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Mrs. O'Leary heirs hoping family antique grandfather clock can find new home
Mrs. O'Leary heirs hoping family antique grandfather clock can find new home

Chicago Tribune

time05-07-2025

  • Chicago Tribune

Mrs. O'Leary heirs hoping family antique grandfather clock can find new home

The towering grandfather clock in the foyer of Paul and Susan Monreal's soon-to-be former home is far more than a conversation piece. It is a relic from the grand old age of worker's saloons and packed gambling houses — and it involves one of Chicago's most well-known families. The clock is believed to have once resided in the old South Side mansion built by James 'Big Jim' O'Leary, famous gambling boss of the early 20th-century Union Stock Yards area and the son of Catherine O'Leary, the most maligned milkwoman in city history. Paul Monreal is a fourth-great-grandchild of Catherine and Patrick O'Leary, who endured the enmity of Chicagoans after they were wrongfully accused of starting the Great Chicago Fire, which legend said was started by a jittery dairy cow named Daisy. Since 1994, the intricately carved, 9-foot-tall behemoth has held court in the entryway of Paul and Susan Monreals' split-level home in New Lenox, where they raised three children. Now empty nesters, the Monreals are downsizing and won't be able to bring the antique clock to their new home. They are hoping someone will take it and display it for younger generations. The clock had long been in the possession of Big Jim's granddaughter, Geraldine O'Leary Ross, known in the family as 'Doll,' at her home in Coloma, Michigan. 'When I was about that big,' Paul Monreal recalled, raising his hand to his belly, 'I wasn't allowed to touch it. I know it came from the (O'Leary) mansion. And then when it came from the mansion, it went to Coloma. Outside of Doll, who had it, she never really talked about it.' The clock was constructed by the Tobey Furniture Co. of Chicago, a cabinet maker and dealer in fine furniture dating back to 1856. The Monreals note the clock's wood carvings are similar to those found at the mansion, including faces believed to be Catherine O'Leary. The heirloom isn't trouble-free, Monreal says, requiring winding every month and oiling its wood once every year. Paul Monreal's grandmother, Anna Frances O'Leary Monreal, was Big Jim's granddaughter. She died tragically along with two of her three young children in a house fire started by a defective stove in south suburban Worth Township in 1943. Her eldest child, Edward Jr., survived and his father remarried. Edward Monreal, who was partially raised by his aunt Doll, shared stories of his lineage, but never spoke of the fire that claimed his own family. '(Paul's) dad never talked about (the fire),' said Susan Monreal, who grew up with her husband. While the Monreal's home is mostly packed up, their living room was covered in O'Leary memorabilia from their branch of the family tree, from a framed piece of ash that was supposed to be from the Chicago blaze, to a leather-bound listing from the 19th century featuring all of Catherine and Patrick O'Leary's children baptized at Holy Family Church. There are scores of newspaper clippings, keepsakes covering several generations and so many photos of relatives, the Monreals don't know them all. As with other branches of the O'Leary descendants, the Monreals said they grew up with their own stories of what truly sparked the Chicago fire. 'We were always told,' Susan Monreal said, 'that because it was such a drought in Chicago at the time, that all the sidewalks were wood plank and guys from the saloon would come around and when they walked around they would hit their pipes ashes on the building. And that's what we've always been told (about) how the Chicago fire started.' The clock isn't only a remembrance of Catherine O'Leary, but also of her son, James Patrick, who made a name for himself outside of the family's dark shadow. 'Big Jim O'Leary had it made,' said Susan Monreal. Aside from the already extraordinary tale of the O'Leary clan, Jim O'Leary led a life of adventure as a main cog for the city's infamous gambling operations at a time when gangsters battled over control of the Prohibition liquor trade. Though he grew up poor, Big Jim built a fortune running gambling and booking houses, poolrooms, an amusement park and his famous two-story stockyards saloon, O'Leary's, at 4187 S. Halsted St., despite near-constant hounding from police and reform-minded politicians. 'I've run every kind of a gambling game,' the famously honest gambler told the Tribune in November 1911. 'Every time I heard of a new one, I learned it and tried it. Nobody can say that O'Leary ever ran a crooked game.' His 33-room, 6,270-square-foot mansion at 728 W. Garfield Blvd., built in 1890 for $100,000, was reportedly built for his mother, who died five years later. Citing the clock's sentimental value and craftsmanship, Monreal said it didn't occur to him to sell it, wanting younger generations to be able to appreciate it as his family has. 'We could sell it, but what's the dollar value? What's it worth? Who is it worth (to)?' he said. 'Once you start doing that, you're getting rid of history and after that, it's pretty much gone. If I can get it in somewhere where people are looking at it and talk about it, if it's taken care of, well then that's pretty much what I'd be happy with.'

