Chicago Tourist Attractions Hometown Offbeat Chicago West Side Travel Maps

HAYMARKET SQUARE MASSACRE – On May 3, 1886, the Central Labor Union and the Trade and Labor Union voted to go on strike demanding an eight hour work day. When August Spies, co-editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung spoke at a rally at the McCormick reaper plant, a fight broke out between strikers and strike breakers, police suddenly appeared and fired into the crowd of strikers, killing six of them. Infuriated by the tragedy, Spies called for a rally on May 4, at the Haymarket, on Des Plaines between Randolph and Lake. 3,000 people showed up including Mayor Carter Harrison. It began to rain and the crowd dwindled to about 500. After the Mayor left, 200 police ordered the rally to disperse. At that moment, a dynamite bomb was thrown from the alley which ran east from Des Plaines. It exploded, killing eight policemen and wounding about 65 others. August Spies, Albert Parsons, George Engel, Louis Lingg and Albert Fischer were arrested, tried, found guilty of the bombing, and sentenced to hang.
UPDATE – On November 11, 1887, Spies, Engel, Parsons and Engel were hanged. Lingg committed suicide. In 1889, a 9-foot bronze statue of a Chicago policeman was erected in the middle of Haymarket Square. In 1900, it was moved to Union Park at Randolph and Ogden. In 1957, it was moved the northeast corner of the bridge over the Kennedy Expressway at Randolph, 200 feet from its original location. After several bombings of the monument, it was moved to Police Headquarters at 11th and State in 1972. In 1976, it was moved to the courtyard of the Police Academy and can only be seen by making arrangements in advance. The scene of the bombing was just west of the northwest corner of Des Plaines and Randolph where the Expressway begins. A plaque has been recently installed at what was Crane's Alley from where the hay wagon and the speakers were. The bomb was thrown from this area. The bronze plaque is flush in the sidewalk on the east side of Des Plaines, a few steps north of Randolph.

1870s RED LIGHT DISTRICT – In the 1870s and 1880s, a red light district was located between Sangamon, Halsted, Lake and Monroe. The pride of the area was the Diddie Briggs brothel on Halsted. The most popular girl in the place was a midget named Julie Johnson. She gave exhibitions with a negro nearly three times her height and more than twice her weight.

GHOST IN THE HULL HOUSE – In 1856, real estate dealer, Charles J. Hull built a mansion at 800 S. Halsted. Mrs. Hull died here in the house in 1860. When Hull died in the early 1880s, he left the mansion to a cousin, Helen Culver, who allowed Miss Jane Addams to move in and found the Hull House Institution in 1889. During the 1890s, A room of the Hull House was reported to be haunted by a mysterious figure who had been seen several times in a bedroom on the second floor. When distinguished visitors, who used the room from time to time, complained about having trouble sleeping, Miss Addams and Mary Smith then spent a night in the room, hoping to locate the trouble. They were awakened during the night and saw what appeared to be a woman in white. When Miss Addams asked who she was, the figure glided away, seeming to pass through a locked door. Miss Addams had the room converted into a store room and then a dressing room for the Hull House theater. Later, some girls preparing for a Christmas party play reported that they saw a lady in white sitting on a box looking at them. That was the last appearance of the ghost, but on three occasions, fires had to be put out that had started in the room. 800 S. Halsted.

UPDATE – In 1920, a young Benny Goodman took clarinet lessons here and played in the Hull House band. Some of his fellow students included future jazz greats, bassist Matt Hinton and pianist Art Hodes. Miss Addams lived here until she died in 1935. The Jane Addams houses were built in 1937 by the WPA at 1052 S. Lytle. The 52 houses of 4 and 5 rooms and the 975 apartments of 2 to 5 rooms, provided low-cost housing in the middle of one of the most poverty-stricken areas on the west side. The buildings were still there in 1947. The Hull House settlement was torn down in 1963 except for the Hull House mansion, the dining room,and the Hull House Museum. The original furniture still remains in Jane Addams' old office. The Illinois University Chicago Circle Campus now occupies the site.

