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Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Part 2 of Profile 5: Johnnie Colemon

This is fifth in our series on people who have schools named for them on the Ridge.

Johnnie Colemon (1920 – 2014) was a religious leader who inspired tens of thousands of people. This is a continuation of her story started on Juneteenth.

Any discussion of the African Americans on our list must include their experiences with racism and discrimination. This was part of the very fabric of their lives. The fact that they succeeded despite these barriers illustrates just what extraordinary, inspirational people they were.

Despite her numerous titles, she always insisted people just call her Johnnie. She was born Johnnie Mae Haley in Alabama and raised in Mississippi. Like many people, her childhood dream was to be in show business – she wanted to play the saxophone or be a dancer on Broadway. And apparently, like for most of us, practicality won out. In 1943, she received a bachelor’s degree from Wylie College in Texas, an historically black college, where she excelled in her studies and in sports, and was voted the “most versatile” student in her class.

She taught school in Mississippi, and then moved to Chicago and taught in the Chicago public schools. In 1952, her teaching career was cut short by illness, and that is when she turned to religion.

Her journey took her to the Unity Church, which was founded in 1889 as a spiritual healing ministry. Today it is part of the “New Thought” movement. As it is beyond the scope of this post to go into the details of a religious movement, readers who want more information can research this on-line.

Johnnie often talked about her insecurities from her early years. She was an only child. She was named for her father, John, who had wanted a son. She spent much of her youth trying to win his approval. At Wylie, she called herself an “ugly duckling.” She was not considered attractive; she was too tall and thin and her skin too black. She was rejected by the top sorority. She would credit her embracement of the New Thought teachings with greatly increasing her self-esteem.

Johnnie visited Unity headquarters near Kansas City, Missouri, and immediately felt at home with the teachings. But even though the church taught that each person was a unique expression of God, sacred and worthy, Johnnie encountered what she described as blatant racism. She was accepted into the Unity School of Christianity, but black students were not allowed to live in the school’s cottages or eat in the school restaurant, and had to sit in a segregated, roped off section in church. Johnnie voiced her objections to these arrangements, and not surprisingly, many of the whites considered her “arrogant.” But an unused cottage was made ready for her, although it was set apart from those of the white residents. She was the first black person to live on campus.

In 1953, Johnnie married Richard Colemon, a delicatessen operator in Chicago. She kept this name throughout her career.

She became an ordained Unity minister in 1956, the first African American woman to do so. Returning to Chicago, she started her own church. In 1968, she was elected the first black president of the Association of Unity Churches. This prompted some churches to quit. In 1974, Johnnie withdrew her church from the Unity organization, in part due to the systemic racism and also because her philosophies were developing in other directions.

At that time, she renamed her church Christ Universal Temple (CUT). She also formed her own organization of churches, the Universal Foundation for Better Living, that grew to twenty member churches internationally.

Her influence spread. Her sermons with positive, practical, understandable messages were well-received and her congregation kept growing. By 1985, CTU had grown into a megachurch and needed a building to accommodate its size. With loans and donations, Johnnie had a new facility built at 119th Street and Ashland Avenue. This facility included a 3500-seat auditorium, a chapel, a bookstore, banquet facility, and a prayer center.

In 1999, she built a private elementary school as part of the complex, which was named the Johnnie Colemon Academy. The school did not attract the number of students needed to stay open, and beginning in 2001, the Chicago Board of Education (CBOE) rented the building for a public school.

In keeping with the separation of church and state, the current regulations for Chicago public schools forbid naming a school for a religious leader. However, this school came with a name in place as part of a campus. The rental agreement kept the name of the school, and also agreed to hire all existing teachers and staff who met Board guidelines.

In addition to her ministry, Johnnie also held civic positions. She was a director of the Chicago Port Authority and a commissioner on the Chicago Transit Authority Oversight Committee. She received too many honors and awards to list, including honorary doctorates. Mayor Harold Washington declared August 18, 1985 as Rev. Dr. Johnnie Colemon Day in Chicago and she was given the key to the city. Washington’s funeral was held at CTU in 1987. Johnnie ordained actress/singer/author Della Reese a minister in the 1980s; they became close friends. Barack Obama, then U.S. Senator, gave a Father’s Day address at CTU in 2005. For over 30 years, Johnnie owned and resided in the house at 5008 S. Greenwood Ave. in Hyde Park/Kenmore, on the same block as the Obamas.

