Charles Weeghman
Encyclopedia
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
organization called the Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
(1914–1915). He had made a fortune in an early type of fast-food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
franchises
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
in the Chicago area.
Weeghman worked for Charlie King as a waiter for $10 a week. King quickly promoted Weeghman who eventually open his own lunch counter in Chicago. King, who would have been Weeghman's main rival, died the day Weeghman's first restaurant opened. Serving only cold sandwiches, his diners would eat at one-armed school tables so Weeghman could fit more chairs into the restaurant. At one point, Weeghman owned fifteen of these diners, with the one located at Madison and Dearborn serving 35,000 people each day. His net worth was estimated at $8,000,000.
In 1911, Weeghman made an unsuccessful attempt to purchase a controlling interest in the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
. Cardinals owner Helene Hathaway Britton
Helene Hathaway Britton
Helene Hathaway Robison Britton was the owner of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team of the National League from through . She inherited the franchise upon the death of her uncles, Frank and Stanley Robison...
had recently inherited the team upon the death of her uncle, Stanley Robison
Stanley Robison
Martin Stanford "Stanley" Robison was an American owner and manager in Major League Baseball. Robison was the owner of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1899 to 1911, along with his brother Frank. He was also part-owner of the Cleveland Spiders for most of their existence, from 1887 to 1899...
, but she refused Weeghman's offer of $350,000 for the club, eventually selling the team to Sam Breadon
Sam Breadon
Samuel Breadon was an American executive who served as the president and majority owner of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball from 1920 through 1947...
in 1917.
Weeghman founded the Chicago Whales and built a new steel-and-concrete ballpark, Weeghman Park, for them to play in. He leased the land, the former site of the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, from Edward Archambault, for 99 years at a cost of $16,000 per year. Weeghman's lease forbade the use of the land for "immoral or illegal purposes." Weeghman chose the site, in part, because of the proximity of the el tracks. After the Federal League folded, Weeghman bought majority control of the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
and oversaw their transfer from their wooden West Side Park
West Side Park
West Side Park was the name used for two different baseball parks that formerly stood in Chicago, Illinois. They were both home fields of the team now known as the Chicago Cubs of the National League. Both parks witnessed championship baseball...
to the new stadium.
On August 16, 1921, Weeghman sponsored the first state-wide rally of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
on his property in Lake Zurich, Illinois
Lake Zurich, Illinois
Lake Zurich is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago. The population was 18,104 at the 2000 census. A 2003 special census put the village's population at 19,005....
. The rally may have drawn more than 12,000 people and saw the initiation of more than 2,000 new Klan members.
His lunch counter chain lost favor with the public, and Weeghman was forced to sell more and more of his stock in the Cubs to chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. to raise money. By 1923, Weeghman was out of the picture entirely, and his lunch counter chain was bankrupt. The Wrigley family would control the Cubs for the next six decades before selling out to the Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
. This also led to the name change from Weeghman Park to Cubs Park, and later, Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
.
Weeghman also lost control of his restaurant business, with his brother, Albert, taking over. Following his losses, Weeghman moved to New York, where he unsuccessfully tried to start over in the restaurant business.