Blue Island Illinois IL Warrant Search

Blue Island, Illinois Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois. The population was 23,463 at the 2000 census. Origin of the name Blue Island is so named because it is situated on the south end of a glacial moraine that was once an island when Lake Chicago covered the surrounding area thousands of years ago at the end of the last ice age. Early pioneers gave the ridge the name because at a distance it looked like an island set in a trackless prairie sea. The blue color was attributed to atmospheric scattering or to blue flowers growing on the ridge. From the Chicago Democrat, February, 1834:'Nearly south of this town and twelve miles [19 km] distant is Blue Island. This name is particularly appropriate. It is a table of land about six miles [10 km] long and an average of two miles [3 km] wide, of an oval form and rising some forty feet out of an immense plain which surrounds it on every side. The sides and slopes of this table, as well as the table itself, are covered with a handsome growth of timber, forming a belt surrounding about four or five thousand acres of beautiful table land. In summer, the plain is covered with luxurious herbage. It is uninhabited, and when we visited it, from its stillness, loneliness, and quiet, we pronounced it a vast vegetable solitude. The ridge, when viewed from a distance, appears standing in an azure mist of vapor, hence the appellation 'Blue Island'.' The Portland question The statement is sometimes made that the city of Blue Island was once officially known as Portland. This claim is erroneous, as the chronology below will illustrate:Norman Rexford established the “Blue Island House” at the southern edge of the ridge in November 1836, where in 1838he became the settlement’s first postmaster.In his reminiscences published in the Blue IslandStandardin 1876, Heber Rexford (who first came to the area and 1834 and was Cook County treasurer at the time of theGreat Chicago Firein 1871) related the following: “The north end of the bench of land on which Blue Island stands was originally covered with a dense forest, and from Chicago, before the view was obstructed by buildings, this timber presented a blue appearance like smoke. Water was like-mirrored forth by the mirage which almost always prevailed, giving the timber the appearance of land surrounded by water, and it was from this circumstance that the hunters called it Blue Island, which name was perpetuated by my brother getting a Post Office located there, which was also called Blue Island – so much for the name.”On April 13, 1839 Peter Barton and his partners (who includedGurdon HubbardandJohn H. Kinzie)registered the plat of “Portland” with the state of Illinois. Portland had been laid out on land which had been purchased from the federal government that was situated south of Vermont Street (more or less) and east of Wabash Road (what is now Western Avenue uptown, again, more or less). TheLittle Calumet Riverran through the center of the platted area, and its promoters felt with this advantage that it would become a prosperous river town. They used their influence to have the local post office name changed from Blue Island to Portland, (a circumstance that as time went by would be a source of aggravation to the people of Blue Island) and on May 1, 1839, this was accomplished. The post office, however, wasn’t located within the platted area of Portland since there were no buildings in which to operate it, but in fact was on contiguous property to the west at the Blue Island House. Portland was never incorporated – it existed for many years by and large only as aplat of survey. No buildings of any consequence were erected there for nearly half a century. While some of the street names from Portland remain (although sometimes not entirely on their original courses), any of them thatwerelaid out (and in fact a majority of them never were) waited in most cases for many years until they were needed. About half of the area was eventually annexed within what would become the corporate boundaries of Blue Island as time went by, and significant other sections of it became parts of the village ofCalumet Park, the Joe Louis the Champ golf course, and unincorporatedCalumet township. According to John Volp, whose family had lived in Blue Island since 1862: “Portland” did not become a river town. Neither did the name “Portland” ever come into general use. In spite of all the efforts of its promoters to popularize the locality the people preferred to live on top of the hill and call the place “Blue Island”...”For reasons that remain unclear (but most likely because all of the development that was taking place in the area was occurring in the as yet unincorporated settlement of Blue Island to the north and west), the state legislature changed the name of the platted 'town' of Portland to correspond with that of its neighbor. From theLaws of Illinois - 1842 and 1843: An Act entitled 'AN ACT TO CHANGE THE NAME OF PORTLAND IN COOK COUNTY TO THE NAME OF BLUE ISLAND: Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly that the name of the place called Portland in Cook County, Illinois is hereby altered and changed to Blue Island and the same shall hereafter always be known and called by such name of Blue Island. Approved February 