The Dairy Queen: Grace Garrett Durand

Grace Garrett Durand with her cows. Crab Tree Farm, circa 1910. lflb.passitdown.com

Grace Garrett Durand (1867-1948), founder of Crab Tree Farm in Lake Bluff, Illinois, was one of the most forward thinking dairy farmers of her day. Through her philanthropic nature and society connections she advanced children’s health and the production of clean milk.

Durand was born in Burlington, Iowa to Martha Rorer and William Garrett. Grace’s ties to the Chicago area likely began with her brother’s marriage to Miss Ada Sawyer in 1884. Ada was the daughter of one Chicago's “pioneer druggists,” Dr. Sidney Sawyer. 

In February 1888, Ada Sawyer Garrett and her mother, Elizabeth Sawyer, gave Grace an “elegant reception" at their home. This may have been Grace’s formal introduction to Chicago society. In the following years, Chicago’s Inter Ocean newspaper would note Dr. and Mrs. Sawyers’ travels with Miss Grace Garrett as their guest. 

Society page notice of the reception in honor of Grace Garrett. The Inter Ocean, Chicago, February 5, 1888.

Grace had quickly become the darling of social circles for her “sweet winning face and vivacious manner.” The Sawyers took her to New York where they stayed at the Windsor Hotel, and wintered together at the famed luxury resort, the Hotel Alcazar—today’s Lightner Museum—in St. Augustine, Florida.

On news of her mother’s declining health, Grace returned home to Iowa to care for her. Martha Garrett died in February 1893.

In April 1894, Grace married wealthy sugar broker, Scott Sloan Durand of Lake Forest. Their wedding was held in Burlington, Iowa “in the presence of a brilliant assemblage of invited guests.” Grace’s maid of honor was the famous watercolor artist and illustrator, Maud Humphrey (1868-1940) of New York. Today, Maud is better known as the mother of Hollywood legend, Humphrey Bogart.

Sketch of Grace Garrett for an article titled, "Two Fond Hearts United," on the occasion of her marriage to Scott Durand. 

Inter Ocean, Chicago, April 6, 1894.

The Inter Ocean reported that the bride wore a “Queen Louise gown of white satin… and a white veil trimmed in duchesse lace.” At this point in her life, Grace was considered a “lady of fashion.” Within a few years, newspapers would spend less time talking about her clothes and more about her leadership qualities.

The newlyweds returned to Lake Forest and in 1896 built a new home on 20 acres at the northeast corner of Sheridan Road and Crabtree Lane. When Lake Forest held its first election for the Board of Education in May 1897, Durand was motivated to run. This was also the first time Lake Forest women could vote. Grace Durand and Miss Mary Neimeyer were elected to the board. 

At the turn of the century, Durand shifted her focus to dairy farming as she became aware of infant mortality rates in Chicago linked to contaminated milk. Impure milk was a problem that had been combatted with varying success for centuries, but with the rapid growth of cities the problem was exacerbated. Inspired by her mother’s example of helping others, Grace saw a desperate need to provide clean milk to children.

In 1904, Durand established Crab Tree dairy farm on her Lake Forest property. However, her neighbors were not enamored of having a dairy herd in the neighborhood. Some complained of the “odor and flies” and that the herd’s “bawling” kept them awake at night. 

Artist's fanciful illustration of Grace Durand astride one of her dairy cows. Washington Herald, November 28. 1915.

In 1906, the Durands’ purchased 256-acres, formerly owned by Judge Henry W. Blodgett, on Sheridan Road north of Lake Bluff. Grace marched her cows up the road to the new farm. Her dairy operation was celebrated in newspapers across the nation. The New Castle Herald noted that Durand sold: “the purest of milk… at a profit in air tight silver jugs.” Grace even enrolled in a farmer’s ten-day course at the Wisconsin University College of Agriculture in Madison, WI.
 
