25 Facts About Dorsey Crowe

Dorsey Ryan Crowe was an American politician who served as alderman of Chicago's 21st ward from 1919 to 1923 and upon its redistricting into the 42nd ward from 1923 to his death.

Dorsey Crowe was born on August 21,1891, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Kathryn Josephine and Stephen Augustus Dorsey Crowe, who had been respectively born in Illinois and Iowa, both to parents born in Ireland.

Dorsey Crowe was the eldest of five children and three sons.

Dorsey Crowe was a nephew of notorious kidnapper Pat Crowe, who abducted wealthy meatpacking heir Edward Cudahy Jr.

Dorsey Crowe would still be living there as of 1917, at which point he was operating a real-estate business, and would work in the same building one address to the north at 755 North Dearborn at the start of his aldermanic tenure.

Dorsey Crowe graduated from DePaul University, and joined the Army Air Service in 1917.

Dorsey Crowe received preliminary aviation schooling at Cornell University and more detailed training at Kelly Field in San Antonio, reaching the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1918.

Dorsey Crowe did run in 1916, winning the Democratic primary against John Prendergast but falling in the general election to Republican candidate Earl J Walker, who was aided in part by society women who learned oratory for the purpose.

At the time Dorsey Crowe declared zoning to be his main passion, planning to stop factories from coming up on Lake Shore Drive and giving his zealous support for the Chicago Plan Commission.

Dorsey Crowe proposed to electrify all of the railway terminals in the city to reduce smoke and noise, and supported giving jobs to veterans returning from France.

Dorsey Crowe claimed that the vote was because he didn't have enough time to consider the resolution, although prominent wet and Cook County Board of Commissioners President Anton Cermak insisted it was because Crowe wasn't allowed to introduce it, and criticized him and 43rd ward alderman Arthur F Albert for voting against the resolution when their respective US Representative Frederick A Britten was leading the fight against the Volstead Act in Congress.

Dorsey Crowe was not universally popular within the 42nd ward at this time.

Dorsey Crowe was not particularly popular in the areas east of State Street, comprising the Republican-dominated Gold Coast and Streeterville.

On June 2,1929, Dorsey Crowe was involved in an automobile accident in Lake Forest in which his vehicle was crowded into a ditch and he was thrown through the roof of the car and pinned in the wreckage before being saved by a passerby as it began to catch fire, suffering a concussion and being rendered unconscious for six hours.

Dorsey Crowe continued to have dubious connections and engage in dubious practices throughout his tenure.

Regardless of these demographic changes, Dorsey Crowe's hold on the ward stayed as strong as it ever had been.

Dorsey Crowe himself was the president pro tempore of the Chicago City Council, a position he would hold until his death.

Dorsey Crowe did speak at the opening of what would later become Midway International Airport on May 8,1926.

In 1921, as a member of the Aviation committee, Dorsey Crowe insisted that a provision be added to a proposed Aviation bylaw prohibiting dirigibles using flammable gas from being flown over the city, action on which was deferred.

Dorsey Crowe noted that a widening of the Street which had been planned in 1931 had not been followed through, which he blamed on funding issues caused by the construction of the subway.

Dorsey Crowe was a Catholic by faith, and his ward covered the Holy Name Cathedral, the primate Catholic church of the Chicago archdiocese.

Dorsey Crowe married attorney Mary G Kelly in 1939 at Holy Name, with brother Stephen A as the best man.

Dorsey Crowe died of a heart attack on July 1,1962, at Veterans Research Hospital.

Dorsey Crowe had previously had a heart attack in 1953, and was taken to Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital in critical condition in May 1961 after suffering another one.

Dorsey Crowe first ran for alderman in 1916, winning the Democratic primary but losing the general election.