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Hyde Park History
Vol. 33
N0. 4autumn
201 1
Published by the Hyde Park Historical Society
Hyde Park’s Own Jeweler
autumn 2011
Non-Profit Org.
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✁
the Hyde Park Historical Society, a
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promote public interest in the history
of Hyde Park. Its headquarters,
located in an 1893 restored cable car
station at 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue,
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photo by Frances Vandervoort
Hyde Park Historical Society
This Newsletter is published by
the public on Saturdays and Sundays
Michael McGuire behind the counter at Supreme Jewelers
from 2 until 4pm.
Frances Vandervoort
Web site: hydeparkhistory.org
Telephone: HY3-1893
n the counter in front of us was the book,
O
Early Chicago Hotels, (Arcadia Press, 2006).
Michael McGuire, proprietor of Supreme Jewelers,
President: Ruth Knack
Editor: Frances S. Vandervoort
Membership Coordinator:
Claude Weil
Designer: Nickie Sage
had opened it to a photograph of the Hyde Park
Hotel, a handsome structure built in1887 by Hyde
Park’s founder, Paul Cornell, on 51st Street between
Lake Park Avenue and Blackstone Avenue. “Supreme
Jewelers was located in the first floor of this building
when I began working there in 1959,” he said.
On this June Day I had not come to his beautifully
appointed shop to show him my faltering 43-year-old
Omega wristwatch, numerous times the object of his
attention and care. Nor had I come to see his latest
manifestations of aquamarines or bloodstones, my
two birthstones of particular interest to my somewhat
superstitious mother. I had come to talk with him
about what it was like to grow up in Hyde Park in
the 1950s. Furthermore, I was confident that he could
teach me a lot about the local jewelry trade.
“I was one of six children born to Martin and Jessie
McGuire in Hegewisch,” he told me. “My father
was not able to hold a job, so with the guidance and
support of a local priest, my two brothers and I were
placed in an orphanage. One sister was sent to a child
care facility and the two younger sisters stayed with
our mother. My mother, brothers, sisters and I moved
to an apartment across from the old YMCA on 53rd
Street in the early 1950s. Our mother supported
the family on the modest salary she earned waiting
table at LeMeck’s Restaurant in the Hyde Park Bank
Building where Binny’s is today. My older brother
Martin and I went to work delivering newspapers
from Everett Ramsey’s newspaper shop near Watson’s
Jewelry Store at the northeast corner of Woodlawn
Avenue and 55th Street. In time, Martin and I
managed to save enough money from our newspaper
routes to buy her a Gruen wristwatch.”
The Supreme Jewelers was established beneath the
Illinois Central Railroad tracks at 51st Street and Lake
Park Avenue in 1948 by Jerry Feld, a 22-year-old
World War II veteran with $500 in his pocket and a
will to succeed. “Jerry went to watchmaker’s school
on the G.I. Bill and began building his business,” said
Michael. By the late 1950s, when Michael had decided
it was time to move on, he approached Jerry Feld. “I
told him I would do anything, even sweeping floors,
to work for him.”
Jerry took him on as a handyman, or handy boy,
as Michael described the job. He was only fourteen
years old.
One of Michael’s first jobs was polishing silverplate. ➤ 2
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photo by Frances Vandervoort
Limestone cartouche from a building on 53rd Street, now in the
McGuire Garden
my truancy. I was sent to “parental school” for four
months, where I became the ‘office boy,’ the most
respected position in the hierarchy of troubled youth,
after which I went right back to work for Mr. Feld.”
In 1959, the Hyde Park Hotel became a victim of
urban renewal. Bruce Sagan, publisher of the Hyde
Park Herald, bought the familiar red brick building at
53rd Street and Harper Avenue, offered space within
it for rent, and within a week all slots were filled.
Supreme Jewelers moved into the space immediately
next to the United Church of Hyde Park. Other
businesses included a pizza restaurant, and Koga’s
Japanese Gift Shop. The barber shop, already located
in the building and then owned by an Italian barber,
remained.
The Jewelry Trade in Hyde Park
Watson’s Jewelry Store was founded in 1910 at
1200 East 55th Street in a building razed during
urban renewal and replaced with the parking lot
for St. Thomas the Apostle Church. In the back of
the shop was a jeweler’s bench, equipped with tools
for engraving, watch repair, and cleaning necklaces,
brooches and rings. John Watson was well known
for being able to repair anything that was brought to
him—toasters, broken toys, and a myriad of household
items.
