Unusual Guide to Chicago

Visit Historical Sites of Al Capone, John Dillinger, Roaring 20s, Panczko Gang, Sally Rand.

They're all here in Ken Schessler's Unusual Guide to Chicago.

An Unusual Tour of Chicago

MID TO FAR SOUTH
( MID SOUTH 2600 to 4300

38 KILLED IN RACE RIOT - On Sunday, July 27, 1919, with temperatures in the 90s, fourteen-year-old John Harris and his other black friends left their home near 53rd and State and hitched a ride to 26th and Wabash. By-passing the 29th Street white beach and the 26th Street black beach, they walked east to the lake to a little island located behind the Keeley Brewery and the Consumer Ice Co. Meanwhile, at the 29th Street beach, a race conflict broke out when several black men and women tried to enter the water at the whites only beach. Rocks were hurled by both blacks and whites.

Unaware at what was happening at 29th Street, John Harris and his friends were diving and swimming off their raft. Passing by the breakwater near 26th Street, they noticed a white man. He was standing about 75-feet from the raft and throwing rocks at them. At that time, Eugene Williams dove off the raft and when his head bobbed out of the water, a rock hit him on the forehead. He slid back into the water. John Harris swam to shore, ran to the 26th Street beach and told the lifeguard what had happened. Thirty minutes later they recovered Eugene's body.

With a black policeman and other blacks from the 26th Street Beach, the boys marched to the 29th Street Beach and pointed out the man who had thrown the rock. A heated argument broke out between the two sides. Then a black man, James Crawford, drew a revolver and fired into a cluster of policemen, wounding one of them. A black officer returned the fire and killed Crawford. A race war erupted and continued uncontrolled for five days.

On the afternoon of the 28th, 4,000 blacks massed at the intersection of 35th and State, and thousands of whites were massed at 35th and Wentworth. Bloodshed broke out at 35th and Wabash. On the fifth day of rioting, 6,200 troops were called into the region between Wentworth and Indiana and 18th and 55th Streets. When the riot ended, 38 were dead including 23 black men and boys and 15 whites. 537 were injured, 342 blacks and 195 whites. Hundreds were left homeless.

UNTOUCHABLES RAID CAPONE BEER WAREHOUSE - Elliot Ness and his "Untouchables" raided one of Al Capone's illegal beer warehouses located here in a garage in 1929. 2636 So. Calumet.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG MEETS HIS FIRST WIFE - Louis Armstrong played here at the Vendome Theater with Erskine Tate's orchestra in December of 1926. When Tate was let go,, Armstrong led the 20-piece orchestra which included Earl Hines. Armstrong met his first wife Alpha Smith here when she would come in and sit in the front row. Built in 1887 as a dance hall and social center, it was gutted by fire in 1919 and was renovated into a movie theater. 3145 So. State.

UNTOUCHABLES RAID CAPONE BEER WAREHOUSE - Elliot Ness and the "Untouchables" raided The Old Reliable Trucking Company here in 1929. The building was a front for one of Al Capone's breweries. Over 50,000 gallons of beer were destroyed along with fourteen 2,500-gallon tanks and five 1,800-gallon cooling tanks. Two of Capone's master brewers were caught in the raid, 3136 So. Wabash.

MANSION OF MILLIONAIRE MEAT PACKER - Michael Cudahy, wealthy meat packer, lived here in a mansion in 1899. 3128 So. Michigan.

FUNERAL OF GANGSTER COLOSIMO - When "Big Jim" Colosimo was killed gangland style in his restaurant at 2222 South Wabash in 1920, his funeral services were held here in his home at 3156 Vernon on May 15. It was the first of the gaudy burials of Chicago gangsters. Alderman John "Bathhouse" Coughlin knelt at the open coffin and recited Hail Marys and a Catholic prayer. Ike Bloom, owner of the notorious Freiberg's dance hall delivered the eulogy, and the Apollo Quartet sang hymns, while Colosimo's widow Victoria, was comforted by several Aldermen. 5,000 people followed the hearse to Oak Wood Cemetery. 3156 Vernon.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND THE ROYAL GARDEN BLUES - Originally a strictly black club called the Royal Gardens from 1913 to 1918, the club was renamed the Lincoln Gardens in 1922. Located at 459 E. 31st. Lincoln Gardens was probably the most celebrated band location in Chicago jazz history. When Louis Armstrong arrived in Chicago on August 8, 1922, his first job was here with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. White musicians including Paul Whiteman, Hoagy Carmichael, Gene Krupa, Eddie Condon, Muggsy Spanier and a dozen others, came here often to hear the band,. sometimes even sitting outside on the curb listening to the music that seeped out through the windows. Bix Beiderbecke came in every night while Armstrong was here. Blues singer Lil Hardin, was singing here while Armstrong was here. The two later married. 459 E. 31st.

