SOUTH CHICAGO — The South Water Purification Plant was renamed Monday for former Chicago Mayor Eugene Sawyer, only the second place in the city to be named for the mayor who succeeded Harold Washington after his death.
The Sawyer family was joined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other officials to rename the plant for Sawyer, who started his career with the city in the Water Department.
Sawyer’s son, Rod Sawyer, who currently serves in his father’s old seat as 6th Ward alderman, said up until now, a community center in South Chicago was the only place in the city named for the former mayor.
Sawyer reluctantly stepped in to serve as mayor after Harold Washington’s death when the city was sharply divided politically along racial lines.
Sawyer said he was a law student in 1987 when Washington’s death was first reported.
“I immediately ran over to City Hall, where I found my dad crying,” Sawyer said. “The last thing in his head was being mayor of the city of Chicago, he was more concerned with healing the city.”
Ald. Ed Burke (14th) served in the City Council during the “council wars” of Washington’s tenure and then Sawyer’s attempts to find common ground among the city’s legislators.
In a troubled era of Chicago history scarred by political division, Sawyer faced enormous challenges while trying to live up to Washington’s legacy, Burke said.
He praised the former mayor for his passage of human rights and clean air ordinances and ordinances allowing the Cubs to install lights at Wrigley Field.
Emanuel said efforts to honor Sawyer have been in the works since April and are long overdue.
“He provided the leadership essential to move the city forward,” Emanuel said.
Rod Sawyer said he was unsure why it has taken the city so long to name anything for his father.
“I wish I could do a fraction of the things he had done during his tenure,” Sawyer said.
Eugene Sawyer served as mayor from 1987-89. He died in 2008.
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