People Saving Places For People

Landmarks Illinois Preservation News FEBRUARY 2021

Preservation News is a monthly service Landmarks Illinois provides to its members and supporters and serves as a roundup of our latest advocacy efforts, projects and other news from around the state. JOIN OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP HERE

Celebrate 50 years of saving places with us!

Landmarks Illinois will host 50Forward, its 50th Anniversary Celebration, Thursday, March 25, 2021. The hour-long virtual fundraising event will include live entertainment and inspiring stories about our past, present and future told by our 20 Landmarks Illinois Influencers — people who have given their time, resources and expertise to ensure places of our past remain part of our state’s future. Read more about this event and our influencers here. WHEN Thursday, March 25 5:30 p.m. – Virtual Networking Hour 6:30 p.m. – Event Program WHERE This is a virtual event & registration is required. Guests will receive a custom link prior to the event and instructions on how to join. TICKETS In lieu of a set ticket price, Landmarks Illinois is asking guests to donate what they can. All donations and fundraising from the event will go directly toward Landmarks Illinois’ advocacy programs.

REGISTER

Skyline Council shows Roberts Temple some love on Valentine's Day Weekend

The Skyline Council of Landmarks Illinois partnered with the congregation of Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ to heart bomb the historic church in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood on Valentine's Day Weekend, February 13 & 14. The public art display helped draw attention to the church, which is in need of restoration. Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, located at 4021 S. State St., was the site of the 1955 open-casket funeral of Emmett Till, who was brutally murdered at the age of 14 while visiting family in Mississippi. Mamie Till-Mobley’s courageous choice to show her son’s body is seen as a defining moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Roberts Temple was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2006 Landmarks Illinois is collaborating with Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ’s congregation, The Mamie Till-Mobley Memorial Foundation and National Trust for Historic Preservation to help assess the condition of the property, determine priority repairs and develop a phased rehabilitation plan. The National Trust included Roberts Temple on its 2020 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list. Skyline Council will provide technical assistance and opportunities to bring attention to the church and its restoration efforts. Stay tuned for future project updates!

SEE PHOTOS FROM THE HEART BOMBING

New edition of "The Arch" newsletter

Check out the latest edition of our quarterly newsletter! The February 2021 edition of "The Arch" newsletter is now available to read at our website. In this issue, we kick off our 50th Anniversary year, introduce our "Landmarks Illinois Influencers" and provide updates on our latest advocacy efforts around the state. READ "THE ARCH"

Fundraising efforts launch to restore S.B. Fuller Home in Robbins

Landmarks Illinois recently awarded the Robbins Historical Society a grant through our Preservation Heritage Fund to help with restoration efforts at the historic S.B. Fuller Home. Since announcing the grant, media and public attention for the preservation project has grown, and the Robbins Historical Society has set up a Go Fund Me account to help fundraise for the overall preservation project at the home. The S.B. Fuller Home was built in 1958 for entrepreneur S.B. Fuller in Robbins, Illinois, one of the oldest incorporated African American communities in the United States and the oldest Black suburb in the Chicago area. Born in 1905 to a family of sharecroppers in Louisiana, S.B. Fuller began door-to-door sales at the age of nine to help support his family. He moved to Chicago at 17 to pursue a career in sales and went on to create the successful Fuller Products. At his peak, S.B. Fuller owned eight other corporations, was publisher of two newspapers, led the Chicago NAACP, served as president of the National Negro Business League and was a prominent Republican. "The home in Robbins helps to tell the story about SB fuller as not only one of the nation's most prominent and successful black entrepreneurs, but one of the nation's most successful entrepreneurs period." -BONNIE McDONALD President & CEO, Landmarks Illinois Fuller died in 1988, and his former home was donated to the Robbins Historical Society and Museum in 2016. Today, the home is is in need of major repairs before the organization can make it its permanent location. The Landmarks Illinois grant will help pay for mothballing and stabilizing the home. Click below for the historic society's Go Fund Me page for the project:

