My friend Carmen just returned from visiting her family’s orchard in Mexico. She was there for a month. I wish I could have gone with her, but since I couldn’t, she emailed me photos of all the beautiful places she visited. It (almost) made me feel like I was there! I hope you feel the same way too. Enjoy!
The Orchard
The Mountains
Flowering Tree
The Market
Farm Animals
Town Square
Beautiful House
Beautiful Flowers
Pet Parrot
If you’re like me, you’ve probably walked past the Federal Center and Plaza in downtown Chicago dozens of times and never thought about it’s history. The Federal Center and Plaza in Chicago is comprised of the John C. Kluczinski Federal Building, the Everett McKinley Dirksen Federal Courts Building, the Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building and the U.S. Post Office (Loop Center). Bounded by Dearborn on the East, Clark on the West, Jackson on the South and Adams on the North. The Kluczinski, Dirksen and U.S. Post Office (Loop Station) were all designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the Mid-Century Modernist style.
The John C. Kluczinski Federal Building is located at 230 S. Dearborn St. It was completed in 1974 and is a 42 story tall skyscraper with 1.2 million square feet of space. It was named after U.S. Congressman John C. Kluczynski who represented Illinois’ 5th congressional district from 1951 until 1975. It was designed in the minimalist style.
The Dirksen Federal Courts Building is located across the street at 219 S. Dearborn St. It was completed in 1964 and is 30 stories tall with 1.4 million square feet of space. It was named after U.S. Congressman and Senator Everett Dirksen. It was designed in the international style.
The U.S. Post Office (Loop Station) is located at 211 S. Clark St. It was completed in 1975 in the minimalist style.
The Metcalfe Building is located at 77 West Jackson Blvd. It was built in 1991 and designed by Fujikawa Johnson and Associates in the Mies van der Rohe style. It is 27 stories tall and it was named after former Olympian and U.S. Representative Ralph Harold Metcalf.
The Federal Plaza features a red steal sculpture by Alexander Calder entitled Flamingo. It was unveiled on the plaza in 1974.The plaza hosts events such as farmers markets, arts, crafts and jewelry booths, as well as demonstrations (with required approval).
The entire complex is on a grid pattern and seams of the granite pavers extend into the lobbies and up to the sides of the Kluczynski, Dirksen and Post Office buildings to create unity among the three buildings.
There was a Federal Building in Chicago prior to the current buildings described above. The old Chicago Federal Building was built in 1905 and demolished in 1965. It was built by architect Henry Ives Cobb in the Beaux-Arts style. It was 297 ft. tall.
Quite a different look – then and now! Both beautiful in their own way for their own time!
Anyone who knows Chicago knows Marshall Field’s flagship store on State Street. Almost every Chicagoan has probably shopped there at some time in their life. Now, of course, Marshall Field’s is no longer there – instead it was replaced by Macy’s in 2006.
The Marshall Field and Company building was constructed in 1891-92 at 111 North State Street, on the corner of State and Washington. Other sections were added to the building in 1902, 1906, 1907 and 1914. It was designed by Chicago architect, Daniel Burnham. The building is among the largest stores in the world. It is a designated National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was also designated a Chicago Landmark in 2005. It is a granite structure known for its atrium with several balconies, called “The Great Hall” and its Tiffany mosaic vaulted ceiling, as well as the two clocks on the outside of the building. After construction of all the sections was completed the store consisted of 73 acres of floor space with largest book, china, shoe and toy sections of all department stores in the world.
The Marshall Field’s Department store itself was founded in 1852 and merged with Federated Department Stores (Macy’s) in 2006, thus losing the Marshall Field’s name. Marshall Field’s origin goes back to a dry goods store founded by Potter Palmer in 1852. It was located at 137 Lake Street. In 1865 Palmer sold the business to Field and Leiter and the store was renamed Field, Leiter and Company. In 1868 they leased a six story space at State and Washington. The building was completely destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, but rebuilt.
In 1881 Marshall Field bought out Levi and Leiter and renamed the business Marshall Field and Company. The building that currently stands on the corner of State and Washington was then started in 1891 and completed (with multiple additions) by 1914.
The building is also known for Christmas traditions such as the Christmas Tree in the Walnut Room and the decorated Holiday window displays (and is known for its Frango mints).
Macy’s today continues to be an upscale retail department store selling men’s, women’s and children’s clothing as well as jewelry, cosmetics, and home furnishings and accessories; as well as personal services such as a beauty salon, personal shoppers, wedding and gift registry, jewelry and watch repair and alterations.There are eight restaurants located in the building and they also sponsor events that are free to the public, such as a flower show and fashion shows. It is a beautiful and fun place to shop!
The City of Chicago celebrated its 181st Birthday this past Sunday, March 4th. Chicago was incorporated as a city on March 4, 1837. So, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at what the city was like at that time.
The city was divided into three districts (North, South and West) by the Chicago River. Due to its location on the river and near a portage between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watershed, it quickly became a major trading center and grew rapidly. During that time and for several decades it became known as the world’s fastest growing city. It also became an important railroad transportation hub between the eastern and western parts of the U.S.
