Lee. “The world is proof that God is a committee.” – Bob continuing beyond high school. Although offered a o p ro college education by his father, George felt that he in the world” because one railroad surreptitiously t Stokes should go directly into business so as to develop capital built tracks crossing those of another.* Besides his P h o The Society sent congratulations to Edward Campbell, long-time “Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans for resources of his own. About 1866, while still a resident foundry George kept a business office in the heart of Society member, on the occasion of his 100th birthday. of Cleveland, George went into business for himself, downtown Chicago, first at 50 Dearborn, and later at the future.” – Unknown one that appears to have involved the sale of various 68 Washington Street. He used the train to commute consumer products, notably the newly invented back and forth. “...Turn a phrase until it catches the light.” – Clive sewing machine. In 1873 he entered into a partnership Letters written by George to his parents between James dealing in hardware and agricultural implements, 1877 and 1880, on file in the Western Reserve a firm known as Bingham and Williamson, with Historical Society, paint quite a full portrait of “We have been told that knowledge is power, but who his boyhood friend Charles W. Bingham, who had George’s bachelor years in Chicago, when he may have has considered the power of ignorance?” – Unknown achieved a Masters Degree in Geology, Mining, and lived in lower Hyde Park. During these years, George Chemistry from Yale in 1871. This venture lasted regularly attended the Hyde Park Presbyterian Church. only a short time, and George moved from Cleveland and met his future bride at a church function. On Sept to Chicago around 1875, establishing a business of 20, 1881, George married Josephine Barker (1857- New Members the same general nature, and hoping that a fresh start 1918), the daughter of Joseph and Florence Barker. would produce a better outcome. Unfortunately, the Josephine and George moved to a new home at 5008 The Hyde Park Historical Society welcomes M. & enterprise didn’t pan out, so George decided to change S. Greenwood in 1885. It was a frame structure, with M. Tim Barton, Elizabeth Perry and Stephanie careers entirely. a barn for horses, carriages, and a cow.3 Franklin. In 1876, George went into the foundry business, 1 Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration, Hyde Park Presbyterian Church. establishing the Wilson Foundry. A friend of his, Edited by Henry Belfield and John M. Coulter, 1910 Frank Wilson, was a sewing machine retailer for his 2 Hyde Park Houses. Jean Block, 1978. father, W.G Wilson. The iron foundry made “Sewing 3 Informal historic information provided by a descendant, Fred Machine and Light Castings” and, according to its Williamson, of Enfield, New Hampshire. Answer to Mystery Quiz: stationery, was located at Grand Crossing, a large 4 Chicago’s Historic Hyde Park, Susan O’Conner Davis, 2013. railroad center on the far south side of Chicago, below Dreadnaught (see Hyde Park History, Vol. Kenwood and Hyde Park. The location was chosen *Editor’s note: 32(2), 3-5) for its easy access to shipments of iron ore, but was Grand Crossing, encompassing much of the area also known as “the most dangerous railroad crossing between Cottage Grove, South Jeffrey Boulevard, and

