<div>Originally, The Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences was&nbsp;founded in 1857 for nature enthusiasts and scientists to gather, share, study, and display their specimens and findings. &nbsp;By 1870, the academy’s collection had grown tremendously and continued to do so until the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the original building. &nbsp;In 1894, the academy moved to Lincoln Park where it remained for the next 100 years and housed several different species of flora and fauna. &nbsp;In 1900,the academy began to focus on education and they created teaching programs for students, certification programs for teachers, and a Children’s Library. &nbsp;In the 1960s, the Junior Academy of Sciences was created, and in 1983, the academy's education department was officially established. The museum’s collections include herpetology, mammalogoy, ornithology, oology, entomology, malacology, paleontology, mineralogy, botany, photography and film, manuscripts and archives, and cultural artifacts that display contain information on different birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, mollusks, plants, and fossils. &nbsp;The museum’s exhibits include Rainforest adventure, Take Flight! Alaska From Above: Photography by Mark Reed, the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven, the Beecher Collections Laboratory, Salmon in the Trees: Life in Alaska’s Tongass Rainforest: Photography by Amy Gulick, Rise of the 606 and its Bloomingdale Trail, Extreme Green House, Hands on Habitat, Heritage of Chicago Academy of Sciences, Istock Family Look in Lab, Micole Birdwalk, Mysteries of the Marsh, Nature’s Lunchbox, Nature Trails, Riverworks, Wilderness Walk, and Birds of Chicago. </div><div> </div>

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The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is a natural oasis in the middle of America's second largest city.  This educational institution was founded in 1999 by the Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, which is known as the "First Museum in the West."  This museum allows the people of Chicago and other visitors to connect with, learn about, and appreciate nature and is widely known for the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven, hands-on science instruction, and nature trails.  


The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Instructor

Starting at the DuSable Museum of African American History, this trail moves north to include a variety of monuments, markers, museums, and other landmarks related to women's history. This trail is a work in progress; more entries will be added soon. 

<div>This museum, like the city of Chicago itself, is named in honor of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, a Haitian of African and French descent, who in 1779 established the trading post and permanent settlement which would become known as Chicago.</div> The museum has over 15,000 pieces; including paintings, sculptures, prints, and historical memorabilia and also offers exhibits with artifacts on loan from individuals or institutions. The museum's permanent exhibits focus on art and Chicago history, such as one that focuses on the personal history of Harold Washington and another that looks at the experiences of African Americans in the military. There is also an exhibit that traces the experiences of people in African descent from slavery to freedom and another that looks at the culture and history of the African continent. The museum also sponsors lectures,&nbsp;&nbsp;musical performances, film festivals, and workshops with artists and educators.

The DuSable Museum of African American History is the first and oldest museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art. The museum was founded in 1961 by educator and art historian Dr. Margaret Burroughs and works to preserve and interpret the experiences and achievements of people of African descent. The museum's permanent collection includes thousands of documents and artifacts, including many that are related to the history of Chicago. Visitors can also see works of art and tour special exhibitions throughout the year. The museum also sponsors workshops and lectures.

The DuSable Museum of African American History

The Museum of Science and Industry&nbsp;is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; designed by Charles Atwood, the building&nbsp;is the only remaining one from this world exposition.&nbsp;Initially endowed by Julius Rosenwald, the Sears Roebuck and Company president and philanthropist, the museum&nbsp;was supported by the Commercial Club of Chicago and opened in 1933 during the Century of Progress Exposition. &nbsp; German U-boat U-505 was a type IXC submarine which was larger than the conventional submarines produced by Germany weighing 1,200 tons. Production of this vessel began June 12,&nbsp;1940, but it wasn’t until May 25,&nbsp;1941, that the ship set sail. Over U-505’s&nbsp;lifespan, it conducted 12 patrols and sunk 8 allied vessels serving in the wolf pack Hela. June 4,&nbsp;1944, U-505 was picked up on radar by an anti-submarine task force near Cape Verde. After close water combat, the submarine was damaged and abandoned but not destroyed. From the ship, 58 members were captured and the ship was salvaged for Allied use becoming USS U-505. Following the end of the war, the United States had no use for the ship and planned to use it for gunnery practice in the ocean. Instead, the ship was purchased by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago for use as an interactive educational exhibit.

The largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is home to 40,000 square feet of interactive exhibits and 35,000 artifacts.  Based on 2009 attendance, the museum was the second largest cultural attraction in Chicago. One of the leading attractions at the museum, German submarine U-505 was produced for Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II and was captured by the US Navy on June 1944. Visitors can tour this U-boat, which provided the Allies with a multitude of classified information. 

Among its diverse and expansive exhibits, the Museum features a full-size replica coal mine; a German submarine (U-505) captured during World War II, which is the only German U-boat in the United States; a 3,500-square-foot model railroad; Pioneer Zephyr, the first diesel-powered streamlined stainless-steel passenger train; the Apollo 8 spacecraft that carried the first humans to the Moon; Science Storm; You! The Experience; Baby Chick Hatchery; The Great Train Story; Toy Maker 3000; Genetics: Decoding Life; Earth Revealed; Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle; Farm Tech; and Tech Flight.  The museum also features an 800 seat auditorium, 2 small theaters, and a 5-story, domed Omnimax Theater.

The Museum of Science and Industry encourages and inspires children and other visitors to learn and strive in the fields of science, technology, medicine, and engineering.  The museum's Center for Science Education offers teacher education courses and youth programs, featuring learning labs and after-school science clubs.

