History in Morgan Park

Home of the Mustangs and Lady Mustangs, Morgan Park High School opened at its current site in 1916 at 1744 West Pryor Avenue.  In 1925, an addition to the school included a gymnasium, auditorium, and swimming pool.  An addition in 1983 provided the school with a football field, tennis courts, a track, soccer and baseball fields, and faculty parking.  Today the school's enrollment is approximately 1,600.  Its alumni include a hefty list of football players: Lee Bernet, who was an offensive tackle for the Denver Broncos, Fred Evans, who is a defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings, Hugh Gallarneau, who was a halfback for the Chicago Bears from 1941-1942 and 1945-1947, and Corey Mays, linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs.  Mae Jemison, former NASA astronaut and the first African-American woman in space, attended Morgan Park.  Alumnus Jeremy Rikfin is an economist, writer, and public speaker founded the Foundation on Economic Trends.  Jazz pianist Earl Washington went to school here, as did Johnny Washington (no relation), who was a pitcher for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro Leagues.  

Built in 1857, this house is an italianate style house and one of the city's oldest surviving buildings.  It was originally constructed as a farmhouse for Charles D. Iglehart, whose farmland was the area now bordered by 111th, 115th, and Rockwell streets and Western Avenue.  Back then, this area was known as "horse-thief hollow," a places supposed to have been a refuge for horse thieves.  The house was designated as a landmark on July 13, 1994.

On June 14, 1965, George Jayne, owner of Tri Color Stables in Palatine, asked Cheryl Lynn Rude, one of his world champion riders, to move his Cadillac so some of the farmhands could finish painting a barn.  Rude started the ignition, and a bomb detonated underneath the hood.  She was killed at the age of 22, and for more than three decades her murder remained unsolved.

Police assumed that the car bomb was intended for George Jayne, not for Cheryl Lynn Rude.  George Jayne’s brother Silas, a horse trader with a notoriously shadowy and violent past, apparently sought to kill George as part of a family feud.  In fact, he ultimately succeeded.  Five years after the car bombing, in 1970, George Jayne was slain by a bullet as he was playing cards in the basement of his home.  His brother Silas was convicted of conspiring in the murder, served seven years, and was paroled in 1979, although he continued to battle other criminal charges after he was released from the clink.  He died of leukemia in 1987 at age 80.

Police long suspected James Blottiaux as the car bomber and would call him in for questioning every couple of years, but release him for insufficient evidence.  Ultimately, more than 30 years after the murder, the police met with Thomas Hanna, a former used car dealer and childhood friend of Blottiaux’s.  Hanna told police that Blottiaux came by his dealership on the day of the murder and took a 1960 Buick LeSabre for what he thought would be a test drive.  When Blottiaux returned, Hanna claimed that he was reportedly as “white as a ghost” and kept repeating that he had “killed the wrong person.”  When Hanna asked what he was talking about, Blottiaux vomited.

After the bombing, one of George Jayne’s daughters told detectives that she had seen two men drive onto the grounds in a white 1960 Buick LeSabre.  A car matching that description was later traced to Hanna’s used-car dealership, and about a month later the authorities showed up to question Hanna, who denied any knowledge and thus deliberately misled investigators to protect his friend.  At some point in 1994, however, the police were re-examining the case and Hanna finally spilled his guts.

James Blottiaux was ultimately arrested on Monday, December 15, 1997, at a gas station not far from his residence at 11400 South Fairfield Avenue.

Prosecutors later alleged that Blottiaux was a stable hand at Silas Jayne’s “Idle Hour” stable and was offered $10,000 for bumping off Silas’ brother and rival, George.  Blottiaux apparently contacted an acquaintance for advice on how to make a bomb and thereafter practiced detonating explosives until he felt he was ready to make the hit.  At trial, that acquaintance, Haldane Clemmensen, testified that he instructed Blottiaux on how to manufacture the bomb and even helped him purchase the necessary ingredients.

In July 1999, Blottiaux was convicted of the murder of Cheryl Lynn Rude and sentenced to 100 to 300 years in prison.