Historical locations related to L.W. de Laurence - Edited!

On Halloween I decided to stop by some locations of interest regarding L.W. de Laurence. De Laurence was a local publisher, hypnotist, mail order innovator, swindler and the head of at least two local magical orders. For more information, follow this link to previous posts regarding de Laurence.

Due to a typo on my part, I originally visited an incorrect location.  Many thanks to David Metcalfe for pointing this out to me.  The post and accompanying photographs have now been corrected.

The first location, at 3340 S. Michigan Ave., was listed in 1915 as being the home of de Laurence's Order of the Black Rose.  That same year the Order's address was also listed as being on Wabash.  Whether the Order moved, or whether the local press confused de Laurence's organization with his publishing headquarters is unclear.  Unfortunately the original building no longer stands, and this location is now occupied by a generic building on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus.

Also in 1915, this location on E. 47th St. is listed as his home address. 

Steinway Hall

Built in 1896, Steinway Hall was located at 64 E Van Buren St.  The building went through a variety of name changes over the years and also housed a number of activities of interest to readers here.

Image courtesy the Steinway Hall Wikipedia page.

In its early days, the 11-story office building housed a number of architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright (who remained in the building until 1908). During this time, Steinway Hall was briefly being advertised as a "Temple of Magic."

Image courtesy the Chicago Magic blog.  While focusing on stage magic, there is definitely information of interest.

Image of the theater during it's run as the "Punch and Judy Theater" courtesy the Cinema Treasures website.


The 850-seat theater in the building originally was a branch of Ziegfeld's theaters (while the Follies were taking off in New York, Flo Ziegfeld was originally from Chicago).  The theater was home to acts such as Sophie Tucker and Fatty Arbuckle.  In 1915 the theater's name was changed and Shakespearean plays were produced.

The same theater was rented out by the Theosophical Society, who secured every Sunday for a six month period of time.  During this time, Charles Leadbeater lectured on a variety of subjects relating to the occult and Theosophy.  Leadbeater, having just arrived from England, packed the theater to the extent that would-be listeners regularly had to be turned away at the door.  His lectures here in Chicago would be published as the book Some Glimpses of Occultism Ancient and Modern.

In 1941, after the schism of C.F. Russell's Choronzon Club, one of the splinter groups housed itself at Steinway Hall (practically around the corner from the Fine Arts Building where they had previously met).  They would remain here until the 1960s, when they would return to the Fine Arts Building.    For more information on this, please visit my previous post regarding C.F. Russell and the Fine Arts Building.

Around this time the theater was being used to show adult movies.  Public sentiment had swayed against the building, and it was demolished on April 5, 1970.  Apparently it was written in the Chicago Tribune that “Few, if any, will mourn it.”

In its place, we now have a parking lot.

William Walker Atkinson, the Kyballion and the Yogi Publication Society

I've been putting off posting about William Walker Atkinson due to the fact that there is such a wealth of information that I honestly don't know where to begin.  Simply put, Atkinson was a writer, publisher and major player in the New Thought Movement.  The full story is much more complicated than that.

Atkinson (1862 - 1932) worked in a variety of professions, settling into the role of lawyer while in Pennsylvania.  After a variety of ups and downs in his personal life, he disappeared for six weeks around the turn of the century with a renewed passion for life and interest in the occult.  At this point he immediately moved to Chicago and began writing articles under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms, including Theron Q. Dumont and Yogi Ramacharaka.

In Chicago he also founded the Yogi Publication Society, which was located in the  Masonic Temple building - the name sounded great for the publishing company, but there was actually no Masonic affiliation with the Yogi Publication Society.  The Masonic Temple was the city's first skyscraper - the Masons met on the top floors, the rest were rented to a variety of different businesses.

The Yogi Publication Society published the Kyballion, a book of Hermetic teachings which was compiled by "Three Initiates."  Shrouded in mystery, it is now accepted that Atkinson himself wrote this book.

The Chicago Examiner, in 1910, with an article introducing yoga to the general public via Atkinson's pseudonym, Yogi Ramacharaka (here spelled Ramachakra).

The Yogi Publication Society still exists, though their website leaves a bit to be desired. 

Luckily for us, Philip Deslippe has dedicated himself to unraveling the mysteries surround Atkinson's life and abundant literary output.  He has recently released a definitive edition of the Kyballion.

For an excellent interview with Deslippe regarding Atkinson, visit this podcast on Occult of Personality.  After you listen to that interview, listen to all of the remaining on the site, as they are all excellent.

Of note to those paying attention, Atkinson co-authored one book with infamous local L.W. de Laurence entitled Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing.