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

Before Roe v Wade passed in 1973, it was difficult and dangerous to procure an abortion. Legal, medically necessary abortions ordered by a doctor and approved by a hospital board were extremely rare, and there are many cases of women who were unable to obtain the procedure despite their pregnancies causing severe, life-endangering health issues. The only option was to go to underground providers, many of whom charged exorbitant fees, operated in unsanitary conditions, and sexually harassed their patients. But women were desperate.In 1965, 19-year-old University of Chicago student Heather Booth heard from a friend whose sister was pregnant and desperately trying to find a doctor who would provide an abortion. Booth asked around and, through an acquaintance in the Civil Rights movement, got the phone number of a trusted doctor. Word quickly spread that she knew a doctor who would help women “in trouble,” and soon Booth was receiving more phone calls than she could manage. She recruited a few volunteers from women’s liberation meetings to help, and they formed the Abortion Counselling Service of Women’s Liberation (“the Service” for short). They decided to use the codename “Jane” because it was an everywoman’s name. One member of the group volunteered her home phone number as “Jane’s” number, and as word spread, phone calls poured in asking for “Jane.” Many of the founding members of Jane lived in the Hyde Park neighborhood, where they held meetings and took phone calls in their apartments and University of Chicago dorm rooms.At the time, there was very little information available about abortion or about women’s reproductive health in general, due in part to outdated Comstock laws that prohibited the spreading of “obscene” materials and information. The Janes (as they were sometimes called) had scoured the library for information that could help them counsel the folks who called, but found only a few references in medical books. The counsellors had to rely on their own experiences and those of the women they referred. As the group expanded and core members developed their relationships with the abortion providers, they learned everything they could about the procedure. They also developed relationships with doctors who didn’t perform the procedure, but were willing to see women for follow-up care if necessary and to teach the Janes more about reproductive healthcare. The Comstock Laws also prohibited helping someone procure an abortion by providing a referral. Everyone involved understood that what they were doing was against the law, and felt strongly enough about it that they were willing to risk arrest in order to help other women. The Janes viewed abortion as a critical issue for women’s liberation: they were “for every woman having exactly as many children as she wants, when she wants, if she wants.” Word spread through Chicago’s women’s liberation groups and beyond that women in need of abortion could call “Jane.” They placed ads in alternative newspapers and student newspapers: “Pregnant? Don’t want to be? Call Jane: 643-3844.” To contact the Service, a woman would call the number and leave a message asking for Jane, being careful not to give too much detail. One of the Janes would call back, saying something along the lines of, “This is Jane from women’s liberation returning your call. We can’t talk freely over the phone, but I want you to know that we can help you.” They would then set up a time to meet in person for a counselling session, letting the woman bring up the subject of abortion first. The Janes kept their tone kind, yet professional and matter-of-fact. They sent women who had the means to travel out of the country or to states with more lax abortion laws, but the majority of the women who came to Jane could not afford to travel. Many could barely afford the procedure, and were encouraged to borrow from their social networks or sell whatever they could. Later, someone with fundraising experience joined Jane, and they established an abortion fund with donations from wealthy connections in the Women’s Liberation Movement.When the Janes discovered that at least one of the providers to whom they’d been referring women was not in fact a doctor, they realized that if he could learn how to provide abortions safely, so could they. They began operating out of a “front,” an apartment where women and those accompanying them (friends, children) could wait. The procedures took place in apartments separate from the “front,” at undisclosed, frequently changing locations. Following an abortion, the woman would be given the phone number of a doctor who could perform follow-up medical care if necessary. The Janes performed close to 11,000 abortions, and none of their patients died. Furthermore, the Jane Collective operated on a sliding scale, making abortion not only safe, but accessible.Many sisters, wives, girlfriends, and daughters of police officers were referred to Jane, leading the group to believe that, as long as no one was seriously injured or killed by one of the procedures, the police would continue to look the other way. But in 1972, Jane was raided by the Chicago Homicide Department (abortion fell under their jurisdiction at the time). Six Jane members were arrested at the apartment where they were performing abortions, with one more arrested at an apartment on Everett Street in the Hyde Park neighborhood, which was likely being used as the waiting room/front. The police officers reportedly kept asking, “Where’s the man?”, expecting to find that a man was performing the abortions.The seven Janes arrested were held in jail overnight, then let out on bail until they would face trial. While the “Jane Seven” were preparing for trial, the rest of the Janes continued to do the work. The highly-publicized trial was delayed several times, and by the time the case was set to go to trial, it was dismissed: Roe v. Wade had passed, making abortion legal. Jane’s services were no longer needed.

From the mid 1960s until Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973, a group of Chicago women provided women with referrals to reputable “abortionists.” Formally known as the Abortion Counselling Service of Women’s Liberation, the group is better known by their code name, “Jane,” or “the Jane Collective.” Jane began as a referral and counseling service, and volunteers eventually learned how to perform abortions themselves in order to better serve the women who called them for help.

Jane was largely based in the Hyde Park neighborhood, operating out of the apartments and dorm rooms of volunteers. 5120 Hyde Park Blvd is the address of the first apartment the group rented, under an assumed name, in 1971.

(A note: the language used in this Clio entry reflects that used by members of the Jane Collective. Non-binary and trans people with uteri can experience pregnancy along with cisgender women.)


The Jane Collective

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. Her father, David Anderson Brooks, was a janitor and her mother, Keziah (Wims) Brooks, was a schoolteacher and classically trained concert pianist. When Brooks was only weeks old, her family left Kansas and relocated to the South Side of Chicago. As a child, she demonstrated a passion for reading and writing, which her parents fostered. At the age of thirteen, Brooks published her first poem, “Eventide,” in American Childhood. During her teenage years, she corresponded with two prominent African American writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson. Both praised her work and encouraged her to continue writing. By the time she graduated high school, Brooks was a regular contributor to a column in the Chicago Defender, the leading African American newspaper in the country at the time. After high school, she graduated from Chicago’s Wilson Junior College (now Kennedy-King College) and worked for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  Throughout her lengthy career, Brooks authored more than twenty collections of poetry, in addition to a two-part autobiography and a novel. Furthermore, she won many prestigious awards and held several important positions. In 1945, Brooks published her first collection of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville. She followed it up four years later with Annie Allen (1949), which won her the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In 1953, Brooks published her first and only novel, Maud Martha. Seven years later, she published her third collection of poetry, The Bean Eaters (1960). Contained within the volume is arguably her most famous poem, “We Real Cool.” In 1968, Brooks published In the Mecca, another collection of poems. That same year, she was named poet laureate of Illinois. In 1972, Brooks published the first part of her autobiography entitled Report from Part One. She would not publish the second half, Report from Part Two, until 1996. In 1985, Brooks became the first African American woman appointed consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Four years later, she received the lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1990, Brooks became a professor of English at Chicago State University. She remained in the position until her death on December 3, 2000 at the age of eighty-three.   Following Brooks’s death, the Chicago Park District partnered with the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, the Poetry Foundation, and Brooks Permissions to create a memorial in honor of the esteemed Chicago poet. Dedicated in the city’s (Gwendolyn) Brooks Park in 2018, on what would have been her 101st birthday, the memorial features a bronze bust of Brooks, the first outdoor portrait sculpture of an African American woman in Chicago’s history. Designed by sculptor Margot McMahon, the bust depicts the poet during her later years. She gazes into the distance as if deep in thought, her left hand touching the side of her face while her right rests on her left elbow. In front of the bust is a small gravel plaza with sitting stones arranged in a circular pattern, giving visitors the sense that they are gathering to hear the bronze Brooks recite some of her poetry. Flat, rectangular stepping stones inscribed with verses from Annie Allen create a meandering path that connects the plaza to a yellow wooden porch, a reconstruction of Brooks’s favorite childhood writing spot.