DONATE TO THE PROJECT

Read more in the news: Robbins Historical Society seeks to make legendary Black entrepreneur SB Fuller's former home a museum WLS, February 20 Grant to help save 1950s Robbins home of a once-notable Black millionaire Chicago Sun-Times, February 10

Landmarks Illinois President & CEO Bonnie McDonald talks about Chicago Monuments Project

A screenshot of the city's new Chicago Monument Project website, ChicagoMonuments.org, which identified 41 monuments, memorials and other works of art in Chicago that the Chicago Monuments Project Advisory Committee has identified for further public discussion.

On February 17, the City of Chicago launched the Chicago Monuments Project website ChicagoMonuments.org, kicking off the public engagement phase of the Chicago Monuments Project that aims to identify public memorials, monuments and works of art in Chicago worthy of review and public discussion. Landmarks Illinois President & CEO Bonnie McDonald is one of three co-chairs of the Chicago Monuments Project Advisory Committee, and has given a number of interviews about the group and its purpose in recent weeks. 41 Problematic Monuments Flagged by City Commission Identified WTTW, Chicago Tonight, February 25 Here is why Abraham Lincoln is on a list of statues being reviewed for ‘cultural appropriateness’ WGN Radio, February 22 Yes, Lincoln and Grant are on our list of questioned Chicago monuments — and we want to hear your views on that Chicago Sun-Times, February 22 AT ISSUE: The Chicago Monuments Project WBBM News Radio, February 21 More about the Chicago Monuments Project Monuments and memorials have become a focal point for conversation, protest and activism in the city of Chicago. In response, the city has created a committee to review the city’s collection of monuments and recommend solutions. The Chicago Monuments Project intends to grapple with the often unacknowledged – or forgotten – history associated with the City’s various municipal art collections and provides a vehicle to address the hard truths of Chicago’s racial history, confront the ways in which that history has and has not been memorialized and develop a framework for marking public space that elevates new ways to memorialize Chicago’s true and complete history. To learn more and share your thoughts, please visit www.ChicagoMonuments.org – and join the conversation on social media using #ChicagoMonuments. Learn more about the project and how you can participate:

CHICAGOMONUMENTS.ORG

Apply for a Landmarks Illinois grant!

Grant applications due: April 15 Landmarks Illinois has three grant programs: Landmarks Illinois Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side Preservation Heritage Fund Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois The next round of applications for each grant program are due April 15. Click below to learn if you and your preservation project qualify for funding and how to submit an application. LANDMARKS ILLINOIS GRANTS

