Friday photo:What happened to the neighborhood!?

ALA’s neighborhood was once called McCormickville because so many of the extended McCormick family owned mansions near Rush and Ohio streets. The patriarch of the family, Cyrus Hall McCormick is honored with a Chicago Tribute Marker kitty corner from ALA. He was an inventor and an astute businessman, an uncommon combination that made him a very rich man. The Omni Hotel now stands on the site, and behind it a concrete municipal building. You can see a photograph of the mansion here in the Indiana University Archives / Digital Library Collection.

I don’t think any McCormick mansions are still standing. You can, however, get a taste of a McCormick mansion interior as well as an outstanding prime rib sandwich lunch special at Lawry’s The Prime Rib.

ALA moved to Junior’s mansion in 1946. Cyrus Hall McCormick, Jr. was no slouch either. He managed and chaired International Harvester a company formed in a merger with his dad’s company. Unfortunately, ALA’s space needs and the disrepair of the mansion forced the demolition of our classy quarters. ALA’s rather unremarkable new headquarters building was dedicated in 1963. ALA occupies the first seven floors of the condo building in the background.

Inside the door at 50 E Huron, outside the Human Resources offices, visitors will see framed tiles. Ernie Martin, a retired ALA staffer salvaged these from the fireplace of the mansion.

In the staff lounge in the basement, poster size photographs show the mansion and one of its renowned features, a circle staircase.

To the left is a photograph that hangs in the Human Resources area, showing what Headquarters looked like in the Fifties.

Last week in Friday Photo, Jenni displayed the promotional billboard for Canyon Ranch Living, a luxury condominium development. Luxury high rises have sprouted around ALA like dandelions on my chemical-free, suburban lawn. I admit to not having visited any of these condos. I know they have huge jacuzzis in marble bathrooms. Still, looking at these photos, especially ol’ Cyrus’s place, I have to say, luxury ain’t what it used to be. At least not here in McCormickville.