When Watson retired in the mid-1950s, his
son, Norman, took over the business. Norman was
a graduate of the University of Chicago, but his
affection for the bottle and lack of business sense led
to the demise of this long-standing operation. His
widow was best known for her pet turtle, Tippy, that
she carried in a small velvet pouch wherever she went.
Sometime in the 1970s I had a personal encounter
with Ms. Watson in the Hyde Park Shopping
Center, where I had brought a tiny beige kitten that
had appeared in my back yard. I hoped that a cat
lover would adopt him. A petite lady in a long coat
appeared, fondled the cat, then unzipped the pouch
revealing Tippy the turtle, who surveyed me with
beady eyes and stretched out his brightly painted
toenails. “He has the run of the house,” explained Ms.
Watson, “and would never tolerate having a kitten
around.”
After Watson’s closed its doors in 1959, a gentleman
named Rudy opened a small shop connected to the
Hyde Park Bank Building lobby. This space is now
occupied by the University Travel Agency. Rudy,
an Omega watch dealer, was in business about two
years. Prior to that, in mid-1950s Ted Cirals, a local
entrepreneur, operated a small jewelry store at 1344
East 53rd Street. After Cirals closed his jewelry shop,
he opened the House of Tiki Restaurant on the north
side of 53rd Street just east of the ICRR overpass.
In the late 1960s, the Noerfort Jewelry Store was in
operation for about two years just west of Blackstone
Avenue on 53rd Street. Another small shop was in
business for a few years on the south side of 55th
Street west of Kimbark Avenue and across from
Breslauer’s Department Store.
These businesses all faltered and ultimately were
shut down, but Jerry Feld’s Supreme Jewelers
survived—and thrived. Feld sold the store to Michael
McGuire, who had been managing the store, in 1991.
With typical modesty, Michael avowed that being in
Hyde Park has allowed him “to make a living.” He
acknowledges having customers from all over Hyde
Park and Chicago, a number of whom are former
Hyde Parkers who return for the special attention
Supreme Jewelers provides. He is understandably
reluctant to identify customers by name, but
mentioned film actress Eleanor Parker who, for a short
time in the 1960s, lived in East Hyde Park. “She
bought a pair of earrings and needed her ears pierced.
As I did with all customers needing piercings, I sent
her to Dr. Hyman Schorr, an elderly physician who
practiced in the Hyde Park Bank Building. Because of
his unsteady hands, Dr. Schorr was known as ‘Shaky
Shorr.’ His hands were perfectly steady, however, as he
zeroed in on a customer’s ear lobe!”
Supreme Jewelers moved to its present location at
1515 East 53rd Street in 2003. According to the Hyde
Park Herald, the biggest challenge came from moving
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photos by Frances Vandervoort
➤ 1 “The polishing machine had no exhaust fan—I
ended up filthy!” From polishing silverware, Michael
moved to engraving silver plates for the Nisei
(Japanese) bowling league in Chicago. He learned to
write Japanese words phonetically in English, i.e.,
yoke-a-ham-a. “The words were foreign to my ears,
but I learned how to write them in English. I also
learned to be very careful, because making a mistake
meant that the plate was yours—you had to pay for it!”
“I never went to high school. I have no degree
from any school at all. I was always working. At one
point, my mother was ordered to court to account for
7
Sam Guard (left) and Jack Spicer (right) hold forth during tour of Woodlawn Avenue historic residences.
Answer to Mystery Quiz
The Washington Park Jockey Club was created in
1883 by Civil War hero General Philip Sheridan.
Sheridan, together with a group of about 500 wealthy
Chicagoans opened the Washington Park Race Track
about a year later at the 61st Street and Cottage Grove
Avenue. The track’s clubhouse, completed in 1896,
was designed by Solon Spencer Beman, architect of the
Blackstone Library. Daniel Burnham designed some
of the stables, including the round stable with the
conspicuous spire. With several interruptions, the track
remained open until 1905 when the State of Illinois
banned all gambling and stopped horse racing. In
1926 a new Washington Park Race Track opened in
Homewood, and operated until the grandstand and
other buildings were destroyed by fire in 1977.
Woodlawn Avenue
X Three
Hyde Parkers concerned about preserving the
residential character of Woodlawn Avenue proved their
mettle by showing up for tours of this unique area on
three hot afternoons in July. The Preservation Committee
of the Society sponsored the tours; Sam Guard and Jack
Spicer engineered the tours’ success.
