The Ingram

When I was growing up in Chicago, my family and I would often visit Byron and Babe, my mother's uncle and aunt, and each time we were there I would gaze at two black and white photographs of the Ingram building, hanging on the wall.  My Grandmother Louise and Grandfather William Spillard, along with my then 4 year old Uncle Bill, my grandmother's parents Charles and Mary Jane St. Pierre, my grandmother's sisters (Babe and Irene) and their families, and her brother Eddie all lived in this building back in 1913.  The first photograph on that wall showed the building right after a fire broke out, and the second showed the building a short time later, completely destroyed.  I have been looking for copies of those photos for years.  One of Babe and Byron's grandchildren inherited them, and I once asked if he would scan them and e-mail me copies, but he was afraid they would be damaged if he did that (obviously not a computer whiz).  It wasn't until recently that I discovered some photographs of the building online.  Not nearly as good as the ones Byron and Babe had, but definitely better than nothing.  The photo on the left came from an organization called Chicago History in Postcards ( chicagopc.info) and was taken back in 1909.

The building began as a World's Fair hotel during the World's Columbian Exposition back in 1893, and was called the Hotel Ingram.  It was located across the street from the Midway Plaisance, which was part of the fairgrounds, at the corner of 60th and Washington Avenues.  For those of you not familiar with the south side of Chicago, this was right across today's Midway (a narrow park) from the University of Chicago. Sometime after the fair, the building was converted to apartments.  The fire started on February 11th, 1913 around 11:30 in the morning, and it didn't take long for the flames to engulf the building. Fortunately, everyone got out safely, although our family lost all their possessions.  The photograph on the right was taken from the pages of the Chicago Examiner, which no longer exists, but copies of which are available online for free on the Chicago Public Library website.  As I said before, these photos are not the quality of the ones that hung in the hallway of Byron and Babe's home, but beggars can't be choosers. And perhaps one day my cousin might discover scanning and send me copies.  Everyone has to have a dream, right?