North Mayfair is part of the beautiful, diverse, world class city of Chicago- notable for its Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Magnificent Mile, Water Tower, world-renowned architecture and museums, music, theatres, and beautiful Lake Michigan.

The four seasons, with their variety and change, move the year past with relatively little stress. LaBagh Woods with 600 acres of trees and open land, Gompers Park with 39 acres of greenery, the three cemeteries on Pulaski and North Park Village with 160 acres of openness, all add up to a cooling effect in summer heat.

Both downtown Chicago and O'Hare International Airport, are easily accessible with public transportation--often in less than 20 minutes-via a short bus ride to the Jefferson Park CTA Terminal and Metra rail station, or, alternatively, a brief walk to the Montrose CTA or Mayfair Metra rail stop. We are at the foot of Edens Expressway, where it merges with the Kennedy Expressway and all points north and northwest are easily accessible. North Mayfair is within walking distance of North Park College and Northeastern Illinois University.

Gompers Park has an attractive clean fieldhouse, ball fields, an outdoor swimming pool and seven tennis courts. The Park District offers drama classes, sewing and handicraft classes, square dancing, gym, wrestling, chess, volleyball and basketball. A walk or jog around the lagoon is available to young and old alike. The lagoon is stocked with fish. Ducks have made these restored native wetlands their home and migrating Canadian geese visit the lagoon, adding to the bucolic, natural setting.

North Mayfair is officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district because of its large number of bungalow homes. This is the Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

North Mayfair is visually much more cohesive than one would expect given the number of builders and designers involved, and the streetscapes are more consistent than many Chicago bungalow neighborhoods. Like most bungalow districts in Chicago, North Mayfair drew families from a diverse array of ethnic and economic backgrounds together under the common goal of homeownership. Over one-third of the homes in North Mayfair were owned by immigrant families; approximately three-fourths of American born heads of household in the district were children of immigrants.

The bungalows that emerged in North Mayfair between 1913 and 1930 allowed working and middle-class, blue and white-collar families to also share in the American dream of home ownership. For these families, and for families living throughout Chicago's bungalow belt, the bungalow provided a thoughtfully designed, solidly built, and thoroughly modern home, while providing a place where groups of economically, ethnically, and culturally diverse people could come together into a uniform American residential fabric.

Long ago this area was a forested prairie on the sides of a slow moving, meandering river. The flood plain was wider than it is today. Indians of various tribes roamed here. Among these were lIIini, Miami, Fox, Sauk, Ottawa, Chippewa and Pottawatomi.

Marquette and Joliet, in 1673, are thought to be the first European explorers to visit this area. In 1681 Robert LaSalle came through and explored all the way to Oklahoma, laying claim to the Louisiana Territory for France. LaSalle's aide, Henry DeTonti, roamed around northeastern Illinois and is probably the first explorer to go up the North Branch of the Chicago River through what is now North Mayfair.

Illinois was ceded to England after the French and Indian War of 1763. Then George Rogers Clark wrested it from the British for the Colonies during the Revolutionary War. The Illinois area became part of the Northwest Territory in 1787.

Chief Sauganash was the son of an--Irish officer in the British Army, who was stationed in Detroit and a Pottawatomi princess. The name Sauganash means Indian. He was born about the year 1780. His English name was Billy Caldwell. He was educated in the Jesuit schools in Detroit and learned to speak fluently and write in both French and English. He also acquired the knowledge of a great many Indian dialects. He had two homes, one on the southeast corner of State and Chicago (the present site of the Holy Name Cathedral), and the other north of the Indian Boundary in the Sauganash community. During the Black Hawk War, Sauganash acted as a scout for the government. After the war, under new treaties, in 1833, the government purchased remaining Indian lands in Illinois, and by 1835, the tribes had all gone west across the Mississippi. Caldwell stayed in Chicago for awhile, but later moved his tribe to a reservation near Council Bluffs, Iowa. There he died on September 28, 1841, at the age of 62. Caldwell Avenue and the community of Sauganash were named for him.

At the intersection of Rogers, Kilbourn and Peterson stood the majestic "Old Treaty Elm." Under its spreading branches, Sauganash and his warriors held council and accepted government payment for their land in the Treaty of 1833. A stone to commemorate this event was placed there by the Chicago Historical Society. It is there today.

Illinois became a state on April 13, 1818. On January 15, 1831, the counties were redistricted and ours was named after David P. Cook. Chicago was chartered as a city on March 4, 1837. In June 1889, Jefferson Township, along with the Village of Montrose, (what today we call Mayfair), was annexed to Chicago. Back then, our area was mostly small farms. Many of the buildings we see here today were put up between the turn of the century and the Depression era.

Just as we have tollroads today, in the middle 1800's, plank roads came into existence Prairie lands, when rained, on hold water and any dirt paths turn into such a muddy mess as to be impassable. Private individuals purchased lands that followed old Indian trails and built roadways of wooden planks, and the farmers paid fees to use them to get their crops to market. In 1849, the Northwest Plank Road was built. It is now Milwaukee Avenue. Our Elston Avenue was a plank road, and it was built about the same time. Elston Road had tollgates at Division Street, one south of Lawrence and one at the intersection with Milwaukee Avenue.

