History in Bronzeville

Dunbar High School (officially known as Paul Laurence Dunbar Vocational Career Academy) was founded in 1942 at 3000 South King Drive.  Its notable alumni include Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson, former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw, soul singer Lou Rawls, actor and erstwhile bouncer Lawrence Tureaud (better known as Mr. T), and NBA guard Ronnie Lester (who won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers). 

DuSable High School at 4934 South Wabash Avenue opened on February 4, 1935, and was originally known as the New Wendell Phillips High School.  It was created to accommodate the increasing population of the original Wendell Phillips High School.  Its name was changed to DuSable High School in 1936, in honor of Chicago’s first resident, Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable.  The school graduated a veritable sports and entertainment hall of fame.  Jazz legends Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, Clifford Jordan, Johnny Hartman, Wilbur Ware, and Richard Davis all attended, among a host of other musical greats.  Basketball stars Kevin Porter and Maurice Cheeks were DuSable students, too.  Other alumni included Redd Foxx (famed comedian and star of “Sanford And Son”), Don Cornelius (host of “Soul Train”), and John H. Johnson (the founder of the company that published “Jet” and “Ebony” magazines and produced a line of cosmetic products).  Oh, and there’s one more alumnus who we shan’t omit:  Harold Washington, the first African-American Mayor of Chicago.  

Phillips Academy High School at 244 East Pershing Road was named for Wendell Phillips, an abolitionist and advocate for Native Americans.  It opened on September 5, 1904, and has produced a distinguished cast of alumni, including jazz legend Nat "King" Cole, Gwendolyn Grooks (the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize), soul music legend Sam Cooke, jazz singer Dinah Washington, George E. Johnson, founder of Johnson Products (the first company founded by an African-American to be listed on the American stock exchange), Marla Gibbs, who starred as Isabel Sandford on "The Jeffersons," former professional boxer Lee Roy Murphy, and Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, one of the greatest negro league ballplayers ever.

A “black and tan” where interracial audiences were admitted, the Deluxe Café, at 3503 S State St in Bronzeville Chicago, was one of the more reputable purveyors of hot jazz in the second decade of the 20th century.  The house band was Sugar Johnny’s Creole Orchestra, featuring Sidney Bechet and Freddie Keppard, both early jazz legends.  In 1917, Li’l Hardin (who later married Louis Armstrong) joined the band as a pianist at the tender young age of 18.  Sugar Johnny Smith was a “long, lanky dark man with deep little holes in his skinny face” and was a “gay, gutbucket cornet player from New Orleans” who was stricken with tuberculosis and died of pneumonia in 1918.  The Deluxe Café had a billiard room, a bar, and, of course, a dance floor.   Joe “King” Oliver played occasional gigs here with his Creole Jazz Band until 1919, when he was lured to the nearby Dreamland Café.

A “black and tan,” as clubs that admitted patrons of both races were called, William Bottoms’ Dreamland Café (not to be confused with Paddy Harmon’s Dreamland Ballroom in the West Loop), was a popular early Chicago jazz club at 3518-20 S. State St in Bronzeville Chicago.   Joe “King” Oliver played gigs here with Bill Johnson, Jimmy Noone, Sidney Bechet, and Freddie Keppard between 1919 and 1920, at which point he took his Original Creole Jazz Band on a west coast swing.  Oliver split time between the Dreamland Café and The Lincoln Gardens upon his return.  A few years later, in 1925, Louis Armstrong played here with Li'l Hardin under the name Louis Armstrong’s Dreamland Syncopators.

The Palm Tavern at 446 East 47th Street was a fancy, deco-style restaurant and nightclub that was opened in 1933 by James “Genial Jim” Knight, a onetime Pullman Porter who was running the local numbers racket.  It soon became a popular local institution.  The following year, Knight was elected “Mayor of Bronzeville” as part of a promotion that would honor a local community leader and sell copies of the Chicago Defender.  Decked out with tropical murals, the Palm Tavern had white tablecloths and white-gloved waiters who served fine cuisine to hungry patrons in thick vinyl booths, notably without regard to skin color.  It was among the first establishments in the City to obtain a liquor license at the end of Prohibition and among the first to install tabletop juke boxes (known as “talkies”).

