NIU's New Music Building Gets Funding in 1969

From the March 27, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1969, Fifty Years Ago.

"The federal government has approved a $1 million grant to be used for the construction of Northern Illinois University's planned $5 million Music Building.

"The structure will be built  on a site bounded on the north by Lucinda avenue, on the east by the Kishwaukee River, and on the south by the new Art Building.  Gilbert Hall men's dormitory is directly west of the planned structure."

I don't know what happened, but the proposed site for the new Music building is now the Art building.

--Cooter

Top Bears Radio Announcers-- Part 3: Brickhouse, Joniak, McConnell, Thayer and Larrivee

Continued from November 9, 2019.  To see the first two, click on announcers in the labels section below.

5.  JACK BRICKHOUSE  (1953-1976)

There is a deep affection for Jack Brickhouse among Chicago fans of any sport because of his longevity, but, football was not his forte.  But, the upbeat charm he brought didn't make up for mistakes in football announcing.

4.  JEFF JONIAK  (2001-PRESENT)

He came to the Bears with no experience, but he has worked hard to become a solid play-by-play man.

3.  JOE McCONNELL  (1977-1984)

When the Bears moved from WGN-AM  to WBBM-AM, general manager Jim Finks pushed hard for him to replace Brickhouse.  He had been doing Minnesota Vikings broadcasts.  He might have stayed with the Bears had WGN-AM not gotten the Bears back.

2.  TOM THAYER (1997-PRESENT)

Old No. 57 from the Bears Super Bowl XX Champs.  He knows his stuff and calls games with both his brains and heart.

1.  WAYNE LARRIVEE  (1985-1998)

Announced Chiefs games before coming to the Bears and then lefty to fulfill a life-long dream to call the Packers.  He was the voice of those Super Bowl XX Bears.  We still tune in the Packers on radio (we live right on the Illinois-Wisconsin border) just to hear that wonderful voice.

And, to think he left the Bears in a Big Marker area to go to the Packers in a small market area.  He's gotta love Da Pack.

--CootVee

A Short History of Sears & Roebuck-- Part 6: What's Gone, What Remains at the Homan Avenue Site

At the Homan Avenue complex, the Sears store and Merchandise Building where products were shipped, are gone. The athletic fields have been replaced by a parking
facility.  But the famous tower is still there, and, every spring, flowers bloom in the formal garden, just as they did when the company's 60-piece band gave concerts there.

The Administration Building, where orders were processed, and the Power House remain.  Their stolid look bears witness to an era when money-back guarantees carried more weight than designer labels.

The Printing Building's name is carved in the distinctive lettering architects then favored, marking it at the keystone of ears' golden years

Off its presses rolled the veritable bible of Americans who demanded honest value for whatever they could afford to spend.

In the Sears catalog, many a product was offered at ascending price levels in their relatively quality labeled:  "GOOD, BETTER, BEST."

Well, it sure was great to have Sears and all the other department stores when I was growing up and I sure will miss them when they're gone.

The Good Old Days?  --CootSears

A Short History of Sears & Roebuck-- Part 5: A Branch Into Retail Stores

A years after Roenwald retired as Sears' president (though staying on as chairman), the company set off in a new direction.  In 1925, it opened a retail store in the Homan Avenue complex that was so successful that it began opening stand alone stores all over.

Sears morphed into a retail chain of stores with a mail-order business on the side.  It 1993, it issued its last general merchandise catalog.  Eventually, s slow slide began that has now turned into a free fall.  This is due to people ordering everything off the internet now as well as the goals and aims of the current owners who seem to plan on picking the bones clean.

--DaCootBuck

A Short History of Sears & Roebuck-- Part 4: Julius Rosenwald, Philanthropist

Julius Rosenwald was not only a businessman, but also a notable philanthropist.  His sizable donations created the Museum of Science and Industry and built schools in hundreds of Southern towns that lacked educational facilities for black children.  He felt a responsibility to use his fortune for the benefit of those less fortunate than he was.

And, by 1908, he was in charge of Sears & Roebuck, Richard Sears having retired then.

