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The Prairie District is a neighborhood on the Near South Side of Chicago. It was once home to some of the city’s greatest mansions, mostly built in the late 1800s. Although only a handful remain, the area has plenty to explore.
History of the Prairie District
In the late 1800s, Chicago’s richest families chose Prairie Avenue as the place to build their mansions. The blocks between 16th and 20th Streets and along Calumet Avenue one block east had some incredible homes built along them. At the 1893 World’s Fair, the Prairie District was a popular tourist attraction boasting over 50 mansions. It was billed “the most expensive street west of 5th Avenue”.
By 1910, factories had creeped into the neighborhood and most of the families packed up and moved to the Gold Coast. The area went into a decline and many of the mansions were knocked down. Only nine of the original homes still remain, but it’s still a pleasant place to take a walk.
Thanks to the Chicago Architecture Foundation and other preservationists, the remaining homes have been saved from demolition and are here today for us to enjoy. You can also see many impressive modern homes among the historic ones. The neighborhood association had strict design rules and the modern homes had to conform to these rules in order to be built along Prairie Avenue. In addition, residential skyscrapers have popped up around the Prairie District and it has once again become a prime area to live in.
Prairie Avenue
The most impressive homes in the Prairie District can be found along a few blocks of Prairie Avenue between 18th and Cullerton.
John J. Glessner House
The John J. Glessner House sits at the corner of Prairie and 18th Street. It’s one of the original mansions and considered one of the most important residential architectural designs of the 19th century. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 7, 1976.
The mansion was designed in 1885 by Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886), one of very few architects to have a style named after them (Richardsonian Romanesque). Unfortunately, he never lived to see it completed in 1887.
The minimal use of ornamentation and symmetrical style were considered radical at the time. George Pullman (1831-1897), the sleeping car magnate, lived across the street from the home and was quoted as saying “I do not know what I have ever done to have that thing staring me in the face every time I go out of my door”.
The Glessner Family
The owners of the house were John J. Glessner and his wife, Frances, both originally from Ohio. John was a partner of Warder, Bushnell and Glessner, a farm machinery manufacturing firm that merged with four other companies to become International Harvester in 1902. He had come to Chicago in order to open a sales office around 1870. They lived in the home with their children, George and Fanny. Fanny in later life became known as the “mother of forensic pathology” for her development of crime scene investigation techniques.
The Glessners donated the house to the American Institute of Architects in 1924, with the provision that they could live in the house until they died. Frances died in 1932 and John in 1936, but the Great Depression proved too costly for the AIA to keep up the house. It was returned to the Glessner heirs, sold to the Armour Institute (now the Illinois Institute of Technology), leased to the Lithographic Technical Foundation, and turned into a printing press. Slated for demolition in the 1960s, it was bought by a group of architects in 1966 for just US$35,000. The house was restored, original pieces were re-acquired from the Glessner heirs, and in 1971 it became the museum it is today.
Tours of the Glessner House
Tours of the Glessner House are available Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 11:30am, 1pm, and 2:30pm. Adult admission is US$20 (as of March 2024) and tickets must be purchased in advance.
Beginning of the Tour
The tour begins on the outside of the house where visitors are shown the G-door ( “G” for Glessner) and the ouroboros (a dragon eating its own tail). These themes are also found in some parts of the interior.
We were then taken to the coach house, which later became the garage, and into the courtyard behind the house. Here, we were able to see the larger windows with a southern exposure to allow light and warmth to enter the house. Many weddings and private events now take place in the coach house and courtyard.
Main Floor of the Glessner House
We went back outside and entered the house through the main entrance. The house has several rooms spread over 17,000 square feet and about 90% of the furnishings are original. Throughout the tour, the docent tells some very interesting stories about how the house was preserved and how the items were re-acquired.
The first room we got to visit was the library, which contained hundreds of books and some pieces of art collected by the Glessners. We were then taken into the parlor and past a bathroom.
Next was the dining room, which had a beautiful tiled fireplace and gold leaf ceiling. In the cabinet were some works of silver made by Frances Glessner.
The kitchen and pantry were near the dining room. Much of the fixtures, including the stove, were not original to the house but are from the period.
Second Floor of the Glessner House
Upstairs, we visited a typical servant’s room. There were eight servants living in the house for the four members of the Glessner family. The Glessners treated their servants very well. Mrs. Glessner made sure that each female servant had a closet and the servant’s rooms all had windows with southern exposure. This was unheard of at the time.
The conservatory, which is now a conference room, once had glass from floor to ceiling. Mrs. Glessner would grow flowers and plants in the room. The windows overlook the courtyard, where you can see a descendant of the original ivy that used to cover the house on the courtyard wall.
From there it was back to the upper main hallway where we saw Fanny’s room and a guest bedroom.
Also upstairs is the John J. Simmerling Gallery of Prairie Avenue History. Simmerling would go through the rubble of Prairie Avenue mansions after they were demolished and he found thousands of interesting artifacts. After he died, he donated his collection to the house. Only 10% of the collection is on display. We were given a few minutes to walk through the gallery.
