Part I of II
One would not call Oak Park a “boom town” a century ago, but the 5-year-old village was certainly showing plenty of progress. Besides several new subdivisions being developed in 1907 (including what is now the Gunderson Historic District), there was construction going on in virtually every neighborhood.
Concrete work continued on the terraces and enclosing parapets at the entrance to Frank Lloyd Wright’s monolithic Unity Temple at Lake Street and Kenilworth Avenue. The massive public high school building at Scoville Avenue and Ontario Street was also currently under construction. Many citizens feared the colossal structure would not be finished in time for the opening of the 1907-1908 school year. The school opened its doors on Monday, Sept. 2, but since the seats for the auditorium did not show up for several weeks, there was no traditional first-day assembly for the student body.
With great fanfare, Oak Park Hospital at Wisconsin Avenue and Monroe Street opened on April 4. (The 1907 “old section” can still be seen on its east side.) People from throughout the region came to tour the up-to-date facilities. It was reported that $5,000 had been spent in outfitting the two operating rooms alone, both of which had visitors galleries. The new hospital, Oak Park’s first, now attended the momentous events in the life cycle (birth and death) that previously took place at home.
Dr. J.W. Tope, the “father” of Oak Park Hospital, enlisted the services of the Sisters of Misericorde, a French Canadian order of nuns, to run the institution. Due to the prevailing mood of local anti-Catholicism, however, the hospital was not allowed to bear a saint’s name, nor could it feature prominent religious insignia.
First two parishes
Two new Catholic parishes, St. Edmund and Ascension, were being formed, as the local press put it, due to the “rapid influx of people of that denomination, particularly into South Oak Park.”
“Of late, Catholics have been slowly but steadily increasing in numbers here,” one article explained.
Though there was some anti-Catholic sentiment in the community, millionaire John Farson, owner of the Pleasant Home mansion on the corner of Pleasant Street and Home Avenue, hosted a lavish “lawn reception” on his grounds to salute the new church, which would not be built for three more years. The location, the former property of Dr. Thomas E. Roberts, had just been purchased as the future site of St. Edmund (erected in 1910).
The St. Edmund event, hosted by Farson, was attended by several thousand guests, many of whom were not Catholic. This gala included a stringed orchestra and a booth offering “Teddy Bears” (named for President Teddy Roosevelt) to the children. Farson’s broad lawns were decorated with hundreds of Japanese lanterns. Monsignor John J. Code spoke and applauded non-Catholic Farson for his support and hospitality. By the time he died at age 88 in 1956, Code had served 49 years at the parish (See sidebar for centennial events).
The “central zone” of Oak Park, adjacent to the Northwestern train tracks, continued to sport the largest homes and was the most heavily populated neighborhood. Much of north Oak Park was a sparsely settled wooded area. South Oak Park, also fairly undeveloped, was a vast string of meadows and pastures, but it was about to undergo a building boom.
One of the fastest growing subdivisions was being built by S.T. Gunderson & Sons in south central Oak Park. Newspaper ads of 1907 described the expanding neighborhood of up-to-date, affordable Gunderson homes as being picturesque, “almost like a fairy tale or a story from the Arabian Nights.”
In another subdivision, which ran south of Madison Street at Wisconsin and Maple avenues all the way to the street level “Aurora & Elgin” commuter train tracks (now the Eisenhower Expressway), the Thomas Hulbert houses were selling for $4,250 to $7,000. Oak Park was such a progressive, prosperous community that all new homes were equipped with electricity and indoor-plumbing. The 9-room home on the corner of Maple & Adams sold for $5,500 in 1907.
Chicago newspapers carried constant advertising luring city-dwellers to these new subdivisions. The ads stressed the village’s “pure air and neighborhood cleanliness,” and “Oak Park schools are of the highest standards” became a tagline that was featured for decades.
Adding to their reputation and a sign of the booming south side population, Lincoln School, 1111 S. Grove Ave., had just opened the previous fall.
There were few apartment buildings in Oak Park until the 1920s because of a widespread notion that rental accommodations encouraged riff-raff and a “disreputable element” to move into the community. But nevertheless there were plenty of apartments for rent in 1907, such as a second-story, five-room flat at 615 S. Maple Ave., for $12 per month.
Progress was obvious everywhere one looked. Many streets were now being paved with bricks, such as Madison Street from Austin Boulevard to Harlem Avenue. Lake Street was also being “bricked” from Austin all the way to the Des Plaines River through River Forest at a cost of $46,110. This “phenomenally outrageous” amount, which made most taxpayers’ jaws drop when they heard it, was to be paid in 10 annual installments of $5,000.
Prairie style
As the home of Frank Lloyd Wright, Oak Park was becoming the nucleus of what became known as the Prairie School of Architecture, a rejection of the excesses of Victorian style.