24, 1843.”At the same time, the post office department in Washington, D.C. changed the name of the post office to “Blue Island'.In the 1903 edition of Blue Book for the State of Illinois, the state shows 1843 as the year Blue Island was granted 'incorporation under special acts', recognizing the existence of Portland, but not as an incorporated entity. (Blue Island would not officially incorporate for almost another three decades - see below).April 20, 1850, the post office name was changed to “Worth”,this time to coincide with the name of the township in which it was located. TheRock Islandrailroad inaugurated service to the community in 1852. From the ChicagoJournal, May 27, 1852: 'The work of laying ties upon this Road (sic) between Chicago and Blue Island will be commenced next week. Mr. H. Fuller... will complete the work in the course of ten or fifteen days. Two hundred and thirty-six men are now employed on it'. .”The 'Rocket' pulled into the Vermont Street station (the only one in town then) for the first time on October 10, 1852. The Rock Island called the station 'Blue Island'.January 10, 1860, the post office name reverted again to “Blue Island”. On October 26, 1872 Blue Island incorporated as a village using the name by which it has always been known. Although about twenty percent of Portland was included within the corporate boundaries of the new village, that Portland was not an incorporated entity can be determined from the following excerpt that was taken from the petition that was submitted to the state to permit the election to consider incorporation: '...Your petitioners further represent that the territory herein described and bounded is not more than two (2) square miles, and that no part of the same is now included within the limits of any incorporated town, Village or City...' Preserve America The city is one of seven incorporated areas in Illinois to have been designated by the White House as a 'Preserve America' community. Transportation The city is a hub for Metra trains, with six stations, four of them along the Rock Island District Line: 119th Street, 123rd Street, Prairie Street, and Vermont Street. The Rock Island District Line splits at Gresham, north-east of Blue Island, and the branch (known alternately as the 'Beverly', 'Blue Island', or 'Suburban' branch) serves the Chicago communities of Gresham, Beverly Hills and Morgan Park and the stations in Blue Island between 119th Street and Vermont Street, where the tracks re-join the main line. (The branch line was built in 1888 as a result of efforts by the Blue Island Land and Building Company to promote its interests in what was to become the town and eventually the Chicago neighborhood of Morgan Park.) The Vermont Street station, which is one of the oldest in the Metra network (having been built in 1868) is across the street from the fifth station, which serves as the terminus of a Metra Electric (formerly the Illinois Central) spur line. The sixth station, also on the electric line, is a half mile north on Burr Oak Ave. (127th St.) and Lincoln Ave. Blue Island is also served by Pace Suburban Bus. The city is 34 miles (45 minutes) from O'Hare Airport, and 12.5 miles (30 minutes) from Midway Airport. It is located a half mile west of Interstate 57, one and a half miles east of the Tri-State Tollway and is bisected by Western Avenue, which in Blue Island is part of the historic Dixie Highway that in its heyday connected Chicago with Miami, Florida. Uptown Norman Rexford came to Chicago from Charlotte, Vermont in 1835 and became the first permanent settler of Blue Island when he established the Blue Island House inn there in 1836. (The site where the building stood can best be described using current landmarks as being at the confluence of Western Avenue and Gregory Street just north of the Western Avenue bridge.) Before Rexford built the Blue Island House, he had constructed a four room log cabin in the wilderness at the north end of the blue island ridge that he intended as a tavern for wayfarers, but after a year realized that the place was not likely to be profitable for him and began to look for another site where he might have more success. Although farther from the settlement at Chicago (which by that time was incorporated and had a population of several thousand persons) and Fort Dearborn by about three miles (5 km), the new inn was better situated because it was located on the Wabash Road (in Blue Island now Western Avenue), which was then a part of the Vincennes trail that went from Chicago to Vincennes, Indiana. It was considerably larger and more refined than Rexford's previous venture, being a two and a half story white frame building that also had various outbuildings to accommodate the needs of his guests.Because it was a day's journey from Chicago, within a few years the inn became the nucleus for a group of businesses that catered to the soldiers, cattlemen (with their herds) and other travelers who arrived by stagecoach or otherwise frequented the Vincennes trail.From this time and through the 1970s, Blue Island's central business district ('uptown' to the locals) was regarded as an important regional commercial center, with stores such as Woolworth's, Kline's, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Spiegel and Steak 'n Shake. Today, downtown