At the time of incorporation, Chicago’s population was approximately 4,000 and it had many dry-goods stores and grocery stores; and a few hardware stores. It also had a few taverns and law offices. Chicago was the county seat. The panic of 1837 and the depression that followed did affect the Chicago economy, but it didn’t stop it due to the money that was laid out for building the Illinois and Michigan canal.
Between 1844 and 1854 many immigrants came to Chicago to work in factories, and flour mills, grain elevators, warehouses and packing houses were formed to process the shipments moving to the East. The Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed in 1848 (which opened trading throughout Chicago). By 1854 Chicago was considered the railroad center of the West. By 1860 Chicago had a population of 109,260.
In 1865 the Union Stockyards were built at 39th and Halsted streets and meatpacking businesses soon followed. Other important events of the time included:
1840 – Public Schools established; 1848 – Chicago Board of Trade established; 1855-Chicago Police Department formed; 1855-Lager Beer riots; 1855-Street Grade raised; 1869-Chicago Water Tower built; and 1871-Great Chicago Fire.
Dearborn Station is an old Chicago train station located on the corner of Dearborn Street and Polk in Chicago’s Printers Row neighborhood and borders the South Loop area. Dearborn Station is the oldest of the six early commuter train stations in downtown Chicago.
Dearborn Station opened on May 8, 1885. It was designed by New York architect Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz and built by J.T. Alton in the Romanesque Revival style. It has a 12 story clock tower that can be seen from many blocks away. It cost nearly $500,000 to complete. It featured a classic Harvey House Restaurant, and ornate interior.It was the main facility for the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad and provided service for the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad; the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company and the Grand Trunk Junction Railroad. By the turn of the century there were 25 railroads consisting of approximately 122 trains and 17,000 passengers that went through the station on a daily basis. Santa Fe’s most famous trains could be seen passing through the station. Trains such as the Super Chief, El Capitan, Zipper, Silent Night and Wabash Banner Blue and Blue Bird.
From 1920 through 1949 Santa Fe ran trains from Dearborn Station to Southern California, so a lot of Hollywood stars, such as Clark Gable and Judy Garland passed through the station. Dearborn Station closed May 1, 1971 when services were taken over by Union Station. In 1976 the tracks were removed and the trainshed was demolished. The station has been restored and now houses office and retail space.
I first became familiar with Dearborn Station when I walked around the Printers Row neighborhood during lunchtime and then joined a Curves fitness center that was previously located there. Today Dearborn Station contains a restaurant, a bank, a wellness center, legal offices, mail services, jazz club and a medical facility. It’s a beautiful building in a beautiful neighborhood – definitely worth checking out!
As a child growing up in the Avondale neighborhood in Chicago I loved to go to the Olson Park & Waterfalls with my mother. My mother simply called it Olson Rug. I think we visited there at least once a week during the Summers. It was such a place of natural beauty right in the heart of the city. It was within walking distance of our house.
It was located at the corner of Pulaski and Diversey next to the Olson Rug Company (which owned and operated the park). It had 35 foot waterfalls, rock gardens with 3500 rare plants, shrubs, trees (such as junipers,spruce and pine), ponds with ducks, ravines and caves. It was also home to hundreds of wild birds. The park was a stark contrast to the surrounding industrial area. The Chicago Tribune called it one of Chicago’s Seven Lost Wonders. Admission to the 22 acre park was free and over 200,000 people visited annually.
The park opened in 1935. Walter Olson had the park built because he wanted to bring some natural beauty to the gray industrial background of the area. He wanted it to resemble his vacation home setting in Wisconsin. The building of the park was a huge project that took 200 workers approximately 6 months and was made of 800 tons of stone and 800 yards of soil. The Native American theme of the park included tee-pees and totem poles and events with Native American chiefs performing war dances. 1935 was the 100th anniversary of the forced movement of Illinois Native American tribes from Illinois across the Mississippi River. The park included a symbolic gesture deeding back the area of the park to the Native American tribes. The Olson Rug factory, mill and grounds were sold to Marshall Fields in 1965 and the park was closed in 1978.
I grew up in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago. Avondale had a lot of industry. It seemed like there was a factory on almost every block. It’s no wonder Avondale has been referred to as the neighborhood that built Chicago! My parents both worked at factories. My Mom worked at Beltone hearing aid factory at Addison and Kimball and my Dad worked at Continental Can Company around Belmont and Cicero. Still, the factory that stood out to me the most was I.S. Berlin Press. It was a large building complex that was located on the Northeast corner of Belmont and Kimball. It was designed by A. Epstein and Sons architects.
Chicago was the the center of the printing industry when I.S. Berlin was located there in 1949. It had previously been located in the Printer’s Row neighborhood since it was founded in 1920, but was relocated to Avondale to make room due to the construction of the Congress Expressway.
