The Crerar Library

The history of libraries in Scotland dates back to the 16th century when private and subscription libraries were available to those who could afford the fees. Throughout the 17th century, the common person had greater access to books through newly founded parish libraries; and like John Crerar’s request, the collections were limited to books of acceptable religious and moral content- an easier preference to fulfill in the 17th century than in the 19th century when industrialization was rapidly changing the framework of the United States. Nevertheless, in the forward looking wisdom of the founding Crerar Library directors, the collections of the Library would be limited to volumes relating to the sciences.

And so it was that on the 6th floor of the Marshall Field building at 87 Wabash Avenue, the Crerar Library was founded. By its popularity, the collection soon outgrew its space. A new location was chosen which required the approval by State Legislature and ultimately by State ballot. In 1904, Illinois voted overwhelmingly in favor of the new site with 50,960 in favor and only 9,329 opposed. Familiar to most current day Chicagoans, the land at issue was located between the Illinois Central Railroad tracks and Michigan Avenue, between Monroe and Madison - Grant Park. Why then is there no “turn of the 20th century” library at Grant Park? Unfortunately a law suit soon followed the near unanimous ballot, and the Illinois Supreme Court overruled the vote. What then became of the Crerar Library? The Library expanded its collections into the medical sciences as well as into other locations.

1920 - the Library moved to a newly constructed building at Michigan Avenue. and Randolph, across from the present day Chicago Cultural Center. The 11-story building was designed by Holabird and Roche and opened in 1920. Eventually, the Library again needed more space and the building was sold to the George F. Harding Museum who later sold it to a New York development firm. This Holabird and Roche designed building was demolished in 1981 so that a 41-story office building could be constructed. Its unusual “sharply shaped summit” is recognizable to most Chicagoans, especially at Christmas.

1962 - the Library moved into another new building on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). The new building was designed by architect Walter Netsch, well known for his design of the chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The Crerar Library was a 92,000 square foot facility “with a pleasing modern aesthetic inspired by Miles van der Rohe.” Interestingly, Mr. Netsch was married to our present life member and Distinguished Citizen, Dawn Clark Netsch. Another interesting connection is that IIT’s predecessor was the Armour Institute of Technology founded in 1890 with a gift of one million dollars from Philip Danforth Armour. Mr. Armour was a member of the Illinois St. Andrew’s Society and was said to have been its most liberal donor.

1984 - The Crerar library moved to its current distinguished home on the campus of the University of Chicago, not far from the Midway of the World’s Fair in 1893. John Crerar’s legacy created a collection of texts ranging from the classics of Galileo and Newton, to rare works by researchers in the fields of medicine, science, and technology. Now combined under one roof with the extensive sciences collections of the University of Chicago, the John Crerar Library lives on. . . absent any “dirty French novels.”
 

A $10,000 Bequeath to the Illinois Saint Andrew Societyiety

Even today, a gift of $10,000 to the Illinois St. Andrews Society could be used for great purpose. If a current day member wished a challenge, however, to match John Crerar’s 1886 bequeath to the ISAS it would require a donation today of approximately $230,000. What is more, the entire 1886 bequeath was distributed to the poor.

John Crerar never forgot his childhood roots and also bequeathed $25,000 to the Scotch Presbyterian Church he attended in New York. Having never married, he returned to rest aside his parents in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Though in birth and death his name is written in New York, John Crerar’s legacy lives strong in Chicago.

That the John Crerar Library would never have a home in Grant Park may have to the 1904 voters been a slap in the face. They could not have envisioned that Grant Park would some day be a venue for huge concerts and cultural fairs, and never would they have imagined that the first African American President Elect would celebrate his victory in front of thousands of people, modern day residents that must have stood on the ground that the Crerar Library would have shared.

Nor, I suspect, would John Crerar have ever expected when he left $100,000 for the sculpting of a statue of Abraham Lincoln, the president that ended slavery in the United States, that his statue would bear stoic witness to great historical moments.

The bronze edifice is the last work of sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens who died in 1907. The first four years of the life of the Lincoln Statue was spent in the basement of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The statue was then displayed in different cities of the United States while “the South Park board fought over the right to place it in Grant Park.” It was finally brought to Chicago in 1916 and for the next 10 years was “stored in a shed in Washington Park.”

Two sets of trustees died unable to erect the Statue. The third group, led by William Louderback, was successful in obtaining approval to place the monument in Grant Park. Stanford White, a noted architect, designed the architectural setting for the monument. White was a member of the firm McKim, Mead & White, all of whom were Scottish Americans and we have written about them often.

Finally, on May 31, 1926, forty years after John Crerar’s bequeath, the “Sitting” Lincoln Statue was unveiled in Grant Park just east of Van Buren street.

“In the center of the semicircular seat, 153 feet in diameter, which forms the setting for the statue, rises a monolithic pedestal of granite supporting the bronze figure of Lincoln, which faces the south. The pedestal rests on a raised platform with granite steps leading to it.”

Serious, with open arms, the statue well represents a time of great change and two great men - Abraham Lincoln and John Crerar. (In Lincoln Park one can find the “Standing” Lincoln statue, also sculpted by St. Gaudens.)

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From the Editor

Some time ago, Don Campbell and I met “Tink” Campbell for breakfast at his club, the Racquet Club of Chicago. Calvin Arthur Campbell, Jr., better known as “Tink,” is a great Scot and a fine host. He is retired and presently serves on our Board of Governors and was the Society’s Distinguished Citizen in 1996.

His father, Calvin Arthur Campbell, was also called “Tink.” Both Father and Son knew that anyone who called them “Calvin” was most certainly a stranger. Calvin Arthur Campbell was General Counsel and a Director of Dow Chemical Company. He and the president of the company, Dr. Willard H. Dow, were close personal friends. The two men had attended together and graduated in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.

On March 31, 1949, Dr. Dow, Martha his wife, Tink Campbell, and Alta his wife, boarded the “two motored company plane” for a flight to Boston. The foursome was traveling to attend an address by Winston Churchill at MIT. Near London, Ontario, Canada, the plane was “struck by lashing rain” and attempted to make an emergency landing in a field where it crashed on impact. The only survivor was Calvin A. Campbell, our “Tink’s” father. His mother Alta Campbell, Mr. & Mrs. Dow, and the two pilots; A. J. Bowie and Fred Clements were all killed. “Tink” was 14 years of age.

After breakfast, Tink and I walked across the street to visit the church he and his wife often attend during the Summer months. The Chrysostom Church (located at 1424 N. Dearborn) is now more than 100 years old and has a lot of Scottish history. Our Scottish families living on the “Gold Coast” have often attended this church and many had their funeral services there.