Blue Island is better known for its antique stores, art galleries, ethnic delicatessens and fine dining. Much of this shift in business activity has been brought on by 'big box' development outside of town that space constraints make it impossible for uptown to accommodate. To this day Blue Island maintains a healthy business climate, though, as is evidenced by the fact that several local businesses have served the area for generations. DeMar's Restaurant, for example, opened its doors in 1950, Jebens Hardware was established in 1876, and Krueger Funeral Home was founded in 1858. As a nod to the 21st Century, however, the city and a dedicated group of volunteers, working with The Metropolitan Planning Council of Chicago and the Center for Neighborhood Technology have devised the Blue Island Plan for Economic Development which addresses not only the commercial expansion of the historic uptown business district, but the continued improvement of the housing stock and industrial base as well. Moraine Valley Community College operates a satellite facility uptown. Public library A lending library has been in existence in some form or another in Blue Island since about 1845, when Thomas McClintock began to make his private library of about 100 volumes available to the public for a nominal fee. The founding of the library as a publicly supported institution dates to 1854, when the library's collection, which at this time numbered around 800 volumes, was housed in the new Whittier School building on Vermont St. The library expanded again in 1890 when the Current Topics Club, predecessor to the Blue Island Woman's Club, opened a small reading room above Edward Seyfarth's hardware store on Western Avenue with a collection of about 1500 books and various periodicals which were acquired with funds that were donated by the community through public subscription. Except for what was in the hands of patrons, this library's collection was destroyed by the Great Blue Island Fire of 1896. The public library as a taxpayer supported institution per se was founded in 1897, and the first building built in Blue Island expressly for the purpose of housing the library's collection (by this time up to 3,200 volumes) was made possible by a matching grant of $15,000 (about $375,000 in 2008) provided by Andrew Carnegie in 1903. This building was demolished in 1969 when the current library, which opened housing the library's collection of over 70,000 volumes, was built. Today The Blue Island Public Library provides a host of services, including multi-language reading materials, computers with internet access, public meeting rooms and a wide variety of educational programs. It is a member of the Metropolitan Library System and is host to the Blue Island Historical Society's award-winning Museum Room. Religious life Although religious gatherings have taken place in Blue Island almost since it was settled in 1836, the first denominational services took place in 1850 with the founding of the Central Methodist Church (predecessor to today's Grace United Methodist Church). Blue Island continues to respect the tradition of its early settlers by maintaining many of the congregations that were established there during these early years, and also by hosting new places of worship that serve the needs of new residents of this culturally diverse community. The following institutions, many of them well over a hundred years old, serve the Blue Island area today: Places of worship BaptistCalifornia Gardens Christian of Love Baptist Church – 13911 S. Kedzie Ave. Church of ChristBlue Island Church of Christ – 2304 W. 120th St. Church of God of ProphecyGlorious Life Worship Center – 12654 S. Maple Conservative Congregational Christian ConferenceEvangelical Community Church – 2237 W. 120th Pl. Disciples of ChristFamily of Hope Christian Church - 2324 W. Orchard St. EpiscopalSt. Joseph’s and St. Aiden’s Episcopal Church – Oak St. at Greenwood Ave. Evangelical CovenantMission Covenant Church of Blue Island – 2501 W. Collins St. LutheranFirst Evangelical Lutheran Church – 2515 W. Grove St. Salem Lutheran Church – 12951 S. Maple Ave. St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church – 13153 S. Greenwood Ave. St. Philip Lutheran Church – 2500 W. 121st St. MethodistGrace United Methodist Church – 12739 S. Maple Ave. MormonChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – 2445 W. Birdsall Non DenominationalFortress Bible Church – 2237 W. 120th Pl. Calvary Chapel Blue Island - 12640 Sacramento Ave NazareneChurch of the Nazarene – 12815 S. Gregory St. PentecostalBethel Pentecostal Church - 2726 W. Broadway Life Changing Ministry - 2817 139th St. Roman CatholicSt. Benedict Church – 2339 W. York St. St. Donatus Church – 1944 W. High St. St. Isidore Church – 1811 W. Burr Oak Ave. Roman Catholic – Lay Ecclesial MovementBlue Army of Our Lady of Fatima – 13811 S. Western Ave. Salvation ArmySalvation Army Community Center - 2900 W. Burr Oak Ave. (127th St.) United Church of ChristChrist Memorial United Church of Christ – 2440 W. York St. Parks and recreation Blue Islanders have enjoyed a system of parks since 1912 when the park district (which was formed in 1909) acquired the property of the late Benjamin Sanders, who was Blue Island's first village president when the town incorporated in 