We’d like to show the side of the world you don’t normally see on television.

The Congress Hotel, Fort Dearborn and the old Chicago Main Library.

The Congress Hotel, Fort Dearborn and the old Chicago Main Library.
by Barek Halfhand

The old gothic architecture of the building with the neon red “CONGRESS HOTEL” sign glowing at it’s anterior has been a prominent fixture of the Chicago nighted skyline for over a century...it is still clearly visible from Lake Shore Drive against the modern backdrop of contemporary skyscrapers towering overheard...

Upon conducting research for my last article; “Ghosts of the Haymarket Riot”, I was reminded of the 1893 Columbian Exposition/serial killer H.H. Homes (Devil in The White City) and the fact that a notoriously haunted Chicago hotel was built that same year to accommodate the fair visitors and tourists. The Congress Hotel went on to be owned by Al Capone and he even resided there in suite 800... he was alleged to often hold court in one of many of the banquette rooms but I am unsure if the room I visited was one of them. Presidents Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin Roosevelt all were guests or visitors to this historic Michigan Avenue Icon over the years…

The Gold Ballroom is alleged to be the most active while the Elizabethan Room the most historically significant as it has transformed from a stylish 20’s nightclub to an NBC bandstand radio headquarters featuring Benny Goodman as the house band in the mid 30’s... While the notorious Gold and Elizabethan Rooms (Ballrooms) were inaccessible at the time my first visit, I was tipped off by a reliable source that one of the smaller banquette rooms was experiencing a disturbance though specifics were not intimated nor was it recondite as to whether this has been an ongoing situation... The prolific dark energies of that (undisclosed) banquet room was almost overwhelming as I entered the through the double doors into the darkness. The camera flash helped to illuminate the ornate arched ceiling and circling balcony above and the fading, original mural painting overhead looked to be in a pristine state save for some visible chipping and flaking…the stacked chairs leaned precariously aside the white clothed tables, Mylar snowflake decorations sparkled from their fish lines suspended above…the eerie stillness and stale air of the late evening event room belied the still bustling Michigan Avenue just outside the outer congregation area windows…

Fumbling in the semi darkness to swap the SD card in my camera, I felt that familiar hum in my solar plexus and with my usual feigned nonchalance, I turned to confront the pale, waifish woman in 1920's era flapper garb glaring accusingly at me 10 feet or so away …” Um, Hi” I said (I never have anything pre-written for these encounters) She stood motionlessly grimacing at me…I noticed what appeared to be dried blood on her left temple as I casually began to move towards the door and as I stopped a few feet from the exit to look back she was gone…a stack of chairs crashed to the hardwood dance floor as I exited …

The original Main Chicago Public Library branch was an impromptu addition to my itinerary and once inside I was pleased with it as fortunate happenstance…As some of you know; certain buildings or geographical locations have a certain allure or attraction that hints at the presence of supernatural activity or preternatural energies...whether ore not this perception is veridical as one resultant of super-sensory stimuli is a matter of personal belief as only anecdotal evidence exists but this building hit me hard enough in passing to back-track a half a block get a look inside...

The multi leveled structure hosted a comfortable group of readers..a winding wooden railed staircase led to the second floor where an amiable librarian asked if he could help me...admitting my primary interest was in photographing various aspects of the building more than the wealth of books and multi media reference material it houses, he directed me to the 3rd floor “Tiffany Room” where a lighted dome ceiling mosaic is centered over a small auditorium ...a young trio of a pianist, cellist and violinist practiced for what looked to be a recital or presentation under the scrutinous eye of a humorless seeming instructor...the slightly elevating spectator seating was backed by arch shaped windows overlooking Washington St ...after a few flash-less photos, I quietly departed while the instructor chastened the pianist for some minor tempo cadence miscues but was much less scornful than I expected based on his general glowering disposition ...

Michigan Avenue was not only a gangster battle ground in the roaring 20's...the Fort Dearborn Massacre Memorial/site at the foot of a bridge crossing Michigan at Wacker Drive was also one of my predetermined target locations...the Fort’s fleeing occupants who were ordered to evacuate in August of 1812 due to the threat of an eminent attack by a force of Potawatomi Indians 500 strong, were subsequently ambushed which left 86 of the 148 soldiers, women and children dead...the fort was burned the next day ...A second fort was constructed in 1816, abandoned and re-garrisoned during a conflict with the Winnebago Indians and later; the Black Hawk War...the last of remnants of the fort and satellite buildings were completely obliterated in 1871 by the Great Chicago Fire...

There is a very cold and isolated feeling of despair on that bridge that transcends the aesthetic inhospitably of the wind chilled winter air and frigid water so far below ...this is something I had noticed when I have walked that same bridge so many times regardless of the season in the past without giving notice to the plaque inscriptions and wall sculpture on both sides ...a street person in the middle of the bridge looked to be engaging people that walked by with whatever panhandling presentation he had concocted and as I do hand out my spare change and odd bills from time to time, I was short on paper tender so I opted to feign a cell phone conversation as I approached him ...99.9 percent of the time they let me pass without incident but the sadness this man radiated caused me to make eye contact as I passed ...many of these homeless are scam artists that are experts at tugging at heartstrings but the sorrow I felt from this man haunted me for days...if I’m not mistaken, a man was shot and killed point blank on this very bride a few years back during the lunch hour ...

North of the Fort Dearborn site and next to the WGN building, is a 26 foot tall Marilyn Monroe statue that has become quite a point of interest as many tourists seemed to be stopping to get photos of themselves between the legs of Marilyn striking that famous pose holding down her steam grate upturned dress...the artist must have felt her true voluptuous physique was incongruent with today’s perception of slender beauty albeit the resurgence of bountiful buxomness thanks to the new Kim Kardashian sensibility of collective pop culture fashion conscience... my peripheral vision kept seeing the nearby bronze statue of legendary Cubs announcer; Jack Brickhouse leaning over to look up Marilyn’s dress...

Here are the (compressed to 1MB) photos...some have been slightly sharpened or color enhanced (12-2011) ....b
http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j367/HalfhandFiles3/The%20Congr...