• In the passing of the years, from native prairies to the city scenes we know today, many events have happened and many people have crossed the stage in North Mayfair. The following tales are what I have learned from research or have been told by individuals.

• An Indian woman called Mrs. Crowfoot lived for many years in the late 1800's in a shack across from the Milwaukee railroad tracks between Sunnyside and Wilson. She had a son who was a doctor in Jackson, Michigan. Every winter, Mrs. Crowfoot would move into the basement of the George Haberer's house to get out of the severe weather. She was described as being "thin, straight and beautiful."

• The Erickson farm in the 5100 block of Kostner Avenue was used as a Setting for filming cowboy and Indian movies.

• The Little Red School House at Kostner and Lawrence, where MASOM is now, was one of the first schools in our area. Jennie Erickson of the Erickson farm family was a teacher there for many years. Pupils sat at long desks. "On the old time organ, in the corner, rested a bunch of willow branches tied into a switch. The very fact of its presence was a quieting influence. The pupils were all ages, and all classes were in one room, and Miss Erickson taught them all"

• To the west of the school was an ever-flowing artesian well with watercress spreading into the road. Each evening the farmers came to fill their barrels. It took but a few minutes to fill a barrel placed under the overhead sprout.

• William Grant Edens was a pioneer advocate for good roads in Illinois. He was a native of Indiana. He was a vice president of the Central Trust Company of Illinois and president of the Illinois Highway Improvement Association. Edens Expressway was named for him, and a bronze plaque was placed at Cicero and Peterson in his honor.

• During the Depression, meals were supplemented by rabbit hunting in the woods.

• When the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium was in full swing, many neighborhood people were employed there. This is where the North Park Village Nature Center is currently.
  

• There was a firehouse at Lawrence and Knox where the city's streets and sanitation facilities are now. Horse drawn fire wagons would respond to calls.

• Baseball games were played on the east side on the 5000 block of Kedvale on what is now built up with Salvation Army homes. This went on for many years. This area for some unknown reason was called Harding's Field. Later in World War II the land was used for victory gardens.

• There was a big picnic grove at Pulaski and Argyle where Aldi's is now, It was called Atlas Grove. Joseph Tichy, Jr. and Joe Novotny, two young men from the neighborhood, cleaned the grove every Monday morning.

• Pehr Peterson, for whom Peterson Park is named, had various horticultural experiences in Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Canada and California before founding the nursery, in 1856, that is now North Park Village. Mr. Peterson supplied trees and shrubbery to the Chicago Park District when Jackson Park, Washington Park and other large parks in Chicago were artistically laid out and developed. He gave generously to finance the building of a statue of Carl Von Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist, that was in Lincoln Park for years but later was moved to the Midway of the University of Chicago. His son, William Peterson, is said to have an unsurpassed collection of artifacts from the Pottawatomi Indians and mementos of this fathers' world travels.

• The main gate of the Bohemian National Cemetery is designated as a Chicago landmark. (National now? Call 773-539-8442)

• During World War II, there was a military camp in LaBagh Woods east of the railroad tracks. First, it was a recreational camp. Then in January 1942, it was converted to use of the 763rd Military Police Battalion and was called Camp Foster. Later, the name was changed to Camp Sauganash. After the war, the area was used for veterans' housing and called the Sauganash Homes Project. The homes were torn down in 1955and the land was returned to the Forest Preserve District.

• For many years there was a hot dog stand on the southeast side ofLowell and Foster across the street from the park.

• Walter Harold Scott who lived at 4904 N. Tripp designed and invented an amusement ride for the Chicago 1933-34 World's Fair. Later this ride was called the Flying Turns and was used for years at the Riverview Amusement Park.

• During the Depression, Max Gaca operated a grocery store on Elston near Kilpatrick. Because of the "hard times" many families had to struggle to find money to buy food. Max would give his regular customers the food and keep a record on a ledger. Because of the severity of the Depression, and the uncertainty of the times, this was a high risk thing for him to do. But he did it out of the goodnessof his heart. His kindness pulled many families through. When prosperity returned most people paid him back. He remained in business for many years.

• Darby's Variety (Five and Ten) was a neighborhood store for years. It was located next to Merlin's Muffler-and close to Bankers Life, whose employees would go there during their office breaks. Probably everyone who has lived in North Mayfair for a long while can look around their kitchen or basement today and spot something he bought at Darby's. It was a well stocked store, and it wasn't unusual to find an item you couldn't find elsewhere, at Darby's. Mothers with strollers could bring their toddlers to Darby's and the kids would get a thrill from riding "Sandy", the mechanical horse in the entrance way. Older kids would pop in after school because there was a candy counter. High school kids found employment there.

• Neal Gabler is a graduate of Palmer School. He was a movie critic on Channel 11. He has written several books.

• Before the Salvation Army building became their Metropolitan Headquarters, it was a hospital for unwed mothers. Sometimes the pregnant women would go for a supervised walk in Gompers Park. It was an unusual sight to see a group of 20 or more pregnant women strolling through the park. The little kids would wonder who all the "fat" ladies were.

