Colin Talcroft <Maxwellstr@aol.com> Date: Sun, 13 Jul 1997
Dear Chancellor Broski,
It has recently come to my attention that the University is opposed to a Maxwell Street preservation area. I am appalled to hear of such insensitivity at an institution of higher learning. I urge you to include such an area in your development plans.
The Maxwell Street Market was one of the largest and longest-lived urban open-air markets in North America. It is significant for its contribution to the history of economics and commerce in the United States.
The Maxwell Street area of Chicago was an important landing place for migrants from the deep south to the northern United States. It was the promised land for generations of poor farmers hoping for a better life. As such it is an immeasurably important piece of the social history of the United States.
Maxwell Street and the surrounding areas were the home of the electrified Chicago blues style, an important contribution to world musical history, the significance of which is deepened by the contribution that style later made to the development of rock and roll, which has had an undeniable impact on world culture during the 20th century.
It would be criminal to allow the place to be buried unremembered.
Sincerely,
Colin Talcroft, webmaster for And This is Maxwell Street.
Tokyo, Japan
July 12, 1997
web page provided by OPENAIR-MARKET NET
return to Preserve Maxwell Street