Johnnie was widowed twice when Colemon and later her second husband died. She had no children, but people who grew up in her congregation became known as “Johnnie Colemon babies.” One famous person on this list is superstar and entrepreneur Kanye West, who lived in South Shore and attended Vanderpoel Magnet School in Beverly.

Johnnie was not without controversy. Some of her doctrines differed from traditional Christian teachings. For example, Johnnie taught that heaven and hell were not places, people created their own heaven or hell. She also was criticized because her “Better Living” philosophy encouraged material wealth, and some considered her lifestyle too lavish for a minister. Her response was that “It is God’s will that every individual on the face of this earth should live a healthy, happy, and prosperous life. God is my source of supply ….” She lived to age 94, and really, when compared to some of today’s ministers of megachurches and television ministries, her lifestyle was not that lavish. She had a car and driver, nice clothes, and a fine house in Hyde Park.

As a religious leader, a school today likely would not be named for her. But when she is considered as a person, she had the same traits that made other people, white and black, for whom schools were named, inspirational: a passion for and belief in what she was doing, determination, intelligence, and a willingness to help others. In addition, she had to combat racism and prejudice to succeed. She was a trailblazer in carving paths for other African American women to enter the ministry.

Notice to the followers of the Ridge Historical Society. Our website is currently down because we are revamping the entire thing. We are even changing the domain name. It will become www.ridgehistory.org to match our email address which is ridgehistory@hotmail.com. So delete any connection you have to the old address – ridgehistorical.org. That no longer exists! Thank you!

Here are some real picture postcards (RPPCs) that show Morgan Avenue ca. 1910. We've posted before about RPPCs being very popular in the first decade of the 1900s. Cameras were becoming more affordable and portable, and traveling photographers took pictures of everything from neighborhoods to parades to disasters. And we are happy they did so, because these RPPCs are invaluable documentation of local history.

Morgan Avenue was the old name for 111th Street and Monterrey Ave. The picture of the stores would be just east of the Metra tracks, facing east. We're trying to place the other one. It could about where Morgan Park High School is now, facing west. The high school was built in 1914-16, so this would predate that. Actually, it predates Morgan Park's annexation to Chicago, which happened in 1914. Another option is that it could be west of Western Ave., heading toward the cemeteries.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 6: John D. Shoop (1857- 1918)

This is sixth in our series on people for whom schools on the Ridge are named.

John Daniel Shoop was Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools from 1915 to 1918. He was a highly regarded educator and administrator. His history is closely linked to that of Ella Flagg Young (1845-1918), the first woman elected as Superintendent of Chicago schools.

Shoop was born on a farm in Ohio. He attended the Indiana Normal University (“normal” schools trained teachers in the “norms” or standards for how to educate children) and the University of Chicago. He served as superintendent of schools in Gibson City, IL, from 1890 to 1896, and then in Paris, IL. In 1901, he moved to Chicago with his wife Jennie and their two sons to become the principal of a public school.

Shoop established himself quickly in Chicago. He had excellent public speaking skills and loved to recite poetry. He was a frequent and popular guest speaker, often quoted in the newspapers. Two examples of his views are attached to this post. He was made chief of “vacation schools” in 1908. These were summer programs, mainly for poorer inner-city children, designed to provide educational and recreational activities during the summer months.

In 1909, the Chicago Board of Education (CBOE) was tasked with electing a new Superintendent of schools. Candidates included Shoop and several other men, and Ella Flagg Young. Shoop was considered by many as the front runner. Then the Board made a surprising and historic decision; they elected Young as the Superintendent, the first woman to advance to this position. Shoop was elected as the Assistant Superintendent.

If any woman was going to break through the “glass ceiling” of the CBOE, Ella Flagg Young had the qualifications. She was recognized as a brilliant and progressive educator and had many supporters in the public arena as well as the education field. She had a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and was now a professor there. She had been a district superintendent and she was currently principal of the Chicago Normal School.

Shoop embraced his duties as Assistant Superintendent. He dealt with many of the everyday issues of running the schools. He was an advocate of industrial/vocational training. He worked with city businesses to develop paid work/school programs for children forced by economic necessity to quit school to go to work. (Note: The U.S. Census showed that between 1890 and 1910, at least 18% of children in the U.S. ages 10 to 15 worked. There were cases of children as young as 5 years old working in factories or in “street trades” like selling newspapers.)

