Hallowed Ground, Part 2

Old St. Mary's dedicates its new school

09/29/2011 2:33 PM

By Bonnie McGrath

2 Comments - Add Your Comment


Father DeSiano speaking at the dedication (photo by Bonnie McGrath)



The kids march back into school post-dedication under the watchful eye of Father Sparks (photo by Bonnie McGrath)

I was definitely on hallowed ground today. I was at the dedication of the brand new school at Old St. Mary's at 15th and Michigan. Complete with speeches, old friends, kids singing about the Blessed Virgin Mary, a wonderful lunch from May Street Cafe, a sprinkling of holy water, a small portion of the Gospel According to Mark and a beautiful new school. Not to mention, poignant memories of car dealerships, bicycles and Orange Crush.


Sixteen months ago, I said I felt God's presence at the groundbreaking in exactly the same spot. Not to mention an angel or two or more. Since that groundbreaking, I've been asking my dad a lot of questions about our family and the past. And I found out something very interesting about the spot around where the school was built. My family once owned the property upon which the school now stands.

When my dad was in the army during WWII, entering Europe right after Normandy, in the company of Henry Kissinger, no less, who was in his company, moving through France and Belgium, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, making his way through to Germany and liberating a concentration camp near Hannover (for which he won the Bronze Star), his father died suddenly.

My aunt, whose boyfriend (and ultimately her husband) was a real estate broker, convinced her to buy property on South Michigan Avenue with some life insurance money. When my dad got home, at the end of 1945, he found that he and his mother and sister owned buildings on South Michigan Avenue. They bought and sold 1450 S. Michigan, where Phenomenal Fitness is now and bought and sold the property where the school now stands at 15th and Michigan. They also ended up renting the ground level at 1241 S. Michigan from another landlord--where an ice cream store is now--so they could run a bicylcle business from that location.

All of this happened in the late 1940s. All the buildings had been common two-story auto dealerships at one time (bought and sold for much less than $50,000 a piece) that were so prevalent, with big windows for showcasing the cars. In fact, my dad says that the building that stood where the school is now billed itself as a used car dealership--that would put 100 miles on a new car and sell it as used. It seems some technicality worked in the seller's favor.

Interestingly, 1450 had been used for the production of Orange Crush, which my dad said totally ruined the floors from the squeezing of the oranges. (In those days, soft drinks were made with real food, apparently and not chemicals.)

I thought of the Orange Crush a lot today--and the fact that the school property was sold to the church for more than $2 million. Oh, if only my family had kept those properties on South Michigan Avenue, I thought. Or would the taxes and maintenance all those years have cost them more than that? I thought of what could have been. All this while Rev. Frank DeSiano, former pastor of OSM (and now doing outreach in Washington, DC) and one of my former neighbors on State Street, proudly spoke of how the school was a "living testament to faith and the grace of God."

Alderman Fioretti talked about the raising of the statue of St. Anthony at the church 60 years ago at 115th and Indiana. Rev. Dick Sparks, a neighbor who is a fellow homeowners association board member, read a letter from Rev. Michael McGarry, who is the president of the Paulist Fathers--who have run OSM for more than 100 years.

The drizzle stopped just as the dedication was in full swing, and the sun even came out a bit. Rev. Michael Kallock, another neighbor, said the hope is that the students at the new school learn to become saints. I thought to myself how nice that would be; but breaking in to my thoughts was a constant admonition. Never, ever let orange juice touch the new floors.



2 Comments - Add Your Comment



By Fluffy de Crossharbour from Winnetka
Posted: 10/03/2011 8:06 AM

lovely story, B. Of course, you should have threaded in some reference to F. Sparks' Sherlockians.


By K from Green Briar
Posted: 09/30/2011 9:51 PM

Wonderful story! Old St. Mary's never gets enough credit -- Old St. Patrick's still has its original building while OSM moved around quite a bit.