Monday, August 26, 2013

A Nod to the Namesakes:
Graeme Stewart and Joseph Stockton

Since CPS has closed Stewart School and stripped the name off Stockton, the honors accorded their namesakes so long ago are disappearing. For the record:

Graeme Stewart was a prominent Chicago businessman who worked tirelessly to have Illinois chosen as the site of Great Lakes Naval Training Base after Pres. Teddy Roosevelt realized that over half of the Navy's enlisted men were from the Midwest.  Stewart bullied and cajoled Chicago's business leaders into donating the funds to buy 172 acres of land in Lake Bluff, Illinois.  It ended up being chosen as the site for Great Lakes, beating out 37 other possible sites in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan.  Graeme Stewart literally gave his life for Great Lakes; he died of a stroke in May 1905, before the transfer papers were even signed.  Great Lakes is thought by some to be his memorial.

Joseph Stockton was a Chicago clerk who joined the 72nd Illinois infantry at the start of the Civil War.  He was later promoted to major, colonel and brigadier general.  He led his forces at the Battle of Vicksburg, and left a diary of the fighting that is still used as a reference today.  After the war, he returned to Chicago and opened his own business, passing away in March 1907.

4 comments:

  1. Graeme Stewart appears to be Cliff Claven's grandfather!

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  2. He ran against Carter Harrison for mayor of Chicago. Harrison was assassinated during the Columbian Exposition.

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    1. I was born and raised in Uptown in the 60's and went to Stockton School from Kg until 8th grade, and my child went there also in the 80's. When they stripped Stockton of it's name, they also erased all of the history of our School. I can't find when it was built, any names of former teachers, or any old photos. There are people still alive that went to Stockton between the 1960's, up until the merge and name change in 2014, who would like to find history of our childhood School in Uptown, to show our grandchildren, yet there is no history to be found. But if you google and research Stewart, Ravenswood, or Courtenay when it was on Berteau Ave, there is so much history and photo's on those Schools. It was wrong to do that to the former students who attended Joseph Stockton School over decades.

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    2. Thank you Uptown Update for noting Graeme Stewart and Joseph Stockton on your page.

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