Shoop helped bring the new Boy Scouts of America organization to Chicago. And he was no stranger to the Ridge. In 1912, he spoke at the graduation exercises at Morgan Park Academy.

For three years, Young and Shoop were unanimously re-elected to their positions. Then in 1913, without warning, school board directors who were against Young managed to gather enough votes to remove her from the Superintendent position. They accused her of mismanagement of funds and making the school system inefficient. They called into question her integrity and competence. Realizing she did not have the support to continue, Young resigned. The Board elected Shoop to the Superintendent position. Stating publicly that he was surprised and had no knowledge of the plans leading up to this, Shoop accepted the promotion.

Young’s numerous supporters, largely concentrated in the powerful women’s clubs of the day, were outraged by the Board’s decision and treatment of Young. Their call for Shoop’s resignation and Young’s reinstatement was supported by the legendary Jane Addams of Hull House and many other leaders. The teachers of the city strongly supported Young and “hinted” they would strike if she were not reinstated.

Witnesses came forward stating that Shoop had been informed of what the Board planned before it happened, but he continued to deny this. He had his supporters also, making for intense debates.

Mayor Carter Harrison Jr. had appointed five of the directors who led the campaign against Young. He declared himself “betrayed” by their actions. When he appointed them two years previously, he had them all write letters of resignation he could invoke at any time. When they refused to voluntarily step down, he used those letters to declare them “resigned.” He then appointed new directors who supported Young.

Young was asked if she was willing to return if voted back in. She replied she would return if Shoop resigned. Shoop refused to do so.

On Christmas Eve, 1913, the Board voted Young back in as Superintendent and Shoop back in as Assistant. Shoop and the ousted directors said they would seek legal advice. They all took Christmas Day off from political maneuvering, then after Christmas, Shoop surprised everyone by announcing he would accept the new Board decision. He said the good of the school system was more important than his position.

Young and Shoop, both dedicated professionals, met a few days later, resolved their differences, and went back to work. The next year they were once again re-elected unanimously to their positions.

In 1915, Young announced she would not seek re-election as Superintendent, allowing Shoop to finally move into the position. The night of Shoop’s election, Young quietly boarded a train for California. She died in the 1918 influenza epidemic.

As Superintendent, Shoop dealt with many issues, but his term was largely dominated by World War I. He strongly supported establishing military training programs for boys in the schools. He had the “household science” teachers become certified in dietetics (nutrition therapy) by the Red Cross so they could teach the subject to high-school girls. He allocated funds to establish “victory gardens” at any school with a patch of land for the students to farm.

He continued to work closely with business and industry to find training and employment opportunities for high school students. One example was downtown stores training and paying girls to learn sales skills. A number of schools advertised work/study programs for boys.

Shoop was seriously injured in an automobile accident in August 1916 while visiting friends in Paris, IL. He was thrown from the car and knocked unconscious, breaking his collar bone and seven ribs. He had a long, painful recovery.

During his recovery, he had to deal with a scandal on the Ridge. Morgan Park was annexed to the city in 1914 so all the schools were now under his supervision. The principal of Morgan Park High School, John Henry Heil, was accused of sending “poison pen” letters to a woman. Shoop really had little choice but to fire Heil and appoint a new principal. Heil was eventually exonerated but by then his career was ruined. (Note: This is a story we will cover in detail another day.)

In early August 1918, the Illinois Assistant State’s Attorney began investigating irregularities in the school census conducted in 1916 under Shoop’s direction. Allegations included padding the census to receive more money from the state, and filling the census taker positions, paid for by the CBOE, with campaign workers for Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson. Shoop was ordered to turn over all files from the Superintendent’s office that related to the census. He agreed to do so but dragged his feet.

Shoop was in Indiana for a public speaking engagement on August 9 when two policemen set up camp in his office. It was assumed by Shoop’s staff they were waiting for Shoop to return and produce the files.

And then on that same day, while waiting for his ride in the hotel lobby in Indiana, John Shoop died of a heart attack at the age 61.

Shock waves went through the communities that knew Shoop. His remains were brought back to Chicago. He lay in state in the Chicago Normal School rotunda, then followed a funeral service attended by thousands of people. His family took him back to Ohio for burial.

The Assistant State’s Attorney Office declared it would continue investigating the census but that Shoop himself had not been involved in any wrongdoing.

