Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Charles Weeghman-- Restauranteur, Cubs Owner and Klansman

I never heard of Charles Weeghman until the earlier post. I looked him up in Wikipedia and this was one interesting person.

He made his fortune with restaurants that served cold sandwiches. At one time, he had 15 of them in Chicago and he was worth$8 million back in the early 1900s. That is a lot of money even now, but really something back then

I read that his place at State and Madison served 35,000 people a day. He used one-armed school desks to seat his patrons so he could fit more in his place.

He was one of the founders of the Federal league in baseball after he was unable to buy the St. Louis Cardinals. He built Weeghman Park for his Chicago Whales which played there from 1914 to 1915. After the league folded, he acquired part ownership in the Chicago Cubs, but because he hosted an Illinois Ku Klux Klan meeting at his home in Lake Zurich (a Chicago suburb) customers at his diners declined and he was forced to sell more and more of the Cubs to William Wrigley, Jr.

It is reported that12,000 attended themeeting and 2,000 were initiated.

Eventually, by 1920, Wrigley controlled the Cubs and Weeghman Park became known as Cubs Park until 1926, when it was renamed for Wrigley.

So, the Cubs Came Close to Playing at Weeghman Park. --Cooter

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