This memorial commemorates revered African American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000). A resident of Chicago’s South Side for nearly her entire life, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for 'Annie Allen' (1949). Brooks was named poet laureate of Illinois in 1968 and became the first African American woman appointed consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985. Following her death in 2000, the Chicago Park District partnered with the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, the Poetry Foundation, and Brooks Permissions to create a memorial in honor of the esteemed Chicago poet. Dedicated in the city’s (Gwendolyn) Brooks Park in 2018, on what would have been her 101st birthday, the memorial features a bronze bust of Brooks, the first outdoor portrait sculpture of an African American woman in Chicago’s history. Designed by sculptor Margot McMahon, the bust depicts the poet during her later years. She gazes into the distance as if deep in thought, her left hand touching the side of her face while her right rests on her left elbow. In front of the bust is a small gravel plaza with sitting stones arranged in a circular pattern, giving visitors the sense that they are gathering to hear the bronze Brooks recite some of her poetry. Flat, rectangular stepping stones inscribed with verses from 'Annie Allen' create a meandering path that connects the plaza to a yellow wooden porch, a reconstruction of Brooks’s favorite childhood writing spot. 

Gwendolyn Brooks: The Oracle of Bronzeville

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was an African-American woman who achieved nationwide attention as leader of the anti-lynching crusade. Ida started her life in Mississippi after the&nbsp;Civil War, attended&nbsp;Rust College and later taught school in Memphis, Tennessee. She also became involved (co-owned)&nbsp;in a Memphis newspaper known as&nbsp;Free Speech.&nbsp;When three&nbsp;Black store owners were&nbsp;lynched in 1892, Wells responded by penning an article in her&nbsp;paper that attacked the evils of lynching, as well as&nbsp;&nbsp;encouraging the Black residents of Memphis to move westward.&nbsp;As a result, a mob destroyed her office and threatened to kill her if she refused to leave town. She moved to Chicago, where she continued to research, write, and fight against lynchings in the South.&nbsp;&nbsp;Although she moved to Chicago's Southside, she never stopped traveling to the south to visit sites where lynchings occurred. She eventually published, in 1895, The Red Record, the nation's&nbsp;first documented statistical report on lynching.In addition to her writing, she actively spoke out against lynchings&nbsp;&nbsp;through formal and informal speeches. Indeed, Wells even traveled to Great Britain to promote her activism against lynchings.&nbsp; Later, she became an integral figure in the creation of the&nbsp;National Afro-American Council and as a leader within the&nbsp;Anti-Lynching Bureau. She also helped found the&nbsp;National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).&nbsp; The house, still owned privately, is where&nbsp;Wells lived with her husband,&nbsp;&nbsp;African-American rights advocate Ferdinand Barnett. Together, they&nbsp;published the Chicago&nbsp;Conservator and were leaders within Chicago's strong African-American community that later led to the creation of the&nbsp;Chicago Defender.&nbsp; It is fitting that her residence now exists on King Drive, which demonstrates the connection to African-American culture on Chicago's South Side, as well as the continued movement against racism from Ida Wells to Martin Luther King. It should also be known that despite Wells's efforts and activism, the U.S.&nbsp;Congress never passed anti-lynching legislation, which made it necessary for African-American activism to continue,&nbsp;culminating&nbsp;in the work of King.&nbsp;

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was a civil rights advocate, journalist, and suffragist. She lived in this house from 1919 to 1929. Arguably, her most famous incident occurred in 1884 when Wells refused to sit in a segregated car on a train in Tennessee. She was forcibly removed and, after some time, was able to file a successful lawsuit in a lower court. However,the Tennessee Supreme Court saw fit to reverse this decision. Following her termination in 1891 after openly criticizing Memphis' Black schools, Wells turned to journalism full time. She became editor and co-owner of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight and used it as a platform to advocate. She documented lynchings all across the country and raised awareness. Angered by her direct challenges to white &quot;superiority&quot;, white Tennesseeans destroyed her press offices. Because of this she moved north and published Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases. She wasnt quite able to get an anti-lynching legislation passed, but it is because of her that the larger scale Black movement was made possible.  After settling in Chicago, she founded the Negro Fellowship League for Black men, the first kindergarten for Black children and the first suffrage club for Black women. She is credited with successfully integrating the U.S suffrage movement when she refused to walk with the other Black women in the back of the 1913 Washington parade. Instead of walking in the back with the others, she was able to infiltrate the ranks of her white Illinois peers once the march had began.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett House

In 2002, the Chinatown Museum Foundation was established by Dr. Kim Tee, Dr. Bennet Bronson, and Dr. Chuimei Ho. Bronson and Ho had been working at the time in the Field Museum of Chicago’s Department of Anthropology. The foundation hosted monthly lectures on Chinese culture at the Chinatown branch of the Chicago Public Library in order to raise funds and awareness. [1]The museum opened to the public on May 21, 2005. It is located in an 1890s four-story brick building formerly owned by the Quong Yick Company, a Chinese grocery store. It was renamed the Raymond B. and Jean T. Lee Center after the Lee family donated $600,000 to the foundation to purchase the building. [2]In September 2008, a fire ravaged through the museum, the cause of which was never determined. The museum lost a significant portion of its collection, including all but one of 23 dioramas from the 1930s World’s Fair in Chicago. [3] The entire building had to be renovated. Generous donations, again from the Lee family, as well as other donors and support from other cultural institutions, allowed the museum to reopen on September 25, 2010. [4]The mission of the museum is “to advance the appreciation of Chinese American culture through exhibitions, education, and research and to preserve the past, present, and future of Chinese Americans primarily in the Midwest.” [5] Exhibits in the past have covered fashion, toys and games, archaeology, and the history of Chicago’s Chinatown. A permanent display called “Great Wall to Great Lakes: Chinese Immigration to the Midwest” relates immigrants’ stories about their journey to the American Midwest. The museum also hosts events, such as movie screenings, musical performances, and Chinese New Year festivities.

