A 1915 photo of Chicago's oldest park revealed
This week's History Mystery revealed: The 1915 photo captures Chicagoans of all ages (look at the buggies!) enjoying a brisk day at Washington Square Park, also known as Bughouse Square, on the Near North Side.
Context: This Getty archival photo of the oldest park in Chicago, first built in 1842, reveals few visual clues.
Yes, but: The former Unity Church, now the Scottish Rite Cathedral at 935 N. Dearborn Street, offers a dead giveaway.
Zoom out: The area surrounding the park includes some impressive Chicago architecture, including homes designed during the post-Fire rebuilding period right before the turn of the 19th century.
The homes were mainly designed for Chicago's wealthiest.
It was also around this time that the Newberry Library was built just north of the park.
The intrigue: Around 1890, the park started hosting public debates, giving it the nickname "Bughouse Square."
The soapbox speeches continued throughout the 20th century, featuring famous speakers like Studs Terkel, whose ashes were spread at the park after he died in 2008.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Fire at Yellowknife apartment that displaced public housing tenants caused by smoking
Improper disposal of smoking materials was found to be the cause of a fire that displaced tenants of public housing from a Yellowknife apartment building in March. Saxon Chung, a spokesperson for the City of Yellowknife, wrote in an email that an investigation by the city's fire department into the Sunridge Place apartments fire determined it was accidental. The city said after the incident in March that the fire was contained to a single unit on the first floor of the three-storey building and that no injuries were reported. Sunridge appears to still be closed, with the windows at the bottom of the building boarded up and a note on the door saying the building's owner, Northview, is working with contractors to ensure the building is "safe and restored in a timely manner." The note says that Northview changed the locks and that anyone needing to access the building could call either their public housing organization or Northview itself. A large vacuum truck was outside the building along with a large dumpster on Tuesday. Multiple units in the building were used for subsidized housing, and the organizations that ran them have been making alternate plans for their tenants. Housing First, a program run by the Yellowknife Women's Society, leased five Sunridge units, three of which had tenants. Hovannes Nazaryan, the team lead for Housing First, said the organization received three replacement units from Northview and has moved tenants to those. "The last time I was there [at Sunridge], we cleaned all of our units out, we moved all the furniture that was salvageable, and basically everything else went to the dump," he said. Shortly after the fire, before the replacement units were ready, Housing First moved its tenants into hotels for acccommodation. He said they're still waiting for two more units, one for emergencies and another to accommodate additional tenants. Nazaryan said he's not sure when, or even if, those tenants will move back into Sunridge when it reopens. Bob Bies is the CEO of the Yellowknife Housing Authority, which had five units at Sunridge. The Yellowknife Housing Authority runs the operation of public housing units that are leased by Housing N.W.T., the territory's housing agency. Bies said they have no plan to return to the building, and they've set tenants up in temporary accommodations with the plan to move them to Aspen Apartments when construction on it is complete. Julie Carter was a former tenant of Sunridge through the Yellowknife Housing Authority. She was planning to move out the day after the fire forced the evacuation. Carter said she was put up in a hotel the first night she was displaced and then was expected to move into her new apartment. But she didn't have access to any of her clothes, food, or other necessities. "I have a completely empty apartment, I have absolutely no funds. How am I supposed to feed myself, feed my dogs, change my clothes?" she said. Carter said she convinced the Yellowknife Housing Authority to put her up in a hotel and that it took weeks before she was allowed to enter her old unit to gather what was salvageable. When the Sunridge building will reopen is unclear. Each housing organization said they were unsure and redirected the question to Northview. Northview did not respond to multiple requests for an update by email, phone and in person.
