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Here Is a Job to Do, Mr. Rotarian! (August 1946 in The Rotarian)
It's the task of giving your town
Dreams of a city beautiful … then
sparking efforts to realize them.
 By
Paul P. Harris
Founder and President Emeritus of Rotary International
NOT infrequently I am asked for suggestions as to suitable
community activities for Rotary Clubs. Of course, the
Secretariat of Rotary International dispenses much information
on this subject and many pictorial reports appear in THE
ROTARIAN. Rotary Clubs have acquitted themselves creditably in
thousands of activities suited to their fancies or local needs.
Much ingenuity has been manifested, and it may be said that
Rotary Clubs have proved themselves both research laboratories
and testing grounds of new ideas to the glory of Rotary
throughout the world.
If, however, my friends want to know what activity would be my
personal choice, I best can make answer by recalling what
happened in Chicago at about the time of Rotary's birth, which
was 1905. Chicago had already demonstrated itself a
miracle‑working city. Its slogan was "I Will." It had dug itself
out of the ashes of the most devastating fire in the history of
the country. It had taken the big Chicago River by the nose,
turned it in its tracks, and headed it down the Mississippi
River valley toward the Gulf of Mexico, so that it would not
longer pollute Lake Michigan, whence came the city's drinking
water.
Of
all that might be said of the Chicago River, none could contend
that it lacked character. In some respects it was the most
colorful of all rivers. It enjoyed, for instance, the reputation
of being the first river in history to have caught fire. The
accumulation of fats and oils from the stock yards on the
surface of the river made the feat possible. A careless smoker
had thrown a cigarette stub into what he supposed to be the
water of the Chicago River with that disastrous result.
A
reporter from a New York paper was sent to Chicago to
investigate that interesting phenomenon. He reported that the
Chicago River was neither a liquid nor a solid, it was not thin
enough to drink nor thick enough to make pancakes of; it was
much like old-fashioned Mulligatawney soup. But all this was of
little interest to Chicagoans. Their complaint was that the
citizens were dying by the score of typhoid fever as a result of
the pollution of the water supply from the big lake.
The danger of the river again burning was soon abated.
Enterprising, citizens realized that a
great opportunity had presented itself, that the fats and oils
on the surface of the river were really of value. They organized
a company to skim the fats from the surface and this lucrative
business continued until eventually the stock yards began to
redeem their own oils and fats. But in the heyday of the Chicago
River, stock‑yard odors were frequently carried by the wind
clear across the city to residence districts on the North Side.
Experienced Chicagoans could smell their way about town.
The World's Fair of 1893 with its popular White City had
awakened an interest in architectural beauty throughout the
country, but Chicago still remained an unsightly and malodorous
city and might have remained so indefinitely had it not been for
the imagination in the minds of two Chicago citizens: Edward
Butler, of Butler Brothers, a wholesale drygoods firm, and
Frederick Delano, president of the Wabash Railroad.
Both were members of the exclusive Commercial Club. To the
members of that organization they presented their Plan with its
illustrations of what Chicago then was and of the Chicago which
might be. The Club was taken by storm and immediately set about
to make the dream of a beautiful city come true. At about this
time a young man from the country by the name of Charles D.
Norton was made president of the Commercial Club and threw
himself heart and soul into the project.
The Club employed Daniel H. Burnham, Chicago's most gifted
architect, to make the plans for the building of a beautiful
city. That was the genesis of Chicago's now famous City
Beautiful Plan. The transformation could not be made in a day
nor in a decade; it had required a century to rebuild Paris on
Baron Haussmann's plan.
Chicago has taken nearly half a century to accomplish what it
has achieved to date. Twenty continuous miles of park,
play-grounds, and bathing beaches now adorn the water front.
Even the Chicago River, having been converted from its homicidal
ways and baptized in the tide of pure blue water flowing in from
Lake Michigan, has been assigned a stellar role in this drama of
urban existence.
Chicago's position as one of the most beautiful of all American
cities is now acknowledged at home and abroad. And the vision
came to two hard‑headed businessmen. Often the far‑reaching
effect of a great idea in the mind of a man gifted with
imagination is astounding. It was so with Mr. Butler and Mr.
Delano - and Daniel Burnham, he who said: "Make no little plans
for they have no magic to stir men's blood."
President William McKinley persuaded Daniel Burnham to go to
Manila and give that city a City Beautiful Plan suited to its
needs. This project at Manila, having been completed, Daniel
Burnham was induced to render the same service for Baguio far up
in the mountains, the city in which residents of Manila take
refuge from the sweltering heat and humidity during the Summer
months.
From that time on throughout the remainder of his life, Daniel
Burnham received calls from all parts of the world to adapt the
City Beautiful Plan to local needs. Even other Chicago
architects profited from Chicago's reputation. The brilliant
Frank Lloyd Wright was called to Tokyo to build that city's
Imperial Hotel and Walter Burley Griffin was asked by the
Australian Government to plan the new Federal capital at
Canberra. Walter Burley Griffin not only planned the city, but
also put the plan into execution, with the result that Canberra
is considered by many authorities the world’s best planned
capital city.
"Great oaks from little acorns grow." The vision of the two
hard‑headed Chicago businessmen has inspired many cities of
different countries to recognize beauty as a prime essential to
the better life. They have a saying in Buenos Aires: "God made
Rio de Janeiro beautiful, but we made Buenos Aires beautiful,"
which is measurably true, but the citizens of Rio played a
creditable part. God gave Chicago its peerless water front and
the City Beautiful Plan preserves it for the people.
After Daniel Burnham's work was done, the realization of the
remainder of the City Beautiful Plan was turned over to the city
of Chicago and a commission was headed until his death by the
devoted Charles Wacker. It is from him that Wacker Drive - the
double‑deck street facing the Chicago River on which the Central
Offices of Rotary's Secretariat are located - takes its name.
Chicago's idea is to work the Burnham dream out gradually, as
circumstances dictate. No public improvement is considered
unless it is reconcilable with the Plan. Great universities,
schools of technology, institutes of art, music, and other forms
of culture have been lured to America's Midwest metropolis by
its City Beautiful Plan and the assurance that future
developments are not to be hit or miss, but will be in
conformity with a permanent fixed program conceived for the
benefit of all citizens, rich and poor, high and low. This is
the story of Americans, just as noteworthy achievements of
Englishmen or men of other countries might be related.
Has your town a City Beautiful Plan, Mr. Rotarian? No? What a
pity! It would engage the interest of every man, woman, and
child in your community. No town can be too large, none can be
too small, to realize benefits from a City Beautiful Plan.
What a noble thing it would be if the Rotary Clubs of 70
countries where our movement is established would create a wave
of enthusiasm for the beautifying of cities throughout the
world!
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