The Land of Douglas
We just got our Illinois license plates inscribed with the words Land of Lincoln
across the bottom. On Chicago's near south side, is an area that was once the land of Stephen A. Douglas, who defeated Mr. Lincoln for the U.S. Senate, but then lost to Lincoln for the presidency. Douglas was a prominent political figure, lawyer and land speculator.
One part of Douglas' extensive property portfolio was 160 acres along the city's
lake front, centered near today's 35th Street. In 1855, he cut out a tract of that acreage and created an upscale housing development. Marketed to the elite class of the city, Douglas' private park, Groveland, may be the oldest surviving gated community in the world; certainly in Chicago. And, if you've ever seen a round container wrapped in blue paper with an illustration of a young child leaving a trail of salt in the rain, Joy Morton, the founder of the Morton Salt Company, lived in Groveland.
Nestled in an almost forgotten corner of the city, it is remarkable that any of this
154-year-old community still remains. The guard house, along with a number of houses dating to the 1860s and 1880s still stand among the trees and private driveway. But, the entire north side of the property is filled with townhouses from the 1970s.
Although Douglas was a Chicagoan, Lincoln carried the city vote in their senate race
in 1858, though Douglas garnered enough votes in the rest of the state to hold on to his senate seat. Two years later, Lincoln once again carried the Chicago vote when he beat Douglas in the race for President. Unfortunately, Douglas contracted typhoid fever in 1861 and died at the age of forty-eight. He's buried in an elaborate tomb around the corner from Groveland, at the edge of 35th Street, on the last remaining parcel of his former estate, Oakenwald.
Posted by designslinger at 6/24/2009 2:00 AM 
Categories: Cities, Architecture, Urban Planning, History
Tags: Chicago Oakenwald Stephen A. Douglas Groveland
Categories: Cities, Architecture, Urban Planning, History
Tags: Chicago Oakenwald Stephen A. Douglas Groveland
Comments