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Harlem Race Track

1894 establishments in IllinoisDefunct horse racing venues in IllinoisForest Park, IllinoisHarlem Race TrackSports venues in Cook County, Illinois
Harlem Race Track Grandstand, 1901
Harlem Race Track Grandstand, 1901

The Harlem Race Track, managed by the Harlem Jockey Club, was a horse racing track located in the Village of Harlem, Illinois (currently Forest Park, Illinois) between Collier Avenue (currently 16th Street) and 12th St. (currently Roosevelt Road), and between W. 74th (currently Hannah Avenue) and W 76th (currently Lathrop Avenue).The track was built by a syndicate led by George Hankins in 1894, and it was scheduled to open for the 1895 horse racing season. Because there was a public outcry against all gambling, the track did not open as scheduled, and it lay dormant at great expense to the investors. On July 3, 1897, the track was sold by the Chicago Fair Grounds Association, by President William Martin, to attorney William H. Allen for $150,000. Allen leased the 80 acre property to James Anglin who appointed John Condon general manager, and Martin Nathanson as secretary. The lease eventually went to Condon, but he decided to discontinue his association with the track when his lease expired on February 1, 1899. Despite Condon's retirement, it was speculated that he remained in control of Harlem, and the course secretary, Martin Nathanson, announced that the 1899 racing program would begin on May 30. A fire at the track on May 22, 1899, believed to be caused by "incendiaries," destroyed the grandstand and fencing. A temporary grandstand was quickly built so that racing season could still open on time, and construction of a new permanent grandstand of steel and stone was planned.In early May 1900 John Condon appears to have gained complete control of the Harlem race track, despite his earlier announcement of his retirement from the business. This enabled Condon to become sole owner of the track by purchasing it outright from lawyer P. J. Ryan for $180,000. The lightning from an intense rainstorm killed a horse in the stables at the track, knocked the stable boy attending the horse unconscious for an hour, and also shocked Condon and track official William Miers.From 1899 to 1904 the Lake Street Elevated Railroad offered express excursion service to the track via the Cuyler Avenue Shuttle.As of 2021, the area which the horsetrack was on is now occupied by the Chicago Bulk Mail Center and the eastern part of the Forest Park Plaza.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Harlem Race Track (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Harlem Race Track
Roosevelt Road, Proviso Township

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Wikipedia: Harlem Race TrackContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 41.861111111111 ° E -87.811666666667 °
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Address

Chicago Bulk Mail Center (Chicago NDC)

Roosevelt Road 7500
60130 Proviso Township
Illinois, United States
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Harlem Race Track Grandstand, 1901
Harlem Race Track Grandstand, 1901
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Showmen's Rest
Showmen's Rest

Showmen's Rest in Forest Park, Illinois, is a 750 plot section of Woodlawn Cemetery mostly for circus performers owned by the Showmen's League of America The first performers and show workers that were buried there are in a mass grave from when between 56 and 61 employees of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus were interred. They were killed in the Hammond circus train wreck on June 22, 1918, at Hessville, Indiana, (about 51⁄2 miles east of Hammond, Indiana), when an empty Michigan Central Railroad troop train from Detroit, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois, plowed into their circus train. The engineer of the troop train, Alonzo Sargent, had fallen asleep. Among the dead were Arthur Dierckx and Max Nietzborn of the "Great Dierckx Brothers" strong man act and Jennie Ward Todd of "The Flying Wards". The Showmen's League of America, formed in 1913 with Buffalo Bill Cody as its first president, had recently selected and purchased the burial land in Woodlawn Cemetery at the intersection of Cermak Road and Des Plaines Avenue in Forest Park, Illinois, for its members. Services were held five days after the train wreck. The identity of many victims of the wreck was unknown. Most of the markers note "unidentified male" (or female). One is marked "Smiley," another "Baldy," and "4 Horse Driver."The Showmen's Rest section of Woodlawn Cemetery is still used for burials of deceased showmen who are said to be performing now at the biggest of the Big Tops. A Memorial Day service is held at Woodlawn Cemetery every year. Other Showmen's Rests include one at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Hugo, Oklahoma. Hugo is a winter circus home which calls itself Circus City, USA. In Miami, Florida, the largest Showmen's Rest is at Southern Memorial Park where large elephant and lion statues flank hundreds of markers commemorating circus greats and not-so-greats. Tampa, Florida's Showmen's Rest is located close to the Greater Tampa Showmen's Association near downtown.