PAUL "THE WAITER" RICCO – The Bella Napoli Cafe owned by Diamond Joe Esposito, was opened here at 850 Halsted in 1913. It was famous for its cuisine and as a rendezvous for politicians. In 1922, 19-year-old Paul Ricca left his job as an usher at the nearby Dante Theater and went to work here as a waiter. It was here that Ricca, who later became a gangster, got his nickname "The Waiter." 850 S. Halsted.
UPDATE - The University of Illinois Chicago Campus is now on the site.

"THE ENFORCER" NITTI – Gangster Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti owned a speakeasy here at 901 S. Halsted in 1927. On November 4, 1930, Paul "The Waiter" Ricca was arrested here while in the company of three state legislators and several members of the Capone Syndicate. 901 S. Halsted.

CAPONE TRIGGERMAN – Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo was born here at 525 N. Armour in Little Sicily in 1906. At age 5, he attended the James Otis Elementary School nearby. In 1916, he was in the fourth grade at the Washington Grade School, also in Little Sicily. After he reached fifteen, he turned to crime, being arrested 27 times thereafter. He joined the Capone gang in 1926 as one of Capone's bodyguards, and later became the triggerman of the Syndicate. 525 N. Armour.

THE TERRIBLE GENNA GANG – In the 1920s, the area here at Taylor and Halsted was the center of the Genna brothers gang territory. It ran from the river to Western and from Congress to 16th. In 1924, the Genna's owned a three-story liquor warehouse at 1022 W. Taylor where they also produced raw alcohol. So many policemen came to the warehouse to be paid off by the Genna's, that neighbors called it "The Police Station." Five of the six brothers were savage killers, but they went to church regularly and carried rosaries and crucifixes in their pistol pockets.

"MACHINE GUN" JACK MCGURN KILLED – Born and raised on Halsted Street in Little Italy, "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn was a favorite of Al Capone and was frequently seen at Capone's side during ball games and other social events. McGurn was a caricature of the Jazz Age. He strummed a ukulele, dated some of Chicago's most glamorous chorus girls, and fancied himself a home grown version of Rudolph Valentino. McGurn is believed to have master-minded the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929. On the evening of St. Valentine's Day in 1936, while McGurn was bowling here at the second-floor Avenue Recreation Bowling Alley at 805 N. Milwaukee at Chicago Ave., he was shot and killed by two men with machine-guns. They left a note near his body that read:
You've lost your job,
You've lost your dough,
You're jewels and handsome houses,
But things could be worse, you know,
You haven't lost your trousers.
UPDATE – Sixteen days later, three gunmen walked into a pool hall where McGurn's half-brother, Anthony Demory, was playing cards and shot him to death. McGurn's widow married twice again. In 1940, she was arrested for possession of a gun. In the late 1980s, she was living in Northern California. The building where McGurn was killed was still there in 1991.

HINKY DINK'S BIRTHPLACE – Alderman Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna was born in 1858 in a frame shack at Polk and Carpenter (formerly Sholto). The home was just east of Halsted at the edge of an area called "Connelly' Patch." He was baptized at a little church at 11th and May Streets.

GANGSTER KILLED – Gangster "Smoots" Amatuna, 26, was killed here at Isadore Paul's barber shop at 805 Roosevelt Rd. on November 10, 1925. Just as he stepped out of the barber's chair, two men walked in and each fired four times at Amatuna. The killers were reported to the Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci and Jim Doherty. 805 W. Roosevelt Road.

GANGSTER KILLED – About two a.m. on May 11, 1922, gangster Anthony D'Andrea's bodyguard and driver dropped him off here at his home at 902 S. Ashland and drove away. As D'Andrea, president of the Chicago chapter of the Unione Siciliana, walked up the nine steps to the buildings porch, a shotgun exploded from an empty apartment bay window on the first floor to his left. Thirteen slugs tore into his body and he fell dead on the steps. The killers left through the back door to a waiting car. In the empty apartment, they left a new sawed-off shotgun and a size 7 hat with a $20 bill in the lining and a note that read "For Flowers." 902 S. Ashland.