UPDATE - The song "Royal Garden Blues" was named after this club. Lincoln Gardens and its large room with a balcony around it, burned down on Christmas Eve in 1924.

THE LITTLE GIANT - When Senator Stephen A. Douglas died in 1861, he was buried here in the ground on his 53-acre Oakenwald estate which he purchased in 1849. In 1866, a mausoleum was built and his body was interred inside. President Andrew Jackson laid the cornerstone. The "Little Giant," famous for his debates with Abraham Lincoln, made his home nearby for many years. His mausoleum is on the border of Woodland Park near the eastern end of Douglas Avenue overlooking the lake. The first Chicago University was founded nearby on land that Douglas donated. 35th and Cottage Grove.

PRISONER OF WAR CAMP - When the Civil War began in 1863, Camp Douglas was built on part of the former estate of Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Centered at 35th and Cottage Grove, it was used as an induction center and the main training camp for Union soldiers at the beginning of the war. Later during the war, the camp was converted into a prisoner of war camp for rebel troops captured at Fort Donelson. At one time the camp held 8,000 Rebel soldiers. Thousands of the soldiers died here and were buried in Oakwood Cemetery on 67th Street.

UPDATE - During the 1980s, a Memorial Wall was erected on the site honoring the 6,000 Confederates who died here.

AL CAPONE GANG HANGOUT - Louis Armstrong joined Earl "Fatha" Hines and the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra here at the Sunset Cafe at 315 E. 35th on April 10, 1926. The place held 600 people, had 12 chorus girls and 12 show girls. Al Capone and his gang hung out here. Musicians Benny Goodman and Muggsy Spanier came here often to listen to Armstrong. King Oliver was playing across the street at the Plantation Cafe at the time.

UPDATE - Meyer's Ace Hardware was located here in 1991.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG GETS MARRIED - Jazz pianist Lil Hardin was living here with her mother when she married Louis Armstrong on February 5, 1924. 3320 Giles.

HOME OF AUTHOR OF "THE WIZARD OF OZ" - L. Frank Baum, author of the "Wizard of Oz," moved into a 3-story home here at 3726 Giles in 1903. The family moved in 1906.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S FIRST CHICAGO HOME - When Louis Armstrong first came to Chicago in 1922, he rented a room here in a boarding house at 3412 S. Wabash.

LIL HARDIN AND JELLY ROLL MORTON - Lil Hardin, singer in the King Oliver band worked here in the Jones Music Store as a $3 per week sheet music demonstrator when she first came to Chicago in 1919. Jelly Roll Morton came in several times to join her on several songs. 3409 So. State.

ONE OF CHICAGO'S WORST SLUM APARTMENTS - When the Mecca Apartments were built here in 1891 between 34th and 35th, and between State and Dearborn, they were a showplace, a place that was home to Chicago's white society. But after 1900, the black migration to Chicago forced the black belt to expand and the white people to move. By 1912, the Mecca was home of the black elite - doctors, lawyers and businessmen. The buildings began to deteriorate during 1917-1918, and so did the neighborhood. 3360 So. State.

UPDATE - In 1941, the buildings were sold to the next door Illinois Institute of Technology. By 1950, the apartments were one of the worst black slum buildings in the world. It had 1,500 to 2,300 residents. The Mecca was destroyed in 1952 for the expansion of Illinois Tech.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG AT THE DREAMLAND CAFE - Jazz pianist Lil Hard was playing here at the Deamland Cafe at 3520 So. State in 1922 where she first met Louis Armstrong. King Oliver and his band and Louis Armstrong also played here with the Ollie Powell Band in 1925. In 1919, Lil was playing to standing room crowds in the Deluxe Cafe that was located across the street from the Dreamland.

WHITE SOX PARK AND SHOELESS JOE JACKSON - Comiskey Park was built here in 1910 on a site that had been a truck yard and a junkyard. The first game played here was on July 1, 1910 before 28,000. Ed Walsh pitched a 2-0 shutout against the St. Louis Browns. "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the infamous "Black Sox" played here in 1919. The first All-Star game was played here on July 6, 1933. Babe Ruth hit a 2-run homer to lead the American league to a 4-2 win. It was here on April 16, 1940, that Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians pitched the only opening day no-hitter. 324 W. 35th at Shields.

UPDATE - Comiskey Park was torn down in 1990. The site is now a parking for the new Sox Park across 35th Street.

CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS PARK - When the Chicago White Stockings baseball team was founded in 1900, they built a park here complete with wooden stands. In 1936, it was the home field of the American Giants black baseball team. 39th and Wentworth.

MANSION OF MILLIONAIRE MEAT PACKER - The funeral services for millionaire meat packer Phillip Armour Jr. were held here in his home on February 1, 1900. - 3700 So. Michigan.