His Homan complex in the North Lawndale neighborhood included an athletic field, a running track and tennis courts.  Workers were invited to take their lunch breaks in a formal garden with a pergola and classical pavilions.  The company touted those amenities in promotional handouts:  "We believe these surroundings inspire our workers to better things and make for contentment and happiness."

--CootSears

A Short History of Sears & Roebuck-- Part 3: WLS and Spanish Peanuts

In 1911, a Scientific Laboratory was added so Sears cold test the products it sold.  The lab was known as "the watchdog of the catalog" and promoted as a means to "give out customers the service they have a right to expect."

The centerpiece of the complex on Homan Avenue was a 250-foot tower.  Then the tallest building outside the Loop, and Sears' corporate signature, it appeared on the catalog's cover.

Beginning in 1924,it housed a radio station on its 11th floor.  Its call letters, WLS,stood for "World's Largest Store.  Reflecting Sears' customer base, its motto was:  "Bringing the World to the Farm.  It signed on and off the air with a train whistle.

For my family, and especially Dad, no trip to a Sears was complete until we had gone by the candy/nut counter and bought a small bag of fresh hot fried Spanish peanuts.  That and a Coke was just way too good.

And, of course, that radio station changed to a pop music format in 1960 and with its huge 50,000 watt signal, it (and competitor WCFL) was what all of us kids listened to growing up in the 1960s.  Teenagers across most of the nation could pick up the signal at night.

Art Roberts' Top 3 At Ten On WLS.    --Cooter

A Short History of Sears Roebuck-- Part 2: Julius Rosenwald and His Scientific Management in Business

Richard Sears was a very talented salesman, but really bad when it came to details to get his products out to the customers.  Railroad cars of product sat unloaded.  Customer orders went unfilled, missing and were often filled late.

Fortunately for Sears, Julius Rosenwald, whom Sears brought into the firm in 1895, was extremely orderly and in charge.

"It's with pardonable pride that I confess to being one of the first to introduce scientific management in business with the hope of effecting comprehensive economics for the benefit of the consumer," Rosenwald told the Tribune in 1911.

Rosenwald's insistence on rational planning is shown in the Sears corporate headquarters on Homan Avenue in Chicago.  It was an enormous complex covering 40 acres.  The distribution center was just one part of it.  Some 3 million square feet was incorporated in the various building, providing presses to print catalogs, storage for goods and kitchens that prepared meals for 9,290 employees.

There was even a railroad depot.

A Short History of the Late Great Sears-- Part 1: The Beginning

From the May 14, 2017, Chicago Tribune "Sears was the Amazon.com of the 20th century" by Ron Grossman.

The history of Sears began on April 1, 1887, when Alvah Roebuck answered a want ad in a Chicago newspaper:  "Watchmaker wanted who can furnish tools, State age, experience, and salary required.  Address T 39."  Two days later he go a letter from Richard Sears, who was selling watches by mail.

Sears and Roebuck became partners, established a firm in Chicago and revolutionized the mail-order business by offering a money-back guarantee if customers weren't satisfied.  In the new firm's catalog, they boasted "We Can't Afford To Lose a Customer.

It didn't take them long to branch out from those watches.  Then came jewelry. silverware and then all sorts of things.

In 1897, Roebuck sold his interest in the company.  Hit hard by the stock market collapse in 1929, he returned to the company in 1933.

An American Success Story.  --DaCootBuck

Sears Was the Amazon.com of the 20th Century-- Part 2: Those Christmas Wish Books

Sears dubbed its 1933 Christmas catalog a "Wish Book" and extended the basic catalog to 700 pages.  President Roosevelt reportedly said he'd like to give every Soviet citizen a Sears catalog as it was an encyclopedia of the American Dream.

I can sure remember going through the Sears and Montgomery Ward's Christmas catalogs and salivating over the toys.  Especially any of the toy soldier sets, especially he Blue and the Gray, Alamo and Fort Apache ones.

Sears role today is fast fading.  Sales are plummeting, stores are closing and there is a serious doubt that it can continue.  Today's flourishing internet business (Amazon and others) is a 21st century update on sears' 20th century mail-order model.

