Liam
Ford will be at Billy Goat Tavern on October 1, 2009 at 6pm for an event to
launch his book Soldier Field: A Stadium and Its City (University of Chicago Press $30, 78 black
and white photos).
Sports fans nationwide know Soldier Field as the home of the
Chicago Bears. For decades its signature columns provided an iconic backdrop
for gridiron matches. But few realize that the stadium has been much more than
that. Soldier Field: A Stadium and Its City explores how this
amphitheater evolved from a public war memorial into a majestic arena that
helped define Chicago.
Chicago Tribune staff writer Liam Ford led the
reporting on the stadium’s controversial 2003 renovation—and simultaneously
found himself unearthing a dramatic history. As he tells it, the tale of
Soldier Field truly is the story of Chicago,
filled with political intrigue and civic pride. Designed by Holabird and Roche,
Soldier Field arose through a serendipitous combination of local tax dollars,
City Beautiful Boosters, and the machinations of Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson. The
result was a stadium that stood at the center of Chicago’s political, cultural, and sporting
life for nearly sixty years before the arrival of Walter Payton and William
“The Refrigerator” Perry.
Ford describes it all in the voice of a seasoned reporter:
the high school football games, track and field contests, rodeos, and even
NASCAR races. Photographs, including many from the Chicago Park District’s own
collections, capture these remarkable scenes: the swelling crowds at ethnic
festivals, Catholic masses, and political rallies. Few remember that Soldier
Field hosted Billy Graham and Martin Luther King Jr., Judy Garland and Johnny
Cash—as well as the final show of the Grateful Dead.
