The clergymen above mentioned are among the most famous in the city, but there are many others almost equally prominent. The wayfarer, however, will be interested in learning of the popularity of the services at “Central” church and the People’s church, conducted at Central Music Hall and McVicker’s theatre respectively by Prof. David Swing and Dr. H. W. Thomas. Both these gentlemen possessed large followings when their congregations were formed. Prof. Swing is one of the leading personalities of the religious life of the city. He is a man of exceedingly plain exterior but his sermons are sound and forcible. It would be difficult to analyze his creed or that of the people who go to hear him. Central Music Hall is filled every Sunday morning with a large gathering of well-to-do people whose religious ideas could not, perhaps, be very accurately defined, but who would not go anywhere else under any inducement. There is also a large sprinkling of outsiders. The manner in which Prof. Swing’s followers appreciate his ministrations in their behalf is evidenced by their paying him a salary ample enough to enable him to build a palatial summer home at Lake Geneva, a near-by hot weather resort whose grassy banks are lined with the villas of Chicago millionaires. Dr. Thomas is a little more orthodox in his tenets, perhaps, but his services are no less popular than Prof. Swing’s. At both of these temples of worship, operated, as they are, in places devoted throughout the week to public amusement, chance visitors are made heartily welcome and many strangers who would not inconvenience themselves to ride out to one of the orthodox churches take advantage of the nearness of these two to their hotels and drop in on Sunday morning for an hour or so of spiritual enlightenment.
CHAPTER VII.
PANORAMAS AND LIBBY PRISON.
The panoramas of Chicago have become justly celebrated. They are patterned after the famous panoramas of Europe, being contained in huge circular buildings. There are at present three panoramas—the Battle of Gettysburg and the Falls of Niagara, on Panorama Place, a mile south of Madison street on Wabash avenue, and Chicago on Fire—the latter being a splendid representation of Chicago as it looked at the time of the awful conflagration that drew the eyes of the civilized world upon the suffering city. The Battle of Gettysburg is the oldest of the three. The portrayal of the greatest battle of the war of the rebellion is realistic beyond description. It is impossible for the spectator to detect where the canvas blends with the natural presentation beneath the feet. Hundreds of thousands of people have visited this attraction. The Wabash avenue cable cars take the visitor direct to “Gettysburg” and to “Niagara,” which is just across the street. “Niagara” is a faithful delineation of the world-famous falls, the portrayal being so realistic that the spectator, in fancy, can almost hear the roar of the water.
The panorama depicting the fire is shown in the building formerly consecrated to the Battle of Shiloh, on Michigan avenue, near Madison street. Here the visitor may stand for an hour lost in wonder at the realism of the scene so artfully drawn on canvas. The panic of a great city in the throes of a hopeless battle with the destroying element is admirably pictured, and from a view of that speaking and truthful canvas one may gain a slight idea of the bitter agony of those hours when the proud city was laid low in the face of as horrible a calamity as ever befell a community. The panoramas have a uniform admission fee of fifty cents.
The Libby Prison War Museum, located on Wabash avenue, between Fourteenth and Sixteenth streets, belongs to the same class as the panoramas in the amusement category, inasmuch as the visitor may enter and wander around for half a day or so if he chooses, taking his own time to view the attractions offered. Libby Prison is one of the leading permanent attractions of the city. On the outside, fronting on Wabash avenue, is a massive stone wall, and on the inside is the identical Libby Prison in which the soldiers of the north were incarcerated during the war. The building was purchased in Richmond by Chicago capitalists, and has been put up, brick for brick, exactly as it stood during the time when the nation was convulsed by the horrors of civil war. Within its walls will be found portraits of all the leading soldiers and statesmen, northern and southern, of that period; all kinds of firearms and ammunition, ancient and modern; a fine collection of historical documents, including the will made by John Brown an hour before his execution, and many other war relics. It may be easily imagined how deep an interest this place possesses for old soldiers, union or confederate. Old comrades, separated since the close of hostilities, often meet there, and many are the reminiscences exchanged. The Libby Prison is open day and evening. The admission fee is fifty cents, children half-price.
Not far from Libby Prison, on Wabash avenue, is another structure that possesses a strong historical interest. This is the fort of John Brown, transported entire to this city and enclosed in a neat iron building. Enterprise has no compunction in these days, and it is hard to tell what the visitor to Chicago will not see if he waits long enough.