On the West Side of Chicago at huge Homan Avenue complex, the end came on March 2, 1987, on the workers' lunch break when 1,800 employees were told that the distribution center was closing because the facility was "worn out."

They might as well pull the plug and let Lambert make his billions off the bones of the once-great Sears.

So Sad.  --Cooter

Sears Was the Amazon.com of the 20th Century-- Part 1: "God Almighty, Sears Roebuck and Gene Talmadge"

From the May 14, 2017, Chicago Tribune "Chicago Flashback"  by Ron Grossman.

As I read the nearly weekly accounts of the demise of Sears, this makes for a sad article.  It is a victim of the American people and that guy and his hedge fund who bought it and K-Mart.

From 1906 to 1987, Sears, Roebuck and Co. shipped the ingredients of a middle class life from its sprawling distribution center at 925 S. Homan Avenue in Chicago.  And, sprawling it was.  One of the buildings alone stretched a block wide  and a quarter-mile long with every inch used.

By July 4, 1906, Sears was receiving 75,000 letters a day.  In response, the mail-order company sent its 6 million customers everything from clothing, shoes, furniture, white leghorn chickens, a fully assembled Sears buggy and even kits to build a two-bedroom home.

Many of Sears' early customers were farmers out in rural areas where stores were rare and prices high.  Sears proclaimed itself to be "The Cheapest Supply House on Earth."

"The poor dirt farmer ain't got but three friends on this earth:  God almighty, Sears Roebuck and Gene Talmadge," said Georgia's populist governor in the 1930s and 1940s.

--CootSears

Chicago's Mercy Hospital-- Part 3: Things Are Going Downhill

Over the years, the hospital expanded, eventually moving into a new 517-bed facility in 1968.

In recent decades, though, the hospital has lost some of its prominence.

Trinity Health, a large Catholic health system, acquired Mercy in 2012 and at the end of last year reduced the beds to 250.  It earned one star out of five for quality from the federal Centers for Medicare and medicaid Services.  That one star, however, was based on older data.

It serves many poor patients.  More than 40 percent of its inpatients in 2016 were on medicaid according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

--Cooter

Chicago's Mercy Hospital-- Part 2: The Civil War and the Growth of a Chicago Health Care Provider

Mercy Hospital helped Chicago's need for health care as the city grew rapidly in the 19th century.  There were  outbreaks of cholera and tuberculosis.  It became a modern hospital and remained an anchor for care on the city's South Side even to today.

During the Civil War, the Sisters of Mercy treated Union soldiers as well as Confederate prisoners.  In the middle of the war, they moved the hospital to 26th Street and Calumet Avenue near its current location.

Thousands of doctors have trained at the hospital and it was often on the cutting edge of medicine.  In 1955, Mercy neurosurgeon Dr. Harold Vors and his team performed the first successful separation of twins joined at the head.   The hospital also had the first oncology unit in the city.

Over the years the hospital expanded, eventually moving into a new 517-bed facility in 1968.

--Cooter

Chicago's Mercy Hospital Has Storied History-- Part 1: Treated Victims of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871

From the November 20, 2018, Chicago Tribune by Lisa Schencker.

A day earlier, there had been a tragic shooting at the hospital where three people were killed.

The hospital has served the Bronzeville community for 160 years

In 1871, victims of the Great Chicago Fire were treated there.

In 1912, President Theodore Roosevelt stayed at the hospital after he was shot giving a speech in Milwaukee, the one he continued despite the bullet lodged in his chest.]

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley was born there.

It was the first chartered hospital in Chicago with its origins in an old rooming house near Rush Street and the Chicago River in 1852.  It was founded by Sisters of Mercy.

--Cooter

Deaths in 2019: Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov

ALEXEI LEONOV, 85

Died October 11, 2019, in Moscow.

In 1965, he became the first person to walk in space and was scheduled to walk on the moon before the Soviet Union abandoned its efforts for a manned lunar landing.

He was a Soviet air force officer chosen in 1959 as part of the first inaugural class of cosmonauts.  At the time, the Soviet Union was leading in the Race to Space.  In 1957, they launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the earth.  In April 1961, Yuri Gagarin, a close friend of Leonov, became the first person in space.

