An Old Town row house that was home to two of the founders of the country's first gay-rights organization recently found a buyer, according to Crain's Chicago Business.
The Henry Gerber House, 1710 N. Crilly Ct., has been designated a National Historic Landmark, according to the National Park Service website.
Henry Gerber lived in the house from 1924 until 1925 as a tenant when he founded the Society for Human Rights (SHR), an organization advocating for the civil rights of gay people, and the first gay-rights society in the United States. It was in this building that Gerber, as the secretary, wrote the organization's mission statement and filed for its incorporation.
SHR was granted an official State of Illinois Charter on Dec. 24, 1924, making it the oldest documented homosexual organization in the nation, The Legacy Project noted. Gerberwho was inspired by Germany's Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld and his work with the Scientific-Humanitarian Committeealso produced the first U.S. publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom.
Crain's writer Dennis Rodkin noted that the house came on the market in January; a buyer put in a contract a few days later.