Today in Chicago History: In a scene out of ‘Casino,' Spilotro brothers buried alive in Indiana cornfield
Today in Chicago History: In a scene out of ‘Casino,' Spilotro brothers buried alive in Indiana cornfield

Chicago Tribune

time14-06-2025

  • Chicago Tribune

Today in Chicago History: In a scene out of ‘Casino,' Spilotro brothers buried alive in Indiana cornfield

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 14, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. The Chicago flag design: History of every star — including one for the Great Chicago Fire — and stripeWeather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 1949: One-time Chicago Cub Eddie Waitkus, by then with the Philadelphia Phillies, became the inspiration for 'The Natural' when he was shot in the Edgewater Beach Hotel by Ruth Ann Steinhagen, a 19-year-old fan. 1977: Eight people were arrested during Chicago's first major gay-rights protest. As many as 3,000 people showed up outside Medinah Temple to contest an appearance by Anita Bryant, a singer and orange juice spokesperson who led a successful drive to repeal a gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. 1981: Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa visited Chicago. The 70-year-old founder of Missionaries of Charity decried abortion, counseled nuns to wear distinctive religious garb and supported the church's ban on the ordination of women to the priesthood. Canonized as a saint by Pope Francis in 2016, Mother Teresa urged Catholics to dedicate themselves to service. 'We need people today to consecrate their lives just to be the touch — just to be the sweetness of Christ,' she told more than 600 people gathered at Good Counsel High School on the Northwest Side. 1986: Anthony Spilotro, 48, and his brother Michael, 41, were beaten with baseball bats then buried alive in a northwest Indiana cornfield. Contrary to what was depicted in the 1995 film 'Casino,' the brothers were driven to a Bensenville home, where Michael thought he was going to become a 'made member' of the Outfit. Instead, they were beaten with fists, knees and feet in the home's basement before they were driven to the cornfield and buried. Dental records were used by their brother Patrick Spilotro, a dentist, to identify the bodies. The details came out during the 2007 'Family Secrets' trial, which Tribune editor Jeff Coen wrote about in the 2009 book, 'Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob.' 1992: The Chicago Bulls won their second NBA championship. They did it at Chicago Stadium, by overcoming a 17-point deficit to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers 97-93 to win the NBA Finals four games to two. 1998: The Bulls won their sixth NBA title. 2016: Chicago-based Johnson Publishing announced the sale of Ebony and Jet magazines to Austin-based Clear View Group. Johnson Publishing filed for bankruptcy in 2016, and sold its extensive archive in 2019, for $30 million. A consortium comprising the Ford Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution announced in 2022, it transferred ownership of the archive to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and to the Getty Research Institute. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.

Vintage Chicago Tribune: Unexpected finds in Chicago parks
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Unexpected finds in Chicago parks