In 1956, Knight sold the Palm Tavern to his manicurist, a Mississippi native named Geraldine Oliver.  “Mama Gerri” soon became a celebrity in her own right.  Although she ditched the fine cuisine element of the business, she continued to serve her own brand of soul food, including red beans and rice that were craved by her favorite celebrity guests, like Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie.  Typically her jazz legend clientele had just gotten off a tour bus, where they’d been forced to eat bag meals for weeks, having been denied entry to the finer local restaurants.  Over the years, she ate meals, established friendships, and had herself photographed with such legends as Billie Holiday, James Brown, Lena Horne, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Redd Foxx, and Quincy Jones.

In keeping with its community activism, the Palm Tavern became the focal point for the mayoral election of Harold Washington, who celebrated his historic 1983 primary victory.  Although it continued as a jazz and blues venue, the neighborhood was obsolescing quickly, and business became increasingly difficult to maintain.  Gerri ultimately lost her apartment (she says she was swindled out of it), and she was now sleeping on a mattress in the club’s kitchen.  She continued to operate the Palm Tavern until July 3, 2001, when the City exercised its powers of eminent domain, evicted her, and closed the building out of concern that its by-now dilapidated character presented a danger to the community.

The Grand Theater was a popular jazz venue in the 1920s located at 3110 South State Street.  Among the musicians who played here were Cab Calloway, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Edward “Kid” Ory.  It opened around 1908 and closed around 1930.

Originally known as the Royal Gardens, this nightclub at 459 E 31st St in Bronzeville Chicago featured such early jazz legends as Joe "King" Oliver, Sidney Bechet, and Freddie Keppard.  It became The Lincoln Gardens in 1921, but continued to feature the hottest purveyors of jazz in the country.  Between 1922 and 1924, King Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, featuring Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Baby Dodds, Honore Dutrey, and Li’l Hardin, wowed the Chicago faithful with their authentic brand of “hot” music here at 459 East 31st Street.  Although the club catered to African-Americans, on Wednesday evenings it would hold a so-called “Midnight Ramble.”  King Oliver and the band would play until 11:00 p.m., at which time the club was cleared.  White patrons were then admitted, and the band would play another set at midnight.  Many of the guests for the second show were white musicians, including, on at least one evening, budding young cornetist Bix Beiderbecke.

"Chimes Blues," the video linked to this entry, was the earliest recording ever made on which Louis Armstrong can be heard.

Opened by Johnny Peppers in 1956 at 503 East 43rd Street in Bronzeville Chicago, Pepper’s Lounge quickly became one of the city’s most legendary blues bars.  It was nothing fancy.  Just a bare-bones nightclub with a small stage that featured great blues musicians, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Shakey Jake, Otis Rush, Junior Wells, Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy.  Waters was a mainstay in the 1960's, and Chicago locals could catch his show for eight dollars.  In 1971, the club moved to 1321 South Michigan Avenue.

The Plantation Café was a “black and tan” jazz club (it catered to audiences of all races) and was nearly as prestigious as its kitty corner competitor, The Sunset Café.  It opened in 1924, and King Oliver played here  at 338 East 35th Streetwith his Dixie Syncopators from 1925 until 1927, when the club was destroyed by fire, reportedly after it was bombed.  The Dixie Syncopators included such famed sidemen as Barney Bigard, Edward “Kid” Ory, and Paul Barbarin.  Young white kids and out-of-town businessmen frequently caught King Oliver’s shows, where admission was fifty cents on weekdays and one dollar on weekends.  The club was open practically all night.  Before opening as The Plantation, this club was known as Al Tierney’s Auto Inn.  Tierney closed the joint in 1923, and the following year he opened the Pershing Palace in the New Pershing Hotel at 61st and Cottage Grove Avenue.

The Savoy Ballroom at 4733 South Martin Luther King Drive was primarily a jazz music venue, but it also served as a community center and a sporting venue from its opening in 1927 until 1954.  Named after a similar venue that opened a year earlier in New York, it was the first major dance hall to which African-Americans were admitted.  When the Savoy opened, it featured a half-acre dance floor and accommodated more than 4,000 people, according to Jazz Age Chicago.  In the Chicago Defender's initial review of the Savoy the critic wrote, "Never before have Chicagoans seen anything quite as lavish as the Savoy Ballroom. Famous artists have transformed the building into a veritable paradise, each section more beautiful than the other."  Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Benny Moten (with a young Count Basie) all performed here.  The Savoy also hosted roller skating events, boxing matches, and basketball games.  Abe Saperstein’s "Savoy Big Five" debuted here in 1927 and later became the Harlem Globetrotters.  "Stompin’ at the Savoy", a song originally recorded by Chick Webb in 1934 and popularized by Benny Goodman’s recording in 1936, was written for the Savoy.