The Chinese American Museum of Chicago was the first museum to be located in Chicago’s Chinatown. The museum showcases Chinese American culture and history, with a particular focus on the communities of the Midwestern US. Exhibit topics have included Chinese immigration, the history of Chinatown, fashion, art, and archaeology. In 2008, just three years after opening, a devastating fire claimed a significant portion of its collection. In a city-wide community effort, the museum was able to gather additional artifacts for its collection and raise funds to build new displays. The renovated building reopened in 2010.

Chinese American Museum of Chicago

Jane Addams was born into a family of privilege on September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois. Her father, John Huy Addams, was a successful mill owner and member of the Illinois State Senate. In January 1863, when she was two years old, her mother, Sarah (Weber) Addams, died in childbirth, leaving her to be raised primarily by her older sisters. After graduating at the top of her class from Rockford Female Seminary in 1881, Addams briefly attended the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia, but serious health problems made her an invalid for two years and prevented her from completing her studies. From 1883 to 1885, she traveled across Europe and, upon her return to the United States, lived in Baltimore until 1887.  On a return trip to Europe with friend and Rockford classmate, Ellen Gates Starr, Addams discovered her calling in life. While staying in London in 1888, the two women visited Toynbee Hall, a settlement house in the city’s working-class East End. Seeing the potential value of settlement houses in America’s industrial cities, Addams and Starr decided to open one upon returning to the United States. In 1889, they purchased a large vacant residence in Chicago’s West Side, a neighborhood inhabited predominantly by poor and working-class immigrants. Since it was built by a man named Charles Hull in 1856, Addams and Starr called it Hull-House. One of the first settlement houses in North America, it offered a wide range of services, including childcare for working parents and English classes for immigrants. Providing young, educated, reform-minded women the opportunity to acquire valuable experience and training, Hull-House attracted the likes of Julia Lathrop, Florence Kelley, and Frances Perkins.  After founding Hull-House, Addams worked tirelessly to enact child labor laws, secure suffrage for women, address racial injustice, and promote international peace. In 1907, she helped establish the National Child Labor Committee, which influenced the passage of the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916. Addams also served as an officer in the National American Women’s Suffrage Association and helped to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). A pacifist, she toured the belligerent nations with a group of female peace activists after the outbreak of the Great War in the hope of bringing about a cessation of hostilities. Addams led the Women’s Peace Party in 1915 and soon after became president of the International Congress of Women. In 1917, she protested America’s entry into the conflict. After the war, Addams helped to found the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919 and served as its president until 1929. Two years later, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Noble Peace Prize. Addams died in Chicago on May 21, 1935.  Several decades after Addams’s death, the Ferguson Fund of the Art Institute of Chicago commissioned esteemed French-born sculptor Louise Bourgeois to design a memorial in honor of the social reformer and Noble Peace Prize winner. The result was Helping Hands, a series of carved Black granite human hands atop six roughly-hewn stone pedestals. The hands are of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities, and symbolize the wide range of people whose lives Addams helped to improve. Dedicated on Women’s Equality Day (August 26) in 1996, the memorial originally stood along Chicago’s lakefront in Navy Pier Park. After suffering vandalism, it was removed and sent back to Bourgeois’s studio in New York City for repairs in 2006. The memorial then sat in storage for years before being installed in Chicago Women’s Park in 2011. It is the first major artwork in a Chicago public park to honor a woman.

This memorial commemorates social reformer and recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, Jane Addams (1860-1935). In 1889, she along with a friend founded Hull-House, one of the first settlement houses in North America, in Chicago’s West Side. In 1931, for her efforts to promote international peace during and after the Great War, Addams became the first American woman to receive the Noble Peace Prize. Several decades after her death, the Ferguson Fund of the Art Institute of Chicago commissioned esteemed French-born sculptor Louise Bourgeois to design a memorial in honor of Addams. The result was 'Helping Hands,' a series of carved Black granite human hands atop six roughly-hewn stone pedestals. The hands are of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities, and symbolize the wide range of people whose lives Addams helped to improve. Dedicated on Women’s Equality Day (August 26) in 1996, the memorial originally stood along Chicago’s lakefront in Navy Pier Park. After suffering vandalism, it was removed and sent back to Bourgeois’s studio in New York City for repairs in 2006. The memorial then sat in storage for years before being installed in Chicago Women’s Park in 2011. It is the first major artwork in a Chicago public park to honor a woman. 

Helping Hands: Memorial to Jane Addams

Born in 1930, Magdalena lived through WWII and the 45 years of Soviet rule that followed.&nbsp; Highly influenced by this time, she began creating the sculptures of Agora in the 1970s.&nbsp; The torsos were first made with burlap and resin before Magdalena began using bronze, steel, and iron.&nbsp; She is frequently exhibited in museums and other public spaces, but Agora is her largest permanent installation. The artists donated the artwork's design and worked with a group of Polish artists offered to construct the pieces in Poland. Agora was brought to life by the Polish Ministry of Culture and a Polish private foundation.

Nestled on the southwest side of Chicago’s Grant Park is Agora, a sculpture composed of 106 headless torsos made of cast iron standing 9 ft tall.  The torso sculptures are placed walking in groups or standing still.  Agora, Greek for “meeting place,” was donated by sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz along with the Polish Ministry of Culture and private donors.  