MOB KILLS COURT BAILIFF – On March 8, 1921, three gunmen waited on a corner near the home of gangster Paul Labriola at 735 W. Congress, and two more waited at the corner of Halsted. Around nine o'clock, Labriola, a municipal court bailiff and a precinct captain for alderman John Powers, left for work and headed west. The two gunmen at Halsted, walked toward him and opened fire. The three behind him ran forward and also opened fire as he fell dead to the pavement. One straddled his body and shot him once more in the head. He was killed because of his opposition to the mob-backed Anthony D'Andreas, who was running against Powers. At 39, Labriola left a wife and two children 735 W. Congress.

THE "OX" KILLS PAL'S WIFE – When May Mahoney, wife of safe cracker John Mahoney, threatened to call the police on Mahoney in 1919, Charles "The Ox" Reiser, Mahoney's pal, beat her to death here in her home at 1137 W. Washington.
UPDATE – On April 30, 1921, John Mahoney was found shot to death in an alley at 1814S. Peoria. When Reiser was wounded during a robbery attempt, on October 10, 1921, he was taken to the Alexian Brothers Hospital. On October 21, he was found dead in his bed with his wife leaning over his body sobbing hysterically. He had been shot ten times. A charge of murder was bought against Mrs. Reiser, but it was later dropped when a coroner's jury ruled his death a suicide.

HOME OF BENNY GOODMAN – Benny Goodman's parents, David and Dora Goodman lived here in 1902 when they first came to Chicago. 1227 S. Sangamon.

FAMOUS DEFENSE ATTORNEY – Attorney Clarence Darrow moved into a two-bedroom flat here at the corner of Des Plaines and Grenshaw (Formerly Bunker) in the Langdon co-op apartments in 1897.

MAYOR HARRISON ASSASSINATED – Mayor Carter H. Harrison was a happy man on October 28, 1893, his engagement to a young lady, who was to be his third wife, had just been announced and had returned to his home here at 231 S. Ashland Ave. after an enjoyable day at the World's Exposition fair. He had dinner at 6 o'clock after which he lay down to rest on a couch in the back parlor. Shortly after 8 o'clock, the doorbell rang and the maid servant answered it. At the door was a small weazen-faced man who asked if the mayor was home. When Harrison appeared in the doorway, the man shot him in the abdomen with a .38 revolver, and as Harrison fell, the assassin fired a second time, hitting the mayor above the ear. The killer then ran out the door onto Ashland Ave. disappearing in the dark toward Jackson Street. A neighbor, W. J. Chalmers of 234 S. Ashland rushed into the house, but Harrison died within a few minutes. A half-hour later, Eugene Pendergast walked into the Des Plaines Street police station and confessed to killing Harrison. Pendergast, 25, told police that he killed the mayor because he had not fulfilled his promise to elevate the surface railroad tracks. Pendergast lived with his mother at 609 Jane street (east of Seymour).
UPDATE – Harrison's mansion stood on the east side of Ashland between Jackson and Van Buren. The mayor was buried in Graceland Cemetery on the North Side.

HOME OF FAMOUS DETECTIVE – Famed detective William Pinkerton lived at 189 S. Ashland in 1889. (On the east side of Ashland between Monroe and Adams, near the corner of Adams).

MILLIONAIRE KILLED – Real estate millionaire Amos Snell was killed while being robbed on March 3, 1888 here in his home at the northwest corner of Washington and Ada. Dr. J.P.Ross lived across the street. Snell's son Albert, lived nearby at 18 Bishop Court.

CHICAGO'S SECOND HANGING – The first official hanging in Chicago took place in 1840 in a prairie at what is now 29th and Martin Luther King Blvd. The second hanging occurred in 1857 at the corner of Ashland and Jackson. The new location was chosen so that more of the public could attend.

BEAUTIFUL UNION PARK – In 1850, Union Park with its rustic bridges and Miniature lakes, was the Bois de Boulogne of the west side. Mansions, apartment houses and churches were built around the park at Ashland, Washington and Ogden. When Mayor Carter was assassinated in 1893, his statue was erected in the park. The home of Sister Carrie, the heroine of Theodore Dreiser's 1900 classic novel "Sister Carrie," was located in a flat across from the park.
UPDATE - Mayor Carter's statue was removed and placed in storage in 1960.