CHILDHOOD HOME OF NAT KING COLE - Singer/pianist Nat King Cole was a baby when his family moved into a ground-floor flat in a four-flat apartment house here in 1919. Their apartment had 3 bedrooms, living room, bathroom and dining room. The family moved in 1936. 4036 So. Prairie.

WORLD FAMOUS ATTORNEY - Clarence Darrow, one of America's most famous lawyers, was living here in 1897 at 4219 Vincennes.

STOREY'S FOLLY - Just up the street from Darrow, near the corner of 43rd, once stood a mammoth mansion built for Wilbur Storey, publisher of the Chicago Times. The mansion was started in 1878, and by Storey's death in 1884, it was still unfinished, even though $300,000 was spent on it. The mansion was known as "Storey's Folly."

LEOPOLD AND LOEB BUY MURDER WEAPON - It was here in a hardware store in 1924, that Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb bought a chisel, 35-feet of rope, and a bottle of acid. The pair used the chisel to murder young Bobby Franks, the rope to tie him up, and the acid to disfigure his body. 4236 Cottage Grove.

UPDATE - The site was a vacant lot in 1974.

ONE OF CHICAGO'S MOST BEAUTIFUL BOULEVARDS - Once called the gem of the Chicago boulevard system, Drexel Boulevard was one of the most celebrated avenues in America. Modeled after Avenue I'Lmperatrice in Paris, France, a magnificent bronze statue of Francis M. Drexel, the founder of the Drexel banking firm, stood at the entrance of the boulevard. It had a central walk for pedestrians with winding picturesque gardens. Drexel and 43rd was once one of the prettiest corners in the city.

KENWOOD - HYDE PARK - JACKSON PARK

LEOPOLD & LOEB IN THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY - On Wednesday, May 21, 1924, fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks left the Harvard School for Boys at 4731 Ellis Ave. in the exclusive Kenwood section, and began walking to his home two blocks away. A school mate of Bobby who was walking nearby, looked away for a second, and when he looked up, Bobby Franks had disappeared. He saw a car speeding away south on Ellis, but he had not seen Bobby get in, nor had he seen anyone get out. One minute Bobby Franks was there - the next he was gone.

Four hours later, at 9 p.m. a man called the Franks home and told Mrs. Franks that Bobby had been kidnapped.

The next morning, Thursday, the 22nd, a man walking through the prairie and marsh near Wolf Lake near the Illinois/Indiana border, noticed something down in a culvert while crossing the railroad tracks. Looking closer, he saw two bare feet sticking out from the culvert pipe. Standing in knee-deep water, he pulled on the legs and pulled the limp body from the pipe. He saw that it was a young boy and that he was dead. He had no clothes on.

Back at the Franks house at that time, a special delivery letter arrived demanding $10,000 for the safe return of Bobby, and it was signed "George Johnson."

On Thursday afternoon, the 29th, police finally got the first major break in the case. They traced a pair of eyeglasses that had been found at the site where the body had been found and learned that only three pairs of the horn-rimmed glasses had been sold in Chicago. One pair had been sold to Nathan Leopold Jr. in 1923. When Leopold was questioned about the glasses on Saturday, he confessed to the murder. When Loeb heard that Leopold had confessed, he also confessed.

The trial opened on Monday, July 21, 1924 with the famed Clarence Darrow as their attorney. The pair pled guilty and threw themselves at the mercy of the court. On September 10, 1924, they were both sentenced to the penitentiary at Joliet for the term of their natural lives for murder. For kidnapping, they were sentenced to ninety-nine years.

UPDATE - On January 28, 1936, Loeb, a homosexual, was stabbed to death in a Joliet prison shower by another homosexual inmate. Loeb was 30 years old.

On March 13, 1960, Leopold was released from prison and moved to Puerto Rico where he got married in 1962. He died in Puerto Rico at age 66 on August 30, 1971. He willed his body to the University of Puerto Rico for research.

HOME OF NATHAN LEOPOLD - Nathan Leopold Jr. lived here with his parents when he and Richard Loeb killed Bobby Franks. Leopold's father was a millionaire box manufacturer. 4754 Greenwood.

UPDATE - The Leopold family moved from Kenwood shortly after the trial. Several years later, Nathan Leopold Sr. married Mrs. Daisy Kahn of Los Angeles. He died in 1929 of a heart attack. Leopold's two brothers, Mike and Sam, changed their last name and moved out of Chicago. The sprawling Leopold house was torn down in the 1960s and the property was cut up to build several new homes. The garage where Leopold kept his Willys-Knight car, was converted into a carriage house during WWII and was still there in 1975.

HOME OF RICHARD LOEB - Richard Loeb was living here at 5017 Ellis when he and Nathan Leopold killed Bobby Franks. His father Albert Loeb, was a mulitmillionaire, a vice president and chief officer of Sears Roebuck company. Their house was across the street from the Franks house. It was here in the Loeb home that Leopold and Loeb burned Bobby's clothes in the basement. They hid the robe that they had wrapped Bobby in, near the Loeb greenhouse, then they washed the blood from the murder car while at sat in the Loeb driveway. 5017 Ellis.