On March 18, 1965, Leonov took that first spacewalk outside his capsule.  His spacewalk lasted just 12 minutes and he came close to dying, but survived.

Fallen Mt. Vernon Tree Stood the Test of Time-- Part 2: George Washington Probably Saw It

It fell just before midnight on November 4.  Said Dean Norton, Mount Vernon director of horticulture:  "Middle of the night.  No wind.  It just falls over."

It was about 115 feet tall, 12 feet around and roughly 230 years old, almost as old as the United States.

Witness to so much history, "trees just give up on occasion," Norton said.  It wasn't sick, "It was just its time."

The tree dated to at least 1780 according to Norton who then cut it and measured its rings that help date it and tell its story.  His count, he admits, is on the conservative side and it could be older.

George Washington owned the Mount Vernon plantation along with its home and more than 100 slaves.   He and his wife Martha are buried on the property, which is on the Potomac River about 15 miles south of Washington.

The Mount Vernon people said that wood from the tree will be used to make repairs.

--CootTree

Fallen Mt. Vernon Tree Stood the Test of Time-- Part 1: George Washington's Tree

From the Nov. 24, 2019, Chicago Tribune by Michael E. Ruane, the Washington Post.

It was probably a sapling when George Washington returned triumphant to Mt. Vernon in1783 after the American Revolution.  It was probably there in 1787 when he left for the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and it grew during his terms as the country's first president.

It was there when he came home for good and when he died in 1799.

Droughts came and went, along with two centuries of American history.  During the Civil War, soldiers carved insignia into its bark

Then,late one night, earlier this month the tired old white oak gave out and came crashing down across a road in the woods.

Caretakers at Mount Vernon heard it fall just before midnight November 4.

--Cooter

Deaths in 2019: Joseph Hasil, Czech Border Guard Who Helped Freedom-Seekers

From the Nov. 24, 2019, Chicago Tribune by Graydon Megan.

1924-2019

Born in the Bohemian region what was Czechoslovakia, was a German conscript in Dresden during WW II and later part of an underground network that smuggled people out of the country when it was controlled by the Communists.

In postwar years he was officially a border guard for Czechoslovakia, but he worked secretly to smuggle those in danger from the communist regime across the Czech border into Germany.

Here Are Some Baseball Movies to Get You Through to Spring-- Part 2: "Major League"

FIELD OF DREAMS  (1989)   --  Costner was back as an Iowa farmer who plows up his cornfield to make a baseball diamond.  "Build it and they will come."  Hey, I'm a White Sox fan.

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN  (1992)--  It's easy to root for this Penny Marshall-directed rouser, featuring Geena Davis, about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.  "There's no crying in baseball!!"

THE SANDLOT  (1993)--  No film captures childhood summer nostalgia quite like this coming-of-age comedy about a group of rowdy pals in the early 1960s who play every day at a local sandlot.  I spend most of the summers between 7th and sophomore years playing out on a sandlot.

MONEYBALL  (2011)--  Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) figures out how to compete with stats as well as bats.

I'm going to add the next one.

MAJOR LEAGUE  (1989)   Back when baseball was still baseball and not just a money-grabbing bunch of players jumping from one team to another.  What a bunch of characters.  And, of course, the Bob Uecker.

--CootBase

While We're Thinkin' and Hopin' for Spring, Here Are Some Baseball Movies to Take the Cold Off-- Part 1

From the April 28, 2019 Parade Magazine.  "Baseball Movies hit home" by Mara Reinstein.

THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942)  Gary Cooper stars as Lou Gehrig, whose legendary career was cit short by the disease that would one day carry his name.

THE BAD NEWS BEARS (1976)  A slovenly, beer-guzzling coach (Walter Mattheau) and his sad-sack youth baseball team become "winning" losers.

THE NATURAL  (1984)  Once promising supernova Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) stages a middle-aged comeback cheered on by his devoted sweetheart (Glenn Close).

