# Chicago the Pagan

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-23 — 1 clipping.*

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> A MANUSCRIPT READER'S SNEAI(
> PREVIEW
> It is perhaps true of any big city, but particularly true of Chicago that no                             A mind guide to Chicago's soul-its hurried leisure,
> t1vo people see it in the same light.                                                                           sensuous pleasures, polygenous architecture, streets
> The farmer sees it as a market for his produce, the architect as a field for                              of adventure, sights of rarity, and its denizens
> questing after life
> his ingenuity and talent, the real estate agent as an ever-growing field for exploita-
> tion, the banker and financier as a place to make money, the young doctor as a
> place to build his practice and the politician considers its possibilities for his
> o\vn particular brand of exploitation.
> The artist, the thief and the bum each have still different views. One could           by Weimar Port
> go on indefinitely naming the widely differing vie,vs of the many types and classes
> of people who make up this composite that is Chicago.                                     •
> If you were born in sunny California or the easygoing South, you may at
> first despise Chicago's noise, bustle and dirt-the very bigness of it all, but live in
> Chicago for a year, and it "gets" you. ~The butcher, the baker, the candlestick
> maker-all are agreed on this point. Yet ask any one of them just why and you
> are not likely to get a definite answer. Maybe it is the many and varied oppor-               -.---..
> ' .
> .
> 
> tunities that it offers; maybe it is the people, who represent a cross-section not
> only the nation but of the entire world.
> No one seems to know why, but everyone seems to love Chicago.
> ivlr. Port's conception of Chicago as a woman with a pagan soul is á only
> one man's idea but a rather interesting one. She bids you welcome with a come-
> hitháer look and irresistible friendliness. Tho' you may hate or despise her at
> first, live in Chicago for a year and its aura will hold your heart captive. You
> can't get away from it-you won't even try. Let anyone criticize Chicago and
> you will resent it no matter whether or not you feel it is logical criticism.
> It is a mid-western city with mid-western vigor and good nature with
> neither the slow motion of the south, the inhibitions of the east nor the glamour
> of the far west-but definitely lovahle.-.A. note \Vritten by l'vf,i\RION HARDING
> after reading the manuscript on its way to the printer.
> 
> 1953
> JUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY
> CHICAGO
> [2]
> COPYRIGHT, 1953
> JUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY
> 
> TO
> THIS IS THE FIRST EDITION
> PRICE THREE DOLLARS
> JAMES J. LEY
> FELLOW WANDERER IN AND ABOUT
> CHICAGO MANY YEARS AGO WITH
> MEMORIES OF
> Purchase it at any bookstore preferably or order
> Roger Sullivan campaigning for the U. S.
> direct from the publisher. Printed in the United
> States of America. All rights domestic and foreign      Senate, Boston baked beans and brown bread
> reserved. Excerpts to a reasonableá extent can          at Pixley & Ehlers, loafing in the court room
> be made hut with full credit to author and publisher.   while Clarence Darrow addressed a jury, sit-
> ting beside Boise Penrose on the platform as
> Hughes was nominated for president
> {',     '"""\   ._,., \
> '"'i !
> ;    á--      ,{....- .
> -
> 
> Typesetting by Clarke-McElroy
> Presswork by Clarke-McElroy
> Illustrations by 1l'larion Chapin and the author
> 
> f4l                                                   [5]
> CHICAGO THE PAGAN                 Page 166      CHICAGO THE PAGAN                Page 167
> 
> CHAPTER 59
> CHAPTER 58
> BAHA'I TEMPLE
> CHICAGO'S FORGOTTEN FIRE
> If you are interested in any one of these subjects-architecture,
> Fame is fickle; and a footnote on history's page often is a matter
> religion, beauty, you must see one of Chicago's prime prizes for the
> of happenstance. Two men rode thru the nite to warn the New England
> eye and mind.
> colonists that the British were coming, but we remember Paul Revere
> only. So, the 1871 fire in Chicago made world-history.                            Journey north on the Outer Drive. As you leave Evanston and
> Three years later the Chicago fire of 1874 repeated much of 1871,       come into Wilmette near the Lake, your sight is drawn with fascination
> tho mostly on the near southside.                                             to a building which 1can rival the Taj Mahal in India for splendid and
> On July 14, 1874, a frame building near Clark and Van Buren             mystic beauty.
> Street ( 449 South Clark Street) was on fire, and about ten hours
> This is the BAHA'I TEMPLE (note spelling).
> later, by midnite, it had done more damage than the 1871 fire in áa
> similar period.                                                                   The pleasing dome is said to be the sixth largest in the world in
> This FORGOTTEN FIRE destroyed almost every structure from                diameter.
> Van Buren Street south to 12th Street (Roosevelt Road) and from                    Apart from the bases of the belief of the Bahaists, this center ot
> Clark Street east to Wabash Avenue-60 acres, 812 buildings.                   sightseeing drama has its entire surface covered with symbolism in laceá .
> This 812 included 709 stores, and buildings, 89 barns, 8 ,churches,      like pattern. But these mystic lines are not carved in marble; the
> 4 hotels, 1 schoolhouse, 1 postoffice.