HOME OF BOBBY FRANKS - Bobby Franks lived here at 5052 Ellis with his parents Jacob and Flora Franks. Jacob, a part owner of the Elgin Watch Company,was worth $4 million. Bobby's prize possession, a baseball with Babe Ruth's autograph was still on the shelf in a closet when Bobby was buried on Sunday, May 25, 1924. The services were held here in the Franks house. Richard Loeb stood on the sidewalk in front and watched as Bobby's casket was carried from the house to the hearse. 5052 Ellis.

UPDATE - A few weeks after the trial, the Franks family sold their home here and moved into the Drake Hotel. In 1928, Jacob Franks died of a heart attack at age 67, he was worth $2 million at the time of his death. Flora Franks later remarried. The Franks home was still here in 1975, ad was being used as a nursery school.

SCHOOL OF BOBBY FRANKS - Bobby Franks attended the Harvard School for Boys here on the day he was killed. When 12-year-old Nathan Leopold Jr. attended Harvard, classmates teased him about his size, his interest in bugs and his intelligence. They called him "Flea" and "Crazy Nathan," and "the crazed genius." 4731 Ellis.

UPDATE - Harvard School was still there in 1975 and was called the Harvard-St.George School.

BOBBY FRANKS KIDNAPPED - On Wednesday, May 24, 1924, Leopold and Loeb were driving north on Ellis when they spotted fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks walking south on Ellis. Leopold was in the back seat and Loeb was driving. Loeb later described what happened. "About five o'clock we saw Bobby Franks coming south on the west side of Ellis. As we passed him he was just coming across us past 48th. We turned down 48th and turned the car around. About the time we turned around, he was almost at 49th. It was here that we picked him up. I drove south on Ellis parallel to where Bobby was, stopped the car, and while remaining in my seat, opened the front door and asked him if I could give him a ride home. He said no, he would just as soon walk, but I told him that I would like to talk to him about a tennis racket, so he got in the car."

BOBBY FRANKS KILLED - It was here on 50th Street that Bobby Franks was killed. Loeb described what happened. "After Bobby got in the car, I stepped on the gas and drove south on Ellis to 50th. As soon as I turned the corner, Nathan placed one hand over Bobby's mouth and with his right hand beat him on the head several times with a chisel. Bobby began to bleed and was not entirely conscious. He was moaning. Nathan grabbed Bobby and pulled him over the back of the front seat and threw him on a rug on the floor. He then took a gag and stuffed it down his throat. Then we drove east on 50th, passed through the viaduct under the Illinois Central tracks and entered Jackson Park. Then we drove south toward Indiana on Highway 12."

LEOPOLD & LOEB THROW AWAY MURDER WEAPON - Just after midnight the day after Leopold and Loeb murdered Bobby Franks, they drove south on Greenwood past 49th Street and threw the murder weapon out. A night watchman in the area later told police that he saw a man in the back seat of a car throw out an object. He walked over to the spot and found a chisel in the gutter with tape wrapped around the blade. It had blood on the handle.

LEOPOLD & LOEB THROW MORE EVIDENCE IN LAGOON - On Saturday the 24th, Leopold and Loeb drove into Jackson Park at 2:30 a.m. and stopped at the bridge near a golden statue of Columbia which was erected at the time of the 1893 World's Fair. Leopold got out of the car and threw the keys of the typewriter on which he had typed the ransom note, into the water. He had removed them earlier with pliers. They then drove further south until they reached the outer drive bridge that crossed the channel connecting the inner lagoon with Jackson Park Harbor. It was here that Loeb threw the typewriter into the water. They then drove south along South Shore Drive to near 73rd. Here they threw the bloody bathrobe on a pile of debris under a pier.

ASHES OF CLARENCE DARROW THROWN IN LAGOON - When famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow died in 1948, his ashes were scattered here in the water from the bridge over the lagoon that went to the Wooded Island. East of 60th street.

UPDATE - A disbeliever of religion and the hereafter, Darrow once said that if there was anything to the spiritual world, he would come back to Chicago at 10 in the morning on each anniversary of his death. Every March 13, people gather on the Darrow Bridge and wait. Darrow has yet to make contact with them.

LAST HOME OF CLARENCE DARROW - In the early morning of Sunday, June 2, 1924, Jacob Loeb, Richard Loeb's uncle, rang the doorbell of attorney Clarence Darrow's apartment here in the Midway Apartments at 1537 E. 60th. Ruby Darrow came to the door. Loeb insisted on seeing Darrow, even though she told him that Clarence was sick in bed. Undeterred, Loeb barged into the bedroom and pleaded with Darrow to defend Leopold and Loeb. Loeb fell to his knees beside he bed and begged Darrow "We'll pay anything, only for God's sake, don't let them hang." Darrow, who had known the Loeb's for years, reluctantly took the case. The Darrow's lived in a 9-room flat on the top floor of a 6-story building called the Hunter. 1537 E. 60th.

