“Nina Helstein has been celebrating the memory of lawyer and Hyde Park resident Clarence Darrow with other Chicagoans nearly every March 13 at a bridge named after him in Jackson Park since she was a young girl.
“‘We come, rain or shine, whatever the day is,’ Helstein said while holding a yellow daffodil in her hand. ‘I have stood under umbrellas, and sometimes it’s very cold.’
“But this year, Helstein — now 81 — got to enjoy the mid-March event in warm weather with blue skies, joining other attendees in reflecting on the words of the famed lawyer and activist, his dedication toward fighting for free speech and labor unions, and how his fight rings true today for many.
“The event to honor Darrow’s memory has been held every March 13 at the bridge since 1957, almost 20 years after Darrow’s death. Typically, a wreath is thrown into the Jackson Park Lagoon that’s just behind the Museum of Science and Industry, but in more recent years attendees have thrown flowers into the lagoon, as they did Thursday.
“The Chicago-based lawyer led the charge in multiple high-profile cases. Darrow defended teenagers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in their 1924 murder case, successfully ensuring that his clients would not receive the death penalty for killing Bobby Franks. Darrow was also a prominent defender of labor unions, representing union leader Eugene Debs during the 1894 Pullman strike, when the Pullman Co.’s workers were striking for higher wages.
“About a year after the Leopold and Loeb case, Darrow defended 24-year-old Tennessee high school teacher Thomas Scopes for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in the classroom. At the time, teaching evolution in classrooms was not allowed in Tennessee, and Darrow felt it was important to challenge that law. Thursday’s flower-tossing event noted this year’s 100th anniversary of the Scopes trial.
It predates the nearby Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, whose building was part of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. In 1957, the structure was renamed for Darrow, a Hyde Park resident who frequented the bucolic bridge while contemplating cases.
“‘He felt that if today we prohibit certain kinds of teaching, tomorrow we’ll be prohibiting certain kinds of speech and certain kinds of thinking,’ Anita Weinberg, whose parents helped organize the very first bridge event, said to the crowd. ‘He saw the trial as a fight against an attempt to turn the country into bigoted, intolerant theocracy.’
“In addition to commemorating the memory of Darrow, attendees also commemorated the bridge itself, which has been shuttered for years and was added to Preservation Chicago’s 2025 list of most endangered Chicago structures.
“Jack Spicer, a board member of the Hyde Park Historical Society, said he and those working to help preserve the bridge have been waiting about six months for a report from the Chicago Department of Transportation on the current state of the bridge and what the agency wants to do to fix it.
“We are hoping that we can preserve it in such a way that they use all the available historic material and will resemble the original bridge as it was at the time of the fair,” Spicer said. “We have our fingers crossed, and we’ve been working as much as we can with CDOT to make this happen.” (Stein, Chicago Tribune, 3/13/2025)
Read the full story at Chicago Tribune
- On centennial of the Scopes trial, Chicagoans honor Clarence Darrow at Jackson Park bridge named in his honor, Carolyn Stein, Chicago Tribune, 3/13/2025
- Clarence Darrow’s spirit summoned anew as bridge repairs draw funding; Max Blaisdell, Hyde Park Herald, 3/14/25
- Honor Clarence Darrow 100 Years After ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ At His Namesake Bridge; The famously agnostic attorney and Hyde Park resident fought a Tennessee law that banned teaching evolution in a case that drew national attention a century ago, Maxwell Evans, Block Club Chicago, 3/14/25
- Hyde Park Stories: Darrow Bridge, Patricia L. Morse, Hyde Park Herald, 3/6/23
- Darrow Bridge named one of Preservation Chicago’s ‘most endangered’ structures, Hyde Park Herald staff, Hyde Park Herald, 3/12/25
- Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge / Columbia Bridge, a Preservation Chicago 2025 Chicago 7 Most Endangered