An article in Pearson’s Magazine explained how Grace’s visit to Chicago's “tenement district revealed… most of the infant mortality was due to the want of nourishment, which meant good milk, and that good milk was a rare commodity, difficult to procure, even at exorbitant prices.” Durand used the profits from selling milk and thick cream to Chicago’s most select hotels, restaurants and tea rooms to support needy children.

In 1910, several buildings on her farm were lost to fire. Durand "tearfully" sold her herd, because she could not get barns built before winter. The Durands commissioned Chicago architect, Solon S. Beman (1853 - 1914) to design her new ideal model dairy farm. It was the only farm complex Beman designed.

Crab Tree Farm buildings designed by Solon S. Beman and Durand's new herd of cows, circa 1911. Private collection. 

 
Durand was known to pamper her cows and referred to them as her "pets." She enlisted the unusual method of playing opera music while the cows were milked. Grace claimed the music made the cows happy and consequently their milk tasted better and was more nutritious. 

With her success in raising standards in dairying, Durand began to be called the “dairy queen.” 

Dairy farmers were eager to learn the "dairy queen's" methods at the Farmer's Institute

 in Edwardsville, IL. Mantoon Journal Gazette, February 17, 1910.

 

She became a popular lecturer at farmers’ institutes across the Midwest, sharing her experiences in dairy work, and belief in hygienic and systematic methods to enhance dairy products. Her “charming manner and decisiveness impressed” all who heard her. 

Unfortunately, Durand had setbacks in her dairy operations. In fall 1915, her herd was confirmed to have Foot and Mouth Disease, a highly infectious viral disease of hooved animals. Crab Tree Farm was one of many in the region suffering from the disease. Durand fought the diagnosis through litigation, but lost her legal battle in the Illinois Supreme Court. Consequently, the herd was destroyed. Of course, the tenacious Durand began again. 

In addition to dairy farming, Durand supported the prevention and treatment of Tuberculosis. She was one of the incorporators of the Lake County Tuberculosis Institute (Waukegan) in October 1908, along with Dr. Elva A. Wright (1868-1950) of Lake Forest. 

In July 1932, the Durand family made news when their adopted son Jack Durand received a letter threatening to kidnap his 2-year old daughter unless he handed over $50,000 (nearly $1 million today).

Grace Durand outwitted criminals in a plot to kidnap her grandchild. 

The Times, Streator, Illinois. July 12, 1932.

The police were notified of the threat and waiting at Jack Durand's home. However, the would-be kidnappers went mistakenly to Grace Durand's home at Crab Tree Farm and asked for him. A "quick thinking" Grace told them that Jack would be home soon and they should have a seat on the porch to wait. Meanwhile, she phoned the police. Perhaps it was her persuasive personality, but oddly enough the thugs waited as suggested and were rounded up when the police arrived. 

Grace was also a Temperance advocate and member of the Lake Bluff chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. It was more than a little embarrassing when her husband Scott Durand was indicted for selling 30 million pounds of sugar (from 1929 to 1932) to persons who used it to manufacture liquor.

Grace Durand as featured in Harper's Weekly, May 9, 1914.

Dairy operations ceased when Grace Durand died on February 26, 1948. During her lifetime she was recognized as one of the “most powerful leaders in the milk crusade.” 

Following Durand's death, William McCormick Blair (1884-1982) and his wife, Helen Bowen Blair (1890-1972), purchased Crab Tree Farm. The Blairs association with Durand had begun in 1926, with the purchase of 11-acres of the farm overlooking Lake Michigan. 

Since 1985, Durand’s Crab Tree Farm has been owned by the John H. Bryan family. The property is still a working farm, and the original historic buildings have been renovated and now display collections of American and English Arts and Crafts furniture and decorative arts.

Special thanks to Laurie Stein, Curator at the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, for additional research and enthusiasm for this topic. 

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Findagrave.com

Crab Tree Farm, crabtreefarmcollections.org

History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, lflbhistory.org

Olmstead, Alan L. and Paul W. Rhode. Arresting Contagion: Science, Policy, and Conflicts Over Animal Disease Control. Harvard University Press, 2015.

