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Geographic Society of Chicago founded
First lecture The Geography of Chicago
and Vicinity by Prof. Salisbury in Athenaeum Building Society has 205 members First meeting at Fullerton Hall in The Art Institute GSC
incorporated GSC logo first used Illinois Legislature creates Starved Rock State Park New offices at Field Museum open 25th Anniversary – 1521 members Society urges creation of the Illinois Beach State Park Excursion to WBKB television studio signals important changes 50th
Anniversary – 1800 members First Annual
Dinner First Saturday Matinee Series accommodates long waiting list. NU Prof. Malcolm J. Proudfoot represents GSC at World Population Conference in Rome Membership reaches 3,000 First GSC Distinguished Service Award to
Jacques Cousteau 60th Anniversary – Nautilus crew honored First of 54 Scholarships awarded through 1992 to graduate students in geography. European travel resumes with tours to eight countries GSC Gold Medal awarded to astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. 65th Anniversary celebration 3,000 members Attainment of National Park Service Status, by Illinois Senator Paul Douglas resulted from decades of campaigning by prominent GSC members: Henry Cowles, University of Chicago botanist; Steven Mather, first National Park Service Director; Jens Jensen, noted landscape architect; and Harriet Monroe, Poetry Magazine founder. GSC Gold Medal awarded to Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins for moon landing. Distinguished Service Award presented to Lady Byrd Johnson 75th Anniversary celebration Travel-Adventure Film Lecture Series returns to the Art Institute at the Columbus Drive Auditorium. GSC joins Chicago Public School system’s Adopt-A-School program. GSC office moves to 30 N. Michigan Membership dips below 1,000 Travel-Adventure Film Series moves to Harold Washington Library Executive Director Bill Fisher retires after 16 years, Bostrom Corp becomes his replacement and office moves to Tribune Tower. Centennial Celebration at Empire Room of
the Palmer House Special Annual Awards Luncheon at Grand Ballroom of the Palmer House – Special Citation plaque to tour leader & featured speaker Dr. Richard Houk, GSC Gold Medal awarded to Thayer Soule for his 60 year career as dean of Travelogues. National Geographic Society and the GSC established
an Educational Foundation Fund with the major goal of expanding geography
education opportunities in
the Chicago metropolitan area. Series renewed at old Film Center Theater of the Art Institute of Chicago - @ the NWC of Columbus Drive & Jacson Blvd. Series moves to new Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute, north of the NWC of State & Randolph Streets. The founders and early members of the GSC formed a community with a passion for the land. They were eager to know it, to savor it, and to preserve it. Education, conservation and travel were early themes. From the beginning the GSC had a strong affiliation with the academic communities at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. The early leaders of the Society from these universities were men and women of action with a wide range of interests and expertise. Through the Society they published worlds of geographic significance used in university classes as well as by general readers, and this information was the best literature available on these varied subjects at the time. The first GSC Bulletins dealt principally with the Chicago region – its geography, plant life, weather and climate, animal communities, rivers and harbors, and the Indiana Sand Dunes. The authors of these publications and the other lectures were the best in their fields. Their writings and lectures stimulated interest in the native landscape and GSC members joined other local organizations to work for the betterment of the Chicago land area.
Miss Meta C. Mannhardt became a member of the Geographic Society of Chicago in 1909 and promptly signed up with 43 other members for a pioneering tour of Yellowstone National Park (established 1872). They rode the Northern Pacific Railroad across the continent to Wyoming. The only transport within the park at that time was horseback or wagon over rough roads and trails. The Chicago Daily News reported “seven of the young women established record rides over the 400-mile Cody Trail.” The group subsisted on beans and canned food for eighteen days and tepees were the motel of choice. Fashionably attired in the latest camping styles the ladies struggled on washday to keep their skirts out of the mud.
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1925:
