The Chicago Lighthouse celebrating 120 years of helping the blind and visually impaired

The Chicago Lighthouse, one of the largest employers of people with disabilities in Illinois, is turning 120 this year.

It all began on the city's West Side in 1906, when a group of concerned women began collecting food and clothing for Chicago's blind population.

Two world wars, a massive recession, and a global pandemic later, and the Lighthouse is shining brighter than ever.

"This whole year is a party for us," said Chicago Lighthouse public advocacy vice president Peter Tucic.

Celebrations abound at The Chicago Lighthouse, where accomplishments literally stack up over the course of history.

"I just couldn't be more proud of what we have been able to do and what the Lighthouse has been able to do, and just lucky that I get to be a part of it," Tucic said.

Tucic's experience with the organization began more than 30 years ago when he saw Lighthouse specialists, following a diagnosis of total blindness.

When he started school, he needed textbooks in braille, which came from Illinois Instructional Materials Center run by the Lighthouse.

In a full circle moment, Tucic's now in charge of the same library that helped him.

"I never would have imagined it," he said.

The library serves 4,000 students a year and contains about 20,000 titles.

Tucic's passionate about lowering the center's footprint while also expanding the its reach. He designed a tactile device that digitizes materials.

"We can look at large images, we can scroll them, we can zoom them, we can pan them," he said. "Just so many of these things we took into account as we built this."

Innovation is a common theme at the Lighthouse.

More than a century ago, the non-profit's mission to provide resources to the blind and visually impaired expanded with the creation of Chicago Lighthouse Industries, an employment program. Jobs included assembling phones, Christmas lights, and toys.

In 1977, Chicago Lighthouse Industries snagged a government contract to make clocks. Millions have made their way around the world. Someone found one in the rubble of the Pentagon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The nearly 50-year venture continues to this day, with even more office products on the manufacturing line, like calendars.

Lighthouse CEO Janet Szlyk is constantly looking for ways to add to the nonprofit's resume.

Under Szlyk's direction, customer call centers opened in 2012. That helped generate revenue and jobs.

The blind and visually impaired are paid to answer questions and complaints for agencies like the Illinois Tollway.

Szlyk also oversaw physical expansion, with the opening of the Huber Vision Rehabilitation Center, a low-vision clinic in Glenview which continues a legacy of services that began in Chicago in 1954. 

In 2022, the Lighthouse broke ground on affordable housing for people with disabilities. The Foglia Residences opened in 2024. Today it's home to several dozens of blind and visually impaired Chicagoans.

"We have a waiting list, so there's a real need," Szlyk said. "It's really worked out beautifully, and we're talking about another venture."

How's that for a tease of what's next?

"A recent branding campaign that we have is 'Lighting Up Human Potential,' and that work is never done," Szlyk said.

Lighthouse has a boundless future and a past full of progress.

"It's been really neat, because there've been so many different eras of the Lighthouse," Tucic said. "We've had a lot of retrospect now this year to look back at all of it, and it continues to happen."

Anniversary celebrations continue. Last week, The Chicago Lighthouse hosted its annual fashion show at the 119-year-old Marshall Field's Walnut Room, honoring the Lighthouse's 120th anniversary.