Heckman, Wallace, 1851-1927

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Chicago lawyer and businessman.

From the description of Letter : Chicago, Ill., to Edward E. Ayer, Chicago, Ill., 1915 Dec. 7. (Newberry Library). WorldCat record id: 37853154

Wallace Heckman was born May 2, 1851 in Moscow Mills, Missouri. He attended Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, graduating in 1874. After marrying and relocating to Chicago, Heckman served as senior member of the law firm Heckman, Elsdon, & Shaw from 1885 until 1903. He then became business manager and counsel of the University of Chicago, a position he held from 1903 to 1924. Under his financial supervision, the university began significant expansion, purchasing lands surrounding the Midway Plaisance and extending from Washington Park in the west to Dorchester Avenue in the east. Heckman also served at different times as a vice-president of Chicago Surface Lines, President of the Illinois Civil Service Reform Association, a member of the executive committee of the Municipal Voters’ League, and as a trustee of Hillsdale College.

In 1898, Heckman purchased a plot of land near Oregon, Illinois, which he named Ganymede Farm. A strong patron of local artists, Heckman agreed to lease fifteen acres of the land to a group who came to be known as the Eagle’s Nest Artists’ Colony. Included among the members of the Eagle’s Nest were artists Ralph Clarkson, Charles Francis Browne and Oliver Dennet Grove; writers Hamlin Garland, Henry B. Fuller and Horace Spencer Fiske; architects Irving D. and Allen B. Pond; sculptors Lorado Taft and Nellie Walker; organist Clarence Dickinson; and University of Chicago Secretary James Spencer Dickerson. So long as each member of the organization presented an annual public lecture or demonstration, Heckman provided the land for a fee of one dollar per year. Taft’s famous 50-foot concrete Black Hawk statue still stands on the site of the Eagle’s Nest Colony. In 1945, through the combined resources of the state assembly, the Department of Natural Resources, and the city of Oregon, the 273-acre plot of Ganymede Farm was purchased and renamed Lowden State Park as a memorial to former Illinois governor Frank O. Lowden.

Heckman was active as a writer and public speaker throughout his life, speaking regularly at meetings and ceremonies of the University Club, Quadrangle Club, Cliff Dwellers, and City Club of Chicago.

Heckman died on March 7, 1927 in Chicago, a few days after the passing of former university president Harry Pratt Judson. The Wallace Heckman Memorial Fund, one of the oldest University of Chicago Law Library book funds, was established by Heckman’s wife Tillie in 1929.

From the guide to the Heckman, Wallace. Papers, 1871-1926, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Catharine Willson photographs and clippings Archives of American Art
creatorOf Heckman, Wallace, 1851-1927. Papers, 1871-1926 (inclusive). University of Chicago Library
referencedIn Ryerson, Caroline Hutchinson. A pageant of Carissma : manuscript, 1909. University of Chicago Library
creatorOf Heckman, Wallace. Papers, 1871-1926 Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library,
creatorOf Heckman, Wallace, 1851-1927. Letter : Chicago, Ill., to Edward E. Ayer, Chicago, Ill., 1915 Dec. 7. Newberry Library
referencedIn Ryerson, Caroline Hutchinson. A pageant of Carissma : manuscript, 1909. Texas Christian University
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
correspondedWith Ayer, Edward Everett, 1841-1927 person
associatedWith Edward E. Ayer Manuscript Collection (Newberry Library) corporateBody
associatedWith Fairley, Andrew, landowner. person
associatedWith Farley family. family
associatedWith Farley, James, d. 1890. person
associatedWith Hillsdale College. corporateBody
associatedWith Logan, James, d. 1780. person
associatedWith Newberry Library. corporateBody
associatedWith Ryerson, Caroline Hutchinson. person
associatedWith University of Chicago corporateBody
associatedWith Willson, Catharine. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Oregon (Ill.)
Illinois--Oregon
Illinois--Chicago
Ohio
Hyde Park (Chicago, Ill.)
Subject
Artist colonies
Indians of North America
Manuscripts, American
Mingo Indians
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1851

Death 1927

Information

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