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Founded for Artists On January 10, 1912, our founding Board of Directors, a group of 32 women who were active in Chicago’s social reform movement, educational causes, and the arts, created a charter to “provide and manage a home and a club in the City of Chicago for young women engaged in the study of music, painting, and the drama.” These women, whose surnames are forever etched in the history of Chicago, worked to support the creative and professional growth of women artists in a nurturing residential environment. Over many decades, more than 12,000 residents benefited from this vision—the foundation of 3Arts today. Gwethalyn Jones, a member of our original board, served as the organization’s first president and remained involved as a board member and honorary founder until 1939. It was her father, David Benton Jones, who donated a parcel of land at the corner of Dearborn and Goethe and provided the funds to design and construct the building that would function as the organization’s distinguished home until 2007. Architect John Holabird, of Holabird & Roche (now Holabird & Root), designed the four-story residence for artists when he was 27 years old and had just returned from traveling in Europe and studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The building’s distinctive footprint and details have made it one of Chicago’s revered historic properties. In 1981, 3Arts attained Chicago Landmark designation and the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Gold Coast Historic District. In June, 2006, after providing a residence for women in the arts for close to a century, 3Arts embarked on a new path when we decided to sell the building at 1300 N. Dearborn in order to explore new ways to serve the arts and Chicago. Our planning process has been inspired by our organization’s history and, especially, by the early visionary board leaders who, for more than two decades, operated a grantmaking fund to support tuition for resident artists. While we have ventured away from the days when our organization’s main purpose was to provide a safe place to live in the city, the heart of our mission remains steadfastly focused on supporting artists. Our organization’s archives are housed in the special collections of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s library and are accessible for research purposes. 3Arts Founding Board of Directors Jane Addams Mary Duncan Reynolds Aldis Elsa Parker Armour Lola Shelden Armour Marjorie Ayres Best Margaret A. Bird Ellen Waller Borden Louise H. de Koven Bowen Rue Winterbotham Carpenter Emily M. Coolidge Chapin Mabel Eleanor Dick Marie Winston Elting Erna M. Sawyer Goodman Grace Griswold Edith Key Haines Mary N. Mallory Harahan Ellen Martin Henrotin Harriet Houghteling Frances Kinsley Hutchinson Gwethalyn Jones Josephine Knowland Laflin Mary Rice Lane Helen Lynde Aldis Lathrop Mabel Linn Edith Rockefeller McCormick Harriet B. Hammond McCormick Margaret Prussing Caroline Hutchinson Ryerson Emilie Cluett Scott Clara I. Currier Seaverns Katharine Winterbotham Ella Flagg Young |
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