UPDATE - Darrow died here in his apartment on March 13, 1948. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Jackson Park lagoon not far from he lived.

RICHEST MAN IN CHICAGO - Julius Rosenwald bought a half-interest in Sears Roebuck in 1893 and by 1910, he was president. In the 1920s, he was the richest man in Chicago and lived here in his 22-room mansion at 4901 Ellis. A generous man, he donated $4 million to build 5,000 schools for blacks in the south, donated $30 million to create the Rosenwald Foundation. He gave away $63 million because he believed in "giving while I am alive." 4901 Ellis.

UPDATE - The Rosenwald mansion still stands today. A close friend of the Franks family, Rosenwald is buried in Rosehill Cemetery on the North side. Little Bobby Franks is buried nearby.

SON OF PRESIDENT GRANT GETS MARRIED - Ida Honore, sister of Mrs. Bertha (Potter) Palmer, was married here in the Honore home at the corner of Vincennes and 45th in 1872 to Lieutenant Frederick Dent Grant, the son of President Ulysses S. Grant. President Grant and the first lady were in attendance. The wedding gifts included $10,000 worth of diamonds given by Potter Palmer.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG AT THE SAVOY - Louis Armstrong appeared here at the Savoy Ballroom in 1928. He was paid $200 a week. Nat King Cole and his band played here in the early 1930s. 4733 Martin Luther King Boulevard.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG HONEYMOON HOME - After Louis Armstrong and jazz pianist Lil Hardin got married on February 5, 1924 in her mother's home at 3320 Giles Ave. the happy couple bought a 11-room house here at 421 E. 44th. Louis moved out after several years and they were divorced in 1938. Lil was still living here when she died of a heart attack on August 28, 1971. - 421 E. 44th.

QUEEN OF THE CHICAGO MADAMES - In 1950, Dorothy Reisner was Chicago's "Queen of the Madames." She operated her brothel out of her home here where she had 2,500 prostitutes on her lists. 4417 Ellis.

FAMOUS ARCHITECT - Louis Sullivan lived here at 4575 Lake Park from 1892 to 1897. He designed many of Chicago's famous buildings along with the Getty and Ryerson mausoleums in Graceland Cemetery. 4575 Lake Park.

UPDATE - The home was still here in the 1950s.

MILLIONAIRE PRINTER - Thomas Donnelley, president of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Printers was living here in 1931. 4609 Woodlawn.

FORMER HOME OF MUHAMMAD ALI - Ali lived here in the 1970s. 4948 Woodlawn.

LOUIS FARRAKHAN HOME - Elijah Mohammed and Louis Farrakhan lived here in 1990. 4955 Woodlawn.

MILLIONAIRE PRINTER - Arthur Goes, vice president of Goes Lithographers was living here in the early 1930s. Most award certificates are printed by the Goes Co. 4940 Kimbark.

MILLIONAIRE MEAT PACKER - Gustavus Swift, founder of the Swift Meat Packing Company, built his home here in 1898. Harold Swift, vice president of Swift's was living here in 1931. 4848 Ellis.

FORMER CHICAGO MAYOR - Edward Kelly, former mayor of Chicago was living here in 1931. 4821 Ellis.

SEARS VICE PRESIDENT - Max Adler, vice president of Sears Roebuck was living here in 1930. He was the brother-in-law of Julius Rosenwald. In 1930, he donated $500,000 to build he Adler Planetarium 4939 Greenwood.

HOME OF MRS. ABRAHAM LINCOLN - Mary Lincoln and her sons Robert and Tad lived here in the Hyde Park Hotel in 1865. A recluse, she rarely left her three-room apartment. This was right after Abe was killed and she had moved to Chicago. At Hyde Park Blvd. and the Lake.

UPDATE - The hotel was destroyed in the Great Chicago fire of 1873.

INVENTOR OF THE ADDRESSOGRAPH - Joseph Duncan, inventor of the addressograph was living here in the 1930s. 5555 Everett.

INVENTOR OF THE CRACKER JACK BOX - In 1899, Henry Eckstein while part owner of the Cracker Jack Company, invented the "Triple Proof Package," a dust, germ, and moisture proof paper package that Cracker Jack came in. Eckstein was living here in the early 1930s. 5528 Everett.

1893 WORLD'S FAIR - The World's Columbia Exposition opened here in Jackson Park on May 1, 1893. The great white buildings were erected on what was once a wasteland and deserted beach. The Palace of Fine Arts cost $600,000 to build.

