The Castle, located in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago at 10244 S. Longwood Drive, was built in 1886 and 1887. It looks like a real medieval castle. If you love seeing historic images of Chicago and reading about Chicago's history from the late 1860s on, this hardback, in premium color with over 500 images, is for you, and this second edition is 75 pages longer than the first.
Chicago's Only Castle regales its reader with the history of a treasure buried on Chicago's far Southwest Side of which few people beyond the neighborhood seem to be aware. The compelling stories of the five keepers of the Castle unfold against the backdrop of, and directly connect to, Chicago's rich history, including the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the cable-car era, the dawn of the automobile, the Century of Progress International Exposition of 1933-34, and myriad little-known details about Chicago's past. The inspiration behind the building, and its first occupant, was Robert Cartwright Givins, a Renaissance man of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who immigrated from Canada and whose grandfather was a celebrated colonel there in the War of 1812. Givins, noted for his always-clever real estate promotions, was a well-known Chicago personality; a developer active across the City, Cook County, and other places in the United States; a popular novelist of his day; a vocal citizens' advocate; and, together with wife Emma, a globetrotter whose travel reviews were published in the Chicago Evening Post. He was at one time announced in local papers as a candidate for mayor of Chicago.
In addition to Givins, Julia Thayer, president of the Chicago Female College that was housed in the Castle, the Burdett family, the Siemens family, and Beverly Unitarian Church have been "keepers" of the Castle, and their dynamic stories are told in the book, as well.
Author Biography:
Born in Chicago, Errol Magidson has loved Chicago's rich history, especially after seeing old photos of the city and its people at the Berghoff Restaurant many years ago and at the Chicago History Museum. When Errol visited the Beverly area of Chicago in 1977 to look for a place to live, he saw the Castle for the first time and knew that was the community in which to live and raise a family. Errol received his Doctorate in Education from Nova University, a Master of Arts in Teaching Social Science from Antioch Graduate School of Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Indiana University. He was Distinguished Professor of social science and psychology at the City Colleges of Chicago, and he also taught psychology courses at Roosevelt University and Saint Xavier University in Chicago. The students at Daley College, one of the City Colleges, gave him the Outstanding Teacher Award (1998). He gave an invited presentation on the first edition of "Chicago's Only Castle" at the Newberry Library (2017). He was interviewed about the book by journalist Rick Kogan on his "After Hours" program on WGN radio (2017). Errol produced, co-directed, narrated and wrote the script for the documentary on "Chicago's Only Castle" (2011) which was shown on PBS. He served as an archival researcher for "A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps" (2019). He gave workshops to college faculty on "Developing and Using Effective PowerPoint Presentations in the Classroom" and to school faculty on teaching their students how to use the computer to develop documentaries. Errol was guest editor of a special edition of Educational Technology devoted to "Trends in Computer-Assisted Instruction" (1978). He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Institute of African Studies at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone, West Africa (1965-67). Errol lives with wife Nancy Magidson in Northbrook, Illinois. They both enjoy being with family and friends. They like to play golf, pickleball and bridge. Errol plays senior softball, too.