Shoop was remembered for “giving to every boy and girl the maximum of opportunity.” He was remembered for “never losing sight that the children were the chief factor” in the education system.

The new John D. Shoop school at 11140 S. Bishop Street opened in 1926.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 7: Annie Keller (1901 – 1927)

This is the seventh profile in our series on people for whom schools on the Ridge are named.

Anna Louise Russell Keller was a young teacher who lived downstate and became a hero. Although she never lived in Chicago, her story was so compelling it earned her a school named in her honor, at 3020 West 108th Street.

“Annie,” as she was known, was born in Greene County, IL, on October 31, 1901. Greene County is in the west central part of the state, just north of the St. Louis area. Her mother’s family, Russell, was a pioneer family in that community. Annie attended Illinois State Normal University with her younger sister Mary, and both became teachers.

In 1927, Annie was in her third year of teaching in Centerville, a town in Greene County. She was the only teacher in a one-room brick and wood schoolhouse built in 1848 that still used an old coal stove for heat. The building was described as weather-beaten and “growing feeble,” with cracks in the walls. Still, it had always been sturdy enough to withstand Midwestern weather, and had served many generations of the local community. There were 21 students in the school then, at various grade levels; the oldest student was 15, the youngest, 6.

On April 19, at noontime, there was a severe rain and hail storm, so Annie and the students had to eat their lunches inside. Three of the students ran home for lunch.

A woman who was a 9-year-old student at the school that day recounted forty years later what happened next: “We were all standing at the window. Suddenly there was a lull in the storm and the sky turned black. The wind was getting stronger and stronger. We could see debris flying across the fields. The coal shed next to the school was blown away, and we realized we were in for a tornado.”

With only a few seconds to think, Annie ordered the class to flatten themselves on the floor under their desks. She grabbed the little ones who were too frightened to act and pushed them down.

The students had just gotten to safety and Annie was still by the door when the roof of the schoolhouse was blown off and the school collapsed. Annie was hit by the timber doorframe as it fell.

Another student, then 12, remembered seeing Annie get hit, and called out to her, but there was no response. Then the student was buried by falling bricks and glass as were most of the other students.

Those few students who were not buried frantically started to dig out their classmates. Three farmers who had been working in the fields nearby and witnessed the disaster rushed to the school. One of them was Howard Hobson, Annie’s fiancé. They came across a scene of chaos and devastation, with terrified students screaming and buried in the rubble.

Miraculously, all of the students survived, and there were only minor injuries. Thanks to Annie’s quick thinking, the desks had shielded the children from the worst of the destruction.

Annie’s body was found buried in the debris. Her neck had been broken by the collapsing timber. She was 25 years old.

In 2002, one of the last living students, then age 83, said, “Miss Keller was a wonderful teacher. We respected her and always obeyed her. It hurt us badly that she was killed. I think she saved us all.”

Annie’s funeral two days later was the largest the town had ever seen, attended by over 1,000 people crowding in and around the little Methodist church in White Hall, her hometown in Greene County. A truck was needed to transport all the floral displays people sent.

The papers of the day reported that the tornado had crossed the Mississippi river from Missouri and ripped a path through central Illinois, leaving at least 21 people dead and over 120 injured, and causing over a million dollars in damage. The injured were brought by train to the hospitals in Springfield and other larger towns. Greene County was hit the hardest, right where Annie’s school was.

Within days of the Annie’s death, two memorials were planned. A tablet was to be erected In Carrollton, the county seat, near where the school had been located. In White Hall, the historical society announced plans to raise funds to erect a monument at the public park.

Funds were raised by the schools of Illinois to provide the memorial. Students donated their pennies and the money was sent to Francis G. Blair, the state superintendent of schools, in Springfield. When they raised $5,000, they began a search for an artist to create the memorial.

Famous sculptor Lorado Taft contacted them. At the time, he was an instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was interested in the project and offered his services for a greatly reduced fee, and of course they accepted. The memorial originally was to be made of bronze, but Taft decided he wanted to work in Tennessee pink marble instead. The $5,000 did not cover the cost of the marble, so Taft paid the difference himself.

In January of 1929, Mary Keller, Annie’s sister, and a friend, traveled to Chicago to meet with Taft. They were joined by Blair, who also had become personally committed to the project. Mary posed as the model, and Taft also worked from photos of Annie. Mary visited a second time, and reported she was pleased with the sculpture, a bust of Annie with one arm around a boy student and the other arm hugging a small girt student close to her.