“Garrett, Timothy M.” Chicago City Directory, 1882.

“Past Pleasures.” The Inter Ocean, Chicago, Illinois, February 5, 1888.

“Durand—Garrett.” The Daily Leader, Davenport, Iowa, April 1, 1894.

“Two Fond Hearts United.” The Inter Ocean, Chicago, Illinois. April 6, 1894.

American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record, Vol. 25. 1894.

“Lake Forest Dames Vote: Five Run for Office and Two Win at the Ballot.” Chicago Daily Tribune, May 9, 1897.

“Mrs. Scott Durand a Student.” Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois. February 5, 1908. 

“Dairy Queen Is To Speak.” Journal Gazette, Mantoon, Illinois. February 17, 1910.

Saint Maur, Kate V. “Mrs. Scott Durand - Milk Woman.” Pearson's Magazine, July 1910.

“Mrs. Durand Tearfully Orders Dairy Pets Sold.” The Inter Ocean, Chicago, Illinois. November 8, 1910.

“Mrs. Durand: A Twentieth Century Product.” Harper's Weekly, May 9, 1914.

“The Gentile Woman Farmer and Her Fight to Save Her $30,000 Herd.” Washington Herald, Washington, D.C. November 28,    1915.

“3 Suspects in Kidnaping Plot.” The Times, Streator, Illinois. July 12, 1932.

“Arrests Nip Durand Baby $50,000 Kidnapping Plot.” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 13, 1932.

“Wealthy Broker, Mate of Rum Foe, Indicted by U.S." The Decatur Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois, February 17, 1933.

Private Henry McIntosh, 102nd U.S. Colored Troops

Battle flag of the 102nd U.S. Colored Troops (1st Michigan), presented to the regiment by the Colored Ladies Aid Society on January 5, 1864. Henry McIntosh served in Company G. Image source: capitol.michigan.gov. 

Henry McIntosh (1843-1915) of Lake Forest, Illinois, served with the 102nd U.S. Colored Troops (1st Michigan) from February 1864 to October 1865. 

McIntosh was born enslaved on a plantation in Kentucky. When war erupted on April 12, 1861, he was made a horse wrangler for the Confederate army, but wanted no part in the South’s fight to save the institution of slavery. After several months, McIntosh saw a chance for freedom and crossed the Ohio River into a bordering free state.

Gateway to Freedom: International Memorial to the Underground Railroad by Ed Dwight, Sculptor. Dedicated in Detroit, Michigan on October 20, 2001.

According to his family, McIntosh made his way via the secret network of abolitionists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. Many freedom seekers who headed north continued onto Canada, but McIntosh stopped in Detroit, Michigan where there was an established African American community.

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect, freeing all enslaved people in the Confederacy. The intention was to cripple the Confederacy’s use of this labor source to support their armies and home front; something that Henry McIntosh had experienced firsthand.

In July 1863, U.S. Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, authorized the State of Michigan to “raise one Regiment of colored Infantry.” The order stated that these men would not receive a bounty for enlisting, but would be paid “ten dollars per month.” They would also be “commanded by white officers.”

Between August 1863 and February 1864, a total of 895 men from across Michigan signed the rolls for the new regiment. The unit received its commission into the service of the United States as the First Michigan Colored Infantry on February 17, 1864. Its' designation changed to the 102nd U.S. Colored Troops/Infantry (USCI) on May 23. Henry McIntosh served as a private in Company G.

McIntosh was particularly proud that the 102nd USCI were part of the forces supporting Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea (November 15 - December 21, 1864), a campaign that led to the eventual surrender of the Confederacy. The 102nd served on picket duty, built fortifications, destroyed rail lines, and engaged the enemy.

After the war's end in Spring 1865, the process of Reconstruction began to redress the inequities of slavery and help the South become part of the Union again. Federal troops, including Henry McIntosh with the 102nd USCI, were sent to Charleston, South Carolina to keep order. 

