Dear Group, A few days ago in our continuing discourses, I mentioned and described "Chicago's Bughouse Square." This was where any person could express their opinions in a most democratic fashion. And, much like the attraction of "bloggers" today, people would congregate to hear the views of their favorites. But, not living in Chicago since my early childhood, I was just repeating our family's common description. Anyway, I have gone to Wikipedea and found this:
(Fittingly, it is across from the world renowned PRIVATE Newberry Library, ever opened to the public--------) Wikipedia: . . . The original purpose of the neighborhood park was as a place of assembly to discuss community issues.[2] Chicago has a long storied history of public speeches both for entertainment and educational purposes. The Haymarket Riot first started as an anarchist workers rally. Daniel Burnhams March 27, 1897 lecture for the Commercial Club of Chicago inspired the club to provide $80,000 to publish the Burnham Plan.[6] Washington Square Park has been the geographic center of Chicago public speeches. By the 1890s the park acquired its Bughouse Square moniker. Soapbox orators waxed on topics ranging from gender relations to Communism[6] It served as a home for soapbox orators on warm-weather evenings from the 1910s to the mid-1960s. Like Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park, Washington Square became a popular spot for soap box orators. Artists, writers, political radicals, and hobos pontificated, lectured, recited poetry, ranted and raved. A group of regulars formed "The Dill Pickle Club," devoted to free expression. For years Washington Square orators appointed their own honorary "king."[5] In its heydays in the 1920s and 1930s, revolutionary left soapboxers were occasionally joined by poets, religionists and cranks.[1] In 1959, the city transferred Washington Square to the Chicago Park District.[5] A more contemporary example of the Square's role in free speech is that in 1970 it played host to Chicago's first Gay Pride March.[7] [8] Today Every July, the Bughouse Square Committee continues to oversee the annual Bughouse Square Debates free speech gathering in conjunction with the Newberry Librarys annual book sale.[1] The debates are part of an annual festival to recreate the atmosphere of speeches and debates by soap box orators that once flourished in the park.[4] Although Alderman McCormick's fountain was removed in the 1970s, in the late 1990s, the park district, the city, and neighborhood organizations agreed on a restoration plan for Washington Square. Improvements include a reconstructed historic fountain, period lighting, fencing, and new plantings.[5] In the west part of the park, there is a memorial tablet designating the park as "Chicago's Premier Free Speech Forum." Eric _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