Over 3000 people attended the dedication of the monument in August 1929. Her students made a human chain around the monument and laid roses at the base. Superintendent Blair was the host for the event, and a highlight was Taft’s attendance and speech. Said Taft: “There is no more beautiful story than that told in the life and death of Miss Keller. I rejoice in my profession that makes possible this memorial to her if it becomes an inspiration to others.”

People that knew Annie during her brief life described her as a talkative, jolly, light-hearted person, and a good teacher. She was always doing something for someone else. She was not a flashy person. She was an average girl from an average small town who became an average teacher and never had a chance to distinguish herself. She would never have thought of herself as a hero. But when the emergency came, it took her less than 10 seconds to prove herself. She rose to the occasion.

The Illinois State Senate passed a resolution paying honor to Annie’s heroism. A copy of that resolution is attached.

Time for another real picture postcard (RPPC) scene, then and now. This is standing about two houses in on 100th Street and Longwood Drive, east side of street, looking north. Looks like most of these houses are still there – the post card is probably ca. 1910. But there are so many trees (good!!) you can't really see the houses. We'll have to do this again in the fall/winter.

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 8: Marcus Garvey

This is the eighth profile in our series on people for whom schools on the Ridge are named.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. (1887-1940) was a political activist, journalist, and businessman born on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. He lived for over a decade in the United States. Although during his lifetime his viewpoints were considered controversial, with time his encouragement of pride and self-worth for people of African descent influenced African American leaders and movements. Some have called him the “Father of African Nationalism.”

Garvey’s entire history is too involved to cover in a Facebook post. There are many sources of information about him online that readers are encouraged to investigate.

From an early age on, Garvey’s experiences with social and economic hierarchies based on color led him to become an advocate for improving the status of people of African origin. His belief was that the initiative had to come from within the African community itself.

In 1914, Garvey started an organization called the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). He moved to the U.S. in 1916 and started a UNIA branch in Harlem in New York City. He attracted attention through a campaign of public speaking. A self-taught man, he was an accomplished orator and writer.

Garvey believed strongly in the equality and separation of the races, and in racial purity. He called for ending the European colonial rule in Africa and uniting that continent as one country. He named himself the Provisional President of Africa. Believing that African descendants would never achieve equality in any country ruled by whites, such as the U.S., he encouraged all educated and skilled people of pure African blood to move to Liberia, Africa. He was a capitalist and spoke against socialism. He believed blacks needed to start their own businesses to establish financial independence from whites. He insisted “Negro” be capitalized as a sign of respect and dignity.

Although he established a loyal following, his separatist views were at direct odds with most African American leaders of the day, including W. E. B. DuBois and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), who were working for integration into American society. They were outraged when Garvey embraced the Ku Klux Klan to advance the segregation of the races. Garvey thanked the Klan for Jim Crow laws because they kept the races apart.

Garvey was outspoken against those who did not agree with him, and they responded in kind. He was derogatory of everyday people of color and he shunned people of mixed races. He made enemies and had many detractors.

In 1919, Garvey started a shipping and passenger company called the Black Star Line with the idea of fostering commerce between Africa and America and facilitating migration to Liberia. Garvey never visited Africa and knew little about life there. Liberia rejected his attempts to establish a settlement.

In 1923, Garvey was convicted of mail fraud for the way he was selling the company’s stock. Losing on appeal, he was sent to prison in 1925 in Atlanta for several years. Upon his release from prison, he was deported to Jamaica. He continued his activism there, again gaining followers and enemies. In 1935 he moved to London, where he died in 1940.

Garvey made one documented trip to Chicago, in October of 1919, and that did not go well. He was arrested for selling stock in the Black Star Line without being registered in the state. In addition, he had an acrimonious relationship with the Chicago Defender, one of the most important and influential African American newspapers in the country.

The Chicago Defender and its publisher, Robert Abbott, and Garvey and his newspaper, the Negro World, regularly traded insults and libel suits. The Defender called Garvey a “rabid agitator” and a “deluded megalomaniac;” Garvey labelled the Defender as traitorous to the Negro Race. The Defender showed no sympathy when Garvey was taken to prison in February of 1925.

But then a shift in the Defender’s opinion of Garvey started to occur. In November 1927, the paper called for Garvey’s release from prison, stating he had served long enough for what was really just “idealism and far-fetched dreaming.” The Defender led the campaign to free him, and Garvey was released in December.

