Lonnie will know.
Riverside Info » About Riverside
Q & A from the National Historic Landmarks Program
(88 posts)-
Posted Tuesday Mar 13, 2007 20:04 #
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There was a special on channel 11 a while back that told the story of the Rockefeller lady and about her land holdings here and how they ended up as the Zoo. I don't know if there is a way to get the program through WTTW. It was pretty interesting, although I didn't pay close attention to it - my husband did, though. I'll have to ask him what he remembers.
Posted Tuesday Mar 13, 2007 20:37 # -
The Olmsted Society summarized this too in one of their newsletters I think, when they did the Maplewood Housewalk a couple years ago. I can't find those newsletters on their website right now. Basically it talked about the Zoo and the Maplewood subdivision and Edith Rockefeller McCormick.
Never mind: I did not see it linked on the Olmsted site, but it was in the Google results. http://www.olmstedsociety.org/spring04.pdf
Explore Maplewood: The Road, The River, The Rockefellers on May 23
Join the Olmsted Society as we explore Maplewood: The Road, The River, The Rockefellers. This year's Housewalk combines a variety of architectural styles with the legacy and generosity of Edith Rockefeller McCormick. The event is scheduled for Sunday, May 23, 2004 from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
Maplewood Road, a quiet street that hugs the Des Plaines River, is more than the location of beautiful gardens and unique homes. It is a piece of history dating back to the turn-of-the-century generosity of John D. Rockefeller and his daughter, Edith Rockefeller McCormick.
Much of the land on the western edge of Riverside once belonged to Edith. Her father, Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, gifted the land to her in 1895 when she married Harold McCormick, son of reaper king Cyrus McCormick.
Edith's relationship with her father was stormy —” she rebelled from his staunch frugality by living extravagantly and giving away millions to her favorite causes. Riverside is the happy beneficiary of Edith's generosity. She donated part of her holdings in Riverside for the Chicago Zoological Gardens, more commonly known as Brookfield Zoo. Part of the remaining parcel —“ today's Maplewood Road —” was platted and opened to residential development in 1910.
There is more about Rockefeller in that linked PDF.
Posted Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 01:19 # -
Those ugly white metal windows on the Tower building are appropriate? I guess it is the same type of appropriateness as the metal doors on Town Hall and the concrete pad in front of the library. Did Kafka pull a permit to make the plumbing repairs he recently completed? And are all the light fixtures in the hallways without covers complient with code?
Posted Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 07:30 # -
In one of the recent Village board meetings, President Wiaduck mentioned that we (as a Village) would not allow such things as white vinyl windows in the center of town. He said this in the context of the discussion of the redevelopment of this area.
That's when I double checked my impressions about the Tower Building's white vinyl windows.
In the redevelopment of the center of town, it is better to do nothing, and be patient for the right way to happen, than to do the wrong thing. Details matter. We have a pretty small cbd, so we should make sure it is done right.
I brought this up to the current preservation commission chairman, C Pipal, and he said this (the windows at the arcade) did not happen on his watch = the last two years.
Posted Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 09:52 # -
On the doors comment by mjvolo,
right way = Central School's doors
wrong way = Town Hall's doorsDetails.
The assembly of details is what people experience and build impressions from; we want to elicit certain impressions from people outside of our town, as they happen through.
Posted Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 10:02 # -
But the town hall doors did. The commissions are just not listened to enough. Look at the fiasco with the Library Circle, which could have been a very nice adjunct to the library iif it was down the hill where the view was nice and the oise from the trains didn't slap right up against you. LAC was against the location and the material and look what we got.
Posted Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 10:05 # -
On the Library, and continuing the theme of Details: there is an overpoweringly bright spotlight shining down that completely washes out that beautiful charming light fixture that hangs down and casts a soft light so perfectly against the natural stone facade of the Library.
I brought this up to the Library director, and she said the spotlight was broken before, and now it is fixed.
Like the white vinyl windows in the Landmark Tower Building, which are wrong for that building, the light is really NOW broken.
That soft light in front of the Library was a quintessential Riverside detail full of charm.
It would be better if the spot light can be turned off. Since it is already near the electric lights of downtown, and is only 100 feet from the police station, I don't think safety is an issue to keep the spotlight on.
Posted Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 11:09 # -
Ok, I AM spatially challenged, but I still do not understand what land it is "on the westerly side of First Avenue" that we are now trying to add to Riverside's National Historical District. The fascinating story you relate spatny, does it not relate to the easterly side of First Ave. Why did we not get the great park?
Thanks to all for the fascinating stories. A Rockefeller and a McCormick, yikes. The old man Rockefeller did part with some of his money to mostly found the University of Chicago. Perhaps the daughter was a Roosevelt fan, since the Zoo is a WPA project.
The Library, maybe that was fixed when the old flowering trees outside the front were "fixed" and the blank space of grass was "fixed" with a cement circle.
Posted Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 11:31 # -
I think that the westerly side of First Avenue is the part of Riverside that is on the same side of 1st Ave. as R-B High School. You know, where it seems like Brookfield, but is really Riverside ~ that whole little section of Riverside across First Ave.
Posted Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 11:37 #
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