University of Illinois YW/YMCA Picnic, 1897

University of Illinois YW and YMCA Picnic, West End Park, May 1897
FJ Bird and D. Clara Hartrick identified in white frame
Bird family/P.L. Embley collection

Great photo, isn't it? I've been fascinated by this image since I was a child. It belonged to my grandfather, Marion Taylor Bird. I always thought the photo had something to do with Warrenville (Illinois); I think it was in a box with photos of Warrenville ancestors. I wondered about the people in the photo - who they were and why they had gathered. Whose photo was it before it was my grandfather's? There were many very old photos in his collection that had belonged to great-grand-aunts and uncles and cousins. It was not immediately obvious that this photo had belonged to my grandfather's father, and that it was deeply significant to him. 

About a week ago, I was reviewing my great-grandfather FJ Bird's 1944 memoir narrative - I can't even remember what I was looking for - when I noticed something that sent me searching for that old photo.

From the Tribute by F.J. Bird to His Wife, D. Clara Hartrick Bird:

"As a freshman at the University of Illinois in the fall of 1896 I noticed a little girl weighing slightly over ninety pounds attending Engineering Mathematics class with two other girl friends. I don’t think I even spoke to her in classes. Time went on and there was a YM and YWCA picnic at West End Park in Champaign [Illinois] on May [15], 1897. The two associations had rented the park for the day. It seemed my good fortune to get in the same Chute-the-Chute car with this little girl. We made several trips and then we went over to the Bowling Alley and we found lots of fun there.

All of a sudden we found ourselves almost alone. The others that were with us had gone somewhere and on my inquiry of this little girl we could find eats over at a certain point in the grounds. At the place a picture was taken of the whole group and you can find F.J. and D. Clara in that group."

I immediately thought of that unlabeled group photo. 

Newspapers.com, Champaign Daily Gazette, 
Champaign, Illinois · Saturday, February 28, 1903

After my grandfather's death, the photo had gone to my uncle, where I scanned it more than a decade ago. (He has since gifted the original to me.) Once I found the digital image, I turned my attention to proving that it was, in fact, the photo mentioned in the memoir. 

To do that, I went looking for photos of West End Park in Champaign, Illinois using Google Image search.  That led me to a CUTheaterhistory blog post that included this image of the "refreshment booth" at West End Park and gave the source: Champaign Daily Gazette from 1903. Using the citation (yay for citing sources!), I was able to located the article myself and capture a slightly clearer image.

Newspapers.com, The Daily Illini,
Urbana, Illinois. 21 May 1897

The next step was to see if the gathering made the newspaper. With that many people, it seems likely to be a news-worthy event. Happily, that turned out to be the case. The Daily Illini, Urbana published a writeup of the picnic the following Friday, May 21, 1897. The article aligns well with FJ Bird's recollections, except for the precise date. FJ Bird's narrative placed the gathering as the 20th May instead of the 15th. (47 years later, I think he can be excused for being off by a few days.)

The FJ Bird Tribute continues...

"We were together the remainder of the day... After that it seemed my good fortune to wander over to Market Street in Urbana several times. The following year, my sophomore year (1897-1898), I followed up the conquest and we attended Epworth League, Y.W. and Y.M. parties together."

D. Clara Hartrick lived with her family at 718 South  Market Street, Urbana. Did you catch the fact that they first crossed paths in an Engineering Mathematics class?! Take note if you are a female descendant of this couple! We come from a long line of remarkable women.

They married a few years later, and the rest is (our) fortunate history.