Uptown Political Activism, 1911-Style

Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0057979. Courtesy of Chicago History Museum.

Nice to see that Uptowners have been politically and socially active for over a century.  In this photo, taken by a Daily News photographer in 1911, Miss Nellie Moore, Mr. F. J. Link, and Miss Belle Squires are collecting signatures in support of women's suffrage, specifically the issue of "No Vote, No Tax."

The setting is a florist shop located at 4627 North Broadway, which is now part of Iyanze Restaurant. It was also a polling place.  At that time, Uptown was in the 25th Ward, and the florist's shop was the polling place for the 49th Precinct.

It's impossible to make out all the wording on the handwritten sign on the wall, but it mentions "CRUSADE" and "WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC."  Pretty heady stuff for a florist's shop.

In case your American History knowledge is foggy, women didn't get the vote until 1919, eight years after this photo was taken.  Mr. Link is still in Uptown, in a family mausoleum in St. Boniface cemetery.