92-0826 Elgin Gateway Parks a-oeaL
RESOLUTION
NAMING CITY OF ELGIN GATEWAY PARKS
WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper to name City of Elgin
parks in honor of those persons, events and principles which
have contributed to the city' s history and shaped its
character; and
WHEREAS, it is desirable that those defining persons,
events and principles be memorialized.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY OF ELGIN,
ILLINOIS, that it hereby names the park located at Kimball and
State Street "Foundry Park" in honor of the various
occupations which took place on the site, and the park located
at Kimball and Dundee Avenue "Newsome Park" in honor of Arthur
Newsome, leader of the black community for fifty years
following the Civil War and an opponent of segregated schools,
and founder of the Second Baptist Church which was located at
the site of the park from approximately 1877 to 1961 .
s/ George VanDeVoorde
George VanDeVoorde, Mayor
Presented: August 26, 1992
Adopted: August 26, 1992
Vote: Yeas 6 Nays 0
Recorded:
Attest:
s/ Dolonna Mecum
Dolonna Mecum, City Clerk
in
Agenda Item No.
0 1i al
9,eo�i1e ,
inn rye
August 20, 1992
TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
FROM: Larry Rice, City Manager
SUBJECT: Gateway Parks - Name Suggestions
PURPOSE
To name the City's new gateway parks at Kimball and State
Street and Kimball and Dundee Avenues.
BACKGROUND
Proceeding on the assumption that the Mayor and City
Council would adopt the Parks and Recreation Advisory Boards
proposed policy on parks naming, they have following the
policies criteria and arrived at the following suggestions:
FOUNDRY PARK: For the Kimball and State Street Park. A
sub-committee of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
researched through neighborhood and associates interviews as to
what name is most associated with this site, arriving at
"Foundry" as most suitable to remember the various occupations
of the site.
NEWSOME PARK: For the Kimball and Dundee Avenue Site. The
sub-committee of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board has
taken the excellent research provided by Mr. Mike Alft, Elgin's
Historian of note, and wholeheartedly supported the suggested
name as appropriate and a significant remembrance to
contributions to Elgin by Mr. Arthur Newsome (article attached) .
The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board at their August 25
meeting unanimously supported the subcommittees two
recommendations.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact associated with this item.
Mayor and Members of the City Council
August 20, 1992
Page 2
RECOMMENDATION
The City Council adopt the Parks and Recreation Advisory
Boards proposed names for the gateway parks of Foundry Park
(Kimball and State Street site) and Newsome Park (Kimball and
Dundee Avenue te) .
410
La R ce, Ci Manager
Attachment
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4arits and
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Dept
150 DEXTER COURT ELGIN, ILLINOIS 60120 (708) 931-6120
July 24, 1992
Mike Alft
1217 Mohawk Drive
Elgin, IL 60120
Dear Mike,
Your July 22 letter to the Mayor suggesting names for the
city's new gateway parks has been passed on to the Park and
Recreation Advisory Board. This Board is currently developing a
park naming policy, which the Mayor and Council would have final
authority over.
Your excellent suggestions will be given sincere
consideration. Its a real bonus to already have suggestions
from a source that's to be counted on. As progress continues on
this issue I ' ll be sure to keep you informed.
Sincerely,
Greg Bayor,
Director
c: Mayor VanDeVoorde
Chairman Bob Edwards
r
July 22, 1992
Mayor George VanDeVoorde
Municipal building
Elgin, Illinois 60120
Dear Mayor:
There are two new gateway parks that will be given
names in the near future. May I suggest some nares
for them? If they're not accepted, it will be all
right with me, but at least I can say they were
brought to your attention.
An obvious choice for the Kimball-North State inter-
section is Woodruff or Foundry, but I'm more con;
cerned with the plot at Dundee and Kimball which is
already being referred to as Chicken Park because
people remember Jack-in-the-Box and Church' s.
r'or years this was the site of the Second Baptist
Church founded by the newly freed slaves in 1866.
1867. Blacks might object to the plot being
called Freedmen' s Park, although that is what
the newly freed slaves were called, but an alter-
native is Newsome Bark after Arthur Newsome ,
leader of the black community for fifty years.
Newsome was one of the founders of the church and
an opponent of Elgin' s segregated school system.
