Emmett Till house closer to gaining city landmark status
Nonprofit buys property, seeks to create museum
The South Side house of Emmett Till, whose brutal murder helped spark the civil rights movement, has taken key steps toward becoming an official city landmark and a museum.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks on Thursday unanimously approved a recommendation to the City Council that the house, at 6427 S. St. LawrenceAve., be granted landmark status. That would protect it from demolition or insensitive alterations.
Separately, a local nonprofit seeking to turn the house into a museum confirmed Friday that it has purchased the property.
The house will become an “international heritage/ pilgrimage destination,” said the group’s leader, NaomiDavis.
Built in 1895 in the West Woodlawn neighborhood, the two-flat was the home of Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, before he traveled to Mississippi in the summer of 1955 to visit relatives. The 14-year-old was tortured and murdered Aug. 28, 1955, for allegedly whistling at a whitewoman at a convenience store.
Till’s mother chose an open-casket funeral at a South Side church to show mourners and theworld the horror and violence her son endured.
Concernabout the house, officially known as the Emmett Till and Mamie TillMobley House, rose in September when the landmarks commission voted to give it preliminary protected status.
Preservationists expressed fear that the house’s then-owner, real estate developer BlakeMcCreight of Chicago’s BMW Properties might demolish the property or dramatically alter it, destroying its historic value.
McCreight buys distressed properties and sells them to investors that want rental income, according to his website.
But McCreight indicated he would be willing to sell, and in October, the local nonprofit Blacks in Green, which promotes sustainability, economic development and land stewardship in African American communities, bought the house.
He had purchased it for $107,000 in 2019, according to property records.The sale to the nonprofit has not been recorded yet with the county.
Davis declined to reveal the purchase price, but said the group paid a $30,000 premium over comparable properties in West Woodlawn. “That’s what we felt we needed to do to acquire the property,” she said. “He made a good penny.”
McCreight did not respond to a request for comment.
Blacks inGreen has taken an active role in celebrating African American history in Chicago. It already owns a nearby parcel at 6354 S. St. Lawrence, home to the Mamie Till-Mobley Forgiveness Garden, and could acquire land to the north of the Till house as part of the museum’s campus, Davis said. Davis said it will take millions of dollars to convert the house, which she said had a string of building code violations and was occupied by squatters, into a museum. “We’re undaunted,” she said. “We’re absolutely confident we’ll be able to raise the funds.”
Blacks in Green has consented to landmark designation for the house, said Ward Miller, executive director of the advocacy group Preservation Chicago.
The next step is for the council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards to vote on the commissions recommendation. A vote is expected in December. If the committee approves, the recommendation will go to the full council.