UPDATE - In 1895, most of the buildings burned down but the Palace of Fine Arts was saved. Marshall Field donated $1 million to restore it. The building was renamed the Fields Museum. In 1920, the building was abandoned when the new Field Museum was built in Grant Park. In 1925, Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck, donated $7.5 million to restore it. Today it is known as the Museum of Science and Industry.

WHITE CITY AMUSEMENT PARK - Opened in 1905, the White City Amusement Park (formerly "The Chutes") was one of Chicago's biggest entertainment spots. Its enormous main gate was at the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and 63rd.

UPDATE - The park closed in 1934, but parts of it including the roller rink stayed open into the 1950s. The park stretched from 63rd to 66th. Any remaining parts of White City were destroyed in 1958 for a housing project.

HUGH HEFNER STARTS PLAYBOY MAGAZINE - Hugh Hefner and his first wife and daughter lived here in a 5-room first-floor flat at 6052 Harper in 1950. It was here on the kitchen table that he designed and laid out the first issue of Playboy Magazine. They moved on Memorial Day in 1952. 6052 Harper.

CREATOR OF DICK TRACY - Chester Nathan Gould, a professor at Chicago University was living here in 1931. Gould is best known for creating the famous Dick Tracy comic strip. - 6007 Woodlawn.

WORLD'S FIRST FERRIS WHEEL - The Midway Plaisance was built between 59th and 60th streets as the formal entrance to the 1893 Colombian Exposition in Jackson Park. The sunken parts of the Midway were filled with water to create impressive lagoons. It was here on the Midway that a young lady from Syria called "Little Egypt" did her famous veil dance. The world's first Ferris Wheel, invented by George Ferris, was located at the corner of Woodlawn. It was 264 feet high and carried 1,440 people at one time40 in each of its 36 cars.

UPDATE - After the fair was over, the Ferris Wheel was moved to North Clark Street, then in 1904, it was taken to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

HOME OF THE MURDER MAN - William (Murder Man) Heirens, killer of little Suzanne Degnan, lived here in room #51 of the Snell (Gates) Hall in 1945. He was a student at Chicago University. At the corner of 57th and Ellis.

BIRTHPLACE OF THE ATOMIC BOMB - The Chicago U. football teams of Amos Alonzo Stagg played there games here at Stagg Field. On December 2, 1942, the atom was split in labs underneath the west stands of the stadium by Enrico Fermi and four other scientists.

UPDATE - Now gone, the stadium site is next to the library near the bronze statue called "Nuclear Energy." Between 56th and 57th on University.

MIDWAY GARDENS DANCE HALL - Built in 1914 by Edward Waller and Oscar Friedman, the Gardens were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright on the site of the old Sans Souci Gardens on the southwest corner of 60th and Cottage Grove. Wright designed it to resemble a German concert garden. Benny Goodman, and Ben Pollack played in the Art Kassel Orchestra here in 1923-1924.

UPDATE - The name was changed to the Edelweiss a few years before it was torn down in 1929 to make room for a garage, service station and car wash.

TRIANON BALLROOM - Rudolph Valentino danced the Tango here at the Trianon on February 18, 1923 while 6,000 of his fans watched. 6201 Cottage Grove.

UPDATE - It was torn down in 1967.

NAT KING COLE WINS TURKEY - Ten-year-old Nat King Cole won the first prize here at the Regal Theater in 1929 for his piano playing - a turkey. 4719 Martin Luther King Blvd.

UPDATE - The Regal was the last movie house in the city with stage shows, big bands etc. It was torn down in 1973.

THE "WIZARD OF OZ" - L. Frank Baum, author of the "Wizard of Oz" was living here in a second floor apartment in 1906. 5243 S. Michigan.

NEGRO BASEBALL PARK - In 1910, seven Negro baseball teams formed the National League of Colored Baseball Clubs. The local team played their home games here at 5324 S. State.

STREET CAR CRASH KILLS 34 - At 6:34 p.m. on May 25, 1950, a Green Hornet Chicago street car collided with a gasoline tanker here at the intersection of State and 62nd Place. When the street car exploded in flames, 34 passengers were burned to death.

OAK WOOD CEMETERY
1035 E. 67th

Adrian "Cap" Anson. Former Chicago White Sox baseball player and a Hall of Famer.

"Big Jim" Colosimo. Gangster. Colosimo was shot and killed on May 11, 1920 in his cafe on the southside by orders of his longtime friend, gangster JohnnyTorrio. Colosimo's services were held in his home on 23rd Street. A thousand first ward democrats preceded the cortege as it left the house and wound through the Levee (Chicago's notorious vice area) on its way here to the cemetery. As the cortege passed the Colosimo Cafe, where he was killed, two brass bands played out front. 5,000 mourners followed the casket, including 53 honorary pallbearers, criminals of all kinds, 9 aldermen, 3 judges, 2 congressmen, a state senator, an assistant state's attorney, and the state republican leader.

Charles Deenan. Former Illinois governor. (1863-1940).