HOME OF MRS. ABRAHAM LINCOLN – When Mary Todd Lincoln, widow of Abraham Lincoln, bought a home here at 375 W. Washington (old address) in June 1866 near Union Park, it was in one of the city's new middle-class neighborhoods. She paid $20,000 for the stone, marble-fronted house which also had a stable. Her son Tad attended the private Brown Boys Academy School at Washington and Elizabeth Streets.He walked to school everyday. She moved out of the house in 1867 and boarded with the D. Cole family in their home at 460W. Washington (old address) from October 13 to the later part of December, 1867. She rented out her home on Washington (west of Ashland) until 1874 when she auctioned off her furniture and sold the house for $10,000. Ashland Avenue from Washington to 12th Street would later be lined with mansions of the wealthy.

POTTER PALMER GETS MARRIED – Bertha Honore, 21, married Potter Palmer, 44, in her father's Ashland Avenue mansion (near Washington) on August 11, 1871. 700 guests attended the reception here in the home. Her father was real estate operator Colonel Henry M. Honore.
UPDATE - Bertha, Potter, and Henry Honore are all buried in Graceland cemetery on the North Side.

MAXWELL STREET – Once called the "Ghetto," the Maxwell Street Market was centered at Halsted and Maxwell Streets. The biggest days were Sunday morning when people came to bargain with the Jewish merchants for the varied goods.
UPDATE – The eastern end of the market was lopped off by the Dan Ryan Expressway in the 1960s.

STRIP JOINT ROW – In the 1950s, a stretch of west Madison Street was known as Stripper's Row. The following were the most popular.
– Academy - On the corner of Halsted and Madison.
– El Mocambo - 1519 Madison.
– Flamingo - 1359 Madison.
– Haymarket - On the corner of Halsted and Madison.
– L & L Cafe - 1315 Madison.
– Music Box - 932 Madison.
– So Ho - 1124 Madison.
– Star & Garter - 915 Madison. Gangster Willie Bioff was a former owner.

HOME OF BENNY GOODMAN – Nine-year-old Benny Goodman lived here in a 3-story tenement at 1125 S. Francisco from 1921 to 1923. It was while living here that Mr. Goodman took his kids to the free band concerts in Douglas Park on Sunday afternoons. Benny took his first clarinet lessons while here. He attended the Sheppard Grammar School which was across the alley from their apartment. Benny later described the area as "a pretty hopeless neighborhood." 1125 S. Francisco.

TINKERS TO EVERS TO CHANCE – The first Cubs Park was located here in 1895 at the corner of Woolcott and Polk Streets.. This was where the famous "Tinkers to Evers to Chance" played their first games. Author L. Frank Baum, a Cub fan, came here often.

CHICAGO STADIUM – The 25,000-seat Chicago Stadium was built in 1914. The Blackhawks and Lakers played here. 1800 W. Madison.

THE WIZARD OF OZ – L. Frank Baum, the author of "The Wizard of Oz," lived in a rented cottage here at 2233 Campbell Park from 1891 to 1895.

MORE WIZARD OF OZ – L. Frank Baum lived here at 2149 Flournoy from 1895 to 1898. While telling stories to his children and several neighborhood children here in his home one day, one of the children asked Baum where the Scarecrow and the Tin Man lived. Looking around the room, Baum noticed his filing cabinet in the corner. On the front of the top drawer were the letters A-N. On the bottom drawer were the letters O-Z. He then told the children, "the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Great Wizard, all lived in the marvelous Land of Oz“ Baum later told his wife, "The minute I saw it, I knew OZ was just the right name for the country where the Wizard lived in the Emerald City."