New Society Members
The Society welcomes Marie Levesque and
Dorothy Patton.
Wikipedia: Washington_Park_Race_Track
Volunteers Needed
Volunteer co-coordinator Carol Vieth is looking for
additional volunteers to staff HPHS headquarters on
Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Please contact her:
(773) 493-6907, e-mail [email protected]
Correction
Professors’ Row is located in the 5200 block of South
Greenwood Avenue, not the 5300 block, as stated in
the article, “Shared Memories in a Storefront” in the
Summer, 2011, issue of Hyde Park History. The editor
regrets the error.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 7pm
Architect John Vinci and Board member
Dev Bowly will describe the history
and renovation of HPHS headquarters.
The program will take place at Society
headquarters.
Sunday, September 18, 2011, 2-4pm
Walk-and-Talk tour of Kenwood led by
Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston, who
returns to the neighborhood where she
grew up. Details forthcoming.
October Memory Share. Because of
popular demand, a Memory Share will be
held in October. Watch for announcements
for the date and venue of this happy event!
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Kathy Huff
On June 5th the Hyde Park Historical Society
honored 2011 Chicago Metro History Fair winners
whose projects relate to Hyde Park Township. All
projects dealt with some aspect of African American
history between the late 19th century and the mid-
Left to right: Danielle Norman of Gwendolyn Brooks College
Prep High School (Preserver of the Past: Vivian G. Harsh and the
Chicago Black Renaissance); Kirklun Davis, Walter Payton College
Prep High School (Urban Renewal in Hyde Park); Saud Ahmed,
Yiorgos Giannetos, and Alex Stavropoulos, Niles North High
School (The Black Presence at the World’s Fair); Frank Valadez,
Executive Director, Chicago Metro History Education Center; and
Sarah Stuckey, Niles North High School history teacher
20th century. Jay Mulberry, former history teacher and
HPHS board member emeritus, and Stacy Stewart,
a current Chicago Public School principal, a former
student of Jay’s at High Park High School and now
teaching history herself, led lively discussions after each
presentation, and spoke from their own experiences
and observations. Jay added immensely to the general
discussion about African American history on the South
Side of Chicago and in Hyde Park.
Danielle Norman, a junior from Brooks College
Preparatory High School, presented her exhibit, Vivian
G. Harsh and the Chicago Black Renaissance.
Danielle described Ms. Harsh as the first African
American librarian to be hired, in the 1920s, by
the Chicago Public Library. She was responsible for
establishing one of the best archives of African American
History in the United States, now housed at the Carter
G. Woodson Regional Library at 95th Street and
South Halsted Street. Tim Black, noted historian and
HPHS board member emeritus, followed Danielle’s
presentation by describing his experiences growing up
in Bronzeville where he used the same library that was
under Vivian Harsh’s tutelage.
The second project, entitled: The Black Presence
at the World’s Fair, was presented by a team of three
juniors from Niles North High School in Skokie: Saud
Ahmed, Yiorgos Giannetos, and Alex Stavropoulos.
These students described the the disagreement between
Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells during the 1893
World’s Columbian Exposition about whether blacks
from the U.S. should have been better represented at the
World’s Fair. This project won a prize at the statewide
History Fair Day in Springfield, IL, and was due to be
part of the national History Fair Day competition in
Washington, D.C. in June.
Urban Renewal in Hyde Park was a paper presented
by a Hyde Park resident, Kirklun Davis, a junior at
Payton College Preparatory School. Kirklun argued that
there was discrimination against blacks during the time
of urban renewal in Hyde Park in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Kirklun claimed that blacks were taken advantage of
when the South East Commission, led by the University
of Chicago, developed a plan to raze many blocks of
housing occupied by lower income minorities. He
contended that some minority residents who were
homeowners were not compensated for their properties
and that most could not afford to repurchase or rent new
apartments in more expensive buildings in Hyde Park
and had to move away.
This presentation led to an energetic discussion of
the pros and cons of urban renewal. Judy Roothaan,
in the audience, pointed out that the purpose of urban
renewal was to encourage a racially mixed neighborhood
and to keep negative elements out of Hyde Park.
Others present said that this plan worked very well to
attract middle and upper middle class minorities to the
neighborhood.