1872 and served as the chairman of the building committee of the Cook County Board after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The 9-acre (36,000 m2) property, which is bounded by Gregory Street, High Street, Irving Avenue and York Street, came with Sanders' home, which was remodeled into a field house and provided living quarters for the park's superintendent. Central Park eventually offered tennis courts, playground equipment, and the community's first swimming pool. It was vacated by the park district in 1965 when St. Francis Hospital acquired the property for $325,000. (about $2.15 million in 2008) to build its east campus there. Memorial Park, the city's next public park, was dedicated on Decoration Day (now Memorial Day), 1922 in ceremonies that were presided over by Brigadier General Abel Davis of Glencoe, Illinois, who was Commander of the 132nd Infantry during World War I. The section of Memorial Park running adjacent to Burr Oak Ave. with 330 feet (100 m) of frontage on Highland Ave. had originally been laid out as a cemetery in the early 1850s, when this section of Blue Island was a healthy walk from the settled section of the town. Although the cemetery was added to and improved in subsequent years, it was closed by village ordinance in 1898, and almost all of the bodies that were interred there were moved to Mt. Greenwood Cemetery in Chicago, which had been developed by citizens from Blue Island. The acquisition of the entire parcel bounded by Burr Oak Ave., Highland Ave., Walnut St. and the B & O tracks was completed by the park district in 1935. The park at that point had reached its present size of 10 acres (40,000 m2), and eventually, with the help of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Alphabet agencies, it was provided with landscaping and acquired an outdoor swimming pool, playground equipment, and a handsome Art Deco stadium that seated 1000 persons (The stadium was demolished in December, 2009). With the closing of Central Park, Memorial Park has become the flagship of the Blue Island park system. The 8.5-acre (34,000 m2) site of Centennial Park at Vermont St. and Division St. on the east side was acquired from the East Side Development Association in 1935 for $11,500 (about $176,300 in 2008). This park provides a field house, convenient athletic fields and playground equipment for the East Side community.The city operates the Meadows Golf Club, a 6,549-yard (5,988 m), 18-hole golf course that was designed by J. Porter Gibson ASGCA and opened in 1994. It has a course rating of 71.3 and a slope rating of 121. The Blue Island Area Sports Hall of Fame As part of its focus, the park district serves the needs of the community by sponsoring little league, football and other sports activities. It is also host to the Blue Island Area Sports Hall of Fame, which was sponsored by the Blue Island Sun Standard and founded by its sports editor, Don Rizzs. As a community that is heavily involved in sports on many levels, the Hall of Fame is a repository of photos and biographies of many individuals who have distinguished themselves on the playing field, both on the local level and in the international spotlight. Blue Island athlete Don Kolloway became a Major League Baseball player when he became an infielder for the Chicago White Sox in 1940. Except while he was in the service during WWII, Kolloway played most of the '40s with the White Sox. He was traded to the Detroit Tigers in 1949, and to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1953, where he ended his baseball career. September 15, 1946 was 'Don Kolloway Day' at Comiskey Park, where he was presented with a new automobile. Topps honored him with a baseball card (#97) while he was a member of the Athletics. For many years after his retirement, Kolloway operated a tavern in Blue Island called 'Kolloway's'. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Moeller was born in Blue Island and spent the early years of his life there. Moeller pitched for the Dodgers between 1962 and 1971 and at age 19 years and 2 months became the youngest starting pitcher in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Topps released a baseball card (#444) for Moeller in 1969. Don Rizzs had a very personal connection to the Hall of Fame. His son Rick, voice of the Seattle Mariners since 1983, grew up in Blue Island and graduated from Eisenhower High School. Education As the largest settlement in the southern part of Cook County in the middle of the nineteenth century, Blue Island was an important trading and cultural center. The village offered educational opportunity to its residents as early as 1845 in the form of a private school for girls that was operated by local citizens, and public education was introduced in 1846 with the construction of a one-room schoolhouse that served the community exclusively for that purpose until the first Whittier School was built in 1854. The one-room schoolhouse was repurposed several times in subsequent years and still stands, much remodeled, as a comfortable house on Greenwood Ave. The public school district as a legal entity (now Cook County School District 130) was established in 1887, and the current high school district (Community High School District 218) was created in 1927, replacing earlier versions from 1897 and 