THE RHETA WYNEKOOP MURDER – In 1904, Dr. Frank Wynekoop and his wife Alice, also a doctor, and their two children moved into their newly built three-story, stone home here at 3406 West Monroe. Mr. Wynekoop died a few years later. Alice carried on with her practice and maintained her office in a basement suite. Dr. Alice became widely known for her medical career and her charitable activities. Her daughter, Dr. Catherine Wynekoop, was a highly respected member of the staff at Cook County Hospital. But Alice adored her son, Earle. In 1930, Earle married an eighteen-year-old violinist, beautiful, red-headed, Rheta Gardner of Indianapolis, Indiana. They moved into a suite of rooms on the second floor of the Wynekoop home. But Rheta was not a happy bride. Earle was away from home most of the time. But Rheta had not turned into the wife that Earle had expected and he took to drinking and running around with other women. Dr. Alice, disturbed that her son was unhappy, began to think about how she could fix things. In the early afternoon of November 21, 1933, she took Rheta into a small surgery room in the basement, shot her dead, and left her lying on the table. When Dr. Catherine later called police to investigate, they found Rheta lying naked, face down on an operating table wrapped in a heavy blanket, shot through the breast. There were chloroform burns on her face. On the table, near her head, lay a revolver covered with a cloth. On the floor, at the foot of the operating table, lay Rheta's clothing. Dr. Alice told police that" It must have been a burglar." Earle was on a train to the Grand Canyon with another woman, but he hurried home when he heard of his wife's death.
– While being questioned for many hours at police headquarters, Dr. Alice finally confessed to killing Rheta. She said that Rheta, who had not being feeling well, had asked to be examined and wanted some anaesthetic to be more comfortable. She said she used too much chloroform and accidentally killed the girl. Realizing Rheta was dead, she then put a bullet in her "to ease the situation." Earle too, confessed to killing his wife, but there was plenty of evidence that he had been on the train going west. Dr. Alice was tried for killing Rheta and was found guilty. On March 6, 1934 she was sentenced to 25 years at the Women's Reformatory at Dwight.
UPDATE – Rheta was buried in her hometown of Indianapolis. Alice was paroled in 1949 at age 79, and died in 1951. Earle, who never remarried, was working as a garage mechanic at the time of his mother's death. The Wynekoop house was a tourist attraction until it was torn down shortly after Alice had died.

CRIME OF THE CENTURY JUDGE – Judge Robert Crowe, the judge in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial, was living here at 3329 Washington in 1931.

THE LADY IN RED – Anna Sage, the "Lady in Red," ran a house of prostitution here at 3221 Warren in the 1930s. John Dillinger came here often.

BENNY GOODMAN'S FIRST JOB – In September of 1923, Benny Goodman, 14, got his first steady job playing four nights a week in the band at Guyon's Garden, a dance hall on the west side of Crawford between Madison and the Lake Street Elevated. It was not far from the Benny apartment. He made $48 a week.

BENNY GOODMAN'S NEWSTAND – David Goodman, father of Benny, owned a newspaper stand here at 4349 Jackson in 1926.

BENNY GOODMAN'S FATHER KILLED – On the evening of December 9, 1926, David Goodman was hit by a car here at the intersection of Madison and Kostner. His skull was fractured and he died the next day. He was 54.

THE HANGING PROSECUTOR – Assistant state's attorney, William McSwiggen, lived here at 4946 Washington with his parents in 1925. He was known as "The Hanging Prosecutor."
UPDATE - McSwiggen was killed in 1926 by Al Capone himself at Capone's Pony Inn on Roosevelt Road in Cicero.

GANGSTER KILLED – Joseph Aiello was a leader of an Italian gang which had arisen after the downfall of the Genna gang, and was allied with Bugs Moran against Al Capone. Aiello tried several times to have Capone killed. He once offered the chef at the Little Italy, one of Capone's favorite restaurants, $10,000 to put prussic acid in Capone's soup. On October 23,1930, as Aiello stepped from an apartment building here at 205 N. Kolmar, a machine gun opened up from a second floor apartment across the street at 202 Kolmar. Hit, he staggered around the corner of the building - smack into a stream of slugs that came from a third floor apartment at 4518 West End Ave. He died after being hit with 59 slugs. A train ticket to Brownsville, Texas was found in his pocket.