Kirklun Davis, who spoke independently, and the two
student teams were all represented by history teachers
from their schools and by family members. Teachers and
parents were lauded and thanked by Jay Mulberry and
Frank Valadez, Executive Director of the Chicago Metro
History Education Center. HPHS
photos by Kathy Huff
Chicago Metro History
Fair Winners Program
Jay Mulberry, presider, Stacy Stewart, high school principal,
and Frank Valadez, Executive Director, Chicago Metro History
Education Center
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the three-ton safe. “This is my last move,” said
Michael McGuire. “I’m here to stay.”
Michael McGuire acknowledged that the greatest
change in the jewelry business in recent years has
come from instant credit. “Today it’s possible for
a customer to come into the store and decide to
purchase a pair of $10,000 earrings. Thanks to an
electronic credit check, this person could leave with
the earrings in just a few minutes.”
Those visiting the store will see two or three sales
persons behind the counter. Michael McGuire is
usually in the back room, but always is available to
meet with customers. Another employee of the store
is seldom seen – the runner. A runner is, in effect,
a delivery boy, delivering items in need of repair to
specialists downtown, and picking up new items for
sale or repaired items for return. “I have had good luck
with the people I’ve hired for this job,” he said. “A
former runner just graduated from the law school of
Southern Illinois University, and another, a graduate
of Martin Luther King High School, just received a
full tuition scholarship to the University of Chicago
from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”
Michael McGuire met his wife, Frae, in 1967.
She was a talented and imaginative gardener who
decorated the flower beds of their home in Hinsdale
with artistically designed furniture and a tribute
to Hyde Park, a limestone block with the name
MIRIAM carved into it. Miriam was the name of
Frae’s mother. This block, according to Hyde Park
stonemason Simon Leverett, is more appropriately
called a “modernistic cartouche.” Originally installed
near the top floor of the red brick building on the
southeast corner of 53rd Street and Blackstone
Avenue, it was clearly visible from the Supreme
Jewelry Store. The brick building was renovated a
few years ago, and Frae McGuire approached the
contractors to see if they would object to giving the
block to her. They agreed; the cartouche now occupies
a place of honor in the McGuire garden.
Michael McGuire is an avid reader of the works
of David Halberstam. Halberstam’s 1989 book
about the Boston Red Sox, Summer of ’49, appealed
to Michael’s interest in baseball. As a total surprise,
in the mid-1990s Frae McGuire arranged for her
husband to fly to New York City to have lunch with
this Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Over sandwiches
and coffee, Halberstam told Michael about how he
had been persuaded to attend a black tie dinner, and
while at the dinner talk about his current projects.
According to Michael, Halberstam stunned everyone
by mentioning that he recently had spent a day
with Red Sox great Ted Williams. When asked to
elaborate, Halberstam told how this coarse, loud man
(Williams) picked him up at his hotel in Florida, then
spent the rest of the day teaching him how to fly fish
and hit a fast ball.
The community jeweler from Chicago and the
famous author obviously found many interests in
common. The meeting, originally scheduled for one
hour, lasted three.
Frae McGuire was a fine bookkeeper who handled
the financial affairs of the jewelry store flawlessly. She
passed away in May, 2010, very much a part of Hyde
Park and beloved by all who knew her.
Michael McGuire’s daughter, Reagan, graduated
from Syracuse University undergraduate program and
law school, and is now an assistant state’s attorney
at the Kane County Felony Court. Her father takes
pride in his daughter’s accomplishments, and on his
free days enjoys visiting the courtroom to watch his
daughter in action.
Other than a two-year stint in the army in the late
1960s, when he served as a clerk in Washington,
D. C. Michael McGuire has been directly connected
with Hyde Parker all his life. This includes, of course,
his early years in Hegewisch, part of the original
Village of Hyde Park. He is recognized around
the community for his trim build, his impeccable
manners, his professionalism, and his white shirt. “I
always wear a tie, too,” he said, admitting to be one of
the few merchants still to do so.
He attributes his slender build to a scare. In 1993,
his wife persuaded him to have his heart checked. He
was unaware of any problems, but one of his customers
happened to be a well-known heart specialist who
concurred with his wife. When the doctor saw the
results, he made certain that Michael McGuire was on
the operating table the very next morning for triple
bypass surgery. Today, Michael is extremely careful
about his diet.