The presence of African American soldiers caused provisional governors of Southern states to complain that “the black troops are a great nuisance & do much mischief among the Freed men.” The uniformed and armed African American troops made for a powerful image, undoubtedly generating pride in Freedmen and fear in Secessionists. 

Pressure from the governors prompted the War Department to muster-out the Black troops and send them home, essentially removing their presence from Southern states. The 102nd mustered-out September 30, 1865. They arrived in Detroit, Michigan on October 17 and received their final pay and discharge.

Shortly thereafter, Henry McIntosh made his way to Lake County, Illinois, seeking new opportunities, and settling in Lake Forest. One attraction to the area was the number of African Americans living there. This is likely where he met Sarah Martin, whom he married in 1869. According to the 1870 Census, there were eight African American households, totaling 30 people, in Shields Township/Lake Forest. 

View of 1870 U.S. Census data for Henry McIntosh, misspelled "Mackintosh" and his wife Sarah. Ancestry.com.

Henry McIntosh was an active community member, and became one of the organizers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Organized in 1866, the church was constructed in 1870 at the present corner of Maplewood and Washington Road. McIntosh had a lifelong association with the church. 

Notice from the The Lake Forester August 1, 1903, showing Henry McIntosh as superintendent at the Bethel A.M.E. Church. McIntosh is credited as one of the organizers of this church. 

McIntosh worked as a laborer, and later as a coachman and gardener on a private estate. Sarah and Henry had no children. Sadly, on May 30, 1884, Sarah died.

Over one year later, on July 14, 1885, Henry married Fannie Davis Freleigh (1867-1960). 

Fannie was born in Missouri in 1867 to Sarah and Charles Davis. Her father was a plasterer by trade, and in the late 1870s he moved the family to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. As the oldest of eight children, Fannie helped the family by working outside the home as a house servant for the Earle Moses family. Moses was a buyer and seller of wood in Oshkosh’s lumber industry.

Between 1880-1885, Fannie came to Lake Forest and was employed in the household of Rev. Daniel S. Gregory (1832-1915), the president of Lake Forest University. 

Henry and Fannie lived on Washington Road and had nine children: William W., Etta (Mrs. Andrew Smith), Clarence, Peter, Euphemia (Mrs. Henry Walker), Arnett, Lillian, Lutie E. (Mrs. William Slaughter), and Wayman H. 

Photo detail of Henry McIntosh in 1899. Bess Bower Dunn Museum, 64.39.2. 

The above photograph from the Dunn Museum's collections was taken on August 29, 1899, at the dedication of the Lake County Civil War monument in Waukegan. This cropped image shows an African American Civil War veteran. 

Is this man Henry McIntosh? Post update 8/19/21 - When I researched this post months ago, I strongly suspected, but could not be 100% certain that the veteran's identity was Henry McIntosh. Today, I received an email from his great-great granddaughter, Bonnie McIntosh, to let me know that her great aunt, Maxine McIntosh (Henry's granddaughter), confirmed that he is Henry. I am so grateful for this information and to make a connection with his descendants. Thank you! 

Another view of the photograph of veterans at the dedication of the Civil War monument in Waukegan. Henry McIntosh is right of the drummer and marked by a red star. Dunn Museum 64.39.2.

There is no list of names for the men in this photograph, making it difficult to ascertain their identities. Of the African American men who lived in Lake County and are known to have served in the Civil War, McIntosh was the only one active in veterans' associations. George W. Bell (1816-1910) was an African American Civil War veteran with Company B, 40th U.S. Colored Infantry. After the war, he lived in Waukegan, but was noted for refusing to have any photographs taken and his name does not appear in veterans' records. Newport Township Historical Society has identified another African American veteran, Samuel Killerbrue (c1833 - c1897), who served in Co. K, 1st Tennessee Colored Troops. Killerbrue lived near Wadsworth from about 1866 to mid-1880s with his wife and children. 