Associated Press
12 hours ago
- Associated Press
Indian authorities attempt to tow container ship on fire with dangerous cargo off southern coast
NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian Coast Guard was attempting to tow a container ship that caught fire off the coast of Kerala in southern India earlier this week to prevent a potential ecological disaster, Indian authorities said Thursday. The Singapore-flagged MV Wan Hai 503 was on its way to Mumbai, India's financial capital, from the Sri Lankan port of Colombo on June 7 when it reported multiple explosions and a subsequent fire some 88 nautical miles from the coast of Beypore in Kerala on Monday. Indian authorities have not yet given a reason for the explosions and fire. Officials were focused on firefighting and preventing the vessel from drifting towards the Indian coastline. The 890-foot vessel carried 2,128 metric tons of fuel and hundreds of containers, including hazardous cargo, India's defense ministry said in a statement on Wednesday night. 'With the fire yet to be fully extinguished, efforts to establish a towline to pull the vessel away from the coast are underway,' the ministry said. 'The situation remains critical and is being monitored continuously.' The firefighting efforts have significantly reduced visible flames, but the fire remains active on the ship's inner decks and near the fuel tanks, the ministry added. Around 40% of the fire onboard the ship has been brought under control and the vessel remains afloat, according to a situation report by India's Directorate General of Shipping. The coast guard launched an aerial firefighting operation Thursday morning using a helicopter from the Indian air force, Commandant Amit Uniyal, a spokesperson for the coast guard, said. The helicopter dispersed 1,000 kilograms of dry chemical powder onto the core fire areas of the ship, he added. Shipping official Captain Harinder Singh told The Associated Press the vessel was carrying a total of 1,754 containers, including 143 with cargo deemed dangerous by the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, such as flammable liquids, toxic substances and solid hazardous materials. The explosions and subsequent fire caused dozens of the ship's containers to fall into the Arabian Sea. The coast guard on Wednesday airdropped five people onboard the unaffected stern of the ship to coordinate towing operations and assess the overall fire situation. The coast guard successfully established a towline from the vessel to a coast guard ship to control its drift. Singh, who is closely coordinating the operation, said authorities were working to establish a second towline with Offshore Warrior, a more powerful offshore supply ship with greater towing capabilities. Towing is expected to commence later Thursday. The salvage master onboard the ship observed hydrocarbon vapors which indicates possible heat transfer near fuel tanks, the report said. The vessel is managed by Singapore-based Wan Hai Lines. Of the 22 crew members onboard, 18 abandoned the ship with assistance from the navy and coast guard. Four are still missing. The navy and coast guard have launched a search operation for the missing, aided by two Dornier aircrafts. The navy uses Dornier aircraft primarily for maritime surveillance, search and rescue operations. Five ships have also been sent to help put out the fire. Last month, a container vessel sank in another accident off the Kerala coast, releasing 100 cargo containers into the Arabian Sea, and leaving authorities in the state scrambling to contain an oil spill.
Hamilton Spectator
15 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Grazing goats provide low-tech solution to Toronto park's invasive plant problem
TORONTO - Dozens of goats have returned to a Toronto park to munch on invasive and woody plants as part of an eco-friendly city project. After a successful pilot last summer, a herd of 50 goats is grazing a new section of the Don Valley Brick Works Park meadow over two days this week. 'The goats are good at invasive species management, reduction of woody encroachment, they improve soil quality and are really just an overall benefit to the meadow,' said Cheryl Post, project manager and a natural environment specialist with the city. Post said she hopes to build off last year's positive results, with the goats mainly targeting invasive plants while allowing native species to grow. 'Although that will take some years to see how it goes, we've been noticing some really obvious and immediate impacts to the invasive species, which is great,' she said. King City-based company Goats in the City provided the goats that are bred specifically for prescribed grazing projects, and are even trained to interact with visitors. 'What we really do at Goats in the City is to observe goats, know what they prefer, know what they like, and then apply that to the kind of plants that we want to get rid of,' company president Ian Matthews said. 'We're basically just using them for what they instinctively would be doing anyway.' The goats also drew visitors to the park as it offered educational tours about the animals' strategic grazing. Among them was Kevork Hacatoglu, who came on Wednesday to learn about eco-friendly ways of maintaining the city. 'It is a way of reducing the impact on the environment,' he said. 'It's a more circular way of maintaining the park and sensitive ecosystems. The more solutions like this, the better.' Plant regrowth and other results of the project will be monitored over multiple years in partnership with the Toronto Field Naturalists. If all goes well, city staff say the project will continue in the coming years. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