The Savoy was perhaps the first major stake in the heart of "The State Street Stroll"; it established a new center of gravity in the African-American community about 12 blocks south of what was formerly the heart of urban black Chicago.  The ballroom was demolished in the early 1970s and is now the site of the Harold Washington Cultural Center.

A popular blues destination during the 1950's and 60's, the 708 Club was located at 708 East 47th Street in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.  Regular performers included such legends as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, Memphis Minnie, and Buddy Guy.

Formerly known as Club Alvadere and The Nest, the Apex Club at 330 East 35th street served fine food and outstanding jazz entertainment.  Between 1926 and 1930, when Prohibition Era agents raided the club and shut it down, Jimmy Noone and his Orchestra (featuring Earl Hines) appeared here regularly.  White guys who considered themselves jazz men flocked here to see Noone play, and it’s safe to say that one of those guys was local Chicagoan Benny Goodman.  Previously, Jimmy Noone played in Doc Cooke’s Dreamland Orchestra in what is currently the West Loop neighborhood.

In the 1930s, this club at 3119 South Cottage Grove Avenue was known as "Chicago's Oddest Nightery."  Mixed-race audiences came to see performances by black female impersonators.  "when you have seen our floor show and `camped` in the Cozy Cabin Club, you have seen Chicago at its best," their ads read.

Originally built in 1892 as a beer garden at 2700 South State Street, it was converted in 1905 to the 900-seat Pekin Theater by Robert T. Motts, an African-American street-hustler who allegedly financed the club with gambling earnings.  It was the first theater in Chicago to feature black entertainment and admit interracial audiences, and the musical director was famed composer Joe Jordan.  (Inspired by the club, Jordan penned “The Pekin Rag.”)  The Pekin featured black vaudeville acts, minstrel shows, moving pictures, and high-brow plays and even served as a makeshift house of assembly for local African-American politics.  After Motts died, the new owners removed the theater seats, and reopened the club as a dance hall in 1918, at which point it became known as the Pekin Inn.  Some very risqué things happened here once the jazz began to play and the alcohol began to flow.  Joe “King” Oliver occasionally gigged here between 1920 and 1921, when he departed Chicago for a two-year stint on the west coast.  The Pekin’s success inspired other (typically white) businessmen to open competing theaters in the neighborhood, helping give birth to the area known as “The Stroll.”

The Sunset Café, located at 315 East 35th Street, was one of the most important venues of the early jazz era.  Built in 1909 as an automobile garage, it was converted to a dance hall and reopened on August 3, 1921, with about 100 tables, a bandstand, and a dance floor.  The club was a “black and tan,” meaning that patrons were admitted and permitted to mingle without regard to skin color.  It was managed by Joe Glazer, who also managed Louis Armstrong throughout his career.

Armstrong began playing here in 1926 with Carroll Dickerson’s orchestra, after his stint with Joe “King” Oliver at lincoln gardens and stops at the dreamland cafe and the vendome theater.  During this time, Earl “Fatha” Hines (who had been recording in Armstrong’s various Hot Fives and Hot Sevens) was featured on piano.  Before long, the band was renamed Louis Armstrong and his Stompers.  After Armstrong departed for New York, Cab Calloway became the new nightly bandleader.  In 1928, after Calloway followed Armstrong to New York, Earl “Fatha” Hines became the nightly headliner – a run that continued for twelve years.  During this time, he regularly broadcast his unique brand of swing on the radio.

On October 8, 1932, in the middle of Hines’ residency, the Sunset Café was renamed the Grand Terrace Café (and Al Capone reportedly acquired a one-quarter interest).  In November 1936, radio broadcasts were made from several shows that Count Basie played here.  The following year, the club was remodeled and reopened as the “new” Grand Terrace Café.

The building ultimately received City of Chicago landmark status on September 9, 1998.  Today, it functions as an Ace Hardware store, and some of the original murals from the Sunset Café remain on the walls.