Summerr 2015 Summerr 2015 r6 r3 ➤ ➤ 5 This article does not include everything of note contains a high proportion of magnesium carbonate. 67th to 79th Streets, was the site of rapid railroad could find. in this community. I consider this article to be a Drop a piece of limestone in acid—the acid test—and development in the 1840s and 1850s with two major Within days the children’s fevers were broken, the teaser—something to get you started and inspire you it foams like Alka Seltzer. Do the same with a piece of companies vying for rights-of-way for their fleet to convey rashes disappeared, and the fear of contagion was to explore what is around you. I left out the statue of Dolomite—it will foam little if at all. goods. Turf wars led to a serious train wreck in 1856 that gone. The epidemic had disappeared. HPHS Carl von Linné, Swedish naturalist and founder of the Some folks claim that Chicago’s bedrock is the killed 16 people and injured 40 others. Roswell B. Mason, a high official of the Illinois Central From “All Roads Lead to the World’s Fair,” by George Ade. Chicago modern system of taxonomy, on the Midway. I also remains of an ancient coral reef. In fact it is the , April 8, 1893, P. 1 left out some important buildings on the University remains of a proto-reef that existed during the Railroad (ICRR) and later mayor of Chicago (1869- Record of Chicago campus designed by world-renowned Silurian Period between 375 and 400 million years 71), arranged for tracks to be laid across the rail lines of architects. Now, I will ask, what other public art ago, some 100 million years before true corals came the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad when The following item, written by current HPHS President is now missing? Who should make the decision to into existence. Then, life on the seabed consisted he didn’t think anyone would be looking. The ICRR Michal Safar, appeared in the May, 2009 issue of the restore or remove it? Should we have a voice? And mainly of trilobites, sea worms, and simple shellfish. had priority of construction for the north-south route, Hyde Park Herald. who will encourage a conversation on the topic? If With a hand lens, look closely at a small chunk of but wanted to extend a branch east to convey goods. you are a teacher, what great project you could do this interesting rock. With luck you can see chain- Rapidly developing industry had led to a multitude of with your students just on this topic? As a parent, like stems of crinoids—relatives of sea stars, worm tracks carrying passengers, iron ore, agricultural products, Do You Know about take your kids around. Let them think the Statue of tracks, and other evidences of ancient life. Some machinery, and other manufactured goods, all of which the Republic is someone you know. Most of all, look, locals lovingly refer to this snowy white expanse as led to the impatience and inevitable risk-taking that the Ferris Wheel? enjoy, and learn more about the many treasures we “fossil beach.” The Chicago Park District would do resulted in the tragic accident. share in the Hyde Park neighborhood. HPHS us a favor by giving such a distinctive name to this The Grand Crossing intersection remained dangerous The Society receives more inquiries on the Ferris beautiful piece of city history. for years afterwards even though all trains were required Wheel than any other single topic. It was one of the Fred and Wilma Flintstone, move over. There is to come to a complete stop before moving forward across highlights of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition Hard Rock room for Hyde Parkers on Bedrock, too! FSV the tracks. It wasn’t until 1910, when the east-west route and was located on the Midway that now extends administrators grew fed-up waiting for trains to get through the campus of the University of Chicago. in Hyde Park through the intersection that they agreed for an overpass Designed and built by George Washington Gale to be built that would allow trains to move through Ferris of Galesburg, IL, the structure was intended A few years ago, while nosing around the Special Grand Crossing without interference. to rival the Eiffel Tower, which was a feature of the Collections Room on the 9th floor of the Herald A bit more history: Mayor Mason was in office at the 1889 Paris Exposition. The wheel was 264 feet high Washington Library, I came across a glass plate time of the Great Chicago Fire in October, 1871. He and could carry 2,160 people, up to 60 in each of the photograph, circa 1890, of two men on a wooden declared martial law, putting General Philip Sheridan 36 cars, each car with its own lunch counter. It was bridge across the excavation pit of a quarry near in charge of marshalling forces against the fire, thereby powered by two steam engines of 1000 horsepower Exchange Avenue between 74th and 75th Streets. A preserving life and property. HPHS each. Six platforms were arranged to speed loading quarry? In Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood?? and unloading, and it took 20 minutes for the wheel The Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2004 I learned that the quarry had been owned by the The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2005 Chicago Historical to make two revolutions—the first to make six stops Dolese and Shepard Company, dealer in crushed Society. to allow passengers to exit and enter; the second, with stone for building construction, streets, and railroad no stops. The ride cost 50 cents. By November 6th, beds. This pioneering company had begun operations 1893 1,453,611 paid admissions had been received in South Shore nearly 150 years ago. As local quarries Esquimaux with with gross earnings of $726,805. The exposition became spent and the railroad industry developed, the closed in November 1893, but the wheel stood idle company moved to a western suburb. Other quarries measles on the Midway until April 29, 1894, when a new site were dug near Cheltenham, at 7900 South Shore was found near Lincoln Park. Later the Ferris Wheel Drive, and near Windsor Park. We are all familiar By April, 1893, a group of Esquimaux, later known was moved to St. Louis where it became part of the with Stony Island, an island of bedrock south of 92nd as Eskimos and most recently as Inuits, arrived in Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. The full story Street near Jeffrey Avenue. Stony Island once loomed Hyde Park at the invitation of the organizers of of the Ferris Wheel can be found at the HPHS web more than 35 feet above the surrounding area and was World Columbian Exposition. They began to set up site at: http://www.hydeparkhistory.org/newsletter. of interest to geologists because of the small pools of a small village on the sand ridge between 56th and html. Some very interesting photos of the Ferris oil embedded in its rocky matrix. 57th Streets just east of Stony Island Avenue. To the Wheel are available from the University of Chicago Rainbow Beach was once known as Rocky Arbor t dismay of George Deer, one of the group’s leaders, Archival Photographic Files at: http://photofiles.lib.