Chicago Tribune

time12-06-2025

  • General
  • Chicago Tribune

Vintage Chicago Tribune: Unexpected finds in Chicago parks

Ah, it finally feels like summer in the city. We can't wait to spend as much time outside as possible. But did you know your favorite Chicago park might have a secret past? These are some of the unexpected things we found when looking through the Tribune's archives. In parks featuring lagoons, Park District officers were kept busy chasing poachers who fished without a permit. Some parks — Lincoln, Garfield and Washington among them — had holding cells in their field houses. The Park District police were consolidated into the Chicago Police Department at 12:01 a.m., Jan. 1, for the territorial border agreed to by the Pottawattomie and the U.S. government, this park formerly featured a zoo. The first animal housed there was a single black bear named Teddy. It was donated by Frank Kellogg, president of the now-defunct Park Avenue Park District. Pheasant, ducks and an opossum followed. More recently, varieties of goats, exotic farm chickens and roosters and an African water fowl called the one-acre zoo inside the 13-acre park home. There is now a nature center and a bird migration area at the park, but no the oldest park in Chicago, the 3-acre landmark was the landing spot for many people who lost their homes after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The space earned the name 'Bughouse Square' — American slang for a mental health facility — in the early 1900s when people would come to the park to stand on soapboxes and crates to give long lectures about their theories, passions and ideologies — no matter how addled, goofy or, indeed, sharp and smart. Some of the people who used to speak and argue in the park were famous: Carl Sandburg, Emma Goldman, Eugene V. Debs. Others were anonymous anarchists, dreamers, lunatics, poets and sprawling lakefront park is home to Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago History Museum, beaches and bodies. Burials took place in the Chicago City Cemetery, which was north of North Avenue along the lakefront and outside the then-city limits. Bodies were later relocated to other cemeteries due to a variety of factors — city expansion northward, health risks associated with rising lake levels and their proximity to decaying bodies buried in shallow graves, and a lawsuit concerning one of the cemetery's sections. But some were probably left behind, Helen Sclair discovered. Her suspicions were confirmed after visiting the Illinois Regional Archives Depository at Northeastern Illinois University. Tribune reporter Ron Grossman wrote, 'Sclair seems to have been the first to guess that the archive might contain records of the old lakefront cemetery. … Eventually, she found more than 600 relevant documents, had them photographed, then copied by hand their virtually illegible 19th century handwritings.' Today, the tomb of innkeeper Ira Couch is the most visible reminder of what the area was used for, but as many as 12,000 bodies might still lie below open-air 'floating hospitals' in Lincoln Park were built between the 1870s and the 1900s, and offered excursions from the piers on Lake Michigan. In 1914, the Chicago Daily News offered to fund a more permanent sanitarium building. Opened in 1921, the impressive Prairie-style structure was one of several Lincoln Park buildings designed by Dwight H. Perkins of the firm Perkins, Fellows, and Hamilton. Perkins, an important Chicago social reformer and Prairie School architect, designed buildings, including Café Brauer, the Lion House in the Lincoln Park Zoo and the North Pond Café. The impressive Chicago Daily News Fresh Air Sanitarium building was constructed in brick with a steel arched pavilion with 250 basket baby cribs, nurseries and rooms for older children. The breezes through the shelter were believed to cure babies suffering from tuberculosis and other diseases. Free health services, milk and lunches were provided to more than 30,000 children each summer until 1939, when the sanitarium closed. Major reconstruction of Lake Shore Drive led to the demolition of the building's front entrance. During World War II, the structure became an official recreation center for the United Service Organization. The Chicago Park District converted the building to Theatre on the Lake in the early 1950s. Today it's a lakefront restaurant and venue that hosts concerts and theater named for Stephen A. Douglas, the senator from Illinois and noted Lincoln debater, the Chicago Park District board of commissioners voted on Nov. 18, 2020, to officially rename this park in honor of abolitionists Anna Murray Douglass and Frederick Douglass. Though many parks around the city now have swimming pools, Douglass Park became the first to have one devoted to recreation. Immigrants who lived in this area in the mid-1890s petitioned to have Chicago's first outdoor public swimming pool built there. When it opened in August 1896, the Tribune reported 15,000 people braved bad weather to celebrate with a parade. 'The German, Polish, and Bohemian athletic societies in the city had charge of the exercises. Long before the hour set for the beginning of the procession hundreds of uniformed Turners and bicyclists gathered … It was estimated that 3,000 men were in line. The procession consisted of four divisions, each headed by a band.' A pool still exists in the park. It is used for day camps, classes and open were in bloom when the Washington Park Conservatory debuted at 56th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in late 1897. Heated by exhaust steam piped in from a plant 700 feet away, the new 'floral castle' provided South Siders with a warm respite and lush surroundings inside the 425-foot-long hothouse constructed of stone, iron and glass. Thirty-foot-tall palm trees flourished under the conservatory's main dome and exotic fruits trees, ferns, grasses and vines were also mixed in. Washington Park long a site of change, controversyThe conservatory held exhibitions throughout the year, but plans were made in 1936, to tear it down. Its structure was deemed weak and too expensive to repair. A Park District police station was later constructed at 57th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center opened there in South Shore neighborhood was, like much of Chicago, a place where ethnic groups came and went. Yet above the club's porte-cochere, its arched entrance way, was a sign proclaiming that the South Shore Country Club was: 'For Members Only.' 'Until it closed in 1974, the club was, in the coded language of the time, 'restricted,'' Grossman wrote in 2016. 'Remember that this was a private club in its time and if you were Black or Jewish, forget about it,' a Chicago Park District official told the Tribune in 1984, when the club was renovated, prior to reopening as the South Shore Cultural Center. 'People who have never been here before will walk in and realize they are in the Taj Mahal.' South Shore: From exclusive country club to inclusive cultural centerThe club was worthy of such hyperbole. The main clubhouse, built in the then-tony Mediterranean Revival style, featured a cavernous main dining room and grand ballroom joined by a 'passaggio,' a broad and towering corridor. It was so long that three orchestras could play in different parts of the clubhouse without interfering with each other. Its facilities came to include a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, a trap-shooting range, lawn-bowling courts and stables, bridle paths and a dressage ring for equestrian members. The club's Horse Show was the high point of Chicago's social season. In 1920, the club added a band shell to its music venues. The club reached its high point of a little more than 2,000 members in 1953. But membership declined as the neighborhood's demographics changed. In 1975, the club sold its property to the Chicago Park District. Years of squabbling followed over what to do with the site. Park District officials weren't eager to spend money on the clubhouse and athletic facilities. Maintenance had been neglected as the club's revenues shrank. 'Ironically, Blacks — many of whom are now fighting to preserve the structures — were barred from the grounds except to work,' the Tribune observed in 1977. In the end, the neighborhood won. The buildings and grounds were renovated and now host jazz festivals, the restaurant Nafsi, art exhibitions and lectures. Michelle and Barack Obama held their 1992 wedding reception there. Thanks for reading! Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.

