6000 South Cottage Grove Avenue
Opened 1899, closed 1913
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Sans
Souci, opened in the summer of 1899, was one of Chicago's first
amusement parks. It was located on the western side of Cottage Grove
Avenue, just across 60th Street from the southern end of Washington
Park. The park, though eventually eclipsed by larger competitors,
nonetheless occupies an important place in the city's amusement history.
With notable ties to the popular Midway amusements of the 1893 World's
Columbian Exposition, early origins as a German beer garden, and a close
relationship to south side streetcar interests, Sans Souci's history
helps explain much about the evolution of commercial amusements in
Chicago during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Sans Souci had notable ties to the World's Columbian Exposition,
which took place in 1893. The Exposition's most celebrated component
were the industrial, commercial, and cultural exhibits of the "White
City" in Jackson Park, so-called because of the white-colored,
neo-classical buildings in which the exhibits were housed. The less
celebrated but much more profitable part of the Exposition was the "Midway,"
a mile-long stretch of popular amusements along the Plaisance between
Jackson and Washington Parks. These amusements included eateries,
theaters, and unusual rides, including the original Ferris Wheel. The
financial success of the Midway demonstrated that money could be made
entertaining the urban masses and encouraged the creation of similar
places of amusement after the exposition shut down.
One such place was Old Vienna, a combination roadside refreshment
stand and German beer garden located on the southwest corner of Cottage
Grove and 60th Street, kitty-corner from the western end of the old
Midway. Opened in 1894 and modeled on a similar establishment that had
operated on the Midway, Old Vienna won the patronage of many south
siders, many of whom used the Cottage Grove cable and streetcar lines to
access the park. Impressed with the extra traffic the resulted, the
Chicago City Railway Company, operator of the Cottage Grove line, helped
a group of investors acquire Old Vienna and surrounding properties with
the purpose of building an even larger and more profitable summer park.
Their new ten-acre park, dubbed Sans Souci after the famous palace of
Prussian king Frederick the Great, was bounded by Cottage Grove and
Langley Avenues on the east and west, and 60th and 61st Streets on the
north and south.
Sans Souci was unlike anything Chicagoans had ever seen. The park's
main entrance at 60th and Cottage Grove resembled the exterior of a
German beer hall. The interior of the park featured large shade trees, a
Japanese tea garden, ornamental shrubbery, electric fountains, and
nighttime lighting. Among the park's more popular attractions was the
Casino, a large eatery where patrons could eat and drink al fresco
while listening to bands and orchestras led by some of the period's
most-liked musicians, including Guiseppe Creatore, Oreste Vessella, and
Don Phillipini.
Over the years, the park's owners increased the variety and number
of amusements in an attempt to attract patrons and keep the park
profitable. Many of these changes were made in response to the opening
of a rival amusement park, White City,
less than a mile to the southwest of Sans Souci in 1905. Following that
summer of operation, the park underwent a $2 million facelift. Between
1906 and 1912, major additions to the park included a ballroom, a roller
skating rink, a vaudeville theater, and two roller coasters, the Velvet
Coaster and the Aerial Subway.
In February 1913, Sans Souci's owners, unable to retire a mortgage,
sold the park to another group of investors. Searching for ways to
return the prominent site to profitable uses, the new owners at first
demolished many of the amusement park's rides and then turned over
operation of its ballroom, skating rink, and Casino to outside
concessionaires. This scaled-back Sans Souci reopened for the 1913
season, but did little to regain lost patrons. Following the 1913
season, the park's owners announced plans to replace Sans Souci with a
large summer concert garden designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and
named Midway Gardens.
Most of the former Sans Souci site is today occupied by housing
developments built after World War II, following the demolition of
Midway Gardens.
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Related News Articles
"Water Scarce, Beer Plenty," Chicago Daily Tribune, 7 August 1907.
Suggested Reading
· Stan Barker, "Paradises Lost," Chicago History 22 (March 1993), 26-49.
· Judith A. Adams, The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills (Twayne Publications, 1991).
· Paul Samuel Kruty, Frank Lloyd Wright and Midway Gardens (Univ. of Illinois Press, 1998).
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Sources: Billboard 28 Oct 1905, 24; 21 May 1910, 28; 10 Jun 1911, 20; 16 Sep 1911, 34; 1 Mar 1913, 5.
Page authored: 20 May 2000
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