Dan Parker <ParkDan@aol.com> Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998
This is his second letter to Chancellor Broski. Click here to read his first letter.
Chancellor Broski:
I received my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1991. I went on to DePaul University, where I earned my Master's in Sociology in 1997. I am grateful for and proud of the education I received from both schools. While I am employed in the insurance field, my interest in social justice issues took root while studying at UIC.
During my first year at UIC I had the opportunity to live on Maxwell Street in the "UIC Gymnastics Chalet," as it was called. It was located at 1336 S. Newberry in a building that once housed the Chicago Maternity Center. The CMC delivered over 100,000 babies in private homes from 1932 to 1973. It was the last home-delivery service for births in America. Founded by Dr. Joseph Bolivar DeLee, the Maxwell Street Dispensary -- as the CMC was originally named -- opened on the northeast corner of Maxwell and Newberry in 1895. Just a year later, the Dispensary obtained a larger and more sanitary location across the street in the Elizabeth E. Marcy Home, a newly built religious and social center. Almost closed in 1931 due to fiscal constraints, the Maxwell Street Dispensary became the Chicago Maternity Center in 1932. Dr. Joseph DeLee has been widely accepted as one of the fathers of obstetric medicine.
During the late 1970s, the building was turned into housing for the University's students. A couple of months after I moved out, during the fall of 1990, the building was torn down with nary a publicized word of its history and significance. It has remained an unused UIC parking lot since then.
Bred in the suburbs, this was my first apartment in the city. You can't imagine the dual education I got that year: from the University and from the street. I'm sure you can appreciate that one shouldn't turn their back on a place that helps shape their way of looking at the world. I'm not talking about UIC. I'm talking about Maxwell Street.
I've spent a lot of time on Maxwell Street in the past nearly ten years. I've met numerous wonderful people there; unique, independent -- and many uneducated. I wrote my Master's research paper about the various community threads that commingled in the old Maxwell Street Market area -- the bluesmen, the vendors, the store owners, and others.
Sensible folks know that the current dilapidated state of the Maxwell Street area is mostly due to the threat of expansion by UIC for the past thirty-some years. As this is difficult to quantify and prove outright, the University has been content to rest on its "Just look at this place!" position. This is disrespectful. Actually, it is despicable. I'm a homeowner. If I began to hear that the City had "eventual" plans to build a shopping mall on my land, I would not jump to install new hardwood floors. Halsted and Maxwell Street business owners have been in limbo for a long time. What would you have done if in their shoes, Mr. Broski?
We are in a position to do the right thing here. The Decker-Vinci Plan to save thirty-six buildings needs to be re-recognized. These structures are the strongest links we have to the past. They can be rehabbed and reused. Also, input from area business owners is essential to the expansion discussion. They are the ones most directly affected by your decisions.
I thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Dan M. Parker, LAS 1991
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