Agora

Jane Addams&nbsp;was&nbsp;born in Cedarville, Illinois on September 6, 1860, and graduated from Rockford Female Seminary in 1881. As an exemplary student and leader, she was known to be&nbsp;a force to be reckoned with. After a trip to London,&nbsp;she rented, with her friend&nbsp;Ellen Gates Starr, a worn-down mansion&nbsp;that would become the&nbsp;world famous social settlement Hull-House. Settlement houses&nbsp;in America, like Hull House, were part of a larger trend seen in the first settlement houses of London, which were&nbsp;originally founded&nbsp;for middle to&nbsp;upper-class women and men to live in poorer&nbsp;neighborhoods closer to the city&nbsp;as a way&nbsp;to experience urban life. Addams and Starr drew inspiration from Toynbee Hall&nbsp;in London that provided recreational and educational programs to the surrounding neighborhood as well as its residents.&nbsp;During Hull House’s beginning,&nbsp;the neighborhood was&nbsp;comprised of immigrants from Italy, Ireland, Germany, Greece and other European countries. The residents at Hull House offered &nbsp;services such as daycare and classes in English and citizenship&nbsp;to this working-class community. The Immigrant Protection League (IPL)&nbsp;was founded by the Hull House residents in 1908 where they advocated for the protection of the rights of immigrants. The Hull House&nbsp;also provided a common space&nbsp;for trade union groups and working-class clubs like the Jane Club for single working girls to meet.&nbsp;<div> </div><div>After World War I, the neighborhood experienced a demographic change. The passage of the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the 1924 National Origins Act restricted the&nbsp;number of immigrants from&nbsp;Southern and Eastern Europe but not&nbsp;from the Western hemisphere.&nbsp;This led to a&nbsp;sudden availability of new jobs in railroad, meat packing, and steel industries, which led to&nbsp;Mexicans migration into the neighborhood. They soon became the dominant immigrant group in the neighborhood.&nbsp;Although Hull House already advocated and supported immigrant groups, this changing demographic still had an impact on the type of services that it offered. New groups emerged that used Hull House as a common space such as Mexican dance troupes like the Azteca and the Cuauhtėmoc and mutual benefit associations like the Sociedad Hispana, which encouraged Mexican-Americans to not give up their Mexican identities. The IPL&nbsp;began to focus on Mexican repatriation as an issue in the 1930s and fought against the illegal raids and deportation the U.S. made against Mexicans. Hull House suddenly became a space for embracing Mexican culture and allowed for these new immigrants to form a community, as well as a new identity.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>Art was one of the main services that the residents provided to their new community. In 1927, the Hull House Kilns were established by Myrtle French, a trained ceramist, to teach pottery to&nbsp;community members and provide a market for artists to sell their art. These classes were seen as an escape from industrious life and to celebrate crafting skills. When the Mexican people began to take these classes, some, particularly those from the central regions of Mexico which has a strong tradition in pottery, were quick-learners and soon enough, had a club of their own. It was established by Myrtle French to encourage community building within the Mexican population of Hull House, most of whom did not speak English. Pottery became a way for the immigrants to connect with their Mexican identity, especially those from the central regions like Michoacán, Guanajuato, and Jalisco. Famous students that took these classes at Hull House included artists&nbsp;Jesus Torres and Miguel Juárez. Juárez’s interest in pottery came to him at a depressed point in his life as he had lost his leg at his workplace and&nbsp;could neither read nor write, which make it difficult for him to find a job. However, at&nbsp;Hull House, he was able to become a mentor to other artists and sell plenty of his work. The same could be said for Jesus Torres, who at first went to Hull House for English courses, but eventually went on to take ceramics classes at the Kilns&nbsp;and made an income in selling his pottery.</div><div> </div><div>Many of the migrants from Mexico came to the United States to flee from the Mexican Revolution. They had only known their country to be fragmented with no unifying identity. Therefore, while the Mexican-American identity was developing in Chicago, the Mexican identity was developing in Mexico as well. Hull House was a main connection between Mexican-Americans and Mexico as many people on the board had visited Mexico and formed relationships with Mexican nationalists. Although Hull House was a part of bringing the Mexican migrants together, there were difficulties in the community in how they should identify themselves as either fully Mexican, fully American, or a combination of both. Hull House contributed to the development of a polar identification (Mexican or American, not both), which can be seen in the communities choosing to identify with a post-revolution&nbsp;Mexicanidad&nbsp;due to a refusal to be fully American. It made it all the easier for those who returned to Mexico, but not for those who stayed in America, who continued to struggle to define&nbsp;their&nbsp;identity, which&nbsp;would&nbsp;eventually lead to the rise of the Chicano movement.</div><div> </div><div>For those who stayed in Chicago, the struggle continued in other areas as well. As a part of Chicago’s urban renewal plans during the early 1960s, construction of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus&nbsp;would take place in the same neighborhood where Hull House was located, a majority immigrant community. Therefore, the settlement house needed to close its doors and relocate.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;residents and community members&nbsp;did not do this without a fight. It took a settlement of $675,000 and a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court in order for relocation to happen. However, it did happen, and it led to&nbsp;the dispersal of the settlement house services&nbsp;across Chicago and the displacement of the&nbsp;Mexican residents into Pilsen, a&nbsp;neighborhood&nbsp;with currently&nbsp;one of the&nbsp;highest concentration of Mexican-Americans in Chicago.&nbsp;The Hull House organization&nbsp;ceased its services in 2012 due to rising costs and&nbsp;a decrease in&nbsp;fundraising, but the original house with the dining hall still stands in the UIC campus as a museum.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>Hull House facilitated the continuation of Mexican identity and culture through the arts and helped to bring&nbsp;together&nbsp;the Mexican-American community in Chicago. Despite the residents' polar identification of Mexican immigrants, Hull House&nbsp;was a settlement house that truly addressed the changing demographics of its community. It is a part of a larger story of settlement houses in the United States and the cultivation of Latinx identity in Chicago. It is the story of changing demographics and an example of adaptation, rather than resistance, to change that we should take to heart. Furthermore, the Museum and its many vibrant programs make connections between the work of Hull-House residents and important contemporary social issues. Hull-House played a vital role in redefining American democracy in the modern age. Addams and the residents of Hull-House helped pass critical legislation and influenced public policy on public health and education, free speech, fair labor practices, immigrants’ rights, recreation and public space, arts, and philanthropy. Hull-House has long been a center of Chicago’s political and cultural life, establishing Chicago’s first public playground and public art gallery, helping to desegregate the Chicago Public Schools, and influencing philanthropy and culture.From Hull-House, where she lived and worked until her death in 1935, Jane Addams built her reputation as the country's most prominent woman through her writing, settlement work, and international efforts for peace.<div> </div></div>

