Glencoe’s Wright-designed cottage renamed

Thursday, September 19, 2024

The Glencoe Historical Society ("GHS") announced today that it has officially changed the name of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Cottage located at 301 Maple Hill Drive in Glencoe to "Ravine Bluffs Cottage." GHS removed the name of the original owner, Sherman Booth, because of his significant and commanding role in an organized scheme that applied restrictive racial covenants and used eminent domain condemnations on properties in south Glencoe. The ultimate and intended impact of Booth's action was to drive away Black and Italian residents and to effectively prevent them from returning. Under Mr. Booth's active leadership and direction, the Black population's share of Glencoe's total population was reduced from 9.9% in 1920 to 4.9% in 1930. Today, it is less than 1%.

In July of 2020, during the midst of the COVID pandemic, GHS worked diligently with the Glencoe Park District and the Village of Glencoe to preserve and relocate the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Cottage, previously known as "Booth Cottage," which faced imminent demolition by a developer seeking to replace the historic structure with new construction. Believing it was important to preserve the work of one of America's most notable architects, who had designed other homes and artifacts in the community, GHS accepted a donation of ownership of the Cottage and moved the building to what is now known as Ravine Bluffs Park.

In the time since the Cottage was moved, GHS has done extensive research on the history of Glencoe's Black community for an award-winning exhibit currently on display at the society's museum at 375 Park Avenue in Glencoe. That research revealed the full extent of the role that Booth, a friend and attorney for Wright, played in a racist scheme to remove Blacks and Italians from south Glencoe. Booth conceived the idea of the Glencoe Homes Association (also known as "the Syndicate"), which sold shares in the organization for $1,000 each and used the money to purchase minority properties through a confidential land trust created by Booth. As Secretary and General Counsel, Booth "had charge of and handled all matters" related to the Syndicate.

Property purchases were often notarized by Booth, and sales deeds were issued at Booth's instruction from Booth's law office. The sales deeds contained severe restrictions on each property, including covenants prohibiting the sale, lease or occupancy, initially by "anyone who is not a Caucasian," and later, more specifically, stating, "that said premises shall never be sold to, used or occupied by what are commonly known as Negroes, or Italians, or Greeks, or descendants thereof and that if this provision is violated ... then the title thereto shall revert to the grantor."

After the Syndicate purchased much of the vacant land and homes in south Glencoe, Booth became the public face of the project, meeting with protesting Black residents and reporting on activities to the Glencoe Men's Club. When progress stalled, Booth shifted the focus of his efforts to the Glencoe Park District, where he used his status as a Founder of the government entity, Officer, and Commissioner (from 1912-1929), to complete the work begun by the Syndicate. He encouraged the use of the Park District's eminent domain condemnation power to create parks along what is now Green Bay Road in the mid-1920s, around South School in the mid-to-late 1920s, and what is now known as Watts Park in 1928-1930. This action effectively removed many of the Black and Italian homeowners who had previously refused to sell to the Syndicate.

The impact of Booth's activities on the Black population in Glencoe was profound. Initial research suggested that the Syndicate had completed 130 transactions in which it purchased and placed restrictive covenants on properties in south Glencoe. Further investigation and examination of records at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds has disclosed significantly more. These records also demonstrate that even after racial restrictive covenants were declared unenforceable by the United States Supreme Court in 1948, these provisions continued to plague Blacks attempting to purchase homes in south Glencoe. As late as 1960, the mortgage lender of a Black purchaser still insisted on a release of the Syndicate's reverter signed by Sherman M. Booth - even though Booth had died four years earlier.

Faced with the overwhelming evidence of Booth's racist activities, the GHS decided to act. As owners of the Cottage, the GHS Board of Directors unanimously voted to remove the Booth name from the Cottage. The Board declared, "Going forward, the Cottage will be known as the Ravine Bluffs Cottage. We cannot change our history, but we are committed to truthfully reporting it and learning from the mistakes of those who came before us."

"We acknowledge that Glencoe and the Park District have a history marked by exclusion, racism, and inequality, particularly in the 1920s. By confronting this past, we seize the opportunity to learn, grow, and build a more inclusive future. The Glencoe Park District is dedicated to fostering a culture of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion across all aspects of our services and operations, both within our organization and in the community we serve. This commitment means we strive to cultivate an atmosphere of respect, where the contributions of all individuals are valued--regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or physical and intellectual differences. Our goal is to create an inclusive and welcoming environment that moves beyond the exclusionary practices of the past," said Glencoe Park District Executive Director Lisa Sheppard.

"We commend the Historical Society's research and their decision not to honor this individual with naming rights, whose values do not align with those of the Glencoe community. The work to preserve the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed cottage was undertaken to ensure this important piece of history, both Glencoe's and Wright's, remains a part of our community. The name change in no way diminishes that effort; thanks to the commitment of Glencoe Historical Society and Glencoe Park District, it highlights just how significant the cottage's preservation and restoration are. This was an extraordinary act of preservation, and everyone involved should be proud of what has been accomplished, despite Mr. Booth's unacceptable actions," Sheppard added.

GHS also pledged to educate others to better understand the extraordinary impact of Booth's racism by establishing a museum at the Cottage for people to "learn from this history so that it will never happen again." GHS hopes that everyone, out of respect for the displaced members of the Glencoe community, will accept and adopt the new name and now refer to this historic structure as Ravine Bluffs Cottage.