Today in Chicago History: Tribune announces contest to build ‘world's most beautiful office building'
Today in Chicago History: Tribune announces contest to build ‘world's most beautiful office building'

Yahoo

time10-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Yahoo

Today in Chicago History: Tribune announces contest to build ‘world's most beautiful office building'

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 10, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 98 degrees (1911) Low temperature: 42 degrees (1980) Precipitation: 2.94 inches (1967) Snowfall: None 175 years of the Chicago Tribune: How the newsroom — and city — has evolved since June 10, 1847 1847: The first copy of the Tribune was published, but no copies of that original exist. They were lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. 1922: The Tribune Tower design competition was announced as part of the newspaper's 75th birthday celebration. In the words of co-publishers Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Patterson, it was to be 'the world's most beautiful office building.' They offered $100,000 in prize money. First prize of $50,000 went to New York architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, who designed a soaring Gothic skyscraper with a spectacular topside treatment. 1961: Bill Veeck, who bought the team in 1959, sold his Chicago White Sox holdings to Arthur Allyn Jr. Veeck returned as owner in 1975. The Rolling Stones in Chicago: A timeline of the band's 55-year fascination with the city's blues 1964: The Rolling Stones recorded in the United States for the first time, at Chess Records studios in Chicago. 1971: RJ Grunts — the first restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You — opened at 2056 Lincoln Park W., Chicago. Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises: How the Tribune reviewed 50 years of the restaurant group's concept debuts 'That might have been one of the worst restaurant names of all time,' Rich Melman, co-founder and chairman of the board of Lettuce Entertain You, told the Tribune in 2021. 'R was for Richard and J was for Jerry. He had a girlfriend Debbie, who was terrific, and her nickname was Piggy. She used to make these guttural sounds when she ate. That's where the name came from, the R and the J and the sound pigs make grunting.' Also in 1971: Ten people were killed and more than 100 injured when Amtrak's southbound City of New Orleans passenger train derailed near downstate Salem. 5 things you might not know about Chicago native Ted Kaczynski — the 'Unabomber' 1980: 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski struck again. Percy A. Wood, United Airlines president and chief operating officer, was injured after opening a book inside a package that had been left in his mailbox at his Lake Forest home. He suffered burns and lacerations to his face, body, left hand and left leg. In a coded entry in his journal dated Sept. 15, 1980, Kaczynski wrote, 'After complicated preparation I succeeded IN INJURING THE PRES. OF UNITED A.L. BUT HE WAS ONLY ONE OF A VAST ARMY OF PEEPLE WHO directly and indirectly are responsible for the JETS.' 2016: There was fear that Lionel Messi wouldn't play in the Copa América Group D match against Panama at Soldier Field because of a lower back injury. So when he entered during the 61st minute, the crowd erupted in cheers. 'Every time he touched the ball, it was hard to hear yourself think,' the Tribune reported. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer's big names came to play Seven minutes later, Messi had his first goal for Argentina. Two more followed, for a hat trick, during his short appearance. Argentina won and advanced to the quarterfinals. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@

