Union Square
September 8, 2009 /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
This crenelated stone church stands in what was once Chicago's fanciest neighborhood.
Built in 1869, the same year as the Water Tower on Michigan Avenue and in the same Joliet limestone, the Union Park Congregational Church served a community made up of the city's social elite.
& Artwork: designslinger]
In the 1850's in an effort to escalate their property values, landowners got the city to
create a green space in their midst which was named Union Park. Their scheme worked, and many of the young city's most prosperous businessmen built large homes in the area.
designslinger]
Mayor Carter H. Harrison, an unabashed Chicago booster, lived in a large home
on Ashland Avenue just two blocks from Union Park and the Congregational Church. He served 5 terms of office and Harrison's son Carter II, also served as Chicago's mayor. Chicagoans may notice a similarity between former 5 term Mayor Richard J. Daley whose son Richard M. serves as mayor today. This statue by Frederick C. Hibbard was placed on its pedestal in 1907 in the southern end of the Park, closest to Harrison's former home.
America series; Teamsters Union Local 786 Headquarters, site of the Harrison home, 300 S. Ashland Avenue,
Chicago, September 30, 2009 /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Harrison had played a large role in securing the World Columbian Exposition for Chicago
in 1890. The term "Windy City" was actually used to describe the "wind bag" Harrison and his fellow boosters by a disgruntled newspaper reporter from New York. The city which was competing with Chicago for the rights to host the World's Fair.
On the evening of October 28, 1893 Carter Harrison was shot to death in his Ashland
Avenue home by a mentally disturbed constituent. In those days you could actually ring your mayor's door bell and be admitted into his private residence. The assassination happened just days before the closing ceremonies of the Fair Harrison was so proud of, so the ceremonies were canceled and the Fair closed with a whimper.
The neighborhood changed as the years went on. Even by 1893 many of the the movers
and shakers had left the neighborhood for Prairie Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. By the 1930s most of the mansions that lined Ashland were rooming houses. Eventually they were torn down and often replaced with buildings that served as the headquarters of Chicago's labor union locals. By the 1960s over 30 union district buildings were within walking distance of one another.
Posted by designslinger at 10/28/2009 2:25 AM 
Categories: Architecture,Preservation,History
Tags: Union Square Park Carter H. Harrison Ashland Avenue
Categories: Architecture,Preservation,History
Tags: Union Square Park Carter H. Harrison Ashland Avenue
Well done!
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Thanks!
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