In November, 2010, Supreme Jewelers was honored
with the designation of “Business of the Year” by the
Hyde Park Kenwood Chamber of Commerce. The
store has received honors before, but Michael McGuire
professes that this one means the most to him.
Supreme Jewelers has been in business without
interruption for more than sixty years, exceeding by
more than a decade the duration of the Watson Jewelry
Store. Michael McGuire, master and scholar of his
trade, recognizes that he is the proprietor of one of the
longest continuing businesses in the history of Hyde
Park. The significance of Supreme Jewelers and Michael
McGuire to the community is immeasurable. HPHS
Hyde Park Mystery Quiz
Question: Who founded the original Washington
Park racetrack and where was it located?
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Einstein and Hyde Park
Robert Michaelson
In May 1921, Albert Einstein made his first visit to
the United States and his only visit to the University
of Chicago and Hyde Park. Einstein, then Director of
the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics and Professor
of Physics at the University of Berlin, had come to
the United States with chemist and Zionist, Chaim
Weizmann, on a fund-raising mission for the new
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In addition to fundraising, Einstein gave a number of lectures on relativity.
Speaking entirely in German, he gave three public
lectures on relativity at Mandel Hall and one popular
scientific lecture, entitled Scientific Research, at the
Francis Parker School on the north side.
Max Epstein, a member of the community of
wealthy German Jews living in Kenwood and in 1931
appointed to the University’s Board of Trustees, had
arranged Einstein’s lectures, for which admission tickets
were required. The day after Einstein’s first lecture,
the University of Chicago’s Daily Maroon reported
that, “Hundreds without tickets who had hoped for a
glimpse of the celebrated physicist were turned away in
disappointment.”
In July, the University of Chicago Record discussed
Einstein’s visit, reporting that, “The scientific faculties
of institutions of learning in the vicinity of Chicago were
invited to attend, and there was a notable gathering
of teachers of science at all the lectures. President
Judson was out of town, so Professor Einstein was
introduced by Professor Rollin D. Salisbury, Dean
of the Ogden Graduate School of Science. Professor
Einstein spoke in German with a simplicity and skill
which were commented upon by many…” Later,
after a dinner in the Quadrangle Club with about
15 University of Chicago men, Henry Crew, physics
professor at Northwestern University, wrote in his diary
that, “Einstein answered many interesting questions
concerning affairs in Germany.”
The Record article continues, “On Friday, May 6,
at the invitation of Professor Edwin B. Frost, Director
of the Yerkes Observatory, Professor Einstein visited
the Observatory at Williams Bay… Professor Einstein
expressed the keenest interest in all he saw at the
Observatory. In the course of his visit a photograph was
taken of him and his party with the Observatory Staff
gathered under the great forty-inch telescope.”
While in Chicago, Einstein stayed at the Auditorium
Hotel on Michigan Avenue. He also attended several
events in Hyde Park-Kenwood in addition to the
Quadrangle Club dinner mentioned above. After a
reception held for him at Max Epstein’s home, 4906
South Greenwood Avenue, Henry Crew recorded in his
diary, “Had the pleasure of meeting the great Professor
Albert Einstein of Berlin this evening… Einstein is in
this country in the interests of the Jewish University at
Jerusalem; has remarkably fine face.”
Author and journalist Francis Neilson reports in his
1953 autobiography, My Life in Two Worlds, that he
gave a lunch for Einstein at his Kenwood house at 4800
South Drexel Avenue. Neilson reported that, “He spoke
no English, and I could not utter half a dozen sentences
in German. But we got along well because Mrs. Einstein
spoke English and Mrs. Mendelssohn (a cousin of
Einstein’s second wife, Elsa) could act as interpreter
when necessary. The fun was fast and furious, because
every story had to be translated for our guest. But
what a sense of humor he showed! I do not remember
ever meeting a great man who had such a delightfully
boyish appreciation of broad fun. And what a rollicking,
contagious laugh; but, yet, he was extremely shy and
most reserved. There was something in his shyness
that was almost like suspicion, and many people have
mistaken his reserve for skepticism…”
“One evening during the visit some friends of ours
gave a reception for Einstein, and he and his wife
appeared very early. As the guests came filing in for an
hour or so, I noticed that Einstein became more and
more moody. I wondered what was wrong. Shortly
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afterwards, his wife came to me and said, ‘Is there to be
anything to eat?’