oor HPHS Park. I once asked Don Mikulic, economic geologist v within a few days his young son broke out in red spots uchicago.edu/. of the Illinois State Geological Survey, why I couldn’t and soon was burning with fever. Within a few days find any bedrock there. He laughingly pointed out ande r other children were exhibiting the same symptoms. that anything left of the bedrock now lies beneath the Deer instantly recognized measles, and set out to cure South Side Water Filtration Plant! However, anyone the children. He brought his connections to bear to Mystery Quiz:

y Fr ances V obtain a large quantity of walrus blubber. He and wanting to see a large expanse of Chicago’s bedrock What nickname was given to the Robie o b

t other parents rubbed the measles-stricken children should take a walk on the beach immediately south House shortly after it was built in 1906?

of LaRabida Hospital. The hard white stuff you see P h o with thick layers of the “grease from the north,” then there is not concrete. It is dolomite, limestone that Lake Michigan dolomite beach south of La Rabida Hospital wrapped them in the warmest, thickest clothing they

Summerr 2015 Summerr 2015 r4 r5 On Public Art call attention to the pavement beneath your feet. Its by Edgar Miller. Inside are stained glass windows by shape can be abstract, realistic, or both, and it may be Valentine D'Orgries, and bronze bas relief Stations in Hyde Park cast, carved, built, assembled, or painted. It can be site of the Cross by Alfeo Faggi. Enter the doors of the specific or stand in contrast to its surroundings. What church, go to your right, and observe the work by By Judith Allen distinguishes public art is the unique association Milton Horn called “Jacob’s Struggle.” If you are of how it is made, where it is, and what it means. interested in the life and works of Milton Horn, you Editor’s note: Public art can express community values, enhance will also want to see one of his works in the Lincoln A reward of editing this essay has been a new perspective our environment, transform a landscape, heighten Park Zoo, and the long lost and now restored work on on the nature of public art. To me, public art has been our awareness, or question our assumptions. Placed the bridge over the Chicago River. art in open, tax-supported spaces—sculptures, murals, in public sites, this art is there for everyone, a form Buildings can reflect their nature and/or purpose. and other structures that can be seen from the street. of collective community expression. Public art is They can cause debate, signal change, or invite you Buildings open to the public, including museums and a reflection of how we see the world—the artists’ to pause and question their symbolism. One such art galleries, hold public art within them. Then, on the response to our time and place combined with our building is the Lutheran School of Theology (LST), Internet I found following definition: “[Public art can be own sense of who we are. . . Public art is part of our designed in 1967 by Perkins and Will to provide a found on] university or college campuses … as well as in public history, part of our evolving culture and our home for the many branches of the Lutheran Church. churches or other public places of worship.” This article collective memory. It reflects and reveals our society Across Fifty-fifth Street from the LST is Augustana assumes this broader view. FSV and adds meaning to our cities. As artists respond to Lutheran Church, which seems to use the exterior our time, they reflect their inner vision to the outside to cradle the simple but elegant church inside (my What? Public Art? What are you talking about? Isn’t world, and they create a chronicle of our public own interpretation). The church was designed by all art public? I do not know what you mean. Yes, experience.” Edward Dart, and the skylight in the chapel provides I made that statement about two years ago. Then, How profound. Why had I never heard about this? inspiration on its own. The churchyard holds a a friend challenged me to find out what the term Especially since I live in the Hyde Park community, fountain was designed in 1881-1882 by Henry sculpture of St. Paul, designed by Egan Weiner. In meant. I had heard of modern art, folk art, outsider an area rich in visible treasures. I took another look Manger at the request of the two sons of the banker, the courtyard is another of his works, Ecce Homo art, etc., so was