Master Bedroom and Playroom
It was then back downstairs where we were shown the master bedroom and the Glessners dressing rooms.
The final room we were shown was used as a playroom and school. The Glessner children were home-schooled in the room.
William W. Kimball House
Across the street from the Glessner House at 1801 S. Prairie is the William W. Kimball House. It was built between 1890 and 1892 for William Wallace Kimball (1828-1904), a piano manufacturer. The house was designed by architect Solon Spencer Beman (1853-1914) in the Châteauesque style.
In 1921, when Kimball’s wife Evaline died, the house was converted to a boarding house. The Architects Club of Chicago moved in four years later and stayed until 1937. Daisy Hall then ran a school for underprivileged children out of the house for several years. R. R. Donnelley purchased it in 1973 and in turn donated it to the Chicago Architecture Foundation in 1991. From December 1991 to 2023, it served as the headquarters for the US Soccer Federation. The property has since been sold to a private buyer and returned to its original use as a single family home.
Coleman-Ames House
Next door at 1811 S. Prairie is the Coleman-Ames House. It was designed by architects Cobb & Frost and completed in 1886. The house was built for Joseph G. Coleman, whose wife died a year after it was completed. He sold it to coal merchant Miner T. Ames (1839-1890), who died within a year of purchasing it. Like the Kimball House, it was purchased by R. R. Donnelley in 1973, donated to the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and sold to the US Soccer Federation in 1991. A private buyer purchased the house in 2023.
Elbridge G. Keith House
Further down the block at 1900 S. Prairie is the Elbridge G. Keith House. It was built for retailer Elbridge Gerry Keith (1840-1905) and finished in 1870. The house was acquired by Domestic Engineering in 1934 and used as an office for various publishers until 1974. Wilbert Hasbrouck (1931-2018) then purchased it and opened the Prairie Avenue Bookshop, which closed in 1978. Journalists Steven Pratt and Joy Darrow (1934-1996), the grand-niece of attorney Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), bought and restored the house as an art gallery. Today, it’s used as a wedding and special event venue.
Marshall Field Jr. House
The Marshall Field Jr. House at 1921 S. Prairie was completed in 1884 and designed by Solon Spencer Beman. It was purchased in 1890 by Marshall Field Jr. (1868-1905), the son of the department store magnate. Field demolished his father’s house next door to expand his own home in 1902. After he was killed in 1905, the house changed hands a few times and was used as a rehab hospital and psychiatric center. In 2008, it was split into six condominiums.
Chicago Women’s Park
Chicago Women’s Park sits between the Glessner and Keith House where other Prairie District homes once stood. It’s a beautiful space with trees, a fountain, public art, and gardens
Clarke House
Located on the west side of Chicago Women’s Park is the Henry B. Clarke House, which is the oldest house in Chicago.
In 1833, when Chicago was just a newly-formed town on the western frontier, Henry B. Clarke (d. 1849), a young and ambitious New Yorker, arrived with his family with dreams of striking it rich. At that time, Chicago had a population of about 200 but Clarke believed it would grow into a major metropolis. He decided to open a firm selling building materials. In 1836, he built his estate a mile and half south of town in what was at that time undeveloped prairie and marshes.
Tours of the Clarke House
It’s possible to visit the Clarke House on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It’s in its third location at Chicago Women’s Park in the Prairie District on the Near South Side. Free guided tours are given at 1pm on those days. (Note: the Clarke House is currently closed for construction and reimagining of programming (as of March 2024)).
Start of the Tour
A tour of the home begins in the basement where a small museum is located. The museum tells the history of the home and stories about its moves. It was originally located at what is now the corner of 17th and Michigan but was moved in 1871 by English immigrant John Chrimes to 45th and Wabash.
The Clarke House was later sold and became the St. Paul Church of God in Christ. Bishop Louis Henry Ford (1914-1995) of the church had it restored as a house. It was acquired by the city and in 1977 it was moved to its current location, just one block east and one block south of where it had originally stood. The house was officially renamed the Clarke-Ford House on November 18, 2022, to recognize the contributions of Bishop Louis Henry and Margaret Ford in its preservation.
Next, we were taken to a replica kitchen of the period. Many of the items in the kitchen were commonly used during the 1830s.
From there we went upstairs to see the hallway. The floor is an ancestor of linoleum and was made to look like fine marble while the walls were wallpapered to look like expensive brickwork. The doors were stained to look like real cherry but were made of pine. The Clarkes did a fine job of saving money while making the house look more upscale than it was.
Main Floor – 1830s
The half of the house we visited first was completed in the 1830s. We saw a children’s playroom and a parlor. Clarke hit hard times after his business quickly folded and he used the incomplete half of the house to cure animals for the sale of their hides and meat. The upper floors were rented out to boarders for extra income. Unfortunately, he died during a cholera epidemic in 1849. The other half was completed in the 1850s and was visited later in the tour.