I.S. Berlin Press printed children’s books, advertising literature with colored pictures, and other products using the lithography process. Manufacturing companies like I.S. Berlin were the base of the post-World War II industrial economy in cities like Chicago. When the plant first opened on Belmont and Kimball in 1949 they emplyed over 500 workers. A major $2.5 million expansion was made to the facility in 1961. This new addition was designed to reflect the curved shape of the new Northwest (Kennedy) Expressway built at the same time. The clock at the top became a true Avondale landmark. Growing up, I remember looking at the clock from my back porch window to check the time and it was also where we looked on the Fourth of July to view the fireworks.
I.S. Berlin was demolished in 1977 following a decline in the manufacturing industry which cost Avondale and other industrial Chicago neighborhoods thousands of jobs. It was replaced by the Kennedy Plaza Shopping Center.
This year I celebrated the New Year with my husband and son, as we always do. But, this year we also had a guest. My son’s friend, Wenwei stayed with us a few days while her car was being repaired after it broke down while she was on her way to our house. Wenwei is a graduate student at NIU, and I found out she’s also a talented artist! She shared some of her art with me and allowed me to share it with you. She said she does the drawings and clay figures because it’s fun. Wenwei is Chinese and one of the drawings is of Tian’an Men Square in Beijing, China. The clay piece is a figure about Illinois. Wenwei likes to travel and represents that in her art. One of the sketches shows a dog named Cammie Traveling Around the World wearing a pink backpack with a Leica camera around her neck, because Wenwei said her own backpack is pink and she’d like to get a Leica camera in the future. One drawing represents The Bean at Millenium Park. The other drawings are of places she’s visited, kind of like a travel journal of drawings. Thank you Wenwei!!
The Music Box Theater in Chicago opened on August 22, 1929. It is located at 3733 N. Southport Avenue in the Lakeview/Wrigleville neighborhood. The Music Box was considered small compared to the larger Chicago theaters of the time, such as the Chicago Theater downtown. It accommodated 800 versus 3,000 for the large theaters. As such, it ushered in the era of the small neighborhood theater. The building was designed by local architect Louis A. Simon.
The fact that the Music Box was small also represented the move to the motion picture industry from primarily stage productions. The large theaters of the time mostly had stage productions (musicals and plays) and very few movies. The Music Box had no stage, so it was only for cinema. At the time the Music Box opened, sound films were a new technology that sometimes didn’t work. So, the Music Box included an orchestra area and organ in case sound was needed.
The opening film in 1929 was “Mother’s Boy” starring Morton Downey, Beryl Mercer and Brian Donlevy. By the late 1970’s and early 1980’s the Music Box venue was used for Spanish language films, pornographic films and Arabic language films. In 1983 the Music Box Theater was restored and became the venue for revival and repertory films. The opening shows were “Old Chicago” with Alice Faye and Tyrone Power and “Wabash Avenue” with Betty Grable and Victor Mature.
Since 1993, the Music Box has been showing specialty films, repertory, and independent and foreign films, as well as cult films such as the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It is currently the largest Chicago venue for independent and foreign films.
I fondly remember the Music Box Theater because when I was a child in the 1970’s, my grandmother used to take me there to see Disney movies almost every weekend. My grandparents lived just a few blocks from there, so we would walk there, watch the movie and have popcorn and candy. That was my special time with my grandmother. Then, in my teens I used to go there with friends to see the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Those were good times!
Hollywood in Chicago? Yes! For a brief time in the early 1900s Chicago had the distinction of being the film making capital (before Hollywood took over). During that time, Chicago had the greatest number of film production companies. Essanay Studios in the Uptown neighborhood was the largest studio and put the city in the center of world movie making.
The studio was founded in 1907 by George Spoor and Gilbert Anderson and was originally called the Peerless Film Manufacturing Company. That same year, the name was changed to Essanay (S and A for Spoor and Anderson). The studio’s first location was on Wells Street, but in 1908 it was moved to Argyle Street in Uptown.
Essanay produced silent films featuring stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, George Periolat, Ben Turpin, Colleen Moore, Francis X. Bushman, Florence Oberle, and Rod La Rocque. Spoor and Anderson received Oscars for their pioneering film work at Essanay Studios. The studio eventually also expanded to an additional location in Niles, California.
The Chicago studio produced famous movies such as the first American Sherlock Holmes (1916); the first American Christmas Carol (1908); and the first Jesse James movie, “The James Boys of Missouri.” They also produced some of the first cartoons in the world. Dreamy Dud was a popular cartoon produced by Essanay.
Essanay’s biggest star was Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin starred in 14 short comedies for Essanay (in both Chicago and California locations) in 1915. This included Chaplin’s 1915 film “The Tramp.”
Chaplin left the studio in 1916 and Essanay struggled financially since it lost it’s number one star. Essanay merged with V-L-S-E Incorporated in 1918 and was eventually absorbed by Warner Brothers in 1925.
Today, what’s left of Essanay Studios in Chicago is a landmark building at 1345 W. Argyle St. in Uptown and the Essanay lot is home to St. Augustine College, which named its’ meeting hall the Charlie Chaplin Auditorium.