McIntosh was a member of the Lake County Soldiers and Sailors Association. He was noted in the Association's records (below) as attending the August 1913 reunion in Waukegan. From this record, we know that he participated in veterans' reunions. 

Ledger entry noting Civil War veterans, including Henry McIntosh (bottom), who attended the Lake County Soldiers and Sailors Association reunion in August 1913. McIntosh was 70-years old. Dunn Museum 74.19.16.

Henry McIntosh's service during the Civil War inevitably inspired his children and grandchildren to serve their country: 

Son, Clarence Nathaniel McIntosh (1889-1963) served as Sergeant Major with the 351st Field Artillery during World War I; son, Wayman Hillis McIntosh (1900-1982), an athletic trainer at Lake Forest College, volunteered as air raid warden during World War II; grandson, Henry Nathaniel McIntosh (1923-1980) served as lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War; and grandson Clarence Pearson McIntosh (1925-1999) served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. 

Henry McIntosh's grave marker at Lake Forest Cemetery. Findagrave.com.

Henry McIntosh died on August 3, 1915, leaving a legacy of service to his community and the nation. 

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

Special thanks to Laurie Stein, Curator, History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, for research assistance. lstein@lflbhistory.org 

Sources: 

Ancestry.com (1870, 1880, 1900-1940 U.S. Census; World War I/II registration cards, Lake Forest city directories). 
FindAGrave.com.
Bess Bower Dunn Museum. Lake County Soldiers and Sailors Association Collection, and G.A.R. Photo Collection. https://www.lcfpd.org/museum/collections/. 
History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff www.lflbhistory.org. 
Detroit Historical Society www.detroithistorical.org. 
Michigan in the War web.archive.org. 
https://web.archive.org/web/20030724204008/http://www.michiganinthewar.org/infantry/1colora.htm
"Lake Forester Deserts Confederacy, Marches With Sherman's Army to Sea." Uncited, July 27, 1961. 
"African American History in Lake Forest: A Walking Tour," Lake Forest College, 1997. 
"DAVIS." The Oshkosh Northwestern, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. July 2, 1931. Roy Davis obituary, brother of Fannie McIntosh. 
"Revival of Democracy." Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi, June 14, 1942. Lists air raid wardens in Chicago's Division 8, including Wayman McIntosh of Lake Forest, Illinois. 
Robertson, Jno. Michigan in the War. Lansing: W.S. George and Company, State Printers and Binders, 1882. Michigan's Adjutant General's Department reports. https://archive.org/details/michiganinwar00mich/page/n7/mode/2up. Accessed February 12, 2021.
Dobak, William A. Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862-1867. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History United States Army, 2011.
Arpee, Edward. Lake Forest Illinois: History and Reminiscences 1861-1961. Lake Forest, Illinois: Rotary Club of Lake Forest, 1963.
Halsey, John J. A History of Lake County, Illinois. Illinois: Roy S. Bates, 1912. 
Lake County (IL) Genealogical Society. “Lake County, Illinois Marriages 1881 to 1901,” Volume III. Libertyville, Illinois.

Passenger Pigeons in Lake County

Passenger pigeon, 1920. 
The Orthogenetic Evolution
in the Pigeons. Hayashi and Toda (artists)

2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon. This bird once numbered in the billions in North America, but in a matter of decades market and recreational hunting drove the bird to extinction.

The first non-native settlers to Lake County in the mid-1830s found an abundance of wild game, including quail and passenger pigeons. Thousands of pigeons roosted in the county’s oak trees, eating acorns.

Remembrances of those early days were documented by students across Lake County, who in 1918 asked their elders for their memories of the passenger pigeons: In Newport Township, "Wild pigeons... flew in flocks of hundreds and helped furnish the pantry with delicious meat."

Woodblock engraving of passenger pigeons

in flight in Louisiana. "The Illustrated Shooting 

and Dramatic News,"  July 3, 1875.

In Ela Township, "There used to be a great many wild pigeons, but they were all shot. They flew in flocks that darkened the sun." 