Hull House was established in Chicago's Near West Side community in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Starr when the community consisted mostly of Southern European immigrants. Mexican immigration to Chicago occurred in the early 20th century and they soon became the dominant immigrant group in the Hull-House neighborhood. Therefore, Hull House, and the immigrant rights organizations associated with it like the Immigrants Protection League, had to change the services that it offered to serve this new community. Hull House became a center of engagement for Mexican-Americans to pursue the arts, helping to inspire Mexican artists such as Jesus Torres and Miguel Juárez and helping to create a new sense of Mexicanidad in Chicago. The settlement house eventually became a symbol of the dispersal of the Latinx population during the construction of the University of Illinois at Chicago in the 1960s in a time of urban renewal.

Currently, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum serves as a dynamic memorial to social reformer Jane Addams, the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and her colleagues whose work changed the lives of their immigrant neighbors as well as national and international public policy. The museum preserves and develops the original Hull-House site for the interpretation and continuation of the historic settlement house vision, linking research, education, and social engagement. The museum is open to the public at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus and contains original settlement house buildings- the Hull Home, a National Historic Landmark, and the Residents' Dining Hall, a beautiful Arts and Crafts building that has welcomed some of the world's most important thinkers, artists and activists. 

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, boasts a collection spanning 5,000 years of artistic expression. The founders of the Art Institute hoped to place a gritty, working-class city on the cultural map and also desired to expose the citizens of Chicago to works of the masters. Their avant-garde spirit led the founders to collect some of the greatest works of art of the late 19th century, and that vision built one of the best Impressionist collections in the world outside of France. The Art Institute continued to grow over the 20th century, and now the museum stands as one of the great encyclopedic art museums in the world.

Built on rubble from the 1871 Chicago fire, the Art Institute was originally founded as the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1879. The name was changed in 1882, and shortly thereafter the institution was already in need of a new home for its expanding collection and growing student body. As the city prepared to dazzle the country as host of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the Art Institute's trustees negotiated with the city's civic bodies for a new structure located on a park site at Michigan Avenue and Adams Street. The design of the classical Beaux-Arts building, by the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, allowed for the institution's ambitious goals. The Art Institute officially opened on December 8, 1893. Over the years, the museum has grown and continues to grow its collection, its physical plant and its reputation.In May 2009, the Institute opened its newest addition, a 24,000-square-meter Modern Wing, housing renowned Modern and Contemporary masterpieces. This internationally acclaimed Modern Wing designed by Renzo Piano is the largest expansion in AIC’s 130-year history. This signature building features the latest in green museum technology and greatly increased the space dedicated to modern and contemporary art, photography, and architecture and design. The Modern Wing also houses the Ryan Education Center, a state-of-the-art facility placed in a prominent and highly trafficked area of the museum.

The Art Institute of Chicago, established in 1879, is a world-renowned, encyclopedic art museum housing one of the world’s most important permanent collections. The Institute offers around thirty exhibitions a year and its permanent collection of over a quarter million works represents the third largest collection of art in the United States. The Institute is also home to the largest collection of impressionist paintings outside of Paris.

The Art Institute of Chicago

American Writers Museum (AWM) founder, Malcolm O’Hagan, was inspired after a visit to the Dublin Writers Museum in Ireland. O’Hagan learned that there was no similar museum in the United States dedicated to great American writers. During the planning process, the museum’s developers considered the name “Museum of American Literature” for the new institution. However, they ultimately decided that the focus of the museum would fall on the writers themselves, with more of a “populist” point of view.The museum opened to the public on May 16, 2017. It is located on the second floor of an office building and covers 11,000 square feet. Over 500 authors across 43 genres are represented in AMW’s galleries. The scope of the museum is broad and constantly changing. Famous novelists like Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain are showcased alongside rapper Tupac and chef Julia Childs. Visitors can experience the work of poets, screenwriters, journalists, songwriters, politicians, copywriters, and sportswriters. The only common thread between them is that they were influential through their words and that no living authors are represented in the museum’s permanent exhibits.AMW has six permanent exhibit spaces. “The Mind of a Writer” exhibit encourages visitors to consider aspects of the writing process and to contribute their own words to collective stories created on vintage typewriters. In the “Nation of Writers” gallery, visitors encounter an 85-foot-long panel of significant authors along a timeline of American literary history. In the same room, a rotating “Surprise Bookshelf” and a fluctuating “Word Waterfall” both showcase memorable quotes and visitors learn the social environments in which notable writers crafted their work. Chicago writers and the impact they made on the city are highlighted in the “Wintrust Chicago Gallery.” A muraled children’s area provides couches and bookshelves to curl up for story time, or interactive games to entertain. Finally, the “Readers Hall” focuses on the impact of readers on the history of literature and doubles as an event space for programing.AWM collaborates with historic house museums and other sites dedicated to individual writers around the country to showcase different authors in its temporary exhibits. The first temporary exhibit at the museum displayed the original manuscript of On the Road, by Jack Kerouac, typed on a 120-foot-long scroll. Other recent temporary exhibit topics include immigrant and refugee stories, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, and the lyrical poetry of Nobel Prize for Literature recipient Bob Dylan. In addition to rotating exhibits, the museum offers events like weekly children’s story times, school field trip programs, and regular lectures by authors and historians.

The American Writers Museum is the first and only museum dedicated to the lives and the work of American writers. The museum opened in 2017 and puts a strong emphasis on modern, interactive exhibits that incorporate technology. The mission of the museum is “to engage the public in celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, our culture, and our daily lives.”

