Maxwell Street Landmark Letter from:
<fax#312-723-5031>
June 9, 1994
TO: IHSAC Members, Attention to: Ann Swallow, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield, Illinois 62701
I am writing you in support of the Maxwell Street Historic District nomination, the Maxwell Street area is very rich in blues history and has been a site of street performances by blues masters such as Muddy Waters and Big Bill Broonzy; some of Chicago's earliest blues recordings were made in this area.
Singers newly in from the South played for the crowds at Maxwell Street's big open air market and sought that elusive first break.
It was also the site for the Ora Nelle label to make the first historic recordings of the newly updated country style. Ora Nelle was founded in 1947 by Bernard Abrams of the Maxwell Radio Record Company.
During its heyday in the early to mid-1900's Maxwell Street (or "Jew Town") on a Sunday afternoon was a mile-long extravaganza of a bazaar filled with peddlers, pushcarts, and wooden stalls selling everything from spices and vegetables to clothes and appliances. Also to be seen everywhere, trying to attract passersby, were the blues musicians.
For a newly arrived blues singer in Chicago, Maxwell Street was the primary meeting ground, Hound Dog Taylor, played here, and so did Little Walter, Big Walter Horton, Honey Boy Edwards, Big Bill Broonzy, Floyd Jones, and Snooky Pryor.
Today, the two remaining blocks of Maxwell Street, between Halsted and Morgan, still function as a flea market on Sunday afternoons, and, during the summer months, the Maxwell Blues Band plays.
My organization, the Chicago Blues Museum, is prepared to do any event to help with finances for any project that will help along with your preservation agency to preserve this historical landmark.
Sincerely,
Gregg Parker,
President and Founder
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