Wrote the Defender: “What if his effort to build the Black Star Steamship line was a miserable failure? What if the provisional government of Africa was the wildest dream imaginable? Do these facts remove the one that Marcus Garvey stirred his people as they have never been stirred before? The Defender believes he was well worth the saving.”

Thus began the focus on the broader implications of Marcus Garvey’s contributions. After his death, his status as an advocate grew. In 1964, his remains were returned to Jamaica and buried with a ceremony worthy of a national hero.

African American and world leaders have acknowledged they were influenced by Garvey. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited his tomb in 1965 and said: "Marcus Garvey was the first man of color to lead and develop a mass movement. He was the first man on a mass scale and level to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny, and make the Negro feel he was somebody."

In 1974, it was announced that the new Chicago public school at 10309 S. Morgan Street in Washington Heights would be named for Marcus Garvey. This ended a three-year battle over the name of the school.

The residents of the community the school would serve, primarily African Americans, had been asked to submit potential names, and they submitted several, including Marcus Garvey. All of the names were rejected. This happened twice, and then they decided to rally for Garvey’s name.

The School Board maintained that Garvey was not appropriate because he was a separatist and had been in jail, and this would not be a good example for the children. The community leaders’ response was that they had the right to pick their own heroes. Garvey was the first real global activist for black pride, solidarity, and power, and therefore a worthy model. Naming a school for a person did not mean agreement with all his beliefs. The Chicago Defender supported the community’s choice.

The School Board finally voted narrowly in favor of the name. The Chicago Defender declared this victory a fitting legacy for Marcus Garvey.

Happy Fourth of July from the Ridge Historical Society! Here are some vintage postcards to celebrate!

Ridge Historical Society

Carol Flynn

The Calumet Trust and Savings Bank was started in 1904 in Morgan Park with $25,000 in capital stock. The founders were some well-known early leaders of the Village – Ira Price, Henry Clissold, Christian Zeiss, Robert Thompson, Jesse Baldwin, and F.M. Wilder.

The bank shared this building with the Post Office. Do you know where this building is, and who occupies it now?

Ridge Historical Society

By Carol Flynn

School Series – Profile 9: Henry Clissold

This is the ninth profile in our series on people for whom schools on the Ridge are named.

Henry Rowland Clissold (1842-1930) was one of the men who helped shape Morgan Park in its early days. He was a dedicated Baptist layman, and he owned a publishing company that produced a trade journal for the baking industry. Clissold was described as “modest and efficient and helpful,” fitting traits for a man who focused on two basics of American life, prayer and bread.

Clissold was born in England but the family moved to Canada when he was an infant. His father died when he was a child. In 1863, he came to Chicago with his mother, two sisters, and a nephew.

As a teen-ager, Clissold worked in printing facilities. In Chicago, he opened a publishing business which ran until 1879, mostly publishing materials from the Baptist church. He also published reports from the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, formed after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Fortunately, the Clissolds, who lived in the downtown area, all survived the fire.

The Baptist church played a big role in Clissold’s life. He frequently gave sermons, taught classes, and led prayer services in locations throughout the Chicago area. He was involved in many church organizations.

Clissold married Emma Isadora Smith, from a prominent pioneer family in Norwood Park, also a member of the Baptist church, in 1872. They had three sons and two daughters.

In 1879, Clissold accepted the position of State Sunday School Missionary in charge of all the Sunday school work for the Baptist General Association of Illinois. In addition to being a frequent guest lecturer, he authored class materials. In 1886, he produced “pocket lessons,” cards with Bible verses and church texts. These were popular for many years.

Morgan Park, which was founded as an education, religion, and temperance community, was a fitting place for the Clissolds to settle. Until annexation to the city of Chicago in 1914, the Village of Morgan Park had its own government, taxes, services, and school system.

In 1877, the Baptist Union Theological Seminary relocated to Morgan Park. The Seminary was part of an “old” University of Chicago that ended up closing in 1886. The new Seminary building was built on the north side of 111th Street (then Morgan Avenue) at what is now about 2300 west. This was across the street from the Morgan Park Academy, which was founded in 1873 as the Mt. Vernon Military and Classical Academy.

Emma Smith Clissold’s older brother Fred had a law degree from and was a trustee for the old University of Chicago. He was also on the board of trustees for the Seminary.

