Charles H. Wacker
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Charles Henry Wacker (29 August 1856 - 31 October 1929), born in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, was a businessman and philanthropist. He was Vice Chairman of the General Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and in 1909 was appointed Chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission by Mayor Busse. As Commission chairman from 1909 to 1926, he championed the Burnham Plan for improving Chicago. This work included addresses, obtaining wide publicity from newspapers, and publishing Wacker's Manual of the Plan of Chicago (by Walter D. Moody) as a textbook for local schoolchildren.
Prior to serving on the Commission, Wacker was a Chicago brewer and the director of the 1893 Columbian Exposition held in Chicago.
As a businessman he was part of a consortium of Chicago brewers who underwrote the methods that facilitated the commercialization of refrigeration machines.[1]
Wacker Drive, built as part of the Burnham Plan, and Charles H. Wacker Elementary School are named in his honor. The name Wacker is also attached to other institutions in Chicago, such as the Hotel Wacker.
[edit] References
- Carl Smith. The Plan of Chicago: Promotion. Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved on 2006-08-16.
- Chicago Public Library. Chicago's Front Door. Retrieved on 2006-08-16.
[edit] Sources
- ^ Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 92. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