surprised that public art was also a at the sculptures, murals, and buildings around me. Francis M. Drexel. Since the banker never lived in (Behold the Man.) subject. We can look at movable art and recognize how all of Chicago, I am curious about why his children wanted The Smart Museum, designed by Edward Larrabee The Association for Public Art states that, “Public this art contributes to our quality of life. Take a walk, the fountain there. Get up close, if you can, and see Barnes, provides a wonderful setting for works of may art is not an art form. It can tower fifty feet high or ride your bike or car, bring your kids along, and then the interesting designs on it. famous artists, and uses natural light to enhance the go back to books, the Internet, and friends Of interest to me as a child, and again as the mother inner space. to see if your ideas and appreciation have of three children, is the David Wallach Fountain at An outstanding collection of material from the changed. the entrance to Promontory Point on the lakefront. ancient Near East can be found in the nearby Oriental Start with the huge sculpture, The Walk through the tunnel at the east end of 55th Institute of the University of Chicago. Pause a Fountain of Time, at the west end of the Streetthat takes you safely under Lake Shore Drive. moment before you enter the building to admire the Midway in Washington Park. What do You and your dog can enjoy a drink of water at the beautiful doors and carvings in the arch above the you know about Lorado Taft? What do the fountain. Why was it put there? Who designed it? Did doors. people in this sculpture represent? What David Wallach say what he wanted the fountain to Hyde Park and Kenwood are fortunate to have four material was used to make it? And how has look like? Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. Robie House and the Chicago weather treated this work? Although there are many more important sculptures Heller House are well known, but two of the houses, Are you old enough to remember of the than I have room to discuss, there is one that has been the Blossom House and the McArthur House. are stories of the secret work that went on under so much fun for me. The Statue of the Republic in considered “bootleg” houses because Wright received the stands of the old Stagg Field, located Jackson Park is a 24-foot-high gilded bronze statue independent commissions to design them while where Regenstein Library now stands? Near about one-third the size of the original 65-feet high officially working for famed architect Louis Sullivan. the library on Ellis Avenue is the bronze figure designed by Daniel Chester French for the Before we leave buildings as public art, study the sculpture by Henry Moore, Nuclear Energy, 1893 World Columbian Exposition. When my interior and exterior of Rockefeller Chapel, and the commemorating the first sustained nuclear children were young, I had them convinced that it new Chicago Theological Seminary. A tour of the reaction in 1941. was a stature of me, and they called out a greeting to latter building will leave you in awe of the use of Cosmo Campoli, a former Hyde Parker me every time we drove past. glass, water, and space to convey the mission of the created the bronze statue, Bird of Peace. There are more great sculptures in the Hyde Park Seminary. This unusual structure has been vandalized, area, some now missing, some difficult to find because Public art can also be movable, as shown by such repaired, moved, and now stands outside the of their location. There are even some new works on examples as the 57th Street Art Fair and the Hyde Murray Public School gym where it can be private property. Park Jazz Fest. seen by children who go to school there. Did you know that buildings an also be considered Murals are a form of public art. Murals under local Speaking of children, I remember spending public art? One such building is St. Thomas the viaducts are difficult to appreciate when you drive many hours in my youth splashing in the Apostle Church at 55th Street and Kimbark Avenue. past them, and are best seen on foot. Now lost forever water of the Drexel Fountain at 51st Street It was designed by Barry Byrne, with terra cotta is the ever-changing mural once behind the former and Drexel Boulevard. This imposing ornamentation by Alfonso Ianelli, and roof finials Mobil Gas Station on 53rd Street. ➤ 6

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