American Writers Museum

Relatively new to the Chicago skyline, the expertly designed Aqua Tower earned its rightful place amongst the city’s iconic buildings and is one of the tallest buildings in the world designed by a woman.&nbsp;Studio Gang founder and lead architect Jeanne Gang sought to create a skyscraper that reflected the natural environment around Lake Michigan. Taking inspiration from the many striated limestone outcroppings surrounding the lake, Studio Gang Architects created a graceful design reminiscent of ripple patterns found in nature. Each floor of the 82-story Aqua Tower is constructed of poured of 82 individual concrete slabs precisely measured with GPS coordinates. Because of the irregularity of the building’s floors, each balcony of the building is unique to that unit. But the building’s undulating exterior was not created solely for aesthetic reasons. The irregular balconies surrounding the building help to break up wind vortices, minimize wind shear, shade neighboring units, and prevent birds from colliding with windows. Currently, floors 1-18 are occupied by the Aqua Radisson Hotel and floors 19-81 are residential.Many architectural historians consider the Aqua Tower to be one of the most successful examples of an aesthetically mature design for a functional tall building. Since its completion in 2009, the Aqua Tower has received numerous awards from such organizations as AIA Illinois, AIA Chicago, Emporis, Architect Magazine, and even PETA.

With its gentle flowy exterior, Chicago’s Aqua building is one of its newest and popular buildings. The mixed-use high rise was designed and completed by Jeanne Gang in 2009, founder of Studio Gang Architects. Gang explained that her inspiration for the irregular, undulating exterior of the building is the striated limestone outcroppings common to the Great Lakes region. The Aqua building is the first building in downtown Chicago to combine condo, apartment, hotel, and retail space. The building stands at 82-stories tall and has received numerous awards and accolades.

Aqua Building

The concept of Prentice Women’s Hospital began in 1970 when the Passavant Deaconess Hospital and Wesley Hospital consolidated. Bertrand Goldberg was commissioned that year to design the new hospital, which combined the once separate facilities of Chicago Maternity obstetrics, gynecology, and Northwestern Institute of Psychiatry under one roof. Remaining true to his Modernist architecture philosophies, Goldberg designed one of the most unique and recognized Brutalist style buildings in the modern era. Perched atop a 5-story rectangular base sat a 9-story concrete cantilevered quatrefoil (cloverleaf shape) tower. Prentice Women’s Hospital became the first building in the world to be constructed with the use of CAD, computer-aided design. The cantilevered design of the concrete tower eliminated the need for structural support columns which opened up more interior space and created more design flexibility. Inside the concrete tower, each floor was arranged in quadrants with the center core possessing four nursing stations that were each responsible for a small group of patients placed along the outer perimeter of the floor. This design revolutionized the model of patient care.Prentice Women’s Hospital opened in 1975 and continued to operate until 2007 when Northwestern moved operations into a newly constructed hospital nearby. Instead of repurposing Goldberg’s Brutalist creation, Northwestern made plans to demolish the building in order to construct a new facility at the same location. Preservationists, architects, planners, and other like-minded groups and individuals came together to protest the hospital’s demolition. A five-year battle ensued to save the building. Northwestern University ultimately won the battle and received a demolition permit in March 2013. The demolition of the Prentice Women’s Hospital began in October 2013 and continued into 2014. The National Trust for Historic Preservation cited the hospital as one of their ten historic sites lost in 2013.The demolition of the Brutalist styled Prentice Women’s Hospital marked a significant loss for modern architecture. While the building was not aesthetically appealing, and in many ways quite ugly, the sheer uniqueness of its design warranted its preservation for future generations. Many preservationists and architects consider the loss of the Prentice Women’s Hospital comparable to the loss of Penn Station in New York City – the careless demolition of a priceless structure for the sake of real estate development.

On this site previously stood the first Prentice Women’s Hospital, often considered one of Chicago’s greatest architectural works. Designed by Bertrand Goldberg in 1972 and completed in 1975, the hospital was revolutionary for its time. The Brutalist style building consisted of a concrete quatrefoil tower that sat atop a five-store rectangular base. Goldberg combined many separate facilities into one unit, thereby conserving space and improving the functionality of a hospital design system. The hospital was in use from 1975 to 2011 when it was finally vacated with the intent on demolition. The Chicago Landmarks Commission, preservationists, and many prominent architects all rallied to support the preservation of the hospital. But after two unsuccessful years of negotiations, the building from demolition by Northwestern University and a new one constructed in its place.

First Prentice Women's Hospital

Designed by architect Josef Paul Kleihues, the Museum of Contemporary Art first opened to the public in 1967 thanks to the effort of a group of art enthusiasts that included art dealers, collectors, architects, art critics, and others. The building’s key feature is the main staircase leading up to the museum’s entrance, which was inspired by the Acropolis and the Atles Museum in Berlin. The galleries were built without embellishment so the focus could solely be on the art. For a short time beginning in 1990, the museum was partly located in an old National Guard armory&nbsp;building that was built in 1907. This was torn down in 1993 to make way for the Kleihues building.&nbsp;

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is one of the world's foremost contemporary art museums. It was established in 1967 and has grown to house a collection of 2,500 works of art that date from the 1920s to today. These include paintings, photographs, sculptures (some of which are displayed outside), videos and films. The museum also features a theater where various kinds of performances take place and offers changing exhibitions throughout the year. The museum's mission is to foster the creation of contemporary art and engage the public in this process through its exhibitions, collection, and performances that take place here.

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 

The Chicago Historical
Society was formed in 1856 and formally incorporated by the Illinois state
legislature the following year. The Society soon developed an impressive
collection of mostly historic documents for research purposes; it opened its
first museum building on the corner of Ontario and Dearborn Streets. In 1871
the Society was devastated by the Great Chicago Fire that ravaged the city. The
vast majority of its collection was destroyed, including Abraham Lincoln’s
final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. A second fire destroyed nearly
the remainder of the original collection in 1874. The Society worked to rebuild
its collection, and in 1896 it erected a new, stone structure on the site of
its original building. The building, which still stands today, was designed by
Chicago-based architect Henry Ives Cobb, whose work included the Newberry
Library. In 1978 the building was added to the National Register of Historic
Places.