• Palmer School nurtured at least three doctors whom we are aware of: Dr.Walter Smykal who practices in Wisconsin, Dr. Arthur Peterson from the Swedish Covenant Hospital, and Dr. Kerry Swensen who practices at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

• Mr. John Podesta - Became President Clinton's Chief of Staff
• Mrs. Cynthia Lohse-Gonzalez - Staff at Palmer
• Mrs. Cheryl Linker-Peppler - Staff at Palmer

That any man who fought special privilege across the second half of the nineteenth century in American political life should have found himself in varying political organizations does not now seem strange. Yet the man who did it-John McAuley Palmer-was known from coast to coast as a "turncoat."

In the hot passions of his day the epithet was easily applied to him for, born and reared in a slave state, he became a vehement abolitionist; a Southerner, he became a major general in the Union Army; a hereditary Democrat, he helped found the Republican party; a Republican governor of Illinois, he switched back to the Democratic party; a successful lawyer of means and respectability, he fought for social reform and radical labor legislation; a Democratic United States senator, he helped organize the "goldbug" revolt and headed the Gold-Democrat third party which probably took enough votes away from William Jennings Bryan to elect William McKinley president and enthrone Mark Hanna Republicanism for its long reign...

PALMER, John McAuley, (1817-1900), a Senator from Illinois; born at Eagle Creek, Scott County, Ky., September 13, 1817; moved with his family to Madison County, Ill., in 1831; attended the common schools of Kentucky and Illinois; in 1834 entered Alton (later Shurtleff) College, where he remained two years; taught school, peddled clocks, and studied law 1835-1838; admitted to the bar in 1839 and practiced in Carlinville, Ill., 1839-1861; probate judge of Macoupin County in 1843 and 1847; member of the State constitutional convention in 1847; county judge 1849-1852; member, State senate 1852-1854, 1856; unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress in 1859; presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1860; member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; during the Civil War was appointed colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry in 1861, and was mustered out as a major general in 1866; settled in Springfield, Ill., in 1867; Republican Governor of Illinois 1869-1873; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor in 1888; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1897; chairman, Committee on Pensions (Fifty-third Congress); was not a candidate for reelection in 1896; resumed the practice of law; unsuccessful candidate for president of the United States as a Gold Democrat in 1896; died in Springfield, Ill., September 25, 1900; interment in Carlinville City Cemetery, Carlinville, Ill.

Samuel Gompers was the first and longest-serving president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL); it is to him, as much as to anyone else, that the American labor movement owes its structure and characteristic strategies. Under his leadership, the AFL became the largest and most influential labor federation in the world. It grew from an association of 50,000 in 1886 to an established organization of nearly 3 million in 1924 that had won a permanent place in American society. In a society renowned for its individualism and the power of its employer class, he forged a self-confident workers' organization dedicated to the principles of solidarity and mutual aid.

Born in 1850 in London, Gompers began making cigars alongside his father at the age of 10. In 1863, the entire family immigrated to New York City. In 1864, he joined Local 15 of the United Cigar Makers. At his job and in his local union, Gompers socialized with a group of older 'migr' socialists and labor reformers whom he would always credit for his commitment to trade unionism as the essential vehicle for bringing about social reform.

In 1875, Gompers was elected president of the Cigar Makers' International Union in New York City. In the 1880s, Gompers was instrumental in establishing the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions. When the FOTLU re-organized in 1886 as the American Federation of Labor, Gompers was elected its first president, a position he held for nearly 40 years.

As a local and national labor leader, Gompers sought to build the labor movement into a force powerful enough to transform the economic, social and political status of America's workers. To do so, he championed three principles. First, he advocated craft or trades unionism, which restricted union membership to wage earners and grouped workers into locals based on their trade or craft identification.

Second, Gompers believed in a pure-and-simple unionism that focused primarily on economic rather than political reform as the best way of securing workers' rights and welfare. What workers secured through their own economic power in the marketplace, no one could take away.

Third, when political action was necessary, as Gompers increasingly came to believe in his later years, he urged labor to follow a course of "political nonpartisanship." He argued that the best way of enhancing the political leverage of labor was to articulate an independent political agenda, seek the endorsement of existing political parties for the agenda and mobilize members to vote for those supporting labor's agenda.

With his election as president of the AFL in 1886, he sought to build a national federation of trade unions dedicated to these principles. He immediately threw himself into the organization's first big effort, a nationwide general strike on May 1, 1886, in support of an eight-hour workday.

To secure the rights of labor to organize and engage in economic action, the AFL and its affiliates launched a far-reaching and ultimately successful campaign to elect union members and other labor-friendly candidates to political office.

The high point of the AFL's new, more political strategy came during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson (1912-1920). During World War I, Wilson appointed Gompers to the Council of National Defense, where he helped mobilize labor support for the war. At the war's end, Wilson appointed Gompers to the Commission on International Labor Legislation at the Versailles Peace Conference. The labor policies forged in this period laid the basis for the New Deal endorsements of labor rights in the 1930s.

Gompers died in December 1924 in San Antonio, Texas, where he had been rushed after falling ill in Mexico City while attending the inauguration of the new president of Mexico.