GANGSTER KILLED – The body of gangster Paul Battaglia was found here in the alley behind 5551 W. Monroe on August 27, 1938. He had been shot twice in the head. Battaglia owned a saloon at 819 W. Madison, and was once a member of the Genna gang, and he 42 gang. Among his friends were Willie Bioff, Nicky Dean Circella and Frank Miller.

HOME OF CAPONE MOBSTER – Tony Lombardo, a member of the Al Capone gang, lived with his wife and children in a villa here at 4442 W. Washington in 1923. Lombardo was the president of the Union Siciliane in 1925.

BENNY GOODMAN AND AUSTIN HIGH GANG – Benny Goodman took lessons and played here for dances at the Columbus Park Refectory which was located on the second floor of the boathouse. During his first year at Harrison High, Benny became friends with some older kids at Austin High who had a band called "The Austin High Gang." The band included Jimmy and Dick McPartland, Dave Tough, Bud Freeman, Frank Teschemacher and Jim Lanigan. The band played at dances here at the Refectory. Jackson and Central.

CAPONE MOBSTER KILLED – Fred Evans was a member of the Capone Syndicate for who he helped organize the laundry and linen supply business. He and Capone were partners in a pop corn stand at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. When the syndicate discovered that Evans, who did the accounting for the mob, was rigging the books, they held a kangaroo court on August 1, 1959, to determine his fate. At noon on August 22, 1959, when Evans was heading for his Cadillac in the parking lot at his office at 5409 W. Lake Street, two men approached and shot him to death.

FAMOUS EVERLEIGH SISTERS – The Everleigh sisters, Minnie and Ada, owners of the Everleigh Club, a house of prostitution on the South Side, built a home here at 5536 W. Washington in 1911.
UPDATE - The sisters sold the home in 1913 to theatrical producer Frank "Apple Pie" Gazzolo. Gazzolo was still living here in 1935.

AL CAPONE KILLS STATES ATTORNEY – On April 27, 1926, state's attorney, William McSwiggen, Thomas Duffy, Myles O'Donnell and Jim Doherty, pulled up in their Lincoln in front of the Pony Inn at 5613 W. Roosevelt Road in Cicero. At that moment, Al Capone's Cadillac approached from the east as McSwiggen and his friends stepped out of their car. As the Cadillac slowly drove by, Capone, with a machine gun, riddled the Lincoln with lead. Duffy was hit getting out of the car, and crawled into an empty lot next door and hid behind a tree. He had five bullets in him. Doherty lay dead on the sidewalk, torn with sixteen bullets. McSwiggen ran toward the entrance of the Inn, then fell dead. The driver and O'Donnell had not been hit. Duffy died later in the hospital.
UPDATE – McSwiggen was buried in Mt. Carmel His killer, Al Capone was reburied there in 1952.

ROGER "THE TERRIBLE" KILLED – Gangster Roger "The Terrible" Touhy was released from prison on November 25, 1959 where he had served 26 years for the kidnapping of Jake" The Barber" Factor. By then, he was broke and in ill health. He returned to Chicago to live with his sister at 129 N. Lotus. As he was entering his sister's house on the night of December 17, 1959, he was met with several shotgun blasts which almost tore his body in half. While in the ambulance, Touhy told newsmen, "I've been expecting it. The bastards never forget!" He died hours later.

