Glory, Darkness, Light

by Nowlan, James D.

• ISBN13: 9780810115491
• ISBN10: 0810115492
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-26
• Publisher: Northwestern Univ Pr

Summary

With roots in the Civil War, the Union League Club of Chicago grew up, prospered, and suffered alongside its city.Glory, Darkness, Light: A History of the Union Club of Chicagotells an honest story of how the Club and its members have built, boosted, and squabbled with their city for 125 years. The Union League Club of Chicago is unique among the country's 2,000 city clubs in its rich mix of civic, artistic, and charitable missions. In 1893, Club leaders saved and then presented the incomparable World's Columbian Exposition to 27 million awed visitors. Today the walls of its 23-story clubhouse are gilded with a noted art collection whose pieces overlook elegant dining rooms as well as offices for its four Boys & Girls clubs and two other charitable foundations. However, the Club history also has its darker chapters. Half the members of the Club board of directors in 2003--Jews, blacks, women--would have been neither eligible not acceptable for membership a half-century earlier. Based on their own records, the Club's resistance to these groups as members is recounted in sharp detail. Drawing on interviews, oral histories, and the Club's extensive archives,Glory, Darkness, Light: A History of the Union League Club of Chicagois both a grand city history and a revealing look at what goes on behind the brass plaque of a prominent city club.

Author Biography

James D. Nowlan is a senior fellow with the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs. He is also the author of A New Game Plan for Illinois (Neltnor House, 1989), and a novel, The Itinerant: A Heartland Story (Conversation Press, 2000), and co-author with Samuel K. Gove of Illinois Politics and Government: The Expanding Metropolitan Frontier (Nebraska, 1996).

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xiii
Glory
The Union Leagues Versus the Knights of the Golden Circle	5	(8)
Owen Needs a Job; ``Long John'' Seeks a Marching Club	13	(7)
Life in the Early Club	20	(10)
``If Christ Came to Chicago!''	30	(12)
The Titan Versus the Second-Class Businessman	42	(14)
``The West End of the Next World''	56	(13)
The Buying of a U.S. Senate Seat---as Revealed at the Union League Club	69	(14)
The Roaring Twenties	83	(18)
Darkness
A Gentleman's Agreement	101	(9)
Old Crow and Jim Crow	110	(16)
The Side Door	126	(19)
Light
``If 20 Dead Gangsters Could Be Boys Again''	145	(14)
It's a Grand Night for Singing	159	(10)
Art Alone Endures	169	(13)
A ``Done Deal'' Undone	182	(9)
Public Affairs in a Private Club	191	(13)
The Club and Its House	204	(16)
The Club and Its City	220	(5)
Appendix A: Articles of Association	225	(1)
Appendix B: Union League Club of Chicago: A Representative Chronology	226	(4)
Appendix C: Club Presidents	230	(2)
Appendix D: Mission of the Civic and Arts Foundation	232	(3)
Bibliography	235	(12)
Index	247