Additional Landmarks Illinois News

The historic Rock Island County Courthouse has been selected as a finalist by the federal government in its search as the next site of court operations for the Central District of Illinois. Landmarks Illinois, which with the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Rock Island County Board and Rock Island County Public Building Commission in 2019 to prevent demolition of the courthouse, has advocated for reuse of the building as a federal courthouse. Read the Dispatch Argus article, "U.S. government says historic Rock Island County courthouse is finalist as federal courthouse; county still plans on demolition," for more information. You can also read this letter to the editor from a Rock Island resident in support of a federal courthouse. Pentecostal Church of Holiness received preliminary landmark recommendation from the Commission on Chicago Landmarks at its February 4 meeting. Landmarks Illinois awarded the congregation of the North Lawndale historic church a Preservation Heritage Fund Grant in September 2020 to help pay for priority repairs of the structure. The Miracle House in Galewood received final landmark recommendation from the Commission on Chicago Landmarks at its February 4 meeting. Landmarks Illinois was one of many organizations and residents to voice support for landmark designation of the 1954 Belli & Belli-designed house in recent months and helped prepare the preliminary landmark designation report on behalf of the owner. This month U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, reintroduced a bill to make the New Philadelphia site part of the National Park System. Landmarks Illinois has been helping local advocates in this effort. Learn more about this historic site, here and here. Landmarks Illinois is encouraging advocates to help spread the word to find a preservation-minded buyer for an architecturally significant home in Winnetka threatened with demolition. The Prairie School-style home, designed by architect John Van Bergen, was previously purchased by a homebuilder looking to tear down the house to make way for new construction. However, the builder has agreed to a 90-day delay to his demolition plans to try to find another buyer who would be interested in preserving and restoring the existing house. Landmarks Illinois is helping with preservation efforts to protect the Maywood former home of Fred Hampton, the late Chair of the Illinois Black Panther Party. Landmarks Illinois introduced Fred Hampton, Jr. to members of the Maywood Historic Preservation Commission to discuss next steps for a local landmark designation of the home. We are also working with film producer and journalist Leila Wills, whose parents were members of the Black Panther party, as well as the Public History graduate program at Loyola University on researching Black Panther affiliated sites in the Chicagoland area. Check out this panel discussion hosted by Wills held February 7 on the assassination of Chairman Fred Hampton. The Evanston City Council will hear staff feedback on March 8 on the four proposals for the long-term lease and reuse of the historic Harley Clarke Mansion, included on the 2016 Landmarks Illinois Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois. (Council meeting agenda will be posted here) The following organizations submitted a proposal to the city: Artists Book House, Evanston Community Lakehouse & Gardens, Evanston Conservancy, ONE Community Museum. Landmarks Illinois Lisa DiChiera is participating in two upcoming virtual discussions on the organization's "Women Who Built Illinois" project. On March 7, DiChiera will help moderate "International Women’s Day Virtual Symposium – Chicago Women in Midcentury Design," a virtual event hosted by Landmarks Illinois, Farnsworth House and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. And, on March 31, DiChiera will lead a talk hosted by the Vernon Area Public Library, Lunchtime Series: Women Who Built Illinois.

More preservation news from around the state

The Forum In Bronzeville Is Continuing Its Comeback, But Owners Need Help As Costs To Fix Historic Building Pile Up 2018 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois Block Club Chicago, February 25 Watch now: Former State Farm building one step away from local landmark status Longtime Landmarks Illinois Advocacy effort Bloomington Pantagraph, February 24 As City Boosts Development Near Public Transit, South Siders Urge Investment In Green Line — Where A Shutdown Crippled A Community 1996 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois (Green Line CTA stations) Block Club Chicago, February 22 Village worked hard to protect bridge 2017 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois Daily Herald, February 20 With Art Hubs and Performances, Theaster Gates Is Redefining Chicago’s South Side 2014 Legendary Landmark 2006 Chicagoland Watch List (Guaranty Bank & Trust, now Stony Island Arts Bank) Condé Nast Traveler, February 18 Massive Michael Reese Hospital Redevelopment Set For Plan Commission Vote Thursday 2009 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois (Michael Reese Hospital Campus) 2017 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois (Singer Pavilion) Block Club Chicago, February 17 Dome, sweet dome: Family returns artifacts 2004 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois, 2012 Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Recipient, 2015 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award Recipient My Journal Courier, February 13 Landmarks: It’s all hands on deck to save ‘an important community anchor’ as 140-year old Greenstone Church in Pullman gets a helping hand 2021 Landmarks Illinois Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side Grant Recipient Chicago Tribune, February 8 Historic North Lawndale church may be on its way to landmark status 2021 Landmarks Illinois Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side Grant Recipient Austin Weekly, February 5 Today in the Culture: February 3, 2021 2021 Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Recipient (Bronzeville Community Development Partnership) New City, February 3 Take a peek at Walgreens’ new space inside the Old Post Office 1997 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois REJournals, February 4 Historic Long Grove covered bridge crashed into for the 13th time: ‘Say bye to your truck’ 2017 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois Lake County News-Sun, February 4

‌

Become a Landmarks Illinois Member

www.Landmarks.org

‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Landmarks Illinois Annual Corporate Sponsors

Learn about our Annual Corporate Sponsor Program