Excerpt from students regarding passenger pigeons. 

Dunn Museum, Wauconda School History, 2003.0.46

In Wauconda Township, "There were flocks of quail, partridges and wild pigeons which were hunted for food, taking the place of chicken and turkey.  Great flocks of wild pigeons were common and they were considered a pest by the farmers.  They would pick up to small grain almost as fast as the farmers could sow it, for grain at that time was sown by hand.  Sometimes men and women were obliged to stay in the field to drive these flocks away."

From 1860 to 1880 there was a catastrophic decline in the passenger pigeons' numbers. 

Telegraph lines and railroads made it possible to share the location of passenger pigeon roosts with a nation-wide audience, including professional hunters. The market hunters, as they were called, brought their shot birds (by the tens of thousands) to major cities in order to sell their feathers and breast meat. 

There were also venues that specialized in pigeon shoots. The best known was Dexter Park, on the south side of Chicago. One match in 1877 involved the shooting of 5,000 passenger pigeons. Another match was visited by General Philip Sheridan (Fort Sheridan's namesake). 

Henry Kelso Coale, circa 1920.

Library of Congress. 

In 1879, Henry Kelso Coale (1858 - 1926) of Highland Park, an amateur ornithologist and bird collector, "took specimens" of the pigeons. At the time, the bird's demise was already being talked about by conservationists, but Coale had found them breeding in the woods along the Des Plaines River, west of Lake Forest, and shot several for his collection. (In 1936, the Field Museum in Chicago acquired a great portion of Coale's collection). 

In northern Illinois, the species was deemed to be abundant up to 1882. The last passenger pigeon in Lake County was recorded by John Farwell Ferry on August 7, 1895 in Lake Forest.

In 1912, Coale wrote that Lake County was "one of the most favored spots in Illinois for the study of birds," because of the variety. He also noted that the passenger pigeons were "formerly an abundant summer resident but now practically extinct." In fact, they would be extinct two years later.

The last passenger pigeon in the world, named Martha, was born in Hyde Park, Chicago about 1885 and was conveyed to the Cincinnati Zoo in 1902. She died on September 1, 1914.

Martha (c. 1885-1914), the last passenger pigeon, 

as photographed at the Cincinnati Zoo, ca. 1914. Source online.

To learn more: 

"The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction" exhibition explores connections between the human world and looks at some of the work being done to help prevent similar extinctions from occurring. Lake County Discovery Museum through February 2, 2014. 

Greenberg, Joel. Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction. Bloomsbury, USA. 2014.

Boxer Gene Tunney Trained Near Lake Villa

Gene Tunney, circa 1928. Online photo

World heavyweight champion, James Joseph "Gene" Tunney (1897-1978) trained for one of his famous bouts at Cedar Crest Country Club near Lake Villa, Illinois. 

A New York native and son of Irish immigrants, Gene Tunney began fighting in 1915, and served in combat during World War I. Hence his nickname the "Fighting Marine." He started as a light heavyweight, but in 1925 began to concentrate on heavyweight matches. 

On September 23, 1926, Tunney defeated the legendary Jack Dempsey (1895-1983) in Philadelphia, PA in a 10-round unanimous decision for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Not surprisingly, there was great interest when a rematch was announced the following year.

On August 11, 1927, the site for Tunney's training camp for his second fight against Dempsey was officially announced. The location would be Cedar Crest Country Club (aka Cedar Crest Farms). The property located in Lake Villa Township and west of Route 59 on the shore of Fox Lake, was the former estate of coal mine owner and operator, Jackson K. Dering (1870-1925). 

The Chicago Tribune reported on August 19, 1927: "the training site is almost 70 miles by motor from Chicago... one of the few places Billy Gibson, manager of Tunney, visited in his quest for a training camp. Gibson asserts it is the most ideal training camp sites he has seen in his thirty years' association with boxing." 

Headline for Tunney's training camp announcement. Chicago Tribune August 12, 1927. 