1903. Blue Island Community High School (Now Dwight D. Eisenhower High School) was accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (now North Central Association - Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement) in 1899. As president of Columbia University, Eisenhower was the keynote speaker at the dedication of the new facility on Sacramento Ave. for Blue Island Community High School in 1951, and the building was renamed in his honor in 1962.Blue Island hosted a number of educational conferences during the 1850s, and because of this (and through the influence of Benjamin Sanders, whose tenure with the Cook County Board was during that time) Chicago State University was founded in Blue Island in 1867 as the Cook County Normal (or Teacher's) School in the classrooms of the old Whittier School building on Vermont Street. This arrangement lasted until 1870, when the new campus for the college was completed in what is now the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago on 10 acres (40,000 m2) of land that was donated by L. W. Beck for the purpose in 1868. The following schools serve Blue Island today: Schools Elementary and middle schools - publicEverett F. Kerr Middle School – 12915 S. Maple Ave. Greenbriar School - 12015 S. Maple Ave. Greenwood School - 12418 Highland Ave Lincoln Elementary School – 2140 W. Broadway St. Paul Revere Intermediate School – 12331 S. Gregory St. Paul Revere Primary School – 2300 W. 123rd Pl. Veteran’s Memorial Middle School – 12320 S. Greenwood Whittier Elementary School – 13043 S. Maple Elementary and middle schools - privateSt. Benedict School – 2324 W. New St. Top 25 Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago.[citation needed] High school - publicDwight D. Eisenhower High School– 12700 S. Sacramento Ave. High school - privateMarist High School- 4200 W. 115th St. Higher education - publicMoraine Valley Community College – 12940 S. Western Ave. Special education - publicAble Program, Garfield School – 13801 S. Chatham St. Academy for Learning – 13813 S. Western Ave. Special education - privateBlue Cap School – 2155 W. Broadway St. The keynote speaker for the dedication of Blue Cap in October 1967 was then-SenatorCharles H. Percy. Technical and vocational - privateEnvironmental Technical Institute– 13110 S. Division St. Health care Blue Island is home to MetroSouth Medical Center. Founded in 1905 as Saint Francis Hospital in the former mansion of Ernst Uhlich when this section of Gregory Street was lined with churches and the homes of some of Blue Island's more prosperous citizens, the hospital has long been nationally recognized as one of the nation's premier cardiovascular primary care centers. The founders of the hospital, the Sisters of St. Mary (currently the Franciscan Sisters of Mary), relinquished ownership of the facility to MetroSouth Medical Center on July 30, 2008. Buildings and architecture Because of its long history, the built environment of Blue Island exhibits a broad range of architectural styles and periods. Although largely built in the vernacular tradition, the works of notable architects, including George Maher, Oscar Wenderoth, Robert E. Seyfarth & , Perkins and Will and Bertrand Goldberg are featured throughout the community. The oldest section of Blue Island's city hall, built in 1891, was designed by Edmund R. Krause, who was the architect of the Majestic Building (along with its recently restored Bank of America Theatre) in Chicago's Loop. The first buildings of Northwest Gas, Light and Coke Company in Blue Island were designed by Holabird and Roche in 1902 (demolished). The city also has 22 houses known to have been built with mail-order kits sold by Sears Modern Homes. There is one building in Blue Island listed on the National Register of Historic Places, twenty-seven are included as part of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency's Historic Architectural and Archaeology Resources Geographic Information System, and forty-one individual buildings and one district have been designated as local landmarks by the Blue Island Historic Preservation Commission. Oldest building The oldest building in Blue Island was built in 1836 as the courthouse and post office for Lake County, Indiana - a function it served until 1844 when it was dis-assembled and sent by raft up the Little Calumet River and re-assembled in Blue Island as the American House Hotel. Although its Greek Revival roots are clearly discernible, the building is much remodeled and serves today as a private residence. Greek Revival was the architectural style of choice in the early years of Blue Island's history. Many of the buildings that remain from those days have been similarly remodeled - perhaps the best 'pure' examples of the style, albeit in a vernacular form, can be seen either in the Walter P. Roche House on York Street or the Henry Schuemann House house on Western Avenue. The newest development is Fay's Point, a gated community built at the confluence of the Calumet River and the Calumet Sag Channel on the site of the historic farm of Jerome Fay. The Joshua P. Young House Built by Carlton Wadhams, owner of the American House Hotel, this house was later owned by Joshua Palmer Young (1818–1889), who, as president of the Blue Island Land and Building Co., was important in the development of the Chicago communities of Beverly Hills; Morgan Park; Washington Heights; Englewood; as well as the suburban communities of Harvey, IL; Homewood, IL and South Holland, IL. