Hyde Park High School - Aitchpe Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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THE HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY OF HYDE PARK The history of the community of Hyde Park dates back as far as 1835 when Solomon Brock bought seventy-five acres of land for ninety-four dollars. It wasn't until 1852 that Paul Cornell, an ambitious young lawyer, bought three hundred acres of land south of the. city of Chicago. He bought the land because of the advice given to him by Stephan A. Douglas. Buy yourself some land out in the suburbs. Some day it'll be very valuable, Douglas told the young man. This is the time when the village of Hyde Park was estab- lished as a separate unit from Chicago. Soon after, the Illinois Central Rail- road established a line between Hyde Park and Chicago. April 2, 1861 brought the first town meeting in which Cornell was elected supervisor. The village gathered momentum when a new general store was opened by Hassan A. Hookins at 53rd and Lake Park. In 1869, the store opened a post office with George W. Waite as postmaster. The first church was erected by Cornell in 1858, but was sold to the village and used as a town hall and police station. The Hyde Park House, which was built in 1860 on the site now shared by the Sherry and Del Prado Hotels, was the center of all fashionable social life in the community. 13142th fj'sngYSV - L 12

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L ? DR. ARTHUR P. O'MARA