Tunney was given a suite of rooms in the main house, and rooms for his invited guests, access to a swimming pool, and two boxing rings. According to the Tribune: "Signs will be posted along the highways directing motorists to the camp. Unlike Dempsey, the champion [Tunney] will work in public and special trains will be run over the Soo line." The Soo Line was the only railroad to the lakes region and Lake Villa. 

Gene Tunney (in back) listening to a "band of youths" playing on the lawn of Cedar Crest Country Club,

Lake Villa. Chicago Tribune, September 3, 1927. 

After some public workouts in front of 4,000 fans and newspaper reporters, Tunney announced that he would begin training in secret. He did, however, work in a total of five exhibition matches at the camp for his fans. 

"I have my own ideas of training," Tunney said to the Tribune regarding the secret workouts. "I want to perfect certain punches and I do not want any one to know the style of attack I am going to use against Dempsey." 

Jack Dempsey was the most famous boxer of his era, and a cultural icon of the 1920s. He held the World Heavyweight Championship from 1919-1926. The odds makers favored Dempsey to win the rematch. 

The Tribune reported that on September 13, Tunney spent the day golfing at the Onwenstia Club in Lake Forest and dining with society friends. His manager Billy Gibson noted that Tunney wasn't sleeping well with noise around the clubhouse and on the Fox Lake shore. Gibson said: "We thought it best for the champion to get away from the camp for a few days and forget all about the fight." 

Program for the historic fight, September 22, 1927, Soldier Field, Chicago. Online image.

Tunney rode in a bullet proof car protected by two squad cars from Lake Villa to Chicago the day of the fight. It was said that notorious Chicago mobster, Al Capone, was a fan of Jack Dempsey and bet on him to win, fueling rumors that the fight was rigged. 

The match was held at Chicago's Soldier Field, drawing a gate of $2,658,600 (nearly $34 million in today's dollars), and over 104,000 in attendance. 

Tunney dominated the fight in rounds one to six, but in the seventh round, Dempsey knocked Tunney to the ground. This was the first time in Tunney's career that he'd been knocked down.

Controversially, the referee did not start counting immediately. Instead, he waited until Dempsey moved to a neutral corner giving Tunney several seconds to recover before the actual count. Because of this delay, it became known as the Long Count Fight. 

Chicago Tribune photo from the famous Dempsey-Tunney fight, showing Tunney knocked down and the referee trying to move Dempsey to a neutral corner before beginning the 10-second count. Online image.

Interestingly, it was Dempsey's camp who had negotiated for a new 10-second count rule for knockdowns for this fight. 

Tunney later said he heard the referee at the "two" count and could've gotten up at any point after that, but waited until "nine." Dempsey said he had no reason not to believe Tunney, who then dominated the final two rounds, and won the title by unanimous decision. 

Notably, when Tunney knocked Dempsey down in the eighth round, the referee began counting before Tunney moved to a neutral corner. 

After the fight, Dempsey lifted Tunney's arm and said, "You were best. You fought a smart fight, kid." 

New York Herald headlines the day after the historic rematch, September 23, 1927. 

Approximately 15 million people listened to the fight on the radio, but controversy over the fight decision erupted. This was due in large part because a U.S. law prohibited the shipment of boxing movies over state lines. Once the law was repealed and people could see the count for themselves, the controversy dwindled. Tunney's alertness after being knocked down quieted the naysayers. 

Perhaps the Washington Post's sports reporter Shirley Povich said it best when he wrote: "Gene Tunney did get up. With the count of nine he rose to his feet a calm, deliberate fighting machine, stunned, but aware, and there Gene Tunney saved the championship." 

It was Dempsey's last career fight and Tunney's next to last. Tunney again defended the title successfully against Tom Heeney in 1928. 

Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey, circa 1940. Online image.

Despite fighting each other in one of the most controversial boxing matches in history, Tunney and Dempsey became good friends. 

- Diana Dretske, Curator ddretske@lcfpd.org