Enrico Fermi. Nobel Prize winning physicist who helped split the atom.

Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik. Former Al Capone gang member.

Monroe Heath. Former Chicago mayor. (1827-1894).

Keneshaw Mountain Landis. Baseball's first commissioner.

Richard Loeb. Killer of Bobby Franks. He was stabbed to death while in prison in 1936 and was cremated here.

William "Big Bill" Thompson. Former Chicago mayor. (1869-1944).

Harold Washington. Chicago first black mayor. (1922-1987).

Confederate Soldiers. Many of the 6,000 Confederate Rebels who died in Camp Douglas Prison during the civil War are buried here in a mass grave. 18??-1863).

SOUTH SHORE

JOHNNY TORRIO SHOT BY BUGS MORAN GANG - On January 24, 1925, Gangster Johnny Torrio and his wife Anna, drove up in front of their apartment house here at 7011 Clyde after a shopping trip in the Loop. Mrs. Torrio left the car and entered the apartment house lobby leading to their third floor apartment. Torrio started to follow with an armload of packages. Just at that moment, a gray Cadillac pulled along side of Torrio's Lincoln and Hymie Weiss stepped out with a sawed-off shotgun blazing. Then Bugs Moran followed Weiss with his .45 automatic pistol blazing. Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci stayed in the car, keeping the motor running. Torrio ran toward the apartment, but shotgun blasts hit him in the jaw, neck, chest, stomach and groin and he fell to the ground. Moran ran up to him and put the barrel of his gun to Torrio's head, but he was out of bullets. Before he could reload, a laundry truck approached. The two gunmen jumped in their car and sped away. 7011 Clyde.

UPDATE - Torrio was taken to the Jackson Park Hospital where Al Capone sat at his beside all night. Torrio was released after 16 days. Hymie Weiss was shot to death on the north side on October 26, 1926, Drucci was shot and killed on April 5, 1927, and Moran died of lung cancer in 1957 while in prison. Torrio died of a heart attack in Brooklyn on March 16, 1957 at age 75.

HOME OF AL CAPONE - Al Capone built a 15-room brick duplex here at 7244 Prairie in 1927. The upstairs parlor had floor-to-ceiling mirrors and gilded cornices. The bathroom had a seven-foot bathtub, the fixtures were imported from Germany. A steel gate led from the alley at the rear into the basement. The walls were constructed of reinforced concrete a foot thick, and the windows had steel bars set close together. Al lived in the 7-room ground floor rooms with his mother, Theresa, two sisters, his wife Mae and his son Al Jr. (Sonny). His brother Ralph and his family lived in the 8 rooms above. Capone's neighbors included Chicago policemen Henry Huttner at 7208 Prairie, Patrick Houlihan at 7212 Prairie, and police sergeant. Dominck Gavigan at 7211 Prairie. 7244 Prairie.

UPDATE - Mae sold the house in 1953 and moved to Florida with Al Jr. (Sonny) where they ran a restaurant. Al's mother was living at 7342 Prairie when she died in 1952 at age 85. Sonny later worked as a used car salesman and a printer. He was arrested in 1965 for shoplifting in a supermarket in Hollywood, Florida. In 1966, he changed his name. In the 1970s, Mae was retired and living in Miami. In the early 1990s, Sonny was retired and living in Florida. Capone's sister, Mafalda owned a deli-restaurant at 10232 S. Western. She died in 1988 and is buried in the Capone plot with Al and her mother at Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

JAKE "GREASY THUMB" GUZIK DIES OF HEART ATTACK - Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik and his wife Rose were living here in an apartment building when he died of a heart attack on February 21, 1956. Guzik was Al Capone's accountant and treasurer for the syndicate for many years. His home here had bars on its windows and sheet metal steel linings on its doors. 7240 Louella.

SUBMACHINE GUN USED FOR FIRST TIME - The first recorded use of the submachine gun was by gangster Frank "Spike" McErlane in 1925. McErlane, one of Chicago's top hijackers and killers, was living here with his mother at 6941 Anthony, when he tried to kill Edward "Spike" O'Donnell in 1925.

GANGSTER KILLS GIRLFRIEND & HER DOGS - On October 8, 1931, gangster Spike McErlane's car was found parked here in front of a house at 8129 Phillips. In the back seat lay the body of his girlfriend Elfreda Rigus. She had four bullets in her. At her feet lay the bodies of her two dogs. Both had been shot to death. A few blocks away in McErlane's bungalow at 7753 Bennett, police found the signs of a drunken party. He surrendered ten weeks later, but was released for want of sufficient evidence.

UPDATE - On October 8, 1932, a year to the day after Spike killed Elfreda and her dogs, he died of pneumonia in a hospital in Beardstown, Illinois. It required four strong men to hold down his threshing body in his final delirium.