Lauren de Laurence being booked

I know that some followers here are probably getting tired of hearing about Lauren de Laurence.  I promise to move on soon, but I did just find the photograph of de Laurence being booked for mail fraud in 1912.

REATED/PUBLISHED
[1912]
SUMMARY
Portrait of Prof. Lauron. W. De Laurence leaning on a counter, standing with other men and a policeman in a room in Chicago, Illinois.
NOTES
This photonegative taken by a Chicago Daily News photographer may have been published in the newspaper.
Cite as: DN-0059852, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

Towertown, sexuality and the occult in Chicago at the turn of the century

Today I spent a bit of time poking around the Encyclopedia of Chicago, an interesting database provided via the Chicago History Museum.  I was interested to read about an area known as Towertown which I had never heard mention of before.  Doesn't this sound amazing?

"Neighborhood in the Near North Side Community Area. Towertown was Chicago's bohemia in the early twentieth century. Lacking precise boundaries, the district took its name from the Water Tower, which stood to its north and east on Michigan Avenue. An art colony took root in Towertown when Anna and Lambert Tree built Tree Studios to tempt artists to stay in Chicago after the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The concentration of artists, writers, and poets attracted bookshops and coffeehouses, the most famous of which was the Dill Pickle Club. Soapbox orators gathered in Bughouse Square to debate the issues of the day. Gays, lesbians, and experimenters in free love took refuge among Towertown's radicals. By the mid-1920s, rising property values driven by the luxury shopping district on nearby Michigan Avenue were pricing out many of the artists. Towertown became a tourist attraction, further alienating its bohemian denizens. By the Great Depression, the art colony had dispersed."
-Amanda Seligman

"By the mid-1920s, many of these writers had left Chicago. After their departure, according to sociologist Harvey W. Zorbaugh, Towertown became a popular destination for “egocentric poseurs, neurotics, rebels against the conventions of Main Street or the gossip of the foreign community, seekers of atmosphere, dabblers in the occult, dilettantes in the arts, or parties to drab lapses from a moral code which the city had not yet destroyed.” Chicago's bohemia turned conventional, and its alternatives to traditional gender roles, sexual relations, and work habits became part of a broader transformation in social mores."
-Timothy B. Spears

This Soul Destroying Poison of the East!

Chicago Examiner.  May 28, 1911

"It is startling to realize that in many a commonplace flat - in Harlem or the West Side of Chicago - occult rites are being celebrated as shocking as the ancient worship of Moloch and Baal."

Occult Craze Sweeps City; Seek the "Why"

As a Walpurgis treat, here is an article from the Chicago Defender dated December 1, 1919.

Women to Rule the World AGAIN

While it may not be entirely related to Chicago, this article from the Chicago Examiner, August 22, 1915, is too amazing not to include here.

Lauren De Laurence

Synchronicity is a funny thing.  Last summer I found an article about Lauren de Laurence and his Order of the Black Rose.  I posted it here two days ago.  Tonight I was reading Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies, and who should be mentioned but Mr. de Laurence himself.

 photograph from de Laurence entry on Wikipedia

De Laurence (1868-1936) was born in Ohio and moved to Chicago as a hypnotist around 1900.  He began publishing books, mainly pirated versions of existing books on magic and "Hindu mysticism."  He did write a few books of his own, namely The Master Key which is available online in its entirety at this location on archive.org.

De Laurence founded two orders:  The Order of the White Willow (which apparently consisted entirely of women, whose initiation involved being weighed in the nude ) and the Order of the Black Rose.  A disgruntled worker filed a claim against him, leading to the mail fraud charges that I previously posted about.

From the Chicago Defender, June 13 1914:  "Slick Man Lures Boy from Africa; Beats and Robs Him."

According to Carolyn Morrow Long's book Spiritual Merchants:  Religion, Magic and Commerce, the beating was a result of Williams's being lecherous toward female employees.  Long states that much of what we know regarding Laurence today is due to his testimony in this case.

The Chicago Examiner, November 27, 1915

"Why, all book dealers sell books on magic."

Madame Colette Willy

From the Chicago Examiner.  September 4, 1910.  Madame Colette Willy is shown "practicing occultism."  I was going to quote a few things from this, but I love every bit of it.  So you'll just have to look at it yourself.

Order of the Black Rose, 1915

From the now defunct Chicago Examiner, November 1915.  Lauren de Laurence apparently headed numerous magical orders in the area and wrote several books.  This article makes sure to let you know that "both men and women, both negroes and whites" took part in his ceremonies.