BULL DURHAM  (1988)  An All-American romance that follows the travails of veteran catcher  (Kevin Costner), he team's wild pitcher (Tim Robbins) and groupie (Susan Sarandon) who seduces both of them.

--CootBall

The NFL in 1940

Yesterday when I wrote about the Bears' total destruction of the Washington Redskins in the 1940 Championship game, played between the eastern and western divisions of the NFL, I found a list of Western Division teams  and their records and found some of interest.

From Wikipedia

NFL WESTERN DIVISION

Chicago Bears  8-3
Green Bay Packers  6-4-1
Detroit Lions  5-5-1
Cleveland Rams  4-6-1   Moved to Los Angeles in 1946
Chicago Cardinals  2-7-2   Moved to St. Louis in 1960

NFL EASTERN DIVISION

Washington Redskins  9-2
Brooklyn Dodgers  8-3   In 1946, the NFL cancelled their team franchise
New York Giants  6-4-1
Pittsburgh Steelers  2-7-2
Philadelphia Eagles  1-10

Of Interest.  --Cooter

Chicago Bears Top Ten Shutouts-- Part 2

6.  BEARS 57   COLTS  0   (1962)    Bill Wade threw three touchdown passes -- to Angelo Coia, Mike Ditka and Johnny Morris -- and scored on a five-yard run in the Bears biggest regular-season shutout.

7.  BEARS 26   PACKERS 0   (1977)   Walter Payton rushed for 205 yards and two touchdowns at Lambeau Field for the Bears' first shutout in five seasons.  The Bears lost 47-0 to the Oilers the next week.

8.  BEARS 14   BUCCANEERS  0   (1979)   The Bears had five interceptions (Gary Fencik 2, Terry Schmidt 2, Allan Ellis) to beat the 9-4 Bucs in Tampa.  The Bucs ended up reaching the NFC title game.

9.  BEARS 23   VIKINGS 0  (9186)   A week after Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer threw six touchdown passes against the Packers, the Bears sacked him seven times and intercepted him twice at Soldier Field.

10.  BEARS 13   COLTS 0   (1965)  Rookie Gale Sayers scored on a 61-yard run, and the Bears knocked Johnny Unitas out for the season with a knee injury.

Some Good Times and Some Memories and Names.    --CootBear

Chicago Bears Top 10 Shutouts-- Part 1

1.  BEARS 73  REDSKINS 0 (1940)  Bill Osmanski's 68-yard touchdown run ignited one of the most dominant performances in the history of American sports.  This was the NFL Championship game.

2.  BEARS 24  RAMS 0  (1986)  Wilber Marshall's 52-yard fumble return touchdown in the snow at Soldier Field put the finishing touches on the NFC Championship game.  This was the '85 Bears.

3.  BEARS 44  COWBOYS 0  (1985)   The Bears had four interceptions, six sacks and two defensive scores and knocked out two quarterbacks in a stunning victory in a nationally televised game.  Hey, the '85 Bears!!

4.  BEARS 21   GIANTS 0  (1986)  Shaun Gayle's five-yard return of Sean Landetta's whiffed punt started the Bears' magnificent 1986 playoff run.  Hey, the '85 Bears!!

5.  BEARS 26  PACKERS  0  (2006)   Bernard Berrian's 49-yard touchdown started it and Devin Hester's 84-yard punt return ended it as the Bears opened a Super Bowl run in Lambeau Field.

--Cooter

Bears Get 49er Payback in 1985

From the Nov. 16, 2019, Chicago Sun-Times  "The next time, they brought an offense" by Mark Potash.

Thinkin' back to that great '85 Bears team.

After an upset victory over the redskins in the 1984 playoffs the Bears found they weren't ready yet for prime time when they were buried 23-0 by the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game at candlestick Park.

They were particularly offended by a 49er comment:  "Next time, bring an offense."

The next time, they did bring an offense when they faced the 49ers again at Candlestick on October 13, 1985.  They were 5-0 by then, but had something to prove.  Walter Payton rushed for  132 yards and two touchdowns as the Bears gained 372 yards against the defending Super Bowl champions in a 26-10 victory.