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is included in the State of Illinois' Historic Architectural and Archaeology Resources Geographic Information System. The USS Blue Island Victory On December 28, 1945, 91 days after her keel was laid, the U.S.S. Blue Island Victory was launched from the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland. Dubbed 'the Ugly Duckling of the merchant marine' by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Victory ships were armed cargo ships that were built during World War II to transport troops and supplies wherever in the world their services were required. Of the 550 or so built, 218 were named after American cities.The U.S.S. Blue Island Victory was a type VC 2-S-AP2, which was 455 feet (139 m) long, 62 feet (19 m) wide, and had a 25-foot (7.6 m) draft. It was equipped with a 5-inch (130 mm) gun on the stern for enemy submarines, a three inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft gun, and a 20 mm cannon. The U.S.S. Blue Island Victory served variously as a troop ship and as a cattle transport ship, and saw service in the Korean War. It was scrapped in 1972. The picture shown here is the U.S.S. Lane Victory, which is a twin to the U.S.S. Blue Island Victory that today serves as a museum in Los Angeles, California. It is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Writers and literature Over the years, Blue Island has provided the setting for the works of at least a couple of writers. In 1935, for example, the Pulitzer Prize winning author Margaret Ayer Barnes wrote the novel Edna, His Wife, an American Idyll, using Blue Island as the first locale of the four that make up her story (the other three being Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York City). The book is the story of the life of a simple country girl who was raised in Blue Island but becomes increasingly unhappy as she becomes older and leads a more sophisticated life elsewhere. The book was later adapted into a play by Cornelia Otis Skinner. It is not known if Barnes had a personal connection with Blue Island, but it is clear to anyone who knows the town and has read the book that if she didn't, she researched its history and makeup thoroughly to give the reader an authentic view of life in Blue Island in the early years of the twentieth century. Twenty-two years later, Gus the Great, the Book of the Month Club selection for September 1947, was published. The book was a run-away best seller, and its author, Thomas W. Duncan, is reputed to have earned $250,000 in royalties from it, including $100,000 from Universal Studios for the movie rights. It is the story of the life and adventures of Gus Burgoyne, a circus owner of questionable character. Duncan was a college friend of Hill Lakin, the editor of the Blue Island Sun-Standard, and, after a visit to the town's industrial section, he was inspired to use it for several scenes for his book. Several writers of distinction have had their roots in Blue Island. Noted author Michael A. Black graduated from Eisenhower High School. Black writes short stories and has written a number of books on various subjects, including a critically acclaimed series of mystery novels. His book A Final Judgement won a Lovey Award (formerly the Reader's Choice Award) in 2007. One of his later works, I Am Not a Cop, was co-authored with Richard Belzer, who plays Detective John Munch on NBC's police drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The book was published by Simon & Schuster and was released on October 14, 2008. A second book in the series by the duo, I Am Not a Psychic, was released by Simon & Schuster in 2009.Another graduate of Eisenhower High School is the noted financial author and editor Andrew Leckey. He is best known in Chicagoland as having been the financial editor for WLS-TV in the 1980s before going to New York to be a financial anchor for CNBC. He has either authored or edited ten books on finance, and for the past 20 years has written a nationally syndicated investment column for the Chicago Tribune Co.. Blue Island was the hometown of well-known Chicago author and sportswriter for the Chicago Sun-Times Taylor Bell, and of Dave Nightingale, who wrote for the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Tribune. Music Because of the wide popularity of performers such as W. C. Handy, the blues became a popular musical genre during the roaring twenties. It is not surprising, then, that when Wendell Hall, Harry Geise and Emory O'Hara were looking for a title for their 1923 composition, they hit upon the name Blue Island Blues. The sheet music for it was published that year by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co. Described by the New York Times art critic John S. Wilson as a 'striking and colorful original composition' , it is a plaintive love song about a man who is missing his girl and '...has a ticket to Chicago...' that will be used to help him '... lose - those Yesterday's - Blue Island Blues'. It was performed by Tiny Parham in 1929, and an instrumental version is currently available on the CD by George Shearing an