E.E. Roberts, a far more popular local architect than Frank Lloyd Wright, had an office in the Oak Park Trust & Savings Bank, 101 N. Marion St. (now Prairie Bread Kitchen), on the edge of the busy street-level railroad tracks. The hub of Oak Park’s business district in 1907 was the two-block section of Marion Street just north of the trains.
Automobiles were becoming more common on local streets, but for the most part Oak Park was still a horse-drawn town. Motorcars still cost as much as a brick home-at least $4,500. It was not until Henry Ford’s Model T was manufactured with assembly-line techniques (beginning in 1908) that autos became affordable for the average family.
Wright Elson, Jr., ran an early car dealership on South Boulevard near Harlem Avenue. His specialty was the 1907 Maxwell that had flexible springs and its motor in the front.
Staunchly Republican
Oak Park’s population was booming. The 1890 census indicated the village had 4,589 people. By 1907, however, the population had swelled to 16,327 and would more than double during the following decade as south Oak Park subdivisions were developed.
Oak Parkers a century ago were predominantly upright and church-going, prosperous and staunchly Republican. Then as now the village enjoyed a high degree of citizen involvement.
Settled by temperance advocate pioneers, Oak Park’s anti-saloon forces remained a powerful force in the early 20th century. Though Oak Park would remain a “dry” town for the next seven decades, there were periodic violations. In May, for instance, a “blind pig” (an illegal speakeasy-style drinking establishment) was raided at 1101 S. Highland. The proprietor was arrested and fined $50.
On April 2, 1907, an election defeated the movement to change Oak Park from a village to a city-like its neighbor, Berwyn, to the south. In August 1907, the adjacent, heavily German community of Harlem became “Forest Park,” although Harlem Avenue would retain its name.
Suffrage central
The “suffragette cause” (women’s vote) grew in numbers and influence in Oak Park, with such pillars of the community as Mrs. Grace Trout and Dr. Anna Blount leading the swelling ranks. Since a great number of local women had household “help” they were free during the day to “work for the cause.” Many Oak Park households had at least one full-time servant in 1907.
The 1907 Illinois Equal Suffrage Convention convened at the Scoville Institute (Oak Park Library) in October. Oak Park was on its way to becoming a focal point of the entire Midwest suffrage movement. There were many lectures, meetings, and workshops offered.
Dr. Frances Wood delivered the keynote address. “Our cause is gaining a stronger foothold,” Wood told the packed audience. “Rapid strides are being made by battalions of women across our state. It is invigorating to see the readiness of Oak Park women in joining the movement, opposing our long-standing disenfranchisement.”
Though 1907 may seem like a graceful and picturesque period, infectious diseases, spread in periodic epidemics, were the leading cause of death among both adults and children. The first, a Scarlet Fever outburst, closed the schools for four weeks in January and February after 122 cases of the illness were reported. River Forest schools were also closed with a diphtheria scare. Eighty-eight homes in River Forest were rigorously quarantined, yet a number of stricken children died. Even the public libraries were closed, as well as churches and any theater or gathering place where germs could be spread. Numerous individuals were arrested for “quarantine violation,” which meant they left their homes before Health Department approval.
In October 1907, 25 cases of typhoid fever, attributed to contaminated drinking water, were reported in the district north of Chicago Avenue and west of Oak Park Avenue. During each of these outbreaks, housewives were encouraged to “purify the premises” with disinfectant.
Domecile domestics
Most households looking for domestic assistance published want ads in the local press. The “lady of the house” at 309 S. Scoville Ave. was seeking a young girl to assist with both housework and baby care. Employment ads often specified ethnicities. “Colored girl preferred,” the ad continued. Another family wanted a “strong German girl, good cook with references, no laundry or ironing.” Wages were $5 per week.
Live-in domestics were expected to be “on call” before the family arose from bed and after they went to sleep at night. Servants were allowed little time off, the Oak Park standard being Thursday evening and every other Sunday. Local hotel dining rooms swelled with patrons who hated to cook on “maid’s night off.”
Both the Park Hotel, 116 Marion St. (currently Spauldings Store for Men) and the Hotel Plaza, now the ballroom of the Carleton Hotel, offered multi-course dinners for 50 cents a plate. The latter also offered a mechanical piano and periodic performances by a stringed ensemble.
Even those Oak Parkers who did not employ regular servants often hired girls for spring and fall housecleaning.
Live-in servants were paid with room and board plus small wages ($3 or $4 per week) and occasional “hand-me-down” clothing. A family’s Irish or German “girls” often lived in sparsely furnished rooms in the attic or beside the kitchen. But “colored” help usually did not board in their employers’ homes.