"We remembered to pack our offense this time," left tackle Jimbo Covert said.  "Last time they embarrassed us, and they made it known they embarrassed us.  They tried to rub it in.They said some things we didn't really appreciate."

Said Walter Payton:  "They made some remarks that hurt us as a football team.  They said 'Bring your offense next time.'  Well we brought it today."

If I remember correctly, Mike Ditka got a DUI after the plane returned to Chicago and he drove home.

Payback, You Know.  --Cooter

That Great '85 Bears Team-- Part 2: Those Shutouts, That "D"

And you know that Coach Mike Ditka had to be really happy about this one, considering he had ended his playing career with the Cowboys and had been assistant head coach under Landry.

And, da Bears weren't done with that 44-0 shellacking of the Cowboys. A week later, they beat the Falcons 36-0 at Soldier Field --  the first Bear back-to-back shutouts since 1942.

The shutout of the Falcons capped a seven-game run in which the Bears defense allowed 30 points and scored 27 -- for a net of three points allowed.  And that doesn't include 39 points scored in that span on short fields the Bears got from takeaways.

The Bears nearly had three shutouts in a row, but a Steve Fuller fumble on a lateral to Willie Gault against the Lions in Week 10 led to a Lions field goal.  The modest 17-yard scoring drive was the only blemish in a 24-3 victory at Soldier Field.

Da Bears!!!  --CootBear

Well, Da Bears Is Out, But A Look Back to Some Better Times-- Part 1: Taking Care of the Cowboys in '85

The Chicago Bears have finished a very disappointing season 8-8, especially so since everyone had such high hopes after the previous 12-4 year.  And that coming after a whole lot of sub .500 years.

But,the Nov. 16, 2019, Chicago Sun-Times had a two-page spread on better times in Bear history.

" 'D'LIGHTFUL:  THIS TRULY WAS A ZERO-SUM GAME" by Mark Potash.

Shutout of Cowboys in 1985 among Bears' most memorable defensive performances.

This week in Bears history:  The '85 Bears pick up steam.

Truly, thoughts of the 1985 Bears and that Super Bowl XX victory always brings a smile and warm thoughts to Bear fans everywhere.

"Though the best was yet to come, the '85 Bears and their vaunted defense picked up steam 34 years ago this week with a stunning 44-0 shutout of the Cowboys at Texas Stadium."

And, they had been a bane to us for a whole lot of years.

"In fact, the Week 11 game was the highlight of one of the greatest defensive runs in NFL history  Defensive players Richard dent and Mike Richardson scored touchdowns on interception returns, and interceptions by Leslie Frazier and Ken Taylor led to short touchdown drives as the Bears (11-0) annihilated the playoff-bound Cowboys (7-4) before a national-television audience.

Better Times.  --CootBear

DeKalb To Get an Ice Plant in 1919

From the Nov. 20, 2019, MidWeek "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"That DeKalb will have an ice manufacturing plant of its very own in the very near future is practically an assured fact, according to semi-official advices circulated today.

"The Dixon Artificial Manufacturing Co. is behind the movement to erect a fully equipped and modern plant here as a branch to the main plant at Dixon.  The local plant when completed will no doubt be  modern and up to date in every respect."

No more cutting up that ice in the lakes or ponds during the winter and storing them over the summer.    But spelling the end of the old ice industry.

--CootIce

But Seriously Folks, This Blog Has Now Been Around for 14 Years and 5,548 Posts

This was the fourth blog I started back in 2007.  It grew out of my Down Da Road I Go blog when I found I was making so many history posts (I have always been very interested in any sort of history, especially the Civil War).

So, today's post begins the 14th year and this is my 5,548th post in it.

This is a good one as I now have three Civil War blogs, a World War II blog, a War of 1812 blog, an old road blog and one on music and what we've been doing.  I can write about anything in history not appropriate to one of the other blogs in this one.

At one time I seriously considered starting one dedicated to the Great War, World War I, but talked myself out of it.

It's called Cooter's History Thing and Cooter or DaCoot does the sign-offs because, who can take a Cooter seriously folks.

Spending Way Too Much Time On These Blogs, But Enjoying It.  --Cooter