GRAVE OF AL CAPONE – Buried here in the Mount Carmel Cemetery at 1400 S. Wolf Road at Roosevelt are:
– Joseph R. Bernardin, Chicago Cardinal. When Bernardin died of prostate cancer in November, 1966, 90,000 people filed past his coffin at the Holy Name Cathedral. He was buried outside the mausoleum here where other Cardinals have been laid to rest.
– Al Capone, gangster - Capone died of syphilis of the brain on January 25, 1947. He was buried here on January 1952. Originally buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, he was moved here in along with the other Capone graves on 1952 when his mother died.
– Matt Capone, brother of Al Capone. He died of a heart attack in 1967 at age 59.
– Ralph Capone Jr., bartender and brother of Al Capone. On November 9th, 1950, while intoxicated, he swallowed a bottle of cold remedy whose label warned against mixing it with alcohol. He left a note to his girlfriend that read: Dear Jeanie. Jeanie my sweetheart, I love you. I Love you. Jeanie only you I love. Only you. I'm gone. He was 33.
– Gabriel Capone, father of Al Capone. He died and was buried in Brooklyn, but Al had him moved here to Chicago.
– Theresa Capone, mother of Al Capone. when she died in 1952 at age 85, she was buried here instead of in Mt. Olivet with Al. When the family realized how many tourists were visiting Al's grave, they bought another plot here, and Al and other members of the family reburied here.
– Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci, gangster. He was shot and killed by police on April 4,1927, and was buried here in unconsecrated ground under 3,000 flowers in a $10,000 silver and aluminum casket. A wheel of white and flowers was placed at his head by fellow gangster "Bugs" Moran, with an inscription that read: "Our Pal." A squad of legionnaires fired a salute over his flag-draped coffin, and a bugler blew taps. Al Capone, stood unshaven at the graveside.
– Anthony "Bloody Angelo" Genna, gangster. On the morning of May 25, 1925, Angelo Genna left his home in his $6,000 roadster and $11,000 in his pocket to pay for a house that the and his wife wanted in Oak Park. At the intersection of Ogden and Hudson, four men in a sedan pulled up beside him and blasted him with shotguns. He did a short time later. Police said that three of the killers were Hymie Weiss, George "Bugs" Moran and Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci. He was buried here in a $10,000 coffin with $25,000 in flowers around his grave. Al Capone stood at the graveside.
– Anthony "Tony the Gentleman" Genna, gangster. On July 8, 1925, Tony Genna got a call from someone he knew well enough to meet him on Grand Ave. near Curtis. When they met, the caller grasped Tony's hand in a firm hand shake. Two gunmen came from behind and pumped five shots into his back. He is buried next to his brother, Angelo.
– Mike "The Devil" Genna, gangster. Mike Genna bled to death after being shot in a gunfight with police on June 13, 1925. Before he died, Mike tried to kick an ambulance attendant who had tried to help him. He growled "Take that, you son of a bitch." (Anthony,Angelo and Mike Genna died with 42 days of each other. Their deaths broke up the Genna gang).
– Pete Genna, gangster.
– Sam "The Terrible" Genna, gangster.
– Sam "Mooney" Giancana, gangster. Sam Giancana graduated from Chicago's old "42 Gang" to take his place in the Chicago chapter of the La Cosa Nostra – the most violent, kill-crazy crime family in the U. S. In the 1920s, he was a "wheelman" for the Capone mob. Later he served as a part-time chauffeur for Tony Accardo and Paul "The Waiter" Ricca. He became manager of operations of the mob in the mid-1950s, and by 1957, he was considered the head of the Chicago family, a position he held until 1966. He was a close friend of Frank Sinatra and the boyfriend of singer Phylis McGuire. On June 19, 1975, just two days after gall bladder surgery, he was shot seven times at close range as he stood at a stove, cooking a plate of sausages and escarole in the basement of his Oak Park home. The killer was believed to be someone in the mob that he knew and trusted.
– Jake Lingle, Chicago Tribune crime reporter. Lingle had a sterling reputation with his editors at the Tribune, but he lived a double life, working, in realty, for Al Capone for almost a decade, informing Capone though his police contacts of any raids against Capone's breweries, bordellos and gambling dens. When he demanded more money from Capone, Capone ordered him killed. Lingle was shot to death on June 9, 1930, in the Loop while on his way to the race track.
– John May, gangster and auto mechanic for the Bugs Moran gang. He was one of those killed at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929.
– "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn (Vincent Gebardi), gangster. Raised in Chicago's Little Italy, McGurn was shot and killed in a Milwaukee Avenue bowling alley on February 13, 1936, the eve of St. Valentine's Day, by two men with machine guns. They left a comic valentine near his body that read:
You've lost your job,
You've lost your dough,
Your jewels and handsome houses,
But things could be worse you know,
You haven't lost your trousers.
McGurn was killed in retaliation of his role in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. He also ordered the slashing of the throat of comedian Joe E. Lewis.
– William McSwiggen, assistant states attorney. He was shot and killed on April 23, 1926, by Al Capone in front of the Pony Inn at 5613 Washington Blvd. He was buried here May 26 with full military honors.
– Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti, gangster. He was Al Capone's successor as head of the Syndicate. In 1943, Frank Nitti was indicted for tax evasion. Claustrophobic beyond belief, Nitti eared confinement to the point where the mere thought of prison drove him literally insane. He began to drink heavily and was incoherent during conversations with other mob bosses. On May 19, 1943, Nitti was seen staggering along the railroad tracks near the Illinois Central Station and the Municipal Tuberculous Sanitarium near his home in North Riverside. Railway workers heard a shot and rushed to find "The Enforcer" dead. The legendary gangster had blown his brains out with a bullet to the head rather than face the unbearable thought of incarceration in prison. He is in the southern part of Cemetery 200 feet from Capone. Enter the south gate, he is immediately to your left.
– Dion O'Banion, gangster. On November 10, 1924, three men entered the Schofield Flower Shop at 734 N. State Street, walked over to O'Banion, who was clipping stems from flowers, and fired five bullets into his body - and a sixth into his head. The killers, one of whom was Mike "The Devil" Genna, were sent by Al Capone. His funeral was the gaudiest of all gangster burials. 5,000 persons viewed his body as it lay in state and twenty-five trucks and cars were required to carry away the flowers. The funeral procession was a mile long and led by three bands. 10,000 people followed the hearse on its way here to the Cemetery where he was buried in unconsecrated ground, a plot he had bought for members of his gang. Five months later, his wife had him buried in consecrated ground a few feet from a mausoleum containing the remains of a bishop and two archbishops.
– Ken Silvestri, baseball player. He is in Section K.
– Roger "The Terrible" Touhy, North Side gang leader. He was shot and killed in front of his home in Oak Park by the Syndicate on December 17, 1959, several weeks after he had been released from prison.
– Hymie Weiss, gangster. On October 11, 1926, Weiss parked his car in front of the Holy Name Cathedral opposite the flower shop where Dion O'Banion had been killed two years earlier on North state Street. As he walked across the street to his headquarters above the flower shop, two gunmen, sent by Al Capone, opened fire on him from a window of a building nearby. He was killed instantly by ten machine gun bullets. With his pals, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci and George "Bugs" Moran stood by, he was buried in unconsecrated grounds. Weiss is credited for coining the phrase "Take him for a ride." His friends said that he was ugly and savage, but he was kind to his mother.