Today in Chicago History: Tribune announces contest to build ‘world's most beautiful office building'
Today in Chicago History: Tribune announces contest to build ‘world's most beautiful office building'

Chicago Tribune

time10-06-2025

  • Business
  • Chicago Tribune

Today in Chicago History: Tribune announces contest to build ‘world's most beautiful office building'

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 10, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 175 years of the Chicago Tribune: How the newsroom — and city — has evolved since June 10, 18471847: The first copy of the Tribune was published, but no copies of that original exist. They were lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. 1922: The Tribune Tower design competition was announced as part of the newspaper's 75th birthday celebration. In the words of co-publishers Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Patterson, it was to be 'the world's most beautiful office building.' They offered $100,000 in prize money. First prize of $50,000 went to New York architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, who designed a soaring Gothic skyscraper with a spectacular topside treatment. 1961: Bill Veeck, who bought the team in 1959, sold his Chicago White Sox holdings to Arthur Allyn Jr. Veeck returned as owner in 1975. The Rolling Stones in Chicago: A timeline of the band's 55-year fascination with the city's blues1964: The Rolling Stones recorded in the United States for the first time, at Chess Records studios in Chicago. 1971: RJ Grunts — the first restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You — opened at 2056 Lincoln Park W., Chicago. Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises: How the Tribune reviewed 50 years of the restaurant group's concept debuts'That might have been one of the worst restaurant names of all time,' Rich Melman, co-founder and chairman of the board of Lettuce Entertain You, told the Tribune in 2021. 'R was for Richard and J was for Jerry. He had a girlfriend Debbie, who was terrific, and her nickname was Piggy. She used to make these guttural sounds when she ate. That's where the name came from, the R and the J and the sound pigs make grunting.' Also in 1971: Ten people were killed and more than 100 injured when Amtrak's southbound City of New Orleans passenger train derailed near downstate Salem. 5 things you might not know about Chicago native Ted Kaczynski — the 'Unabomber'1980: 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski struck again. Percy A. Wood, United Airlines president and chief operating officer, was injured after opening a book inside a package that had been left in his mailbox at his Lake Forest home. He suffered burns and lacerations to his face, body, left hand and left leg. In a coded entry in his journal dated Sept. 15, 1980, Kaczynski wrote, 'After complicated preparation I succeeded IN INJURING THE PRES. OF UNITED A.L. BUT HE WAS ONLY ONE OF A VAST ARMY OF PEEPLE WHO directly and indirectly are responsible for the JETS.' 2016: There was fear that Lionel Messi wouldn't play in the Copa América Group D match against Panama at Soldier Field because of a lower back injury. So when he entered during the 61st minute, the crowd erupted in cheers. 'Every time he touched the ball, it was hard to hear yourself think,' the Tribune reported. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer's big names came to playSeven minutes later, Messi had his first goal for Argentina. Two more followed, for a hat trick, during his short appearance. Argentina won and advanced to the quarterfinals. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.

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