Enclosed is an article about Arthur Newsome and
a picture of the church.
Cordially yours,
M►KE,.
r
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• Black patriarch omitted from Elgin biographies
Books containing biographies of would always remember, New- wino signed a petition of protest to
Elgin residents were issued in .3'!¢-g5 some was brought to Elgin by a_ t$M city council, pointing out that
1878, 1888, 1898. 1904 and 190B. homeward-bound Minnesota set- "we are taxed In proportion to
Some of the more interesting fig- dier. Although he often spoke of our means to build and MOO all
uses in our local history weren't the joy he felt at being free, the the public schools" and that "we
included in these publications, ei- Days done By contrabands were an often-abused should be allowed the same privi-
ther because of their sense of pri- minority in Elgin. Their children leges in using them that others
vared have."
would d not pay for because or the allotted E.C.could not Or 'Mike'Alft • 11 attended
tm and whites separate
tred attttheir Elgin abandoned its segregated
space. camp meeting worship services. system in 1872.
Among the omissions was the fields too much to part with him. Newsome was taken into the As the years passed. Newsome
life of Arthur Newsome, for half a A plea to visit his family at home of Nelson Truesdell and tended a large garden and be-
century the patriarchal leader of Christmas by traveling on foot given a job at Lansing Morgan's came know throughout the town
Elgin's black community. He was was also denied, and he was lumber yard. Small and wiry, but as "Uncle Arthur." He was a fix-
born a, slave on the Newsome mated to another woman, Miner- a hard worker. Newsome once ture at the Emancipation Day
plantation in North Carolina about va. told a group of black children, "If barbecues, where chunks of beef,
1828. When still a child, he was Floggings on the Newsome there's a dollar floating around pork and mutton were roasted in
taken to northwestern Alabama plantation were frequent, but the this country, I get a cent of it, specially prepared pits. At one of
where the Newsomes found more Civil War awakened a hope of and so may everybody here, but these celebrations, the program
fertile cotton land near the village freedom. Soon after the battle of they've got to'wrestle' for it." featured an address on "The Pre
of Cherokee in the Tennessee of on April 6-7, 1862, Union With materials obtained from sent Condition of the White
River Valley. forces occupied portions of north- Morgan, he built houses for his Race," and the unveiling of a
ern Alabama and many slaves people on Ann Street lots which • bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln
When Arthur Newsome attained fled behind federal lines. Among Truesdell sold him on easy terms. for the Second Baptist Church.
manhood, his'master approved his them was Arthur Newsome, who The Second Baptist Church was Born a slave and only semi-lit-
marriage to a woman who bore was put to work driving wagons organised in December 1888. New- crate, Arthur Newsome lived to
him three children during their for a Minnesota regiment, and Mi- some was one of the first trustees see a grandson graduate from
seven years together. Then .the nerve, who was among the "con- and informal aerrices of prayer Eight High School. He died a free
master died and the estate was trabands"—captured enemy prop- and song were held in his home. man in 1913 in the house he had
divided among his sons. Arthur erty—sent north to Elgin in Octo- The colored school was held in built on Ann Street.
Newsome's wife and children ber 1862. Newsome remained with a building unsuitable for school Local historian E.C.-revive Ann.on EMM
were auctioned off to a plantation the army and was at the siege of purposes and remote from "the , ri usesmils csf M°,br me
in Arkansas. He pleaded to be Corinth. Settlement" where most blacks Deur CenrNr-News en Sondem. Readers
sold with them, but his new mar • resided. stenmar contact*rf nods arswith one Douositns or Dollycos-
ter valued his services in the ON MARC! 17, 1e» avv- .mono P.O. on cera.sr.~Cl.
tiq„ a day be Newsome was one of 1$ blacks Ce�.rfer-News .Bon sal.Elgin bl:r.
1
The 5acond 8apit,t Cborch, in thio early
(b. 4 0 days cell td the Freedmcn1s Church, occnpicd
tbe Vurdne•k;mball no caviar ksv wart
{fin tightY yuri. The bulldog g piciured
Served tht church l6oen :bast 1877 1961.
Prase return the p quare to P4 ke AIft
� ?{ir it is ao longer needed,
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