The Seminary attracted many people to Morgan Park, mostly connected to the Baptist church but other academics as well. One brilliant young man who joined the faculty and lived in Morgan Park from 1879 to 1886 was William Rainey Harper, who at the age of 22 already had a Ph.D. and was an expert in the Hebrew language. He also became a Baptist clergyman while he was at the Seminary.

Baptists had been meeting and holding religious services in the community for about five years when the Morgan Park Baptist Church at 110th Street and Bell Avenue was officially established in 1877.

The Clissolds moved to Morgan Park in the early 1880s. Clissold went right to work, serving as clerk of the Village of Morgan Park and teaching Sunday school at the Morgan Park Baptist Church.

Clissold’s biography from “The Book of Chicagoans” states that from 1884 to 1887, he managed Harper’s publication work. During this time Harper rented a storefront in Morgan Park and started the American Publication Society of Hebrew, which published Harper’s educational materials as well as promotional materials for Morgan Park.

In the early 1890s, John D. Rockefeller agreed to fund a new University of Chicago (U of C). Harper was chosen as president and the Baptist Seminary was designated the divinity school for the new university. Morgan Park was considered for the site of the university but Rockefeller preferred Hyde Park. The Seminary left Morgan Park in 1892 to become part of the new U of C. Morgan Park Academy was part of the U of C system as a preparatory school from 1892 until Harper’s death in 1906

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Clissold established a new publishing company in 1887 and started a trade magazine called Bakers’ Helper which focused on news, advice, equipment, and supplies for the baking industry. He became well-known in the trade publishing and baking fields and became an advocate and advisor for both. There were other trade journals in the baking industry, but Bakers’ Helper was the leader for decades. Along with the magazine, Clissold Publishers also produced manuals on baking topics.

In 1897, Clissold helped organize the Master Bakers’ Association of Chicago, which would later become the National Association of Master Bakers. The purpose of this organization was to advance the baking profession through high standards of operations and service. He served as secretary and in other roles for decades and helped organize conventions around the country.

In 1912, when Bakers’ Helper celebrated its 25th year in publication, Clissold’s friends in the industry gathered letters of praise about Clissold to run in the magazine, but Clissold would not publish the letters. His friends went directly to the advertising department and worked out a four-page supplement to the regular edition. Clissold knew nothing of this until he opened a published copy. The entire industry enjoyed this “surprise party.” Wrote the National Baker, another publication, “One of the best things [about this issue of Bakers’ Helper] is an insert voicing the high esteem in which Mr. Clissold is held by his many friends in the trade. It is a well-deserved tribute to the best known man in the American baking trade.”

The American Miller and Processor wrote: “He will keep on preaching the gospel of good bread, clean bakeries and square dealing as a part of his mission. He deserves all the good things said about him in the ‘Appreciation.’”

Clissold was also president of the Chicago Trade Press Association from 1899-1900. He gave testimony concerning second-class postage for trade journals and newspapers to the U.S. Senate Commission to Investigate the Postal Service.

His religious commitments also continued. He served as president of the Illinois Baptist State Convention twice, and president of the Illinois Sunday School Association. He served on the Sunday School Board of the Morgan Park Baptist Church.

In 1904, Clissold and other prominent Morgan Park citizens founded the Calumet Trust and Savings Bank with capital stock of $25,000. They built the building at 111th Street and Longwood Drive now owned by the Beverly Area Planning Association.

The Clissolds lived in several locations in Morgan Park and two of their houses still stand. One house at 2321 W. 111th Place was originally frame and has been covered with brick. They later owned the brick bungalow at 2117 W. 109th Street.

In addition to being a Village trustee, Clissold sat on the Morgan Park Board of Education, and served as president in 1905-10. He was a member of the Home Rule Association that opposed annexation to Chicago. One of the biggest concerns about annexation was the potential fate of the Morgan Park schools if the city took them over. Annexation was finally approved in 1914.

Henry Clissold died in 1930. The Clissold family plot is in Mount Greenwood Cemetery.

The Arlington and Western Avenue Schools were early structures around 110th Place and Western Avenue. A new school was under construction at 2350 W. 110th Place to replace those old buildings when Clissold died. The Morgan Park community lost no time petitioning to name the new school for Henry R. Clissold. The Chicago Board of Education readily approved.

Commented one of Clissold’s admirers, this was “a good way to honor a good name.”