“I looked at her in amazement, and she hastened to
explain that they thought they had been invited to
dinner, and that, because of his many engagements,
Albert had had time for only a snack. I told her that,
at such affairs, a buffet supper was usually served about
ten o’clock, but I would ask the hostess to hurry things
along. I shall never forget the look of gratitude in the
professor’s eyes when Elsa explained the matter to him.”
“On another evening, my friend Dr. Carl Beck, a
physician and amateur musician, gave a soirée for
Einstein and invited a company of musicians to meet
him. After supper Einstein played his violin and took
part in a quintet.”
One of the most remarkable aspects of Einstein’s
visit was the introduction given by Professor Salisbury
at Einstein’s first lecture. Edgar Goodspeed, Professor
of Biblical and Patristic Greek and Secretary to the
President of the University of Chicago, provided the
following account:
“In the spring of 1921—it was April 26 to be
exact—the President had to be away for a while and
left important duties to me. He explained to me,
confidentially, that Mr. Max Epstein, a generous friend
of the University, had hopes of bringing Dr. Albert
Einstein to the University for a series of lectures in
Mandel Hall… A day or so later I had word from Mr.
Epstein to go ahead …”
“I had to consider whom to ask to introduce Dr.
Einstein, and in the President’s absence, thought it wise
to call upon the Dean of the Ogden Graduate School of
Science, Professor Rollin Salisbury. He agreed and we
happened to cross the quadrangle to the lecture together.
I expressed my fears of not having room enough for
the crowd and said that I had to [place seats on] the
platform to accommodate the faculty, but he said he did
not anticipate any large attendance or great interest. Yet
the place was simply packed, of course.”
“Salisbury’s introduction was not up to his usual
competent style. As nearly as I can remember it, he said,
‘Ladies and gentlemen, we are indebted to Mr. and Mr.
Einstein, I mean Epstein, for bringing Dr. Epstein, I
mean Einstein, to the University today. Some men of
science who gain wide public recognition do it by the
value of their results, others by the notoriety they have
achieved. Our speaker belongs to the latter class. I now
introduce Dr. Albert Einstein.’”
“This incredible introduction being fortunately in
English was probably not intelligible to Dr. and Mrs.
Einstein, at least we hoped not. [As mentioned above,
although Einstein did not understand spoken English,
his wife did.] The audience is probably wondering yet
what could have led Salisbury to utter it. But I think
he was as always only trying to be sincere and fair.
He represented the Ogden Graduate School and its
personnel, its scientific rating was second to none, and
like many scientific men of that time Salisbury was not
prepared to say that Einstein’s results were sound and
valid. He could not in his position be just meaninglessly
polite. He was speaking for the best scientific thought
of the country. It was at least possible, as he saw it, that
Einstein was not the serious and competent thinker
that the modern world has since recognized him to be.
That is the explanation of his amazing introduction. In
general, Dr. Einstein was received with great enthusiasm
by his Mandel audience, and a dinner was given that
evening in the Quadrangle Club in honor of Dr. and
Mrs. Einstein…”
To be concluded in the winter issue of Hyde Park
History. HPHS
References:
The collected papers of Albert Einstein, volume 12,
(2009) Appendix D.
Daily Maroon, May 5, 1921.
Neilson, Francis. My Life in Two Worlds. Appleton, WI,
C. C. Nelson, 1952-53.
University of Chicago Record, July 21, 1921.
A Close Encounter
with Two Fire Trucks
Bert Benade
In the late 1940s or early 1950s an incident occurred
at Watson’s Jewelry Store that aroused considerable
excitement and amazement. The store’s front door
was about three steps above sidewalk level and built
diagonally across the northeast corner of 55th Street
and Woodlawn Avenue, with glass windows on both
sides of the entrance. One afternoon two fire engines
collided with each other at this corner, one coming down
Woodlawn, the other on 55th Street. The result was that
one fire engine climbed the three steps and drove right
into Watson’s store, stopping just short of the jeweler’s
bench at the back.
The plate glass windows shattered and spilled out
onto the sidewalk. Unbelievably no one was hurt, but an
interesting law came into play. In Chicago, a fire vehicle
involved in an accident going to a fire cannot be held
liable for any fault, but a vehicle returning from a call
can be sued when an accident occurs. It was Watson’s
bad luck that the fire engine that wrecked his store was
headed to a fire, so the city was clear of any costs and
Watson and his insurance company had to pay for all the
considerable damage and loss. HPHS
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