> millions of dollars needed for marble were not necessary as a ne'v
> Thirty-one four-story brick buildings were in the lot. Well, here
> are the balance-126 one-story, 471 two-story, 21 three-story, 1 four-         process of casting concrete wáas used, a process learned of while the
> story-all frame or wood. Fourteen one-story, 99 two-story, 41 three-          building was in construction. Terra cotta was not permanent enuf;
> story, 31 four-story, 5 five-story-all brick, 3 two-story stone.              concrete solved a perplexity for the builder of the structure.
> This JI.re, destroying almost a thousand buildings in the heart of a          But' to give the eerie lumination, sand was not in the mixing;
> city wiihin ieri liours, sliould liave been, world riews; but we doubt that   crushed .white quartz was used.
> one out of one hundred citizens of Cliicago today even knows of the
> 1874 fire.                                                                           The eye no\v delites to rove baick and forth over a cream-colored,
> The city was so intent upon rebuilding from the 1871 disaster and        smooth-surfaced áa rea. White marble is not dense, wears away, and
> perhaps so fire-conscious, that the second disaster registered little.        \Veather is its enemy. The Baha'i Temple has sought permanence
> Two unequalled fires in extent within four years gives Chicago           befitting its universal creed thru the manner outlined.
> the title of Fire City also.                                                         For unusual outline, for circular silhouet against the sky, for
> intricate ornamentation, and perh aps for an unusual religious creed-
> 
> take time to see the Baha'i Temple by Wilmette Harbor, a thing of
> beauty, of eye rest, of mental pleasure, all in contrast to the puffing
> traffic which skims by its side every hour of the day and far thru
> the nite.
> CHICAGO THE PAGAN                   Page 168      CHICAGO Tl/E PAGAN              Page 169
> 
> Our thanks to the Chicago Tribune columnist (and his employers)                 But back to our subject, which is hidden beauty of architecture.
> Hundreds of residences in Chicago-or any other crowded city, if
> Charles Collins for permission to reprint Chicagoanian items. Clara
> placed on a green knoll in the countryside, would draw ahs and ohs
> Edmunds-Hemingway in The Line O'Type or Two writes of that un-                 from passersby chateaus, castles, palaces, dreams of architecture!
> usual, beautiful structure on Sheridan Road just north of Chicago as           But most of them in the city are seldom noticed for their beauty;
> one drives into Wilmette, the Baha'i Temple, as impressive as a solitary       pushed as they are near to some other structure, their sides and rear
> haystack on a well-kept la\vn, as follows, under the caption Temple            utterly lost to view of the spectator, they languish in slow oblivion.
> by the Lake:                                                                        We are meandering greatly but at last we have arrived at 1600
> north, North Avenue, misleadingly named •as are a hundred other streets
> Baha'i Temple, domed from gray to white,
> ls tipped with folded wings, all angel-wise,
> in Chicago. The founding fathers have á sinned greatly against us in
> Symbolic of the peace of prayer that lies                     their naming of streets. Western Avenue runs north and south. We
> In sanctuaries, be it day or night . .                          have East South Water Street, West South Water Street, etc., etc.
> How intricately lovely to our sight,
> Few things more exquisite beneath áthe skies-                  á North Avenue is a máa in traffic street from the lake west á to a
> A symphony to rest one's weary eyes                           score of livable, suburban towns. It was a favorite settling point
> Or fill a heavy heart with quick delight.                       around the 1890's for German-originated citizens. The Bavarian flare
> ..       á.   .
> for cupolas, roof ornaments, áa nd numerous gewgaws can be seen in
> !V onagonal , its delicate design,
> With infinite detail of wonder, shows                       the facades of the buildings. The shapes are varied-garden vegetables
> Devotion from a ápeople at a shrine.                           such as beets and broccoli, animal suggestions in lions, unicorns, goats,
> . What ever one's belief, religion grows                       horses, etJc., etc.           .
> When great harmonic beauty looms divine;
> Then blessing from God's heaven overflows.                       In . /act, á there are many localities in Chicago where this late
> nineteenth century flare for ribbons and flowers in the hair is evident.
> Some of the efforts are excellent. Near our office building, in the
> 33rd and Michigan area, one comes upon building entrances adorned
> with ~esigns, which if on some much touted European building, would
> be hailed as fruits of genius. We recall two lion heads, one on each
> sid~ of the entrance to a building now a dirty, foul-smelling tenement,
> CHAPTER 60                                       which appear to us to be excellent pieces of sculpture . .
> The extreme trend today to right angles, straight:'lines, flat sides,
> LOST ARCHITECTURAL BEAUTY                                                    and matchbox silhouets is useful, of lower cost, but surely not of
> greater -beauty. The straight line n_ever <!an hope !O be as appeflling
> A sad result of close building in cities is to shadowize good            as the citcle.          • •
> architecture, arid all the little departures made in walls, windows, doors,
> gables and roofs.
> As an aside we hope that we have discerned correctly a tendency
> 
> to get away from the almost insane objective to build into crowded
> areas, to erect homes and business structures tight against each other                                                                              •
> or with party walls. Cities should spread out; concentration brings
> high . rents, poorly lighted and ventilated quarters, crowded traffic,
> delays, and above all, a new danger-that from bombings.
> Cities should be suburbs completely, should be small towns
> enlarged, should be areas . of green plats, wide boulevards, not too
> high buildings, and above all, spaces for leisurely shopping, promenad-
> ing, loafing and sightseeing.
>
> — *Chicago the Pagan (Used by permission of the curator)*