(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A building that was once the center of Black culture in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood turned 125 years old on Friday — and work is underway to bring it back.
WBBM Newsradio toured the inside of The Forum, a national historic place, at 43rd Street and Calumet.
Henry Wishcamper, part of the team restoring this 1897 building complex. He said the building served as a political, social and artistic venue, one that the Black community “adopted.”
Nat King Cole started his career at The Forum. Sam Cook, Paul Robeson and Muddy Waters also appeared at the 600-seat assembly hall.
Today, it’s a far cry from its heyday. There’s peeling paint behind the stage.
Bernard Loyd, president of Urban Juncture, is leading the effort to restore the 32,000-square-foot building as Bronzeville continues to undergo what he calls a renaissance.
There is new construction — residential and retail — throughout the neighborhood.
As for the Forum, it’s been vacant for 50 years but is relatively intact, Lloyd said.
“We cannot travel back in time but we can create a new set of glory days,” he said.
The cost of the restoration is estimated at $25 million. They’ve raised $10 million.
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