BIRTHPLACE OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY – Writer Ernest Hemingway was born here at 339N. Oak Park Avenue in 1905.

HEMINGWAY HOME – Ernest Hemingway lived here at 600 N. Kenilworth from 1905 to 1922. The home of "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn was on Kenilworth near North Ave.

HOME OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT – Architect Frank Lloyd Wright moved here to 951 Chicago when he was first married.

GANGSTER HOME – Sam Battaglia, a member of he Capone Syndicate was living here at 1114 N. Ridgeland in the late 1940s. Battaglia was head of gambling joints and prostitution. He was also head of one of the Syndicate's "cells" His cell and its members met here in his basement every Saturday night. 1114 N. Ridgeland.

THE UNIBOMBER – Ted Kaczynski, the Unibomber, once lived here in Lombard with his parents. His father Theodore shot himself here in their home after he got terminal cancer. His mother was still living here in Lombard in 1997.

MRS. ABRAHAM LINCOLN GOES INSANE – Mary Todd Lincoln, widow of Abraham Lincoln, was admitted to the Bellevue Place Sanitarium for the insane here in Batavia, 35 miles west of Chicago, after she had tried to poison herself on May 20, 1875. She was here from May 21, to September 10. Built in 1856, Bellevue, was owned by Dr. DeWitt Patterson who purchased the 22-acre estate from the owners of a girl's school. Its massive four-story limestone mansion was set in the middle of the grounds and had a great view of the Fox River from the third and fourth floors.
UPDATE – The ornate dark furniture that was in the room where Mrs. Lincoln stayed, was still there in 1947.