To celebrate the grand opening of the Chicago History Museum‘s Out in Chicago exhibit on Saturday, May 21, we put together a guide to some of the Windy City’s most noted sites in LGBT history. What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!
Bughouse Square (now known as Washington Square Park)
Bughouse Square was a north side park where public demonstrations took place, near the infamous Dill Pickle Club. The first Pride March in 1970 began there. Bughouse Square was also a well-known cruising site for men.
Rosehill Cemetery
The first burial site in the city, located in West Andersonville neighborhood, for people lost to HIV/AIDS in the early- to mid 1980s. The cemetery is also the burial place of Frances E. Willard, the 19th century leader of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and a lesbian.
Jeffrey Pub
The Jeffrey Pub on the south shore neighborhood is famous for its lesbian spoken word programs, and as a hub for African-American lesbian, bisexual women. This is also the neighborhood where the most recent Dyke Marches have taken place.
Leather Archives and Museum
The only such museum in the country is based now in Rogers Park neighborhood on the far north side. It was founded by Chuck Renslow, also the founder of the annual Chicago based International Mr. Leather competition.
Hull House
Jane Addams and her longtime female companions served immigrants from this settlement house on the near west side at the turn of the 20th century. The Hull House Museum today embraces a lesbian interpretation of Addams’ romantic friendships with women and how those relationships helped sustain generations of newcomers to the city.
Henry Gerber Residence
Henry Gerber was one of the founders of America’s first gay rights organization, the Society for Human Rights, established in 1924. Its members were both black and white and lived on the north and south sides of the city. The society focused on reforming laws criminalizing homosexual acts.
Center on Halsted
The Center on Halsted opened in 2007 in the heart of Boystown in a silver LEED certified building. The LGBT organization got its start as Gay Horizons in 1973. In 1998 Mayor Daley made history by officially dedicating the district of N. Halsted between W. Belmont and W. Waveland as a gay neighborhood, the first designation in the country.
Man’s Country (private club)
Man’s Country is a private men’s social and erotic club for members 18 and over, owned by Chuck Renslow, founder of Mr. S Leather, and located on the main Clark Street commercial strip in Andersonville, which is now a mixed gay ‘hood.
Check back in two weeks for part II of the Chicago gay history tour
Thanks to our friends at Navigaytour for historical insights.