One of the Society’s most
important additions to its museum was the acquisition of the personal
collection of Charles F. Gunther in 1920. Gunther, a local wealthy
confectioner, accumulated thousands of items from around the world, with a
particular focus on the Civil War. Among the artifacts in his collection is the
bed in which Abraham Lincoln died and the table on which Robert E. Lee signed
his surrender agreement at Appomattox. The purchase of Gunther’s collection
transformed the Society from a local history research facility into a
full-fledged national museum. 

In 1932 the growing museum
moved into a new building in the Lincoln Park district, where it remains to
this day. The building has undergone three major expansions and renovations in
1972, 1988, and 2006. Following the 2006 renovation, the Chicago Historical
Society changed its name to The Chicago History Museum as part of a rebranding
effort. Today the museum boasts an impressive and expanding collection of over
20 million artifacts relating to Chicago, Civil War, and American history. It
includes multiple permanent exhibitions on Chicago history, and temporary
exhibits on other topics. It has a large research center containing documents,
images, books, and other printed materials that can be examined for research.
The museum also operates other programs such as lectures, online exhibits, and
the Encyclopedia Chicago project. Since
1995 the Chicago History Museum has also hosted the annual Making History
Awards, honoring individuals and groups that have made remarkable contributions
to Chicago’s history.

The Chicago History Museum is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Chicago's rich and varied history, as well as American history. The museum is located at the southwestern corner of the city's famous Lincoln Park and housed in a building constructed in 1932; the modern addition was built in 1988. The museum was founded in 1856 as the Chicago Historical Society and given its current name in 2006. Its collection is very large, amounting to 20 million items. The museum features several permanent exhibits including: "Chicago: Crossroads of America," "Sensing Chicago," "Chicago Authored," and "Lincoln's Chicago," which explores President Abraham Lincoln's political rise in Chicago, his presidency, assassination, and legacy. The museum offers many temporary exhibitions as well.

The Chicago History Museum

Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was born on September 28, 1839 in Churchville, New York. In 1841, she and her family moved to Oberlin, Ohio and then, five years later, to a farm outside of Janesville in the Wisconsin Territory. As a young girl, Willard received almost all of her early education at home from her mother. In 1857, she enrolled at the Milwaukee Female College. After spending a year there, Willard transferred to the North Western Female College in Evanston, Illinois, from which she graduated in 1859. Following graduation, she embarked on a career as a schoolteacher, which took her as far away as Pennsylvania and New York. In 1871, Willard became president of the newly founded Evanston College for Ladies. Two years later, Northwestern University absorbed the all-female educational institution and Willard became the dean of the Women’s College. Clashes with Charles H. Fowler, Northwestern’s president and her former fiancée, however, led to her resignation in 1874.  Soon after Willard’s resignation from Northwestern, a group of Chicago women approached her and asked her to become president of their local temperance society, an offer which she accepted. In October 1874, Willard became secretary of the state temperance society and, the following month, the corresponding secretary of the newly formed Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Five years later, she was elected president of the WCTU, a position she held for nearly two decades. Under her direction, the WCTU became one of the largest and most influential women’s organizations in the country. A women’s suffragist herself, Willard encouraged the organization’s members to get involved in politics and advocate for change in various areas. In 1891, she became president of the World’s WCTU, which she helped found in 1883. After years of deteriorating health, Willard died in New York City on February 17, 1898. She was fifty-eight years old.  While Willard was still president of the WCTU, the organization commissioned English sculptor George Wade to design a decorative drinking fountain in honor of its long-time president. Paid for by small donations from children around the world, the fountain would be displayed near the WCTU’s booth at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. When completed, Wade’s fountain featured a bronze sculpture of a little girl in a dress. Standing barefoot with outstretched arms, she holds a bowl from which water flows into a granite basin below. Two years after the exhibition, the WCTU relocated the fountain to the Woman’s Temple at the intersection of La Salle and Monroe Streets in Chicago. Additionally, reproductions of the fountain were made and installed in Detroit, Portland (Maine), and even London. In 1921, the fountain moved to the city’s Lincoln Park near Lake Shore Drive and North Avenue. In the 1930s, the Chicago Park District placed the fountain in storage in preparation for construction on Lake Shore Drive. There it remained until 1940, when the Chicago Park District reinstalled it in Lincoln Park, just south of the West LaSalle Drive underpass. In the late 1950s, the fountain’s bronze sculpture was stolen. It was never recovered. In 2007, philanthropist and Lincoln Park resident Jeanette Van Nice contacted the Chicago Park District and the Lincoln Park Conservancy about reproducing the fountain’s missing bronze sculpture. Thanks to Van Nice’s donation, along with financial support from the State of Illinois and the Lincoln Park Conservancy, the Chicago Park District worked closely with the City of Portland, Maine to create a reproduction of their sculpture. Finally, in 2012, the reproduction was installed on the original granite base in Lincoln Park.

This Lincoln Park fountain honors educator, social reformer, and women’s rights advocate, Frances Willard (1839-1898). A native of New York, she served as a schoolteacher and college administrator before becoming president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a position she held from 1879 until her death in 1898. While Willard was still president of the WCTU, the organization commissioned English sculptor George Wade to design a decorative drinking fountain in honor of its long-time president. Paid for by small donations from children around the world, the fountain would be displayed near the WCTU’s booth at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. When completed, Wade’s fountain featured a bronze sculpture of a little girl in a dress. Standing barefoot with outstretched arms, she holds a bowl from which water flows into a granite basin below. Two years after the exhibition, the WCTU relocated the fountain to the Woman’s Temple at the intersection of La Salle and Monroe Streets in Chicago. In 1921, the fountain moved to the city’s Lincoln Park near Lake Shore Drive and North Avenue. In the 1930s, the Chicago Park District placed the fountain in storage in preparation for construction on Lake Shore Drive. There it remained until 1940, when the Chicago Park District reinstalled it in Lincoln Park, just south of the West LaSalle Drive underpass. In the late 1950s, the fountain’s bronze sculpture was stolen. It was never recovered. For more than half a century, the fountain’s granite basin stood alone in Lincoln Park until 2012 when a bronze reproduction of the original sculpture was installed. 

Chicago Women's History Trail

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Introduction

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information