Philip Chess <fax#212-262-6299> Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997
Dear Chancellor Broski:
This is a plea for your consideration to dedicate Maxwell Street or a portion thereof as an historical monument for the people whose lives have been interwoven in the fabric of its times.
My earliest recollection of Maxwell Street contain the memories of my Mother bringing me to the Street to purchase clothing. She would pass the many pushcarts, bargaining with the vendors, for the best prices for their wares, and then duck into the many and varied storefronts to have discourse with each owner, comparing prices before choosing her purchases.
I remember Maxwell Street as noisy but musical due to the different tonal qualities of the many different ethnic languages spoken. I remember, too, the street players singing and playing their instruments for pennies from the shoppers, whose main purpose in coming to Maxwell Street was for the bargains they hoped to find, but who nevertheless tossed their hard-earned pennies to the players of music that lightened their spirits and that also told stories.
I never dreamed that I would one day be the person who helped to bring these musicians and their same melodies that I heard on the Street to the forefront of musical consciousness through the recordings that they made for my company, Chess Records.
For me and many others who have since gone on to different lives, this period of time is a part of their Chicago inheritance - the nostalgic history of times now past, a time of hopes and dreams in an era when there was room for them. When no one remains to tell their own Maxwell Street stories, there should be a way for those who follow to learn and to share memories of the past.
And so, I sincerely hope that you will consider making at least part of Maxwell Street an historical landmark thereby dedicating it to all those who were part of that history, those whose lives and efforts have helped to make Chicago the great city which it is.
Philip Chess
Former President of Chess Records
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