LAKE CALUMET - WOLF LAKE

LEOPOLD & LOEB STUFF BODY IN CULVERT - On Wednesday, May 21, 1924, 14-year-old Bobby Franks was kidnapped and killed by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. To dispose of the body, they drove south from Chicago toward Indiana on Highway 12. On the way, they stopped at the Dew Drop Inn at the corner of 15th and Calumet in Hammond and got something to eat. They sat in the car eating hot dogs and root beer while Bobby lay dead in the back seat. When it grew dark, they drove here to 118th and Avenue F and took the dirt road into the marshlands around Wolf Lake (now called Eggers Woods). Leopold had been here many times to watch and study birds. They placed the body in a robe, carried it to a culvert under the railroad tracks, where they poured hydrochloric acid on the boy's face, on his genitals, and on his abdomen where there was a surgical scar. Leopold took the feet while Loeb took the head and they placed the body in the drainpipe head first. Leopold shoved the body into the culvert, then pushed it in as far as it would go by pushing it with his feet. While doing so, Leopold's glasses fell from his coat pocket. Leopold later told police, "At first I thought he would not fit in the pipe, but once it started, it was not hard at all."

The next morning, a man walking past the culvert, noticed two bare feet sticking out from the culvert pipe. Standing in knee-deep water, he pulled the naked, dead boy from the pipe. Noticing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses lying nearby, he picked them up and stuck them in his pocket. He later turned them over to police who used them to track down the killers.

UPDATE - There is no longer a culvert beneath the railroad tracks at what would now be the corner of 118th Street and Wolf Lake. The Army built a Nike missile base in the 1950s just east of where Bobby Franks was found. In 1975, the Army abandoned the base. Huge power lines crossed the tracks right over where the body was found. The air was acrid and gray. West of the tracks gravel roads crisscrossed an area of weeds and a community garbage dump for old tires, rusted cars etc.

It was an ugly place on the night of May 21, 1924, and it was still an ugly place in 1975.

DRIFTER KILLS EIGHT NURSES - On July 14, 1966, Richard Speck, 25, a drifter from Texas with a tattoo on his left arm that read "Born to Lose," murdered eight nurses here in their townhouse at 2319 E. 100th St. in an area known as Jeffry Manor, a neighborhood of middle-class executives who worked in the nearby shipyards. He broke in as his helpless victims slept, tied them up, then raped, stabbed or strangled all eight to death in a sadistic sexual frenzy. When he finished around three-thirty a.m. Speck walked out the front door and and up 100th Street to the Shipyard Inn at 10063 S. Avenue N where he was staying.

UPDATE - Speck was arrested on July 17 in a Madison Street flophouse. Sentenced to life in prison, Speck died of a heart attack on December 5, 1991 in Stateville Prison. The Jeffry Manor area in 1993 was a black neighborhood, and the townhouse at 2319 E. 100th was still there. The Shipyard Inn is now the Golden Shell.

PULLMAN CITY - In 1881, George Pullman, inventor and manufacturer of the Pullman sleeping car, bought 3,000 acres here on the shore of Lake Calumet and built a model city for his employees where they built rail sleepers, passenger cars, freight cars and street cars.

Employees paid rent to Pullman for the rent of his houses, bought gas and water from Pullman, bought groceries from Pullman's stores, sent their children to Pullman's schools, and worshipped in Pullman's Church. The average workers pay in 1893 was $2 per day. When Pullman cut the workers wages and hours after business went bad in 1894, he refused to lower their rent. No one was allowed to fall behind in their bills, all charges against the workers wee deducted from their pay checks. Some workers in 1894 were left with as little as 7 cents a week in cash after everything was deducted.

On May 11, 1894, when three thousand workers went on strike, Pullman promptly laid off several hundred of them. Eugene Debs, head of the American Railway Union rushed in to see if a compromise could be reached but Pullman refused. Violence broke out all over the city and more than a dozen men were killed. Troops from Fort Sheridan were brought in to restore order. On July 9th, Debs conceded defeat and the strike that crippled the nations rail traffic, was broken without one concession from Pullman.

When the Pullman plant reopened on August 2, almost a quarter of the workers were new employees. All were required to sign pledges they would not join a union. More than a thousand former employees were left jobless and destitute.

UPDATE - Shortly after the strike, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the Pullman Company had exceeded the rights of its charter in leasing houses to its workers, and thereafter the cottages and apartments passed into the hands of private owners.

The plant was closed in 1974, but much of the village still stands today as an historical area between 111th and 115th. The car shops were located north of 111th Street on 500 acres.

HOLY CROSS CEMETERY
147th near Yates in Calumet City.

Gene Krupa. Drummer, bandleader. (1909-1973) He is in the Immaculate Section.

MT. GLENWOOD CEMETERY
183rd and State in Glenwood.

Elijah (Poole) Mohammed. Founder of the Nation of Islam. (1897-1975).

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