Feature editorial from the Chicago Flame - The Independent Student Newspaper at the University of Illinois at Chicago - January 21, 1997, page 6
Chicago Flame<bsobol1@uic.edu> Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997
The Chicago Flame opposed the destruction of the Maxwell Street open market in 1994, and though that cause was lost, we support the inclusion of some nod to history in the University's renovation plans.
In 1994, the University forced Maxwell Street market to relocate to Canal Street. While this move has left the University free to expand, it destroyed a vibrant part of Chicago's history and culture. Current efforts by historians and community groups to preserve a piece of Maxwell Street are falling on deaf ears at the University.
The University has used pieces of history to its advantage before. Why not now? We are all familiar with the Jane Addams Hull House, the mecca of Social Work. In order to preserve this house, it was actually moved from its original location in the sixties to accommodate the new campus. As Hull House has attracted visitors from around the world, it has lent itself to helping the University become a household name - in a positive light, no less.
Maxwell Street was important to the development of blues music and black culture, Muddy waters got his start there, the Beatles and the Stones drew inspiration from the area. Immigrants hailed Maxwell Street as "the Ellis Island of the Midwest."
As letters from the web site (www.openair.com/maxwell/preserve.html) reflect, there is a strong desire to preserve Maxwell Street. People from around the world have written to support the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition, contributing both logical arguments and moving personal accounts about whey they feel the area should be saved. Without some effort to preserve the tapestry of Chicago history that was woven there, it will be lost forever, replaced by megamalls and condos.
We find it ironic, that a university so committed to its Neighborhoods Initiative, an effort to improve the quality of the University area, has been opposed to any community input about expansion plans in the Maxwell Street neighborhood. The current expansion plans, including 21-screen movie theater and privately run student housing, seem more like profiteering than scholarly improvement.
Has this University improved the urban fabric of Chicago? We certainly think so. But improvement has come at a price, sacrificing the beauty of the past at the altar of "progress." The opportunity to preserve Maxwell Street as a piece of living history should not be passed up.
web page provided by OPENAIR-MARKET NET
return to Preserve Maxwell Street