Upstairs
Upstairs, we were taken to see the cupola which was most likely added in the 1850s. Cupolas were not part of Greek Revival architecture, which was the style of the Clarke House. The addition of the cupola drew light into a very dark space.
Next were three bedrooms, including the master bedroom, a children’s room, and a guest room that was used by boarders.
Main Floor – 1850s
Finally, we went downstairs to see the half of the house completed in the 1850s. We were shown a dining room and parlor before the tour ended in the basement museum.
After Henry died, the house became known as the Widow Clarke’s House. Caroline Clarke fared better than her late husband, as his vision of a growing Chicago started to come to fruition. The land around the Clarke House became highly sought-after. A gaslit Michigan Avenue ran in front of the house through the Clarke’s property and new homes were popping up in the area. Caroline subdivided the property, keeping only three acres around the house, sold it, and completed the rest of the house in a much more elegant style than the original 1836 Greek Revival style.
My Thoughts on the Clarke House Tour
It was a fascinating look into the beginnings of Chicago and what life in the city was like shortly after it was founded. The docent did an excellent job of telling the story of the house and the Clarke family. If you’re in the Prairie District during a tour time, it’s worth taking the hour-long tour.
Calumet Avenue
A block east on Calumet Avenue, you can find a couple more interesting landmarks.
Battle of Fort Dearborn Park
At the corner of 18th and Calumet is a small park. During the War of 1812, the Battle of Fort Dearborn took place on this very spot. On August 15, 1812, 50 soldiers and 41 civilians (nearly the entire population of the Chicago area at the time) marched south after Fort Dearborn (next to the Chicago River) was ordered to be evacuated. When they reached this spot, a band of 500 Potawatomi Indians aligned with the British attacked the group. Over 60 people including 2 women and 12 children were killed. Fort Dearborn was burned down by the Potawatomi the next day. The park is named for the battle.
Wheeler Mansion
A couple blocks south at 2020 S. Calumet is the Wheeler Mansion. It was built in 1870 by banker Calvin T. Wheeler. In 1908, the mansion was sold to a publishing company that used it as a production center. It was later used as an egg distribution warehouse. By 1997, it was empty and slated for demolition when it was saved and restored. It’s now a boutique hotel.
Second Presbyterian Church
Moving west to Michigan and Cullerton is the Second Presbyterian Church, which was designated a National Historic Landmark on February 27, 2013. It was built in 1874 and was designed by architect James Renwick Jr. (1818-1895). The congregation was formed in 1842 and worshipped at Wabash and Washington in the Loop from 1851 to 1871, just a few weeks before the Great Chicago Fire. It was attended by many wealthy residents of the Prairie District. The church, which features impressive murals and stained glass windows, was undergoing renovations at the time I walked by.
Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven
Finally, not technically in the Prairie District but nearby is a small building at 2120 S. Michigan Avenue. This was Chess Records (now Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven), where some of the biggest blues and rock artists launched their careers and countless hit songs and albums were recorded.
History of Chess Records
Chess Records was founded in 1950 by Polish-Jewish immigrants Leonard and Phil Chess. They were at the 2120 S. Michigan address from 1956 to 1965. The address was immortalized in a song with the same name recorded by The Rolling Stones in 1964.
Over the years, Chess Records became associated with names such as Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, and Etta James. World-famous artists still pop in to this day to pay homage.
Tours of Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven
Tours of the studio are available every hour at noon, 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm from Tuesday to Saturday. They cost US$20 (as of March 2024) and reservations are required. I was lucky enough to take a tour led by Willie Dixon’s own grandson, Keith. The highlights of the tour weren’t the studio or the memorabilia, but the incredible personal stories told by Keith throughout the tour. He even gave me a chance to pose with Willie’s bass.
After listening to some stories, we had time to wander around the studio. In the studio itself, there’s a picture of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy recording a song there, drums played by Charlie Watts, and a piano played by Willie Dixon.
Behind the studio are glass cases holding memorabilia associated with Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy.
Downstairs is a museum that holds rotating exhibitions. At the time we visited there was a photo exhibition of various blues and rock musicians along with a wall with life masks of many different artists.
There were also more glass cases with memorabilia, including items associated with Koko Taylor, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, and Bo Diddley.
Finally, before exiting through the gift shop, we walked past the offices used by the Chess brothers.
My Thoughts on the Tour
The hour I spent at Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven gave me a nice look into the music world in the 1950s and 60s. I learned a lot about the artists at Chess Records and their influence on music that lasts to this day. This small building is a Chicago treasure that music lovers should make a point to visit.
One final note: every Thursday night during the summer, free concerts are held from 6-7pm in the lot adjacent to the building.
Where to Eat in the Prairie District
I haven’t spent a whole lot of time in the area and I’ve only eaten at one restaurant.
La Cantina Grill
While walking around the Prairie District, I had lunch at La Cantina Grill with a friend. They serve good authentic Mexican food at reasonable prices. I had the lunch special enchiladas and Mayan tamales as a starter. Our lunch was reasonably priced.