The 1,300-seat Vendome Theater opened in 1919 at 3143-49 South State Street to tremendous fanfare in the African-American community.  Built by O.C. Hammond at a cost of nearly a quarter-million dollars, the theater was luxuriously appointed with marble, gilded plaster, crystal chandeliers, and frescoes, not to mention an expensive and imposing pipe organ.  It was a grandiose auditorium, and it catered to black audiences who were denied admission to other neighborhood venues.  Leading Hollywood films, as well as “race” films, were shown here, and the theater featured an orchestra led by violinist Erskine Tate, whose band of musicians was amongst the finest in the country.  Some came simply to hear the jazz, and the Vendome’s popularity surged when Louis Armstrong joined on cornet in December 1925.  The theater’s popularity began to wane by the end of the 1920s, when Tate moved to the Metropolitan Theater and the Regal Theater began drawing away patrons.  The building was demolished in 1949.

Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Crown Hall is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology.  The building was completed in 1956 at 3360 South State Street, when Mies van der Rohe was the director of the Department of Architecture at the school.  Mies van der Rohe called the building a "universal space" and said it was "the clearest structure we have done, the best to express our philosophy."  The city landmarked it on October 1, 1997, and it became a ational landmark on August 7, 2001.

The home of Robert Abbott, publisher of the Chicago Defender, from 1926-1940. The city designated his home at 4742 South King Drive as a chicago landmark on March 1, 2006. It became a national landmark on December 8, 1976.

This section of bronzeville was designated a landmark on july 13, 1988.

The Chicago Bee Building housed one of the city's African-American newspapers, which was founded in 1926.  in the 1990s, The building was used as a branch of the chicago public library system.  It was designated a landmark on September 9, 1998.

This building once housed the Chicago Defender, a newspaper catering to African-American readers and founded in 1905.  The Defender's offices were here from 1920 to 1960.  It was designated a landmark on September 9, 1988.

Designated a landmark on May 13, 2009, this building was once a community house, a training center for ministers, and an orphanage.  Construction was completed in 1899, and the building was designed by the Chicago office of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge.

Leon E. Stanhope built this church between 1910 and 1911.  It is one of the oldest African-American Christian Science churches in the country.  It was designated a landmark on June 9, 1993.

The Chicago Military Academy in Bronzeville is the site of the first armory in the United States built for an African-American military regiment.  The building was also used for the Illinois National Guard and was the South Central Gymnasium before it became the military academy in 1999.

The 32-room Elam House was built in 1903 by Simon L. Marks, the owner of a wholesale custom tailoring company, and designed by architect Henry L. Newhouse.  Melissa Elam purchased the house in 1926 and began operating it as a boarding house for single, African-American working women.  The city designated it as a landmark on March 21, 1979.

Alder and Sullivan designed and built this house for Mathilde and Gustav Eliel in 1886.  The city designated it as a landmark on October 2, 1991. 

George Cleveland Hall was a surgeon and chief of staff for Provident Hospital and the second African American to serve on Chicago Public Library's Board of Directors.  This branch of the public library was designated a landmark on February 10, 2010.

Solon S. Beman, noted architect of Pullman, designed this two-and-a-half story limestone house in 1892 for John W. Griffiths, whose company built Union Station, the Merchandise Mart and the Civic Opera House Building, among others.  Since Griffth's death in 1937, the building has been home to both the Quincy Club (a clubhouse for African-American railroad workers and their families) and the DuSable Museum of African-American history.  it was the home of Dr. Margaret Burroughs, who founded the museum and who died november 21, 2010.

This building on the campus of the illinois institute of technology was constructed in 1901.  Along with the main building, it is a victorian era red brick and granite structure designed by patton, fisher & miller.  It was designated as a landmark on may 26, 2004.

The main building on the illinois institute of technology campus was built between 1891 and 1893.  Along with machinery hall, this building is a victorian era red brick and granite structure that was designed by patton, fisher & miller.  It was designated as a landmark on may 26, 2004.  

This tomb is located near Camp Douglas, which was a Union prisoner-of-war camp during the Civil War.  stephen douglas was a u.s. democratic senator from illinois who famously debated abraham lincoln but was defeated by him in the presidential election of 1860.  douglas died of typhoid in chicago on june 3, 1861.  he was buried on the shore of lake michigan.  The city designated this site a landmark on September 28, 1977.