Zion Dome Update

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the dome from the Zion Hotel (built in 1902) that was saved by local citizens in 1979 when the rest of the building was demolished.

Since my post, a Save the Dome Committee has been organized to fundraise money for the much needed repairs to the historic structure. The Committee was formed by Zion Commissioner Shantal Taylor and other concerned citizens.

Anyone interested in this preservation effort can attend the committee's next meeting on February 9th at 4 p.m. at Ariel Fitness and Nutrition, 2719 Elisha Avenue, Zion.

Looking south on Sheridan Road at the Zion Hotel, circa 1910. Dunn Museum. 

The dome is located at Sheridan Road and 26th Street, on the original site of the Zion Hotel. 

Update! On April 22, 2011, it was reported in the News-Sun that Zion Solutions has donated $40,000 to the city of Zion to restore the dome.

Artist Reima V. Ratti (1914 - 1945)

In 2004, a collection of work by Waukegan-born artist, Reima "Ray" Ratti (1914-1945) was donated to the Bess Bower Dunn Museum from the estate of his fiancee, Mary Sadler. It is the largest known publicly-held collection of Reima V. Ratti's work.

During his short life, Ratti produced an impressive amount of sketches, drawings and paintings influenced by the vibrant and diverse community he lived in and the challenges of life in the Great Depression. 

Waukegan Township High School portrait of Reima Ratti, circa 1934.
Bess Bower Dunn Museum 2004.19.129

The son of Finnish immigrants, Victor Ratti (1886-1933) and Hilja Touminen Ratti (1889-1962), Reima's passion for art developed and matured through Waukegan Township High School's robust art program and dedicated teachers.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Ratti was able to take advantage of a New Deal program to gain full-time work. In 1935, Ratti was accepted as a laborer in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) with Company 1699 at Camp Estabrook near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

While working as a rock-crusher, Ratti continued to sketch and paint, finding inspiration in the back-breaking work.

At Camp Estabrook, Ratti painted the quintessential CCC laborer in this work titled, "Driller." Utilizing dynamite, drills and man-power, the CCC workers removed a nearly one-mile rock ledge as part of a flood control project along the Milwaukee River. "Driller" oil on canvas, 1935. 

Bess Bower Dunn Museum 2004.19.7

In September 1936, Ratti requested to be accepted as a CCC artist, sending a letter and his sketchbook to the head of the Treasury Department Section of Painting and Sculpture in Washington, D.C.: “I have heard much about CCC artists and the fine work they have done. I would very much like to be a CCC Artist myself.” His request was accepted and his status changed from "enrollee" to "official CCC artist." 

While Ratti became an artist with the Civilian Conservation Corps, most artists employed by the U.S. Government's New Deal programs worked through the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

In July 1937, Ratti returned home to Waukegan to work full-time as a night shift baker for the Co-Operative Bakery. Since he worked as a baker in the early morning hours before dawn, he was able to paint during the day when natural light was best.

Reima Ratti sketching in the back alley of the Co-Operative Bakery in Waukegan where he worked from 1937 to 1943.

Waukegan Post, May 3, 1940.

Ratti worked in oils, graphite, ink, pastel, and gouache. He often painted friends and family, and some landscapes as well. The oil portraits were done in the cottage studio he built at the back of the lot of his family's Waukegan home. 

"Landscape" by Reima Ratti, oil on canvas, 1944. This painting was done while on a trip to Wyoming  to see relatives. 

Bess Bower Dunn Museum 2004.19.9.b

"Young Man Carrying Pail" by Reima Ratti, pastel, circa 1940. One of Ratti's many drawings done at the Finnish baths in Waukegan. 

Bess Bower Dunn Museum 2004.19.2

"Portrait with Puffed Sleeves." Oil on canvas. Circa 1943.

Bess Bower Dunn Museum 2004.19.30

During his lifetime, Ratti's work was recognized locally and regionally. His art was exhibited at the Milwaukee Public Museum and Art Institute of Chicago. 

Uncited Waukegan newsapaper article about Ratti's death, November 15, 1945. 

After his untimely death at the age of 31, his fiancee, Mary Sadler (1916-2003), and friend and art pupil Carl Austen (1917-1999) memorialized and promoted his work with local exhibitions. For many years, Sadler continued to search in local resale shops for Ratti's work. 

~ ~ ~ 

In 2018, a biography of Reima V. Ratti's life, art and work in the CCC was published by Kathleen Duxbury. CCC ART Artists of the Civilian Conservation Corps: Reima Victor Ratti. 

The Zion Hotel Dome

 John Alexander Dowie, official portrait, 1903. Dunn Museum. 

The founding of the City of Zion is a remarkable tale of one man's will. The charismatic preacher and faith healer, John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907) founded the Christian Catholic Church and the city of his dreams, Zion.

Born in Scotland, Dowie came to Illinois in 1893 when he preached outside the gates of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. By 1899, his followers numbered in the thousands, and had a Temple in Chicago.

It was Dowie's ambitious plan to create a theocracy—a city of God. He worked with a land agent to anonymously buy 6,000 acres in Benton Township, Lake County. Dowie was savvy enough to realize there might be opposition to his church claiming so much land. The local newspapers were quick to speculate on the flurry of purchases, suspecting one of the railroads or the Armour Meat Packing company.

In July 1901, lots in several of Dowie's newly platted subdivisions were made available for lease, and the boom was on. The caveat, you had to be a member of Dowie's church. Families set up tents to live in while they built their homes.

Sheridan Road looking north from approximately 26th Street, circa 1905. Dunn Museum. (Location updated 4/5/19).

 

Early in 1902, Dowie had the large Elijah Hospice "hotel" constructed to accommodate workers who would build the new city. The Hospice was located on Sheridan Road and 26th Street. 

The bus's destination sign is for Kenosha. Circa 1930. Dunn Museum.

It took 500 workers two months to complete the three-story building, which at the time was the largest wooden structure in Illinois. Painted white, the Hospice seemed to be the very icon of Dowie's message of "clean and faithful living." 

Rare photo of Zion Hotel interior taken in 1939 at the annual dinner of the Booker T. Washington Progressive Club. Dunn Museum 94.26.1. 

Zion Hotel, circa 1965. Dunn Museum 97.5.1.

In the 1950s, the building became a residence for senior citizens and was known as the Zion Hotel.

Advertisement for boarding at the Zion Hotel. Chicago Tribune, September 16, 1962. Newspapers.com

By the 1970s, the building was in such need of repair it had to be condemned. In 1979, it was razed, but Zion's citizens donated $20,000 to save the dome as a reminder of the city's extraordinary past. 

Since 1980, the dome has been maintained through private and public funds on the same property where the hotel once stood.

Zion Hotel Dome, 2003. 

Credit: John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), Library of Congress, 

Prints and Photographs Division.

 
The dome is one of the city's oldest landmarks, and sits prominently along Sheridan Road where it is seen by thousands of people each day. This is the only surviving remnant of Zion's early wooden structures, which were all destroyed by fire or bulldozer.

Two other significant Dowie-era buildings are also preserved in Zion—Dowie's former residence, Shiloh House, and Shiloh Cottage, both brick Victorians. The Shiloh House is home to the Zion Historical Society.

Postcard view of Dowie's residence, circa 1907. Dunn Museum 96.6.4

In recent months, the dome's deteriorating condition has again caused concerns. There is renewed debate about who should pay for its maintenance.